STATE POLICE LAB REVIEW LEAVES AGENCY WITH ANOTHER SHINER

The trooper who discovered one of the more recent scandals at the State
Police crime lab was placed on leave Tuesday pending an investigation of
his own work there.

A "discrepancy" in a June evidence test report by Sgt. Timothy Grant White,
35, has triggered yet another probe at the lab's Drug Identification Section.

The crime lab's chief was also put on paid administrative leave, as State
Police Superintendent Howard Hill was not told of any problem until last week.

"[Capt.] Rick Theis is director of the lab. When it was reported to him, it
never made it up the chain of command," Col. Hill said Tuesday. "Why didn't
it come all the way up the chain?"

Hill also stressed that the evidence tested by White, from a state drug
case, was not used in any prosecution.

Hill ordered a review of White's most recent work at the section, and has
asked outside investigators to help.

"Out of an abundance of caution, the State Police has asked the U.S.
Attorney's Office and the FBI to examine the facts," Hill said at a morning
press conference at the Capitol.

The review will also involve the national group that accredits the crime
lab and helped the State Police establish its standards and procedures,
Hill said.

Hill has flagged White's reports from April 1 until July 3, 2001, when he
was transferred as part of a scandal-inspired reshuffling of the section staff.

A civilian co-worker had pleaded guilty to a federal fraud charge. Todd
Owen McDaniel, 33, admitted he skipped required tests on suspected
marijuana and cocaine evidence.

White reported McDaniel in September 2000, after a routine double-checking
of his lab reports. McDaniel was suspended and then fired. The drug section
was closed and all of its work retested.

The episode briefly derailed drug prosecutions in state and federal courts,
as the section tests nearly all of the suspected drug evidence seized in
West Virginia.

The section was reopened and declared trouble-free last year. Hill said he
was not sure whether lab procedure detected White's report, as it had
McDaniel's.

"That's my whole concern know. I'm sure everybody thought this problem was
fixed," Hill said Tuesday. "That's why I want retesting done and an
independent resource brought in."

An FBI report obtained by the Charleston Gazette this year revealed that
though only McDaniel was prosecuted, other drug section staff skipped tests
and ignored procedures.

The report showed that White, for one, periodically failed to conduct
"preliminary testing" then required by lab policy.

He also showed signs of deception during a lie detector test, the FBI
report said.

The State Police revamped the entire crime lab in 1994 amid a scandal
involving one of its former section chiefs. Exaggerated tests, altered lab
reports and false testimony by Fred Zain have been blamed for at least a
half-dozen wrongful convictions.

Hill said he expects renewed calls for an independent crime lab in West
Virginia.

"I don't know that you'll ever be able to take it completely from law
enforcement," he said, "But I'm looking at all options."