Jones used her card regularly for travel and meals, and signed for several of the furniture purchases. Attempts to reach her Tuesday were unsuccessful. Newell also could not be reached Tuesday night. Drug forfeiture and seizure program rules say the money can be used for vaguely defined law enforcement purposes. The funds cannot be used for salaries.
Many agencies strictly regulate their own use of forfeiture money.
The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, for instance, does not allow its agents to use drug funds for travel or meals, except to buy a meal for an informant. Forfeiture money makes up the bulk of the OCU budget. Jones had been over OCU since being promoted to deputy chief nearly one year ago. Before that she ran the unit as a major for about one year. She has been assigned to OCU since 1991.