Drug raids gone bad Shopkeepers say plainclothes cops barged in, looted stores & stole cash

Philadelphia Daily News ^ | Fri, Mar. 20, 2009 | WENDY RUDERMAN & BARBARA LAKER

[Inappropriate Laughter]

ON A SWELTERING July afternoon in 2007, Officer Jeffrey Cujdik and his narcotics squad members raided an Olney tobacco shop.

Then, with guns drawn, they did something bizarre: They smashed two surveillance cameras with a metal rod, said store owners David and Eunice Nam.

The five plainclothes officers yanked camera wires from the ceiling. They forced the slight, frail Korean couple to the vinyl floor and cuffed them with plastic wrist ties.

"I so scared," said Eunice Nam, 56. "We were on floor. Handcuffs on me. I so, so scared, I wet my pants."

The officers rifled through drawers, dumped cigarette cartons on the floor and took cash from the registers. Then they hauled the Nams to jail.

The Nams were arrested for selling tiny ziplock bags that police consider drug paraphernalia, but which the couple described as tobacco pouches.

When they later unlocked their store, the Nams allege, they discovered that a case of lighter fluid and handfuls of Zippo lighters were missing. The police said they seized $2,573 in the raid. The Nams say they actually had between $3,800 and $4,000 in the store.

[thefactor]

no thanks. i'll keep my 6 figure job in the best city on the planet for the next 15 or so years until i retire and head south.

but thanks for caring.

[elkfersupper]

no thanks. i'll keep my 6 figure job in the best city on the planet for the next 15 or so years until i retire and head south.

Now you see, that is a problem.

No government employee anywhere should be making 6 figures, and when you move South, your expectations and problems come with you and inflict stress on the community that accepts you.

[thefactor]

nope. that ain't it.

basically i have had it with you who has been telling me how awful i am for the past 3 years simply because i have chosen to strap on a gun and a vest and go out and help people whenever i am able to.

and when i retire i bring my pension (gasp! such an evil word!), my work ethic, my conservatism, and hopefully a traditional american family with me. God willing.

[elkfersupper]

If it's any consolation, my son announced that he wants to be a cop (attracted by the 6-figure income) about 90 days ago, and I've been giving him the same lecture ever since.

Also told him that I don't talk to cops - ever - unless forced to do so.

[thefactor]

so who forces you to talk to me on this forum over and over? ha.

i hope your son chooses an interesting and prosperous profession. if you want to discourage him, that's on you.

i was allowed to make my own mistakes until i finally found what i was supposed to do with my life.

[wideminded]

It is a joke and if they didn’t steal the mentol cigges for themselves, they were going to sell them to the Amish.

"At least three former police informants who worked with Cujdik told the Daily News that he often gave them cartons of cigarettes."

"When he raided a corner store, he'd give me cigarettes," said Tiffany Gorham, a former Cujdik informant."

[Clinging Bitterly]

...the “ass” group.

Count me in too.
I rather dislike the alternative.

[elkfersupper]

so who forces you to talk to me on this forum over and over? ha.

I hope to influence the other people who read this forum.

My comments to you are not necessarily directed to your views, but to the situation.

You just happen to have some views that are directly opposite mine.

That's what these forums are all about.

My son is reconsidering after I reminded him that he is contemplating joining a street gang.