Pubdate: Sun, 6 Jan 2002 Source: Dallas Morning News (TX) Copyright: 2002 The Dallas Morning News Contact: http://www.dallasnews.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/117 Author: Holly Becka and Tim Wyatt, The Dallas Morning News Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/corrupt.htm (Corruption) TESTS CAST DOUBT ON 24 DRUG CASES Police Study Procedures After Seized Evidence Found To Be Fake Questionable Drug Seizures April 26 - Dallas police narcotics officers make the first of a series of 18 large cocaine busts. The bust nets more than 60 pounds of cocaine, later found to be made up entirely of crushed Sheetrock. September - The Dallas County district attorney's office notices a growing number of lab test results from the large cocaine busts that show little or no controlled substance in seized evidence. Oct. 1 - Narcotics officers using confidential informants start turning up a new series of large methamphetamine delivery arrests.The seized evidence is later found to contain trace amounts or absolutely no illegal drugs. Oct. 26 - Prosecutors alert Dallas police to the pattern of bad lab tests in certain drug cases. Nov. 30 - Dallas police begin an investigation into the suspect drug seizures. Dec. 5 - At least 10 first-degree felony drug cases have been dismissed so far in the courts by the district attorney "in the interest of justice" or from a "lack of sufficient evidence." Dec. 31 - Dallas Police Chief Terrell Bolton holds a news conference and confirms that his department's internal investigation has identified at least nine suspect drug cases. Jan. 4 - Prosecutors confirm that at least two dozen drug cases are in question because lab tests showed seized substances to be fake. In at least one case, prosecutors decided to indict a suspect for possession of a "simulated" controlled substance. Laboratory tests reveal that almost half of all purported cocaine seized in drug raids by Dallas police in 2001 turned out to be finely crushed Sheetrock, court records show. Likewise, records show that nearly one-fourth of all methamphetamine seized in Dallas police drug raids last year was composed of gypsum, the main ingredient in Sheetrock. 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 absolutely 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. Drugs are now submitted for forensic testing as soon as they are stored in the police property room, said Dallas police spokeswoman Janice Houston. 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. However, 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. In both of those cases - as in the majority of the other cases - field tests showed the seized substance to be cocaine. 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. At one point, 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. In addition, 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. Chief Declines Comment Dallas Police Chief Terrell Bolton and his command staff declined to comment late last week about the latest information on the 24 cases. An official with the Dallas County district attorney's office said he was unaware of the data about the large amount of counterfeit drugs. "This information is something that was brought to me for the first time, and I have no way of determining at this time whether the data is fundamentally sound or not. Therefore, I cannot comment on it one way or the other," Mr. Tokoly said. Chief Bolton said in a New Year's Eve news conference that those arrested were guilty of selling fake drugs and that he doesn't think his officers or their confidential informants did anything wrong. He said his department hasn't decided whether to continue using one such confidential informant, who earned more than $200,000 in a total of 60 payments from the Police Department over two years. The informant, who was the department's most highly paid and prolific informer during 2001, was involved in nine cases now under investigation by the department's public integrity unit. The average payment to the informant was $3,300. Chief Bolton said last week that the sums were based on the amount of drugs seized. Ready To Investigate Chief Bolton said at the news conference that the department would investigate if police found anything to suggest that there were problems with that informant or any other informant. "We don't want anybody in jail if they haven't done anything wrong," he said. "At the same time, you've got to remember the intent of the people with this stuff. The intent was to peddle in illegal drugs and illegal profit." Dallas defense lawyer Richard Carrizales said he has long believed that Dallas police have potentially problematic relationships with confidential informants. "They're so concerned with the numbers and making cases that even when there's red flags, they don't check them out," he said of narcotics officers. "These ... [informants] are paid a lot of money to do this, so they don't have to work. They can lead these narcotics officers to whoever they want and the people usually on top of the list ... are immigrants." Civil-rights Concerns Adelfa Callejo, chairwoman of the Coalition of Hispanic Organizations and former president of the Mexican-American Bar Association, said she intends to ask the Justice Department and the Mexican Consulate to investigate the matter. "As a criminal defense attorney, I have a problem with the district attorney presenting cases to grand juries and returning indictments on drug cases without lab reports showing