Weekly:
This
Week's
Corrupt
Cops
Stories
6/10/05
More trouble for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, a coke-crazed cop gets his first sentence, a deputy picks the wrong time to score, and a Mississippi twofer this week. Just another installment in the never-ending annals of prohibition-related law enforcement corruption. Let's get to it: In Springfield, Georgia, former Effingham County deputy sheriff Melinda Stewart Johnson was indicted Wednesday on felony drug and gun charges after being arrested in March as she bought marijuana during a sting operation. She was in uniform and on patrol when the deal went down, prosecutors told the Associated Press. She was charged with conspiracy to distribute marijuana and possession of firearm -- her official deputy's weapon -- during the commission of a felony. She was fired March 8. In San Diego, a federal grand jury indicted a US Customs inspector Tuesday on charges she accepted up to $30,000 in cash and a deluxe spa from a corrupt immigration inspector and failed to report the wrongdoing. Daphiney Caganap, who has been placed on administrative leave from her current job as US Customs port director at the Detroit airport, was charged with nine counts of conspiracy to defraud the US, accepting gratuities, and making false statements. According to federal prosecutors, Caganap received gifts and money from the corrupt inspector, who was collecting thousands of dollars a week for turning a blind eye to marijuana and undocumented workers passing through the San Ysidro port of entry. In June 2000, as that inspector was being investigated, Caganap allegedly met with him and offered to provide help and information in return for goodies. The corrupt immigration inspector will apparently escape punishment, since he is now a "cooperating witness" for the prosecution. In Dedham, Massachusetts, former State Police Sgt. Timothy White was sentenced to two years in jail for assaulting his wife, but his troubles are far from over. The charges for which he was sentenced arose when White's wife called police to their home in January 2003, but that call led to an investigation that also showed that White had stolen up to 27 pounds of cocaine from the state evidence locker and he and his wife had teamed up to sell it along with two other people. Maura White gained immunity from prosecution for testifying against her husband. She will do so again in October, when he faces trail on the cocaine charges, as well as a charge of marijuana distribution. In Biloxi, Mississippi, a 14-year veteran of the Biloxi Police Department was arrested June 3 and charged with one count each of sale of Ecstasy and possession with intent to distribute. Darrell Cvitanovich, Jr., is the drug dog officer for the Biloxi Police. While initial police reports mentioned another drug being seized as well, Cvitanovich has not been charged with any other offenses, TV WLOX 13 reported. In Tupelo, Mississippi, former Plantersville police officer Billy Hanna has been sentenced to eight years in prison after he pled guilty to two counts of selling steroids and one count of possessing methamphetamine. Hanna pled guilty May 27 and was sentenced June 3 to 48 years in prison, but sentencing judge Paul Funderburk suspended all but eight years of that sentence. Hanna was busted last year in Lee County while in uniform in his police car.
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