Pubdate: Sat, 02 Mar 2002
Source: Augusta Chronicle, The (GA)
Copyright: 2002 The Augusta Chronicle
Contact:  http://www.augustachronicle.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/31
Note: Does not publishing letters from outside of the immediate Georgia and 
South Carolina circulation area
Author:  Sandy Hodson
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/corrupt.htm (Corruption)

PLEA OF DEPUTY IS NOT GUILTY

A former sheriff's deputy accused of conspiracy and drug charges pleaded 
innocent Friday in U.S. District Court.

Joseph Ellick, 34, was arraigned on charges of conspiracy to possess crack 
cocaine with the intent to distribute, attempt to possess cocaine, and 
misprision of a felony offense.

U.S. District Court Magistrate Judge W. Leon Barfield, who presided over 
Friday's hearing, had set a $25,000 bond for Mr. Ellick on Feb. 20. But 
arrangements to secure the bond and obtain the proper paperwork have not 
been completed.

"Logistically this case is a nightmare," Mr. Ellick's defense attorney, 
Michael H. Bloom of Coconut Grove, Fla., told the judge Friday. Mr. Ellick 
moved to Fort Lauderdale, Fla., with his family last year after leaving his 
job as a member of the Richmond County Sheriff's Department crime 
suppression unit.

The charges Mr. Ellick faces - punishable by a minimum 10-year prison 
sentence - allegedly occurred in Richmond County while he served as a deputy.

Mr. Ellick is accused of conspiring with former narcotics investigator 
Ralph Tyrone Williams, 36, from 1997 through August 2000 to possess and 
distribute crack cocaine.

Mr. Ellick faces additional accusations that he took steps to set up a drug 
dealer to seize illegal drugs that were to be given to another man to sell, 
and that he once failed to make an arrest or report finding a person with 
cocaine in exchange for "being broken off a piece," according to the 
indictment.

Mr. Williams, fired from the department after his indictment, also has 
pleaded innocent. He faces five criminal charges in the federal indictment. 
Mr. Williams is free on a $25,000 bond.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Beth