"Several of the officers were engaging in some partying," said Passaic County Chief Assistant Prosecutor Jay McCann. "It wasn't really a drug distribution for profit. It was more of a social relationship between the officers and the targets.""The targets lived a high-profile lifestyle: They drove luxury vehicles and they had boats, and they partied with the officers," McCann said. "Then it cascaded from there."
6 N.J. Cops Charged In Drug Probe
~ wcbstv.com
July 11, 2006
Six police officers from northern New Jersey were indicted Tuesday, accused of protecting targets of a drug probe by tipping them off about imminent raids in return for some of the drugs.
What began as a "social relationship" between the officers and their young contemporaries, who would use small amount of drugs together, soon spiraled out of control, authorities said.
"Several of the officers were engaging in some partying," said Passaic County Chief Assistant Prosecutor Jay McCann. "It wasn't really a drug distribution for profit. It was more of a social relationship between the officers and the targets."
"The targets lived a high-profile lifestyle: They drove luxury vehicles and they had boats, and they partied with the officers," McCann said. "Then it cascaded from there."
The main drugs involved were the powerful painkiller OxyContin and the sleeping pill Ambien.
Eventually, the officers realized their friends were being investigated for drugs and decided to help them by tipping them off about impending raids or investigations, McCann said.
The officers were arrested within the past 18 months, but the case was made public on Tuesday with the indictments.
Each officer has been suspended and faces arraignment in four to six weeks on charges including conspiracy to commit official misconduct; conspiracy to possess narcotics; official misconduct; witness tampering and hindering apprehension.
Charged were: Pompton Lakes officers Dennis DePrima, 30, Robert J. Palianto, 29, and Michael Megna, 34; West Milford Officer Paul Kleiber, 26; West Paterson Officer Richard Beagin, 26; and Passaic County Sheriff's Officer Gerry Ward, 46, whose current address is in Gastonia, N.C. It could not immediately be determined if the officers have hired lawyers.
The indictment also names seven others who were targeted in the drug probe, which included dealing in cocaine, OxyContin and anabolic steroids.
McCann said the case came to light in August 2004 when it became apparent to authorities that the targets of an ongoing drug investigation by a county's task force had been tipped off about search and arrest warrants that were about to be executed.
"There were communications intercepted on the wiretaps among the targets of the narcotics investigation that made it clear that it had been compromised," he said. "There was an intercept in which one person was making arrangements to get narcotics out of his house."
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