Law
Enforcement:
This
Week's
Corrupt
Cops
Stories
11/25/05
This week we have more guilty pleas in the ongoing Arizona smuggling sting that wrapped up a bunch of cops, prison guards, and soldiers, another cash-hungry prison guard, and a Miami cop accused of selling information to drug traffickers. Let's get to it: In Tucson, Arizona, five more people pleaded guilty November 17 to helping smuggle what they thought was cocaine from Mexican border to cities including Phoenix and Las Vegas. Arizona Army National Guard Private Benjamin De La Garza, 22, former Arizona Army National Guard Specialist Dustin Huyck, 25, former US Air Force Sergeant Bennie Perkins III, 28, US Marine Corps Sergeant Jared Wright, 28, and civilian Daryl Harris, 27, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to accept bribes from people they believed to be drug traffickers. The five face up to five years in federal prison. They join at least 26 others who have pleaded guilty in the sting. In Miami, Miami Police Officer David Lee Donaldson is under investigation for selling confidential information to drug dealers after one convicted dealer told authorities Donaldson had been doing so for years, NBC6-TV reported. The convicted drug dealer approached police with his story in February, and then police wired up him for a meeting with Donaldson at the Miami's Flagler Dog Track. The dealer told him he needed two license plates run because someone had taken cocaine from him and owed him $30,000. The cooperative Donaldson reported back that he couldn't find the plates in question, but the dealer paid Donaldson $200 for his troubles, and that was enough for Miami Police to swoop. Donaldson now faces up to 15 years in prison on charges of unlawful compensation, otherwise known as bribery. In Lake Nazareth Township, Pennsylvania, a Northampton County Prison jailer was arrested Saturday morning after allegedly selling cocaine to an undercover agent in a Wal-Mart parking lot, the Easton Express-Times reported. Kevin Murphy, 49, a 24-year veteran prison guard has been suspended without pay after being nailed selling a gram of cocaine to a member of the Northampton County Drug Task Force. The transaction was recorded, and Murphy was arrested leaving the parking lot. He is currently in jail charged with two counts of delivery of a controlled substance, possession with intent to deliver, possession of drug paraphernalia with intent to use, and tampering with physical evidence. The latter charge came after Murphy tore up the three $20 bills used to buy the coke when he realized he had been set up.
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