This week's corrupt cop story

Another week, more corrupt cop stories.

Newsbrief: This Week's Corrupt Cops Story 5/28/04
Greedy, greedy, greedy. The allure of easy riches continues to prove too much for some of our men in blue. There have been two corrupt cop cases in the news this week. Based solely on the weights of the dope involved, runner-up honors go to Malden, Massachusetts, police detective David Jordan, who was one of four men arrested May 20 for possession of cocaine with intent to distribute.

Jordan and Jon Minotti, Anthony Bucci, and Francis Muolo were also charged with conspiracy to possess more than 500 grams with the intent to distribute. According to a statement issued by US Attorney Michael Sullivan, Jordan and his trio of buddies had hatched a scheme to disguise a drug deal rip-off as a bust.

According to an affidavit filed with the court, "On December 24, 2003, Minotti, Bucci, Muolo, and Jordan conspired to steal three kilograms of cocaine from a scheduled drug deal. It is alleged that Minotti made arrangements for a supplier to bring three kilograms of cocaine to a meeting at the Malden Medical Center parking lot where Bucci was to purchase the cocaine. It is alleged that shortly after the supplier arrived with the cocaine, Jordan, a detective with the Malden Police Department, arrived on the scene, blocking the supplier's vehicle with his own."

The affidavit continued: "Jordan identified himself as a police officer and then Minotti fled into nearby woods with the three kilograms of cocaine. It is alleged that Jordan then allowed the supplier and Bucci to leave the scene. It is alleged that, as had been previously arranged, Muolo, who had been waiting in his car on the other side of the nearby woods, picked up Minotti after he had run through the woods with the cocaine."

A pretty nifty scheme, indeed. But there was a problem, according to the affidavit. "At the time, DEA agents were involved in a drug investigation and had a wiretap on the drug supplier's telephone. As part of the separate investigation, the DEA agents were surveilling the supplier and observed the incident."

A DEA investigation ensued, and now, Jordan and his buddies are in jail facing mandatory minimum five-year prison sentences and a maximum of 40 years.

But Detective Jordan's exploit doesn't compare with the efforts of former Chicago police officer Mario Morales, who this week was sentenced to 24 years in prison for stealing more than 200 pounds of mar1juana from one dealer, attempting to rip-off three other dealers, and abusing a baby in the process.

Morales pleaded guilty in January to racketeering conspiracy and brandishing a firearm charges for the series of incidents. In one of them, Morales stole more than 220 pounds of pot and $10,000 in cash from a Latin Kings gang leader in May 2001. A month later, Morales and a codefendant tried to steal more drugs and money from the man's girlfriend, only to leave her handcuffed with her baby on her lap when they didn't find anything.

In a third robbery attempt, Morales and another codefendant tried to kidnap another drug dealer, but the man struggled and fled. Morales admitted that he flashed his police badge and brandished his weapon during that incident, automatically adding another eight years to his sentence.

Morales' attorney pleaded for mercy, saying his client had been an alcoholic, steroid abuser, and was strung out on pain pills.

http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/339/two.shtml

 

Newsbrief: This Week's Corrupt Cops Story 6/4/04
And the beat goes on. This week's corrupt cops hail from Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, and got themselves in trouble by peddling pain pills. According to the New Orleans Times-Picayune, Jefferson Parish sheriff's deputies Richard Wong, 48, and Floyd Carver, 49, were fired on May 28 after being arrested on charges of selling hydrocodone, the generic version of the popular pain reliever Vicodin. The pair were also charged with malfeasance in office, and Wong was hit with an additional 18 counts of payroll fraud.

Altogether, Wong faces 25 counts of hydrocodone sales, two counts of conspiracy to possess drugs, two counts of conspiracy to distribute drugs, and two counts of malfeasance in office, as well as the payroll fraud counts. Carver was booked on three counts of hydrocodone sales, one count of possession, two possession conspiracy counts, and two sales conspiracy counts, as well as one count of malfeasance in office.

Carver was a 12-year veteran of the sheriff's office, while Wong had put in four years. Wong has been released on a $305,000 bond, while at last report Carver was still sitting in the Jefferson Parish Correctional Center in Gretna trying to come up with $40,000 to cover his bond.

