This Week's Corrupt Cop Stories

A Pennsylvania state trooper gets wasted on the job, and more. Let's get to it:

In Honesdale, Pennsylvania, a former Pennsylvania State Police corporal pleaded guilty last Thursday to stealing drugs from the barracks evidence room. Ex-Corporal Brain Rickard didn't just steal them; he got wasted with them on the job, leading to his current predicament. And he used office computers to cover up the thefts. Richard had been found at work "in a compromised state, unable to function normally, and made a commotion when he was told to return home," prosecutors said. A subsequent search of his office turned up empty heroin packets and a crumpled evidence envelope, and additional packets with the same branding were found in Rickard's home when it was searched. He pleaded guilty to acquisition of controlled substance by misrepresentation, obstructing administration of law, tampering with physical evidence, forgery, and theft by unlawful taking. Sentencing is set for September 19.

In El Paso, a former El Paso police officer was sentenced last Thursday to two years in prison for helping her stepfather sell cocaine out of his house. Monica Garcia, 24, admitted using her position as a police officer to help him avoid being caught, including running license plates through a police database to figure out which ones belonged to undercover officers. But her stepfather still managed to make a sale to a snitch, leading to his arrest and conviction and subsequently to her arrest and conviction. She copped to one count of conspiracy to maintain a drug-involved house.