THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Wednesday, February 14, 1996           TAG: 9602140450
SECTION: LOCAL                    PAGE: B7   EDITION: FINAL 
SOURCE: BY JOE JACKSON, STAFF WRITER 
DATELINE: NORFOLK                            LENGTH: Medium:   56 lines

DEFENDANT IN DRUG TRIAL ACCUSED OF DEATH THREAT PROSECUTOR SAYS MAN HATCHED PLOT TO HAVE OFFICER KILLED

A defendant in a Peninsula drug trial allegedly plotted from his jail cell to kill the lead investigator in a case that had already stirred controversy after a federal judge dismissed his co-defendants' charges due to allegations of prosecutorial misconduct.

Monte Moore - charged with drug conspiracy for allegedly participating in one of three gangs selling crack cocaine in Williamsburg and James City County - allegedly hatched the death plot against Lt. Delmas Linhart of the Colonial Narcotics Enforcement Task Force.

The allegations surfaced Tuesday during a bond hearing for Moore and four co-defendants in U.S. District Court. Moore has not been charged, but federal prosecutor Mike Smythers said after the hearing the plot was being investigated and ``was considered very serious by the FBI.''

Moore, who was awaiting trial in James City County Jail, contacted two New York drug dealers to kill Linhart, Smythers said during Tuesday's hearing. ``He said Linhart was pushing the case . . . that without Linhart there would be no case,'' Smythers said. The dealers, natives of the Dominican Republic, were only told to kill Linhart, Smythers said.

Smythers did not give further details. But this is not the first time word of threats against federal authorities have surfaced in the case.

At least twice, federal prosecutor Robert Bradenham was overheard in court telling acquaintances that there had been threats he took seriously. However, when asked about the threats, Bradenham would not comment.

Moore and his co-defendants are in jail awaiting trials that may not happen until later this year, defense attorneys told U.S. District Judge Raymond A. Jackson.

Moore is a co-defendant of Anthony L. Olvis and Angela D. Palmer, whose indictments charging drug conspiracy and money laundering were dismissed Dec. 20 by Jackson. Jackson said that federal prosecutors' refusal to turn over court papers made it impossible to tell whether Olvis, Palmer and other defendants were unfairly prosecuted because they are black.

Federal prosecutors appealed the decision to the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, and Jackson delayed the trials of about 20 other co-defendants until the appeals court rules. No date has been set for arguments.

On Jan. 4, Jackson released Palmer on a $25,000 personal recognizance bond.

The conditions of her release included that she live with her mother in Williamsburg, stay home every night from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m., submit to random drug tests and seek employment.

But on Tuesday, Jackson refused to release Olvis, Moore and three others, citing their continuing threat to the community.

KEYWORDS: DRUG TRIAL by CNB