GARY COP CHARGED IN 1998 SLAYINGS

Officer Killed 2 Men For Drug Dealer, U.S. Says

A Gary police officer who allegedly killed two men on the orders of a drug
kingpin, then set their bodies on fire in Chicago, could face federal death
penalty charges, according to a federal indictment announced Monday.

James Ervin, 30, a Gary patrol officer since 1992, allegedly played a role
in the drug-related killings of Raul Hurtado and Gil Nevarez, said U.S.
Atty. David Capp. The two Roselawn drug dealers' bodies were found in a
burned-out car in the 7100 block of South Harvard Avenue in Chicago in
November 1998. The indictment also included three others allegedly involved
in the murders and the drug ring.

A federal grand jury Friday returned indictments for killings related to an
alleged drug conspiracy against Ervin; purported drug ringleader Jay
Zambrana, 39, of Valparaiso, Ind.; Louis Perez, 29, of Gary; and Gabriel
Benavides, whose age and whereabouts are unknown, but is believed to be in
the Monterrey, Mexico, area.

Capp said the death penalty is an option for U.S. Atty. Gen. John Ashcroft
if the four are convicted.

"It is a sentencing enhancement which brings into play the federal death
penalty for being involved in an intentional killing in furtherance of a
drug conspiracy," Capp said.

A second Gary police officer, Luis Roman, 34, who was not charged in the
murders, was indicted on charges of money laundering and conspiracy to
distribute cocaine and heroin, Capp said.

Ervin, Zambrana and Perez are being held without bond at the Metropolitan
Correctional Center in Chicago. Ervin has been detained since May 7 on a
federal criminal complaint involving the killings. Zambrana and Perez have
been in custody since December 1999. Roman is free on bond, Capp said.

Gary Police Chief John Roby said Ervin and Roman violated their sworn
duties as police officers.

"I felt that they had let their badge down," Roby said.

"You are out there to serve and protect, and not to serve the other side."

According to the indictment, Ervin was taking orders from Zambrana, the
leader of a local drug ring, when he stopped Hurtado and Nevarez as the two
were driving into Gary, intending to sell 9 kilograms of cocaine.

Ervin gave the cocaine to Perez, handcuffed the victims and drove them to
the Puerto Rican Benefit Society in Gary, where Ervin and Benavides shot
them to death, the indictment stated. Ervin allegedly took the victims'
vehicle with their bodies inside to the South Side, where he set fire to
the car, according to the indictment.

In a separate incident, Capp said, Ervin took $275,000 in drug money while
on duty in a marked Gary squad car in January 1999.

"It has been a lengthy ordeal," Capp said.

Fifteen people have been indicted in the Zambrana ring, and five have
entered guilty pleas, Capp said.

Roby said Ervin had been reassigned to desk duty, and Ervin and Roman, who
once worked in the same sector but on different shifts, had been suspended.

"Now that the indictments have been unsealed, they will be terminated,"
Roby said.

Roby said the Gary Police Department assisted in Ervin's apprehension and
has no regrets about the arrests.

"I only feel sorry for their families," he said.

"Their families are the ones to suffer."