LE Corruption Thread

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Officers Charged in Cocaine Disappearance
MICHAEL BRICK
NY Times
12/20/07


Two city police officers were arraigned Wednesday on charges of misconduct and falsifying records in connection with the disappearance of 11 bags of cocaine.

The officers, Julio Alvarez and Sean Johnstone of the Brooklyn South narcotics unit, walked into Brooklyn Criminal Court in jeans and bulky coats, without handcuffs. They were released without bail at the request of prosecutors. Led out of the courthouse through a back exit, they left without comment.

Four years ago, their unit was embroiled in scandal when 30 detectives and sergeants were demoted in connection with falsified overtime claims.

A law enforcement official said the two officers did not appear to be connected to a separate investigation involving drugs missing from a police laboratory in Queens.

Court records show that on Sept. 13, the two officers arrested a man named Mitchell Pratt on cocaine possession charges, who was held in $2,000 bail. The arrest was credited to Officer Alvarez, court records show.

According to a criminal complaint, Officer Alvarez turned over 17 bags of cocaine to a police property clerk. In accompanying paperwork, Officer Alvarez wrote that no other drugs were confiscated from Mr. Pratt, the complaint says.

The complaint says Officer Johnstone was later recorded saying that he and Officer Alvarez “had actually recovered 28 zip-lock bags of cocaine from the person of Mitchell Pratt, and that defendants had intentionally only vouchered 17 zip-locks of cocaine from that amount.”

Law enforcement officials said Officer Johnstone, who had been working undercover, was recorded via a hidden transmitter he was carrying. Backup teams typically decide when to turn on and off the recording of signals from such transmitters.

During the recorded conversation, Officer Johnstone was not using his undercover persona, law enforcement officials said. He used racial slurs and spoke of giving Officer Alvarez undue credit for an arrest. Both officers have been suspended.

The Internal Affairs Bureau is investigating the disappearance of the cocaine, a police official said.

The charges against the officers relate to paperwork involving the arrest and the processing of the drugs. The most serious charges carry penalties of no more than four years in prison.

The officers’ lawyers, Mario Perez for Officer Alvarez and James Moschella for Officer Johnstone, did not return calls seeking comment.

A lawyer for Mr. Pratt, Titus Mathi, was asked in a brief telephone interview whether he expected the cocaine possession charges to be dismissed.

“The case is still ongoing,” he said.

Link!
 
The charges against the officers relate to paperwork involving the arrest and the processing of the drugs. The most serious charges carry penalties of no more than four years in prison.


Why aren't they going to be charged with theft, or possession or anything like that? I bet the guy they stole the coke from is gonna get the book thrown at him, but these guys get charged with a paperwork violation? Bullshit. Cops that get caught breaking the law should be charged more harshly than average people because they are the ones that society has entrusted with our safety and they are the ones who are supposed to be trust worthy and not break laws. So when someone with that much responsibility fucks it off, they should get more punishment than normal. But, they don't.
 
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they most likely sold it to someone who could resell it on the street for its maximum profit. dirty cops are the worst. especailly the ones who shake down dealers and take their stash to re sell themselves. fucking BS. if we cant trust the cops who can we trust?
 
bulldog8b said:
cops that get caught braking the law should be charged more harshly than average people because they are the ones that society has entrusted with our safety and they are the ones who are supposed to be trust worthy and not break laws. So when someone with that much responsibility fucks it off, they should get more punishment than normal. But, they don't.
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huh, I thought I was the only one who felt that way! Nice to see someone else lol.

I've always felt that it's complete bs for cops to get in the same trouble as a normal citizen *if* they're on the clock. If they get in a fight at a bar, then sure, regular citizen sentences. But I've always said, why on earth don't we just make police offenses something like 5X a normal citizen's punishment? It makes sense on 2 levels. One would be that they have much, much more friends in law enforcement so the likelihood of them getting 'special treatment' is far higher. The other is the obvious-ness: they are supposed to be upholding the law, and for someone who society trusted with that level of power to go and just use to abuse, to act like a thug on the clock, is much, much more worse than a regular citizen committing the same crime (think about it, what is more offensive and messed up, a regular person smoking a joint, or an on-duty cop smoking a joint?).
 
they took the coke.... cut it to hell!!! and then found some street level dealer gave him an ultimatum "sell this coke for maximum price and you will have us (police) on your side, and if you dont sell it we will bust your ass and send you to prison" and made ass loads of money!!
 
that's quite an unusual, unsupported theory! Not that I'd doubt it if I heard it reported, but that's kind of stretching it!
 
