The News and Observer from Raleigh, North Carolina • 16

I F110111 PAGE ONE THE SEWS NomTHURSDAY AUGUST 3 1995 16A PATERNITY stay away from her Leaman Weary began divorce proceedings and also filed for custody of their son He contacted the SBI and told them a fantastic tale about his wife submitting false blood samples in paternity tests in exchange for money from the suspected fathers He claimed she had done it dozens of times but he could only remember the names in one case: Larry Melton and Sheila Fleming down began in 1989 when Fleming was 29 and working as a customer service representative at a Charlotte bank A quiet woman she didn't have much of a social life That changed when a friend introduced her to a handsome stranger named Larry Melton Melton 10 years her senior was separated from his wife at the time They had been dating for several months when Melton surprised Fleming: He was reconciling with his wife But Fleming dropped a bigger bomb: She was pregnant "He stopped coming around after that" she said in October 1993 "He wanted me to get an abortion and said he would pay for it I didn't want to because I'm against it" Fleming said that Melton continued to pressure her to get an abortion He told her that his name and his family would be ruined Finally Melton said that if she had the baby he would find a way to avoid paying child support according to Fleming On Feb 20 1990 Joshua was born in a Charlotte hospital On his birth certificate Fleming left the space for the father's name blank When Melton refused to support the child Fleming contacted the Mecklenburg County Child Support Enforcement Agency A judge ordered Melton to take a paternity test At the time the state had a contract with Genetic Design to administer paternity tests Genet ie Design a national company with 220 employees in the Greensboro area sent Weary to draw blood samples from Melton Fleming and the child Weary arrived at the Child Support Enforcement Agency in August 1990 and drew blood from Sheila and Joshua Fleming An independent contractor Weary worked for the company for more than three years as a phlebotomist someone trained to draw blood During this time she drew blood for hundreds of tests in at least 10 counties Genetic Design paid her $950 for each test Law has few specifics State law gives few specifics about how such tests are to be conducted The General Statutes require that they be performed by a "duly qualified" person Individual counties and companies outline their own policies For security purposes most child-support enforcement officials and companies recommend that all parties and their attorneys be present when the samples are drawn Some companies require the subjects to be photographed and fingerprinted They also suggest that an independent witness attend Weary Fleming and Joshua were the only ones present during their encounter When the blood-taking was finished Weary took Fleming's thumbprint and had her sign some paperwork according to court records Weary returned to Charlotte on equipment drew enough blood to fill three vials and placed them in a sack with Melton's name on it Brown said The blood samples were sent to a lab along with Fleming's and Joshua's blood The paternity test either excludes the man from being the father or determines paternity within a 99 percent probability "Of course he came back being excluded" Brown said Fleming insisted the test was wrong The child support officials said there was nothing else they could do for her and advised her to hire a lawyer if she wanted to pursue the matter She couldn't afford one For the next three years Fleming lived with her sister raised Joshua on her small salary and struggled to stay off welfare She worried about what people thought of her "It just made me so sick" Fleming said She wondered how Melton managed to beat the test She got her answer in August 1993 Child support enforcement officials called to say that they needed new blood samples from Fleming and Joshua They wouldn't say why at first but Fleming soon found out Husband turns her in About two hours away on Interstate 85 Karen and Leaman Weary lived in a trailer in Orange County After a rocky marriage Karen Weary obtained a domestic violence order in April 1993 and the court ordered her husband to Sept 26 to repeat the procedure with Melton "She could tell he was ner- vous" said Brown the assistant district attorney "He was talking about how this would ruin his family and his marriage" 'How much is it Weary asked Melton one question: "How much is it worth to you not to be found the father of the child?" Melton later testified that he thought he was being set up Brown said But a few minutes later he considered Weary's offer For $500 she could make sure the test came back negative The bribe was a relatively cheap investment considering that it could save him from paying more than $100000 in child support Melton agreed He left the office and returned a few hours later with $250 in cash and a promise to pay the rest later Weary took Melton's photo thumbprint and had him sign the paperwork She left with everything but Melton's blood Weary and her husband Leaman were driving back through Charlotte along Independence Boulevard when Karen Weary spotted two men walking down the street She asked her husband to pull over Karen