Pubdate: Sat, 17 Sep 2005
Source: Alton Telegraph, The (IL)
Copyright: 2005 The Telegraph
Contact:  http://www.thetelegraph.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1207
Author: Sanford J. Schmidt

ALTON MAN CONVICTED OF DRUG DEALING

EAST ST. LOUIS -- A federal jury took four hours Friday to convict an Alton 
drug dealer called "a menace" by the city's top detective.

Christopher B. "Picklehead" Taylor, 38, of the 1100 block of West Ninth 
Street in Alton, was convicted in U.S. District Court in East St. Louis on 
two counts of dealing crack cocaine.

The convictions resulted from a collaboration between the Alton Police 
Department and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, whose officers 
observed one of the two incidents in which Taylor was proven to be dealing 
crack.

"We are happy the jury has agreed with us and the evidence we presented and 
twice convicted this menace that we have always known him to be in the city 
of Alton," police Lt. David Hayes said.

Taylor was observed by federal agents in September 2003 selling drugs to an 
undercover informant, who admitted on the witness stand that she had been 
convicted of a felony and was herself suspected of dealing drugs.

Taylor also was found to have more than 5 grams of cocaine in his coat 
pockets, along with $799 in small bills, after Hayes and another officer 
spotted him driving around the Belle Manor city housing project at 11 p.m. 
Jan. 22, 2004.

Agents testified that the amount of the drug and the small denominations of 
the bills fit the pattern of a drug dealer conducting business in a public 
housing project. The informant called the project "infested with drug 
activity."

She later was kicked out of Belle Manor by the Alton Housing Authority, 
U.S. Attorney Tom Daly said.

Hayes said the convictions are the culmination of nearly two years of work 
and cooperation between city and federal authorities.

Taylor has previous convictions of felony criminal damage to 
state-supported property, three felony convictions for probation violation, 
a felony aggravated battery conviction and a felony conviction of unlawful 
use of weapons by a felon.

Taylor could get up to 30 years for the offenses, in part, because he has a 
long history of criminal convictions.

Hayes said he is hoping for a stiff sentence to get Taylor off the streets 
for the foreseeable future.

"We just hope the courts will agree with us, also," Hayes said.

The case went to the jury about noon Friday. Daly admitted in closing 
arguments that the informant was not a model citizen but said such 
witnesses were a necessary evil if authorities were to crack the drug 
subculture in Alton. Agents said they were looking for Taylor's help in 
breaking up a wider conspiracy.

Daly reminded the jury of testimony that the informant was searched just 
before the deal went down in a parking lot a few hundred yards from the 
Alton Main Post Office on Belle Street, then turned the drugs over to the 
agents after her contacts with Taylor.

The informant had called Taylor, who came to meet her then was followed by 
undercover agents back to his house then back to the meeting point, where 
the deal went down.

Later, the informant called and told Taylor she was "shorted" about half 
the crack she paid for, so officers watched a second meeting that day at 
the East Alton McDonald's.

"He had a good customer. He wanted to keep the relationship on a sound 
footing," Daly said.

The total sale that day was 12.8 grams.

The Jan. 22 case involved a traffic stop in which Taylor was pulled over 
for failing to have a front license plate. In the process of writing him a 
ticket, officers smelled marijuana in the car. A later search turned up the 
crack cocaine.

Taylor's lawyer, John Stobbs, admitted that Taylor had the crack but 
claimed there was no evidence he was selling it. He noted his client's 
statement that he had the drugs for his own use.

Stobbs also claimed that the informant hid the drugs on her person just 
before the September 2003 deal went down. She was the type of person who 
would do that and lie to the agents, just to get out from under her own 
legal troubles, he argued.

Stobbs claimed the agents went after his client because Taylor vehemently 
turned them down when they approached him about doing some undercover work 
for them.

After the conviction, Stobbs said he and his client respect the verdict but 
will appeal. He said U.S. District Judge David Herndon and the U.S. 
Attorney's Office gave his client a fair trial.
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