FOUR COPS INDICTED IN HIGHWAYMEN PROBE

Metro Officers, Attorney Face Charges From FBI Drug Investigation
Of Motorcycle Gang

DETROIT - A former Detroit reserve police officer told members of a
notorious motorcycle gang who among them was a snitch. A Hamtramck
officer told them which gang members were under surveillance. And a
Garden City officer joined the gang and got involved in drug sales.
Those are the allegations by federal authorities in a stinging
indictment released Thursday.

The Metro Detroit police officers were among four indicted by a
federal grand jury Wednesday on drug charges and for lying to federal
agents and a grand jury.

The charges are an outgrowth of the massive federal investigation into
the Highwaymen Motorcycle Club, considered Metro Detroit's largest
outlaw motorcycle gang, accused of being involved in drug dealing,
murder for hire, interstate theft, acts of violence, mortgage and
insurance fraud and police corruption.

"As troubling as any criminal charges are, these indictments are an
egregious example of police corruption," Murphy said in a written
statement. "It is conduct that undermines the public's faith in the
integrity of the criminal justice system and besmirches the profession
of the thousands of police officers and agents who perform their
duties with the utmost integrity, bravery, and sense of ethics."

The men will be arraigned today in federal court, said Gina Balaya, a
spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's Detroit office.

The feds also filed a criminal complaint against attorney Lee O'Brien
for allegedly lying to federal agents in the Highwaymen case. O'Brien
was accused in 2005 of trying to coerce State Attorney General Mike
Cox into dropping his investigation of Southfield attorney Geoffrey
Fieger's campaign against Michigan Supreme Court Justice Stephen Markman.

O'Brien told a Cox aide that Fieger would reveal Cox's extramarital
affair unless the investigation "went away." Cox then went public
himself with the information.

Also indicted on Wednesday was a member of the Highwaymen, Sean
Donovan, who is currently in a Michigan prison on stolen property
charges. Donovan was charged with possession with intent to distribute
marijuana and a prescription pain killer.

The Highwaymen, founded in Detroit in 1954, gained infamy in the 1970s
when some members were convicted of bombing and raiding homes and
clubhouses of rivals.

If convicted, the suspects face sentences ranging from 5-20 years in
prison and fines as high as a $1 million.

During the investigation, prosecutors uncovered evidence that one of
the officers, David Tomlan, 35, had become a member of the motorcycle
group. Tomlan, later terminated by the Garden City police, allegedly
lied to agents about his contact with a club member. He also was
charged with possession with intent to distribute cocaine and steroids.

He could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

Others charged include Brownstown Police Officer Michael Ramsey,
former Detroit reserve officer Dennis Abraham and Hamtramck officer
Randell Hutchinson.

Ramsey and Abraham are charged with lying to agents and a grand jury.
Ramsey allegedly learned about an informant within the Highwaymen and
Abraham allegedly took this information and warned a club member that
someone was an informant.

Hutchinson, assigned to the Drug Enforcement Agency task force in
Metro Detroit, allegedly told a Highwaymen member that the FBI was
wiretapping a club member. He also advised a member how to tell if
cops were "focusing on him." Hutchinson was indicted for participating
in a conspiracy to distribute steroids.

Neither Ramsey, Abraham nor Hutchinson could be reached.

Another Brownstown officer was charged last year with lying to the FBI
in connection with the case. That charge was later dismissed.