DRUG INFORMANT: I'M NOT THE CULPRIT

Ex-Dealer Says Police Used Him Even After Tainted Cases Surfaced

The paid confidential informant connected to problem drug arrests
said Dallas police narcotics detectives continued to employ him even
after questions arose about the drug deals he orchestrated.

The 44-year-old Dallas man, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said
Wednesday that police still owe him $51,000 for arranging several
drug buys and arrests that were conducted after he passed a polygraph
test in which he was asked what he knew about the questionable deals.
Some of them involved substances containing little or no drugs.

"They're wasting time. They're wasting money," he said. "They want to
find out who did it. I don't know who did it. Somebody did it - not
me."

Police declined to comment on the informant's statements, citing the
investigation into the problem cases.

The informant said he had been a drug dealer before he was arrested
twice by Dallas police in 1999. In June 1999, he was caught with a
pound of cocaine. A month later, he was arrested for having nearly 3
pounds of methamphetamine. In each case, the same two detectives
arrested him with information supplied by another confidential
informant.

The detectives, Senior Cpl. Mark Delapaz and Officer Eddie Herrera,
were placed on administrative leave with pay by Chief Terrell Bolton
last week as part of the department's investigation into the drug
cases.

An attorney who represented the informant at that time said Dallas
police approached his client about working for them as a way of
getting his 1999 drug trafficking charges dismissed. The informant
had a criminal record for felony theft and burglary, for which he
received eight years' probation in 1989, records show.

"The reason they dismissed those cases was he was out there making a
bunch of cases for them," said the attorney, who also spoke on
condition of anonymity. "He was a pretty good-sized dealer. Three
pounds - that is not something that you are going to take to a party
with you."

By Feb. 21, 2000, the informant had satisfied his agreement to help
police, and his charges were officially dismissed at the request of
Assistant Chief John Ferguson, then supervisor of the narcotics
division. The request was made "in the interest of justice,"
according to court documents.

Although the man's obligation to police and prosecutors was over, he
said, he came to like the arrangement so much that he had a new
full-time occupation: police informant.

Police paid $200,000

Prosecutors have said the earliest arrest in 59 cases that they have
marked for dismissal was in June 2000. They have not disclosed how
they singled out those cases or whether the same informant was
involved with all of them. Tests in 10 cases found no illegal drugs,
and 14 had only trace amounts. Court officials have not disclosed the
lab results of the remaining cases or how they chose those cases for
dismissal.

The informant became the narcotics division's most prolific
performer, receiving about $200,000 in exchange for information that
led to 70 drug buys and 35 arrests, police officials said.

He said he had no other source of income and was able to buy a 2000
Lincoln Continental and support his family on payments he received
from police. When he was arrested in July 1999, the informant was
driving a new sport utility vehicle that he had bought shortly before
his arrest.

Records show that the informant bought three used luxury cars after
he got on the police narcotics division payroll. Tax records show
that he owns a 1,000-square-foot home in Pleasant Grove and a
condominium in Oak Lawn, both purchased before he began working for
the Police Department.

A friend who was arrested with him in July 1999 also had his felony
drug possession charges dismissed in exchange for cooperating with
the same detectives, according to court records. That man has been
linked to at least two of the drug deals under scrutiny, the records
show.

The informant said he began to enjoy the work because it paid well
and it was safer than dealing drugs. He said he still thinks the
drugs he helped seize were authentic. He said he can't explain why
the lab tests revealed that the substances were mostly finely ground
gypsum.

In most cases, the informant said, he would pay an unidentified
person to introduce him to area drug dealers. With money supplied by
police to make a deal, he would buy a kilogram or less of cocaine and
deliver it to narcotics detectives.

Deal in Mexico

After the drugs were field tested to ensure that they were real, the
man would then return and arrange to make a larger deal. "I'd buy
kilos," he said. "They need to be good; if they're not, I don't want
to buy. If it's not a good price, I don't want to buy. ...You show
right there that you're in business."

The man said he also set up deals through a major supplier in Mexico.
In one case, he said, he arranged to have a large shipment of cocaine
driven by van from Mexico. After making the arrangements, he told
police where to find the van in the parking lot of a Dallas fast-food
restaurant.

He said police didn't ask about the dealer in Mexico who supplied the
drugs. Lab tests later showed that the confiscated substance was not
cocaine. The two undocumented immigrants arrested said that someone
approached them while they were looking for day labor jobs in Dallas
and paid them to drive the van to the restaurant.

The informant said the payments from police were good and were
usually delivered the day after the drugs were tested. His largest
payment was more than $20,000, which represented a combined payment
for several drug busts, he said.

He said he once received $6,000 immediately after helping police
seize a pound of heroin.

The informant said he was born in Laredo, and records show he has a
Social Security number and is registered to vote. WFAA-TV (Channel 8)
reported Wednesday that law enforcement and government officials,
speaking on condition of anonymity, said that the confidential
informant is not a legal resident of the United States.

The officials said that despite the requirement that they do so, a
special visa needed to legally pay the police informant has not been
secured by the Dallas Police Department or any other agency, WFAA
reported.

Since questions have come up about the drug busts, the informant said
he now fears for his life. He said someone has shot at him twice in
the last two weeks.

Police also said at least one of the two officers on administrative
leave has requested 24-hour police protection while the investigation
is under way.

The informant said he worked and communicated almost exclusively with
Cpl. Delapaz. The two talked several times a week and as recently as
Tuesday evening, he said

Passed polygraph

The informant said that his work with police stopped abruptly and
that he was asked to take a polygraph test. He said investigators
asked what he knew about the fake drugs and what his relationship was
with some of those arrested. Police officials have acknowledged that
an informant was given a polygraph test and that he passed it but
have not said when the test occurred. The informant said he could not
give a date for the test. Cpl. Delapaz later told him that he could
go back to work because he had passed the test, the informant said.
Instead of targeting cocaine deals, they went after methamphetamine
busts.

Court records show that problems with methamphetamine arrests began
in September 2001. Lab tests have also found that those drugs were
fake, and the cases have been suspended like the others.

The informant said investigators have asked him to take another
polygraph test, but he is not planning to cooperate.

"They want to but I'm not going to do it," he said.

Staff writers Holly Becka, Steve McGonigle and Tim Wyatt contributed
to this report.