A suburban St. Louis cop spoils his department's first day in operation, a Minnesota jail guard gets charged with slinging meth, and Denver cops have to pay out big time for a bad drug raid. Let's get to it:

[image:1 align:left]In New Flordell Hills, Missouri, a New Flordell Hills police officer was arrested last Wednesday on charges he was pilfering pills from the evidence room. Officer Jeremy admitted stealing the tranquilizer after he was involved in a crash the following day and the pills were found in his possession. He is charged with stealing and possessing a controlled substance, and has now resigned. It was the first day for the new suburban St. Louis police force.

In Minneapolis, a Hennepin County jail guard was indicted last Friday on charges he was part of a methamphetamine trafficking conspiracy. Guard Ashley Mariakas, 26, was one of 11 people indicted in the case, which involved the distribution of 26 pounds of meth. Mariakas is charged with one count of conspiracy to distribute meth and two counts of actual distribution. She is not accused of peddling meth at the jail.

In Denver, a jury awarded $1.8 million to a family in a wrongful prosecution case on September 26. The case stemmed from a 2009 raid on a home previously occupied by drug dealers and prostitutes, but into which a new family had moved. Denver Police entered the home without a warrant, then arrested the family on trumped up charges of interference with a police officer and misdemeanor assault. All the charges were later dropped.