Drug War Issues
A sleazy federal probation officer gets indicted, a bunch more cops get arrested, and two big city East Coast dirty cops head for the slammer. Let's get to it:
too much cash can corrupt cops
In Eunice, Louisiana, a Eunice police officer was arrested July 21 along with three other people accused of doctor-shopping for pills and them selling them on the street. Officer Raymond Trahan, Jr., was allegedly caught in the act of peddling pills by narcotics officers. He is also accused of protecting the group from police. In the scheme, one suspect would go to Houston to procure pills from different doctors, then return with them to Louisiana, where the others would sell them. They got popped with $6,000 worth of Adderall, Xanax, and Soma.
In Downers Grove, Illinois, a Downers Grove police officer was arrested July 22 for conspiring with another man to stop suspected drug dealers and rip them off. Officer Randy Caudill, 34, faces two felony counts of official misconduct for allegedly using police computers to verify the license plate numbers of suspected drug dealers and offering tips to his co-conspirator about possible targets to hit. Caudill was jailed on $200,000 at last word. He faces up to five years in prison.
In Milwaukee, two Milwaukee police officers were arrested over the weekend after being snared in a federal sting. Sgt. Royce Lockett is accused of helping a supposed dealer supposedly carrying more than 500 grams of cocaine transport it after the dealer's vehicle broke down. He faces up to 40 years in prison. Officer Paul Hill is accused of helping to conceal the proceeds of an alleged drug deal and faces up to 20 years in prison.
In Philadelphia, a former Philadelphia police officer was sentenced last Friday to 15 years in federal prison for drug dealing and conspiring to rob an undercover agent posing as a drug dealer. Alhinde Weems, 34, and a five-year veteran, dealt drugs before becoming an officer and continued to do so while in uniform. He was arrested in March 2009 carrying his police-issue weapon as he went to rob the supposed drug dealer and pleaded guilty in January to drug and firearms charges. He could have gotten life in prison.
In New York City, a former NYPD officer was sentenced last Friday to 12 ½ years in federal prison for dealing multiple kilograms of cocaine and ripping off the competition. Juan Acosta had pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute cocaine, extortion under color of official right, and unlawful possession of a firearm in furtherance of a crime. For four years beginning in 2005, Acosta peddled coke with a civilian drug dealer, and in one incident, used an NYPD car to rob a drug dealer of several hundred thousand dollars, making it seem as if the money had been seized by law enforcement. Acosta and his buddy went down after getting snared in a sting in October 2009 and agreeing to provide protection for a 10-kilogram shipment of what was supposed to be cocaine. Acosta made the run, got paid $15,000 by a federal "cooperating witness," then went to jail.
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.
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In Baltimore City
I bought drugs from BCPD Narcotics detectives for years. I have used drugs recreationally most of my life. Of The many tribulations i endured over the years 99% of them were the result of the aggressive criminalization policies in the US. I started with beer at 15, quickly moved to pot, and in my early 20's was using cocaine almost daily. One of the places My brother and I used to get our stuff was the southwest Baltimore home of two women. one morning after falling asleep on the couch, my brother in a chair. I woke to the sound of a police radio. Panic turned to relief when i saw my brother looking for a lighter for his pipe and the cop offering him his. He was supplying the two women dealers. That was the beginning of a profitable relationship with the coke dealing narc until i got busted by feds, and he tried to kill me. Thats another story.
FBI May Be Allowed Warrantless Search of Your Internet Activity
There has been an interesting development in federal law enforcement. Last week the FBI asked for the power to obtain without warrants, Citizens’ "electronic communication transactional records" including addresses that persons sent email. The FBI’s request cannot be considered separately; because if anyone of numerous terrorist bills pending in Congress pass, the FBI would have even more power, to detain Americans without probable cause, on mere suspicion, based only on electronic communications the FBI obtained without warrants. Additionally if the FBI is allowed warrant-less searches of persons email, it is foreseeable government will use that as evidence to charge Citizens with ordinary crimes.
For example, Sen. McCain on March 4, 2010 introduced The “Enemy Belligerent Interrogation, Detention, and Prosecution Act of 2010.” McCain’s bill would eliminate several Constitutional protections allowing Government to arbitrarily pick up Americans on mere suspicion—with no probable cause. Your political opinions and statements made against U.S. Government could be used by Authorities to deem you a “hostile” “Enemy Belligerent” to cause your arrest and indefinite detention. Under S.3081 government may use an individual’s phone call and email information to allege without probable cause “suspicious or hostile activity against the United States or civilians to detain Americans.” U.S. activists and individuals under S.3081 would be extremely vulnerable to detention and or prosecution, if (charged with suspicion) of “intentionally providing support to an Act of Terrorism”, for example American activists can’t control what other activists might do illegally—they network with by email domestically and overseas. Government under S.3081 would need only allege an individual kept in detention, is an Unprivileged Enemy Belligerent suspected of; having engaged in hostilities against the United States; its coalition partners; or Civilians or (has) purposefully and materially supported hostilities against the United States; its coalition partners or U.S. civilians.
More recently Obama gave a speech in May 2010 that asked Congress to pass legislation to give the President, power to detain any person in the U.S. that government deems a “combatant” or likely to engage in a violent act in the future.President Obama wants the power to incarcerate U.S. Citizens not on evidence, but for what they might do,to detain indefinitely any American without probable cause or evidence, based on conjecture someone might do something violent in the future.
It is problematic, if the FBI is allowed warrant-less access to Citizens’ "electronic communication transactional records" including persons’ addresses that Citizens sent email and McCain or Obama’s legislation, or similar legislation is passed, Citizens’ ’"electronic communication transactional records" will be used by the FBI and other government agencies to pick up and indefinitely detain Americans without probable cause.
See: Obama Sound-Video as for the power to detain people without probable cause at:
http://www.brasschecktv.com/page/630.html
See McCain’s 12-page Senate bill S.3081 The “Enemy Belligerent Interrogation, Detention, and Prosecution Act of 2010 at:
assets.theatlantic.com/static/mt/assets/politics/ARM10090.pdf
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