They don't mention how much each bag weighed. But I have a feeling it wasn't a lot, at least less than an 8th. If that's the case, I'd think the cops were personally going to use the stolen coke.
It doesn't make sense to risk trying to move minuscule quantities like that.
 
I wouldn't be shocked if they moved it, I just doubt they went out of their way to. If they knew low level dealers or users maybe they shared some, sold some, etc, or maybe they just blew it themselves.
 
Feds: NY Detective Plotted With Dealers
TOM HAYS
The Associated Press
2.1.08


NEW YORK - Federal prosecutors accuse a police detective of providing confidential information to cocaine dealers in the latest arrest of NYPD officers on corruption charges.

The allegations against Luis Batista were included in a newly unsealed indictment that also charges another officer, internal affairs Sgt. Henry Conde, with tipping off Batista that he was the target of an internal probe.

Batista, 34, pleaded "absolutely not guilty" on Thursday to drug dealing, obstructing justice and other charges, and was expected to be released on $500,000 bond before the weekend. Conde, 34, had pleaded not guilty following his arrest last year.

"If in fact these accusations prove to be true, it's despicable conduct," Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said following a promotion ceremony at police headquarters.

The indictment follows the recent arrests of a detective on charges of forcing a runaway 13-year-old girl into prostitution and of four officers accused of secretly using money and drugs seized during arrests to pay informants.

Police officials say the corruption cases, while troubling, were unrelated aberrations at the 35,000-officer NYPD.

"Unfortunately the sad reality is that you're always going to have, in that universe of people, some individuals who will violate the public trust," Kelly said.

In the latest case, internal affairs and federal investigators say they unearthed evidence that Batista was part of a drug-dealing operation run by old friends. His attorney, James Moschella, admitted his client knew the dealers and sometimes used them as informants, but said he never committed crimes with them.

On Wednesday, Detective Wayne Taylor and a woman accused of working as his partner pleaded not guilty in Queens to kidnapping, promoting prostitution, assault and endangering the welfare of a child. Prosecutors allege the pair took their young victim to parties throughout the city, where about 20 men paid to have sex with her before she escaped to her family.

The third case, an ongoing corruption probe in Brooklyn, has resulted in four officers being arrested, others suspended and their superiors stripped of their commands. The investigation was launched last year after an undercover detective mistakenly revealed on a recording that he and another officer had forged paperwork about a drug arrest, saying that 17 bags of cocaine were seized instead of the real total, 28.

Internal affairs investigators say they later learned that after a seizure of 40 bags of cocaine and $250 in November, two other officers stole two bags and $40 to give to an informant as a reward.

Link!
 
DPS crime lab tech gets 45 years for stealing cocaine

A former Department of Public Safety technician was sentenced to 45 years in prison Friday for stealing cocaine from the agency's Jersey Village crime lab.

Jesus Hinojosa Jr. pleaded guilty in December to two counts of possession of more than 400 grams of cocaine with intent to deliver, prosecutor Marcy McCorvey said.

After reading a pre-sentencing report and hearing testimony in the case,state District Judge Joan Campbell sentenced Hinojosa, 31, to prison with a $1 fine. A fine is mandated by law.

Hinojosa is the last of four men implicated in the scheme to sell more than 26 kilograms of cocaine stolen from the Jersey Village lab.

Last week, Everett Brumfield, 42, was sentenced to 25 years after pleading guilty to engaging in organized criminal activity.

In December, Tommy Norris, 34, pleaded guilty to possession of a controlled substance in exchange for a 25-year sentence for his part in replacing the narcotics with lookalike bricks.

Roberto Reynoso, 36, a buyer, agreed to a punishment of 45 years in prison.

link​
 
the amazing this is that in the first article, the prosecutors recommended that they be released w/o bail.

fucking insane.

they might as well just do the defense's job for them.
 
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A while ago I posted an article about a forensic chemist, the guys that check the drugs for the po po's, stealing some of them. Apparently it affected a bunch of cases.
 
which, in the end, is almost a sweet irony no? Guy gets arrested for a consensual, non-violent act (say, dealing coke). Faces many, many years in a cage, and is let off the hook because the people 'against' him used up all their evidencde against him!!
 
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