MIAMI POLICE CHIEF'S SON ARRESTED IN SPRING VALLEY POT BUST

Miami Police Chief John Timoney's 25-year-old son was arrested in a
Spring Valley motel room on charges he tried to buy 400 pounds of
marijuana from an undercover federal agent, the Drug Enforcement
Administration said yesterday.

Sean Timoney, who once lived with his family in Montebello, gave the
agent a gym bag filled with about $450,000 in cash, federal court papers state.

Timoney's father once was the New York Police Department's first
deputy commissioner and Philadelphia's police chief before taking
over the Miami department.

Sean Timoney of Philadelphia and Jae Seu, 23, of Glenside, Pa., were
arrested Tuesday night in Spring Valley, said Elizabeth Jordan, a DEA
special agent and agency spokeswoman in Manhattan.

Both were charged with conspiracy to possess and distribute a
controlled substance.

DEA agents whisked the two defendants to Albany for arraignment on the charges.

A federal judge ordered Timoney and Seu held in jail pending a bail
hearing tomorrow.

The DEA complaint states that Timoney and Seu met in a Spring Valley
hotel room with DEA agent Leonard Uller at 8:30 p.m. Tuesday.

After handing over the cash as a "partial payment," they left the
hotel room to inspect the marijuana and were arrested.

Jordan said a gym bag Timoney and Seu brought contained more than
$400,000 in cash.

They were charged with conspiracy to possess and distribute a
controlled substance, she said.

"The two defendants showed up to purchase the marijuana," Jordan
said. "The investigation is ongoing."

Jordan said agents in upstate Plattsburgh ran the drug investigation.

She didn't know why or how the Spring Valley motel was chosen as the
meeting place.

Spring Valley police were told of the DEA operation and played a
minimal backup role when the buy-and-bust took place at the Fairfield
Inn in the Spring Valley Marketplace, Lt. Paul Modica said last night.

"We were ancillary," Modica said. "The DEA had a case going on and
advised us they were in the area. They had their people there. We
don't know the details, but this is stemming from a bigger case."

Modica said the DEA never came back to Spring Valley police
headquarters, and he learned from the media that Timoney's son had
been arrested.

He said the DEA asked the department to refer all questions to the
DEA in Manhattan.

Miami police said yesterday that Chief John Timoney was "aware of the arrest."

"He does not have all the details, and he's not going to comment on
it publicly because it's a private family matter," Miami police
spokesman Delrish Moss said.

Timoney rose through the NYPD's ranks to become its second-highest
ranking officer.

After Mayor Rudolph Giuliani forced out Commissioner William Bratton,
Timoney left the NYPD.

Timoney became Philadelphia's police chief before moving to Miami.

The Dublin, Ireland-born Timoney also helped form and train a police
department in Ireland.

He also was sought after by television networks to comment on police affairs.