DEA INFORMANT JERRELL BRAY FRAMED INNOCENTS, PROSECUTOR
SAYS

Prosecutor: Informant Set Up Four People

A federal informant staged drug deals with friends while investigators
watched but disguised the identities of the friends to frame innocent
people and get them sent to prison.

Informant Jerrell Bray gave drugs to friends and arranged for them to
make sales to undercover federal officers. Then, Bray testified in
court or gave sworn statements identifying others as the parties in
the deals, said Bruce Teitelbaum, a federal prosecutor investigating
how a controversial drug case spun out of control.

By using his friends or "stand-ins," Bray was able to set up four
people, including a woman who refused to date him.

Teitelbaum described for the first time how Bray manipulated the
truth. The prosecutor was specially appointed by the Justice
Department to investigate Bray's claim that he lied to send innocent
people to prison.

Teitelbaum declined to say whether law enforcement officers who
recruited, supervised and worked with Bray knew about the scheme.

U.S. District Judge Solomon Oliver sentenced Bray, 34, to 15 years in
prison on charges of perjury and depriving others of their civil
rights. If Bray cooperates fully, his sentence can be cut to 11 years.

"This crime goes to the very integrity of the criminal justice
process," Oliver said. "If we don't have a justice system we can
believe in, then in our system, we really have nothing."

The federal sentence will run concurrently with a prison term a
Cuyahoga County judge ordered Bray to serve for shooting a man in a
drug-related robbery.

A federal grand jury has begun hearing testimony and is expected to
meet in January to hear more, several sources said. The grand jury
will investigate allegations of obstruction of justice, perjury and
weapons charges by Bray "and others," according to court records.

Bray, of Cleveland, will play a key role in the grand jury's work. He
is helping investigators determine how a major drug case in Mansfield,
supervised by agent Lee Lucas, veered off course.

Prosecutors and juries have tossed out cases against six of 26 people
charged in the Mansfield investigation.

"This whole thing is a travesty," said U.S. Attorney Greg
White.

"We have to do everything we can to correct it."

Lucas, a veteran of the federal Drug Enforcement Administration, has
worked hundreds of major cases around the country. Lucas has declined
to comment.

Bray's attorney, John McCaffrey, told Judge Oliver that Bray's
cooperation has been significant and will continue.

McCaffrey also lauded White, saying the prosecutor moved quickly and
decisively after Bray's initial statements.

He urged Oliver to "look at all of the conduct in this case, and not
just Mr. Bray's."