FAKE-DRUG INFORMANTS MAY GET LENIENCE

Scheme Leaders Face Shorter Terms Under Plea Deals

They are the confessed masterminds - three men whose greed-fueled deception
fooled Dallas police and led to an embarrassing series of false drug
arrests two years ago.

Some hurt by the city's fake-drug scandal still fume over the acquittal of
a narcotics detective involved in the cases, and the confidential
informants who devised a scheme that made the arrests possible will
probably be sentenced next month in federal court.

It's unclear how long the men, who've been locked away at a federal prison
in Seagoville since early 2002, will ultimately spend behind bars. Each
pleaded guilty to conspiring to violate civil rights, a charge that carries
a maximum sentence of 10 years in federal prison. But according to their
plea agreements, the informants face substantially shorter prison terms at
their sentencing hearings - all of which are being scheduled for Jan. 22
before three separate federal judges in Dallas. "These people, they ruined
a lot of lives," said Jesse Diaz, a local League of United Latin American
Citizens president, speaking of the informants. "I'm hoping that the three
judges consider that when they are passing down the sentences."

The men, Enrique Martinez Alonso, Jose Ruiz Serrano and Reyes Roberto
Rodriguez, were in the country illegally from Mexico when they became
confidential police informants. Narcotics officers paid them more than
$275,000 in 2001 to help catch drug dealers.

Instead, they orchestrated supposed drug deals and pocketed the "buy" money
supplied by police. Later, they framed innocent people, mostly Hispanic
immigrants, by planting large quantities of crushed billiards chalk in
plastic wrap and passing it off as cocaine or methamphetamine. They then
convinced police - who paid them more for larger busts - that the victims
were dealers.

More than two dozen people went to jail and, in the process, city leaders
have said, the Police Department's reputation was sullied. In making their
decisions, the judges will be aided by federal sentencing guidelines, which
set specific lengths depending upon the agreed offense level in the plea.

Other variables, too, such as the informants' "acceptance of
responsibility" and their cooperation in the trial of police Detective Mark
Delapaz, could lessen their punishment, according to their guilty pleas.
Key to Delapaz case Though Senior Cpl. Delapaz was acquitted, the
informants' testimony provided a key part of the government's case. They
testified that the officer never saw the drug transactions that he said he
witnessed in some arrest warrants. U.S. Department of Justice prosecutors
in the case have declined to comment about sentencing or whether they plan
to ask the judge to lower the sentences because of the informants' help at
trial.

Without any reductions, Mr. Rodriguez and Mr. Ruiz face a sentence of less
than four years, according to the plea and federal sentencing guidelines.
The confessed ringleader of the scheme, Mr. Alonso, faces slightly more
time, according to his plea deal.

"That would be dreadful if that's the only sentence that these people
receive," said Adelfa Callejo, a Dallas attorney and local LULAC counsel.
"It certainly failed the victims."

The sentences could increase slightly because some of the men have criminal
pasts, according to the guidelines.

The judges also could decide to allow the men credit for the nearly two
years they've already spent in prison.

"For my client, having been in pretrial detention, in solitary confinement
. I think that the court will take that into consideration," Karl Rupp,
Mr. Rodriguez's attorney, said in a recent interview. Attorneys for the two
other informants could not be reached for comment. Victim's reaction It's
also unclear whether the men would be allowed to remain in the country when
they ultimately are released.

The final disposition of the informants, however strict the sentence, is
little solace for Jaime Siguenza, a 31-year-old mechanic from Dallas who
spent more than five months in jail after informants planted fake drugs at
an auto-repair garage where he worked.

He said he's still hurt by the federal jury's not-guilty verdict in last
month's trial of Cpl. Delapaz, a veteran narcotics investigator who
supervised the informants.

Mr. Siguenza said he believes that the informants "set us up," referring to
others arrested on bogus charges, but that "the lies of that man kept us in
jail for a long time."

Cpl. Delapaz was accused of making false statements on arrest warrants,
including the one that provided probable cause to detain Mr. Siguenza, and
later lying to an FBI investigator.

His attorney, Paul Coggins, has said Cpl. Delapaz is "a good man and an
honest cop." Mr. Coggins has urged a more thorough inquiry into his
client's superiors at the Police Department and prosecutors in the district
attorney's office who handled some of the cases.

The Police Department fired Cpl. Delapaz after the federal indictment was
made public last spring.

After the verdict, he was reinstated and placed on paid administrative
leave with back pay pending the outcome of other internal investigations.
"It's not that I want him to go to jail," Mr. Siguenza said. "I just don't
want this to happen to anyone else again."

More inquiries The sentencing hearings come amid new independent
investigations by the city and the Dallas County district attorney's
office, both of which waited while the FBI investigated.

The investigations are expected to take two tracks. The city panel said it
would examine payments to drug informants and police accounting and other
procedures. The panel could recommend possible discipline of city
employees, including police supervisors. The special prosecutor has said he
would look for possible criminal wrongdoing by Cpl. Delapaz and perhaps
others. Any charges would be brought in state court.

Three federal civil suits against Cpl. Delapaz, some of his superiors and
the city also are progressing, with attorneys now taking depositions of
those involved.

Mr. Siguenza said he hopes that the continued study of the cases will shed
additional light on what went wrong and help prevent similar scandals. "Why
do you want to have a police system if you can't trust it?" he asked.