Drug War Issues
A small-town Georgia cops gets caught slinging weed from his patrol car, a corrupt killer Puerto Rican cop heads for decades in prison, and more. Let's get to it:
In Kokomo, Indiana, a Howard County corrections officer was arrested Tuesday after she was caught smuggling drugs into the county jail. Guard Emily Harvey, 32, went down after detectives received a tip that a guard was bringing in drugs and they then watched her enter a unit to which she was not assigned and meet with an inmate. A search of the inmate's cell yielded a vape pen, and a search of Harvey's vehicle in the parking lot turned up six grams of suboxone and "additional contraband." She is charged with dealing in a schedule I, II or III substance; two counts of trafficking with an inmate; official misconduct; and possession of a controlled substance.
In New York City, a former Puerto Rico Police Department officer was sentenced last Thursday to 30 years in federal prison for agreeing to help a drug trafficking organization that shipped drugs from Puerto Rico to New York City, where they were distributed from a Bronx daycare. William Vazquez-Baez had pleaded guilty earlier to one count of participating in a racketeering conspiracy and one count of participating in a conspiracy to commit murder for hire. Prosecutors alleged that Vazquez-Baez conspired with the La ONU group, which sold thousands of pounds of cocaine and used violent methods to protect its operation. Vazquesz-Baez was on salary with the gang and provided it with intelligence obtained from the police narcotics unit and helped protect its shipments while in transit. Vazquez-Baez also informed gang members that a local resident, Freddy Mendez-Rivera, was complaining to police about drug dealing in his are, which led to his kidnapping and murder. And he was involved in two other murders for the gang.
In Warwick, Georgia, a Warwick police officer was arrested last Thursday for selling marijuana while on duty and in uniform. Officer Leon Mitchell, 32, went down after investigators with Southwestern Regional Drug Enforcement Office (SWRDEO) that he was slinging weed, and undercover agents began buying marijuana from him. After he was arrested, marijuana, scales, and plastic baggies were found in his police cruiser. He's facing two counts of sale/distribution of marijuana, one count of possession with intent to distribute marijuana, four counts of possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony, three counts of violation of oath of office, and last but not least, two counts of use of a communication device during the commission of a felony.
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