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This Week's Corrupt Cops Stories

A former DARE cop gets decades in prison for sexually assaulting teens years ago, a south Texas cop faces an occupational hazard, and more. Let's get to it:

In Baltimore, a Baltimore corrections officer was arrested on February 26 (the arrest was not publicized until weeks later) for allegedly sneaking drugs and other contraband into Baltimore Central Booking. Guard Sunhild Priedt, 55, went down after a supervisory saw her holding a brown paper bag under sweater and then place it in a trash can and walk away. The supervisor retrieved the bag, which was found to contain 104 grams of tobacco, 55 grams of marijuana, and nearly 200 buprenorphine kits. She is charged with drug possession with the intent to distribute, possession of contraband with intent to deliver it to detainees and delivering contraband to detainees. She is being held without bond.

In Brownsville, Texas, a former Donna police officer was sentenced Tuesday to nine years in federal prison for using his police vehicle to provide protection for cocaine loads. Alejandro Martinez, 44, also diverted other officers from the trafficker's route. He had earlier pleaded guilty to conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine. He had been out on bond but was remanded to custody upon sentencing.

In Doylestown, Pennsylvania, a former suburban Philadelphia DARE officer was sentenced March 21 to a minimum of 24 ½ years in state prison for sexually abusing teens in the DARE program decades ago. James Carey, assaulted boys in the 1990s, while also serving in the Centennial School District as a resource officer with the then-federally funded program. Carey pleaded no contest to 20 counts of statutory rape, aggravated indecent assault without consent and related charges.

This Week's Corrupt Cops Stories

An East Texas police chief breaks bad, and there's trouble on the task forces. Let's get to it:

In Payne Springs, Texas, the Payne Springs police chief and a town police officer were arrested last Thursday for dealing drugs seized by the Payne Springs Police Department. Chief April Dawn Meadows and Reserve Officer Jonathan Paul Hutchinson went down after Henderson County Sheriff's Office investigators got a tip that they were peddling seized dope. The tip came from a snitch who had been making controlled buys for Hutchinson when Hutchinson still worked as a narcotics investigator for the sheriff's office. Deputies found drugs when they executed search warrants at the pair's homes. They both face charges of delivery of a controlled substance and money laundering. Hutchison and Meadows’ bond amounts are $1.5 million for each charge.

In Jacksonville, Florida, a former Nassau County Sheriff’s Office sergeant was arrested last Friday for stealing drugs and money seized during investigations and selling the drugs to someone who ended up ratting him out. James Hickox, 37, was part of a DEA task force. He and another, as yet unidentified (but also a task force member who has been arrested) officer, were in on the scheme. When federal agents raided his home last Friday, they found "large quantities" of cocaine, MDMA, and fentanyl, as well as nearly $200,000 in cash. When they reviewed his bank records, they found he routinely deposited thousands of dollars a day at multiple ATMS over a three-year period. He is charged with possession of cocaine, MDMA, and fentanyl with intent to distribute.

In Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, the former commander of the Lancaster County Drug Task Force pleaded guilty last Thursday to stealing nearly $171,000 in seized drug money between 2015 and 2020. John Burkhart admitted that he stole seized cash, failed to deposit funds, and falsified deposit records during the civil asset forfeiture process in criminal cases investigated by the Lancaster County Drug Task Force. Burkhart stole seized cash from the Lancaster County Drug Task Force safe over which he had nearly exclusive control and recorded false deposit amounts before they could be recorded by the treasurer, skimming thousands of dollars from 2015 through 2020. He pleaded guilty to theft by deception and theft by failure to make required disposition of funds. 

This Week's Corrupt Cops Stories

A small-town Pennsylvania police chief was slinging dope, so was an Ohio narcotics detective, and more. Let's get to it:

In Greenburg, Pennsylvania, the Greenburg police chief was arrested January 25 for helping to distribute cocaine, meth, and other drugs. Chief Shawn Denning, 41, allegedly peddled dope for a 16-month period from June 2021 to October 2022 and went down after DEA investigators used an informant to collect evidence against him. Denning repeatedly hooked up the informant with drug suppliers he knew in California and the informant repeatedly successfully scored ounces of cocaine, among other drugs. Denning now faces six federal counts of drug distribution-related charges, and he is no longer the chief. 

