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Coverup or just a misunderstanding?

By BEN NELMS
bnelms@TheCitizenNews.com

Turmoil within the Fayetteville Police Department in recent weeks has produced another byproduct: Rumors involving a city councilman’s granddaughter receiving special treatment during a drug bust and a subsequent coverup and retaliation against the investigating officer.

In an effort to find out what happened, The Citizen made several Open Records law requests and spoke to numerous present and former officials, both on and off the record.

The official records of the 7-year-old incident paint a diffuse picture of misunderstandings, unclear direction by ranking officers, destruction of potential criminal evidence and an official reprimand of the investigating officer. No drug or driving charges were ever filed, records indicate.

The investigating officer remains with the department today, currently holding the rank of lieutenant.

According to official police documents obtained from Fayetteville via an Open Records law request, the events happened like this:

The Jan. 22, 1998, incident began when Officer Jeff Towler was instructed to stop, obtain identification and a consent to search for any vehicle that entered the property of a Whitney Street address while a search warrant was being executed.

A 1993 Toyota Celica driven by Fayetteville City Councilman Glenn Brewer’s granddaughter was the only vehicle that entered the property.

Brewer, once the city manager, still serves on the council. He declined to comment for this story.

Though not in the granddaughter’s possession, a pipe with suspected marijuana residue and suspected marijuana seeds were discovered in the vehicle she was driving, the police report said.

Conversation about the presence of a council member’s relative at the scene began when Chief Johnny Roberts contacted Maj. Steve Ledbetter, then a captain with the department. Neither ranking officer was at the scene.

Ledbetter communicated with the supervising officer at the scene who, in turn, told Towler of the concerns of his superiors, the city documents said.

The three occupants of the vehicle were subsequently “cut loose” with no charges filed. Prior to releasing the young woman, the pipe and suspected marijuana were discarded by police, city documents revealed.

The outcome of the intervention by the department’s ranking officers ended well for everyone involved but Towler, who received a reprimand for disposing of the pipe.

In his statement as part of the department’s Internal Affairs Investigation #98-01-003, one of the documents obtained under the Georgia Open records Law, Ledbetter said he authorized the Whitney Street search warrant and that Lt. Linda Lash was the supervising officer at the scene.

“At approximately six o’clock I received a telephone call from Chief Roberts asking me to listen to the radio traffic,” Ledbetter wrote. “I immediately turned on my portable radio and began to listen to Officer Towler check the identification of a female (Brewer’s granddaughter),” said Ledbetter.

Then-Capt. Ledbetter asked Lt. Lash, who was inside the residence, to contact him, asking her if she was aware of the officers at the residence checking the three occupants of the vehicle.

“I asked her to please check with the officers and to either (1) ensure that if a case needed to be made that they ‘dot all of the i’s and cross all of the t’s.’ My intent was to ensure that the officers thoroughly documented a case file if charges were to be brought. Otherwise ‘... cut them loose.’ Let the occupants of the car leave the property. Never did I intend to provide preferential treatment to anyone for any reason.”

According to the transcript of a videotape relating to the incident and included as part of the internal investigation, Officer Towler activated his patrol unit’s video recorder at 5:49 p.m.

He approached the vehicle and explained why he was making the stop. One of the occupants identified herself as the granddaughter of Councilman Glenn Brewer. The woman stated that she “cannot do anything to get herself in trouble,” the report said.

Towler received verbal consent to search the vehicle. Towler was assisted by Officer Thomas Mindar who began filling out paperwork related to the Consent to Search form the granddaughter signed.

At 5:55 p.m. Towler began a search of the vehicle. His search revealed a pipe with suspected marijuana residue and seeds inside the pocket of a jacket laying in the car, according to the transcript.

Moments later, according to the report, Capt. Steve Ledbetter called for Lt. Linda Lash. Lash arrived at the residence at 6:05 p.m. Upon her arrival, Lash told Towler, “Well, Steve Ledbetter wants them out of here, apparently as she is related to Mr. Brewer, a council member, and Steve is freaking out, on the freaking phone,” according to the transcript.

Responding to Lash, Towler said, “There’s freaking dope in it. I found some seeds and a pipe.”

