This
Week's
Corrupt
Cops
Stories
5/12/06
A quiet week on the corrupt cop front this week. More problems in Memphis and Baltimore, cities with which readers of this feature are all too familiar, and a pot-dealing sergeant in Florida rounds out the picture. But despite a quiet week this week, the corrupt cops feature is very popular. The current issue of Cannabis Culture is running a "Worst Of" feature compiled from last year's corrupt cops stories. The magazine is available at a newsstand near you -- check it out! Now, let's get to it: In Memphis, two more police officers have been arrested in the ever-widening federal corruption investigation known as Tarnished Blue. At a Monday press conference, US Attorney David Kustoff and Memphis Police Director Larry Godwin announced that two officers had been arrested Sunday, bringing the number of Memphis cops arrested in the investigation to 19. Memphis Patrolman Ted Williams, 43, a 12-year veteran of the force, was charged with robbing drug dealers traveling Interstate 40 after he bit on a sting where he thought he was robbing Mexican marijuana traffickers. Memphis Police Officer Terrance Lashun Harris, 32, on the force since 1997, faces cocaine distribution charges. He came to the feds' attention when the IRS reported he had assets far in excess of his reported income. Harris owns a fast food restaurant, a suburban home, a 2003 Hummer, a 2001 Corvette, and still managed to deposit $132,297 in the bank in three months in 2004, Kustoff charged. In Baltimore, Police Officer Jemini Jones, 28, was indicted May 4 on charges he extorted sex from a woman whose home he searched on a drug raid. He faces charges of second-degree rape, second-degree sex offense, and misconduct in office. This is the second set of rape charges for the Baltimore cop; he was indicted in January on charges he had sex with a 22-year-old university student in exchange for releasing her after he detained her for drug possession. Two of his fellow officers were also indicted for failing to stop the attack. Jones was being held on $75,000 bail. In Clewiston, Florida, a police sergeant was arrested May 4 and charged with dealing drugs while on duty. According to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, Clewiston Police Sgt. Brian Knicely, 42, was using police databases to gather information he then sold. An undercover agent contacted Knicely and arranged to buy information, paying him $100. Knicely kept in contact with the undercover agent and told him he could get marijuana. The agent scored twice from Knicely in April, including once when he was on duty and in uniform. He is charged with two counts of official misconduct, one count unlawful compensation or reward for official behavior, and two counts sale of marijuana within 1,000 feet of a school.
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