Pubdate: Thu, 06 Dec 2007
Source: Ledger-Enquirer (Columbus,GA)
Copyright: 2007 Ledger-Enquirer
Contact:  http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/mld/enquirer/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/237
Author: Alan Riquelmy

EX-OFFICER PLEADS GUILTY TO CHARGES

Lightning Enters Plea To Conspiracy, Extortion In Drug Bust; Faces Up
To 40 Years

Larry Lightning, the former Columbus Police officer  accused of
colluding with drug dealers, pleaded guilty  Wednesday to conspiracy
and extortion charges in a case  related to what authorities call the
largest drug bust  in Muscogee County history.

Lightning, 48, pleaded guilty before U.S. District  Court Judge Clay
Land to conspiracy to possess with the  intent to distribute cocaine
base and to extortion by a  public official. He faces five to 40 years
on the  felony counts, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Mel Hyde.

Lightning was taken into custody after his plea.

Hyde asserted in a superceding information, which took  the place of
Lightning's indictment, that Lightning  sold information such as the
names of police informants  and locations of drug operations to drug
dealers over  several years. In return, he received $8,000 from at
least eight different people.

"Due to his status as a police officer, the defendant  was in a
position to provide information to the drug  dealers," Hyde said.

Lightning received a $1,000 wire transfer May 2, 2005,  while in
Greensboro, Ala., from someone to whom he sold  information, Hyde
said. Two days later, Lightning tried  to call a drug dealer about
eight times on his cell  phone when he found out police were serving a
search  warrant on a suspected drug house in the Beaver Run  area.

On Jan. 11, Lightning extorted money from an undercover  Georgia
Bureau of Investigation agent at a shopping  mall in Columbus, Hyde
said. While working off-duty at  the mall, Lightning approached two
undercover agents  who were staging an argument. The female accused
the  man of being a drug dealer before she left the area.  The male
agent then told Lightning he was a convicted  felon and had come from
Savannah, Ga., to sell drugs.

The defendant asked "what would it be worth to him" to  avoid being
taken to jail, Hyde said.

Lightning got money from the agent and gave him his  cell phone
number, in case the man he believed to be a  drug dealer ever needed
assistance again.

Lightning replied to Land's questions in short, clear  answers. When
asked by the judge if the allegations  read by Hyde were true,
Lightning replied they were.

Lightning initially faced charges of conspiracy to  possess with the
intent to distribute cocaine base,  possession of a firearm in
furtherance of a  drug-trafficking crime and extortion by a public
official. Charges in that indictment were dismissed in  the
superceding information to which Lightning pleaded.

Defense attorney William Mason said his client would  have faced
around 20 years if convicted on the prior  charges, which involved
allegations Lightning was armed  during the extortion and had more
cocaine base, or  crack cocaine, than Lightning admitted to at his
plea.

"Both of those are relevant for sentencing," Mason
said.

In his indictment, Lightning was linked to Eric Virden,  39, who
pleaded guilty in October to federal drug  charges.

Authorities said Virden was part of the largest drug  bust in Columbus
history, which involved 12 Columbus  locations and an estimated $37
million. Further  investigation led to an additional $5.5 million of
cocaine to be seized in Harris County.
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