EX-DEPUTY'S FALSE REPORT ACTION ENDS IN DESOTO

The DeSoto County sheriff's deputy who claimed he was stabbed with a
syringe at his home in June won't be prosecuted for filing a false report,
authorities said Thursday.

Deputy Mike Thomas was fired June 19 when he refused to take a second drug
test after the incident.

Dist. Atty. John Champion said no case against Thomas would be presented
when the DeSoto County grand jury meets next Thursday and Friday.

"False reporting is not a felony in this state,'' said Champion. "It's only
a misdemeanor.''

Thomas, 28, said he was attacked by a man wearing a mask at his home west
of Horn Lake on the night of June 11. He said he was stabbed twice, once
with a needle and once with something else, possibly a small knife.

A drug test the next day found cocaine and two prescription drugs, Lortab
and Xanax, in Thomas's system.

Lortab is a painkiller and Xanax is an anti-anxiety medication. Thomas had
prescriptions for the two drugs, authorities said.

Thomas told officers the cocaine came from the syringe, but an analysis by
the state crime laboratory in Jackson found no evidence of cocaine in the
syringe.

Prosecuting Thomas would serve no purpose, Sheriff's Department Cmdr. Mark
Blackson said.

"Don't you think he's messed his life up enough without this? If there was
a prosecution the only thing we'd be talking about would be the amount of
the fine," Blackson said.

"If we started prosecuting everyone who gave us a false report we'd never
get out from under the paperwork. We get those every day," he said.

Blackson said he believes the motive for the false report was "a
no-brainer." The department had scheduled random drug testing for officers
and staff members.

"He knew that any test would show the presence of those drugs in his system."

Thomas, who could not be reached, had been assigned to the patrol division
as a motorcycle officer. Earlier in his career, he worked with DeSoto
County's Metro Narcotics Unit.