FBI LINKS COP TO DRUG RING

Group Allegedly Relied On Cell Phone ID Theft

A New Orleans police officer was among 13 defendants accused Wednesday
of participating in a local narcotics ring that tried to cover its
tracks by using cell phones registered in the names of innocent citizens.

Darrick Thompson, a six-year police veteran, was immediately suspended
from the police force after federal authorities revealed the drug
charges Wednesday in a 15-count indictment. Thompson had been a patrol
officer in the 6th Police District, police said.

Seven of the indicted suspects were arrested Wednesday morning and
authorities were still searching for the other six.

Each defendant is accused of drug conspiracy for allegedly trafficking
in cocaine and heroin since at least January. The indictment does not
specify Thompson's alleged role in the conspiracy, but the group is
charged with buying and selling more than 550 grams of cocaine and
more than 100 grams of heroin. The conspiracy charge carries a
possible sentence of 10 years to life.

The allegations of identity theft added a new wrinkle to a case that
otherwise resembled the mid-level drug-trafficking accusations that
make up the bulk of the federal district court's criminal docket. In
one count of the indictment, defendant Darryl Brown is accused of
stealing Social Security numbers to register cellular telephones that
were used in the drug conspiracy. Brown acknowledged in court
Wednesday that he works for a company that repairs cell phones and
digital pagers.

Despite the alleged subterfuge, investigators were able to use
wiretaps to monitor the group's activities, according to court documents.

The indictment followed a two-year joint investigation by the FBI's
Gang Task Force and NOPD's Public Integrity Bureau, acting U.S.
Attorney Jim Letten said. Letten complimented the agencies for
"working together in a seamless partnership to cripple and ultimately
eradicate the illegal drug trade in New Orleans."

New Orleans Police Superintendent Eddie Compass III, in a prepared
statement, said, "When a member is alleged to have been involved in
misconduct, swift and decisive action must be taken to maintain the
public's trust in their police force."

In addition to Thompson and Brown, the defendants arrested Wednesday
were Donald Butler, Derek Davis, August Pusateri, Curtis Harris and
Eric Bell. The defendants still at large Wednesday were Dwight Labran,
Leighlan Hurst, Jeffrey Davis, Edmond Bacchus III, Kevin Reese and
Kentrell Alexander. Authorities said all the defendants are from New
Orleans, except Bell, who is from Gretna.

In a closely related case, two other men were accused of dealing
heroin for the drug ring. Frankie Bell and Teddy Jackson, both of New
Orleans, were charged with conspiracy to distribute heroin, an
accusation based primarily on intercepted telephone conversations,
court documents show.

The documents, FBI affidavits against Bell and Jackson, portray Derek
Davis and Dwight Labran as leaders of the heroin trafficking group,
with operations based in the Treme neighborhood.

The indictment of Labran hit particularly hard among staff members at
Innocence Project-New Orleans, a nonprofit group devoted to
exonerating wrongfully convicted prison inmates. Labran had been
convicted of first-degree murder in a 1996 shooting in New Orleans,
but Innocence Project attorneys were able to get his conviction and
life sentence overturned in October 2001 by proving he didn't do it.
Labran, 30, had become something of a spokesperson for the group,
speaking at conferences and sitting on panels to discuss the plight of
exonerated inmates.