The sheriff's department has released no other details on the case.

http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/340/jeffersonparish.shtml

 

Newsbrief: This Week's Corrupt Cops Story 6/25/04
This week's winner is not a person but a place: the Memphis Police Department's property and evidence room. Over a period of years, a malevolent spirit emanating from that spot has somehow forced employee after employee to corrupt himself by selling out the back door evidence that came in the front door. According to a state audit released Tuesday, more than $2 million worth of cocaine, 560 pounds of mar1juana, 66 guns, and $147,000 in cash have vanished from the evidence room since 1999. That was the year another scathing state audit reported similar problems and warned of worse to come.

Numerous department employees, drug dealers, and others face federal charges. Memphis police officials hired Jay Liner to clean up the operation after the 1999 report. He is now charged with stealing guns, jewelry, golf clubs and bottles of champagne from the room. Former property room supervisor Kenneth Dansberry has already pleaded guilty to drug conspiracy charges. He told federal agents he once sold 10 kilograms of cocaine off the loading dock, he had forgotten how much coke he sold overall, and that he had so much cash piled up at home in was getting moldy.

The candy store would have been open still but for the arrest of a drug courier in April 2003. He was getting his dope from the evidence room. The man, who has also pleaded guilty to drug charges, said he got the goodies from former property room employee Patrick Maxwell, who awaits trial.

Two more property room employees, Alnita Campbell and Jacqueline Layrock, are charged with taking $100,000 from Dansberry to keep quiet. They are also charged with the theft of another $30,000, as well as destroying evidence envelopes to hide the thefts.

The state audit found a property room almost devoid of controls, without even an employee policy manual, where employees had the ability to alter records. And they were sloppy, the audit found, noting that loose mar1juana was laying around on shelves.

Memphis police shut down the room in the basement of the Shelby County Jail once the audit began in September 2003 and have instituted rigorous security procedures to ensure it doesn't happen again, said Memphis Police Deputy Director Ray Schwill. "I was shocked, as I believe everyone was," at the scope of the thefts, he told the Memphis Commercial Appeal.

Michael Heidingsfield, head of the Memphis Shelby Crime Commission, who called the report "damning," may have been shocked, but only at the extent of the problem, not its existence. "These issues are five years old," he said, "and they involve fundamental police policies."

http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/343/memphis.shtml

 

As long as prohibition is the drug "control" policy, there will be people who will supply drugs and people who will be corrupted by the massive profits available. It is time to see that legitimate businesspeople and the government are the ones responsible for controlling the distribution of these dangerous chemicals.

 

Newsbrief: This Week's Corrupt Cops Story 7/9/04
Two nominees this one, and since it is difficult to measure their respective offenses on the odiousness meter, we present them in no particular order.

First up is former Washington, DC, police officer Shawn Verbeke. He has been indicted by a Washington grand jury on charges he shook down dealers at nightclubs, stole their drugs, and sold them, splitting the profits with an informant. Sadly for Verbeke, his informant buddy behaved as informants do and snitched him out to avoid trouble for himself.

Verbeke, a former Marine and former member of the US Capitol Police, served on the DC Metro Police force from 1999 to 2002. He is being held without bond until trial in September, according to a report from local TV station NBC4.

Next in this week's spotlight is former Charlotte, North Carolina, police detective Wyatt Henderson. He remains free despite having been convicted and sentenced to federal prison for pistol-whipping a teenage suspect during an alleged mar1juana buy in 2002 and then lying to his superiors about it.

He remains free because US District Court Judge Anne Conway is unhappy with the federal Bureau of Prisons' decision to send him to a medium security prison. The judge is concerned about the safety of the 6'5", 250-pound ex-cop, the Charlotte Sun Herald reported. Conway wants Henderson sent to the minimum security prison camp at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida, but federal prosecutors object, saying it would not be appropriate to place a violent felon at a prison "where there are high-ranking military officers." (Prosecutors did not elaborate on why it was wrong to subject incarcerated military officers, who are professionally trained for combat, to the presence of a common thug.)

Although prosecutors noted that the federal Bail Reform Act requires that those convicted of "crimes of violence" should be jailed during appeals, Judge Conway has freed him indefinitely. At this writing, it is unclear if, when, or where Henderson will serve his time.

Henderson resigned his position just in time to avoid additional charges relating to a fake college diploma and the $1,300 in education incentive funds he improperly took for "earning" the degree. Actually, Henderson is a serial credential faker. After being caught once in degree fraud, he did it again, purchasing two more degrees from "St. Regis University," whose campus is in an unnamed African nation. "I wanted to prove to myself I could get a real college degree," he said in a non sequitur during cross-examination in court.

