DEFENDANTS INFORMED OF POLICE SCANDAL

Plant City Case Prompts Mailings

TAMPA - State prosecutors are sending letters to roughly 700 people
whose criminal cases are somehow tied to Plant City police charged in
a federal corruption probe.

The Hillsborough County State Attorney's Office has mailed hundreds
of letters and is gearing up to send hundreds more in closed cases
dating to 1992. Each case is connected to one of the three officers
now charged with federal crimes.

State prosecutors say they have no plans to drop these criminal cases
but are sending out letters to alert people to the federal charges
against the officers.

``The state attorney's office has an obligation to notify a defendant
of any information that may affect his criminal conviction,'' said
Pam Bondi, spokeswoman for the office.

Authorities accuse members of Plant City's special investigations
unit of using false warrants, stealing from suspects and using
misleading and illegal tactics to build cases.

Former officers Robert D. Dixon and Shawn C. Corgan pleaded guilty.
Officer Armand Cotnoir was indicted by a federal grand jury in
February on charges of conspiracy, deprivation of civil rights,
obstruction of justice and concealing knowledge of a felony. He is
awaiting trial.

The U.S. attorney's office expects to make more arrests. Authorities
believe others in the department and in city government were aware of
the illegal conduct, according to court documents.

So far, state prosecutors have dropped charges in only one case tied
to the officers.

In February, Eric Contreras and two family members had their 1999
drug-related convictions vacated after authorities uncovered police
misconduct.

In 1999, Plant City officers flashed papers to Contreras, a suspected
drug dealer, to persuade him to let them search his home. But
officers didn't tell him the search warrant was for another house,
court records show.

The search yielded guns and drugs. Eric Contreras, 28; Juan Carlos
Contreras, 21; and Jose Contreras, 20, pleaded no contest in 1999 to
possession of drug paraphernalia. Juan Carlos Contreras also pleaded
no contest to possessing less than 20 grams of marijuana. Each
conviction was vacated.

Bondi does not anticipate that other cases will be dropped. Neither
does Assistant Public Defender John Skye.

``We're aware of the situation, we've alerted our troops to be on the
lookout for certain cases involving these officers,'' Skye said.
``But I don't anticipate there being a landslide of cases dropped.''

In many of these cases, the three officers had minor roles, perhaps
even as a potential witness who never testified, Bondi said.

``Just because they [officers] are a witness on a case doesn't mean
there is an issue with the case,'' Bondi said.

But Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Del Fuoco, who is leading the
probe against the Plant City officers, has suggested there is
widespread corruption in the department that could jeopardize dozens
of cases.

Court documents describe other illegal activities, such as the ``I
smell marijuana rule,'' in which officers pretend to smell marijuana
during traffic stops in order to search cars, and the ``Mr. I Rule''
- - having as few officers as possible write police reports to reduce
the number of witnesses in court and allow officers to keep their
stories straight.

``The defendant [Dixon] understands and admits that such dishonest
conduct may very well have jeopardized the viability of dozens of
criminal cases prosecuted on good faith by unwitting prosecutors of
the State Attorney's Office,'' Del Fuoco wrote in Dixon's plea
agreement.

A few years ago, Del Fuoco led the corruption probe against a Manatee
County sheriff's narcotics unit. Five agents in the Delta Unit and a
road deputy pleaded guilty, admitting to framing drug suspects,
violating people's civil rights, taking property and trying to cover
up their crimes, which occurred between 1995 and 1999.

More than 100 criminal cases were dropped by prosecutors after that
scandal broke.