In Cleveland, Ohio, a state prison guard was arrested January 30 for smuggling methamphetamine and other drugs into the Lorain Correctional Institution. Guard Daryl Gus, 35, went down after the prison officials tipped the DEA that they had listened to an inmate's phone calls and heard him directing people to deliver drugs to Gus. The DEA then joined the investigation, searching Gus's phone records and financial activities, and finding sufficient evidence to arrest him on a federal charge of conspiring to distribute drugs.

In San Diego, a San Diego sheriff's deputy was arrested last Friday after suspected cocaine was located inside his vehicle on jail property. Deputy Allen Wereski, 48, went down after his coworkers discovered "suspected cocaine" inside his car. He was suspended without pay, as well as being jailed on $25,000 bail for count of bringing a controlled substance to a correctional facility. 

In Columbus, Ohio, a former Columbus narcotics officer was sentenced last Friday to nine years in federal prison for trafficking more than eight kilograms of drugs, including cocaine and fentanyl. Marco Merino, 45, had pleaded guilty a year ago to accepting bribes and conspiracy to distribute fentanyl. Merino and former officer John Kotchkoski dealt drugs together as narcotics detectives. Kotchkoski pleaded guilty in April to a single count of fentanyl trafficking and awaits sentencing. The pair went down after trying to sell eight kilos of fentanyl to a man they thought was a snitch but who was actually an undercover FBI agent.

 

 

Chronicle Book Review: "The Riders Come Out at Night"

The Riders Come Out at Night: Brutality, Corruption, and Cover-Up in Oaklandby Ali Winston & Darwin Bondgraham (2023, Atria Books, 467 pp., $30 HB)

The killing of Tyre Daniels by Memphis police officers who were members of an aggressive anti-crime unit has reignited longstanding public concerns about police brutality and, more broadly, police culture. How is it that American police generate an Eric Garner, a Philandro Castile, a Breonna Taylor, a George Floyd, a Tyre Daniels, another dead person of color and another, on a regular basis?

As the brief list above suggests, and as the massive wave of protests in towns and cities across the land in the wake of the George Floyd killing confirms, thuggish, sometimes murderous cops are not just a Memphis problem. Almost every big city police department has its own legacy of scandalous brutality, much of it linked to the enforcement of drug prohibition. Oakland, California, is no exception.

In the case of the gritty East Bay city, it was the Riders scandal two decades ago that was so outrageous it generated mass protests, a criminal trial of the police involved, and a successful civil lawsuit that resulted in the Oakland Police Department force to operate under the supervision of a federal judge enforcing a consent decree.

In The Riders Come Out at Night, veteran investigative journalists Ali Winston and Darwin Bondgrahm use the Riders scandal as the fulcrum with which they pry open the inner workings of a police department long notorious for corruption and brutality. It's a tale not just of cop acting like criminals but also of a departmental culture more interesting in protecting its own than protecting the citizenry and elected officials more interested in playing "tough on crime" politics than ensuring that the police do not abuse the public.

Like the Memphis SCORPION unit now under the spotlight, the Riders were a specialized crime-fighting unit, celebrated for their aggressive tactics against drug dealers and other scofflaws and held up as an example for incoming rookie officers. A growing pile of police brutality complaints vanished into the police bureaucracy that was supposed to address them, and it took one of those rookie officers, sickened by what he was witnessing from his trainers, to finally bring the scandal into the open.

When it broke, it broke big, with four of the Riders eventually going to trial for the assaults and other crimes they committed (one of them fled and remains a fugitive to this day), only to escape criminal punishment after being vigorously defended by lawyers paid for by the police union. But they and the department could not escape a civil lawsuit filed on behalf of 119 Oakland residents that resulted in a federal consent decree forcing the department into oversight by a federal judge. That was 2003. The department remains under that consent decree to this day because it has been unable or unwilling to make the reforms necessary to satisfy the judge.

Since that 2003 consent decree went into effect, the Oakland PD has suffered renewed scandals on a regular basis, ranging from run of the mill police killings to the killing of four Oakland cops by one man in an incident that laid bare deficiencies in police training to the scandal around Oakland (and other) cops having sex with a troubled teen. And then there was the killing of Oscar Grant at the Fruitvale BART station—not by an Oakland cop but by a BART officer—and the Oakland Police's thuggish response to protests around that killing. And the spying on and attacks on Occupy protestors in 2011.

