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Law Enforcement: This Week's Corrupt Cops Stories

Submitted by Phillip Smith on (Issue #637)
Consequences of Prohibition
Drug War Issues

And the beat goes on: A Phoenix cop gets busted for robbing drug couriers, a Texas deputy gets nailed for selling smack to prisoners, a Louisiana deputy goes down on hundreds of counts, and a former NYPD narc heads for federal prison. Let's get to it:

In Phoenix, Arizona, a Phoenix police officer was arrested June 10 for allegedly robbing drug couriers of their cash. Officer James Wren, 23, faces four felony counts including conspiracy, attempted theft, attempted money laundering, and being a public servant participating in a criminal syndicate. Wren went down after a snitch told Avondale police Wren was stealing money from drug couriers while on duty. Police set up a sting and arrested Wren as he attempted to steal $40,000 in what he thought was drug money. Wren has reportedly confessed his involvement in two other cases as well. He has now resigned from the department.

In San Antonio, Texas, a Bexar County sheriff's deputy was arrested last Friday for selling heroin to inmates at the county jail. Deputy Robert Falcon, 48, a 20-year-veteran, is charged with possession of heroin and intent to deliver heroin. Falcon went down after someone snitched him out and authorities set up a sting, delivering drugs to Falcon while on duty. He took them and some cash and then was arrested. Falcon is still at the Bexar County Jail, only now he's wearing an inmate's garb, not a jailer's. He's looking at up to 20 years in prison.

In Baton Rouge, Louisiana, an Assumption Parish sheriff's deputy was arrested last Friday on hundreds of counts of evidence tampering, drug offenses, and weapons violations. Deputy Louis Lambert, 47, faces 538 counts of malfeasance in office, 17 counts of illegally carrying a weapon while possessing narcotics, and one count of possession with intent to distribute a Schedule I narcotic. Authorities have released no more details. Oops -- Lambert is now a former deputy. He was fired after being arrested.

In New York City, a former NYPD detective was sentenced June 10 to 15 years in federal prison for helping to protect a cocaine dealing organization from the law. Luis Batista, 37, was convicted of conspiracy to distribute narcotics, bank fraud, conspiracy to commit bank fraud, and obstruction of justice. Batista befriended a major cocaine dealer shortly after joining the force as an undercover narcotics officer in 1997 and for years warned him of impending police actions and provided him with information from law enforcement data bases. When the dealer got busted in 2006, he ratted out Batista. Batista then persuaded a member of the NYPD Internal Affairs Bureau to access a secure database and give him details of a report on his relationship with the dealer. He used his knowledge from that report to falsely claim the dealer was a confidential informant for him.

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

Smokey Teamster (not verified)

It's another one of them, "...awww, ain't that cute" moments.

Sat, 06/19/2010 - 11:24am Permalink

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