DRUG DEFENDANTS SEEK REPLACEMENT OF U.S. ATTORNEYS

Officials Had Worked With Suspended Police Officers

A federal probe continues into the conduct of two suspended Charleston
police officers who investigated one of the area's largest drug cases.

Cpl. William Hart and Cpl. George Henderson III remain on administrative
leave from the Charleston Police Department pending the results of the
federal investigation.

Now, lawyers for Calvin "Calcutta" Dyess and Eric Dewayne Spencer don't
want their clients' drug case investigated by U.S. attorneys, because of
their association with Hart and Henderson.

Dyess' lawyers asked a federal judge Monday to remove federal prosecutors
in West Virginia's Southern District from Dyess' case, because the
prosecutors worked with Hart and Henderson.

U.S. District Judge Charles H. Haden II said he would rule "promptly" on
the request.

The probe into Hart's and Henderson's conduct has already moved to the
state's Northern District.

Lawyers for Dyess and Spencer argue that their motion to move their
clients' case is "in light of the government's disclosure of misconduct and
deception by its lead investigative agents during the prosecution of these
cases."

Local and federal officials will not comment on the investigation of Hart
and Henderson. Federal filings, however, reveal allegations of misplaced
drug proceeds and threats made toward witnesses.

In the late 1990s, Hart was the lead investigator on a drug case involving
Dyess and his then-wife, Rachel Ursala Rader.

Shortly after initial arrests were made in the case, Rader began to
cooperate with federal investigators in the case. She and Dyess soon divorced.

In January 1999, Rader turned in some of Dyess' drug money, federal filings
show. A month later she told investigators that there was more cash buried
in her parents' back yard, and she wanted to turn it over.

According to federal filings, Rader alleged that Hart and Henderson let her
keep up to $27,000, while the rest was taken as evidence in the case.

Federal investigators have looked at a February 1999 meeting between
Henderson, Hart and Rader, when she allegedly brought $80,000 to turn over
to investigators, federal filings show.

Hart and Henderson initially denied allowing Rader to keep money, federal
documents show. After later interviews with investigators, the documents
show, Hart and Henderson said Rader was allowed to keep some of the money.

"They allowed Rader to keep some of the money because it was Henderson's
understanding that Rader didn't have a job, her husband had been arrested
and she had a baby," according to one FBI interview with Henderson.

Investigators asked Henderson about the amount, which he said he could not
recall, filings show. He did deny allowing Rader to keep as much as she
says she kept.

In February 1999, the same month that Hart, Henderson and Rader met to turn
over the money, Hart and Rader began a relationship, federal documents
state. They married in the summer of 2001, and divorced later that year.

In federal filings, Rader has also alleged Hart has "threatened,
intimidated or assaulted" her and told her to lie in court.

In 1999, prosecutors presented evidence placing Dyess at the top of an area
ring that shipped more than 100 pounds of marijuana and 200 pounds of crack
cocaine into the Kanawha Valley.

Dyess, 28, pleaded guilty to drug-related conspiracy charges and was
sentenced to life in prison. Rader was placed on five years' probation
after agreeing to help prosecutors in Dyess' case.