Pubdate: Wed, 25 Aug 1999 Source: Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel (FL) Page: One, Front Page Copyright: 1999 Sun-Sentinel Company Contact: http://www.sun-sentinel.com/services/letters_editor.htm Website: http://www.sun-sentinel.com/ Forum: http://www.sun-sentinel.com/community/interact1.htm Author: Diego Bunuel, and Jose Dante Parra Herrera BSO DEPUTY 'IN SHOCK' AFTER ARREST IN STING The wake up call for Broward Sheriff Office deputy Tony Guillen came at 3:56 a.m. Wednesday, and it was a rough one. Drug Enforcement Administration agents and sheriff's deputies showed up at his door and slapped cuffs on him, charging him with conspiracy to possess and distribute cocaine. Guillen, 33, was one of three law enforcement personnel arrested for drug trafficking along with 55 other people at Miami International Airport. "When the deputies picked him up this morning at his Dade County home he was in complete shock," said sheriff's spokesman Kirk Englehardt. "He couldn't believe what was happening to him." For months, federal agents scrutinized Guillen's every move as he shuttled from his duty as a corrections deputy at the sheriff's main jail in Fort Lauderdale to his part-time job as a baggage handler at Miami International Airport. In March, DEA agents broke the news to Sheriff Ken Jenne, telling him one of his men was suspected of drug smuggling. Jenne's first reaction: fire him, Englehardt said. But doing so would have blown the case the DEA was building, so the two agencies worked together to net Guillen, who is now suspended without pay. Guillen, who made about $39,000 a year as a deputy, had never notified the sheriff's office administration of his a part-time job, a violation of internal policy. The two other law enforcement officers netted in the sting are Immigration and Naturalization Service guard William Segarra, 37, and United States Agriculture Department investigator Gerardo Capella, both of Miami-Dade County. Bill Manning, USDA port director in charge of MIA, said Capella has been with his department for five years. He was in charge of inspecting plants and vegetables coming into the country -- a job that gave him security clearance to go to loading areas and the ramps. This incident has made increased security a priority in his department, Manning said. He admits it's hard to keep track of employees within the building. I've had accountability problems where we don't know where our employees were, Manning said. Kelly Spellman, spokeswoman for the INS, said Segarra has been with the INS less than five years and was assigned as a guard at the Krome Detention Center, but declined to comment further. - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake