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Wayne Saunders
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Tab 10
Orlando Sentinel - Orlando, Fla.
Aug 21, 1996
CLERMONT POLICE HIT BY EVIDENCE PROBE THE PROBE OVER SEVERAL
MONTHS IS EXAMINING CLAIMS THAT POLICE PLANTED DRUG EVIDENCE ON
SUSPECTS.
Author: Mary Murphy
Sentinel correspondent Terri Coole contributed to this report.
The Clermont Police Department is under investigation by the state after allegations that officers
planted drugs on suspects.
Police Chief Prentice Tyndal said the investigation is the result of allegations made by a
"convicted felon" and called it "absolute nonsense."
Neither city officials nor agents of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement would talk about
what specifically prompted the investigation, which has been conducted quietly for months.
However, The Lake Sentinel has learned that agents have questioned nearly every employee,
sworn and civilian, in the department, which has been headed by Tyndal for 39 years.
As part of the probe, agents are looking at arrest reports and investigative files of criminal cases
from as long as 10 years ago. However, no one involved in the investigation would characterize
the depth of the inquiry.
Some city officials and employees said the probe stemmed from one complaint; others said that a
number of complaints containing striking similiarities prompted the investigation. The inquiry
began with a wide focus several months ago, but may have narrowed to one officer or a few
officers as agents from the Melbourne office of the FDLE concluded questioning.
Normally, the FDLE does not investigate cases of wrongdoing by one officer - the agency refers
those complaints to the internal investigation section of each department.
However, state agents investigate members of a police department in cases where criminal
charges may be filed, said Lance Newman, assistant special agent in charge of the FDLE's
Orlando regional office.
Details of the Clermont investigation should become available when the probe is completed,
which is expected to be within several weeks, Newman said.
The evidence will then be turned over to the State Attorney's Office, where prosecutors will
decide whether to file criminal charges.
Assistant State Attorney Hugh Bass, who heads up the Lake County office, did not return phone
calls Tuesday. Newman would not comment on the number of people interviewed or on how
many drug cases were being re-examined by agents.
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