Pubdate: Wed, 07 Jun 2000
Source: Virginian-Pilot (VA)
Copyright: 2000, The Virginian-Pilot
Contact:  http://www.pilotonline.com
Forum: http://www.pilotonline.com/webx/cgi-bin/WebX
Author: Marc Davis And Janie Bryant

PORTSMOUTH DEPUTIES PLEAD GUILTY IN DRUG CASE

NORFOLK - Two former deputy sheriffs accused of smuggling drugs to inmates
at the Portsmouth City Jail have pleaded guilty to federal charges of
conspiracy to distribute marijuana.

Helena Snead, 50, a five-year employee, pleaded guilty Friday. Ulysses
Johnson, 35, a nine-year employee, pleaded guilty Monday. Each faces up to
five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

A third deputy sheriff who was arrested with Snead and Johnson last month,
Reginald Coleman, has not yet been indicted and has not pleaded guilty.
``His status remains unchanged,'' said prosecutor Laura P. Tayman.

Prosecutors have 30 days from his arrest -- until Thursday -- to indict
Coleman. His attorney, Andrew M. Sacks, said Coleman will not plead guilty
and will argue that he was entrapped by the FBI.

The three deputies were arrested May 8 after a four-month FBI investigation
and sting operation at the Portsmouth jail. All three were accused of
meeting undercover agents and taking money in exchange for delivering
marijuana to an inmate in the jail.

``I have no use for crooked law enforcement officers, and I think I would be
very, very pleased if they get the maximum penalty,'' Portsmouth Sheriff
Gary W. Waters said Tuesday. ``I have absolutely no sympathy for them.''

Waters said jail policies and procedures have been revisited and security
tightened since the investigation. ``With this going on, we've had to really
look at the whole situation,'' he said.

The three deputies were fired upon their arrests.

A fourth jail employee implicated in the investigation, a nurse, was not
charged. Waters said the nurse has resigned, but he declined to identify
her. An FBI affidavit filed in court identifies the nurse as Jacqueline
Skyers, and accuses her of accepting hundreds of dollars to arrange phone
calls for jail inmates.

The investigation began in December 1999 when federal inmates staying in the
Portsmouth jail reported that a deputy had given a prisoner marijuana.

On Feb. 11, during a shakedown in the jail, marijuana was found in a
prisoner's cell, according to the FBI affidavit. The inmate later told FBI
agents that three deputies -- Snead, Johnson and Coleman -- had supplied him
with marijuana, the affidavit says. The inmate said deputies hid the
marijuana in a food container.

The inmate told Snead, Johnson and Coleman that he was a millionaire drug
kingpin in the witness protection program, and would pay them for supplying
him with drugs in jail, according to the affidavit. He told the deputies
that he would put money in a bank account for them and make them partners in
business ventures if they took care of him in jail, the affidavit says.

The informant inmate then helped FBI agents in a sting.

Several times in March and April, according to the FBI affidavit, undercover
agents met with the deputies in hotels and parking lots in Norfolk and
Portsmouth, paying hundreds of dollars and passing marijuana in bags,
envelopes and toilet paper rolls.

As part of their guilty pleas, Snead and Johnson have agreed to cooperate.

Snead is scheduled to be sentenced Aug. 31, Johnson on Sept. 28.

Reach Marc Davis at 446-2303 or  ---
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