Pubdate: Sat, 24 Feb 2001
Source: San Antonio Express-News (TX)
Copyright: 2001 San Antonio Express-News
Contact:  400 3rd St., San Antonio, TX 78287-2171
Fax: 210-250-3105
Website: http://www.mysanantonio.com/expressnews/
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Author: Maro Robbins, Express-News Staff Writer
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/corrupt.htm (Corruption)

ARREST'S EFFECT ON DRUG CASES EYED

For the second time in recent months, federal prosecutors in San Antonio 
are checking to determine whether police misconduct has polluted drug cases.

In recent months, the U.S. attorney's office has dropped charges in three 
drug cases undermined by an officer's false statement.

While the misstatement by a San Antonio police officer was described as 
sloppy but not criminal, the arrest Wednesday of a Balcones Heights police 
officer stemmed from allegations of drug trafficking.

John D. Beauford, who handled evidence for the multiagency Alamo Area 
Narcotics Task Force, has been charged with possession with intent to 
distribute between 500 grams and 5 kilograms of cocaine.

An investigation before Beauford's arrest indicated that 1.1 pounds, or 
roughly a half-kilo, of cocaine was missing from the task force evidence 
locker.

The missing cocaine is related to a federal investigation in Laredo. Still 
ongoing, that probe has yet to produce an indictment, and agents are 
determining whether the missing drugs will affect the case, a Drug 
Enforcement Administration spokesman said.

Likewise, federal and local prosecutors said they must evaluate whether 
Beauford's arrest will taint any cases he aided as a task force supervisor.

"Obviously he can't be used as a witness," said Assistant U.S. Attorney 
Greg Surovic, who oversees federal drug cases in San Antonio and who is 
handling Beauford's case.

Thus far, federal prosecutors have identified two pending cases involving 
the task force. An initial review suggested Beauford was not a key witness 
in either.

Surovic said further examination is necessary to determine what role, if 
any, the officer played in handling evidence.

The U.S. attorney's office said it also may examine whether Beauford had 
crucial roles in cases already closed -- if an investigation turns up 
evidence of Beauford abusing drugs over a long period.

Balcones Heights officials have said Beauford passed a drug screen in 
October, but authorities say he failed a drug test earlier this month.

As a supervisor in the Alamo Area Narcotics Task Force, Beauford was 
required by policy to take the drug test after a Feb. 8 fender bender, 
according to court documents outlining the government's accusations.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard Durbin said there was some indication that 
more drug evidence may be missing from some closed cases.

Reached by phone Friday, Beauford said his attorney had advised him not to 
discuss the accusations publicly.

Task force agents Wednesday said they found 185 grams of cocaine in 
packages scattered around the hotel room where he had been living.

If convicted, the 33-year-old faces between five and 40 years in prison.

A law officer for 10 years whose family has recently experienced some 
personal and financial turmoil, Beauford could not meet his comrades' eyes 
after his arrest, according to superiors.

"I know he's feeling pretty badly, and so are the agents," said Converse 
Police Chief Rick Jameson, project director for the task force, a federally 
funded partnership among 10 suburban police departments.

Jameson said task force agents still are conducting an audit to determine 
whether anything else is missing or altered in their evidence locker.

Narcotics investigators' jobs are rife with conditions and temptations that 
push some toward drugs, said Timothy Dimoff, a former narcotics detective 
for 15 years.

These conditions include long, stressful hours spent investigating thugs 
who often earn far more than the officers pursuing them.

Add to that "financial pressures, relationship pressures, and you have the 
potential for abuse," said Dimoff, now president of SACS Consulting and 
Investigative Services Inc., an Ohio agency that advises employers on 
substance abuse issues in the workplace.

Last month the mobile home owned by Beauford's mother where he once lived 
became the target of a back-taxes lawsuit filed by Bexar County.

Beauford, whose annual salary is $30,650, also separated in June from his 
wife of about four years.

Felipa Beauford described her spouse as a good husband, a kind father to 
his stepchildren and devoted to his badge.

State records show Beauford's law-enforcement career began a decade ago 
when he became a deputy sheriff in LaSalle County.

He joined the Balcones Heights department in 1996.

Thrilled when he got the task-force assignment in 1997, Beauford started 
taking college classes about a year ago in hopes of becoming an agent for 
the Drug Enforcement Administration, his wife said.

"That was his dream. That's what he loved to do. He loved being a police 
officer," she said. "He loved getting bad people off the streets."

Felipa Beauford said she saw no sign of anything that would lead to drug 
charges when she and her husband parted ways.

"Not in a million years would I think he'd do something like that," she 
said. "I want to know why."
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MAP posted-by: Terry Liittschwager