In her response to Towler, Lash said, “’He said one or two things.’ If she gave you consent to search and you find anything, you better cross your t’s and dot your i’s because she is related to Mr. Brewer and we are going to answer to this. Either do this or let them get out of here.”

Lash and Towler began speaking with the vehicle’s three occupants at 6:06 p.m., according to the transcript.

The officers were told by the male subject that the jacket containing the pipe and seeds was his but that he had loaned the jacket to someone and it had just been returned to him.

The pipe and its contents, he said, did not belong to him, according to the report.

After a brief conversation with the occupants, Towler threw the pipe into nearby woods and filed a “miscellaneous” report.

In a handwritten statement regarding the incident, Towler added that he was approached by Lash shortly after finding the pipe inside a jacket in the back seat.

“Lt. Lash told me to cut them loose because Ledbetter was freaking out because that was councilman Brewer’s granddaughter,” Towler said. “I informed Lt. Lash that I had found seeds and a pipe. Lt. Lash said, ‘Well you better dot your i’s and cross your t’s, but you need to get them out of here.’ I did not finish my search based on what I was told.”

In his miscellaneous report filed Jan. 25, 1998, Towler said he was instructed to stop and ID all vehicles and persons that entered the property. He was also instructed to ask for a consent to search, the report said.

The only vehicle that came onto the property being searched for drugs was the Celica driven by Brewer’s granddaughter, said Towler.

He accounted for the pipe containing suspected marijuana residue and seeds in the back seat. He added that the subjects were released with a warning not to do drugs and that the pipe and seeds were destroyed at the spot.

Towler later received a reprimand for disposing of the pipe.

In her statements during the internal investigation, Lash relayed what had happened at the scene and that she had spoken with Ledbetter and that “he knew what was going on.”

In another report, also a part of the Open Records Law request, Lash recalled her arrival at the driveway of the residence where Towler was searching inside the vehicle.

“Officer Towler stepped outside the vehicle and Lt. Lash pulled Officer Towler aside and told him she just received a call from Capt. Ledbetter who stated that he needed to cut the subjects loose and tell them to leave or make sure he dots all his i’s and crosses all his t’s because one of the females was a Brewer subject and related to Mr. Brewer, the council member,” according to reports.

It was during the conversation between Lash and Towler that Brewer’s granddaughter told officers the pipe did not belong to her.

The male told officers the jacket containing the four-inch pipe belonged to him but the pipe did not, adding that the person that had recently borrowed his jacket must have put the pipe in the pocket, according to Lash’s report.

“Based on the information, Lt. Lash advised Officer Towler to cut the people loose from orders of Capt. Ledbetter and the fact that the Brewer subject had no knowledge of the pipe and seeds in the male’s jacket,” Lash said. Her report added that Towler was upset and that he threw the pipe in the woods.”

Also during the internal investigation, Mindar told about his presence at vehicle search.

Mindar had been inside the residence where the search warrant had been served when he heard Towler stop the vehicle. He left the residence to see if Towler needed assistance.

In a supplemental report, Mindar said he saw Lt. Lash coming down the driveway toward the vehicle. Mindar saw Lash and Towler talking while he kept the three subjects busy in conversation. “I didn’t clearly hear what Lt. Lash and Officer Towler spoke about. I do know that Officer Towler became agitated about what was said and decided to let the subjects go,” Mindar said.

In the intervening years since the incident, several of those mentioned have been promoted within the Fayetteville department or have moved on to other jobs.

Council member Glenn Brewer was contacted Monday but had said he had no comment on the investigation.

Attempts to contact Roberts, who retired last month, and Ledbetter, who resigned at the same time, were routed through Fayetteville City Hall and to Roberts’ residence. No responses had been received by Tuesday afternoon deadline.

Lash, who now works with Riverdale Police Department, was contacted but had no comment on the events surrounding the incident.

Towler currently serves as lieutenant with the Fayetteville Police Department. Mindar works with Fayette County Sheriff’s Office and Stavenger is currently an officer with the Fayetteville police. Attempts to contact them were unsuccessful by Tuesday afternoon.