Pubdate: Mon, 09 Jul 2001 Source: Chicago Tribune (IL) Copyright: 2001 Chicago Tribune Company Contact: http://www.chicagotribune.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/82 Author: William P. Bohlen Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/corrupt.htm (Corruption) GARY COPS INDICTED IN DRUG-RELATED INVESTIGATIONS A Gary, Ind., patrolman and three other men have been indicted in connection with a pair of drug-related killings, while a second Gary police officer has been indicted on money laundering and narcotics charges, authorities announced today. A federal grand jury Friday returned indictments for killings in connection with a drug conspiracy against James Ervin, 30, a Gary patrolman since 1992, and alleged drug traffickers Jay Zambrana, 39, Louis Perez, 29, and Gabriel Benavides, whose age is unknown, said David Capp, U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Indiana. The men were charged in connection with the November 1998 slayings of Raul Hurtado and Gil Nevarez, ages unknown, Capp said. The two drug dealers' bodies were found in a burned-out car on the 7100 block of South Harvard Avenue in Chicago. A second Gary police officer, Luis Roman, 34, was indicted on charges of money laundering and conspiracy to distribute cocaine and heroin, Capp said. Ervin, Zambrana and Perez are being held without bond at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Chicago. Benavides is a fugitive and is believed to be in Monterrey, Mexico, while Roman is free on bond, Capp said. According to the indictment, Ervin was taking orders from Zambrana, the leader of a local drug ring, when he stopped Hurtado and Nevarez as the two were driving into Gary, intending to sell nine kilograms of cocaine. Ervin gave the cocaine to Perez, handcuffed the victims and drove them to the Puerto Rican Benefit Society in Gary, where Ervin and Benavides shot them to death, the indictment stated. Ervin allegedly then took the victims' vehicle with their bodies inside to Chicago's South Side, where he abandoned and set fire to the car. In a separate incident, Capp said, Ervin took $275,000 in drug money while on duty in a marked Gary squad car in January 1999. Arrested May 7 on a federal criminal complaint, Ervin has spent the last two months in custody. Gary Police Chief John Roby said Ervin and Roman violated the codes surrounding their duties as police officers. "I felt that they had let their badge down," Roby said. "You are out there to serve and protect, and not to serve the other side." Roby said Ervin had been taken off patrol and put on desk duty, while Roman had been suspended. "Now that the indictments have been unsealed, they will be terminated," Roby said. - --- MAP posted-by: Terry Liittschwager