Pubdate: Wed, 15 Sep 2004
Source: Fayetteville Observer (NC)
Copyright: 2004 Fayetteville Observer
Contact:  http://www.fayettevillenc.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/150
Author: Todd Leskanic, Staff writer
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/corrupt.htm (Corruption - United States)

WITNESS SAYS DISK WASN'T HIS

WILMINGTON - Albert Allen testified Tuesday that he would have had no 
reason to keep a computer disk in his house at 11 Albion St. in Lumberton.

He said he has never owned a computer and does not know how to operate one.

Allen was the third witness called by the government in the trial of 
Lumberton police Lt. Leon Oxendine.

Oxendine is on trial in U.S. District Court. He is charged with tampering 
with a witness, making false statements to the FBI and five counts of 
making false declarations before a federal grand jury. All are felonies.

Oxendine, 51, has worked for the Lumberton Police Department since 1978. He 
led the department's Selective Enforcement Team until he was placed on 
administrative leave without pay in January 2003. A federal grand jury 
indicted him in April.

Federal prosecutors contend that Oxendine instructed Scott LaClaire, a 
police informant, to plant the disk in Allen's house Sept. 6, 2001. The 
disk contains an image of a counterfeit $100 bill.

Lumberton police investigators suspected that another man, James Todd 
Adams, was selling drugs out of Allen's house. LaClaire testified Monday 
that Oxendine told him he wanted the disk planted in Allen's house so 
police could charge Adams with counterfeiting, a federal offense. LaClaire 
testified that he planted the disk in the bathroom of Allen's house.

He said police instructed him to buy drugs from the house, but LaClaire 
said he was unable to find any there. LaClaire said he bought drugs at 
another house in the neighborhood. Lumberton police, including Oxendine, 
obtained a search warrant and raided Allen's house later Sept. 6, 2001.

Allen testified Tuesday that he was not at home at the time of the raid but 
was stopped near Interstate 95 about the same time as part of the 
investigation. Allen said he was handcuffed and taken to the Lumberton 
Police Department, where he waited for two hours. He said investigators 
never interviewed him and he wasn't charged. Allen testified that he had 
not seen the disk that was seized from his house until the trial.

Sgt. Tal Barnett of the Lumberton Police Department testified that the 
search warrant for the house on Albion Street did not make reference to a 
computer disk. Barnett testified that Oxendine mentioned the disk in a 
briefing before the raid. Barnett said he didn't see a computer in the 
house but did see another officer with the disk in the bathroom.

Defense Questioning

Woodberry Bowen, who is Oxendine's lawyer, has used cross-examination to 
discredit civilian witnesses such as LaClaire and Allen. In his 
questioning, Bowen brought out that both men have criminal histories and 
were drug users and dealers. LaClaire has spent about 10 years in prison.

LaClaire, a key witness for the government, also admitted in his testimony 
that he had lied to investigators about where he acquired the disk. 
LaClaire said he told Oxendine that he found the disk at Adams' house, but 
the disk was actually in his house. LaClaire said he only told the truth 
about the disk when charged with obstruction of justice.

In his questioning, Bowen showed that for many months LaClaire said the 
disk was orange and only remembered that it was black when it was shown to 
him later. LaClaire also admitted that he was testifying in deals with 
federal and state investigators that include the dismissal of some state 
charges.
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