Drug War Issues
A top narc admits he was dirty, a border drug squad deputy commander goes to prison, a deputy police chief is under investigation, and yes, another prison guard gets busted. Let's get to it:
In New Haven, Connecticut, the former head of the New Haven police drug squad admitted last Friday to stealing tens of thousands of dollars left by the FBI in a corruption sting and taking thousands more in bribes from bail bondsmen. William White, 63, pleaded guilty to one count of theft of government property and one count of conspiracy to take bribes. The flamboyant White, a 39-year veteran, was New Haven's top narc throughout the 1990s and collected much of the evidence used by federal anti-crime task forces to break up drug dealing organizations in New Haven and Bridgeport, but was always shadowed by allegations of evidence-fixing and missing drug money. He went down when the FBI caught him on video stealing $27,500 from the trunk of a car he was told belonged to a drug dealer. During the investigation, White also boasted that he had made a lot of money off bail bondsmen by accepting bribes to help them find fugitives -- a service police should provide in the normal course of business. That led to the bribery conspiracy charge. Legal documents introduced in court also show at least one case of detectives manufacturing evidence to bolster a potential drug prosecution. Charges were dropped in that case. White was fired after his arrest. Police Chief Francisco Orti later disbanded the narcotics unit. Some of its cases were turned over to the state police pending a review of the unit's performance.
In San Antonio, a former deputy commander of the Laredo Multi-Agency Narcotics Task Force was sentenced to eight years in prison last Friday for taking bribes from drug traffickers to let their loads pass unmolested. Julio Alfonso Lopez, 46, had pleaded guilty in July 2006 to extorting $44,500 from dealers to protect loads coming though Zapata County on the Texas-Mexico border. An FBI investigation found that Lopez had taken money from traffickers on four occasions in 2005 and 2006. He had been deputy commander of the task force for about a year when he was arrested in April 2006.
In Lynnwood, Washington, the deputy police chief is under investigation over missing cash, guns, and drugs. Deputy Chief Paul Watkins has been questioned by the FBI about his tenure as commander of the Investigations Division, where he oversaw property seized from suspects. The Lynnwood Police called in the feds after an internal audit showed that cash released to him could not be accounted for. In one case, Watkins allegedly signed for a package containing $14,000 cash, two handguns, and two grams of cocaine. That package never made it to the evidence room, and efforts to find it have been fruitless. He is also accused of at least five other instances of pocketing cash seized from suspects, and a federal grand jury in Seattle will look at the case shortly. Watkins is now on paid administrative leave from the department.
In El Dorado, Kansas, a prison guard was arrested October 24 for trying to smuggle contraband into the prison. Nikkia Shanae Abrams, 27, a guard at the El Dorado Correctional Facility, was busted carrying marijuana, tobacco, and vodka into the prison. She faces three counts of trafficking and contraband at a correctional institution. Each count carries a sentence of up to 11 ½ years in prison. Abrams was last reported in jail trying to make a $30,000 bond. She'll be back in court November 19.
Permission to Reprint: This content is licensed under a modified Creative Commons Attribution license. Content of a purely educational nature in Drug War Chronicle appear courtesy of DRCNet Foundation, unless otherwise noted.
Comments
More openings for my criminal justice majors
I usually skip to these stories and am both horrified and tickled by them. I guess that eventually it will mean that with every busted "law enforcer" that that leads to an opening for one of my c.j. students. Cest le vie.
Scott Tudehope
College instructor
DP Paul Watkins
Ilive in Washington myself and we all know from experence that any cop put on paid vacation is just that .When the shit blows over he will go back to normal with a small notation in the back of the newspaper about a full aquital of all charges .......Dave Lott,Maple Valley WA
exactly!! These guy's are
exactly!! These guy's are going to EXTREME extremes to "get their guy", even if that means they themselves must learn to think * act like these bad, bad, Bad (wo)men they're after. Even if it means that they themselve's must walk a mile in the bad guys shoes-- do drugs, buy, &sell drugs -or, just do them so as not to missout on ANYTHING that'll be used against that person-later on, in court.. It seems to me that pais administative leave's about the WORST any EVER get! But, what's worst, to me's, the fact that some get paid extra $ called hazard pay, to sit there alongside one these "criminals", engaging in criminal activity as well, in order to bust some poor folk who probably work hard for what $ they choose to use= to use= in their off/down time= on their own time and probably on their own property!!! Or, scenario #2- The cops take 2 seconds to talk w/ some dumb, low-life , spineless junkie- WHILE HE,HIMSELF, IS PROBABLY TWEAKIN' BALLS!!!- obtaining what info they can from such an oh-so-credible source! Then send 'em on their merry way... so, that takes care of the foot-work- REassuring to know just how much is put into the investigation as well as the securing of all the 411 before they heroically- risking life & limb!-bust into that unsuspecting SUSPECT"S home at 4 a.m./p.m.don't matter, guns to the heads of them, their families as well as any guests that may be visiting-don't matter, really. and, hey- should-anything spook any one of those gun wielding fools, causing their fat finger to slip-& a trigger be pulled- killing any one who may be present-oh well. they're high so, job well done...take a few days off...on us...HERO ! P.S. you're hereby entitled to anything that once belonged to the guy you just sent away for 20+, give or take....Boss Hogg
Officer Smuggling Drugs at Kern Valley State Prison CA
I write to a prisoner there and he says they are all being punished by being put on extended lock down due to a guard being found smuggling drugs in.
Of course no mention anywhere.
We can all spend hours lamenting the waterboarding of Terrorists while Thousands of Amercans are treated in ways that would have the Animal rights people goign crazy if it they were animals.
Bad Cops
You should come to Alaska. The cops up here pull these kids over, feel up their girlfriends trying to get a rise out of the boyfriend so he can be arrested, confiscate any drugs/alcohol and laugh while they imbibe in front of the person they confiscated it from. In the prisons prisoners are beaten and killed and no correctional officer is ever at fault. A cop actually was convicted and went to jail for murdering execution style a young girl in Knome. Trooper Spitzer has repeatedly battered his arrestees. One victim, a small woman, her battered face made the front page of the Frontiersman, he was reassigned and tazered a native man so bad in front of many native witnesses that permanent scars were left. He was sued in the village in a civil court and lost. But state troopers keep saying we stand by our man and he was reassigned to a undercover drug unit in Anchorage where his abusive nature wil be even more covert and less able to expose. There are many stories of social injustice up here where police and state offices have an inordinate amount of power with little to no oversight. The only low income legal resource Alaska Legal Service out of Anchorage is overwhelmed and can only take a fraction of the cases.
In reply to Bad Cops by Anonymous (not verified)
Bad information
Dude, I don't know where you are from, but you certainly are not from Alaska. I admit, there are a lot of bad cops out there, and even some jailers...but most people who work in this area up here are excellent people. They do their best with what they are given. If a prisoner is subdued, it is because he is out of control and maybe force is needed in order to prevent him hurting himself or the officers. I have not heard of any inmates being killed by correctional officers. So you might want to get your information correct before you start spewing this crap.
badcops
This is for anonumous 06/22/08. I know first hand that the cops do plant dope. And I know first hand what it feels like to be charged when your innocent. It's mighty hard to rally a good defence when your young, innocent, and financially challenged.
Add new comment