Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, February 3, 1994 TAG: 9402030055
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: KAREN BARNES STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BEDFORD LENGTH: Medium
Carl Baker, superintendent of the state police, said he did not know why top county officials and Bedford business leaders had not been questioned, but that the investigation seemed to be progressing well.
"I'm not concerned about the pace of the investigation," Baker said. "I really have no concerns at all."
However, he declined to give a time frame for the investigation's completion. The special prosecutor assigned to the case, Eric Sisler, commonwealth's attorney for Rockbridge County, said Tuesday he hopes to complete the 2 1/2-month probe in the next several weeks.
Sisler is charged with determining whether Wells - Bedford's top lawman since 1974 - broke the law by mingling public and private money or spending interest accrued from public money.
Wells has admitted to mixing the funds - a misdemeanor under state law.
Timing may soon become an issue in this investigation - the statute of limitations for a misdemeanor is one year. Wells stopped using his personal account to process payroll checks in April.
A spokesman for Attorney General Jim Gilmore refused to comment on the investigation.
During last year's campaign, Republican candidate Gilmore questioned the quality of the attorney general office's investigations. He accused former Attorney General Mary Sue Terry, a Democrat, of blocking state police from entering a politically sensitive investigation into alleged drug use by a commonwealth's attorney, another Democrat.
Terry denied the allegations of political favoritism.
The state police entered the Wells investigation Nov. 19 - the same day Sisler was named to the case by Circuit Judge William Sweeney - at the request of former Attorney General Stephen Rosenthal.
Wells' unusual handling of his department's monthly payroll - as much as $180,000 - came to light after an audit last year.
He said he set the system up on the advice of a now-deceased state auditor.
Memo: shorter version ran in the Metro edition.