By DAVID HENRY
PHILADELPHIA - February 24,
2014 (WPVI) -- A veteran Philadelphia police officer has entered a guilty plea
in a far-reaching corruption probe.
Former narcotics officer
Jeffrey Walker pled guilty to robbery and weapons charges in federal court
today. But he is just one crooked cop who may be among many rounded up in an
ongoing federal investigation.
Walker is cooperating and
naming names.
Walker's defense attorney
Thomas Fitzpatrick explains, "These are dangerous people who've engaged in
significant criminal activity for quite some time."
Fitzpatrick says he has been
talking to the FBI and a grand jury, and it appears to be a far-reaching
investigation.
Walker was tripped up by a drug
dealer who was cooperating with the FBI. Walker approached the dealer with a
plan to set up and rob another drug dealer.
They went to a bar on West
Girard Avenue last May where Walker was videotaped planting cocaine in the
other dealer's car.
When that man left the bar,
Walker had him pulled over and arrested. He then went to the man's house on
Florence Avenue and stole $15,000 cash and five pounds of marijuana.
Walker was arrested by the FBI
as he left the house.
Assistant United States
Attorney Anthony Wzorek says, "It's outrageous behavior. It's a front to
the citizens of the city and to the other honest members of the Philadelphia
Police Department."
Since he was arrested Walker
has been cooperating with the FBI. That cooperation led to a search of the
Schuylkill River for a safe that was never found.
Walker has also been naming
others.
His lawyer says the
investigation involves too many cops and civilians to count, and he says there's
a lot of money involved.
"At the end of the day
it's going to result in a significant amount of indictments, we believe, and
significant police corruption being uncovered in the city," Fitzpatrick
said.
This corruption investigation
has been ongoing for some time, and there's no indication of when it might be
wrapped up. So far Walker is the only one arrested, although the police have
recently removed six other narcotics officers from active duty.