ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, March 13, 1996 TAG: 9603130047
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-5 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: NORFOLK
SOURCE: Associated Press
A federal judge has ordered the FBI to give top priority to protecting people testifying at a drug trial where two witnesses allegedly have been threatened, one of them twice.
Another witness, Edward Wiggins, was taken into custody Monday for refusing to testify. Wiggins didn't give a reason, but last week a witness who initially refused to answer questions and then changed his mind cited fear.
``We're not going to have this,'' said U.S. District Judge Robert E. Payne. ``I want the FBI to give this the highest priority.''
Witness Desmond Corbett told the judge that a man he knew only as Gary approached him on the street during the weekend and told him, ``You're going to be dealt with for what you did.''
``I want this man found and arrested and charges brought, and I want a full report,'' the judge said.
Another witness, Walter DuPree, said last week he was threatened by the father of Robert Winfield, one of the defendants.
Winfield's father, Robert Veal, was placed in custody Friday on suspicion of threatening a witness. He supposedly asked DuPree why he was in court and told him that something would happen to him.
Jon M. Babineau, Veal's attorney, said his client was only making small talk about the trial. What Veal said was, ``Anything could happen in the case,'' Babineau said.
Meanwhile, DuPree said he received a telephone threat at home during the weekend from someone who said Veal ``had just made the threat, but the caller intended to follow through on the threat,'' FBI agent Paula Barrows said.
Larry Torrence, the agent in charge of the Norfolk FBI office, said he has never seen a higher level of witness intimidation in a federal trial.
``It's the first time I'm aware of anything like this in 27 years,'' Torrence said. ``It's extremely rare and unusual, especially threatening in the hallways and during the trial. It's overt.''
Prosecutors say nearly all witnesses in the case have expressed fear for themselves and their families.
The defendants are five members of an alleged Portsmouth drug gang. The case was taken to federal court after authorities in Portsmouth said they were having difficulty making cases because of witness intimidation.
But Joyce Tucker, the mother of defendant Taubari Latson, dismissed those claims.
``These allegations of witness intimidation are a cheap attempt to discredit these young men,'' she said. ``There's no intimidation going on.''
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