Now, let's see if he gets the prison sentence he really earned.


http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/345/twowinners.shtml

 

Newsbrief: This Week's Corrupt Cops Story 8/27/04
At least one reader had an issue with one of last week's corrupt cop stories, Buffalo, New York, police officer Ronnie Funderburk, who faces felony charges for advising his drug dealer brother-in-law how to avoid arrest. The reader suggested that Funderburk was essentially doing nothing more than a little harm reduction for his in-law. That is true. What in our opinion makes Funderburk corrupt is that he was doing it only for family members. Because Funderburk was a cop, brother-in-law got special favors unavailable to the general public. If police officers wish to issue pamphlets on how drug offenders can avoid arrest, and they make them generally available, we're all for it.

This week's corrupt cops story is a bit more straightforward. The Newark Star-Ledger reported Tuesday that the Newark Police Department and the New Jersey Division of Criminal Justice have been investigating allegations that up to a half-dozen "rogue cops" have been shaking down drug dealers and prostitutes, then peddling the guns and drugs seized from their victims. The evidence is about to be presented to a statewide grand jury, law enforcement officials told the Star-Ledger.

Police trotted out familiar platitudes about bad apples. "There is an investigation by the Division of Criminal Justice targeting corruption in the ranks of the Newark Police Department," said Newark Police Director Anthony Ambrose. "The vast majority of the Newark Police Department are good, hardworking officers," Ambrose said of the 1,900-person police department. "But like anywhere else, there may be a few rotten apples in the bunch. These are the ones who can blemish the good people who come to work every day and do their jobs."

But there may be more than a few bad apples. According to Newark police union leader Jack McEntee, more than 80 police officers have received letters from the Division of Criminal Justice saying they are either potential witnesses or subjects of the investigation. And it could be more than shakedowns and dope-dealing cops. "Officials familiar with the probe" told the Star-Ledger the investigation is also checking out allegations Newark police conducted illegal searches, planted drugs on suspects or failed to turn in all of the funds seized during drug raids. "Pure and simple, this is about bad cops doing bad things on the street," one of the officials said.

One official told the Star-Ledger the bad cops "did not hesitate resorting to violence" and that the haul from their robberies of drug dealers was in the thousands of dollars. That same official added that the rogue officers did not appear to be working together. Oh, great! We have groups of Newark cops independently arriving at the same corrupt and vicious course of action. Could there be a structural problem here?

http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/351/newark.shtml

 

Newsbrief: This Week's Corrupt Cops Story 9/3/04
One thing you can say about drug prohibition is that it provides an endless supply of fodder for this feature. This week, we head down south to West Memphis, Arkansas, where the Crittenden County jail administrator was charged August 23 with possession of a controlled substance and public service bribery, the Memphis Commercial Appeal reported.

Reginald Abram, 29, was busted after accepting delivery of more than two ounces of cocaine for delivery to an inmate, West Memphis Police Chief Mike Allen told the newspaper. "We received information that Reginald Abram was using his official capacity as chief administrator of Crittenden County Detention Center in an illegal capacity," Allen said. So they set him up and busted him when he bit.

Abram is a five-year veteran of the Crittenden County Sheriff's Department. He took over the jail administrator job June 5. There must be something about that position. Abram got the job after his predecessor, Robert Bretherick, was charged with witness tampering and deprivation of rights.

http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/352/memphis.shtml

 

I would think that would be a good thing, and is one of my strongest arguments for regulating drug sales. Eventually, overall drug use would drop, particularly use of cocaine and heroin.

More will choose not to use drugs, yes, but it is still a choice that they can make for themselves as adults. Some people will choose to use drugs, as they have throughout history. Our drug policy should minimize the access our kids have and should minimize the societal impacts of drug use. We will never get everyone to stop using drugs, but we can teach them how to use them without killing themselves or others, without causing harm to their families, and without having harmful impact on the community.

We can do this most effectively by regulating sales and forcing people to become educated before they start using drugs. We require education for driving, carrying a handgun, even birthing classes seemed required. Why wouldn't we want to educate potential drug users?

