I had to post this,because to me,it shows how important a drug informant(MArk Byers) may be to the Arkansas law enforcement agencies! Not to Mention Sudbury and his foodstamps.lol...
TROUBLED HISTORY
Forfeitures might rake in cash, but they haven't done much to promote cooperation among Crittenden County law enforcement agencies.
In 1993, the county's drug task force became a hotbed of backbiting and accusations, with the Arkansas State Police investigating possible misuse of seized property. Eventually, the state police issued a report that culminated in improved record-keeping but no criminal charges.
"Apparent improper or nonexistent bookkeeping procedures were utilized by the drug task force,'' says a synopsis from that report. "No forfeiture property, with exception of vehicles, has been listed on Drug Task Force inventories or audited as project income. A petty cash fund apparently was maintained and was unaudited for a lengthy time.''
Public auctions of seized properties also were held without proceeds going into the proper account, according to the report.
The state police also investigated an allegation that Lt. James Sudbury of the West Memphis Police Department took $260 in seized food stamps and hired a criminal informant to buy steaks for a task force barbecue.
Sudbury denied the allegation, but three officers, who were not named in the report, stated that they had heard partial conversations about the alleged event.
Donna Kane, a drug task force secretary, who admitted using drugs in the past, told the investigators that Sudbury gave her a portable stereo and a purse, along with three seized guns.
And Sudbury told the state police that he took home a seized refrigerator for a while when his own refrigerator conked out. Sudbury's former wife and children also reported that Sudbury had given them a radar detector, an answering machine, a telephone and a $300 fishing rod that allegedly had been seized.
Sudbury, now a captain with the West Memphis Police Department, says he was made a target by a disgruntled state trooper who was a member of the task force and by an ex-wife who wanted to make him look bad for a custody battle.
"There was no criminal wrongdoing by anybody," Sudbury says.
Kane says she regrets her past drug history and that she returned the items Sudbury gave her.
Sudbury says he gave the secretary one of the guns for protection while the officers were away and allowed her to take another gun home for a couple days to show her child. He couldn't recall the third gun. Sudbury says he gave the secretary the other items when she asked for them when he was taking them out to a trash bin.
He says the state police investigation prompted improved bookkeeping and the elimination of the drug fund's petty cash account. The Police Department no longer seizes any items other than drugs, money or vehicles, Sudbury says, because the other items generate too much paperwork and are too difficult to track.
Thornton, now head of the sheriff's drug task force, also was investigated that year.
Thornton told the state police he put $33 in a vest pocket during the execution of a search warrant at a home and forgot to turn the cash in as evidence. He later told the state investigators that he had found the money in an envelope in his camera bag.
Thornton also told the state police he gave a seized .38-caliber pistol to his father. The gun eventually was returned.
"It was all on the up and up," Thornton says now.
'HANDS IN THE TILL'
The same year that state police investigated the task force, it split in two, with one faction becoming part of the sheriff's office and the other falling under the West Memphis Police Department.
The state investigation certainly added to tension at the task force, Sudbury says. But he says the real reason for the split was money.
"The drug task force was extremely successful, and we seized a lot of money, and there were some politicians who couldn't get their hands on the money, and the only way they could get their hands on it was to dissolve the task force,'' Sudbury says.
Even with the task force divided, forfeitures continued to generate big bucks. Last year the West Memphis Police Department got $505,096 in forfeiture cash, nearly 17 percent of its operating budget. The Crittenden County sheriff's office took in $532,829, about 11 percent of its operating budget. The prosecutor's office got $223,597.
Of that, $172,289 went to salaries in the prosecutor's office, including all of Hale's annual $32,000 salary. A bookkeeper was paid $46,510.
The forfeiture fund ponied up the $1,961 for Hale's father, James Hale Jr., another prosecutor, to attend a conference on gangs held in the resort town of Jackson Hole, Wyo. Forfeitures also paid for new video-imaging equipment for presentations to juries.
There will be even more to divvy up once authorities resolve a $3.17 million case, which has wound its way from a weigh station off I-40, where the money was seized, to the Arkansas Supreme Court.
The Arkansas Highway Police, which made the seizure one spring night last year, turned the cash over to federal authorities, in part to keep a greater share. Under federal procedures, the seizing agency can keep up to 80 percent of the money. Hale has argued the money belongs in the state system, which limits agencies to $250,000 of a forfeiture and requires any excess to go to the state.
The Arkansas Supreme Court in March sided with Hale. The money hasn't been distributed, though, because the highway police are considering an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.
The argument, Hale says, boils down to money and who gets to keep it.
"We've created a monster, and I don't know if we can curtail it or not,'' says Mike Everett, a Democratic senator who represents Crittenden County in the state Legislature. "Everyone has their hands in the till, and they're hollering and screaming to stop us from doing anything about it."
No one knows how many other agencies have tried to dodge the state's $250,000 limit.
For years, state officials failed to monitor forfeitures even though state law 5-64-505 requires police agencies to file reports with state officials on how much forfeitures generate. Millions of dollars have flowed to hundreds of law enforcement agencies throughout Arkansas with almost no state supervision.
"When you start dealing with money and drugs, everyone knows you have to have accountability and double accountability," says Bill Hardin, the state drug director. "I have none now."
Last June, Hardin finally got an assistant, a staff member on loan from the Arkansas National Guard, to help him round up some of the reports state law requires prosecutors and police to file on forfeitures.
dollparts
TROUBLED HISTORY
Forfeitures might rake in cash, but they haven't done much to promote cooperation among Crittenden County law enforcement agencies.
