Source: Dallas Morning News Contact: http://www.dallasnews.com Pubdate: Sat, 23 May 1998 Author: David Mclemore / The Dallas Morning News TROOPER FACES DRUG CHARGES 2 Mexican brothers also accused in cocaine, money-laundering case SAN ANTONIO - Federal prosecutors announced an indictment Friday accusing a Texas state trooper of corruption in a drug-trafficking and money-laundering operation. Warren Bolden, 32, a Texas Department of Public Safety trooper since 1994, and two Mexican brothers related to the head of a border-based cocaine-smuggling organization were charged in federal court in Austin with multiple drug and money-laundering charges. Trooper Bolden is the first DPS officer accused of drug charges in four years. He was charged with conspiring to distribute cocaine and crack cocaine, cocaine possession, money laundering, illegally exporting currency and possession of anabolic steroids. He was released Friday on a $50,000 bond. Charged with the state trooper were brothers Federico Partida-Ramos, 35, and Tomas Partida-Ramos, 45, of Nuevo Laredo, Mexico. They were also charged with drug conspiracy, possession and money laundering. The elder Mr. Partida-Ramos was also charged with illegal re-entry after deportation. The brothers were being held without bail in the Travis County Jail. "This caps a two-year investigation into the Pablo Partida organization, which operates out of Nuevo Laredo and is responsible for distributing significant quantities of cocaine and crack cocaine in the Austin area," said Assistant U.S. Attorney John Murphy, the No. 2 prosecutor for the San Antonio-based U.S. Western District of Texas. The charges against the trooper, who was suspended with pay after his arrest Feb. 8, is a "rare but sad event," DPS spokeswoman Sherry Green said. "We have about 3,000 commissioned law enforcement officers working at DPS," Ms. Green said. "When you get that many people, somebody is going to make a mistake." Ms. Green said that though specific numbers aren't available, the instances of DPS officers charged with state or federal crimes are few. The last DPS officer arrested on federal charges was Sgt. Robert Nesteroff, a veteran state narcotics officer. He was charged, along with U.S. Customs Special Agent Richard Cardwell, by a prosecutor in South Florida with helping a Florida cocaine trafficker avoid prosecution. Both men were acquitted by a Houston jury in 1995. Top DPS officials said at the time that the trial supported their contention that Sgt. Nesteroff was a scapegoat for federal authorities in Florida because of a 1988 undercover drug operation that turned sour. The current case underscores how deeply drugs and drug money have infiltrated all levels of society, said Dr. Tony Zavaletta, dean of liberal arts at the University of Texas at Brownsville. "Drug money is very corrosive, not only by its illegality but by its sheer volume," Dr. Zavaletta said. "It corrupts, and it corrupts completely. Policemen, because they walk between two worlds of the criminal and law-abiding society, have no more immunity than anyone else." Trooper Bolden, a native of Killeen, worked for the state adult probation office in Austin after his graduation from the University of Texas in 1989. He graduated from the DPS academy in 1994 and was stationed as a state trooper out of the DPS' Austin office since July 1995. There were no complaints or disciplinary actions in his record, DPS officials said. According to the indictment, Trooper Bolden allegedly conspired with the Partida-Ramos brothers from Aug. 1, 1996, to Jan. 9, 1998, to carry proceeds of cocaine and crack sales totaling $210,000 to Pablo Partida in Nuevo Laredo. He is also charged with selling firearms and ammunition to Federico Partida-Ramos. "We charge in the indictment that Bolden intentionally failed to file currency documents when he transported drug proceeds from Austin to Nuevo Laredo on two occasions in late 1997 and early 1998," Mr. Murphy said. "He did so in his personal automobile. There is no indication he committed any acts while in uniform or while on duty." The indictment also alleges that Trooper Bolden conspired with Tomas Partida-Ramos from December 1997 to Jan. 9 to carry cocaine and crack cocaine from Nuevo Laredo to Austin. At the time of Trooper Bolden's arrest, Drug Enforcement Administration agents found 15 vials of anabolic steroids in his Austin apartment, which authorities said he apparently used as part of a body-building regimen. - --- Checked-by: (Joel W. Johnson)