Stiles, Matt 1/1/1997 - 31/12/2024
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1US TX: City Apologizes For Fake-Drug ScandalThu, 11 Nov 2004
Source:Dallas Morning News (TX) Author:Stiles, Matt Area:Texas Lines:Excerpt Added:11/11/2004

Unanimous Vote Seen As Move Toward Financial Settlement With Victims

The Dallas City Council apologized to victims of the 2001 fake-drug scandal Wednesday, unanimously passing a resolution that expressed "deep remorse" for the false arrests.

The measure also offered apologies to the victims' families and the city's residents for breakdowns at the Police Department while calling on officials to continue shoring up procedures.

"It is very, very tragic what happened to a great number of people, and I think we are on the right track now," said Mayor Pro Tem John Loza, calling the cases a "shameful episode in our city's history."

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2US TX: Statutes Expired In Drug ScandalSat, 23 Oct 2004
Source:Dallas Morning News (TX) Author:Stiles, Matt Area:Texas Lines:Excerpt Added:10/24/2004

Delay In Dallas Police Inquiry Means Some Officers Can't Be Charged

The Dallas police decision to defer an investigation into the fake-drug scandal until after the FBI finished its inquiry means that some officers can't be prosecuted for potential crimes because the statutes of limitations have passed.

Two lawyers who released a scathing account on Wednesday - that said sloppy police work and lax supervision contributed to the false drug arrests in 2001 - also said the decision to defer unnecessarily delayed discipline for several possible rules violations.

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3US TX: Police Changes VowedThu, 21 Oct 2004
Source:Dallas Morning News (TX) Author:Stiles, Matt Area:Texas Lines:Excerpt Added:10/21/2004

The broken rules, careless police work and lax supervision cited Wednesday as contributors to the Dallas police fake-drug scandal were nothing new in the narcotics division.

Similar concerns came up more than a decade ago, and suggested fixes were ignored, according to a report presented to the City Council on Wednesday about the series of arrests of innocent people in 2001. This time, city leaders vow to get it right.

"I believe that we will take these recommendations and put them to good use and make sure that this doesn't happen again," said Dallas Mayor Laura Miller, responding to the report during an emotional briefing at City Hall. The two independent attorneys' who wrote the report found that police commanders at every level didn't monitor narcotics detectives' work or heed warning signs, leading to the false arrests.

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4US TX: 26 Indicted On Drug, Money Laundering ChargesThu, 29 Jul 2004
Source:Dallas Morning News (TX) Author:Stiles, Matt Area:Texas Lines:Excerpt Added:07/30/2004

More Than Two Dozen Facing Drug, Other Charges In Dallas Area

A federal grand jury in Dallas has indicted more than two dozen people on drug conspiracy and money-laundering charges, disrupting what authorities say was a major local narcotics ring with ties to a notorious Mexican cartel.

An eight-count indictment unsealed Wednesday alleges that 26 people, many of them living in the Dallas area, conspired beginning in 1998 to distribute marijuana, cocaine and methamphetamine.

Authorities arrested 11 men late Tuesday and early Wednesday in Dallas, Grand Prairie, Arlington and elsewhere. Four men were already in custody on related charges.

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5US TX: Documents Focus Of CaseMon, 26 Apr 2004
Source:Dallas Morning News (TX) Author:Stiles, Matt Area:Texas Lines:Excerpt Added:04/26/2004

Officer denies state charges that he falsified reports on fake drugs

It's the same fake-drug scandal and the same Dallas police narcotics detective acquitted in November by a federal jury. Yet some things will be different when the Mark Delapaz case is heard in state court. Just as he did in his federal civil rights trial, the former officer faces allegations that he knowingly submitted false police reports in some of the bogus drug arrests he made in 2001.

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6US TX: Detective Indicted In Fake-Drug ScandalFri, 16 Apr 2004
Source:Dallas Morning News (TX) Author:Stiles, Matt Area:Texas Lines:Excerpt Added:04/16/2004

State Tampering Charges Follow Officer's Acquittal In Federal Case

A grand jury on Thursday indicted the Dallas police narcotics detective central to the 2001 fake-drug scandal on seven felony charges of tampering with physical evidence.

The indictments allege that Senior Cpl. Mark Delapaz knowingly submitted false police reports and other documents in several cases in which people were arrested on bogus drug charges.

The grand jury on Thursday also indicted a former narcotics officer, Jeff Haywood, charging him with three counts of tampering with physical evidence ­ a third-degree felony punishable by up 10 years in prison and a $10,000 fine.

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7US TX: Timeline Still Fuzzy In Fake-Drug CaseThu, 01 Apr 2004
Source:Dallas Morning News (TX) Author:Stiles, Matt Area:Texas Lines:Excerpt Added:04/03/2004

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8US TX: Judge Denies Immunity, Rules Case Can Proceed in Fake-Drug ScandalSat, 20 Mar 2004
Source:Dallas Morning News (TX) Author:Stiles, Matt Area:Texas Lines:Excerpt Added:03/21/2004

A federal judge has ruled that two Dallas police officers at the center of the city's fake-drug scandal are not immune from a civil-rights lawsuit brought by a woman who says she was falsely arrested in 2001.

The decision by Dallas-based U.S. District Judge Ed Kinkeade, who is presiding over several similar lawsuits against the city and other police officers, allows the case to proceed and could mean that Senior Cpl. Mark Delapaz and Officer Eddie Herrera will give testimony related to the cases.

