The Atlanta
Journal-Constitution
Ten metro
Atlanta law officers are in police custody, accused of using their guns, badges
and authority to facilitate drug deals under orders of a street gang.
An FBI SWAT
team arrested the current and former cops Tuesday for taking payoffs — some as
low as $700 — to protect cocaine deals taking place in crowded shopping centers
and school parking lots. Five alleged accomplices also were arrested.
“Obviously the
breadth of the corruption is very troubling,” said U.S. Attorney Sally Yates.
“It is certainly the most (officers) this office has charged in a long time.
“These are
people they are supposed to be arresting, not taking money from,” she said.
The arrested
officers came from wide swath of law agencies: Atlanta, Stone Mountain, Forest
Park and the DeKalb County police and Sheriff’s Office. Officers from MARTA and
a contract agent for the Federal Protective Service also were arrested.
Some were
long-term veterans. Senior Atlanta police Officer Kelvin Allen had been with
the department for 20 years. APD announced shortly after Allen’s arrest that he
had been suspended.
DeKalb County
Sheriff Thomas Brown and Atlanta Police Chief George Turner joined Yates as she
announced the arrests.
“The department
has been and will continue to be cooperative with federal authorities to ensure
that Atlanta police officers involved in any illegal activity are brought to
justice,” the APD said in a statement.
At least some
officers appeared willing to kill to protect their gang employers — although no
violence was reported. Just before a deal with a new buyer Jan. 30, DeKalb
police Officer Dorian Williams told confederate Shannon Bass that wounding was
not an option. “I gotta (expletive) kill him, I just can’t shoot him,” Williams
said in a secretly recorded conversation, according to the federal affidavit.
Bass was among the accused accomplices arrested.
Williams
recommended using a high school parking lot for the afternoon transactions
because the activity and backpacks wouldn’t look suspicious, the affidavit
said.
A former DeKalb
County Jail officer, Monyette McLaurin, lied to his criminal colleagues by
claiming he was an active duty deputy, the affidavit said, and he discussed with
Gregory Lee Harvey, who also was arrested, the need to possibly kill someone.
Attempts to
reach Allen, Williams and McLaurin for comment Tuesday were unsuccessful.
Authorities
haven’t released a lot of details but Yates said the investigation is ongoing.
The accused officers were arrested quickly and without warning, FBI Special
Agent in Charge Mark Giulano said. Some of the alleged illegal transactions
took place last month, Giulano said.
The case began
in August 2011 as a street gang investigation by the federal Bureau of Alcohol,
Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, whose undercover agents learned the gang had
officers on the payroll for protection, Yates said. The FBI took over the
police corruption aspects of the case.
The cops were
recruited by individuals who offered to provide police protection for a street
gang’s drug deals — from both honest cops who might arrest them and crooks who
would rob them. The officer and the broker divided payments that ranged as high
$7,000 and as low as $2,200 — sometimes with the broker with getting a sweeter
share, according to federal affidavits. A broker reported one officer received
only a $700 share.
The officers
were in full uniform and often driving patrol vehicles, and would stand stand
guard as informants and drug traffickers swapped backpacks containing cash and
what was supposed to be cocaine, the affidavit said. A DeKalb officer charged
$800 extra for the use of the patrol car, the affidavit said.
The FBI and ATF
set up a sting by having an informant tell gang members and their associates
that he needed police protection for upcoming drug deals. Three people —
Shannon Bass, 38, and Elizabeth Coss, 35, both of Atlanta, and Jeffry B.
Mannery Jr, 38, of Tucker — provided the informant with names of officers who wanted
to provide security, the affidavit said. Coss and Mannery also were among those
arrested. The authorities used counterfeit cocaine in the sting.
The officers
were engaged in repeated transactions that trafficked enough kilos of cocaine
to be eligible for a mandatory minimum of 10 years in prison, Yates said.
Williams, for instance, is accused of splitting $18,000, although his exact
share wasn’t clear.
At least one
man allegedly attempted to get in on the protection racket by falsely claiming
to be a Clayton County police officer, federal authorities said. They charged
Alexander B. Hill, 22, in the drug trafficking case for playing a role in what
he thought were three cocaine deals involving multiple kilograms.
ATF Special
Agent in Charge Scott Sweetow would not name the street gang involved, but he
suggested the public corruption aspects would be far ranging.
“I can say this
is probably not the last you will be hearing of this case,” he said