Pubdate: Thu, 18 Aug 2005
Source: Advocate, The (LA)
Copyright: 2005 The Advocate, Capital City Press
Contact: http://www.2theadvocate.com/help/letter2editor.shtml
Website: http://www.theadvocate.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2
Authors: Steven Ward, and Joe Gyan Jr., Advocate staff writers
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/corrupt.htm (Corruption - United States)

FEDERAL AUTHORITIES ARREST LUTCHER POLICE CHIEF

Pittman Accused Of Selling Drugs

Lutcher Police Chief Corey Pittman was arrested Wednesday morning by
FBI and DEA agents who accused him of selling crack cocaine,
painkillers and other drugs to undercover officers and pocketing
$5,200 in cash.

U.S. Magistrate Louis Moore Jr. ordered the 29-year-old Pittman held
in federal custody until a hearing Friday morning to determine whether
the police chief will be detained without bond.

"This case is nothing more than the fox guarding the henhouse," James
Bernazzani, special agent-in-charge of the FBI's New Orleans office,
said during a news conference at the Drug Enforcement Administration's
Louisiana headquarters in Metairie.

Members of Pittman's family stood in front of the police chief's home
on Alexander Street on Wednesday but would only make one comment.

"We're praying for him," one of the men said.

Many people in the small Lutcher community were shocked.

"I don't believe it. I just don't believe it," resident Cheryl Davis
said. "This must be a set-up. That man is a model citizen, always
doing his job and helping people."

A criminal complaint filed Tuesday in federal District Court in New
Orleans detailed Pittman's alleged drug-dealing activities this way:

- - On June 9 shortly before noon, Pittman sold cocaine powder for $400
to an undercover drug agent at a construction site on North Nobel
Street in Lutcher.

- - On June 24 around 1 p.m., Pittman sold crack cocaine for $1,900 to
the undercover agent in front of Garyville/Mount Airey Magnet School
on La. 54 in St. John the Baptist Parish. The day before, while
arranging the sale, the police chief told the agent during a telephone
call not to use the word "ounce" for fear that law enforcement
officers may be monitoring the call. They were. After the drug
transaction the next day, Pittman told the agent the money better not
be "marked money." It was.

- - On Aug. 8 shortly after 2:45 p.m., Pittman sold crack cocaine and 40
tablets of the painkiller hydrocodone for $2,000 to the undercover
agent at a Shell Truck Stop on West Airline Highway in Reserve, also
in St. John. At the truck stop, the police chief told the agent he was
concerned about getting out of his vehicle because of the surveillance
cameras in the area. Law enforcement monitored the drug transaction
via video, audio and physical surveillance.

- - On Friday shortly after 1:30 p.m., Pittman sold crack cocaine for
$900 to the undercover agent at the same Shell Truck Stop in Reserve.

The criminal complaint does not accuse Pittman of using his police car
during the drug dealings, but William Renton Jr., special
agent-in-charge of the DEA in Louisiana, said the chief made
"absolutely no secret" of the fact that he was a law enforcement
officer during the transactions. The fact that the drug deals took
place in broad daylight was "pretty bold and brazen," he said.

Asked if more arrests are expected, Renton said, "I'm not
sure."

Pittman is the only person charged so far. Renton would not disclose
the source who tipped authorities off. He did say that law enforcement
officials in St. Charles Parish brought the source to federal
authorities. Renton also did not disclose Pittman's drug source.

Lutcher Mayor Troas Poche was having lunch with St. James Parish
Sheriff Willy Martin on Wednesday, and both talked about Pittman's
arrest.

"I didn't find out about all of this until the sheriff called me this
morning," Poche said.

Poche said the last time he saw Pittman before he was taken into
custody was at 7:45 a.m. Wednesday at Lutcher Town Hall.

"He told me he was going to a meeting," Poche said.

Martin said Pittman was arrested at "the meeting."

Pittman was arrested in St. Charles Parish after he was summoned
there, supposedly to meet with other law enforcement officials about
pending arrests, Renton said.

Pittman is charged with three counts of distributing crack cocaine
totaling 5 ounces and one count each of distributing 1 ounce of
cocaine powder and 40 hydrocodone tablets. The tablets were contained
in a prescription bottle with Pittman's name on it, according to the
criminal complaint.

"People look at us, as town officials, as role models, and something
like this just tells the people of Lutcher, 'To hell with you,'" Poche
said.

In a March 6, 2003, interview Pittman gave to a community weekly
newspaper in Lutcher, The News Examiner, he admitted to selling drugs
as a teenager.

"The easiest thing for me would be to lie and say it never happened.
It did. I was young and foolish. I wanted quick money and selling
marijuana was the easiest way to get it," Pittman told the newspaper
two months after taking office as Lutcher's first black police chief.

The paper also reported Pittman as saying, "Kids on the street corners
can't fool me. I know all the lies. I've seen them. I've done them."

Pittman won the police chief election in October 2002 and started his
job in January 2003. Before running for the job, Pittman was a Lutcher
police officer, Poche said.

Courtney Veron, manager of Veron's Super Market on Main Street, said
he was surprised to find out what happened to Pittman.

"We used to cash checks for him all the time. He was a very nice guy,
so I was somewhat stunned. But I heard rumors about him too," Vernon
said.

Mary Edwards, a Lutcher resident and administrator with the St. James
Parish school system, said she did not know Pittman personally, but
always heard good things about him.

"So I was surprised. And I'm real saddened for his family," Edwards
said.

Pittman's tenure with the Lutcher Police Department seemed quiet, with
the exception of a 2003 lawsuit he filed against Mayor Poche and three
members of the town's board of aldermen.

The lawsuit claimed Poche, Alderwoman Rebecca Foret and Aldermen Floyd
Marshall and Patrick St. Pierre tried to "usurp" Pittman's authority
as elected police chief by approving a plan from Poche that would have
paid the St. James Parish Sheriff's Office to provide the bulk of law
enforcement in the town.

St. James Parish Clerk of Court Edmond Kinler said Wednesday that the
lawsuit was never heard and that it was dismissed at the request of
Pittman after a settlement was reached.

Poche said that under the settlement, he and the board allowed Pittman
to run the Police Department without help from the Sheriff's Office.

Poche said the people of Lutcher do not have to worry about police
protection while Pittman is in jail.

"People will be protected. I'm in charge of the Police Department
until I talk to the town attorney about appointing a replacement,"
Poche said.

Pontchartrain Levee District Board President Steve Wilson said
Wednesday afternoon that Pittman applied for a police officer job with
his agency six months ago. Pittman was never hired, Wilson said.

"Pittman applied, but we told him that we could not consider him for
the job if he still had a full-time job with the Lutcher Police
Department," Wilson said.

Moore, the U.S. magistrate, on Wednesday appointed the federal public
defender's office to represent Pittman.

U.S. Attorney Jim Letten of New Orleans said the case will be "swiftly
presented" to a federal grand jury. If convicted, Pittman will face
significant prison time, the prosecutor said.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin