-Caveat Lector- 'Sheetrock Scandal' Hits Dallas Police Cases Dropped, Officers Probed After Cocaine 'Evidence' Turns Out to Be Fake
By Paul Duggan Washington Post Staff Writer Friday, January 18, 2002; Page A12 DALLAS -- After Jose Luis Vega was charged with possessing hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of cocaine in August, several of his relatives sought help from lawyer Cynthia Barbare. They insisted that Vega, an auto mechanic, was an honest, hard-working family man who must have been framed. It wasn't the first time one of Barbare's clients claimed to be innocent. In 11 years as a defense attorney, representing scores of drug defendants, "I hear that kind of thing a lot," she said. But in Vega's case, she and the district attorney's office made a surprising discovery. Lab tests ordered by prosecutors at Barbare's request showed that the white substance allegedly seized from Vega by Dallas police was 25 kilograms of the chalk-like material used in Sheetrock and other brands of wallboard. Someone had ground it into powder and packaged it to resemble cocaine. Was Vega a drug dealer scheming to sell fake cocaine as the real thing? Prosecutors might have suspected so, if not for another, even more surprising discovery -- that in at least 18 cases involving alleged major cocaine seizures by the Dallas police narcotics unit in the past year, the purported evidence was all, or nearly all, ground-up wallboard material. The revelations have led officials to announce the dismissal of drug charges against dozens of men and have prompted an internal police investigation aided by the district attorney's office and the Drug Enforcement Administration. Back in the late summer and fall, when other Dallas defense lawyers heard about Vega's case, they similarly demanded lab tests of the supposed cocaine that their clients were charged with possessing. And it turns out that in at least 18 cases involving alleged major cocaine seizures by the police narcotics unit in the past year, the purported evidence was all, or nearly all, ground-up wallboard material. "We're going to get to the bottom of every issue associated with this," Police Chief Terrell Bolton said at a news conference Tuesday at which he also announced that two narcotics officers involved in all or most of the cases have been suspended while authorities investigate the origin of the fake cocaine. On Wednesday, the district attorney's office -- which had announced the dismissal of charges against the 18 men in the wallboard cases -- said it had decided to throw out drug cases involving 21 additional suspects. Officials said the decision was related to the inquiry into the wallboard cases, but they would not elaborate. "The Sheetrock scandal," as Barbare and her colleagues call it, has been the buzz of Dallas's legal community since authorities acknowledged the questionable cases two weeks ago. According to the Dallas Morning News, the original 18 cases involve nearly 700 pounds of wallboard material. In each case, after allegedly seizing the powder, officers wrote in arrest reports that field tests showed it was cocaine. "How could these field tests have been positive for drugs when there were no drugs?" Barbare said in an interview. Like other lawyers, she accused officers in the narcotics unit of trumping up cases against the men, hoping they would agree to plea bargains before thorough lab tests were done. And some of the men did. One of them was Jamie Siguenza, charged with possession of cocaine with intent to distribute; he pleaded guilty to a reduced charge and agreed to be deported to Mexico. In a recent court filing seeking to withdraw the plea, Siguenza's attorney alleged that the wallboard revelations are evidence of "a conspiracy" by Dallas police "to frame individuals by planting Sheetrock designed to look like cocaine on their property. Had these facts been known to [Siguenza], he would not have entered into a plea bargain." All the men arrested were blue-collar Mexican immigrants who speak little or no English, defense attorneys said, and few if any had arrest records. Several, like Vega, were auto mechanics who supposedly kept large amounts of cocaine in old vehicles where they worked. "What I think is what a lot of people are thinking -- that we have some dirty police officers in this city," said lawyer C. Tony Wright, who represents one of the men. Defense attorneys said most or all of the 18 arrests were made by the same two narcotics officers, who reported that they were led to the suspects by a longtime informant. On Tuesday, Bolton announced that the two officers, whom he declined to identify, had been suspended with pay. He said the DEA had agreed to assist the Dallas police public integrity unit in investigating the wallboard cases. Unlike the police internal affairs division, which investigates alleged violations of department rules, the public integrity unit deals strictly with suspected criminal misconduct by officers. Bolton and prosecutors also have ordered a change in the testing process for drugs. Before the questionable cases, lab tests were not done until shortly before a suspect's trial. By basing criminal charges on field tests alone and delaying expensive lab tests, authorities were able to save money because defendants often agreed to plea deals long before their scheduled trials. Police will continue to do field tests, Bolton said, but a lab analysis will be conducted as soon as possible after each arrest. He said the investigation also is focusing on the longtime informant involved in the questionable cases. Bolton said the unidentified informant has worked with narcotics officers in more than 70 investigations in the past two years, for which he was paid about $200,000. The wallboard cases came to light after Vega, 35, was arrested Aug. 16. As he sat behind bars, unable to come up with $500,000 in bail, his family turned to Barbare for help. The two narcotics officers alleged that they found 25 kilograms of white powder in an old vehicle at the auto repair garage where Vega worked. They said they were led to the vehicle by a reliable informant who told them Vega was a drug trafficker. They said a field test of the powder showed it was cocaine. But after interviewing Vega in jail, Barbare said, she agreed with his relatives that the case against him seemed bogus. She said she asked for a lab analysis of the alleged cocaine and arranged for Vega to take a privately administered polygraph test, which he passed. After the test, she said, the polygraph examiner told her he knew another lawyer, C. Tony Wright, who was handling a remarkably similar case. Wright's client, Jacinto Mejia, 40, had been arrested in May by the same two narcotics officers in Vega's case. In an interview, Wright said the officers reported that they were led to Mejia by a longtime informant and that they found five kilograms of cocaine in an old vehicle at the auto repair shop where Mejia worked as a mechanic. Mejia was jailed on $175,000 bail. Wright and Barbare said when they compared notes, they were dumbfounded. Like Barbare, Wright asked for expedited lab tests. "And I got on the telephone and I called every attorney I know," he said. "I grabbed people in the halls [of the courthouse]. I told them if they have any clients with these facts, they needed to get the stuff tested and not to take any plea bargains." As in Vega's case, the lab analysis of the powder allegedly seized from Mejia showed it to be pulverized wallboard material and charges against him were dismissed. Mejia, who spent five months behind bars, and Vega, who was jailed for two months, were freed in October. Other defendants who were locked up on bail in the wallboard cases also have been released, defense attorneys said. Depending on what the official investigation discovers, Barbare and Wright said, their clients and the others who were charged may have strong grounds for lawsuits. "None of this passes the smell test," Wright said. "Before it's over, somebody's going to go down." © 2002 The Washington Post Company ------------------------ "In little more than a year we have gone from enjoying peace and the most prosperous economy in our history, to a nation plunged into war, recession and fear. This is a nation being transformed before our very eyes." http://www.truthout.com Steve Wingate, Webmaster ANOMALOUS IMAGES AND UFO FILES http://www.anomalous-images.com <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html <A HREF="http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html";>Archives of [EMAIL PROTECTED]</A> http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ <A HREF="http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/";>ctrl</A> ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
