This Week's Corrupt Cops Stories

Submitted by Phillip Smith on (Issue #898)
Drug War Issues

A North Carolina cop already in prison for stealing pain pills is now charged with marijuana trafficking, a Texas narc gets probation for stealing and using drug dog training drugs, and another prison guard goes down. Just another week of drug war-related law enforcement corruption. Let's get to it:

[image:1 align:right]In Wilmington, North Carolina, a former New Hanover County Sheriff's Office narcotics officer was charged last Thursday with marijuana trafficking and possession with intent to distribute marijuana. Joseph Antoine LeBlanc, 43, is already doing more than four years in prison after pleading guilty last October to more than a hundred counts of stealing evidence -- prescription pain pills -- and forging court orders to obtain more from local pharmacies. The new charges arise from a pot stash found on his property after he was already jailed.

In Princeton, Kentucky, a state prison guard was arrested last Friday after a tip to the State Police led to a drug dog search of his car, which in turn led to the discovery of four packages of marijuana and prescriptions. A later search of his residence turned up three more bags of weed. Officer Geoffrey Nettesheim was arrested and jailed on as yet unspecified charges.

In Fort Worth, Texas, a former Grapevine K-9 officer was sentenced last Friday to five years' probation for stealing and consuming drugs used for training drug dogs. Danny Macchio, 50, had reported that someone had broken into his official patrol/K-9 vehicle while parked at his Fort Worth home and stolen a case of drugs including heroin, cocaine, methamphetamine and ecstasy, along with a personal handgun. Grapevine police began an internal investigation and required Macchio to take a drug test, but his family reported him missing the next day. After being found in the Panhandle, he confessed that his vehicle hadn't been robbed and that he taken and used the drugs himself. He was originally charged with misuse of government property and abuse of official capacity, but a Tarrant County grand jury also indicted him on a charge of evidence tampering, and that's what he copped to.

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Source URL: https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2015/aug/12/weeks_corrupt_cops_stories