Pubdate: Wed, 22 Jan 2003
Source: Commercial Appeal (TN)
Copyright: 2003 The Commercial Appeal
Contact:  http://www.gomemphis.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/95
Author: Bartholomew Sullivan

$34, 916 FLASHED IN TRIAL OF ARK. COPS

Officers Kept Money, Say Prosecutors

LITTLE ROCK - Jurors in the federal conspiracy trial of two former West 
Memphis police officers accused of keeping money taken from motorists 
showed more than mild interest Tuesday when they were handed six bundles of 
cash totaling $34,916.

The money was trial evidence of cash seized from the homes and cars of 
former Sgt. Edwin A. 'Tony' Bradley and Officer Joseph W. Applegate by FBI 
and IRS agents in July 2001.

On the trial's sixth day, federal prosecutors called 10 witnesses, 
including several who conducted the searches, before resting its case late 
Tuesday afternoon.

Attorneys for Applegate, 32, and Bradley, 42, are expected to begin 
presenting the defense case this morning.

In testimony Tuesday, FBI Special Agent Michael T. Patkus was asked about 
an interview he, another agent and West Memphis Police Chief Robert H. 
Paudert had with Applegate shortly before Applegate's home was searched on 
July 17.

In that interview, Patkus said Applegate admitted that when he and Bradley 
found $43,000 the FBI had planted in a parked car at the Southland 
Grehyound Park four days earlier, the contents of the bag were never field 
tested for marijuana.

Patkus said Applegate also acknowledged that the car's trunk had been 
opened and inspected before he used his drug-sniffing dog to establish 
probable cause for a search.

Federal prosecutors contend the officers filed false reports so the cash 
they seized could be forfeited in the civil courts as proceeds of the drug 
trade.

In the Southland sting operation, $2,500 in marked bills were later found 
at Bradley's bank, bedroom and inside his policeman's jacket in his patrol car.

Applegate reportedly told FBI agents that could explain the $26,629 found 
in a search of his apartment. FBI Special Agent David Blakely said 
Applegate volunteered that he had received $4,600 in deferred compenastion 
from the Crittenden County Sheriff's Department, plus an additional $2,500 
for unused leave when he transferred to the West Memphis department.

He said he also had received a $4,500 settlement in a civil lawsuit and had 
won between $10,000 and $20,000 over several months at the casinos of 
Tunica, Blakely testified.

The agent said Applegate also claimed to have sold three guns for $12,700 
and a Chet Atkins-style guitar for $3,900.

Blakely said he was never able to verify the claims through receipts or 
county records.

David Pike, branch manager of the Union Planters Bank of Marion, testified 
about the marked cash seized from Bradley's bank.

Pike identified the receipt Bradley got for a $1,500 cash deposit made 40 
minutes before the FBI raid on his house and the original deposit ticket. 
With the receipt recovered from Bradley's bedroom dresser, Pike was able to 
identify the teller who'd taken his deposit. With that, he opened a bank 
vault, and let Patkus recover 12 of the $100 bills he had earlier marked 
with a fluorescent ink.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Beth