This Week's Corrupt Cops Stories

by Phillip Smith
StoptheDrugWar.org
Aug. 28, 2013

Two Texas cops lose their jobs, a California jail guard gets busted at the playground, a Tennessee sheriff's lieutenant cops to slinging pain pills, and an Arizona Customs officer is headed for the pen. Let's get to it:

In Blue Mound, Texas, one Blue Mound police officer was fired and another resigned Monday after they were accused of tipping off the mayor that his name had been mentioned in a drug investigation. The mayor has denied any drug involvement, but his name came up during an investigation into drug sales at a local business by the Tarrant County Drug Task Force. Task force members tried unsuccessfully four times to purchase drugs at the business. Officer Robin Wall told Officer Fred Jepsen a task force member had asked him if he had ever seen the mayor going into the business, and Jepsen then informed the mayor, who promptly called the deputy chief of police to tell him one of his officers was divulging information about an investigation. Jepesen resigned his position and Wall was fired.

In Merced, California, a Merced County jail guard was arrested last Friday not for smuggling drugs into the jail, but for selling drugs to a minor. Officer Micha Justin Imler, 34, is charged with selling to a minor on or near a school's grounds. Three other suspects were arrested on similar charges at the same time. Imler is on paid administrative leave pending a full investigation.

In Knoxville, Tennessee, a former Cocke County sheriff's lieutenant pleaded guilty last Tuesday to peddling pain pills. Richard Caldwell, a former lieutenant and shift supervisor with the Sheriff's Office, pleaded guilty to delivery of the Schedule III controlled substance hydrocodone. Caldwell went down after an FBI investigation two years ago showed he was involved in illicit prescription drug distribution. Under his plea agreement, he will be sentenced to two years in prison in October.

In Tucson, Arizona, a former Customs and Border Protection officer was sentenced Monday to 12 years in federal prison for allowing loads of marijuana to enter the US. Luis Carlos Vasquez let the loads pass through the lane he monitored at the Douglas, Arizona, port of entry. Prosecutors had sought 19 years; the defense argued for the mandatory minimum five years.