Weary told the men she was conducting an experiment and would pay them $30 for a blood sample One of the men agreed and climbed into the car's passenger seat Karen Weary pulled out her CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 A other mothers are suffering because of this woman" Backtracking through years of paternity tests and checking their accuracy isn't an easy task Weary maintains she is innocent despite failing the polygraph test and has refused to cooperate with prosecutors She was indicted in another case in Durham County but that charge was dropped after a retest showed that the man was not the father after all Now authorities are sifting through hundreds of cases involving blood samples that Weary took Prosecutors in other counties where Weary worked have called Mecklenburg to inquire about the case The process will take months as investigators interview people who were tested In some cases they might request new tests Brown said Handsome stranger Barry Miller chief off local operations for the state's child support enforcement prOgram said he doubts that any security measure can stop somebody who wants to rig the test "No matter how vigilant the state might be remember this took place on the street" he said "There's no way to guard against every possibility" The case that brought Weary Once-proud Sarajevo turns its back on own culture ''''''''t''': '0 :2 Z''''' W''e f''' r' i''''6441 'Z''''' 4 ''''t '''''1 ''''f4'if V'' i''" f''''''' 'I 'r i'i -'4' k' 4 't 14 4' C''''' 'e 1---t: t- iiir' -'4 '''t eq Eri 0 '''i' Tt7 1''4'1' t' 1 A "I'' 21 V'': iy 1- 44r4 0 l't a 4 4 1 -t I 1'44 el: 4 '-4-t e'- ''A 'If 4 :440 4 z-- 14 4 1 l'1 2' '''''''''''47' --(z 7 "''-44t2- -7 7 '-''''-'4' i 1-'--'z 2 v-4 5 4 ''-'4-'''t t' i''i i''' c' '4 teL 4 i 'E IN- 7y Investigators were skeptical and suspicious of Leaman Wee- ry's motives But when they confronted Melton he immediately confessed Brown said "For whatever reason Leaman Weary did come forward I'm glad he did" Brown said "I'm glad he turned her in" Melton could not be reached for comment for this story and has consistently declined to comment in the past Karen Weary is in jail and Fleming still works in Charlotte In November 1994 the court ordered Melton to pay Fleming $20746 to make up for the child support he had avoided and then $450 a month until Joshua is an adult "I try to keep it out of my mind" Fleming said in a recent interview "She should have got ten a longer sentence But I'm glad it's over with" Almost over with Joshua now 5 wants to meet his dad "I have to make arrangements for him" Fleming said "I hope it'll be soon" CROATIA CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 A to pull out of Zepa the UN "safe area" that fell to rebel Serbs last month said officials in Sarajevo Bosnia-Herzegovina The pullout from Zepa a cluster of mountain villages southeast of Sarajevo was aimed at preventing UN peacekeepers from being taken hostage When the Serbs overran Zepa most of the 79 Ukrainian peace- keepers in the enclave accompanied civilians who were evacuated The United Nations then sent in another 200 peacekeepers to help negotiate safe passage for those civilians wishing to leave later and to ensure that no atrocities were committed The withdrawal was prompted by France which decided Wednesday to remove its 70 troops from the 200-man battalion in Zepa UN spokesman Alexander Ivanko said It also came a day after NATO decided to use more robust air power to protect the four remaining "safe areas" in Bosnia Gorazde Bihac Tuzla and Sarajevo In other developments Wednesday: Croatian artillery in Bosnia targeted the Serb-held border town of Strmica again Wednesday drawing fire from the Croatian Serbs A NATO plane enforcing the UN's "no-fly zone" over Bosnia ordered a Croatian Serb jet to return to base in Croatia after it crossed into Bosnian airspace the plane turned back Gen Ratko Mladic the Bosnian Serb military leader said that Croatia's intervention in Bosnia "gives us the right to call on a' third country to solve its and our problems on this territory" He apparently was referring to Serbia Judge Richard Goldstone the chief prosecutor of a UN war crimes tribunal on former Yugoslavia said that the tribunal had enough evidence to put Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic and his military chief Gen Ratko Mladic on trial Goldstone said he thought the two men who were indicted last week on charges of genocide war crimes and crimes against humanity would be brought to justice that one of the employees George Parrott made calls to pawn shops to sell jewelry as part of a private business he worked with Parrott unavailable for comment Wednesday put together a continuing education seminar in Atlantic Beach for funeral home directors The purpose of the seminar was to provide the directors with information about investment fraud but Parrott also received a continuing education credit that he needed to maintain his own funeral home director's license Although the letter from Campbell was written almost a year ago it has not been made public before Campbell's office typically issues news releases announcing new audit reports but does not do so with management letters such as the one sent to Edmisten Campbell released the letter when it was requested by The MO saying