And on and on. It's as if the Oakland Police is a recidivist organization. The authors describe a culture within the department that has been historically racist, sexist, and anti-worker, dating back to anti-Chinese policing in the late 1800s, the Ku Klux Klan presence in the force in the 1920s, and the violent suppression of strikes in the 1930s. It bashed hippies in the 1960s and terrorized black Oaklanders in the 1980s and 1990s as it prosecuted the war on drugs.

It also generated a decades-long resistance movement, often led by the families of the people the department killed that has managed to impose reforms. And it eventually inspired the consent decree under which the department still labors, but it's always two steps forward, one step back.

As they examine this sordid history, Winston and Bondgraham concede that the department has changed, become less deadly and more transparent, and even occasionally capable of punishing miscreants within the ranks. But they argue that the transformations necessary to civilize policing in Oakland (and elsewhere) are greater than the institution of the police:

Whether policing in Oakland will ever get to the point where most people can agree it has been fundamentally transformed—no longer anything like the institution the Riders thrived in, no longer the force that terrorized Black Oakland after World War II and well into the 2000s—depends very much on whether there are broader societal shifts. So long as Oakland and the rest of America is riven by extreme race and class inequalities and the power of the federal government is not brought to repair the economies of destitute cities and rural areas, and deal with the intergenerational trauma that leads to despair and hopelessness, then it's very likely the police will continue serving more or less the same function they have for well over half a century: containing and repressing the symptoms of broader social problems through violence.

The Riders Come Out at Nightis thoroughly researched, compellingly written, and eye-opening. It is also an achingly timely examination of the role of police in society and how we figure out who will guard us from the guardians. This is a real contribution to the literature of policing in America, and it does not paint a pretty picture. 

This Week's Corrupt Cops Stories

A San Diego deputy has some bad habits, a Florida jail guard was peddling pot brownies to prisoners, and more. Let's get to it:

In Tampa, a Hillsborough County sheriff's detention officer was arrested January 5 for selling marijuana edibles to inmates at the Falkenburg Road Jail. Officer Terry Bradford, Jr., 25, was selling "cannabis-laced edibles" and "other contraband" and was caught with more than a pound of brownies individually packaged for sale. He went down after an inmate snitched him out. He's now been fired, as well as charged with introducing contraband into a detention facility and possession of a controlled substance.

In San Diego, a San Diego County sheriff's deputy was arrested January 7 on a felony warrant for allegedly committing burglaries and possessing drugs. Deputy Cory Richey, a 16-year-veteran of the department, faces 13 counts of burglary and three of drug possession. Authorities said the investigation continues.

In Phoenix, a Maricopa County corrections officer was arrested last Wednesday on suspicion of smuggling fentanyl into the Lower Buckeye Jail. Officer Andres Salazar, 26, was caught with nearly a hundred fentanyl pills in the jail parking lot and is now charged with possession of a narcotic, promoting prison contraband and transport for sale. He is currently on administrative leave.

This Week's Corrupt Cops Stories

A small-town Pennsylvania police chief had a bad habit, an Indiana cop gets caught stealing dope from DEA Drug Take Back campaign, and more. Let's get to it:

In Spencer, Indiana, a Spencer police officer was arrested last Friday for stealing drugs collected during a DEA Drug Take Back campaign. Officer James Bradley Deckard, 39, went down after the state police Investigation Section looked into allegations an officer had taken the drugs. Deckard is charged with official misconduct and theft, both Level 6 Felonies.

In Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, a former Elizabeth Borough police chief pleaded guilty Tuesday to stealing drugs from an evidence locker. According to federal prosecutors, former Chief Timothy Butler "stole hundreds of bricks and bundles of heroin from the Elizabeth Borough Police Department for his own personal use," and Butler admitted in court that he stole and used the heroin. He pleaded guilty to one count of theft of government property. Butler also pleaded guilty to state charges in August 2019 that included two counts of theft, one count of drug possession, and one count of obstructing the administration of justice. He was sentenced to 55 months' probation on the state charges. He faces sentencing on the federal charge in April.

In Clarksburg, West Virginia, a former state prison guard was sentenced last Wednesday to a year and a day in prison for selling drugs to inmates. Joshua Quinn had pleaded guilty in October to one count of possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine and buprenorphine.

