http://www.ajc.com/news/news/corruption-scandal-shocks-saddens-metro-law-enforc/nWRNs/
Posted: 9:31 a.m. Sunday, Feb. 17, 2013
Corruption scandal shocks, saddens metro law enforcement
-
COMMENT<http://www.ajc.com/news/news/corruption-scandal-shocks-saddens-metro-law-enforc/nWRNs/#cmComments>
(35)
-
Related
View Larger<http://media.cmgdigital.com/shared/img/photos/2013/02/17/fa/92/cops0217.jpg>
[image: copsfocal021713
photo]<http://media.cmgdigital.com/shared/img/photos/2013/02/17/fa/92/cops0217.jpg>
Special
A corruption probe conducted by the U.S. Attorneys Office has resulted in
the arrest of 10 current and former metro area police officers, including
eight pictured here: (top row) Denoris Carter; Victor Middlebrook; Chase
Valentine; Kelvin Allen; (bottom row) Dennis Duren; Monyette McLaurin;
Andrew Monroe and Marquez Holmes.
Sponsored Links
-
-
-
- One Subscription. Total
Access.<http://clicks.beap.ad.yieldmanager.net/c/YnY9MS4wLjAmYnM9KDE1ZGgxZzRpaChnaWQkOWNhYzNlZTYtN2ExMC0xMWUyLWExMTUtZGY3MTMyZjA2MTIyLHN0JDEzNjEyMjIyNTQxMTMwNDYsc2kkNzQ1NTUxLGNyJDMyMDY0NzYwNTEsdiQyLjAsYWlkJGZkR1kuV0tJVlNVLSxjdCQyNSx5Yngkc2M3aGpBMzA3NjR1YTVuTmowTXcuQSxiaSQxNjU5NDc0MDUxLHIkMCxyZCQxMHRsMmFidDIpKQ/2/*http://ajcdelivers.com/access>
By Bill Torpy <http://www.ajc.com/staff/bill-torpy/> and Steve
Visser<http://www.ajc.com/staff/steve-visser/>
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
All eight Forest Park police sergeants were called to the department
Tuesday for routine training. Victor Middlebrook and Andrew Monroe, two
solid officers recently promoted to sergeant, were teamed up and told to
head to their training station.
They then walked into a room filled with federal agents and their boss,
Chief Dwayne Hobbs, who was having one of the worst days of his 40-year
career. The two sergeants were being arrested, accused of being part of a
group of Atlanta area officers who allegedly served as bodyguards for
agents posing as drug dealers.
Hobbs was flummoxed when federal agents briefed him on the charges earlier
in the month. The gregarious Middlebrook, 44, was admired by the community
and two years ago was voted by his comrades as the departments Officer of
the Year. Monroe, 57, was a ramrod-straight former military man with 11
years on the force. But the two allegedly received $24,000 last fall to
stand guard for what they thought were multi-kilo cocaine deals.
Whats most egregious was they were doing it behind the badge, which makes
it worse in my book, said Hobbs. It was sickening to think that two weeks
ago I trusted those guys. And to some extent it makes you look around and
say, Who else?
Police officers in six different metro departments and in the Federal
Protective Services are likely processing many of the same confusing
thoughts. Seven metro area officers, two former DeKalb County jailers and a
federal contract officer all allegedly sold their badges.
A close examination by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution of affidavits,
court files and interviews with police officials shows that several of the
officers arrested last week were eager to be corrupted.
The charges are the most widespread case of police corruption seen in metro
Atlanta in years. In 1996, a group of Atlanta officers, mostly from Zone 3
in Grant Park, were convicted of shaking down drug dealers. And six years
ago, several Atlanta narcotics officers were convicted on corruption
charges after a 92-year-old woman was killed in an illegal raid.
But those two scandals were limited to corrupt cops in the same unit. In
the current case, the corruption has metastasized among a much wider, more
disperse group of officers.
The accused come from the DeKalb County Police Department, as well as
forces from Stone Mountain, Atlanta, Forest Park and MARTA. Some had
problems with alcohol or domestic issues. Many had financial problems. At
least three including Middlebrook have filed for bankruptcy.
Last weeks charges were shocking. Officers often guarded the illicit
transactions while in uniform, sometimes even using their patrol cars as a
bonus. Payments ranged from several hundred to a few thousand dollars. Some
eagerly helped plot the operations, gave suggestions to make them go more
smoothly and even talked about the stark possibility they might have to
shoot someone. After hearing two such violent suggestions last month,
federal authorities shut down the 18-month operation.
Five civilians were also arrested in the sting, allegedly helping hook up
the street gang with the cops.
The operation started in August 2011, when a street gang associate told
agents for the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives
that some Atlanta area cops served as bodyguards for drug deals.
Investigators say a dirty cop standing guard during a drug exchange is a
valuable asset for dealers, ensuring they will not be robbed by other
criminals or busted by the law.
