SUMMERS SHERIFF'S OFFICE OUT OF HOT SEAT

The Summers County Sheriff's Department is no longer under investigation
for alleged wrongdoing involving guns, money and/or evidence. State Police
Troop 6 commander Capt. Rick Hall said Friday, "We are not checking
anything in Summers County." He added the investigation into the Monroe
County Sheriff's Department is continuing.

The Register-Herald confirmed in April the Summers and Monroe sheriffs'
departments were under the same investigation by state and federal
authorities for possible mishandled evidence.

On Feb. 13, the departments signed a mutual aid agreement, forming a
two-county drug investigation unit. The collaboration yielded the arrest of
38-year-old Anthony Wade Handy of Ballard, who was charged with cocaine and
marijuana possession. Authorities also seized some cash from Handy's residence.

Hall said, "We were looking at the seizure that was done." Questions were
raised on that single joint operation. He said he met with Summers Sheriff
Garry E. Wheeler and is satisfied the department was not involved in any
criminal activity.

The captain said Wheeler has a good handle on drug seizures and how they
should be done. Wheeler has tried hard to run his department well, despite
limited resources, he said. Mistakes can arise from a lack of experience.

"We're not going to ding anybody over that."

Wheeler took office Jan. 1, 2001, the same day Monroe County Sheriff Gerald
Bland took office.

Wheeler said, "Nobody has contacted me since my conversation with Rick
Hall." He added he left messages with several high-ranking officers,
including State Police Superintendent Col. Howard Hill, but none was returned.

"If I was ever being investigated, I didn't know about it."

The sheriff said the Handy arrest netted $2,707 in cash, 54 grams of
cocaine, 24 grams of marijuana and two police scanners. He said he has all
the documents to show the handling of all evidence. He added Monroe
Prosecutor Rod Mohler was given the opportunity to sign for the cash and
recover 10 percent of it for law enforcement, which is allowed by law.
Mohler first signed the form and then said he didn't.

Wheeler said Hall told him Mohler asked for the investigation into his
department.

Hall said Friday "a prosecutor" requested the investigation in Summers.
When pressed for a name, he declined to reveal it.

Mohler said, "There was just the one drug bust and there was never any
request by this office ... to investigate the sheriff's department over
there." He did request an investigation after the Handy arrest. "We saw a
real threat in that case of some potential wrongdoing in that case."

He said if the State Police followed a trail into Summers County, that was
their doing and not his.

Summers Prosecutor Jim McNeely said he never asked for any investigation.
Once questions were raised in Monroe County, he stated his intention to ask
the State Police for technical assistance in reviewing forfeiture
proceedings to ensure his office and the sheriff's department were doing
them properly.

Mohler said no charges have been filed in Monroe County against any member
of the sheriff's department.

A spokeswoman in U.S. District Court's Southern Region said Friday no
charges have been filed against the Monroe Sheriff's Department.

Bland has said he believes the investigation is politically motivated.

Wheeler said he and Bland and their attorneys will meet with the state
Sheriffs' Association Thursday to discuss the investigation.