Pubdate: Fri, 8 Aug 2008
Source: Los Angeles Times (CA)
Copyright: 2008 The Associated Press
Contact: http://drugsense.org/url/bc7El3Yo
Website: http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/front/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/248
Author: Associated Press
Cited: Police Chief Melvin High 
http://www.co.pg.md.us/government/publicsafety/police/index.asp
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/people/Mayor+Cheye+Calvo
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Marijuana)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/raids.htm (Drug Raids)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?246 (Policing - United States)

FBI LOOKING INTO POT RAID OF MARYLAND MAYOR'S HOME

Cheye Calvo and His Wife Appear to Be Innocent Victims of a Marijuana 
Smuggling Scheme. Their Two Dogs Were Shot Dead by Officers.

BERWYN HEIGHTS, MD. -- Mayor Cheye Calvo got home from work, saw a 
package addressed to his wife on the front porch and brought it inside.

Suddenly, police with guns drawn kicked in the door and stormed in, 
shooting to death the couple's two dogs and seizing the unopened 
package. Inside was 32 pounds of marijuana that evidently didn't 
belong to the couple.

Police now say the mayor and his wife appear to have been innocent 
victims of a scheme by two men to smuggle millions of dollars' worth 
of the drug by having it delivered to about half a dozen unsuspecting 
recipients.

The men, who are under arrest, include a FedEx deliveryman. 
Investigators allege that he would drop a package off outside a home 
and that the other man would come by soon after to pick it up.

Now federal authorities say they're looking into what happened during 
the July 29 raid. FBI Special Agent Rich Wolf said late Thursday that 
the bureau had opened a civil rights investigation.

A furious Calvo said earlier Thursday that he and his wife, Trinity 
Tomsic, were asking the Justice Department to investigate.

"Trinity was an innocent victim and random victim," Calvo said 
outside his two-story red-brick house in this middle-class Washington 
suburb of about 3,000. "We were harmed by the very people who took an 
oath to protect us."

Calvo said that the couple's two black Labradors were gentle and that 
police killed one of them as it was running away.

"Our dogs were our children," said Calvo, 37. "They were the reason 
we bought this house, because it had a big yard for them to run in."

The mayor said he was handcuffed for about two hours along with his 
mother-in-law. No charges were brought against Calvo or his wife, who 
came home during the raid.

Prince George's County Police Chief Melvin High said Wednesday that 
Calvo and his family were "most likely . . . innocent victims," but 
he would not rule out their involvement. He and other officials did 
not apologize for killing the dogs, saying the officers felt threatened.

The neighborhood has rallied around the family. 
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake