Skip to main content

This Week's Corrupt Cops Stories

Submitted by Phillip Smith on (Issue #753)
Drug War Issues

A former Pennsyvlania prosecutor gets caught peddling pot, and a TSA agent and an Alabama cop head to prison for taking bribes from drug dealers. Let's get to it:

In Bellefonte, Pennsylvania, a former Centre County assistant DA was arraigned Tuesday on charges he distributed marijuana. Former Assistant DA Steve Sloane faces seven felony counts after he got caught accepting Fedex packages from California that contained drugs. Sloane has admitted he had been addicted to Oxycontin and also admitted receiving several packages containing hydrocodone pills and marijuana from an old friend in California. Sloane denied selling pot to anyone, but police interviewed several witnesses who said they bought from him. He is currently free on a $100,000 bond.

In Birmingham, Alabama, a former Jasper police officer was sentenced last Wednesday to 15 months in federal prison for accepting a bribe from a drug dealer. Scottie Wilkins, 30, had borrowed money from the dealer, who was on probation, then paid him back by selling him drugs out of the evidence room. He also took a bribe from the dealer to help him out with a probation matter.

In New Haven, Connecticut, a former TSA officer was sentenced Tuesday to six years and four months in federal prison for accepting bribes to allow prescription pain pills to travel unimpeded through airport security. Jonathan Best, 31, had pleaded guilty in April to conspiracy to distribute and to possess with intent to distribute oxycodone. Best admitted accepting cash from a drug dealer to allow oxycodone pills through airport security and agreed last year to travel to Connecticut to help the trafficker launder drug proceeds. Two other former TSA officers, a former New York police officer and an ex-Florida state trooper have also pleaded guilty in the case.

Permission to Reprint: This content is licensed under a modified Creative Commons Attribution license. Content of a purely educational nature in Drug War Chronicle appear courtesy of DRCNet Foundation, unless otherwise noted.

Comments

Old_Cowboy (not verified)

...these folks.  They are as much victims of the drug war as any junkie on the street.

Thu, 10/04/2012 - 8:07pm Permalink
Rwolf (not verified)

You may have noted the ongoing national spike in police—shooting unarmed Citizens.Just recently on October 4th The New York Times reported “Police Fatally Shoot an Unarmed Driver on the Grand Central Parkway.” Witnesses allegedly reported that after a New York police detective pulled-over a National Guardsman Noel Polanco for cutting off two police trucks on the Grand Central Parkway in Queens, the detective shot and killed the driver while his hands were on the steering wheel of his Honda. No weapon was found. Officers “swarmed” the car, yelled for the three people in the car to put their hands up, but the driver, Noel Polanco whose hands were still on the steering wheel—had no time to comply and was shot. According the NYT Story, police involved in the shooting did not immediately provide an explanation for shooting the unarmed driver; police made incidental mention of finding a power drill on the floor of the driver’s car. You may Access the New York Times Story below.Don’t Be A Police Unarmed Shooting Victim: following are some of the police explanations extracted from news reports why police shot unarmed Citizens. It would appear under the broad guidelines of many cities and states, police can claim—almost any imagined or actual physical act or not act by an individual—posed imminent threat to the life of an officer to warrant deadly force. For example this can happen to anyone: Police within two or three seconds give contradicting orders confusing a suspect—police then shoot suspect stating suspect did not respond. If your pulled-over by police, reaching toward the glove compartment for your registration after the officer asked for it, may justify police shooting you. Police can claim you reached too fast or without the officer’s permission—that the officer feared for his life. Recently it was reported, after police pulled over an unarmed driver, police shot the driver dead because they allegedly feared the vehicle could assault them although the vehicle’s engine was off. A similar report stated that after two police cars pulled over an unarmed driver after (wedging the driver’s car) so it could not go anywhere, police shot the driver because they allegedly feared being assaulted by his vehicle. So if you are pulled over by police, be sure to park your vehicle at an angle police can’t allege posed an assault threat to an officer’s life.Federal Government has been militarizing, training local police to act like aggressive soldiers, not community police. The U.S. Government intends to establish a National Police Force that will include (armed forces personnel) with state and local police. That is against the Constitution. Expect more shootings of unarmed Civilians—consistent with increased military involvement in local and state police. Access NYT Story ““Police Fatally Shoot an Unarmed Driver on the Grand Central Parkway” at

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/05/nyregion/police-stop-and-fatally-shoot-unarmed-driver-on-a-parkway-in-queens.html?_r=0

Sat, 10/06/2012 - 3:18pm Permalink

Add new comment

The content of this field is kept private and will not be shown publicly.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.