PHONY-EVIDENCE TRIAL BEGINS FOR FORMER COP

FLORESVILLE -- Testimony began Tuesday in the case of a former drug task
force officer accused of fabricating cases.

Albert J. Villarreal, of Poteet, faces 28 charges, including falsifying
police reports, fabricating evidence, official oppression and witness
tampering.

The 81st Judicial District Narcotics Task Force, for which Villarreal
worked, serves Atascosa, Frio, Karnes and Wilson counties.

"It's confusing, but if you listen carefully, you will see the pattern in
this case," Wilson County prosecutor Carrie Moy told the jury in opening
arguments. "Somewhere along the line he turned into the last thing we want
to see, a dirty cop."

Moy said the investigation began when Jesse Hernandez, a confidential
informant working with Villarreal, approached the attorney for Leonard
Gonzales, against whom Hernandez had helped build a drug dealing case.

Hernandez told the attorney the case was bogus. Villarreal allegedly
purchased an ounce of cocaine from a family member and claimed it was bought
from Gonzales, Moy said.

Hernandez ended up recording incriminating telephone conversations with
Villarreal, and the ensuing investigation turned up more than a dozen other
cases in which Villarreal allegedly fabricated evidence.

"(Villarreal and Hernandez) made a lot of (drug) buys, but not like he put
in his report," Moy told the jury. "Sometimes the buys were not even made.
If they couldn't make a case, they faked it. Who is going to question it? It
is a police officer's word against a drug dealer."

But defense attorney John Longoria told the jury that to convict Villarreal
they will have to believe the testimony of drug users and drug dealers, some
of whom already pleaded "guilty" or "no contest" in their cases.

Others had their charges dropped for cooperating in the case against
Villarreal, he said.

"An undercover officer is out there on his own," Longoria said. "You are
dealing with violent people, people with money, control and power. I've been
sick at heart over this case, that he has been sitting in jail for a year.
He put himself on the line."

The trial is expected to last two weeks.