|
vt
Becomes
Ninth
State
to
Legalize
Medical
Marijuana
–
Other
States
See
Progress
and
Setbacks
Newsbrief:
This
Week's
Corrupt
Cops
Story
5/21/04
While this feature has taken
a brief hiatus, cops corrupted by the drug war have not. And they've
been particularly busy lately, so without any further ado:
Third prize this week goes
to a so-far unnamed chemist employed until last week by the Missouri Highway
Patrol. According to the Springfield News-Leader, the chemist resigned
May 10th after being accused of stealing methamphetamine from the samples
he was supposed to be testing. Prosecutors told the newspaper "several
hundred" drug cases are jeopardized because "his credibility is gonna be
shot."
The chemist, a civilian employee
of the patrol for six years, worked at the state's crime lab at Southwest
Missouri State University in Springfield. Springfield Police, the
Greene County Sheriff's Office, and Troop D of the Highway Patrol are undertaking
criminal investigations, they told the News-Leader.
In second place is former
Georgia police officer Brandon McDonald, sentenced Monday to six years
in prison after pleading guilty to selling drugs. McDonald, who had
worked for law enforcement agencies in Rockdale, Newton, Walton, Jasper,
and Morgan counties, repeatedly sold methamphetamine to undercover officers
working for the Atlanta-area East Metro Drug Enforcement Team in 2002.
McDonald had another former
cop, Greg Rogers, as an accomplice in his off-duty drug dealing business.
Rogers, who has pleaded not guilty and faces 76 years in prison, has been
jailed since October, when both men were denied bond after Rogers reportedly
threatened agents involved in arresting them, Atlanta TV-station WSB-TV
reported.
|
 |
| |
no more glory days for
Sheriff Gerald Hege |
But this week's winner is
a former corrupt cop of the week, Sheriff Gerald Hege of Davidson County,
North Carolina (https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle-old/303/geraldhege.shtml).
Hege, a self-promoting drug war macho who made humiliating prisoners part
of his schtick. Hege last graced these pages in September, when he
was indicted by a federal grand jury on 15 felony counts, including embezzling
money from the department's "drug buy" fund to be used on his reelection
campaigns.
Better make that "ex-Sheriff
Hege," because as part of a plea agreement announced Monday, Hege resigned
as sheriff. But while he lost his status as a tough, drug-fighting
lawman, he gained the new status of convicted felon. He pled to two
counts of obstruction of justice. Unlike the prisoners who formerly
languished under his stewardship of the Davidson County jail, Hege will
not wear a striped uniform nor reside in a jail painted pink. Instead,
the man who used to sell posters of himself in paramilitary get-up saying
"Do the crime scumbag, and you'll do the time," got two suspended six-month
sentences and will do three years on probation, the first three months
on house arrest with an electronic monitor wrapped around his ankle.
The 15 counts Hege had faced
included charges of racial profiling, brutality toward inmates at the jail,
and attempting to intimidate officers he suspected of cooperating with
investigations into his affairs, as well as stealing $6,200.
-- END --
|
Issue #338, 5/21/04
Editorial: Benefit of the Doubt |
Vermont Becomes Ninth State to Legalize Medical Marijuana – Other States See Progress and Setbacks |
Not With a Bang but a Whimper: California Pain Doctor Frank Fisher Exonerated in Last Criminal Case |
Needle Exchange in New Jersey? Atlantic City Says Yes, Attorney General Says No |
Dope and Diplomacy in Dublin: European Union Conference Tries to Lay Groundwork for Continental Drug Strategy |
Announcing: "The New Prohibition: Voices of Dissent Challenge the Drug War" – New Compendium by Sheriff Masters Features David Borden and Numerous Other Thinkers on Drug Policy |
Newsbrief: New Jersey Student Sues Over Drug Tests, Expulsion |
Newsbrief: Drug War Invades Ultimate Frisbee |
Newsbrief: One in 11 US Prisoners Doing Life, Study Finds |
Newsbrief: This Week's Corrupt Cops Story |
Newsbrief: Bill to Reform Harsh Tennessee Marijuana Sales Law Dies Lonely Death |
Newsbrief: Afghan Government Concedes It Includes Traffickers |
Newsbrief: Rural Maryland Cops Force Students to Disrobe During Drug Raid |
Web Scan: Ron Paul, Mayor Campbell, Westword, Nature, ACLU-TX Task Force Report, New DPFMA Web Site |
Job Opportunity – Research Assistant, Office of Legal Affairs, Drug Policy Alliance, Oakland, California |
The Reformer's Calendar
|
This issue -- main page
This issue -- single-file printer version
Drug War Chronicle -- main page
Chronicle archives
|
PERMISSION to reprint or
redistribute any or all of the contents of Drug War Chronicle (formerly The Week Online with DRCNet is hereby
granted. We ask that any use of these materials include proper credit and,
where appropriate, a link to one or more of our web sites. If your
publication customarily pays for publication, DRCNet requests checks
payable to the organization. If your publication does not pay for
materials, you are free to use the materials gratis. In all cases, we
request notification for our records, including physical copies where
material has appeared in print. Contact: StoptheDrugWar.org: the Drug Reform Coordination Network,
P.O. Box 18402, Washington, DC 20036, (202) 293-8340 (voice), (202)
293-8344 (fax), e-mail [email protected]. Thank
you.
Articles of a purely
educational nature in Drug War Chronicle appear courtesy of the DRCNet
Foundation, unless otherwise noted.
|
