OFFICERS ACCUSED OF DRUG CRIMES

Police: 3 Veterans' Motive Was Greed

Three South Florida police officers, with nearly a combined 50 years in law
enforcement, were arrested Tuesday for allegedly taking part in the drug trade.

Miami-Dade Police Officer Marcel Macken -- who was shot in the leg during a
drug sweep in 1996 -- was caught in a sting allegedly stealing $20,000 from
a dealer, police said.

Investigators say two others, Miami-Dade Officer Cherylann Young and Miami
Beach Officer Kevin Coleman, put cocaine in their patrol cars and drove it
across the county for a 72-year-old dealer.

"They are not rookies. They know what they are getting themselves into,"
Miami-Dade Police Director Carlos Alvarez said of the two county officers.
"The only motive I can see is pure greed."

"We all consider this to be a great tragedy," Miami-Dade State Attorney
Katherine Fernandez Rundle said.

Alvarez said Macken, 40, got a tip from an informant about a dealer
carrying around a large amount of cash in his car. He then pulled the man
over on a traffic stop while patrolling the Cutler Ridge district, took the
man's $20,000, then let him drive off. He split the money with his
informant, Alvarez said.

The man Macken believed was a dealer was actually an undercover cop.

During his 18 years with the department, Macken has been suspended three
times, Miami-Dade Police said -- for failing to tell his supervisor about
an arrest and a "use of force situation"; not properly noting a witness on
a police report, and being hostile toward his supervisor.

No details were available Tuesday on those incidents.

Macken, now charged with grand theft and official misconduct, was wounded
in the leg during a drug sweep in South Miami Heights five years ago.

Another bullet, fired by a 16-year-old, grazed his nose.

For that incident, he was honored with the department's Gold Medal of Valor
and the Purple Heart.

Young, 45, and Coleman, 37, are accused of using their patrol cars to carry
cocaine for an alleged South Miami-Dade County drug dealer, Warren Hart, of
11210 SW 154th Ter. -- although investigators don't believe the two
officers know each other.

Hart has also been arrested.

ALLEGED DELIVERIES

Coleman, who has been with Miami Beach Police for four years, allegedly
delivered the cocaine twice for Hart in his patrol car.

On one trip, he carried five kilos, Alvarez said.

He was paid a total of $5,000.

"The Miami Beach Police Department believes this to be an isolated
incident," Beach Police Chief Richard Barreto said in a statement issued
Tuesday. "We are saddened by the realization that one of our own officers
has betrayed the public trust, but encouraged that the safeguards
established within our profession have enabled us to detect this problem
and deal with it quickly."

Young carried cocaine once while in uniform, from a home in South
Miami-Dade to a hotel near Calder Race Course.

Hart was in the front seat with her, police said.

She earned $2,000 for doing that, police said.

The personnel history for Coleman, charged with two counts of armed
trafficking and conspiracy to traffic cocaine, was not available Tuesday.

TWO SUSPENSIONS

Miami-Dade Police say Young, who has been on the force for 19 years and was
stationed at Miami International Airport, has been suspended twice -- for
leaving her gun in her car from where it was stolen and for showing up in
court for a domestic-violence case without being subpoenaed and
misrepresenting herself and the county.

Young is charged with unlawful compensation.

Hart faces charges of conspiracy to traffic in cocaine and trafficking in
cocaine over 400 grams.

None of the officers, who were booked in jail Tuesday, could be reached for
comment.