Pubdate: Sun, 24 Oct, 1999
Source: Houston Chronicle (TX)
Copyright: 1999 Houston Chronicle
Contact:  http://www.chron.com/
Forum: http://www.chron.com/content/hcitalk/index.html
Author: Eric Hanson

4 PEACE OFFICERS, 2 CIVILIANS ARRESTED IN UNDERCOVER DRUG OPERATION

Criminal charges were filed Saturday against four area law enforcement 
officers and two civilians arrested in an undercover drug operation last week.

Those charged were:

* Houston Police Officer Frank Ferguson, 52: manufacture/possession of a 
controlled substance, burglary of a habitation.

* Pasadena City Marshal's Deputy Keith E. Wagner, 39: manufacture/delivery 
of a controlled substance, theft, burglary of a habitation.

* Troy Douglas South, 37, also a Pasadena marshal: manufacture/delivery of 
a controlled substance.

* Daniel Charles Wagner, 33, a reserve deputy with the Pasadena City 
Marshal's office: manufacture/delivery of a controlled substance.

* Michael Joe Wagner, 38: theft, burglary of a habitation, 
manufacture/delivery of a controlled substance.

* Jon Eric Gibson, 38, burglary of a habitation, manufacture/delivery of a 
controlled substance, theft.

All were charged in the 179th District Court and have hearings scheduled 
for Monday morning. Bond for each was set at $1 million or more.

Ferguson is a 17-year veteran of the Houston Police Department assigned to 
the Southeast Patrol Division. Michael Wagner is a former Galena Park 
police officer, and Keith Wagner served with HPD from 1984 to 1995. Keith, 
Daniel and Michael Wagner are brothers, authorities said.

The arrests were the result of an undercover operation conducted jointly by 
HPD's Internal Affairs Division, the Texas Department of Public Safety and 
the FBI.

Investigators said Ferguson, on duty and in a marked patrol car, pulled 
over a recreational vehicle in southeast Houston Thursday, arrested its 
driver and took cocaine from the vehicle.

Ferguson then went with his accomplices, who were driving Pasadena City 
Marshal's vehicles, to a home near the intersection of Hiram Clarke and 
Post Oak, where they kicked in the door and took more cocaine and money, 
investigators said.

The officers have been relieved of duty pending the outcome of the cases. 
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