Pubdate: Tue, 11 Sep 2007 Source: Boston Globe (MA) Copyright: 2007 Globe Newspaper Company Contact: http://www.boston.com/globe/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/52 Author: Shelley Murphy EX-OFFICER ADMITS GUILT IN DRUG CASE Pizarro Among Three Arrested His days as a Boston police officer ended last summer, when he was arrested for helping two fellow officers protect drug shipments, instead of the public. But yesterday, after a year behind bars while awaiting trial in a case that has rocked the police department, Carlos A. Pizarro broke ranks with his former colleagues, who maintain their innocence, and pleaded guilty to federal cocaine charges. Dressed in an orange prison suit, his ankles shackled, Pizarro nodded solemnly when US District Judge William G. Young asked if Pizarro had knowingly guarded a shipment of cocaine last year for undercover FBI agents posing as drug dealers. "It is true," said Pizarro, who pleaded guilty to conspiring with his former partners in the motorcycle unit, Roberto "Kiko" Pulido and Nelson Carrasquillo, to possession of 100 kilograms of cocaine with intent to distribute and to a second count of possession of cocaine with intent to distribute. The government dropped its allegation that Pizarro was also involved in heroin trafficking. "Why are you pleading guilty?" Young asked, after advising Pizarro that he could face up to 24 years in prison if convicted in a trial, but that the government would recommend no more than 14 years under a plea agreement. "Looking at the alternative, what we agreed upon sounds better," mumbled Pizarro, whose 38th birthday is today. He sat emotionlessly in the witness box next to the judge during most of the hourlong hearing. The agreement does not require Pizarro to cooperate or testify against Pulido and Carrasquillo, who are slated to go to trial Nov. 5. However, it does require him to provide the government with a detailed account of his own involvement in any crimes. As part of the deal, he also must forfeit the $17,000 he was paid to protect the drugs. The judge set sentencing for Dec. 12. "Obviously this is somebody who is telling the court he's ready to be held accountable for his conduct," said Pizarro's lawyer, R. Bradford Bailey. "Hopefully he'll be able to get on with his life down the line." The three officers were arrested in Miami in July 2006, when they showed up for a celebratory meeting with undercover FBI agents, who paid them the final $36,000 of $51,000 in payments for guarding 100 kilograms of cocaine a month earlier, while it was being trucked from Western Massachusetts to Jamaica Plain. The FBI recorded that meeting and several others. Pulido, the alleged ringleader of the group, is also accused of an elaborate series of crimes that include stealing the identities of unsuspecting motorists, smuggling illegal immigrants, insurance fraud, selling steroids, and guarding after-hours parties where uniformed officers mingled with drug dealers and prostitutes. Pulido allegedly boasted that after he was paid $600 for each of the illegal parties, held monthly for five years at a Hyde Park warehouse, he turned over some of the money to one or more of his superior officers. To date, no superior officers have been charged in the ongoing investigation. In court yesterday, Assistant US Attorney John T. McNeil said the FBI and the Boston police anticorruption unit began targeting Pulido in the fall of 2003 after an informant warned them that he was involved in a wide range of criminal activity, including identity theft. The undercover agents asked Pulido to protect drug shipments, which would require him to recruit accomplices, "in order to explore the depths of Pulido's criminal conduct" and ferret out other possibly corrupt police officers, McNeil told the court. In April 2006, Pulido and Carrasquillo were paid $20,000 to protect 40 kilograms of cocaine for the undercover agents, according to the indictment. When the agents asked Pulido for help protecting a bigger shipment, he recruited Pizarro, with whom he had graduated from the Boston Police Academy in 1997. Pulido told Pizarro the drug dealers were his cousins, according to McNeil. Pizarro, a nine-year veteran of the Police Department who was on leave for an injury at the time of his arrest, was initially suspended without pay, then fired in May when he violated department rules by refusing to supply a hair sample for his annual drug test, according to Elaine Driscoll, a spokeswoman for the Department. Pulido, who has been ordered jailed until the federal case is resolved, and Carrasquillo, who is free on bail, both remain suspended without pay. Pizarro, a father of two, was born in Puerto Rico and raised in Boston by an older sister after his mother died when he was 7, according to court documents. When the three officers were arrested last year, the courtroom was packed with friends and family who supported them. But yesterday, only Pizarro's wife, Michele, who declined to talk to reporters, and two friends were there for him. While urging a judge to release Pizarro on bail last year, his lawyers argued that he had a distinguished career as a police officer, including two commendations for arresting fleeing suspects, and was viewed as a hero in the community because he and his wife operate a shelter in South Boston for recovering alcoholics. - --- MAP posted-by: Derek