Pubdate: Mon, 27 Dec 1999
Source: Topeka Capital-Journal (KS)
Copyright: 1999 The Topeka Capital-Journal
Contact:  616 S.E. Jefferson, Topeka, Kansas 66607
Website: http://cjonline.com/

MENELEY TIMELINE

Here is how the case has progressed.

DEC. 4, 1998 -- Shawnee County District Judge Thomas Conklin orders the
release of a 1996 KBI report of cocaine disappearing from a Shawnee County
Sheriff's Department evidence locker in 1994.

DEC. 10, 1998 -- Meneley at a news conference denies knowing where the
missing cocaine went and says statements to the contrary by three deputies
are lies.

FEB. 4, 1999 -- An attorney for drug defendant Carlos Hernandez files a
district court action to dismiss marijuana charges filed in 1995, alleging
misconduct by sheriff's narcotics officers and a break in the chain of
custody.

FEB. 26, 1999 -- Sheriff's Deputy Tim Oblander resigns and three days later
issues a statement admitting he had addictions to alcohol and cocaine
obtained through his law enforcement work. He denies having stolen cocaine.

MARCH 17, 1999 -- Sponsors file a petition with the Shawnee County Election
Commissioner's office and begin collecting signatures to force a recall
election on Meneley.

APRIL 2, 1999 -- Oblander is arrested on charges of six counts of perjury
for alleged false testimony about the drug scandal in the sheriff's
department and one count of official misconduct.

APRIL 19, 1999 -- Meneley is arrested on charges of two counts of perjury
regarding testimony on Oblander's drug habit and the missing cocaine evidence.

APRIL 20, 1999 -- Deputy Frank Good, Oblander's former partner, is arrested
on charges of two counts of perjury.

MAY 11, 1999 -- District Judge Eric Rosen dismisses drug charges against
Carlos Hernandez and says drugs used as evidence by the sheriff's
department from January 1994 through December 1996 were "irreparably
contaminated and tainted."

MAY 24, 1999 -- Based on information uncovered by the KBI in a second
probe, Kansas Attorney General Carla Stovall files an ouster proceeding to
remove Meneley from office. She cites 13 counts of willful misconduct or
violations of moral turpitude, eight linked to the missing cocaine case and
five to alleged misuse of the Triple-I database.

JUNE 15, 1999 -- The recall petition effort fails because sponsors gathered
only slightly more than half the signatures needed to force an election.

OCT. 7, 1999 -- Sheriff's Lt. Larry Crady issues the results of his 9-month
investigation, ordered in December 1998 by Meneley, that implicates former
deputy J.D. Sparkman as the culprit who stole the missing drugs. Hamilton
blasts the report and elects not to take it seriously.

OCT. 12, 1999 -- Members of the Phelps family of attorneys are introduced
as Meneley's attorneys in his perjury case. District judges had dismissed
Meneley's previous counsel, Billy Rork, from the case because of a conflict
of interest posed by his representing both Meneley and Tim Oblander.

DEC. 10, 1999 -- Hamilton announces Oblander will testify against Meneley
and Good in their perjury trials as a result of a plea bargain through
which Oblander accepts diversion.

DEC. 13, 1999 -- Rork steps down as attorney for Meneley in his ouster
case, saying it would be a conflict of interest for Rork to cross-examine
former client Oblander during the ouster trial.
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