Pubdate: Thu, 06 Feb 2003 Source: Richmond Times-Dispatch (VA) Copyright: 2003 Richmond Newspapers Inc. Contact: http://www.timesdispatch.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/365 Author: Calvin R. Trice WARREN DEPUTY FACES FEDERAL DRUG CHARGES Police arrested a Warren County sheriff's deputy this week on charges that he gave jail inmates illegal drugs and helped them evade police detection. Kevin Glin Kinsey, 22, faces a six-count federal indictment on drug-distribution and drug-conspiracy charges, which could yield a prison term of 140 years. Kinsey, of Front Royal, had been with the Warren sheriff's office part time for less than a year, Sheriff Lynn Armentrout said at a news conference at the U.S. attorney's office in Charlottesville. A federal grand jury in Charlottesville indicted Kinsey on Tuesday. After his arrest, he tested positive for cocaine and marijuana, leading a judge to order him held without bail after a hearing yesterday, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas J. Bondurant Jr. Kinsey joined the sheriff's office in Warren, a county of 32,000 in the northern Shenandoah Valley, in April. During the summer, he was assigned to the county's Restitution and Inmate Development Program, Armentrout said. Inmates in the program work during the day and sleep in a dormitory setting apart from the jail. Deputies supervised inmates alone. Kinsey worked the 4 p.m.-to-midnight shift two to five days per week, the sheriff said. In September, an informer told Warren investigators about Kinsey's alleged drug distribution. County authorities notified the FBI. The county aided federal investigators during a five-month probe that led to Kinsey's indictment, police said. The indictment accuses Kinsey of conspiring to distribute crack cocaine, cocaine, marijuana and prescription pills to inmates. He also is accused of accepting drugs from inmates for personal use and falsifying drug and alcohol tests for them in return. Kinsey arranged drug deals from a phone at the work-release building, according to court papers. The indictment alleges that he once tipped off an inmate to a search for drugs at the inmate's home. He is charged with one count of conspiracy to distribute drugs and five counts of distributing crack cocaine. The sheriff's office has placed him on administrative leave. No other members of the office are under suspicion in the case, federal investigators said. The sheriff's office has instituted a system of checks on officers supervising the work-release program. The office has not tested employees for drugs but will consider it, Armentrout said. "I'd hate to put a loyal, 35-year employee through something like that, but it's something we're looking at," he said. Joining the sheriff at the news conference were John L. Brownlee, U.S. attorney for the Western District of Virginia, and other federal and local authorities who worked on the case. Armentrout said he had never had to deal with such an investigation during 28 years as sheriff and 38 in law enforcement. "I feel like I let the community down by giving this guy a badge," he said. Brownlee commended Armentrout and the sheriff's office for calling in federal authorities and helping investigate one of their own. "This is a tough case. It always is whenever law enforcement is on this end of a criminal indictment," Brownlee said. - --- MAP posted-by: Beth