the employees it scrutinized were no longer working with the department at the time the letter was written Staff writers Carrick Mottenkamp and Andrew Curtiss contributed to this report Besieged Sarajevans on Wednesday pass through a tunnel connecting two parts of north Sarajevo THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Sarajevans feel betrayed by the West's 'unfulfilled' promises BY CHRIS HEDGES THE NEW YORK TIMES SARAJEVO Bosnia-Herzegovina With faith in the West extinguished an outgunned army on the defensive and most of the city's intellectuals and professionals in exile this capital is turning away from a cosmopolitan European past and embracing a nationalism built on religious identity and indifference to its tradition of artistic and cultural wealth "The people in Bosnia feel betrayed by the Western international community" said Tank Kupusovic the mayor of Sarajevo "Ml the promises that have been made by the West after all have never been fulfilled People are beginning to look at Europe and themselves differently" Sarajevo once one of the most integrated and religiously diverse cities in Europe a place where Slays of all religions could live together comfortably has changed perhaps forever Hatred and anger coupled with a deep distrust of the outside world are breeding legions of new nationalists And many here now openly embrace the xenophobia that seems embedded in all unadulterated nationalism The Bosnian Serbs paint the war to their own audience as a battle by Christendom against the inroads of "Islamic fundamentalism" One of the great ironies of the conflict is that by prosecuting the war the Bosnian Serbs are creating a Muslim state the very thing they say they set out to destroy In this city under daily assault where 10500 people have died from shelling or sniper fire and 50000 more have been wounded in the past three years patience has run out on both sides Serbs still living in Sarajevo are having a harder time coping with the growing Muslim flavor of Bosnian nationalism And many Sarajevans regardless of their ethnic or religious background no longer have the desire or the energy to explain their suffering to those from the West EDMISTEN CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 A that he later helped her get a job in the state Commerce Department He said the woman was the daughter of a longtime friend and that he had done nothing wrong "When in the world did it become a crime for somebody to help a friend of the family?" Edmisten said adding that he considered the young woman "like a daughter to me" Edmisten said that both the Montana trip and the cellular phone calls to her home were legitimate work-related expenses The report came at a time when other problems in Edmisten's department are coming to light In a discreet letter to Edmisten last year obtained by The News Observer State Auditor Ralph Campbell cited several instances of improper behavior in ten's department including employees' abuse of telephones and an employee who worked for seven months without the knowl broadcasts often show Arabic documents and identity cards that the Serbs say they have taken from dead Bosnian soldiers The very fiber of the city has changed with more than half its prewar population of 450000 gone of the 280000 who are here now an estimated 100000 came as refugees from villages taken over by the Serbs Men and boys from the hinterlands watch their goats and sheep graze on the grassy divides between the streets and in the parks Families unaccustomed 'to urban life toss food scraps from the windows Women do the laundry in the canals A small number of women now wear Islamic head coverings something that was unseen in Sarajevo before the war Farmers and laborers from the countryside have taken over apartments abandoned by the doctors lawyers teachers musicians and business owners who fled Seid Lindov a 60-year-old carpenter sat with his wife on the 14th floor of a huge apartment block that is pock-marked with holes from Serbian shells He said Bosnian Serb troops drove his family from the suburb of Ilidza three years ago They lost everything and settled in the building on the edge of the city His two sons now fight on the front lines around Sarajevo "We are not interested in these intellectuals who talk of living together" he said seated at a tiny kitchen table "They have all left Bosnia It is the poor who remain to fight This country belongs to us now not them" And those intellectuals and professionals who remain and who defend Western culture and its values have little influence in a city that once overflowed with artists writers professors and intellectuals Late one afternoon in a top-floor apartment that was damaged by a shell Ferida Durakovic one of Sarajevo's best-known poets sat drinking a cognac as air raid sirens wailed "I can understand those who left" she said "Everyone has limits especially if they have children But those who left have no right to criticize what this city has become" McBryde has resigned her positionand said she has no plans to seek the new job "If this is what state government is about I don't want any part of it" she said The report from Campbell the state auditor includes the following findings: An employee Roy Everett Jr worked in the department's securities division for seven months