Pubdate: Fri, 25 June 1999 Source: Arizona Daily Star (AZ) Contact: http://www.azstarnet.com/ Author: Heather Romero Note: Arizona Daily Star reporter Inger Sandal contributed to this story. ORO VALLEY COP INDICTED IN DRUG MONEY SCAM An Oro Valley police officer arrested yesterday invented informants and reported imaginary drug buys to pocket about $3,000 in narcotics squad funds, an indictment alleges. Sgt. James Redzinak, 33, was arrested about 9:30 a.m. after a Maricopa County grand jury Wednesday handed up a 32-count indictment against the 11-year police veteran. The charges include one count each of conspiracy, theft and fraudulent schemes and artifices, as well as 29 counts of forgery. Redzinak was arrested by agents from the Metropolitan Area Narcotics Trafficking Interdiction Squads, said Pima County sheriff's Lt. Ron Benson, who is assigned to MANTIS. The charges stem from when Redzinak was assigned to MANTIS as an undercover officer from June 1, 1993, to June 1, 1996. MANTIS officials claim Redzinak pocketed money by making up informants and drug buys, then falsifying reports to cover his tracks, Benson said. Redzinak also is accused of pocketing money from his expense account that he claimed to spend on bar tabs, Benson said. The charges involve a total of about $3,000, he said. Redzinak was booked into the Pima County Jail yesterday morning, but was released on his own recognizance later that day at his 2 p.m. arraignment. He could not be reached for comment. While on MANTIS, Redzinak was partnered with former Pima County sheriff's Deputy Jesus Celaya. Celaya was indicted in May 1998 on 18 counts alleging conspiracy, theft, possession and sale of marijuana and cocaine and tampering with evidence. Celaya accepted a plea agreement May 21 in which he pleaded guilty to two felony drug charges in exchange for prosecutors dropping the other 16 counts, as well as two other cases, said Pati Urias, public information officer for the Arizona Attorney General's Office. Celaya's sentencing date has not been set and he is free on a $20,000 bond, Urias said. During the investigation of Celaya, statements he and Redzinak made about certain cases did not mesh. Investigators looked further, and ``that's when we started uncovering these various cases that were fraudulent,'' Benson said. In a 1996 interview with sheriff's investigators about Celaya, Redzinak admitted to losing evidence in ``a couple'' of cases, according to Pima County Sheriff's Department records. He attributed those losses to ``putting the wrong case number on a piece of paper.'' Investigators have spent the last year poring through hundreds of Redzinak's case reports, activity logs and expense sheets, Benson said. Investigators believe Redzinak and Celaya were aware of each other's wrongdoing, Benson said. Yesterday, Redzinak was suspended without pay from his duties as a patrol and SWAT sergeant for the Oro Valley Police Department, said Becky Mendez, an Oro Valley police spokeswoman. The department will conduct an internal investigation of the allegations, she said. His arrest shocked the approximately 60 officer department, Mendez said, adding that Redzinak was well-regarded among the close-knit department. Oro Valley officers contacted yesterday said they were given instructions by the department not to talk about Redzinak. Benson said Redzinak's indictment will not affect any criminal cases. ``These are things he invented as another source of income,'' he said, noting that undercover officers cannot perform off-duty jobs. Mendez said that Redzinak, who is married and has two children, supplemented his $47,258 salary by working off-duty jobs for the Tucson Mall since being reassigned to the department in 1996. The Celaya and Redzinak investigations prompted MANTIS officials to monitor their officers more closely. ``The kinds of things they did could not occur now,'' Benson said. Now there is more supervision in the field, he said. Officers are not allowed to go out by themselves ``so we don't just have two people claiming to meet somebody,'' he said. MANTIS now uses a fully automated reporting system, instead of the paper reports used when Celaya and Redzinak worked there. Supervisors also now review all closed cases and determine why arrests were not made. ``Cases were being left open and later closed without arrests, even though . . . money had been spent on those cases,'' said Tucson police Capt. Kermit Miller, who is assigned to MANTIS. ``That should have raised a red flag.'' ``I'm angry and I'm embarrassed,'' said Miller, who supervised Celaya and Redzinak for about six months. A MANTIS assignment offers more temptations than patrol, Miller said. ``They have expense accounts, they have money in their pocket . . . they have freedom. They are not in uniform.'' But, ``people with real solid values normally don't commit crimes. They are able to resist temptation,'' he said. Arizona Daily Star reporter Inger Sandal contributed to this story. - --- MAP posted-by: Jo-D