This Week's Corrupt Cops Stories

A TSA officer goes down for smuggling meth through LAX, a Georgia deputy was hanging out with the wrong guy, and more. Let's get to it:

In Rome, Georgia, a Cave Springs police officer was arrested December 5 on multiple drug charges. Officer Marvin James Armstrong was arrested alongside another man who also faces multiple drug conspiracy charges. Police said the two were conducting drug transactions. Armstrong is charged with conspiracy to possess fentanyl, methamphetamine, and Percocet.

In Los Angeles, a former TSA officer was sentenced last Friday to six years in federal prison for trying to smuggle methamphetamine through LAX. Former Transportation Security Officer Michael Williams, 39, had pleaded guilty in June to one count of attempted distribution of meth after he was caught in a sting accepting $8,000 for twice smuggling what he thought was meth past security checkpoints at the airport. He would then exchange the fake drugs for cash in a bathroom stall in the airport's secure area, but the man he was bringing his package to was a government agent.

In Clarksburg, West Virginia, a former federal prison guard was sentenced Tuesday to a year and a day in federal prison for selling drugs to inmates. Former guard Joshua Quinn, 28, had pleaded guilty in October to one count of possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine and buprenorphine. Quinn admitted smuggling the drugs and other contraband from September 2020 to February 2021.

This Week's Corrupt Cops Stories

A South Texas cop goes down for escorting drug shipments, a Colorado prison guard gets nailed carrying pens full of dope, and more. Let's get to it:

In Canon City, Colorado, a former state prison guard was sentenced last Tuesday to two years' probation for trying to smuggle meth and opioids into the Fremont prison. Kyle Gotham Tatro, 33, pleaded guilty to one count of felony contraband after authorities stopped him on his way to work and seized four plastic pens. One contained 6 grams of meth, two contained 20 grams of opiates, and one contained nine blue oxycodone pills. Tatro admitted being paid $250 to deliver the drugs.

In Bessemer, Alabama, a guard at the William Donaldson Correctional Facility was arrested last Wednesday for his role in a conspiracy to smuggle drugs, cell phones, and other contraband into the jail. Wilson Brian Clemons, 32, faces one count of conspiracy and one count of using a facility in interstate commerce in furtherance of an illegal activity. He is accused of taking bribes to facilitate the smuggling and using a fake name to create an account on Cash App so he could accept bribes anonymously. Clemons went down in November 2021 after he tried to bring cell phones, marijuana, Xanax, cigars, and scales into the facility. Clemons also agreed to forfeit the money he made from the conspiracy. He's looking at up to five years in state prison.

In Brownsville, Texas, a former Brownsville police officer was sentenced Tuesday to eight years in federal prison for providing protection for what he thought was a load of methamphetamine being transported through the city. Jose Salinas had earlier pleaded guilty to trafficking at least one kilogram of meth over a March 2020 incident where he took $2,500 in cash for escorting drugs from a car lot he owed to a stash house he provided. He had parked a city police car in front of the stash house to protect the shipment.

This Week's Corrupt Cops Stories

A Pentagon cop gets nailed peddling cocaine, a Memphis cop goes to prison for ripping off and torturing alleged drug dealers, and more. Let's get to it:

In Lamesa, Texas, a prison guard was arrested October 10 after being caught trying to smuggle liquid PCP and liquid fentanyl into the Lamesa state prison. Guard Gilma Paredes was caught with 17.5 ounces of liquid PCP and 21 ounces of liquid fentanyl as she arrived at work, and authorities found an additional 30.5 ounces of liquid PCP and five ounces of liquid fentanyl in her vehicle.

In Vidalia, Louisiana, a former jail guard was arrested October 13 for smuggling drugs into the Concordia Parish Jail. Now former Correctional Officer Anthony Godbold, 35, is charged with two counts of malfeasance in office, two counts of introducing contraband into jail two counts and possession of schedule I controlled substances with intent to distribute.

In Chickasha, Oklahoma, an Oklahoma City police officer was arrested October 21 on drug dealing charges. Officer Dean Yancy Forbes was booked into the Grady County Jail on unspecified multiple charges, as was his wife, Sandra Joy Forbes. He is now on administrative leave with the Oklahoma City Police Department.

In Easley, South Carolina, a now former Greenville County sheriff's deputy was arrested October 24 on marijuana distribution charges. Deputy Nicholas Craig Ison, 22, went down after providing weed to a confidential informant and was immediately fired as well as arrested. He was booked into the Pickens County Jail.

