Drug War Issues
A criminal gang of Puerto Rican cops gets indicted, prison guards run wild all over the country, and more cops get in trouble for stealing dope and cash. Let's get to it:
In Jackson, Mississippi, a Jackson police officer was arrested last Thursday on charges he was aiding some local drug dealers by pulling over their rivals and seizing their cash during illegal stops. Officer Bryan Jones went down after a tip from the community. He's been charged with extortion. He's looking at up to 20 years in federal prison.
In Atlanta, a former Georgia prison guard was indicted last Thursday on charges related to the use of cell phones to facilitate drug trafficking and other crimes behind bars. Anekra Artina Williams, 20, a guard at Valdosta State Prison, was charged with extortion and distributing methamphetamine and extortion. She is one of a dozen people rounded up in the federal bust, including current and former inmates and a prison cafeteria worker.
In San Juan, Puerto Rico, 10 police officers were indicted last Friday for allegedly participating in a criminal organization run out of the police department. They are accused of using their positions to make money through selling drugs, robbery, extortion, and manipulating court records. The officers are Shylene López-GarcÃa aka "Plinia"; Ãngel Hernández-Nieves, aka "Doble"; Xavier Jiménez-MartÃnez, aka "Negro"; Alvin Montes-Cintrón, aka "Vinillo"; Ramón Muñiz-Robledo, aka "Marmota"; Guillermo Santos-Castro, aka "Caco Biftec"; Luis Flores-Ortiz, aka "Piquito"; José Neris-Serrano; Manuel Grego-López; and David Centeno-FarÃa, aka "David Bisbal." They are charged with conspiracy to violate the RICO Act, as well as extortion, drug trafficking, civil rights violations, and making false statements.
In State College, Pennsylvania, a former State College police officer was sentenced last Friday to 23 months in jail for stealing drugs from the evidence room. Thomas Dann, 56, stole cocaine and prescription medications while serving as the evidence room custodian, and originally faced dozens of counts. He pleaded guilty to four counts of felony acquisition of a controlled substance by fraud for stealing three pounds of cocaine, as well as dozens of prescription opioids.
In Baltimore, a former jail guard was sentenced last Friday to six years in prison for his role in a Baltimore jail racketeering conspiracy. Travis Paylor, 27, is one of 40 people convicted in the wide-ranging prison corruption case involving the Black Guerrilla Family and got the longest sentence because he continued to engage in illegal activity even after he was charged. He was convicted of smuggling contraband, including drugs, into the prison.
In Los Angeles, a former LAPD officer pleaded no contest Tuesday to offering to sell drugs to an undercover officer last year. Randolph Agard pleaded guilty to two counts of possession for drugs for sale, and was sentenced to 480 hours of community service and three years' probation. Agard had responded to an online ad seeking drugs placed by police. When he arrived at a meeting place, he was arrested by LAPD narcs, who found 20 hydrocodone tablets in his pocket and 35 more in his car.
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
How dumb is this?
LA cop caught answering internet ad p[laced by LA cops.If it's really this easy,and it certainly seems to be.Why are we paying out such huge sums to bust addicts?An addict will do whatever he has to to get his daily fix.When you are aware of this,and the police most certainly are,how hard can it be to bust them?Cops constantly set up stings where they buy everything from stolen property to narcotics.They usually end with a party where everyone shows up and goes to jail.They could probably do this every six months or so and arrest as many people as they want.They usually have to shut it down due to the huge amount of whatever it is they're buying has exhausted their budget faster than was expected.When I was active,the cops turned people at the mid level and used them to bust everyone at that level and below.The arrests were in the hundreds.It never even slowed down the traffic and allowed lower rung people to move up.It was a never ending cycle.Now the scene is totally different as gangs are running everything.Low level people have no access to quantities large enough to move anywhere.People defend territory with death and violence.This is what all that undercover work provided society.Organised gangs with murder as their weapon of choice.
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