without the knowledge of the division head For much of that period the auditor said Everett worked out of his home in Hamilton "There is a lack of evidence written and otherwise that the employee worked more than a minimal amount" Campbell says in the letter Everett who no longer works for the department said in an interview that he never worked out of his home II An unspecified number of employees made 1867 personal long-distance calls on state telephones during the 12-month period ending November 1993 The calls cost the state 81478 Campbell said in an interview world's Spanish Civil War Videocassettes with gruesome footage of the fighting are hawked on street corners in Cairo Riyadh Istanbul and Tehran The plight of the Bosnian Muslims is decried in mosques across the Muslim world as another move by the Christian-dominated West to crush a resurgent Islam And the Muslim world is responding Saudi Arabia announced this week in the name of King Fand another pledge of more than $10 million for the Bosnian government Also this week Malaysia and Egypt said that they would igrore the international embargo on supplying arms to combatants in the war And last week the Organization of the Islamic Conference declared the UN arms embargo invalid Islamic charities many in Saudi Arabia recruit men especially veterans from the war in Afghanistan to go to the Bosnian front lines Scores have died and at least a few hundred are here fighting Bosnian Serb news employees from his office to the national conference in Montana The cost of her trip including travel and hotel was $1232 A spokesman for Edmisten said McBryde did a great deal of organizational work for the entire conference which was coordinated by a staff member in Edmisten's office Edmisten's cellular phone records show regular calls to McBryde even after she moved to the Commerce Department ranging from 7:30 am to midnight Edmisten said that he called McBryde late at night to ask her to help with odd jobs in his office that needed to be taken care of the next day In June Edmisten placed two calls to Gov Jim Hunt's chief budget adviser Marvin Dorman to discuss adding another securities investigator position in the secretary of state's office Edmisten said he had McBryde in mind when he tried to create the new position but said that she was never assured of getting the job He said she never applied for the position and that if she had been hired it would have been as a trainee The refusal by the Western alliance and the United Nations to confront the Bosnian Serbs has led to a series of military and political disasters for the Bosnian government especially in recent weeks and the recent promises from the West have inspired little enthusiasm among the Bosnian Muslims "What does it matter what we say?" asked a leader in the newly built Islamic Center who refused to give his name "What does it matter what you think of us? You in the West do not care And after three years of being abandoned and lied to we no longer give a damn about you" The great cultural centers of the city including the imposing library the national museum and the university lie gutted symbols of the destruction wrought not just on a city but on an outpost of European civilization While symbols of Europe have become rubble one of the most imposing embassies still under construction in Sarajevo belongs to Iran Tehran which has long supplied Rufus Edmisten says he has done nothing wrong edge of his supervisor After the television report the state Republican Party called for Edmisten's resignation Later Wednesday Edmisten and other Democratic Party leaders fired back accusing the GOP of trying to turn an "ill-informed" news story into a political' power grab 1 I 1 1 A i A i '-i i 1IJ AF rt )6 1 a 0 i 1 1T ou in the west do not care And after three years of being abandoned and lied to we no longer give a damn about you' Islamic Center leader who refused to give his name arms to the Bosnians has also sent groups from the Revolutionary Guards to Bosnia to help foment militant Islamic ideology and assist on the military front Western diplomats said And Iran is not the only country leaving Islam's mark on Bosnia Turkey Saudi Arabia and Iran are giving tens of millions of dollars a year in arms and support to the Muslim fighters according to Western diplomats In a sense the war in Bosnia has become the modern Muslim Edmisten's assistance in getting McBryde jobs is not in question His help dates back to 1991 when she was a freshman at NC State University McBryde's father Roy McBryde said that because he and Edmisten were longtime friends he asked Edmisten to look after her when she arrived in Raleigh from the family's home in Marshville In an interview with The McBryde said she frequently house sits and does other chores for Edmisten's family and that she and Edmisten often attend basketball games and other sporting events She said that if she were a male no one would be questioning the way Edmisten has helped her McBryde was hired as a part-time employee in Edmisten's office in May 1991 and worked periodically there until December 1994 when with the benefit of a recommendation from Edmisten she was offered a job in the Commerce Department as an information-communications specialist In July 1994 McBryde traveled with Edmisten and a few other.