Pubdate: Thu, 11 Jan 2001
Source: Lubbock Avalanche-Journal (TX)
Copyright: 2001 The Lubbock Avalanche-Journal
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Author: Linda Kane

TULIA DRUG INVESTIGATION MAY BE YEARLONG EFFORT

National Attention Could Speed Justice Department Probe

TULIA - It could be a year before the U.S. Justice Department concludes its 
investigation into a controversial 1999 drug bust here that sent dozens of 
members of the community's black population to prison.

The FBI in Amarillo is handling the investigation for the Justice 
Department and has interviewed nearly all of the 43 people arrested during 
the bust, an FBI spokesman said Wednesday.

Of the 43 people arrested, 40 are black.

The FBI spokesman said these types of investigations typically move along 
slowly, but he expects that this particular case will proceed faster 
because of national media attention.

The Justice Department began investigating after the American Civil 
Liberties Union filed a complaint in October.

The 7th District Court of Appeals in Amarillo dismissed charges last week 
against Billy Wafer, one of the black men arrested in the bust. He will not 
be tried for allegedly selling drugs to the undercover officer who 
initiated the bust, Tom Coleman.

Wafer said he was interviewed by an FBI investigator recently for about one 
hour. The investigator asked about Wafer's relationship with Coleman.

''I never met him,'' Wafer said. ''I saw him, but I never met him.''

The FBI spokesman said that investigators also plan to interview the 
prosecutor in the drug cases, the local sheriff and Coleman.

''Tom Coleman is obviously the subject of our investigation,'' the FBI 
spokesman said.

After interviews are completed, the information will be sent to the Justice 
Department in Washington, D.C., where an unbiased official will review it, 
the FBI spokesman said.

The Justice Department can choose to throw out the case or press criminal 
charges, the FBI spokesman said.

He said the investigation is out of the ordinary.

''We do the civil rights investigations. They're not normally on undercover 
operations,'' he said.
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