Pubdate: Fri, 24 Aug 2001
Source: Denver Post (CO)
Copyright: 2001 The Denver Post Corp
Contact:  http://www.denverpost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/122
Author: Mike McPhee
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/corrupt.htm (Corruption)

DEA AGENT'S ACTIONS REPRISAL?

Inquiring Judge's Fiancee Arrested

Friday, August 24, 2001 - A federal drug agent in Steamboat Springs 
who was ordered by a state judge on Aug. 1 to explain why he had 
intervened in a murder case signed an arrest warrant against the 
judge's fiancee the day before he was to appear in court.

The fiancee, Billie Jo Vreeman, 36, of Craig, was arrested three days 
after the warrant was issued on a charge of aiding and abetting 
cocaine distribution. She was freed on an unsecured bond.

The 13-year DEA agent, Donald Sperry, wouldn't comment. His Drug 
Enforcement Administration supervisors in Denver defended the arrest, 
saying it was the culmination of a year-long investigation into 
cocaine dealing in the Steamboat Springs area.

But Vreeman was never named in the investigation, which yielded 
indictments against eight people, seven of whom have been arrested.

The public defender who initially questioned why a federal agent 
would get involved in a state murder case said the arrest was in 
retaliation for the judge's actions.

"I find the timing of all of this incredibly suspicious," attorney 
Norm Townsend said. "The DEA had a drug investigation for over a year 
and never indicted her.

"We subpoenaed the DEA agent alleging his misconduct in a state 
murder investigation, and the day before the hearing he gets an 
arrest warrant for the judge's girlfriend. I find that highly 
suspicious."

The murder trial of Thomas Johnson has been postponed indefinitely. 
Fourteenth District Judge Joel S. Thompson, who three weeks ago 
purchased a house with Vreeman, recused himself on Tuesday. 
Prosecutors have been asked to be disqualified, and Townsend wants 
the DEA evidence suppressed.

Because Thompson recused himself, the case has been turned over to 
the Colorado Supreme Court, which will appoint another judge to hear 
it.

Johnson, 31, of Steamboat Springs is accused in the May 2000 stabbing 
death of Steamboat Springs resident Lori Bases, 31.

Johnson was detained by police that June when a bus he was riding 
from California to his parents' home in Longmont stopped in Steamboat 
Springs.

Johnson missed his bus and made three phone calls from pay phones.

Police, faced with the laborious task of getting a search warrant for 
the phone records, asked Sperry to use his federal subpoena powers to 
get the records more quickly, Townsend said.

"That's fraudulent use of federal powers because the records were 
obtained without a warrant," Townsend said. "His subpoena stated that 
the records were required as part of a criminal investigation being 
conducted by the DEA. The DEA had nothing to do with this state 
murder investigation. It's an abuse of power."

In June, Townsend filed a motion to suppress the evidence, and on 
Aug. 1, he subpoenaed Sperry to appear in court on Aug. 8 to explain 
why he got involved in the state investigation.

But the government, on Aug. 6, said Townsend didn't subpoena Sperry 
correctly and he didn't have to appear. Sperry signed a criminal 
complaint against Vreeman the next day, alleging that she had put 
Sperry in touch with a cocaine dealer.

The complaint stated she never had cocaine in her possession and 
never sold it to Sperry.
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