Pubdate: Mon, 19 Sep 2005 Source: Times, The (Munster, IN) Copyright: 2005 The Times Contact: http://nwitimes.com Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3931 Author: Marc Chase Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/corrupt.htm (Corruption - United States) HISTORY OF SHAME East Chicago, Gary, Lake County: Region Cops Marred By Drug Dealing, Use Within Ranks Many officers within the ranks of region police departments refer to it as a timeline of shame: cops using and selling drugs, and sometimes using their badges as the muscle behind an illicit drug trade. In recent decades, many dots have appeared on that timeline. In the mid-1980s, an East Chicago police sergeant moonlighted as a body guard for a region drug kingpin, peddling cocaine and throwing around his muscle. In 1986, seven East Chicago police officers failed drug screenings, testing positive through urinalysis for illegal narcotics. All seven officers were allowed to take a retest, passed, and were allowed to continue working within the ranks of the department. Later that decade and in the early 1990s, four East Chicago police officers were convicted in a drug-dealing ring, some for selling to other officers. In 2003, two Gary cops were convicted for their roles in furthering the business of a region drug gang. And earlier this month, a new dot appeared on the timeline when federal prosecutors charged East Chicago police Officer Eligah Johnson with selling cocaine while in uniform in his city squad car. Johnson's case is the most recent in a series of scandals involving region cops who have been accused of either using or selling drugs. The Times recently explored a collection of such cases dating back to the 1980s. The following are details surrounding those cases, as contained in past court records, police reports and accounts from The Times' archive: Drug Muscle With A Badge On Feb. 26, 1988, then-East Chicago police Sgt. Ronald W. Jackson arranged by phone to sell an ounce of cocaine at a price of $1,000 to the owner of a horse farm located southeast of Crown Point, in rural Leroy. The owner of the horse farm, Harry "Tom" Sapp, later would testify that Jackson frequently came to the farm with a reputed drug leader, and the three men would use cocaine together inside the dealer's car. But on that day in February, Sapp was the willing bait in a trap set by federal agents to break a drug ring formed by Jackson, drug kingpin Antonio Alanis and other East Chicago police officers. During his trial, Jackson testified he had been an alcoholic with a drug problem whose troubles with alcohol dated back three years. DEA Agent Trifon Magramas also testified during a March 1988 hearing in the case that federal agents believed Jackson had allegedly killed two men by order of Alanis, described by authorities at the time as the leader of a family of large-scale cocaine traffickers in Northwest Indiana. Jackson never was charged with any slayings. Magramas also testified that Jackson had been working as a body guard and chauffeur for Alanis at the time of the slayings. Alanis currently is serving a 39-year federal prison sentence for cocaine trafficking. Jackson would be convicted on July 20, 1988, of five federal felony drug charges, one for possessing cocaine with intent to sell it and four for using a telephone to arrange a drug transaction. He was sentenced in that case to 21 months in federal prison and four years of probation. In a state case, Jackson also was convicted of dealing the drug Librium, considered a controlled substance under Indiana law. Despite all of his troubles with the law, Jackson works today as a supervisor for the city of East Chicago's sanitary solids division. Speaking from his city office Friday, Jackson declined specific comment on any of his past drug cases. "For what I did, I've done my time, and I'm through with all of that," said Jackson, who still lives in the city's Harbor section. Era Of Drug Scandals Other officers would fall with Jackson in the late 1980s and early 1990s, an era marked by both drug dealing and use within the East Chicago Police Department. East Chicago police Officers Donald Miller, Paul Muryasz and Thomas Campbell all pleaded guilty to dealing small amounts of cocaine to fellow officers. In Miller's plea, the former officer admitted to using cocaine and marijuana regularly with another officer, Tony Glass, who at the time was a brother-in-law to Jackson. Miller said that drug use would occur while he and Glass worked part time at the East Chicago Sanitary District. Glass would be charged with one count of making a false statement before a federal grand jury and one count of obstruction of justice in connection with the case. Also in the mid-1980s, drug scandal plagued the East Chicago Police Department when seven police officers failed a drug-screening test, with cocaine being detected in one policeman and marijuana in six others during an initial urinalysis. The police chief at the time, Augusto Flores, allowed all the officers to take a retest, saying they could have registered "false positives" on their initial tests. All seven came back clean on the retest, but tempers within the department flared when some officers said the personnel allowed a second drug test had received preferential treatment. Cops Dealing, Hiding Drug Money Region police drug scandals did not end in the 1990s. In October 2003, former Gary police Officer Luis F. Roman Jr. signed an agreement with the U.S. attorney's office admitting to a felony charge that he helped a member of the reputed Jay Zambrana drug gang conceal $46,894 in cocaine revenues from law enforcement. Roman agreed to serve a maximum penalty of three years in prison followed by one year of supervised release, but ended up with only a four-month sentence after cooperating with authorities. Another former Gary cop, James Ervin, was convicted in November of that year in connection with the same drug ring. Ervin was convicted of 11 drug and gang-related counts for serving as a Zambrana gang hit man. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Sharon J. Johnson and Susan Collins told jurors during a 16-day trial for Ervin and Zambrana, of South Haven, that Zambrana directed a gang of 16 alleged members who imported millions of dollars of illicit drugs into Northwest Indiana and sold it to street-level dealers. They said Zambrana used Ervin to extort money from competitors. The government alleged Zambrana also ordered the nine-year veteran of the Gary police force to execute Chicago drug dealers Raul Huartado and Gil Nevarez on Nov. 19, 1998. Ervin allegedly helped strangle the two with an electrical extension cord on the stage of the Puerto Rican Beneficia Club, 400 E. 5th Ave., Gary; put their bodies into the trunk of their 1985 Ford Crown Victoria; and set it afire in the 7100 block of Harvard Street on Chicago's South Side. Federal records show Ervin is scheduled to be sentenced in December of this year. Current Charges Today, 16-year East Chicago patrol Officer Eligah Johnson, 45, awaits trial on federal charges alleging he bought and sold drugs while on duty and in uniform. The government alleges he tipped off known drug dealers on Guthrie Street in the city's Harbor section regarding safe times for them to peddle their illegal wares without threat of arrest. Johnson's alleged supplier, Veta Tyner (also known as Veta Lewis), 46 -- an East Chicago building inspector -- of the 3900 block of Grace Lane, is facing the same charges. Federal authorities have said Johnson gave a written statement to investigators after his arrest admitting to his involvement in drug trafficking as well as his addiction to cocaine. He also told investigators he'd been buying cocaine from Tyner for more than three years, federal authorities have said. - --- MAP posted-by: Elizabeth Wehrman