8 COPS NETTED IN DRUG STING

SAN ANTONIO - Federal agents and city police swept through here Wednesday,
arresting fellow law enforcement officers on charges they used their police
power, guns and badges to protect shipments of cocaine traveling through
the city.

A San Antonio patrol sergeant, seven patrol officers, a Bexar County deputy
sheriff, a former Bexar County reserve deputy constable and two civilians
were charged with federal crimes including conspiracy, attempted possession
and distribution of cocaine, firearms violations and theft.

Early in the afternoon, a somber-faced Police Chief Al Philippus described
the investigation and arrests as a "kick in the gut."

The arrests took place before dawn, culminating a two-year long FBI
investigation in which undercover agents posed as drug traffickers and
allegedly paid the defendants for protection.

Arrested on charges of attempting to possess and distribute cocaine were
Sgt. Conrad Fragozo Jr., 36; Officer Patrick Bowron, 27; Officer Peter
Saenz, 31; Officer Arthur Gutierrez Jr., 38; Officer Lawrence Bustos, 37;
Officer Manuel Cedillo Jr., 35; Officer Alfred Valdes Jr., 28; Officer
David Anthony Morales, 39; former Bexar County Reserve Deputy Constable
Gilbert Andrade Jr., 28; and civilians Edward Fragozo, 37, the uncle of the
police sergeant, and Albert Mata, 39.

Richard Rowlett Buchanan, 44, a Bexar County deputy sheriff was charged
with theft of public money.

Conrad and Edward Fragozo, Bowron, Saenz, Gutierrez, Bustos and Cedillo
also face conspiracy charges. Conrad Fragozo, Bowron, Gutierrez and Morales
also are charged with carrying a firearm during a drug trafficking offense.

The defendants were charged yesterday afternoon before U.S. Magistrate
Judge John Primomo. Federal agents offered few specifics in the case. But
Roderick L. Beverly, special agent in charge of the FBI's San Antonio
division, said the investigation began in 1997, based on information the
agency obtained during other narcotics cases. Philippus learned about the
investigation in 1998.

Beverly said undercover federal agents posed as drug dealers and approached
the defendants, seeking protection or transport help as they moved phony
narcotics about the city. The agents used fake drugs, but the defendants
were unaware of that, Beverly said.

"We were renting their badges and their guns," he said.