This Week's Corrupt Cops Stories

Submitted by Phillip Smith on (Issue #1236)
Drug War Issues

A San Francisco narc gets fired for having a sexual relationship with a snitch, a DHS officer heads for federal prison after getting stung, and more.

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In San Francisco, a veteran narcotics detective was fired September 11 for having a sexual relationship with one of her snitches. Christina Hayes had been under investigation since 2023, when her snitch was arrested by another law enforcement agency in the East Bay. Police found sexually explicit photos of Hayes on the snitch's phone. The woman told officers she was Hayes' snitch, and when those cops contacted Hayes, she tried to get favorable treatment for the woman. Hayes was suspended in June 2023, and federal court records allege she divulged confidential information and impeded an active criminal investigation. It's unclear to whom Hayes allegedly divulged information; details on that case have not been released. More than 100 cases, mostly drug-related, were dismissed in San Francisco Superior Court due to Hayes' link to them. Cases were also dismissed in Alameda County in relation to her misconduct case. Several more cases were dismissed in federal court.

In Auburn, Alabama, a state prison senior correctional officer was arrested September 12 after a late night traffic stop resulted in a search that turned up two pounds of weed. A subsequent search of Joshua Isaiah Joyner's home turned up four more pounds. He is charged with possession of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia, but state Department of Corrections officials said more charges could be pending. There is no indication the marijuana was going to prisoners. Joyner immediately resigned from his position.

In Prince George, Virginia, a Riverside Regional Jail officer was arrested September 13 for plotting to smuggle drugs to inmates. Officer Akiylah Taylor was taken into custody for conspiring to deliver drugs to an inmate, according to the jail. She went down after an investigation by the Prince George Police Department. She is now former-officer Taylor.

In Cincinnati, a Hamilton County jail deputy was sentenced September 15 to 18 months in prison after being convicted of smuggling xylazine and a cellphone into the county jail. Richard Sampson, 46, had been charged with two counts of illegal conveyance, a felony count for the xylazine and a misdemeanor count for the cellphone. He has been on unpaid administrative leave since being arrested last year and now will presumably be fired.

In Houston, a former Department of Homeland Security deportation officer was sentenced September 16 to 70 months in federal prison for laundering drug proceeds. Christopher Washington Toral, 49, has pleaded guilty in February.Toral began working with Immigration and Customs Enforcement in 2008 and was assigned to a processing center in Conroe. Over a two-month period in 2023, he was the subject of a sting, using his position as a federal law enforcement officer to transport $700,000 in drug proceeds under the guise of official duties. As part of an undercover operation, Toral agreed to transport a black bag containing $200,000 in cash from Dallas to Houston in February 2023, believing the money was from illegal narcotics sales. He made the same trip later that month delivering an additional $200,000. In March, Toral flew from Newark, New Jersey, to Houston with $300,000 in suspected drug money, bypassing airport security and Transportation Security Administration by exploiting his law enforcement position. He did this in return for cash payments.

In Knox, Indiana, a former Starke County sheriff's deputy was sentenced September 23 to 60 days in jail for filing a false police report in a case that began five years ago with reports of cash and drugs missing from the department's evidence room. The state police began investigating the missing goodies in January 2020, and then-Deputy Don Ferguson was indicted in September 2022 on multiple charges, including four counts of official misconduct (Level 6 felonies), theft of a firearm (Level 6 felony), theft (Class A misdemeanor), false reporting (Class B misdemeanor), and conversion (Class A misdemeanor). But a jury trial in August resulted in Ferguson being found not guilty on four of the counts, with the jury hung on the other four. In return for the dismissal of the remaining charges, Ferguson pleaded guilty to that single charge.

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