Memphis Homeland Security Office Probed after Bugs Found in Ceiling

Dec. 8, 2006
Sheriff's office completes probe; no charges likely to be filed

The bugging of the Memphis Homeland Security office will not yield any criminal charges, officials said Wednesday.

Shelby County sheriff's detectives have finished their investigation and found no evidence of criminal activity, department spokesman Steve Shular said.

The investigators compiled information on the bugs, which were discovered above ceiling tiles in the Homeland Security offices on Mullins Station in mid-October, and interviewed various people, Shular said.

The report of the investigation was being reviewed Wednesday and may be made available by the week's end, Shular said.

Shular did not say whether the investigators were able to determine who placed the listening devices in the ceiling.

The controversy began when a local television station said it had hours of secretly taped conversations that took place in the Homeland Security office. Clips of conversations picked up by the monitors were later played on a local television station.

The clips detailed conversations between former Homeland Security interim administrator John Todd and other Shelby County officials.

Todd told the station that he made tapes legally, using a handheld digital recorder, and suggested that someone else had placed the monitoring devices in the ceiling tiles.

The county attorney's office is also conducting an internal investigation.