Pubdate: Thu, 06 Dec 2001 Source: Oklahoman, The (OK) Copyright: 2001 The Oklahoma Publishing Co. Contact: http://www.oklahoman.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/318 Author: Bob Doucette Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/corrupt.htm (Corruption) EX-ADA OFFICER DRAWS TERM FOR DRUG CRIMES -- FORMER ASSISTANT CHIEF PLEADS GUILTY Ada: Phone tap broke case MUSKOGEE -- A former Ada assistant police chief was sentenced Wednesday to 61/2 years in federal prison for two drug convictions. Dennis Edmond Corvin, 40, pleaded guilty in August to having a gun while drug trafficking and establishing a drug manufacturing operation. He was sentenced in federal court in Muskogee. Corvin was arrested in February after the Pontotoc County District Attorney's Drug Task Force learned that he was involved in a methamphetamine manufacturing ring. Corvin, then the security manager at the Ada Wal- Mart, allowed one of his partners to come in the store and steal lithium batteries. Lithium strips in the batteries are used to make methamphetamine. The conspiracy was uncovered when investigators tapped Corvin's phone and recorded his conversations with a confidential informant. Investigators learned the ring had operated for at least seven months, court records showed. The group had been making methamphetamine at several Ada locations, as well as in a home in Stonewall. Court records showed one member of the drug ring went as far away as Shawnee to steal chemicals. A search of Corvin's home revealed drugs, firearms and items used to make methamphetamine. Interviews with informants indicated Corvin was not only a maker of methamphetamine but also a frequent user, court records state. Corvin took the Wal-Mart job after retiring from the Ada Police Department in 1999. He had been on the police force for more than 20 years. - --- MAP posted-by: Josh