Pubdate: Wed, 22 Nov 2000
Source: Houston Chronicle (TX)
Copyright: 2000 Houston Chronicle
Contact:  Viewpoints Editor, P.O. Box 4260 Houston, Texas 77210-4260
Fax: (713) 220-3575
Website: http://www.chron.com/
Forum: http://www.chron.com/content/hcitalk/index.html
Author: Jo Ann Zuniga

OFFICERS SUBPOENAED IN DRUG CASE

House Wants Police And Dea Agents To Testify On Rap-A-Lot Investigation

The U.S. House Committee on Government Reform subpoenaed three Houston 
police officers and five Drug Enforcement Administration agents to testify 
in Washington, D.C., on a local drug investigation, officials confirmed 
Tuesday.

The eight subpoenas request the law enforcement officers to appear before 
the committee Dec. 6 to discuss an investigation of Rap-A-Lot recording 
company founder and President James A. Prince and his associates, said 
House Committee spokesman Sean Spicer.

"This should help us get to the bottom of the problem," Spicer said. "When 
you have a major drug investigation suddenly close down and someone claims 
political pressure, it's worth looking into."

A multiagency task force of investigators secured more than 20 convictions 
on associates of Prince on charges ranging from drug trafficking to police 
corruption before the joint Houston Police-DEA probe was allegedly shut 
down in September 1999.

Prince, 36, was never charged and convicted in the investigation. But he 
complained to U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., who in turn informed 
Attorney General Janet Reno, that he and his associates have been targeted 
because of profiling, police racism and jealousy over his rise to riches 
from his Fifth Ward neighborhood.

The subpoenas request HPD officers Bill Stephens, Larry Allen and Ralph 
Chaison, all of the narcotics division, to appear before the House 
Committee, Spicer said.

The police officers spoke last month to House Committee representatives who 
traveled to Houston to discuss whether the the HPD was curtailed from the 
investigation by DEA, police spokesman John Leggio confirmed.

The DEA agents subpoenaed include the DEA administrator, Donnie Marshall of 
Washington, D.C., Houston's special agent-in-charge Ernest Howard and agent 
Jack Schumacher, who headed the investigation before being transferred to 
another position.

Howard, Schumacher's immediate supervisor, previously denied ever stopping 
the investigation because of political pressure. However, recently released 
e-mail by Howard discussed stopping the investigation and referred to Vice 
President Al Gore, who made a campaign stop last March in Houston that 
included a church where Prince is a financially contributing member.

Howard previously denied the case had been sidetracked.

But Schumacher's attorney, Michael Hinton, thinks otherwise.

"There's no question that this investigation was shut down," Hinton said. 
"The question is why and how it was shut down.

"The officers and agents who were in the field doing the work are anxious 
to testify. I can only hope the Justice Department does not interfere and 
instead cooperates," he said.
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