Weekly:
This
Week's
Corrupt
Cops
Stories
5/27/05
Missing evidence, missing money, a DA failing to act, a jury failing to convict, and a cop failing to keep his bad habits under control all make their way into this week's rogue's gallery. Without further ado, let's get to it: In Detroit, former Detroit Police Department civilian employee John Earl Cole, 53, was sentenced to 15 years in prison May 18 after admitting to stealing at least 220 pounds of cocaine from the department evidence room. Cole pled guilty to one count each of conspiracy to distribute at least five kilograms of cocaine and conspiracy to commit money-laundering. Cole used his proceeds to invest in Detroit area real estate and disguised his purchases by putting the titles in the names of friends and relatives. He faced 30 years, but got that cut in half by agreeing to testify against one of his co-conspirators, Donald Hynes, 43, who pled guilty in March and faces between 10 and 25 years in prison himself. In Santa Fe, New Mexico, a two-and-a-half year battle between the Department of Public Safety and three suspended police officers grinds on. The three officers were accused of various offenses, but only one of them drug-related: Officer Stephen Montoya is accused of taking $1,900 from a man he arrested in June 2003 on drug charges. After the substance in question turned out not to be illicit drugs, Montoya allegedly returned the man's wallet minus the missing cash. The long-running case was in the news last week when the department filed new documents against the trio of wayward officers, who are seeking a court order to halt disciplinary proceedings against them. In Durango, Colorado, the repercussions over a police officer sleeping with an informant are spreading and now threaten to entangle La Plata County District Attorney Craig Westberg in the affair. The police officer, Tom Fritzell, was fired last week, and the methamphetamine charges hanging over the informant were dismissed. But now Westberg appears to have been caught in a lie about when he became aware of the relationship. Although Westberg denied May 19 that he knew anything about it until two months ago, the Durango Herald printed excerpts from an August 2003 Westberg e-mail to a local defense attorney in which he acknowledged that Fritzell was involved in an improper relationship with an informant whose freedom depended on his good will. Westberg told the Herald the date stamp on the e-mail must be a mistake. "I don't know how you got that date on there," he said, "but that is certainly a screwy date." But the attorney who received the e-mail told the Herald the 2003 date was correct, that he had told Westberg Fritzell was sleeping with the informant, and that Westberg failed to act on the information. In Oakland, the four fired police officers who dubbed themselves the Riders as they terrorized northwest Oakland in the summer of 2000, assaulting and framing drug suspects and conspiring among themselves to hide the evidence, have once again escaped punishment. In a second Riders trial, jurors acquitted the cops on several charges and deadlocked on 13 others in a May 19 decision. In the first Riders trial in 2003, jurors deadlocked on all counts. Last week, Matthew Hornung, 33, was cleared of all charges, including one count each of conspiracy and issuing a false police report. Defendants Clarence Mabanag, 39, and Jude Siapno, 36, still face a possible third trial on remaining charges. Prosecutors will announce June 2 whether they will pursue another trial. Riders ring-leader Frank "Choker" Vazques, 48, has fled and is believed to be in Mexico. While criminal verdicts have been hard to come by in the case, 119 plaintiffs in a civil suit against the Oakland Police Department have had better luck, winning $10.9 million in damages and forcing reforms in the department's procedures. In North Tonawanda, New York, police officer Patrick Daly, 43, was arrested May 17 and charged with possession of cocaine and using a phone to commit a drug felony after FBI agents watched him score two eight-balls (3.5 grams, an eighth of an ounce) of cocaine from a Main Street drug dealer. According to the Tonawanda News, Daly was popped after the FBI raided the drug dealer and the dealer gave up his name in return for "consideration" on potential charges he may face. The dealer then worked with the FBI to set up a sting, and Daly fell into the trap. In post-arrest interviews, Daly admitted buying coke hundreds of times in the past two years, and Police Chief Randy Szukala said Daly had been using on the job. Daley is on paid suspension for one month, after which further action could follow. In the meantime, he continues to collect his $66,676.51 annual salary.
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
