Pubdate: Sun, 06 Jan 2002 Source: Denver Rocky Mountain News (CO) Copyright: 2002, Denver Publishing Co Contact: http://www.rockymountainnews.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/371 TESTS SHOW FAKE DRUGS SEIZED IN DALLAS MADE OF SHEETROCK, GYPSUM Nearly half of all purported cocaine Dallas police seized last year was finely crushed Sheetrock, while one-fourth of the methamphetamine turned out to be composed of gypsum, the main ingredient in Sheetrock, court records show. Dallas police admitted last week that they paid a confidential informant $200,000 for information leading to dozens of drug busts, only to find out later that some of the confiscated substances were fake. At the time, police Chief Terrell Bolton said he didn't know what the drugs were made of. Forensic testing has cast doubt on at least 24 Dallas police narcotics cases, according to information obtained by The Dallas Morning News through interviews and court records. The cases are first-degree felony drug-delivery charges involving at least 18 defendants in which lab tests have shown that little or no illegal drugs were found in almost 700 pounds of seized evidence. In those cases, less-reliable field tests showed that the substances were drugs. If convicted, those defendants could have faced from five years to life in prison. The cases have raised questions about Dallas police officers' use of paid confidential drug informants, prompted an internal investigation, and spurred police to revise their drug-evidence procedures. Dallas police spokeswoman Janice Houston says drugs are now submitted for forensic testing as soon as they are stored in the police property room. Last year, Dallas narcotics officers seized more than 1,400 pounds of substances thought to be cocaine during drug raids and undercover buys, according to department statistics. But when the substances were tested by the district attorney's office for court cases, more than 660 pounds turned out to be pure gypsum or contained trace amounts of cocaine. For methamphetamine seizures, 22 of more than 100 pounds turned out to be mostly Sheetrock, with lab results pending on an additional 32 pounds of suspect speed. Two cases involving counterfeit drugs were cocaine seizures that Dallas police and prosecutors touted as record-setting busts. Court records show that the same Dallas narcotics officers, relying on drug deals set up or carried out by confidential informants, made the arrests. One of the busts, which netted 150 pounds of a substance that later turned out not to be cocaine, was made with help from a paid confidential informant in July. Dallas police said it was one of the largest drug busts in Dallas County law enforcement history. The Hispanic day laborer charged with the crime was jailed in lieu of $1 million bail. Months later, after his charges were called into question, he was released from jail on a personal recognizance bond that required only his signature. His case is pending. The district attorney's office has so far identified 10 drug-delivery cases filed by Dallas police in which the seized evidence didn't contain any illegal drugs. Prosecutors have found 14 pending cases in which the seized evidence contained so-called "low-quantity" amounts of drugs or amounts that were too small to quantify, said Steve Tokoly, who oversees all felony trial prosecutions for the district attorney's office. Of the 18 defendants identified by records and defense attorneys, all have Hispanic surnames and only two have prior felony convictions, both of which involved drugs, according to Dallas County records. Bolton and his command staff declined to comment to the newspaper late last week about the latest information on the 24 cases. - --- MAP posted-by: Beth