Tamera Brice took the stand yesterday in federal court and said former Rankin Police Chief Darryl Briston took her money, wouldn't give it back and forged her signature on a car-repair deal she said she never approved.

"He told me I won't ever get it back because it was a drug bust," said Brice. "[He said] it was a drug bust and they're allowed to do whatever they want with the money."

No they aren't, say federal prosecutors.

Briston, 40, is on trial on charges of stealing $5,855 that had been seized by Rankin police at Brice's home in April 2002 when the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives arrested her ex-boyfriend, Richard Powell, two years ago at the house.

Briston is accused of using for his own purposes money being kept in the Rankin safe. Prosecutors later added charges that he falsified receipts to make it look like most of the money had been spent fixing Brice's Chevrolet Blazer after a tour bus smashed into it in July 2003.

Brice admitted that some of the cash was drug money given to her by Powell, but she said she earned some of it working and got some from her family. Regardless of the source, she said she didn't sign off on a deal to let Briston use the money for car repairs and said her signature on a document saying she did is a forgery.

Omar R. Deer, owner of the Allmor Corp. auto body shop where the work was done, said the repairs cost $1,910, not the $5,787 Briston had claimed.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Cessar and Roy Conn, a Justice Department prosecutor, said in their opening arguments that they will prove Briston stole the money and then forged documents presented to the grand jury. Among the witnesses against him, they said, will be four of his officers.

Briston's lawyer, Caroline Roberto, argued that Briston is the victim of a revenge plot by Rankin Mayor Demont Coleman, who has clashed with Briston many times over the years. The two are embroiled in a civil suit, which Briston filed against Coleman after he was charged.

Roberto said Coleman persuaded Brice to falsely accuse the chief after he overheard her tell a neighbor the chief was fixing her Blazer. She said he took advantage of that opportunity to concoct a plan to get rid of Briston.

"This case is less about the crime that took place but a political vendetta orchestrated by the mayor of Rankin to oust the chief of police," she said.

Brice was never charged with a crime, and Brice said Briston wouldn't give the money back despite repeated requests.