 

Newsbrief: This Week's Corrupt Cops Story 9/17/04
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/354/oxendine.shtml
Boy, let this feature slide for one week and we hear it from the readers. Not to fret -- there is always more coming down the pike -- prohibition ensures it. While last week we came up empty, we make up for it this week with a double dose of corrupt cops.

This week's runner-up is former Massachusetts corrections officer Christine Callahan of Weymouth. While employed at the Norfolk County House of Corrections, Callahan smuggled in heroin to inmate Anthony Marchetti, who overdosed and died inside the jail. Last week, the Associated Press reported, Callahan pled guilty to distribution of heroin and distribution of heroin in a jail. On Tuesday, Norfolk Superior Court Judge Barbara Dortch-Okara sentenced the ex-guard to 2 ½ years in prison.

Callahan's acts were corruption of the most venal and banal sort; the acts of which Lumberton, North Carolina, police Lt. Leon Oxendine stand accused threaten to corrupt the workings of the criminal justice system itself. Again according to the Associated Press, Oxendine is currently in federal court facing charges of witness tampering, lying to the FBI, and five counts of lying to a grand jury. He stands accused of conspiring to plant evidence at the home of a man he suspected of being a drug dealer. Another Lumberton officer involved in the case, James Jordan, has already pled guilty to a misdemeanor charge after originally facing similar charges and will be sentenced after testifying against Oxendine.

In court testimony Tuesday, Oxendine faced the ironic situation of having his own informant rat him out. Scott LaClaire, an ex-con seeking to avoid going back to the pen, testified that he went to the Lumberton police looking to cut a deal. He knew a drug dealer who had a computer disk with an image of $100 bill, he testified he told Oxendine. But the disk was really in LaClaire's possession, and when Oxendine found out, he told LaClaire to go to the house and plant the disk. "It was his intention to arrest [the drug dealer] for the disk and get him on federal [counterfeiting] charges," LaClaire said.

Oxendine is charged with lying to the FBI and the grand jury about his role in planting the disk, as well as denying that he had conspired with LaClaire to commit the deed. LaClaire has pled guilty to misdemeanor obstruction of justice charges and will be sentenced after testifying against Oxendine. The trial continues this week.

 

Newsbrief: This Week's Corrupt Cops Stories 10/15/04
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/358/thisweek1.shtml
The beat goes on. Without further ado:

In Kansas City, a former police sergeant pleaded guilty in federal court on October 7 to bilking the US government out of $30,000 for security services never performed. Robert Maize, 45, established two companies that employed off-duty Kansas City police officers to provide security at inner city apartment complexes, with payment coming from anti-drug security grants from the US Department of Housing and Urban Development. The contract was legitimate, but Maize's work reporting wasn't. In pleading to one count of wire fraud, Maize admitted to billing 743.5 hours of security time worth $29,099.58 for work that never took place. Maize, who resigned from the force the day before he pled guilty, now faces up to six months in federal prison. Maize was suspended from the force in April 2002 and received wages totaling more than $120,000 after the Kansas City Board of Police Commissioners decided to pay him until the case was resolved.

In New York City, a former narcotics detective was sent to prison for two years October 8 after pleading guilty in April to robbing drug dealers. Carlos Rodriguez, 39, became the first officer sent to prison in what is the city's worst police corruption scandal in a decade, the New York Times reported. Rodriguez admitted to stealing $100,000 from a drug dealer and splitting the proceeds with another officer. He told the court he spent his $45,000 take on renovating his Long Island home. He also told the court he was drunk and distraught over his wife's health when he committed the crime, but that didn't buy him much leniency.

The same day that Rodriguez was sentenced, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation announced the arrest of Highway Patrol trooper Sgt. Reginald Flagg of Clarksville and three others on crack cocaine possession and conspiracy charges. Flagg is accused of conspiring to possess more than 300 grams of the rock, while a nightclub owner and two others face related charges. The charge is a Tennessee Class A felony and carries a 15-to-25-year prison sentence. Flagg is free on $50,000 bail.

And a day earlier in Sanford, North Carolina, a former Sanford police officer was charged with stealing two pounds of mar1juana from the department's evidence room. James Ed Gregory faces two counts, one of delivering mar1juana and one of possession with intent to sell, the Sanford Herald reported. Gregory allegedly stole the weed stash in March, when he took it from the evidence locker saying he was going to destroy it because it was no longer needed as evidence.