This Week’s Corrupt Cops Stories (2013.03.06)

The Tulsa police corruption scandal is the gift that keeps on giving, Jackson, MS cops head to prison, and more cops want pills too badly for their own good. Let’s get to it:

In Boston, a former Watertown police officer was arrested Tuesday on charges he stole a drivers’ license and used it to fraudulently obtain oxycodone and other controlled substances. Joseph Deignan, 57, is charged with unlawful possession of a controlled substance and fraud, in connection with identification documents. Deignan was working as the Watertown Police traffic supervisor when he allegedly stole the drivers’ license. He’s looking at up to 15 years in federal prison on the identity theft count.

In Stillwater, Minnesota, a now former Washington County deputy was arrested last Wednesday for allegedly stealing drugs deposited in a drug “take-back bin.” Ricky Gruber, 43, is charged with drug possession, theft, and misconduct of a public officer. He went down after a sheriff’s sergeant noticed the bin had been tampered with, and subsequent video surveillance caught him opening the bin and removing drugs. Gruber admitted he took the drugs for “personal use” and said he had been researching a medical condition present during “sexual intimacy.” He said he took the drugs to help with his medical condition.

In Tulsa, Oklahoma, a former Tulsa police officer was held in contempt last Wednesday for giving false testimony related to a Tulsa police corruption case. Jeff Henderson got an additional three months added to his 42-month sentence after being convicted in 2011 on six counts of perjury and two counts of civil rights violations. He had been brought back to Tulsa in June to testify in the case of one of the people railroaded into prison by corrupt Tulsa police, but was found to have lied about who his informant was in that case. Two other Tulsa police officers and a federal agent have been convicted in the Tulsa corruption case, 46 wrongfully convicted people have been released from prison or had their cases modified, and at least 14 lawsuits have been filed against the city and individual police officers.

In Jackson, Mississippi, three former Jackson police officers were sentenced last Friday for accepting bribes from FBI undercover agents posing as drug traffickers. Monyette Quintel Jefferson, 27, and Terence Dale Jenkins, 25, got 10 years each, and Anthony Ricardo Payne, 25, got nine years. All three pleaded guilty last fall. They had accepted bribes ranging from $10,000 to $20,000 to protect what they thought were cocaine shipments.

Article republished from Stop the Drug War under Creative Commons Licensing