In Arlington, Virginia, a Pentagon police officer was arrested Monday after narcotics detectives watched him picking up a shipment of cocaine. Officer Eric Welch, 33, went down after Arlington detectives received a tip that he was selling cocaine and caught him as he was restocking his supply. He faces charges of possessing at least 2.5 kilograms of cocaine with intent to distribute and while carrying a firearm. He's looking at up to 20 years in prison if convicted.

In Richland, Washington, a former state prison guard was sentenced October 4 to 46 month in federal prison for conspiring to smuggle drugs and cell phones into the Benton County Jail. Former guard Eric Christian, 34, had pleaded guilty in December 2021 to conspiracy to provide prohibited objects to an inmate of a prison in exchange for bribes. Christian and six codefendants conspired to introduce multiple cell phones, methamphetamine, heroin, suboxone strips, and other contraband into the Benton County Jail. As part of the conspiracy, Christian and his co-conspirators also provided access to dangerous offenders and gang members so that they could identify, assault, and retaliate against cooperating defendants as well as inmates charged with certain types of offenses.

In Columbus, Ohio, a former Columbus vice officer was sentenced October 6 to 18 months in federal prison for planting cocaine on the owner of a strip club. Former Officer Steven Rosser, 46, had been convicted in February of violating the civil rights of club owner Armen Stipanyian by searching him and his vehicle without a warrant and then falsely claiming he found cocaine residue on a desk in Stipanyian's office and arresting him. The planted cocaine amounted to .017 grams. After fraudulently arresting Stipanyian, Rosser falsified documents to conceal his misdeeds. The strip club investigation was an outgrowth of the arrest of adult film star Stormy Daniels at another strip club in the city, and it was FBI agents looking into the Daniels arrests that turned up Rosser's misbehavior. The vice unit that Rosser belonged to was disbanded in 2019 after the Stormy Daniels debacle.

In Machias, Maine, a former Calais police officer was sentenced October 15 to four years in state prison on drug and gun charges after originally being arrested for giving opioid pain pills to a teenage girl in a high school parking lot. The pills were meant for the girl's mother. Jeffrey Bishop, 55, was arrested less than a week after retiring from the department. It is not clear what the exact charges he was convicted of are.

In Memphis, Tennessee, a former Memphis police officer was sentenced Tuesday to 12 years in federal prison for his role in a police gang that robbed and beat alleged drug dealers. Former Officer Sam Blue, 63, conspired with others from 2014 to 2018 to rob drug dealers and provided his coconspirators with information such as the home addresses of their targets obtained from restricted law enforcement sources, as well as police badges and dashboard blue lights.

In one case, the gang targeted Eric Cain, surveilling him and putting a GPS tracker on his vehicle. Blue provided the gate code needed to get access to Cain's apartment complex, and the rogue crew stopped him on the pretext he was being arrested, handcuffed and hooded him, and took him to another house in Memphis, where they beat him and burned him on his arms, neck, and head while demanding he tell them where his money was. Cain escaped and went to authorities after spending a week in the hospital for his injuries. Blue pleaded guilty in January to conspiracy to violate civil rights by using force, violence, and intimidation, and conspiracy to commit robbery affecting interstate commerce.

This Week's Corrupt Cops Stories

This week, it's all jail and prison guards gone wild. Let's get to it:

In Charlotte, North Carolina, an Alexander County jail guard was arrested last Wednesday for allegedly supplying $300,000 worth of suboxone and synthetic marijuana to inmates at the jail. Guard Caroline Nicole Lyon, 29, went down after what authorities said was an extended investigation. She is charged with one account of felony providing drugs to inmates and placed under a $10,000 secure bond.

In Boston, a state prison guard was arrested last Thursday after being found in possession of suboxone as he arrived for work at MCI-Norfolk. Guard Vito Forlano, 44, is charged with possession of a class B drug, as well as distribution of a class B drug and delivering an article to a prisoner. He has been placed on leave and ordered to stay away from the prison.

In Albany, Georgia, a former state prison guard was sentenced Tuesday to five years in federal prison for trying to smuggle drug and cellphones into the Calhoun State Prison. Tempress Johnson, 35, was caught in a prison van with two pounds of meth and eight cellphones and admitted being paid $10,000 for her efforts. She had pleaded guilty to possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine.

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