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

DATE: TUESDAY, July 18, 1995                   TAG: 9507180081
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: MATT CHITTUM STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

DOG WARDEN INDICTED IN ANIMAL-DRUG CASE

A Henry County dog warden was indicted Monday on two felony charges in connection with the arrest of his son last month in Patrick County for possession of a drug used to euthanize dogs.

A Henry County grand jury handed down indictments against Gerald Eugene Wheeler Jr. on charges of distributing pentobarbital and making a false statement in a state-required record, a Henry County Sheriff's Office news release said.

The indictments are the result of an investigation requested by Henry County Administrator Robert P. Lawler after Wheeler's son, Gary Wheeler, was arrested in Patrick County last month on a charge of possession of pentobarbital. A permit is required to possess the drug.

According to Martinsville Commonwealth's Attorney J. Randolph Smith, special prosecutor for the case, the distribution indictment charges that Gerald Wheeler provided his son with the pentobarbital. The false statement charge, Smith said, is the result of an attempt to cover up the distribution.

When an inspector from the state Department of Health Professions questioned Gerald Wheeler about the pentobarbital, Wheeler willingly showed the inspector a record showing he administered the drug to two dogs in Patrick County, Smith said.

"But the drugs were never administered, and certainly not by him," Smith said.

On June 8, Gary Wheeler, 20, traveled to Patrick County to put the two dogs to sleep for a woman who couldn't get in touch with her county's game warden to do it, authorities said. He was to have received between $40 and $45 for the euthanizations.

But deputies from the Patrick County Sheriff's Office, tipped off that he was coming, were waiting. Patrick County Commonwealth's Attorney Alan Black said Gary Wheeler was arrested before he could inject the dogs.

Smith said he was appointed to the case because Gerald Wheeler and Henry County Commonwealth's Attorney Robert Bushnell are friends dating to high school.

Gerald Wheeler could not be reached for comment.

Gary Wheeler is free on bond awaiting a preliminary hearing in Patrick County.

by CNB