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

DATE: THURSDAY, April 14, 1994                   TAG: 9404140355
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: By MICHAEL STOWE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

EX-POLICE ANALYST SENTENCED

A federal judge in Clarksburg, W.Va., also sentenced Kevin Meredith, 33, to a year of probation following his release from the halfway house.

Meredith, who was an administrative analyst for the Roanoke County police, was acquitted in December of 11 felony counts of distributing anabolic steroids, but a jury convicted him on one count of possessing steroids.

Prosecutors argued that Meredith, purchased steroids in Morgantown, W.Va. and brought them back to the Roanoke Valley to sell to body builders and other athletes.

One witness at the trial testified he saw Meredith with 16 doses of steroids at a Morgantown home. He was convicted of possessing the steroids on that ocassion, but the jury found that it was unrelated to any larger scheme.

Meredith could have been sentenced to up to two years in prison and fined $1,500 on the misdemeanor charge.

When the Roanoke County Police Department was formed in 1990, Meredith was selected by Chief John Cease to help revise policies. He was not a sworn officer.

He was hired by Cease despited having been charged in 1983 with felony possession of marijuana in Kanawha County, W.Va. He pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor and a judge took the case under advisement without convicting him.

Roanoke County officials said they would not hire a sworn police office with such a charge, but decided it should not prevent Meredith from taking a desk job.