Pubdate: Thu, 09 May 2002
Source: Augusta Chronicle, The (GA)
Copyright: 2002 The Augusta Chronicle
Contact:  http://www.augustachronicle.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/31
Author: Sandy Hodson
Note: Does not publishing letters from outside of the immediate Georgia and 
South Carolina circulation area

POLICE SCANDAL DETAILS EMERGE

Ex-Officer Gave Party For Felon, Prosecutors Say

A local drug dealer was the guest of honor at a 1997 party thrown by 
narcotics officer Ralph Tyrone Williams and attended by several other 
Richmond County Sheriff's Office deputies, according to new documents filed 
in federal court. In addition to the federal charges that Mr. Williams and 
former Officer Joseph Ellick already face, prosecutors have filed documents 
seeking permission to tell a U.S. District Court more about alleged 
discoveries by federal investigators.

Prosecutors want a jury to hear about the party held after convicted drug 
dealer Joe Nathan Green was paroled in February 1997, and they want to 
expand on the charges lodged against Mr. Williams and Mr. Ellick in a 
February indictment.

The two former officers have pleaded innocent to charges of conspiracy to 
possess crack cocaine for distribution, attempting to possess cocaine, 
conspiracy to interfere with commerce and misprision of a felony. A trial 
date has not been set.

On top of charges detailed in the indictments, prosecutors heaped on more 
allegations in documents filed Tuesday, including:

a.. Mr. Williams routinely "fixed" traffic tickets for money.

a.. Mr. Williams got former vice officers Stoney Turnage and Roderick Berry 
- - who have pleaded guilty in an unrelated police corruption case and are 
awaiting sentencing - to overlook code violations at two nightclubs in 
which he is a part owner - Robbie's Sports Bar and the Millennium Club.

a.. Mr. Williams and Mr. Ellick stole confiscated drugs and gave them to 
dealers to sell.

a.. Mr. Williams used his position to clear a drug dealer's criminal record 
in return for payment.

a.. A person identified as "D.H." took half a pound of marijuana from 
"V.C.," then took that person and the drugs to Robbie's Sports Bar, where 
the marijuana was given to Mr. Williams.

a.. Mr. Ellick told known criminals the best time to enter the narcotics 
unit's vehicle impound lot to steal tires and wheel rims. The thousands of 
pages of evidence and dozens of tape recordings that prosecutors have 
already made available to defense attorneys indicate that federal 
investigators were at work on the case as early as 1998.

According to court documents, federal investigators obtained a judge's 
permission in September 1998 to install a pen register at an Augusta 
residence. A pen register records telephone numbers called from a certain 
phone.

In August 1999, investigators obtained permission to install a tracking 
device on Mr. Williams' vehicle.

Mr. Williams, 36, and Mr. Ellick, 34, are free on $25,000 bonds. Mr. 
Williams was fired from the sheriff's office after his indictment. Mr. 
Ellick left the department and moved to Florida last year.
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