This Week’s Corrupt Cops Stories (2012.07.31)

A crank-dealing Kansas sheriff cops a plea, an LA narc gets a case of sticky fingers, an Arkansas narc develops a fondness for dope, and a North Carolina parole officer gets caught forcing his parolees to supply him with drugs. Let’s get to it:

In Los Angeles, an LA County sheriff’s deputy was arrested last Wednesday on charges she stole thousands of dollars confiscated in drug raids. Sgt. Bonnie Bryant III, a 28-year department veteran, allegedly was stealing the cash during investigations, not from evidence lockers. Bryant went down after a two week investigation by the department’s internal criminal investigators. Bryant was in charge of a narcotics investigative team, but the department said he believes Bryant was acting alone.

In Stockton, Kansas, a former Rooks County sheriff pleaded guilty last Friday to four felony counts of distributing methamphetamine. Randy Axelson was the sheriff of Rooks County when he was arrested in December 2011 following an investigation by Kansas authorities. He was accused of distributing meth over a period of four months at the Rooks County Fairgrounds and within 1,000 feet of Stockton High School. Prosecutors dropped five counts in exchange for the guilty pleas and recommended that he serve five years and four months in prison. No sentencing date has yet been set.

In Rogersville, Arkansas, a former Hawkins County sheriff’s narcotics detective pleaded guilty Monday to repeatedly burglarizing the department’s evidence locker in March and April 2011 and stealing drugs. Former Detective Brad Depew, copped to 75 counts related to those burglaries and drug thefts—as well as drug possession including 26 grams of cocaine, digital scales, a wide variety of pills, and a small amount of methamphetamine that was discovered during an April 21, 2011, search of Depew’s home. Prosecutors are recommending a 10-year prison sentence, but defense attorneys said the drugs were for his personal use—not for sale—and will seek judicial diversion. Narcotics found missing after one of Depew’s evidence locker break-ins included 175 oxycodone pills, 79 grams of methadone, and 84.5 methadone pills from one specific criminal case. The defendant who those drugs were originally seized from pleaded guilty in March to reduced charges attributed directly to Depew’s thefts.

In Asheville, North Carolina, a Western North Carolina prison official awaits sentencing on charges he extorted drugs from parolees under his supervision. James David Franklin, a surveillance officer for the North Carolina Department of Corrections, was originally arrested on drug trafficking charges for trying to sell 100 hydrocodone tablets in July 2010, but was indicted by a federal grand jury last August on four counts of extortion under color of official rights one count of possession with intent to distribute drugs. Franklin copped a plea to two of the counts in December and had been free on bond until his judge revoked it in April. Franklin is accused of pressuring parolees to supply him with drugs, including methamphetamine and crack cocaine. He also provided hydrocodone to a parolee in exchange for cocaine. He went down after a parolee reported him to his federal probation officer and the feds set up a sting, which he walked right into, delivering 120 hydrocodone tablets to a mailbox in exchange for $375. His judge is considering a defense motion for a mental evaluation prior to sentencing. He’s looking at up to 20 years in federal prison on the extortion charge.

Article republished from Stop the Drug War under Creative Commons Licensing