Pubdate: Thu, 14 Feb 2002 Source: Daily Press (VA) Copyright: 2002 The Daily Press Contact: http://www.dailypress.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/585 Author: Keith Rushing, Daily Press Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/af.htm (Asset Forfeiture) AGENCIES GET CUT OF DRUG RAID CASH Money Was Seized During Area Arrests NORFOLK -- A federal prosecutor distributed $187,000 seized in a Newport News drug raid to several area law-enforcement agencies Wednesday. "It's poetic justice to take what the bad guys made and use it for law enforcement," said Paul J. McNulty, the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia. McNulty discussed the benefits of fighting crime with money seized from convicted drug dealers Wednesday afternoon at the U.S. Attorney's Office in Norfolk. "There is nothing sweeter in law enforcement," he said. The money was seized in June, after a search warrant was executed at the Kiln Creek residence of Brenton Wayne Shand. Taped conversations and videotapes shot from outside the residence revealed that drug activity was occurring there. When Shand's residence was raided, officers found more than 2 kilograms (4.4 pounds) of powder cocaine, a half-kilogram (1.1 pounds) of crack cocaine and $300,000. Shand, 34, and his girlfriend, Marie Barker, 29, were arrested on federal drug charges. Shand got a 14-year prison sentence, and Barker was sentenced to nine years, after both pleaded guilty. The investigation and raid were the result of a joint effort that involved local, state and federal law-enforcement officials. McNulty distributed checks Wednesday to law-enforcement agencies from Newport News, Hampton, Chesapeake, Norfolk, Portsmouth, Poquoson, Suffolk and Virginia Beach. The amount distributed ranged from $267 for the Poquoson and Hampton police departments to $91,588 for the U.S. Customs Service in Norfolk. The Newport News Police Department got $17,931. McNulty said federal law-enforcement officials were legally required to turn over some of the proceeds seized in drug raids to local police departments for their crimefighting efforts. He said a task force of area law-enforcement agencies that worked with the federal Drug Enforcement Administration decided how the $187,000 should be divided. - --- MAP posted-by: Jackl