Pubdate: Wed, 17 Aug 2005
Source: Tennessean, The (TN)
Copyright: 2005 The Tennessean
Contact:  http://www.tennessean.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/447
Author: Leon Alligood
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/corrupt.htm (Corruption - United States)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/coke.htm (Cocaine)

DRUG STING NABS 2 OFFICERS, 6 OTHERS

Cocaine Ferried, Cash Laundered In Scheme, FBI Says

COOKEVILLE, Tenn. - Shortly after 10 a.m. yesterday, FBI agents arrived at 
the Cookeville Police Department to arrest two men.

The suspects were easily spotted.

They wore blue ... and police badges.

By noon, "Operation Tarnished Shield," a three-year effort by federal and 
state authorities to "root out corruption" in this Upper Cumberland Plateau 
city, also had resulted in the arrest of two former law enforcement officers.

Four other individuals, for a total of eight, also were taken into custody 
as part of the undercover sting investigation that alleges police 
participation in a conspiracy to ferry cocaine and launder hundreds of 
thousands of dollars.

Arrested yesterday at the Cookeville Police Department were Master Patrol 
Officer Reno Martin, a 15-year veteran of the department, and Patrol 
Officer Jason Blythe, who has been on the force three years.

Also taken into federal custody yesterday were Steven Bert Williamson, a 
former police officer in Algood, and Gregory Dale Scott, who once worked as 
a corrections officer at the Putnam County Jail.

Others arrested included Ronald Middlebrook, a Cookeville auto body shop 
owner, and his sister, Robin Blaskis, a certified public accountant in 
Cookeville. Also nabbed in the sting were Troy Bell and Darrell Thomas 
Jones, also of Putnam County.

U.S. Attorney Jim Vines, who announced the arrests at an afternoon news 
conference yesterday at the FBI's office in Cookeville, said the 
long-running investigation was an attempt to put a halt to a "wide-ranging 
conspiracy" that threatened to erode the public's trust in the local police.

"People have a right to know their law enforcement is not for sale," Vines 
said.

My Harrison, special agent in charge of the Memphis office of the FBI, 
called the arrest a "sad chapter" in the story of Tennessee law enforcement.

"I'm shocked and appalled at the ease with which these law enforcement 
officers sold their position for cash," Harrison said.

The arrests shocked the community as well. By the afternoon shift change at 
local industries, the news was on drive-time radio, and the FBI sting was 
the topic of conversation at grocery stores and gas pumps.

"When someone in law enforcement does something like this, it's pretty 
sad," said Harold Hunter, who was visiting the local library. Active in 
youth drug counseling efforts as a minister, Hunter said the arrests would 
send a mixed message to those he would help.

"When law enforcement are doing something like this, it makes what I do 
just that much harder."

Cookeville Police Chief Robert Terry said he was "shocked and dismayed" 
that two of his officers had been accused of abusing the public's trust. He 
vowed complete cooperation from his department.

"Issues relative to these officers' employment status are being dealt with 
by the Cookeville Police Department and the city's human resources 
director," Terry said.

Because of the ongoing nature of the investigation, he said, "it would be 
inappropriate and unprofessional for me to comment further."

As in "Operation Tennessee Waltz," the FBI sting operation that resulted in 
the arrest of several legislators in late May, the Cookeville investigation 
also relied heavily on an undercover agent who pretended to be somebody he 
wasn't.

In the case of Operation Tarnished Shield, FBI Special Agent Bart Brown of 
the Cookeville office took on the persona of a member of a Chicago-based 
drug-trafficking and money-laundering operation. In this capacity, he 
established relationships with the suspects beginning in 2002.

According to the criminal complaint filed yesterday in U.S. District Court 
in Nashville, the drug-trafficking investigation began when suspects Jones 
and Middlebrook offered to transport drugs for the undercover agent, as 
well as recruit police officers willing to carry the contraband.

Master Patrol Officer Martin apparently agreed to transport drugs, 
according to the complaint. In July 2004, it said, he delivered 30 
kilograms of "purported cocaine" from Nashville to Chicago in exchange for 
$15,000. Martin also allegedly offered advice on avoiding police detection.

Williamson, the former Algood policeman, also became an alleged drug 
runner, investigators contend. On June 2, he, along with suspect Bell, 
delivered what they believed to be 20 kilograms of cocaine from Nashville 
to Chicago. Williamson was paid $6,000, according to the criminal complaint.

The money-laundering charges stem from a plan to use Cookeville businesses 
owned at least in part by suspects Middlebrook and Blaskis to hide what 
officials charge the two believed were ill-gotten gains the undercover 
agent had made from drug sales. In exchange for laundering the cash, the 
pair was to get a 6% fee plus a $25,000 advance payment.

On March 5, 6 and 7, 2004, undercover agent Brown met with Cookeville 
policeman Martin to arrange transportation of $250,000 from Fort 
Lauderdale, Fla., to Nashville, according to the FBI complaint. It said the 
officer agreed to transport the cash in exchange for $5,000. Unknown to 
Martin, he was watched by the FBI during the trip from Florida. The 
complaint does not make clear the eventual destination of this cash.

On April 3, 2004, Martin delivered $50,000 from the undercover agent in 
Nashville to Baxter, site of Tennessee Motor Speedway, a race track owned 
by Middlebrook. During their meeting, the policeman told the FBI agent that 
he was interested in transporting drugs so he could make his life "a little 
more comfortable."

Later that same month, Middlebrook and his sister, Blaskis the CPA, met the 
undercover agent at the accountant's office in Cookeville, officials 
charge. According to the complaint, a plan to launder $1 million through 
various accounts controlled by the siblings was finalized, and over the 
next eight months the pair laundered $650,000.

In five of the eight deliveries of cash, policeman Martin was the person 
who shuttled the currency from the undercover agent to Blaskis or 
Middlebrook. According to the complaint, the Cookeville officer was eager 
to get the work. In April of 2004, he told the undercover agent he needed a 
"big load" to relieve "financial strain" caused by a Cancun vacation his 
wife had planned, the complaint said.

By June 2004, Middlebrook and Blaskis decided to increase their 
money-laundering capacity to between $50,000 and $75,000 per week, the 
complaint says. They established bank accounts at three different banks in 
order to minimize speculation about frequent cash deposits, it adds.

In October, former Putnam County jailer Greg Scott allegedly was brought on 
board as a cash hauler. He delivered $50,000 from Nashville to Cookeville 
and was paid $500, investigators charge.

Also arrested in the sting was Blythe, the other police officer, who was 
charged with selling two Smith and Wesson revolvers to the FBI undercover 
agent. It was unclear from the complaint or yesterday's news conference 
what role Blythe may have played in the drug-trafficking and 
money-laundering scheme.

According to the U.S. attorney's office, the eight suspects were scheduled 
to appear before a magistrate yesterday afternoon.

The criminal investigation division of the Tennessee Highway Patrol 
assisted the FBI in the case.
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