Corrupt Cops

In Clovis, New Mexico, a Curry County jail guard was arrested and fired August 7 for trying to smuggle drugs into the county jail. Former jail guard Julian Patrick Garcia, 36, is charged with possession with intent to distribute cocaine, possession with intent to distribute marijuana, bringing contraband into a jail, conspiracy to distribute controlled substances, attempt to commit a felony by furnishing drugs to a prisoner and a misdemeanor count of possession of drug paraphernalia. Garcia went down as a result of an internal investigation at the jail after officials heard allegations an inmate was arranging for drugs to be smuggled in. At last word, Garcia was trying to make a $56,000 bond.

In Wytheville, Virginia, the Smyth County sheriff has launched an internal probe after sworn affidavits for search warrants in a federal drug case linked two deputies to the subject of those warrants. Sheriff David Bradley would not confirm reports that one deputy had been fired and another suspended, nor were the deputies named. According to the affidavits, based in part on what the suspect unwittingly told confidential informants, one deputy, “Deputy A,” “uses methamphetamine, cocaine, and prescription pills but his drug of choice is methamphetamine.” The affidavit alleged that Deputy A scored from Anthony Richardson, former chief of the Damascus Police Department, who is currently facing multiple meth conspiracy and distribution charges in state court. “Deputy B,” identified as a Smyth County Sheriff’s narcotics investigator, “used to steal drugs and give them to [the suspect] to sell,” according to the DEA’s affidavit. No word on when or if a grand jury indictment is coming down.

In Charlotte, North Carolina, two former Charlotte-Mecklenburg police officers have cut a plea deal with federal prosecutors in the case against them for conspiring with a drug dealer and an informant to sell crack cocaine. Ex-officers Gerald Holas Jr. and Jason Ross agreed to guilty pleas in return for a prosecutorial recommendation they be sentenced to the statutory 10-year minimum sentence for drug conspiracy. In return for the recommended minimum, the two men must make “full, accurate and complete disclosure” to federal authorities about their involvement in the conspiracy. If they’re found to have lied, or if they commit any crime, the deal is off. The pair went down after a confidential informant told the FBI a drug dealer was being protected by them. They claimed they were “working” the dealer to make more arrests, but the feds didn’t buy that. Now, local prosecutors say they will dismiss any drug cases brought by the pair. Those could number in the hundreds. The plea bargain must be approved by a federal judge in the fall.

In Newark, New Jersey, a veteran Newark prison guard was charged July 24 with leading a cocaine trafficking ring that bought the drug in Texas and Florida and sold it in New Jersey. Senior corrections officers Eugene Braswell, 29, worked at Northern State Prison. He first came under scrutiny last August, when he shot and killed a former Northern State prisoner outside his home. The investigation into that shooting led to two arrests earlier this month, and then Braswell and three others were arrested last week. Police found $16,000 in cash and a .357 magnum revolver when they searched his home. He is charged with leading a narcotics network, other drug charges, money laundering and conspiracy. Bail was set at $500,000.

In Lake Charles, Louisiana, a Texas prison guard was arrested Monday night after Louisiana state troopers found 1.2 pounds of cocaine in her vehicle during a drug dog search after a traffic stop. LaQuatta Felder of Houston works at the Darrington Penitentiary in Rosharon, Texas, and was traveling with a former Darrington prisoner, Joseph Harris. Both were booked into the the Jefferson Davis Parish Jail for possession with intent to distribute cocaine.

In Boston, a former Swampscott police officer pleaded guilty June 12 to federal charges he sold oxycodone and cocaine. Thomas Wrenn, 38, was arrested in March after buying 50 pills from a police informant, but his colleagues had been watching him since they were tipped off to his drug use last year. Federal prosecutors alleged he had distributed illegal pain relievers on about 20 occasions in the past five years, and distributed cocaine on at least three occasions in 2006. Wrenn resigned from the force after his arrest.

In Gillette, Wyoming, a former Gillette police officer and Campbell County jailer was arrested last Friday for stealing marijuana and giving it to a woman currently in prison on drug charges. Thomas Brent Clark, 23, stole the marijuana from a vehicle belonging to his father, a canine officer for the Uinta County Sheriff’s Department. His father kept the marijuana in the car for training purposes. Clark was a Gillette police officer from January to March, when he was terminated. The marijuana theft occurred in February. Clark gave several ounces of marijuana to the woman, whom he met while working as a jailer at the county jail. He now faces charges of delivery of marijuana and conspiracy to deliver marijuana. He is out on bond and awaits an arraignment date.

In Indianapolis, three Indianapolis Metropolitan police officers were arrested Tuesday for allegedly participating in a marijuana trafficking ring. Officers James Davis, 33, Jason Edwards, 37, and Robert Long, 34, were arrested by FBI agents after a federal indictment charging them with conspiracy to possess marijuana with the intent to distribute was unsealed Tuesday morning. Long, a narcotics detective, was described as the leader of the conspiracy and is accused of illegally seizing the drug and informing a fourth defendant he was under investigation. Edwards is accused of illegally seizing marijuana and money, and the indictment says Davis illegally entered apartments to steal marijuana and money.

In Detroit, the Michigan Attorney General’s Office is taking over the investigation of Wayne County’s lead drug prosecutor, who is accused knowingly using perjured testimony in a 2005 cocaine case. Assistant Prosecutor Karen Plants was suspended in April after the Michigan Attorney Grievance Commission charged her with misconduct for allowing an informant and two Inkster police officers to lie under oath during a cocaine conspiracy trial. Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy asked that another agency investigate Plants, and the Attorney General’s Office stepped in after prosecutors in four nearby counties declined to get involved.

In Indianapolis, a former Indianapolis police officer was sentenced June 4 to three years probation for providing information to drug suspects to help them avoid arrest. Former Officer Noble Duke, 39, pleaded guilty in April to unlawfully disclosing the contents of federally authorized wiretaps with the intent to obstruct or impede a criminal investigation. Duke was monitoring phone conversations in a wiretap case and was aware of another case being monitored in the same room at the Indianapolis FBI office. Duke relayed information about phones being tapped, pending indictments, and the date raids were scheduled. He also has to do four months community confinement and six months of house arrest.