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Newsbrief:
This
Week's
Corrupt
Cops
Stories
10/29/04
The daily grind of drug war
corruption continues. This week, we find crooked deputies in Tennessee,
dope-planting cops in Pennsylvania, and big trouble for the federal government
and some Customs agents in Texas.
-
In Memphis, a former Shelby
County sheriff's deputy pleaded guilty October 19 to two counts related
to his robbery of a drug dealer in a Millington hotel room. Jodie
Chambers, 39, admitted stealing drugs and cash, piling it in his squad
car, and spending the proceeds. He left with $6,000, 12 pounds of
marijuana and four ounces of cocaine. He gave an accomplice the drugs
to sell, and they split the $8,000 profit, Parker said. What Chambers
didn't know was that both his accomplice and the drug dealer were FBI informants.
No word yet on sentencing, the Memphis Commercial Appeal reported.
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Two days later, a federal grand
jury in northeastern Pennsylvania indicted two police officers for planting
drugs during raids last year. Jeremy Sommers, 28, formerly of the
Lansford Police Department, and Michael Weaver, 35, formerly of the Coaldale
Police Department were charged with planting drugs in at least two cases
and then arresting people based on the bogus evidence. Sommers and
Weaver are charged with conspiring to violate civil rights, conspiracy
to obstruct the investigation, obstruction and lying to federal agents,
the Associated Press reported.
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And the same day, in El Paso,
Texas, the family of Luis Padilla filed suit against the US government,
the Department of Homeland Security and its Immigration and Customs Enforcement
(ICE) unit in a shocking case previously noted in this space where Customs
agents supervising a Mexican cartel drug informant allowed him to engage
in criminal activity, including most spectacularly, the murders of at least
12 people -- some of which occurred while ICE agents were on the phone
with the informant. Luis Padilla, a US citizen and El Paso resident,
was the last of the victims. The lawsuit alleges that if Customs
had pulled its informant when it first realized he was killing people,
Padilla would be alive today. Padilla, the lawsuit says, was not
involved in the drug trade, but was killed because he witnessed a cartel
kidnapping.
-- END --
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Issue #360, 10/29/04
On the Ballot: Marijuana, Medical Marijuana, Sentencing Reform |
Marijuana Arrests at All-Time High, Far Exceed Violent Crime Arrests |
Latin American Anti-Prohibitionist Umbrella Organization Forms, Eyes UN 2008 Vienna Meeting |
African American Professional Groups Move Into Drug Reform Arena |
Newsbrief: Former Interpol Chief Calls Prohibition "Obsolete and Dangerous" |
Newsbrief: Prohibitionist Bush Supporters "Expose and Oppose" Soros |
Newsbrief: New Jersey Governor Bypasses Legislature, Okays Needle Exchange Programs By Executive Order |
Newsbrief: Nader Calls on Bush to Grant Clemency to Drug War Prisoners |
Newsbrief: Baltimore Cops Offer Minor Drug Suspects Freedom for Guns |
Newsbrief: US-Canada Joint Border Drug Threat Assessment Says BC Bud Only Two Percent of US Marijuana Imports |
Newsbrief: Fiji Islands in Grip of Reefer Madness |
Newsbrief: This Week's Corrupt Cops Stories |
This Week in History |
The DARE Generation Returns to DC: Students for Sensible Drug Policy 2004 National Conference Next Month |
Apply Now to Intern at DRCNet! |
Administrative Assistant: Part-Time Job Opportunity at DRCNet |
The Reformer's Calendar
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Drug War Chronicle -- main page
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