INFORMANT WHO LIED ABOUT DRUG DEALS GETS 3 YEARS

DALLAS - A police informant who set up fake drug busts that led to the false
arrests of dozens of immigrants was sentenced today to three years and two
months in prison.

Enrique Martinez Alonso and two other men pleaded guilty to conspiring to
violate civil rights, a charge punishable by up to 10 years in prison.
Alonso received the lighter sentence because he agreed to testify against
others involved in the scandal.

Alonso, who admitted being the mastermind behind the scheme, also must be
deported after he completes his sentence, U.S. District Judge Barefoot
Sanders said.

The other men, Jose Ruiz Serrano and Reyes Roberto Rodriguez, were scheduled
to be sentenced later Thursday. The three men, all illegal immigrants from
Mexico, already have spent about two years in prison.

The trio testified in November that Dallas police Senior Cpl. Mark Da La Paz
never saw the drug deals that he said he witnessed in some arrest warrants.
The officer was acquitted of six federal charges in the fake-drug case.

In 2001, the men fooled police into paying them more than $275,000 for
helping nab drug dealers. They arranged drug deals but kept the "buy" money
supplied by police.

More than two dozen people, mostly Hispanics, were jailed after the men
planted gypsum powder and passed it off as cocaine during the busts.

The FBI began investigating the cases in early 2002, resulting in the
dismissal of more than 80 tainted cases. Independent investigations by the
city and the Dallas County district attorney's office also are under way.