Pubdate: Sat, 02 Oct 2004 Source: Johnson City Press (TN) Copyright: 2004 Johnson City Press Contact: http://www.johnsoncitypress.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1983 Author: J. H. Osborne, NET News Service Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/corrupt.htm (Corruption - United States) DTF OFFICER CHARGED WITH FELONY THEFT BLOUNTVILLE - A 12-year veteran of the Sullivan County Sheriff's Department was arrested Friday after a state investigation left him charged with felony theft. Sheriff Wayne Anderson said Cpl. Jeff Tabor, a member of the 2nd Judicial Drug Task Force and one-time resource officer in the county's school system, is charged with theft over $500. Tabor had been on paid suspension for about three weeks, Anderson said, as the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation looked into missing Drug Task Force funds at the request of Anderson and District Attorney Greeley Wells. The TBI investigation was prompted by a visit to Anderson by the director of the 2nd Judicial Drug Task Force a few weeks ago, the sheriff said. Tabor was along for the visit, and the two told Anderson some money was missing and Tabor "wanted to pay it back," Anderson said. Anderson conferred with Wells, and the two agreed to call the TBI. The 2nd Judicial Task Force has a certain amount of money called confidential funds, Anderson said. It is used in undercover drug buys, and each task force agent is assigned some of the funds. "It is alleged he took $888.61 and had not replaced it," Anderson said. The arrest is the first negative in the task force's roughly 15-year history, Anderson said. "There's never been a problem," Anderson said. "It's always run really smooth and been very professional. They've made a lot of arrests and taken a lot of major drug dealers off the streets. So we've had a good run of 15 years before this happened, and I'm sure we will continue to have a good Drug Task Force." Tabor's colleagues in law enforcement and in the county were shocked by the allegations, arrest and charge, Anderson said. "We constantly got letters of how good he was doing his job from members of the public," Anderson said. "We'd never had any problem out of him. It was a total shock. But things like that happen. Anytime you deal with humans, you deal with human problems. And I think that's the case ... he had problems and to deal with them he made some wrong choices." - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake