ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, January 16, 1997 TAG: 9701160051
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-3 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: BOULDER, COLO.
SOURCE: Associated Press
A photo lab employee and a former sheriff's deputy were arrested Wednesday on charges of leaking the JonBenet Ramsey crime-scene photos that were published in a supermarket tabloid.
Lawrence Shawn Smith, a processor with Photo Craft Laboratories, which routinely handled coroner's office photos, and former deputy Brett Allen Sawyer sold the photos to The Globe for $5,500, Boulder County Sheriff George Epp told a news conference.
The arrest warrant says The Globe approached Sawyer about finding crime scene photos, and Sawyer approached Smith. Epp said Smith received only $200 from the deal, but didn't elaborate.
``These two people were acquainted with each other before this incident,'' Epp said, adding that the investigation continued and more arrests were possible.
Smith, 36, was charged with theft, tampering with physical evidence, obstructing government operations and false reporting. Sawyer, 38, who was a Boulder County deputy in 1980-81 and has since been a private investigator, was charged with obstructing government operations. Both were booked and released.
If convicted, Smith would face up to 81/2 years in prison and more than $600,000 in fines, and Sawyer up to six months in jail and a $750 fine.
The Globe published five of the crime-scene photos Monday. They showed a garrote - a cord-wrapped stick that might have been used to strangle 6-year-old JonBenet - and a rope around one of her wrists.
Photo Craft President Roy McCutchen earlier apologized to the community and the Ramsey family ``for this horrible situation'' and said he had fired Smith, describing him as ``a trusted staff member who had been producing work for the coroner's office for many years.''
LENGTH: Short : 43 linesby CNB