the evidence to be a controlled substance," Ms. Callejo said. "Further, the Hispanic community leadership is extremely upset over what appears to be racial profiling and a gross violation of the civil rights of these Hispanics." Mr. Tokoly, with the district attorney's office, said prosecutors acted as quickly as possible after obtaining lab results in September from the Southwestern Institute of Forensic Sciences and noticing the pattern of fake drugs. He said that a prosecutor informed Dallas police about the matter Oct. 26. Dallas police spokesman Senior Cpl. Steve Walthall said the department initiated its investigation Nov. 30. Meanwhile, "on a case-by-case basis, we moved to dismiss those charges when that was the appropriate thing to do," Mr. Tokoly said. The district attorney's office dismissed seven of the 10 cases in which tests have shown the evidence to contain no drugs; one was dismissed as recently as Thursday. A grand jury declined to indict a man charged in one of the cases, and two suspects were allowed to leave jail on personal recognizance bonds. Still, prosecutors secured the re-indictment of one defendant in the 10 cases from a first-degree felony to a lesser charge of delivery of a simulated controlled substance, a state-jail felony punishable by up to two years in jail. The suspect was arrested on two possession-with-intent-to-deliver charges, Mr. Tokoly said. "In one of those, the lab report came back reflecting no cocaine," he continued. "In the second, the lab report reflected some cocaine. ... It was the decision of the prosecutor reviewing those cases at the time to re-indict." Mr. Tokoly said late Friday that the 14 cases identified as containing trace amounts of drugs in gypsum were pending. He declined further comment on the matter. However, according to court records, prosecutors dismissed four cases involving trace amounts of illegal drugs in gypsum for "lack of sufficient evidence." It is unknown whether the district attorney's office is counting the four dismissed cases among its 14 with "low-quantity" drug amounts. Court records show that two people have pleaded guilty in cases in which lab tests have raised questions about the drug seizures. Lives 'Destroyed' One such defendant, 26-year-old Jaime Siguenza, insisted he was innocent but pleaded guilty rather than face prison, his lawyer said. He was deported to Mexico after receiving five years' deferred-adjudication probation in a plea bargain. Mr. Siguenza faced two drug delivery charges after police discovered several supposed kilos of cocaine in a salvage car in the parking lot of his father's car-repair business. An independent witness said he saw a stranger jump the fence and loiter near the salvage vehicles more than an hour before police swooped in, said Dallas defense attorney Bill Stovall. Analysis in Mr. Siguenza's cases found no controlled substances in the salvage vehicle and minute amounts of cocaine with lots of gypsum in a package he was alleged to have sold the confidential informant. "Siguenza ... said, 'I didn't do it, but I'd rather plea and live free in Mexico that do 15 years in the pen,' " Mr. Stovall said. "It's ruined his marriage, family, and everything else. ... The way they're currently handling these cases is to reduce the charge down to something where the defendant is basically forced to choose the lesser of two evils." Mr. Stovall, a former Dallas County prosecutor who served under current District Attorney Bill Hill, said his client's case and others he has learned about have upset him. "The police officers are still working the cases, they're still using the same ... [informants], and nothing seems to be done to resolve this while these people are sitting in jail for months," Mr. Stovall said. "Lives and families are being destroyed." One of those who sat in jail for 21/2 months was Erubiel Cruz, a 46-year-old mechanic who runs an Oak Cliff car-repair shop. Prosecutors dropped his drug-delivery charge after tests showed that almost 22 pounds of methamphetamine seized during an October bust at his business was gypsum. His Dallas defense attorney, Brady Wyatt, said prosecutors told him tests revealed "trace amounts ... [that] weren't enough to prosecute" Mr. Cruz. In jail while awaiting the lab results, Mr. Cruz maintained his innocence and refused to plead guilty to lesser charges. He said that while he was behind bars, he met other people who said the same police informants set them up for arrests by the same undercover Dallas police narcotics officers. Mr. Cruz, who has no criminal record in Dallas County, said he had never seen the two informants who drove their car into his Marsalis Avenue shop Oct. 1. In police reports, however, narcotics officers said the two informants had made a smaller purchase of drugs from Mr. Cruz earlier that day and returned for a major buy. Samples of the substances in both buys tested positive for methamphetamine by police on the scene, but Mr. Wyatt said field tests are unreliable. "Let's put it this way," he said. "The police didn't even get the right address for their search warrant on my client. I don't think they knew who they were trying to get that day, but they obviously got the wrong guy." Mr. Cruz said he is also confused about why he was singled out and remains worried about others who are facing similar circumstances. "We don't know what was going on," he said. "We still don't know who's behind this." Staff writer Robert Tharp contributed to this report. - --- MAP posted-by: Jackl