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Law Enforcement: This Week's Corrupt Cops Stories

Submitted by Phillip Smith on (Issue #587)
Drug War Issues

Another jail guard goes down, a California cop takes the bait, an NYPD officer gets slapped, a Massachusetts cop gets busted, a Massachusetts trooper cops a plea, and a Houston drug test watcher gets greedy. Just another week in the drug war. Let's get to it:

In Glendora, California, a former Glendora officer was arrested May 20 for allegedly stealing cash and methamphetamine last year during a sting operation. Former officer Timothy Radogna, 33, was charged with grand theft, drug possession for sales, and possession of drugs with a firearm. Glendora police conducted an "integrity investigation" against Radogna after receiving information he was failing to book drugs and cash into evidence. They left cash and meth in a bait car and asked him to book the evidence. He pocketed $1,000 and a small amount of meth. The three-year veteran was placed on leave after the sting last fall and fired in December. He faces up to nine years in prison.

In Houston, a Harris County drug test monitor was arrested May 21 for taking a $200 bribe to turn in a fraudulent drug test form. Community Supervision and Corrections Department employee Thomas Walker, 22, had worked for the county for only two months when he accepted money from an undercover district attorney's office investigator to report a clean urine sample when the investigator didn't provide one at all. He is charged with bribery and tampering with a government document. He has resigned after being told he would be fired. Walker faces up to 20 years in prison for bribery.

In Mashpee, Massachusetts, a former Mashpee police officer was arrested May 20 on drug charges after Barnstable Police executed a search warrant at his home. Former officer Joseph Kelley, who resigned from the force in February, is charged with one count of trafficking in opiate derivatives after police found 200 oxycodone tablets and various other pills and liquids. Police obtained a warrant for Kelley's home as part of an "ongoing OxyContin investigation," they said.

In New York City, an NYPD sergeant was acquitted May 21 of drug sales charges, but convicted of official misconduct. Sgt. Michael Arenella had been accused of supervising a rogue group of narcotics officers charged with stealing crack cocaine and cash from dealers and using it to pay informants. A state Supreme Court judge found him not guilty of sale and possession charges, but did convict him of official misconduct for falsifying police reports and for stealing $40 from undercover officers posing as drug dealers and giving it to an informant. With his conviction, he is automatically dismissed from the force. He faces up to one year in prison.

In Saugus, Massachusetts, a former Massachusetts state trooper pleaded guilty May 20 to cocaine conspiracy and distribution charges. Former trooper John Foley, 64, a 37-year veteran of the force, was arrested in December 2007 by FBI, DEA, and state and local officers for peddling cocaine in Saugus. He faces up to 20 years in prison and a $1 million fine when sentenced July 29.

In New York City, a former New York City corrections officer was sentenced May 20 to three years in prison for smuggling drugs into Rikers Island. Tamar Peebles, 27, had admitted to accepting $1,500 from an undercover investigator and picking up what she thought was heroin and marijuana for delivery to the prison. She pleaded guilty to one count of attempted criminal sale of a controlled substance and one count of receiving a bribe. Peebles was one of six city jail guards swept up in a 16-month sting operation that found guards willing to deliver contraband to inmates in return for cash. Cases for the other five are still pending.

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

John Doe (not verified)

You gotta love these guys, just trying to get a peice of the action and busted by their own.

Sat, 05/30/2009 - 12:06am Permalink
Anonymous (not verified)

When cops turn on each other it's not because of professionalism and surely not out of a sense of morals, It's because they werent't cut in for the piece of the pie...

"I love it when a plan comes together"
George Peppard, The A Team

Sat, 05/30/2009 - 10:10am Permalink
Pat (not verified)

It's all about the money of course. The problem is that given enough time and/ or profit our cops will always be on the take. The main problem is that we will always have this problem so to "fix'" it we bring in our military to rage a war on us.That is the problem we have in Mexico now where the military on both sides shoot it out.

Sat, 05/30/2009 - 11:12pm Permalink
Anonymous (not verified)

Is it possible that we are pushing the wrong button? Shouldn't we be pressuring the govt. more towards legalization of Hemp rather than cannibus? After all, the potency argument is really what they are relying on to keep weed illegal but what is the argument for keeping hemp illegal? It looks like pot. Period.

Mon, 06/01/2009 - 1:43am Permalink
Randall St Jac… (not verified)

Another reason for ending the drug war would be the return of our police as protectors of the people rather than the sworn enemies of the people they have become ever since the drug war began. Check out the position of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition at www.leap.net.

Mon, 06/01/2009 - 6:27am Permalink
SOLITO (not verified)

JOSEPH KELLEY SISTER TINEA GILBERT WHO IS A CONFIDENTIAL INFORMANTS FOR THE FBI SET ME UP TO BE MURDERED AS PART OF HER INITIATION INTO THE BLOODS AND THE SAME COPS OF MASHPEE, BOSTON POLICE, AND THE ITALIAN MAFIA AS WELL AS THE   FEDS WHO ARE ONE IN THE SAME ARE COVERING IT UP. THEY KNOW WHO IS BRINGING THE HEROIN IN AND THEY ARE USING OTHERS AS SCAPEGOATS THATS WHY JOSEPH KELLEY ONLY GOT 18 MONTHS. THATS JUST THE TIP OF THE ICE BERG ITS BIGGER THEN THAT. EVEN THE JUDICICAL SYSTEM IS COVERING IT UP BECAUSE OF THE NEW BOSS OF THE NEW ENGLAND MAFIA WHO HELPED BRING WHITEY BULGER IN BUT THE WHITEY BULGER WANNABEES REIGN SUPREME AND THE FBI IS A HUGE REASON WHY THE HEROIN ADDICTION IN MASS HAS RISING

Mon, 04/07/2014 - 5:47am Permalink

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