Law
Enforcement:
This
Week's
Corrupt
Cops
Stories
3/24/06
Cops as drug dealers, cops preying on drug dealers, cops helping drug dealers, and of course, the requisite miscreant prison guard or two. Just another week on the corrupt cops front. Let's get to it: In Baltimore, two police officers are on trial this week on federal corruption charges. Officers Antonio Murray, 36, and William King, 35, face a 33-count indictment charging them with conspiracy to steal cocaine, heroin, marijuana, and cash from drug suspects. Their civilian cohort, Antonio Mosby, who served as their lookout and snitch, has already pleaded guilty and agreed to testify against them. After getting a tip that King was shaking down drug suspects, federal investigators wiretapped Murray's and King's cell phones and tracked the pair as they rounded up likely prospects, then threatened to hurt or arrest them if they didn't cough up the goodies, according to the indictment. Each could be sentenced to life in prison if convicted on the most serious charges. The trial is expected to last another couple of weeks. In Baton Rouge, Louisiana, DEA agents last Friday arrested a former Baton Rouge police officer on an affidavit charging he was selling cocaine. Darryl Davis was a 13-year veteran when he was fired in 1999 for stealing evidence and later found guilty of obstruction of justice. Last Friday, Davis was pulled over for a traffic stop and police "conducted a further investigation from there, which led to the discovery of cocaine and a weapon he's charged with," said US Attorney David Dugas in a statement. In a search of Davis' home, the DEA found a .38 caliber handgun and more than 13 pounds of cocaine. He is charged with possession with the intent to distribute and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. In Memphis, a former police officer pleaded guilty last Friday to breaking into a hotel room last year and stealing $12,000 he thought belonged to a drug dealer. Former Officer Patrick Joynt, 36, and his civilian partner in crime Donald Lemm, 33, were actually the victims of a sting; according to an indictment, Joynt met with a snitch last August to discuss the rip-off, government agents planted the money in the room, and Joynt and Lemm went for the bait. The pair will be sentenced in June and face up to 10 years in prison. Joynt was fired last March after racking up more than 50 disciplinary charges in his nine years as a police officer, including wrecking patrol cars, going AWOL, sexually harassing women, and beating a suspect with a club. He also faces state and federal lawsuits from his victims. In Murrysville, Pennsylvania, a former Allegheny Township police officer was arraigned last Friday on a charge that he alerted an alleged drug dealer to an upcoming raid last July, the Valley News Dispatch reported. Jerry Enciso, 47, had been a patrolman and sergeant for 15 years before resigning in September. In a police affidavit filed in court, Westmoreland County detectives allege that Enciso met the dealer at the dealer's trailer and told him he had sold drugs to an undercover agent and he should get rid of his stash. Enciso is also accused of asking the dealer to have the dealer's teen-age daughter "poke the eye out" of the son of one of Enciso's fellow cops. He is free on $10,000 bond. North of Harlingen, Texas, a state corrections officer was arrested March 13 at a US Border Patrol checkpoint on US Highway 77 with 21 pounds of marijuana stuffed in the spare tire of the vehicle he was driving. Curtis Hinson, a veteran officer at the Texas Department of Corrections Stiles Unit in Beaumont, was charged with possession of marijuana and faces up to 10 years in state prison after a drug dog alerted on his vehicle. Stiles was driving a car registered to a Houston woman with a criminal record including drug possession and prostitution, but claimed he did not know it belonged to her and did not know the pot was on board. For unexplained reasons, Hinson was wearing his uniform when arrested. He has been placed on leave by the Texas prisons. In Tucson, Arizona, a prison guard was arrested March 16 on charges of suspicion of conspiracy to possess a narcotic drug for sale, the Arizona Daily Star reported. Pima County corrections officer David Leyva, 24, was arrested at the jail after an investigation by the Counter Narcotic Alliance found that he was working on a large cocaine deal with another man, who was also arrested. Leyva is no longer employed by Pima County.
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