Weekly:
This
Week's
Corrupt
Cops
Stories
6/24/05
Busy, busy, busy. Relationships with their snitches proved problematic this week for several law enforcement officers, while another had a problematic romance with an alleged dealer, and yet another resorted to good old armed robbery to get his share of the loot. Oh, and there's some pot on the loose down South. Let's get to it: In Chicago, retired police sergeant Larry Hargrove, 60, was convicted Wednesday of being part of a four-man team that specialized in robbing drug dealers. One of the four, former police sergeant Eddie Hicks, has vanished, while two others, former police mechanic Lawrence Knitter and Matthew Moran, a friend of Hicks, are cooperating with prosecutors. During the trial, the latter pair testified that between 1993 and 1999 the fearsome foursome had ripped off at least 35 alleged drug dealers at gunpoint, making off with drugs and money. The four were popped in a joint sting operation by the FBI and the Chicago Police internal affairs unit. Hargrove, a retired 31-year veteran of the force, was jailed pending sentencing. He faces up to 45 years in prison. In Baton Rouge, Louisiana, the East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff's Office announced June 17 that seven pounds of marijuana and a small quantity of methamphetamine have gone missing from the department's narcotics division. The announcement was accompanied by a shake-up of the narcotics squad, with eight officers, including the squad's leader, demoted and one officer, Corporal Kenneth Black, resigning rather than take a polygraph about the missing dope. Despite Black's suspicious behavior, the department does not expect to file criminal charges, saying it would be difficult to establish probable cause. The evidence room problem this month comes less than six months after another Sheriff's Office employee, Lt. Gwendolyn Carroll, was fired and arrested for ripping off cocaine, marijuana, guns, and more than $200,000 from the evidence room. In Union County, New Jersey, veteran undercover narc State Police Sgt. Moises Hernandez was suspended from duty June 15 as authorities probed his relationship with the target of a drug probe. The investigation began when police wiretapping a phone conversation overheard the suspect discussing "possible illegal activities" involving himself and Hernandez, the Newark Star-Ledger reported. The suspect was one of Hernandez' confidential informants, but he was also the target of an ongoing DEA investigation. Union County authorities obtained a search warrant and searched his home last week, but have made no announcements about the results. In Greeneville, Tennessee, Cocke County Deputy Sheriff Larry Joe Dodgin was charged with possession of cocaine with intent to distribute after being busted June 17 with three kilos of coke and $60,000 in cash, WATE-TV 6 in Knoxville reported. An affidavit written by an FBI agent charges that Dodgin has a longstanding relationship with alleged drug dealer Jeremy Jones and adds "other confidential sources have advised that Dodgin has provided information to the known drug trafficker concerning law enforcement activities." The affidavit adds that Jones supplied Dodgin with drugs for his personal use and that Dodgin has told cooperating witnesses he sold drugs. Dodgin is behind bars awaiting a grand jury hearing next month.
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