-Caveat Lector-
>From http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A229-
2002Jan18.html
>>>Does putting this stuff up a nostril make people feel like they're
"plastered"? A<>E<>R <<<
}}}>Begin
'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 Admini
stration.
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 c
ases 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. Offic
ials 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, hopin
g 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 se
eking 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 pro
perty. 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 ca
ses. 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 V
ega 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 private
ly 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 th
at 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 t
hese 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 w
as 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
End<{{{
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