The informant put the word out among gangdom for cops to provide
protection. Three civilians Jerry Mannery Jr., 38, of Tucker, and Shannon
Bass, 38, and Elizabeth Coss, 35, of Atlanta allegedly stepped up, saying
they had the names of such cops.
DeKalb Police Officer Dennis Duren was allegedly the first, meeting with
Bass and the informant Oct. 3, 2011, at a Stone Mountain IHOP to plan their
operation. The next day, the trio met two undercover agents at a nearby
Publix parking lot and exchanged 3 kilos of fake cocaine for cash. Duren
allegedly strolled the lot in uniform, guarding the deal.
Seemingly, Duren got shorted his first time out. The informant allegedly
gave Bass $2,200 for his work in the deal. Bass told the informant he was
keeping $1,500 for himself and would give the officer just $700.
But Duren couldnt object. Chief Hobbs said once an officer accepts a
bribe, theres no going back. If that officer says yes (to joining corrupt
activities), then that other person owns you for the rest of your life, he
said.
A day later, Bass, Duren and the informant met again at IHOP to evaluate
the transaction. Duren and the informant agreed the exchange didnt go down
quickly enough to avoid detection, an affidavit states. Later, Duren
allegedly agreed to bring his squad car while guarding drug deals. But he
needed a bonus: $3,000, not the agreed upon $2,200.
Duren allegedly took part in four deals with 3 kilos of fake cocaine each
time.
By the following April, the enterprise was apparently pulling in eager and
even ambitious cops. Mannery allegedly said he had three cops for the
operation, including Stone Mountain Police Officer Denoris Carter.
Carter, 42, had worked at the 16-officer force for two years since being
laid off from East Point during cutbacks. A uniformed Carter allegedly sat
in his patrol car guarding a deal on the edge of town. Later, Carter
allegedly used his squad car to provide escort service to a dealer driving
10 kilos to a deal.
Carter, a training officer well-versed in working with procedures, was
apparently eager to please. At one meeting at an Applebees, the officer
asked the informant if he was satisfied with his services, especially the
escort. It seemed that Carter got comfortable, even brazen in his dealing.
Authorities say that one drug deal took place in front of Bevs Place, an
eatery on Main Street in the small town. During the deal, Carter allegedly
stood in uniform near his patrol car in the parking lot.
By early this year, the participants in the operation were going beyond
eager to almost aggressive.
On Jan. 3, Monyette McLaurin, 37, a former DeKalb jail officer who had been
recruited, allegedly told Bass that he would shoot the buyer at the drug
deal if necessary. All he needed was a signal.
McLaurin had quit working at the jail in April 2011, picked up a DUI later
that year in Gwinnett County and is upside down in debt with more than
$500,000 in mortgages on properties worth substantially less than when he
bought them in the mid-2000s. A 2011 bankruptcy filing said he had $399,653
in general unsecured debts.
Attorney and former police officer Bill McKenney said financially squeezed
cops can be vulnerable, especially those who grow close to informants or
people they meet while working extra jobs at clubs.
The bad guys know the financial situation of officers, he said. Theyre
going to go pick somebody out of the herd who is weak and financially
susceptible.
At least one of them was known to be a little too friendly with the bad
guys, McKenney said of those arrested. If he was working a club and they
would come in, he would go over and shake hands with them or exchange a
couple of hugs.
In mid-January the sting operation got potentially dangerous, authorities
said, when DeKalb Police Officer Dorian Williams, 25, allegedly entered the
operation. Williams allegedly asked for a premium $6,000 for wearing
his uniform and driving his squad car during the drug deals.
On Jan. 24, he allegedly drove his squad car to an Ingles on Rockbridge
Road and guarded a drug deal. Days later, he allegedly instructed Bass to
quickly leave with the cocaine if anybody got shot.
Then, feds say, their sting got scary. On Jan. 30, Williams sat at an
Applebees and talked about what should happen if other cops rolled up on
the deal. Authorities say he suggested transactions should take place at a
high school parking lot because backpacks would not draw suspicion.
Bass told him the next deal would have a new buyer. Williams then
explained that he may have to shoot this new buyer if things do not go
well, saying, I gotta (expletive) kill him. I just cant shoot him.
Two days later, Williams allegedly sat watch in a Sams Club parking lot
while another deal went down. The feds then pulled the plug on the
operation.
Last week, local department chiefs had to help perform a dreaded job
arrest one of their own.
At the Stone Mountain department, Chief Chancey Troutman called Carter into
his office, where agents grabbed him and put him under arrest. He looked
stunned and dropped his head, Troutman said. He couldnt do anything but
cooperate. They interviewed him for two and a half hours.
Told that many of those arrested had money problems, Troutman responded, I
think all of us have cash problems I know I do but I go out and work an
extra job. And Im the chief of police.
Then Troutman rounded up his troops. The next shift was ready, so he gave
them a pep talk.
You are going to hear people say bad things about you and call you a dirty
cop, a crooked cop, he told them. Hold your head up and do your job.
