$34, 916 FLASHED IN TRIAL OF ARK. COPS

Officers Kept Money, Say Prosecutors

LITTLE ROCK - Jurors in the federal conspiracy trial of two former West
Memphis police officers accused of keeping money taken from motorists
showed more than mild interest Tuesday when they were handed six bundles of
cash totaling $34,916.

The money was trial evidence of cash seized from the homes and cars of
former Sgt. Edwin A. 'Tony' Bradley and Officer Joseph W. Applegate by FBI
and IRS agents in July 2001.

On the trial's sixth day, federal prosecutors called 10 witnesses,
including several who conducted the searches, before resting its case late
Tuesday afternoon.

Attorneys for Applegate, 32, and Bradley, 42, are expected to begin
presenting the defense case this morning.

In testimony Tuesday, FBI Special Agent Michael T. Patkus was asked about
an interview he, another agent and West Memphis Police Chief Robert H.
Paudert had with Applegate shortly before Applegate's home was searched on
July 17.

In that interview, Patkus said Applegate admitted that when he and Bradley
found $43,000 the FBI had planted in a parked car at the Southland
Grehyound Park four days earlier, the contents of the bag were never field
tested for marijuana.

Patkus said Applegate also acknowledged that the car's trunk had been
opened and inspected before he used his drug-sniffing dog to establish
probable cause for a search.

Federal prosecutors contend the officers filed false reports so the cash
they seized could be forfeited in the civil courts as proceeds of the drug
trade.

In the Southland sting operation, $2,500 in marked bills were later found
at Bradley's bank, bedroom and inside his policeman's jacket in his patrol car.

Applegate reportedly told FBI agents that could explain the $26,629 found
in a search of his apartment. FBI Special Agent David Blakely said
Applegate volunteered that he had received $4,600 in deferred compenastion
from the Crittenden County Sheriff's Department, plus an additional $2,500
for unused leave when he transferred to the West Memphis department.

He said he also had received a $4,500 settlement in a civil lawsuit and had
won between $10,000 and $20,000 over several months at the casinos of
Tunica, Blakely testified.

The agent said Applegate also claimed to have sold three guns for $12,700
and a Chet Atkins-style guitar for $3,900.

Blakely said he was never able to verify the claims through receipts or
county records.

David Pike, branch manager of the Union Planters Bank of Marion, testified
about the marked cash seized from Bradley's bank.

Pike identified the receipt Bradley got for a $1,500 cash deposit made 40
minutes before the FBI raid on his house and the original deposit ticket.
With the receipt recovered from Bradley's bedroom dresser, Pike was able to
identify the teller who'd taken his deposit. With that, he opened a bank
vault, and let Patkus recover 12 of the $100 bills he had earlier marked
with a fluorescent ink.