Savannah-Chatham police
officials were told as early as mid-2010 that a veteran drug agent and a second
officer were the subjects of a major federal narcotics corruption investigation
and, shortly afterward, that federal and county prosecutors would refuse to use
them as witnesses, according to documents obtained by the Savannah Morning
News.
The basic case, initiated in
2008 and continuing into June 2010, involved what FBI agent Josh Hayes said
were complaints that Chatham-Savannah Counter Narcotics Team agents were engaged
in illegal drug activities.
The complaints under
investigation also alleged Malik Khaalis, a CNT agent on loan from the
Savannah-Chatham police department, was divulging information regarding that
probe to Star Cpl. Willet Williams, who had a family member who was a target of
the investigation. Williams was allegedly “participating in the illegal
activities by providing police escorts for (a family member) when the illegal
substances were being sold,” Hayes told internal department investigators.
CNT agents had observed “unusual
behaviors and actions” by Khaalis that raised concerns about his “conduct as a
police officer,” the department investigation reported.
In a separate police internal
affairs probe in 2004 under then-Chief Dan Flynn, Khaalis, also referred to as
“Little Man,” was repeatedly named as involved in a “police corruption” probe
of two CNT agents who resigned.
In the wake of the CNT
investigation, Khaalis was “involuntarily transferred” back to Savannah-Chatham
police on June 3, 2010, “as a major narcotics investigation was being
concluded,” documents show.
Despite the CNT investigation
and its findings, Khaalis was allowed to take the examination for police
sergeant and was promoted in June 2012.
Documents dated Sept. 24, 2010,
also stated that the U.S. Attorney’s office for the Southern District of
Georgia advised Savannah-Chatham police that Khaalis, 39, “could not be used as
a witness in any case in federal court.”
The Chatham County District
Attorney’s office, then headed by Larry Chisolm, also was advised of the
federal position and that CNT prosecutors would not use Khaalis’ “for
testimony,” the memo said.
The reason cited: a “court
decision regarding truthfulness” of witnesses in court.
Under existing law, prosecutors
are required to disclose information of potentially tainted testimony by a
witness to a defendant and his or her attorney. Such notification would place
the credibility of the officer in question and could put prosecutors in a
position of having to defend potentially tainted testimony.
Internal affairs nixed cases
Following the investigation by
FBI and CNT agents, internal affairs officers with Savannah-Chatham conducted a
separate probe.
“The Internal Affairs
Investigation conducted into allegations made by CNT and the FBI failed to
prove any (departmental) police violations,” Capt. H. Wiley III, internal
affairs commander, reported Nov. 16, 2010.
The city attorney’s office
“concluded that there was no evidence of illegal activity by agent Khaalis” and
recommended the cases against Khaalis and Williams be “closed not sustained.”
Neither officer was charged as a
result of either investigation and both remain on active duty. Khaalis is
assigned to the Islands Precinct; Williams, 48, is a crime prevention officer
with the Central Precinct.
Questions remain
Left unanswered in the stacks of
documents from the investigation is whether allegations against Khaalis under
two police chiefs should have raised a red flag with police officials ahead of
his being promoted.
A second unanswered question is
how two officers who prosecutors say they will not use in court can remain on
the job.
Prior to an announcement of his
retirement Friday afternoon, recent Savannah-Chatham Police Chief Willie Lovett
repeatedly declined, through his spokespeople, to comment on the case. In a
letter dated Friday and addressed to City Manager Stephanie Cutter and County
Manager Russ Abolt, Lovett said he intended to retire within 60 days but,
instead, decided to do so immediately.
Savannah Mayor Edna Jackson said
Friday that when the 2010 investigation came to her attention she and City
Manager Stephanie Cutter “put it in the hands of the city attorney,” for
review.
“I’m very satisfied with the way
it is being handled now,” Jackson said, adding she wants all of the
information, including input from the U.S. attorney, the district attorney and
police chief so Cutter can report back to her and council.
The matter remains “active,” she
said.
Official comment from city
staffers has been limited to the initial response from City Attorney Brooks
Stillwell: “The city attorney has been made aware of the issue and is
researching it. Given that, and the fact that this is a personnel issue, we
will not be able to discuss the issue until he has had a chance to complete his
inquiry.”
Khaalis, through his attorney
Nathanael Wright, declined to comment for this story.
District Attorney Meg Heap also
declined to comment for this story, as did Chief Assistant U.S. Attorney Jim
Durham.
Issues surfaced
Questions about Khaalis and
Williams resurfaced this month with the revelation of a May 7, 2013, letter
from Heap to Lovett in which she advised him that U.S. Attorney Edward Tarver
said “his office will not prosecute (in federal court) any cases where officers
Malik Khaalis or Willet Williams are involved.”
The letter, which put in writing
Heap’s earlier conversation with Lovett, went on to advise Lovett that “after
discussions with the (state’s) Prosecuting Attorneys Council, I am in agreement
with the U.S. Attorney.
“My office will not prosecute
any cases where the above-named officers have any substantive involvement.”
She also cited the credibility
issue and requirement that she inform defendants and their attorneys of the
material.
Disciplinary action withheld
Ultimately, the FBI and CNT
investigations produced no action against Khaalis or Williams except for
Khaalis briefly being placed on administrative leave with pay and returned to a
patrol position with the Savannah-Chatham police department.
