DELAPAZ GETS TWO 5-YEAR TERMS

Dallas: Former Officer Free on Appeal in Fake-Drug Scandal

A former Dallas narcotics officer who wrongly arrested dozens of
innocent people in 2001 received two five-year prison sentences
Thursday, but an appeal will keep him out of prison, at least for now.

Although Mark Delapaz's two sentences will run simultaneously, they
will not begin until he completes a separate five-year sentence he
received in his April 2005 trial for lying to a judge about a search
warrant. That conviction has also been appealed.

Jurors in this trial heard many more details about Mr. Delapaz's
actions in the complicated scandal that unfolded in 2001 and led to
the arrests of more than two dozen innocent people.

Prosecutors charged that Mr. Delapaz, 37, was motivated to steal money
because he had $60,000 in credit card debt and presented evidence that
he forged paperwork and skimmed some of the more than $400,000 in
police money that passed through his hands in 2001.

"This trial was especially important because we finally in an open
courtroom got to have the evidence of theft and forgery," prosecutor
Toby Shook said.

Witnesses testified that even after Mr. Delapaz received several
warnings that some of his large drug seizures did not contain real
drugs, he defied orders by two supervisors and continued using a
discredited informant.

In the weeks before an investigation mounted and he was placed on desk
duty, Mr. Delapaz's work became erratic, testimony indicated. In
October and November 2001, Mr. Delapaz checked out more than $46,000
in police money to make drug deals, but never made any arrests and
arranged to have the large quantities of drugs he purchased
immediately destroyed, according to court testimony.

Mr. Shook told jurors in closing arguments that Mr. Delapaz ordered
the evidence destroyed because he knew at that point that the drugs
were fake but wanted to keep stealing money.

"He knows it's going to be fake drugs. He doesn't want anyone to find
out, and he wants the money to keep coming," Mr. Shook said.

At the same time, Mr. Delapaz did not alert his superiors or
prosecutors when he learned that lab tests had come back negative on
one large seizure, causing an innocent man to stay in jail several
months longer, Mr. Shook said.

"He leaves him in jail for months. That tells you a lot about his mind
- - he's devious," Mr. Shook said.

But Mr. Delapaz's attorney, David Pire, denied that Mr. Delapaz was
stealing and noted that an FBI examination of his spending habits,
bank accounts and lifestyle found no irregularities.

He said the real villains are the group of crooked informants who
worked with Mr. Delapaz and who have admitted fabricating the phony
drugs and setting up innocent people for arrest.

Jurors said they were swayed by the testimony from Mr. Delapaz's
former partner, Eddie Herrera, who said that Mr. Delapaz taught him
how to steal money by inflating his accounting paperwork.

Mr. Herrera, who testified in hopes of receiving lenience on his
felony indictments, also said that the two lied to federal and
internal investigators trying to unravel how the fraudulent arrests
occurred.

"His testimony went a long way to convince me that Delapaz was
guilty," said juror Gene Gregory.

After the trial, Mr. Delapaz posted $100,000 bail and walked out of
the courthouse.

Some of those wrongly arrested by Mr. Delapaz in the 2001 fake-drug
scandal said they are discouraged that he has so far avoided prison.

"That's the most devastating thing: He's going to bail out today in a
few hours," said Jaime Siguenza, who spent more than five months in
jail. "We had to spend real time in jail."

Jurors in the trial said the seriousness of the case weighed on them
over the two weeks that they heard it.

"It was the first thing I thought of when I woke up and the last thing
when I went to sleep," said juror Christine Pratt. "We took it very
seriously all the way through."

Juror Wayne McChristian said the five-year sentence was meant to "give
a message to the community, Police Department and Mark Delapaz that
this is serious."