DETECTIVE SUSPECT IN CRACK CASE

8-Year Veteran Quits Daytona Beach Police Force During Investigation

DAYTONA BEACH -- A veteran undercover narcotics detective resigned recently
during an internal affairs investigation that focused on whether the
detective was buying crack cocaine to feed his own habit.

Jude Otero, 35, quit his job with the Daytona Beach Police Department on
July 13, records show. An eight-year veteran with the city, Otero, who
could not be reached for comment, is suspected of buying crack for his own
use from a long-time confidential informant who is well known to police and
has testified often in drug-related cases.

According to an internal affairs investigation report released Monday,
Otero also is suspected of either taking drugs or pretending to find drugs
at the house of a man who called police to complain about the detective's
behavior.

The man told internal affairs officials that Otero would drop by his
residence on Hillcrest Drive "a lot" and search the premises.

"Yeah and he always finds something, always," the man who complained Jerry
Swindle, told police in a statement. "He act like he would find something
and he would always tell whoever was there 'Oh, don't worry about it. I
ain't goin' to arrest nobody today.' "

Swindle said Otero routinely swept through the residence, opening drawers
and lifting mattresses in search of cocaine.

The investigation against Otero was launched in late April, said Sgt. Al
Tolley. That's when the informant, whose name was not revealed, called
detectives in the Police Department's narcotics squad and told them about a
call she received from Otero.

The informant said Otero, who was off-duty at the time, wanted to buy $30
worth of crack cocaine the night of April 22. He claimed the drugs were for
another police officer who had lost some evidence and needed the crack for
a drug sting.

The informant, seasoned in drug sting operations with police, said she grew
suspicious because Otero insisted on seeing her alone -- a practice that's
forbidden by the narcotics squad and the Police Department, said Daytona
Beach Sgt. Joe Heller in a statement to internal affairs investigators.

"We don't meet with sources and informants -- whether male or female --
with one detective and the source," Heller said. "It's always at least two
detectives."

Heller also said investigators are required to log in their meetings with
confidential sources, something Otero never did when he met with this
particular informant.

Otero's personnel file shows complaints of excessive force, but none were
founded, Tolley said. The detective was transferred to the patrol division
briefly in 2001 after crashing his city-issued vehicle while off duty.

Because Otero failed to show up for a meeting with internal affairs
investigators in early May, then resigned in July, the only conclusion
drawn on the probe against him was he "resigned while under investigation,"
Tolley said.

The internal affairs investigation will be forwarded to the Florida
Department of Law Enforcement's Criminal Justice Standards and Training
Commission to determine whether his police certification should be revoked.

"There is zero tolerance on the use of illegal drugs by an officer," Tolley
said.