Posted on 09/02/2005 9:30:13 PM PDT by SmithL
MEMPHIS - Two high-ranking Memphis police officials were indicted Thursday on charges of falsifying a report, and nearly 100 people were arrested on drug charges in an ongoing federal investigation into thefts from the police property room.
Deputy Chief Bobby Todd and Maj. James Krepela are accused of altering a 2004 accident report to change the name of the driver at fault. They were suspended in May when the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation investigated the allegation.
District Attorney General Bill Gibbons accused the officers of violating the public's expectation that police enforce laws fairly.
Todd, 62, and Krepela, 63, were both charged with official misconduct and tampering with government records. They are free on $5,000 bond each.
The indictments accuse Todd and Krepela of changing an accident report five months after it occurred, ticketing a driver who was not initially charged. The original accident report noted that the other driver mentioned the names of several high-ranking police officials, something omitted in the later report.
In the federal case, indictments were unsealed Thursday revealing drug charges against about 100 people, mostly affiliated with street gangs. Authorities said the arrests stemmed from the property room probe.
"This is textbook law enforcement," acting U.S. Attorney Larry Laurenzi said. "One investigation led to another ... this grew out of the property room investigation."
A state audit found that more than $2 million worth of cocaine, 560 pounds of marijuana, 66 guns and a large amount of cash were missing from the department property and evidence room between 2000 and 2003.
Former Memphis police property room supervisor Kenneth Dansberry pleaded guilty in 2004 to stealing cocaine and marijuana over three years to sell to Atlanta drug dealer Patrick Maxwell, a former property room employee. He could have faced more than 30 years in prison but got a reduced sentence because his cooperation helped authorities indict Maxwell and 15 other city employees and drug dealers.
They were suspended in May, with pay I assume also with legal fees paid by us jerks (tax payers).
Situations like we are experiencing now are what the Federalists envisioned when they complained of too much democracy. They knew that once the franchise was expanded to include trash, that the trash would vote their own into office.
Bullhooey, your not taking into account Newport, of the Blue State of Oregon.
Memphis is another disaster waiting to occur.
Hell, in Boston the #1 criminal (and a man on the FBI's Most Wanted List) was the big brother of the president of the state senate. And one or both of the brothers corrupted the FBI office and the US District Atty. for Boston. Can you beat that?
I am law and order and generally support all police, but the police must be on a tight leash, apparently....
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