“No disciplinary action” was
taken against Khaalis, a Dec. 17, 2010, letter authored by Roy J. Harris III,
then-director at CNT and Khaalis’ supervisor, said.
Harris is a retired deputy
director at the Georgia Bureau of Investigation who retired from CNT in
December 2010. Now, he is Chatham County Sheriff Al St Lawrence’s chief deputy.
The letter stated that FBI, CNT,
Drug Enforcement Administration agents and First Assistant U.S. Attorney Jim
Durham were familiar with the investigation. Savannah-Chatham police Office of
Professional Standards investigator Capt. Dean Fagerstrom was present for the
interviews before Khaalis’ transfer back to metro.
Harris’ Dec. 17 letter was part
of a required notification to Ken Vance, executive director of the Georgia
Peace Officers Standards and Training Council. It informed him that Khaalis was
under investigation by CNT’s Major Case Team, the FBI and DEA Savannah offices
during a wire tap investigation being conducted by CNT and the DEA.
Megan Fail, Vance’s assistant,
said POST records show no investigation or file on Khaalis was opened by the
state agency.
A Sept. 24, 2010, memorandum
from Harris to County Manager Russ Abolt stated Khaalis was assigned to CNT for
six years, during the last four as a member of the major case unit.
During a major narcotics
investigation, Khaalis was interviewed by FBI agents as part of a “corruption
investigation,” the memo said.
During an FBI criminal polygraph
test, Khaalis “showed deceptive on two critical questions, these pertaining to
compromising an investigation by providing information to (a family member)
under investigation and active surveillance, and the secondly (sic) where he
had violated his oath of office,” the memo stated.
“Agents have no idea how many
CNT investigations if any were compromised during the time Khaalis was assigned
to the unit,” a CNT report showed.
The same memo to Abolt also
outlined:
• Repeated violations of
department policy by Khaalis, including leaving his assigned duty station
without permission, stopping a suspected vehicle without the knowledge or
approval of his supervisor, and responding untruthfully when questioned.
• By carrying out these actions,
Khaalis endangered the investigation for “reasons that remain unknown,” CNT
investigators reported.
• While Khaalis was detailed to
sit in the wire room to monitor calls, he told his supervisor he was going home
for lunch.
Instead, he drove to an area
near the Savannah/Hilton Head International Airport after he had been “fed
false information about a money courier going to that area to pick up money to
take to Atlanta.” He was tracked with a device installed on his CNT vehicle,
the memo said.
• “These statements to
supervisors about ‘going home for lunch’ were untruthful conduct during the
course of an official investigation,” Harris said.
• Khaalis’s request for
permission to call Willet Williams about a family member’s whereabouts was
denied “as this was not proper investigative protocol.”
• “Later after checking toll
records on Officer Willet, it was discovered that he and agent Khaalis had been
in cellphone contact with each other numerous times during the course of the
surveillance,” the memo said. “Later when questioned by the FBI, Khaalis could
not, or would not, explain the calls.”
Williams, in a July 18, 2011,
letter, sought a meeting with Chatham County officials, including Lovett,
Harris and Savannah-Chatham police Maj. Julie Tolbert after telling them,
“Recently I was falsely accused of being involved in illegal drug activity.”
“Whenever I question the Chatham
County CNT regarding this slanderous claim lodges against me, I am told I am
still being investigated. However, after speaking with Chief Lovett, I find
that he was told there is no open case against me.”
He went on to say that whenever
he asked Harris and current CNT director Everett Ragan for a report: “Each time
I was told the investigation is still open.”
2004 probe
In the 2004 case, police
documents show Khaalis’ name repeatedly appeared in connection with a “police
corruption” investigation of CNT agents Cpl. Rafael Hall and Charles Boyd for
conduct in a series of drug cases.
Hall was placed on
administrative leave on June 25, 2004, pending the outcome of the
investigation. He resigned Oct. 4, 2004.
Boyd resigned on Nov. 29, 2004,
“prior to the conclusion of the inquiry.”
During a Dec. 8, 2005, interview
with internal affairs, Khaalis “stated of all the times he worked with Agent
Hall he had never seen him do anything illegal whatsoever, and if Hall was
doing illegal activities he never had any knowledge of it. He never saw it nor
heard of it.”
Khaalis also denied taking money
or seizing money illegally. He stated he had read all the allegations
concerning him and any claims about him being involved in a drug ring, taking
money and selling drugs were untrue.
Khaalis told investigators he is
an “honest professional police officer, and he has never been involved in
illegal activities whatsoever.”
THE OFFICERS
The officers under
investigation:
• Malik Abdul Khaalis, 39, is a
1993 graduate of Beach High School who joined the Savannah Police Department in
January 2000 after working for a year as a corrections officer at Coastal State
Prison in Garden City. He has been described in departmental reviews as a
“workhorse” who works well in any environment, and “energetic and tireless in
his efforts.”
• Willet Jarette Williams, 48,
is a Calhoun County native who joined the Savannah Police Department in January
1992. He previously worked for the Albany Police Department, the
Moultrie/Colquitt Drug Squad and the South East Georgia Drug Task Force.