In 1993, the county's drug task force became a hotbed of backbiting and accusations, with the Arkansas State Police investigating possible misuse of seized property. Eventually, the state police issued a report that culminated in improved record-keeping but no criminal charges.
"Apparent improper or nonexistent bookkeeping procedures were utilized by the drug task force,'' says a synopsis from that report. "No forfeiture property, with exception of vehicles, has been listed on Drug Task Force inventories or audited as project income. A petty cash fund apparently was maintained and was unaudited for a lengthy time.''
Public auctions of seized properties also were held without proceeds going into the proper account, according to the report.
The state police also investigated an allegation that Lt. James Sudbury of the West Memphis Police Department took $260 in seized food stamps and hired a criminal informant to buy steaks for a task force barbecue.
Sudbury denied the allegation, but three officers, who were not named in the report, stated that they had heard partial conversations about the alleged event.
Donna Kane, a drug task force secretary, who admitted using drugs in the past, told the investigators that Sudbury gave her a portable stereo and a purse, along with three seized guns.
And Sudbury told the state police that he took home a seized refrigerator for a while when his own refrigerator conked out. Sudbury's former wife and children also reported that Sudbury had given them a radar detector, an answering machine, a telephone and a $300 fishing rod that allegedly had been seized.
Sudbury, now a captain with the West Memphis Police Department, says he was made a target by a disgruntled state trooper who was a member of the task force and by an ex-wife who wanted to make him look bad for a custody battle.
"There was no criminal wrongdoing by anybody," Sudbury says.
Kane says she regrets her past drug history and that she returned the items Sudbury gave her.
Sudbury says he gave the secretary one of the guns for protection while the officers were away and allowed her to take another gun home for a couple days to show her child. He couldn't recall the third gun. Sudbury says he gave the secretary the other items when she asked for them when he was taking them out to a trash bin.
He says the state police investigation prompted improved bookkeeping and the elimination of the drug fund's petty cash account. The Police Department no longer seizes any items other than drugs, money or vehicles, Sudbury says, because the other items generate too much paperwork and are too difficult to track.
Thornton, now head of the sheriff's drug task force, also was investigated that year.
Thornton told the state police he put $33 in a vest pocket during the execution of a search warrant at a home and forgot to turn the cash in as evidence. He later told the state investigators that he had found the money in an envelope in his camera bag.
Thornton also told the state police he gave a seized .38-caliber pistol to his father. The gun eventually was returned.
"It was all on the up and up," Thornton says now.
'HANDS IN THE TILL'
The same year that state police investigated the task force, it split in two, with one faction becoming part of the sheriff's office and the other falling under the West Memphis Police Department.
The state investigation certainly added to tension at the task force, Sudbury says. But he says the real reason for the split was money.
"The drug task force was extremely successful, and we seized a lot of money, and there were some politicians who couldn't get their hands on the money, and the only way they could get their hands on it was to dissolve the task force,'' Sudbury says.
Even with the task force divided, forfeitures continued to generate big bucks. Last year the West Memphis Police Department got $505,096 in forfeiture cash, nearly 17 percent of its operating budget. The Crittenden County sheriff's office took in $532,829, about 11 percent of its operating budget. The prosecutor's office got $223,597.
Of that, $172,289 went to salaries in the prosecutor's office, including all of Hale's annual $32,000 salary. A bookkeeper was paid $46,510.
The forfeiture fund ponied up the $1,961 for Hale's father, James Hale Jr., another prosecutor, to attend a conference on gangs held in the resort town of Jackson Hole, Wyo. Forfeitures also paid for new video-imaging equipment for presentations to juries.
There will be even more to divvy up once authorities resolve a $3.17 million case, which has wound its way from a weigh station off I-40, where the money was seized, to the Arkansas Supreme Court.
The Arkansas Highway Police, which made the seizure one spring night last year, turned the cash over to federal authorities, in part to keep a greater share. Under federal procedures, the seizing agency can keep up to 80 percent of the money. Hale has argued the money belongs in the state system, which limits agencies to $250,000 of a forfeiture and requires any excess to go to the state.
The Arkansas Supreme Court in March sided with Hale. The money hasn't been distributed, though, because the highway police are considering an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.
The argument, Hale says, boils down to money and who gets to keep it.
"We've created a monster, and I don't know if we can curtail it or not,'' says Mike Everett, a Democratic senator who represents Crittenden County in the state Legislature. "Everyone has their hands in the till, and they're hollering and screaming to stop us from doing anything about it."
No one knows how many other agencies have tried to dodge the state's $250,000 limit.
For years, state officials failed to monitor forfeitures even though state law 5-64-505 requires police agencies to file reports with state officials on how much forfeitures generate. Millions of dollars have flowed to hundreds of law enforcement agencies throughout Arkansas with almost no state supervision.
"When you start dealing with money and drugs, everyone knows you have to have accountability and double accountability," says Bill Hardin, the state drug director. "I have none now."
Last June, Hardin finally got an assistant, a staff member on loan from the Arkansas National Guard, to help him round up some of the reports state law requires prosecutors and police to file on forfeitures.
dollparts
dOllPaRtS.."I dont have a juvi satanic unit in my police department,do you?"Intoxicated with the madness, I'm in love with my sadness,bullshit fakers, enchanted kingdoms,the fashion victims of west memphis too:)
