Source: Associated Press Author: John Affleck, The Associated Press Pubdate: 26 Jan 1998 JUDGE DENIES BAIL TO SIX ACCUSED IN FBI STING CLEVELAND (AP) -- One videotape showed a uniformed jail guard holding a bale of marijuana and putting it on a plane. Another depicted what prosecutors said was a payoff to two police officers sitting in a squad car. Others showed officers talking about how best to protect drug deals. After seeing the tapes, a federal magistrate judge on Monday denied bail for six men charged in a scheme to get law enforcement officers to provide security for a man they thought was a drug dealer. The "drug dealer" was really an FBI undercover agent who staged transactions with other agents between November 1996 and this month. The agent paid officers as much as $3,700 to watch over the deals, the FBI said. Five of the men at the hearing -- including alleged ringleaders Michael Joye and John Evanish -- successfully recruited officers and other men to join in the racket, prosecutors said. A sixth, Thomas Gravette, was willing to recruit other people but was unsuccessful, FBI agents said. "These people were on the track to doing something very positive with their lives," Magistrate Judge Patricia Hemann said. "I'm not about to use that as a special standing" for granting bail. Fifty-two men were arrested last Wednesday. The protection ring included 44 police officers and jail guards, along with eight civilians who also are accused of working as security for the undercover agent. All the suspects are charged with conspiracy to distribute cocaine, which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years to life in prison. Ms. Hemann denied bail for Joye, 29, a former Cuyahoga County corrections officer, current corrections officer Evanish, 25, and Gravette, 27, a bar bouncer. She also ordered Shaun Woods, a civilian; Fred Cody, an East Cleveland police officer, and Stephen Salerno, a Cleveland Heights police officer, held without bail after a five-hour hearing. The other 46 men charged in the case were released on bond last week. They are not accused of trying to recruit for the security ring. FBI Special Agent John Kane played a series of surveillance videotapes in court. In one taken last Feb. 27, several men, including Joye, Evanish and Gravette are seen helping load 14 bales of marijuana -- about 600 pounds -- onto a plane in exchange for what they think is 4 kilograms of cocaine. Gravette is wearing his correction guard uniform as he holds the drugs. Another tape shows Cody and a second East Cleveland officer sitting in their marked squad car taking envelopes from the undercover agent, which Kane said contained their payoff money. Kane and Special Agent Stephen Vogt said Joye did most of the recruiting at first, but Evanish later became heavily involved. "I can get guys from the Cleveland Police Department every day ... all day ... for the next two months. Different guys, no problem," Evanish says on one videotape. Seven Cleveland police officers were arrested in the sting. Under cross-examination, Vogt admitted the undercover agent portrayed himself as a "mafia type" to the officers. He also told Joye early in their relationship he was a "regional manager" for a topless bar, Kane said. Defense attorneys suggested Cody and Woods feared they might be harmed by the agent if they didn't go along with the deals, but the argument was rejected. "You make your own decisions," Ms. Hemann said. "You have free choice." © The Associated Press, 1997