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9US TX: Fake-Drug Informants May Get LenienceSun, 28 Dec 2003
Source:Dallas Morning News (TX) Author:Stiles, Matt Area:Texas Lines:Excerpt Added:12/28/2003

Scheme Leaders Face Shorter Terms Under Plea Deals

They are the confessed masterminds - three men whose greed-fueled deception fooled Dallas police and led to an embarrassing series of false drug arrests two years ago.

Some hurt by the city's fake-drug scandal still fume over the acquittal of a narcotics detective involved in the cases, and the confidential informants who devised a scheme that made the arrests possible will probably be sentenced next month in federal court.

It's unclear how long the men, who've been locked away at a federal prison in Seagoville since early 2002, will ultimately spend behind bars. Each pleaded guilty to conspiring to violate civil rights, a charge that carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in federal prison. But according to their plea agreements, the informants face substantially shorter prison terms at their sentencing hearings - all of which are being scheduled for Jan. 22 before three separate federal judges in Dallas. "These people, they ruined a lot of lives," said Jesse Diaz, a local League of United Latin American Citizens president, speaking of the informants. "I'm hoping that the three judges consider that when they are passing down the sentences."

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10US TX: 2 Judges Testify In Fake-Drug TrialFri, 21 Nov 2003
Source:Dallas Morning News (TX) Author:Stiles, Matt Area:Texas Lines:Excerpt Added:11/21/2003

They say arrests in false cocaine bust hinged on word of detective

Two judges testified Thursday that they would not have signed arrest warrants for three men charged after bogus cocaine busts in 2001 without the word of former Dallas police Detective Mark Delapaz.

The Dallas County judges told jurors in Mr. Delapaz's federal criminal trial that the statements by police informants involved in the cases would not have been enough probable cause to make arrests.

U.S. prosecutors rested their case against Mr. Delapaz on Thursday, setting the stage for his defense team to begin calling witnesses.

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11US TX: Fake-Drug Informant: I Lied To FBITue, 18 Nov 2003
Source:Dallas Morning News (TX) Author:Stiles, Matt Area:Texas Lines:Excerpt Added:11/18/2003

Another man victimized by the so-called fake-drug scandal in Dallas recounted his ordeal Monday as jurors heard from two more corrupt police informants who carried out the scheme to frame people for drug sales with pool chalk.

Roberto Amador, a 48-year-old painter and self-described former drug dealer, testified that he was only trying to sell his tow truck at an Old East Dallas business when police rushed in and arrested him on false charges of dealing more than 28 pounds of what turned out to be fake cocaine.

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12US TX: Greed, Pressure Led To Fake-Drug SchemeThu, 13 Nov 2003
Source:Dallas Morning News (TX) Author:Stiles, Matt Area:Texas Lines:Excerpt Added:11/14/2003

Informant Testifies At Trial Of Ex-Cop; Lawyer Calls Officer Scapegoat

The mastermind of a plan to arrest dozens of innocent people on false drug charges testified Wednesday that he was motivated by greed, as well as pressure by former Dallas police Detective Mark Delapaz, to make bigger and bigger drug busts.

Testifying on the opening day of Mr. Delapaz's federal civil rights trial, former confidential informant Enrique Alonso said Mr. Delapaz frequently told him and other informants that he wasn't satisfied with the amount of drugs they were helping the detective seize in arrests. "Sometimes we got 25 [kilos] and he said he wanted more. ... One time he said he wanted 200 kilos," he said.

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13US TX: Criminal Justice Department Cutting 1,100 Jobs, So FarWed, 25 Jun 2003
Source:Dallas Morning News (TX) Author:Stiles, Matt Area:Texas Lines:Excerpt Added:06/26/2003

The job cuts feared for months by the state's prison and parole employees because of the budget crisis are no longer an abstract notion. So far, Texas Department of Criminal Justice officials have contacted more than 1,100 administrative and support workers to tell them that their jobs will end by fall.

This week, about 400 employees are receiving hand-delivered letters with news that their positions are being cut. And the school district that offers vocational and academic training to inmates told 169 teachers the same thing last week.

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14US TX: Interviews, Meetings, Hugs Fill Tulia Defendant's FirstWed, 18 Jun 2003
Source:Dallas Morning News (TX) Author:Stiles, Matt Area:Texas Lines:Excerpt Added:06/18/2003

TULIA, Texas - Gone was the indignity of the dingy-white two-piece jumpsuit - the one he pulled on each morning during three years in prison.

Freddie Brookins Jr. arrived at his parents' home here Monday evening sporting a designer yellow polo - untucked to mid-thigh - over style-faded blue jeans and pristine Chuck Taylor sneakers.

"It still feels weird," said Freddie Jr., 26, who never lost his shy chuckle and wide grin. "You get used to putting on the same style of clothes every day."

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15US TX: Perry Signs Bill To Allow Release Of Tulia DefendantsThu, 06 Mar 2003
Source:Dallas Morning News (TX) Author:Stiles, Matt Area:Texas Lines:Excerpt Added:03/06/2003

14 still in prison despite discredited testimony of former drug officer

AUSTIN - The 14 people still imprisoned on the testimony of a discredited narcotics officer in the Tulia drug case could be free later this month under legislation signed into law Monday by Gov. Rick Perry.

The measure allows a Swisher County judge to release the defendants on bail while the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals decides whether they were wrongly convicted. Their bail hearings could be held in Tulia as soon as 10 days from now, officials said.

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