Pubdate: Mon, 06 Apr 2015
Source: Philadelphia Inquirer, The (PA)
Copyright: 2015 Philadelphia Newspapers Inc
Contact:  http://www.philly.com/inquirer/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/340
Author: Sarah Smith
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/corrupt.htm (Corruption - United States)

OFFICER FACES OLD SQUAD ON TRIAL

Downfall of a Former Police Hero.

Years before he was one of Philadelphia's dirtiest cops, Jeffrey 
Walker was a hero.

In fall 1998, Walker specialized in drug busts for West 
Philadelphia's 16th Police District. On the streets, his aggressive 
work as an undercover cop and his appearance - tall, fit, with 
dreadlocks - earned him a nickname from drug dealers: Batman.

Like any Batman, Jeffrey Walker had a Robin: his partner, Officer 
Brian Reynolds.

In the tough Mantua neighborhood Batman and Robin patrolled that 
fall, three dealers found an easy way to get rid of the duo. One of 
the three would get $4,000 to kill them.

Within a day of learning about the plot from an informant, police had 
the dealers in custody. Walker and Reynolds were celebrated as good 
guys who worked to make the poverty-stricken neighborhood a better place.

Fifteen years later, an FBI case revealed a different Jeffrey Walker, 
then a member of the Narcotics Field Unit. Busted in a sting in May 
2013 - the FBI caught him stealing money from a drug dealer - Walker 
pleaded guilty and began cooperating with federal investigators.

Walker, who is in federal custody awaiting sentencing for his 
February 2014 guilty plea in federal court, faces a maximum of life 
behind bars.

In the meantime, he is expected to be a star witness this week in the 
federal trial against six Philadelphia narcotics officers arrested 
with his help: Thomas Liciardello, Perry Betts, John Speiser, Michael 
Spicer, Linwood Norman - Walker's longtime partner on the narcotics 
unit - and Brian Reynolds, Walker's old "Robin."

For jurors, the case may well require them to decide whether the 46- 
year-old Walker is telling the truth or just trying to pull off his 
biggest scam yet.

For the defense, the strategy against Walker is clear: make him look 
as unreliable as possible.

One defense lawyer subpoenaed Walker's mental health records.

A defense motion claims Walker is a "rumored pitchman" for a book 
about his life.

Another motion accuses Walker of abusing drugs.

None of the lawyers would go into specifics about those particular 
accusations, but they spent their opening statements calling Walker 
everything from a drunk to a "narcissistic creep."

Walker was sworn in as a Philadelphia police officer at age 20. After 
working as a patrol officer in West Philadelphia for a decade, he was 
transferred into the Narcotics Field Unit in 1999. Reynolds went with him.

Once in the prestigious drug unit, it took only a few years before 
things started to go awry and for the complaints to reach Internal 
Affairs. The first complaint came in 2002. Another came in '04, 
another in '05, and three in 2006.

The first settlement for a case with a payout attached - $75,000 - 
came in February 2004. After that, they kept coming.

Of the 22 complaints filed against Walker, the department sustained 
just one: from 2003 about a search without proper warrants. Of the 13 
now-closed lawsuits filed against Walker, the city paid in seven of 
the cases for a total of $352,500.

Even as the complaints were piling up, Walker and his partner, 
Linwood Norman - the pair Assistant U.S. Attorney Anthony Wzorek 
described during his opening statement as the group's muscle - 
collected such departmental honors as the bravery award and the team award.

Walker's calm demeanor on the witness stand helped him through the 
legal system, say people who saw him testify.

"You had many sources as well as many citizens complaining, attorneys 
were complaining. They just turned a blind eye," said Philadelphia 
attorney Michael Pileggi, who has filed numerous lawsuits against the 
former officers. "They knew how to work within the system, and work 
it to their benefit."

Also to Walker's benefit: Many of his victims had criminal records.

"They're not accused of doing bad things to good people," said Thomas 
Fitzpatrick, Walker's lawyer. "They're accused of doing bad things to 
some bad dudes."

One victim, Roger Pierce, acknowledges he was a drug dealer when 
Walker arrested him but says Walker lied in the process. Walker 
claimed he found black bags of drugs on him. Pierce, 26, said in an 
interview he used only red bags. Guys on other corners used black bags.

Then, when Walker raided Pierce's home in September 2010, he claimed 
he found drugs.

"I had the money there in the safe, but he said I had drugs there. I 
never brought no customers inside my house where I lay my head at," 
Pierce said.

Pierce pleaded guilty to possession with intent to deliver and spent 
more than a year in jail.

After learning of Walker's arrest in May 2013, Pierce filed a lawsuit 
against Walker and the city. So far, a total of 39 federal suits have 
been filed against Walker and the city. And 165 convictions have been 
dismissed.

As calm as Walker could be on the witness stand, people who 
encountered him on the street met a different man.

In February 2010, Samir Perdue and two friends were driving a Chevy 
minivan in Southwest Philadelphia when five unmarked police cars 
surrounded them on Yocum Avenue. Walker, according to the suit Perdue 
filed with the city after Walker's arrest, allegedly planted a 
sandwich bag filled with cocaine in the minivan.

Walker and Norman drove Perdue and his friends to Mount Moriah 
Cemetery. Among the gravestones, Perdue said, Walker smacked him and 
screamed at him, demanding to know where the drugs and money were.

Perdue's civil suit also alleges Walker took Perdue's phone and $3,000 in cash.

For a while, what Walker was doing as a narcotics officer seemed to 
work for him.

Between his base salary and overtime pay, he usually made $85,000 to 
$107,000 a year - plus the money he allegedly stole. He was able to 
buy three houses in Philadelphia, one of which he rents out. And 
during that time, he ended one marriage and started another.

But by March 2011, he had split from the rest of the squad. When he 
was called to Internal Affairs and didn't check with Liciardello to 
see what he should say, prosecutor Wzorek said in his opening 
statement, he got this text from Liciardello: "You're dead to 
everyone in this squad. Die, rat. I hope you die."

And he had also split from his second wife. They divorced in 2009.

Nevertheless, Walker kept robbing drug dealers, this time without the 
squad. In May 2013, it caught up to him.

An FBI informant reported early that month that Walker had asked him 
to help rob a drug dealer. The two planned the heist with the FBI 
monitoring every move. On May 21, when Walker strolled out of the 
drug dealer's house clutching $15,000 in cash, the FBI was waiting for him.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom