FAKE-DRUG CONVICTS FACING NEW CHARGES

3 Former Informants In Scheme Are Near End Of Federal Prison Sentences

With release dates rapidly approaching in their federal prison
sentences, three former police informants linked to the 2001 fake-drug
scandal now face state first-degree felony charges and the possibility
of much more time behind bars, according to indictments unsealed
Monday. The indictments charge self-described ringleader Enrique
Alonso, as well as partners Reyes Roberto Gonzales and Jose Ruiz
Serrano, with engaging in organized criminal activity for their roles
in a scheme to receive cash payments from police detectives for
fabricating fake drugs and setting up innocent people for arrest.

The men join two other informants - Mr. Alonso's brother, Daniel
Alonso, and Roberto Santos - already indicted as a result of an
investigation by special prosecutor Dan Hagood. Three former Dallas
narcotics detectives - Mark Delapaz, Eddie Herrera and Jeffrey Haywood
- - have also been indicted, on charges of tampering with or fabricating
government records.

The three men named in the charges unsealed Monday have pleaded guilty
to federal civil rights charges and testified against Mr. Delapaz in
his November federal trial, which resulted in an acquittal.

Their attorneys could not be reached for comment or declined to
comment. In Mr. Delapaz's federal trial, the three men described an
elaborate plan to receive payments from Mr. Delapaz by fabricating
what appeared to be enormous amounts of cocaine and methamphetamine
and planting the contraband on innocent people. In reality, the
cellophane-wrapped powder was all or almost entirely pulverized
billiards chalk.

Enrique Alonso testified in detail how he, Mr. Ruiz and Mr. Gonzales
packaged the billiards chalk in wrapped bundles known as kilos - about
2 pounds - and planted them on unknowing people. The informants
received cash payments of $300,000 for their work, according to police
records.

"Sometimes it come a time to be greedy," he said. "We want money. We
don't ever think about it, you know, what we do bad."

Mr. Alonso testified that while Mr. Delapaz was unaware of their
scheme, the detective's reports describing the busts were erroneous
and included transactions that never occurred. In one June 2001 bust,
Mr. Delapaz wrote in his report that he saw a suspected drug dealer
place an ice chest full of drugs in an informant's car. Mr. Alonso
told jurors that the ice chest was in the informant's car the whole
time.

In at least 26 cases, innocent people, mostly poor immigrants unable
to raise bail or mount an aggressive defense, were arrested. They
spent months in jail before lab tests revealed that the substances
seized during their arrests were not drugs. District Attorney Bill
Hill threw out about 80 felony drug cases - including legitimate busts
- - because they were tainted by the involvement of the officers and the
informants.

After Mr. Delapaz's trial, Enrique Alonso, Mr. Ruiz and Mr. Gonzales
were sentenced to 33 to 41 months in federal prison. Mr. Ruiz was
scheduled to complete his sentence Wednesday.

All the men have been transferred from the federal prisons to the
Dallas County jail because of the Hagood investigation, according to
court records. Had they not been indicted, the Mexican nationals were
scheduled for deportation proceedings after their federal sentences
ran out.

If convicted of the first-degree felony charges, the men face five to
99 years in prison.

Shortly after Mr. Delapaz's acquittal, Mr. Hill appointed Mr. Hagood,
a longtime Dallas defense attorney, to serve as a special prosecutor
to investigate possible state charges stemming from the scheme.

None of the cases has been set for trial. Attorneys for Mr. Delapaz
and Mr. Haywood are planning to argue in a hearing next month that the
charges against their clients should be dismissed because Mr. Hagood
was not properly appointed.

Attorneys Paul Coggins and Peter Barrett charge that Mr. Hill had a
conflict of interest because his office has been criticized for the
way it handled the prosecutions. Instead of appointing a special
prosecutor, the attorneys say, Mr. Hill should have asked a judge to
make the appointment.

Staff writer Matt Stiles contributed to this report.