POLICE SERGEANT FACING CHARGES FIRED

TULSA -- A Tulsa police sergeant facing federal charges he participated in
an illegal drug conspiracy has been fired, the department said Thursday.

Police Chief David Been fired Kirk Hewitt after a pre-termination hearing
Wednesday that followed an internal affairs investigation, the department
said. Hewitt has 10 days to appeal.

Hewitt, 32 and a nine-year police veteran, and Richard Samuel Sanchez, 32,
were indicted March 18 by a Texas grand jury with possessing gama
hydroxybutyrate, or GHB, with intent to distribute and possession of a firearm.

The pair were arrested Feb. 18 after drugs were allegedly found in Hewitt's
vehicle during a traffic stop for speeding in Sherman, Texas. They refused
to allow officers to search the car, but a drug-sniffing dog smelled
narcotics during an open-air search, authorities said.

The Grayson County Sheriff's Office said the men also had less than one
gram of ketamine hydrochloride, known as Special K, and less than four
grams of methamphetamine in the car.

Controlled substances also were found during a search of Hewitt's home Feb.
18, Tulsa police said Thursday.

The other drugs were not included in the conspiracy indictment, for which
Hewitt and Sanchez were arrested March 17 in Tulsa by the U.S. Bureau of
Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.

Hewitt, a patrol officer who was promoted to sergeant in 1999, was
suspended with pay Feb. 18.