Pubdate: Sun, 28 Dec 2003
Source: Dallas Morning News (TX)
Copyright: 2003 The Dallas Morning News
Contact:  http://www.dallasnews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/117
Author: Matt Stiles / The Dallas Morning News
Note: Staff writer Robert Tharp contributed to this report.
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/corrupt.htm (Corruption - United States)

FAKE-DRUG INFORMANTS MAY GET LENIENCE

Scheme Leaders Face Shorter Terms Under Plea Deals

They are the confessed masterminds - three men whose greed-fueled deception 
fooled Dallas police and led to an embarrassing series of false drug 
arrests two years ago.

Some hurt by the city's fake-drug scandal still fume over the acquittal of 
a narcotics detective involved in the cases, and the confidential 
informants who devised a scheme that made the arrests possible will 
probably be sentenced next month in federal court.

It's unclear how long the men, who've been locked away at a federal prison 
in Seagoville since early 2002, will ultimately spend behind bars. Each 
pleaded guilty to conspiring to violate civil rights, a charge that carries 
a maximum sentence of 10 years in federal prison. But according to their 
plea agreements, the informants face substantially shorter prison terms at 
their sentencing hearings - all of which are being scheduled for Jan. 22 
before three separate federal judges in Dallas. "These people, they ruined 
a lot of lives," said Jesse Diaz, a local League of United Latin American 
Citizens president, speaking of the informants. "I'm hoping that the three 
judges consider that when they are passing down the sentences."

The men, Enrique Martinez Alonso, Jose Ruiz Serrano and Reyes Roberto 
Rodriguez, were in the country illegally from Mexico when they became 
confidential police informants. Narcotics officers paid them more than 
$275,000 in 2001 to help catch drug dealers.

Instead, they orchestrated supposed drug deals and pocketed the "buy" money 
supplied by police. Later, they framed innocent people, mostly Hispanic 
immigrants, by planting large quantities of crushed billiards chalk in 
plastic wrap and passing it off as cocaine or methamphetamine. They then 
convinced police - who paid them more for larger busts - that the victims 
were dealers.

More than two dozen people went to jail and, in the process, city leaders 
have said, the Police Department's reputation was sullied. In making their 
decisions, the judges will be aided by federal sentencing guidelines, which 
set specific lengths depending upon the agreed offense level in the plea.

Other variables, too, such as the informants' "acceptance of 
responsibility" and their cooperation in the trial of police Detective Mark 
Delapaz, could lessen their punishment, according to their guilty pleas. 
Key to Delapaz case Though Senior Cpl. Delapaz was acquitted, the 
informants' testimony provided a key part of the government's case. They 
testified that the officer never saw the drug transactions that he said he 
witnessed in some arrest warrants. U.S. Department of Justice prosecutors 
in the case have declined to comment about sentencing or whether they plan 
to ask the judge to lower the sentences because of the informants' help at 
trial.

Without any reductions, Mr. Rodriguez and Mr. Ruiz face a sentence of less 
than four years, according to the plea and federal sentencing guidelines. 
The confessed ringleader of the scheme, Mr. Alonso, faces slightly more 
time, according to his plea deal.

"That would be dreadful if that's the only sentence that these people 
receive," said Adelfa Callejo, a Dallas attorney and local LULAC counsel. 
"It certainly failed the victims."

The sentences could increase slightly because some of the men have criminal 
pasts, according to the guidelines.

The judges also could decide to allow the men credit for the nearly two 
years they've already spent in prison.

"For my client, having been in pretrial detention, in solitary confinement 
. I think that the court will take that into consideration," Karl Rupp, 
Mr. Rodriguez's attorney, said in a recent interview. Attorneys for the two 
other informants could not be reached for comment. Victim's reaction It's 
also unclear whether the men would be allowed to remain in the country when 
they ultimately are released.

The final disposition of the informants, however strict the sentence, is 
little solace for Jaime Siguenza, a 31-year-old mechanic from Dallas who 
spent more than five months in jail after informants planted fake drugs at 
an auto-repair garage where he worked.

He said he's still hurt by the federal jury's not-guilty verdict in last 
month's trial of Cpl. Delapaz, a veteran narcotics investigator who 
supervised the informants.

Mr. Siguenza said he believes that the informants "set us up," referring to 
others arrested on bogus charges, but that "the lies of that man kept us in 
jail for a long time."

Cpl. Delapaz was accused of making false statements on arrest warrants, 
including the one that provided probable cause to detain Mr. Siguenza, and 
later lying to an FBI investigator.

His attorney, Paul Coggins, has said Cpl. Delapaz is "a good man and an 
honest cop." Mr. Coggins has urged a more thorough inquiry into his 
client's superiors at the Police Department and prosecutors in the district 
attorney's office who handled some of the cases.

The Police Department fired Cpl. Delapaz after the federal indictment was 
made public last spring.

After the verdict, he was reinstated and placed on paid administrative 
leave with back pay pending the outcome of other internal investigations. 
"It's not that I want him to go to jail," Mr. Siguenza said. "I just don't 
want this to happen to anyone else again."

More inquiries The sentencing hearings come amid new independent 
investigations by the city and the Dallas County district attorney's 
office, both of which waited while the FBI investigated.

The investigations are expected to take two tracks. The city panel said it 
would examine payments to drug informants and police accounting and other 
procedures. The panel could recommend possible discipline of city 
employees, including police supervisors. The special prosecutor has said he 
would look for possible criminal wrongdoing by Cpl. Delapaz and perhaps 
others. Any charges would be brought in state court.

Three federal civil suits against Cpl. Delapaz, some of his superiors and 
the city also are progressing, with attorneys now taking depositions of 
those involved.

Mr. Siguenza said he hopes that the continued study of the cases will shed 
additional light on what went wrong and help prevent similar scandals. "Why 
do you want to have a police system if you can't trust it?" he asked.
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