ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times

DATE: Wednesday, February 21, 1996           TAG: 9602210048
SECTION: VIRGINIA                 PAGE: C-1  EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: LAURENCE HAMMACK STAFF WRITER 

FORMER DRIVER GUILTY ROANOKE SCHOOL BUS DRIVER HAD POT, CRACK

A former Roanoke school bus driver admitted Tuesday having 38 grams of crack cocaine buried in the dirt of his basement floor.

Wayne A. Hicks, 24, pleaded guilty to possession of cocaine with intent to distribute during a hearing in U.S. District Court in Roanoke.

Although authorities said Hicks was dealing out of his home on Moorman Road Northwest, defense attorney Tony Anderson said there was no evidence to suggest that Hicks was selling cocaine while on the job as a school bus driver.

Hicks, who lost his job after the indictment was unsealed in December, hugged his daughter after Tuesday's hearing, then was led off to jail to await sentencing. He will face five to 40 years and a maximum fine of $2 million. His sentencing hearing has not yet been scheduled.

According to Assistant U.S. Attorney Sharon Burnham, Hicks became the focus of a drug investigation last September by state and federal officials, who obtained a warrant to search his home.

After police found a pound of marijuana, two guns and about $700 in cash in Hicks' bedroom, he led them to the basement, where he dug the cocaine out of the dirt, Burnham said. The drugs, considered an unusually large amount, had an estimated street value of $3,800.

Since Hicks was charged, federal agents have learned of new witnesses who could lead to additional charges. But as part of a plea agreement accepted by Judge Jackson Kiser, prosecutors promised not to seek new indictments in return for Hicks' guilty plea.

Although Hicks did not have a criminal record when he was hired as a school bus driver last February, court records show that he was convicted last year of passing a stopped school bus, failing to stop for a police officer, and escape.

Because state law requires the Department of Motor Vehicles to notify school systems if bus drivers are convicted of reckless driving or drunken driving - but not the traffic infractions for which Hicks was convicted - school administrators did not learn of the offenses until after Hicks was charged with cocaine possession.

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