Pubdate: Wed, 09 May 2007
Source: Miami Herald (FL)
Copyright: 2007 The Miami Herald
Contact:  http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/262
Author: Curt Anderson
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/heroin.htm (Heroin)
Related: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07/n257/a02.html

THIRD HOLLYWOOD OFFICER GUILTY IN DRUG STING

A third Hollywood police officer pleaded guilty Wednesday to heroin 
conspiracy charges arising from an undercover FBI corruption sting in 
which federal agents posed as mobsters involved in drug trafficking, 
illegal gambling and stolen valuables.

Detective Thomas Simcox, 50, pleaded guilty to being one of four 
Hollywood officers who helped escort a large load of what they 
thought was heroin concealed inside a truck from Miami Beach to 
northern Broward County in November 2006. In reality, the drugs were 
fake and the traffickers were FBI agents.

"Guilty, your honor," Simcox told U.S. District Judge Donald Graham 
when asked for a plea.

Graham set sentencing for July 18. The drug charge carries a sentence 
of between 10 years and life in prison, but because Simcox cooperated 
with the FBI he could receive a reduced sentence if prosecutors recommend one.

Simcox and his attorney, Bruce Udolf, declined comment after the hearing.

Under a plea agreement, Simcox agreed to resign from the Hollywood 
police force, surrender his law enforcement credentials and repay the 
FBI $16,000 he got for the drug escort and other corrupt activities.

The ringleader of the group, Detective Kevin Companion, 41, and 
Officer Stephen Harrison, 46, pleaded guilty to identical charges 
last month and face sentencing July 20. A fourth Hollywood officer, 
Sgt. Jeffry Courtney, 51, is scheduled to plead guilty Thursday in 
Fort Lauderdale.

The drug escort plan was hatched between Companion and the undercover 
FBI "mobsters" during a meeting at the Borgata Hotel in Atlantic 
City, N.J., on Oct. 26, according to court documents. Later meetings 
involving the four Hollywood officers and the undercover agents were 
held at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Miami Beach. All of these were 
audiotaped and videotaped.

The "drugs" were moved on Nov. 30, with Companion, Simcox and 
Courtney providing protection using rental cars as the load was 
driven from Miami Beach to Hollywood. Harrison was at the Hollywood 
location to keep watch on a truck that was to take the heroin north 
and to keep an eye out for a law enforcement presence, the documents show.

"Companion also said that the drugs were serious and that they did 
not want to get 'pinched' with it," an FBI affadavit says.

Aside from the drug escort, the officers were involved in protecting 
what they thought were illegal gambling games as well as operations 
involving purported stolen diamonds, watches and cigarettes, 
according to the affidavit.

The undercover probe was shut down prematurely because of a leak, but 
Hollywood Police Chief James Scarberry has said no one on his senior 
command staff was responsible for any wrongdoing. Scarberry did 
inform senior police and city officials about the probe a few weeks 
before the arrests were made.
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