Pubdate: Sat, 16 Feb 2002
Source: Dallas Morning News (TX)
Copyright: 2002 The Dallas Morning News
Contact:  http://www.dallasnews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/117
Author:  Todd Bensman, The Dallas Morning News
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/corrupt.htm (Corruption)

DRUG FIGURE DEPORTED

Attorney Says Informant Was Grilled By FBI Over Disputed Police Cases

A confidential informant involved in questionable drug busts by two
Dallas police officers is no longer available to FBI investigators
because he has been deported to Mexico, federal officials said Friday.

The Dallas office of the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service
deported Jose Guadalupe Ruiz, 33, to Mexico last week under federal
regulations that require speedy deportation for anyone with an
outstanding removal order, said Anne Estrada, head of the Dallas
district of the INS.

Immigration law experts said federal law enforcement agencies have
several legal options available to prolong deportation-related
detentions, including filing unrelated charges, if a suspect or
witness in an ongoing investigation is needed.

Ms. Estrada and other government officials declined to comment when
asked whether any effort was made to keep Mr. Ruiz in the United States.

Another key police informant used in some of the questionable cases,
Enrique Martinez Alonso, was also in INS custody facing deportation.
Mr. Alonso was transferred to the custody of federal marshals last
week when he was charged with Social Security fraud.

Both men were paid Police Department informants in cocaine cases that
have been dismissed because the evidence turned out to be ground
Sheetrock, records show.

FBI agents interviewed Mr. Ruiz "for hours and hours" while the man
was in INS detention and did not believe his protestations of
innocence, attorney William Nellis said.

The FBI agents, who asked that he take a polygraph test, must have had
a change of heart later because Mr. Ruiz was deported, Mr. Nellis
said. The polygraph test was never performed, he said.

"I think initially they didn't believe him, for whatever reason," Mr.
Nellis said. "I think at some point evidence surfaced when they did
believe him. And they must have said, 'Let him go to Mexico.' "

Mr. Nellis said his client told FBI agents that the officers put his
name on cases he had nothing to do with.

Dallas FBI officials declined to comment when asked whether they
needed Mr. Ruiz. They cited rules forbidding them from discussing
ongoing investigations. U.S. Attorney Richard Stephens, whose office
is coordinating the investigation, declined to comment about Mr.
Ruiz's deportation.

FBI Special Agent in Charge Danny Defenbaugh said he had faith that
the Mexican government would help the bureau find Mr. Ruiz if necessary.

"If we need someone to come back as witnesses or they are indicted,
the Mexican authorities are very cooperative under the new president,"
Agent Defenbaugh said. "The relationships we have with the Mexican
authorities are excellent."

One Mexican government official said finding suspects or witnesses
wanted by American law enforcement can be difficult if the person does
not want to be found.

The official, Julian Adem, deputy consul for the Mexican Consulate in
Dallas, said he was unaware of Mr. Ruiz's deportation.

Mr. Ruiz was arrested in July 1999 with Mr. Alonso for drug
possession, by Senior Cpl. Mark Delapaz and Officer Eddie Herrera, the
officers who have been placed on administrative leave with pay by the
Police Department.

The two arrested men later reached separate agreements with police and
prosecutors to work as informants in exchange for having their felony
drug charges dismissed.

Court records indicate that Mr. Ruiz fulfilled his obligation to help
police in February 2001. After that, he continued to work with
narcotics officers in exchange for cash payments.

Mr. Alonso has said Mr. Ruiz had a role in several of the drug arrests
that are under scrutiny, including drug busts at a Maple Avenue bar
and at a Fort Worth Avenue car repair shop. In both of those cases,
drug tests later determined that the seized substances were not drugs.

Dallas County prosecutors have since dismissed those cases. They are
among the more than 70 cases that prosecutors have dismissed so far.
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