
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, November 10, 1993                   TAG: 9311100212
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: KAREN BARNES STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BEDFORD                                LENGTH: Medium

WHO GETS THE INTEREST IN SHERIFF'S FUND?

In its first public discussion of an investigation of possibly mishandled money and on-duty drinking by sheriff's deputies, the Board of Supervisors created a three-member committee Tuesday night to determine if any evidence of illegal activities exists.

County Auditor Wally Cox told the board that an interest-bearing account used exclusively by Sheriff Carl Wells contains money accrued from state funds sent to the county to cover the department's payroll.

Although that practice is legal, the board approved Cox's recommendation to have the county assume responsibility for handling paychecks for the Sheriff's Department by the first of the year. The county will also handle the payroll for the commonwealth's attorney.

The three-member committee - to be composed of a sheriff's department representative, an administration official and a staff auditor - will be charged with determining where earned interest, rumored to be nearly $30,000, belongs.

The monthly allotment from the state Compensation Board for the department's 52 employees is almost $100,000.

Only one other county in the state allows the sheriff to issue paychecks for his employees, Cox said. Other localities involve the treasurer's office in the payroll process.

This is the first time the sheriff's books have been opened to auditors under state law. The General Assembly removed the restriction last session.

In addition, the supervisors tabled an additional appropriation for the department's driving-under-the-influence program until Wells completes his internal investigation of deputies' drinking on duty.

Wells launched an internal investigation into the charges about three weeks after deputies and Lt. Steve Rush admitted to drinking before responding to the the June 1, 1991, scene of Clayton Jahue Fore's murder near Jordantown.

Beattie Coe, convicted of Fore's murder, had requested a new trial on the grounds that Rush, the chief investigator, was drunk at the scene and missed crucial evidence. Judge J. Samuel Johnston rejected a retrial, saying that although Rush did drink before arriving at the crime scene, his actions did not indicate he was impaired.

"How the judge came up with that decision is beyond me," said Gary Dean Coe, Beattie Coe's brother. "I think the judge's friendship with Carl Wells influenced the decision."

Wells has refused to comment on the status of the internal investigation and the allegations of mishandled funds.

by CNB