APnv 09/10 1010 Drescher-Bordenkircher MOUNDSVILLE, W.Va. (AP) -- A Hare Krishna swami, co

APnv 09/10 1010  Drescher-Bordenkircher
   MOUNDSVILLE, W.Va. (AP) -- A Hare Krishna swami, convicted of one murder and
facing another murder charge in California, is "an absolute liar" for claiming
in a $50 million lawsuit that he was mistreated in jail, a sheriff says.
   Marshall County Sheriff Donald Bordenkircher on Wednesday called the suit
filed by Thomas Drescher "horse apples."
   Drescher has said he was mistreated at the Moundsville jail from May 1986
until January 1987, prior to his transfer to the penitentiary.
   Drescher, 38, of Buffalo, N.Y., is serving a life term without parole after
being found guilty of murdering another Krishna devotee, Charles Saint Denis,
in 1983.
   The West Virginia Supreme Court granted Drescher a 60-day stay of his
extradition to stand trial on an unrelated murder charge in California last
week. He is accused of gunning down Steve Bryant, a dissident Krishna follower,
in Los Angeles last year.
   The sheriff said authorities took away Drescher's religious beads during his
stay at the jail because an informant said they may have contained drugs.
   No contraband was found and the beads were returned, Bordenkircher said in
his reply, which was mailed last week but has yet to be filed with the U.S.
District Court in Clarksburg.
   Bordenkircher said jail officials once took Drescher's lawyer to New
Vrindaban, the Krishna settlement near Moundsville, to get more beads.
   "Those beads are imported from India," Drescher said. "If they contained
foreign substances, I'm sure the Federal Drug Administration would have caught
them long ago."
   The sheriff added that Drescher was stripped to his underwear and kept in a
cell with only a mattress for his last 10 days at the jail because police
thought he would try to commit suicide.
   Bordenkircher's written response said an inmate had told authorities that
Drescher had vowed never to serve one day of hs prison sentence.
   "We're dealing with some very devious personalities here," Drescher said
during a telephone interview Wednesday. "They're saying the Krishnas are the
ones who are no good.
   "Well, we'll let a judge and jury decide that."
   Marshall County Prosecutor Thomas White, who is representing Bordenkircher
in the lawsuit, said no hearing date has been scheduled in the case.