Pubdate: Sat, 27 Jul 2002
Source: Commercial Appeal (TN)
Copyright: 2002 The Commercial Appeal
Contact:  http://www.gomemphis.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/95
Author: Bartholomew Sullivan

STATE WANTS DRUG INQUIRY WRAPPED UP

Funds Taken For Years, Say Indictments

It may have been the recent, sudden improvement in the livelihoods of some 
of the officers - fancy motorcycles, big houses - that made neighbors and 
fellow officers suspicious.

But the indictments against former Crittenden County drug interdiction 
agents handed up Thursday night in Little Rock indicate authorities have 
investigated incidents stretching back years, including one traffic stop 
that occurred more than seven years ago.

On Friday, county leaders said the officers should be punished if they are 
convicted, but also said they're ready to put the controversy behind them.

Almost 10 years after suspicions were first raised about officers working 
the lucrative "money route" taken by westbound drug couriers through the 
county, one sheriff's deputy and three former drug interdiction agents have 
been indicted by a federal grand jury.

The officers are accused of stealing money from suspected drug couriers, 
but are charged with violations of federal laws involving mail fraud and 
money laundering that carry five-year prison sentences for each charge.

In one indictment, a former West Memphis police sergeant is charged with 
stealing money from the FBI after he was caught in a sting operation. In 
addition, the wife and brother of one former sheriff's deputy are both 
charged with lying to the grand jury to cover up the source of funds used 
for the deputy's major cash purchases.

The indictments indicate that $116,690 was taken by the officers, involving 
individual cash seizures totaling $522,975. Records indicate police have 
seized more than $5.4 million in Crittenden County from suspected drug 
couriers over the past 2d years, slightly more than half the cash seized 
statewide in that period.

U.S. Atty. H. E. 'Bud' Cummins said Friday that those indicted won't be 
arrested but will be permitted to surrender to U.S. marshals. They won't 
appear in court or enter pleas before Aug. 7.

Crittenden County Sheriff Dick Busby said Friday he was disappointed with 
the turn of events.

He said the status of Deputy Barry A. Davis, 33, the only indicted deputy 
still on his payroll, is under review. County Atty. Joe Rogers said if 
Davis is disciplined, he'll be given notice and an opportunity to respond.

"You know, it hurts every police officer," Busby said of the charges. "I 
hate it. I really do."

Others said it's about time for Busby to clean house.

"I think supervision in that department has been lacking, if we've had any 
at all," said Quorum Court member Jim Turner, whose position is equivalent 
to a county commissioner's. "They're under a cloud. I think we should have 
a complete, new reorganization."

Court member Vera Simonetti, who was stopped for a burned-out taillight in 
May by Davis, days after publicly suggesting the sheriff's drug 
interdiction efforts be disbanded, said the officers accused aren't above 
the law.

"If they've broken the law, they should pay the consequences," she said.

County Judge Melton Holt, whose position is equivalent to a county 
executive's, wrote to the FBI in June asking for the lengthy investigation 
to "proceed with haste. . . . Innocent employees need to be exonerated, 
while guilty parties need to be charged and prosecuted." On Friday, Holt 
said: "I'm ready for this to come to a head; let's move on and get this 
behind us."

Since the June 6 FBI and IRS searches of the homes of Davis and former 
deputy Louis F. Pirani, speculation has been intense that the investigation 
was back on the front burner in Little Rock.

Last week, several sheriff's officials and West Memphis police officers 
were subpoenaed to testify before the grand jury. Cummins said Friday the 
investigation is ongoing.

Davis was indicted on a single count of mail fraud that carries a possible 
five-year sentence. The indictment accuses him of pocketing $77,550 "for 
his personal benefit and use" after a traffic stop in March 1995.

Davis, who makes $29,493 as a sheriff's deputy and whose wife is a public 
school teacher, lives in a house on a double lot in West Memphis appraised 
by the county at $280,950. He also owns a Honda motorcycle and three other 
vehicles with an appraised value of $39,550.

Davis is also known to fly a 1960 Cessna airplane worth $35,500 that's 
parked at the West Memphis Municipal Airport. The plane's title is in his 
father's name, but his father's student pilot's license has expired and he 
can't legally fly, according to Federal Aviation Administration records.

Davis is a licensed pilot.

He could not be reached Friday and his wife, Tonya, declined comment on the 
advice of a lawyer.

Davis has been on paid leave while sheriff's investigators look into a May 
30 traffic stop during which he shot out a Whitehaven man's tires, then 
cited him for misdemeanor offenses. Davis's father-in-law is the 
second-in-command of the Arkansas State Police troop based in Forrest City.

Former deputy Louis F. Pirani's alleged ownership of a 1980 Cessna 182Q 
airplane figures in indictments charging both Pirani's wife, Angela, and 
his brother, Stephen, with lying to federal agents.

Stephen and Angela Pirani testified before the Little Rock federal grand 
jury that Louis Pirani had no ownership interest in the Cessna.

The inquiry was made, according to one indictment, because "it was part of 
the investigation to determine if officers taking this money had violated 
the revenue laws of the United States by not reporting this income . . . 
(and) whether deputy Louis F. Pirani was expending funds in excess of his 
income."

Pirani, 37, was making the same $29,493 salary as Davis before taking a job 
as a federal air marshal earlier this year. His red brick home with a brick 
and wrought-iron privacy fence, detached garage and pool is appraised at 
$195,400. Vehicles in his name are valued at $43,150.

One indictment says that Louis Pirani also bought a $26,500 Pro Star ski 
boat, paying for it in April 1997 with $100 bills. He later sold it. He is 
charged with making false statements to federal authorities about his 
ownership of both the plane and the ski boat.

The Commercial Appeal was unable to reach any of the Piranis Friday.

Former deputies Pirani and Joseph W. Applegate are accused of taking 
$26,140 "for their own personal use and benefit" after finding $56,400 in a 
traffic stop July 22, 1999.

Applegate later transferred to the West Memphis Police Department's drug 
interdiction unit and, along with West Memphis Police Sgt. E. A. 'Tony' 
Bradley, was fired last October for violating departmental policies 
regarding cash seizures.

Applegate, who now lives in Grove, Okla., made $30,864 as a West Memphis 
police officer. Besides the incident involving the $26,140 taken in 1999, 
another indictment charges him with structuring a financial transaction in 
January 2001 to avoid IRS reporting requirements when he purchased an 
$18,953 Harley-Davidson motorcycle with two payments of $9,000 in cash and 
$9,953 by check. Applegate's lawyer, Robert M. Ford of Wynne, did not 
return calls left with his office.

Bradley is accused in Thursday's indictments of taking $10,000 of $36,575 
he seized from an interstate stop in February 1997. In addition, he's 
accused of pocketing $3,000 of a $43,000 seizure the FBI placed in a Mazda 
626 parked at the Southland Greyhound Park on July 13 of last year in a 
sting operation.

Bradley, who made $34,800 as a police sergeant, lives in a house appraised 
by the county at $159,350. Since his firing, he's become a long-haul truck 
driver, according to his attorney, Gerald Coleman of West Memphis.

Coleman said he hasn't been able to reach his client but has talked to 
Bradley's wife.

"He's on his way home," said Coleman.
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