4 OFFICERS THROWN OFF DRUG TASK FORCE

Four police officers were thrown off a federal drug task force after the
FBI grew suspicious that they were pocketing valuables and pornography
during drug raids, sources say.

The suspicions were so strong that the FBI sent the officers to raid a
Cleveland-area home that had been wired with video cameras and other
surveillance equipment. Two of the officers were caught on tape picking up
porn magazines.

The four officers, whose names have not been released, were reassigned
Monday to their local departments by federal authorities in charge of the
Caribbean Gang/Drug Task Force. None of the officers - two from Cleveland,
one from Independence and one from the Regional Transit Authority - has
been charged with a crime. Within hours of the reassignments, Cleveland
police withdrew their four other officers from the task force. Cleveland
Police Chief Mary Bounds declined to be interviewed about the issue yesterday.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Kenneth McHargh, who oversees the task force, and
other federal officials declined to comment. An RTA manager said officials
at his agency knew nothing about the allegations.

Independence Police Chief Michael Dugan said his officer was reassigned
because the department is "shorthanded." FBI agent Robert Hawk said his
agency does not comment on "personnel issues."

Bob Beck, president of the Cleveland Police Patrolmen's Association,
confirmed that Cleveland police are no longer on the task force.

"It's not about stealing anything," Beck said. "A lot of it has to do with
a different issue, but the integrity of our people is not the issue. I'm
very angry about what happened over there."

The task force was made up of 30 officers from Cleveland, the Cuyahoga
County Sheriff's Department and suburban departments, as well as agents
from the FBI, the Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and the
U.S. Marshals Service.

The agencies loan the officers to the unit and pay their salaries. The
lengths of the assignments vary.

The unit has been a model of success for law enforcement officials around
the country. It has seized hundreds of pounds of illegal drugs and millions
of dollars in cash since it was formed in the mid-1980s to combat the surge
of crack cocaine in Greater Cleveland.

But it has suffered from poor publicity recently. Last month, former Parma
narcotics Detective James D. Wischmeier, who was assigned to the unit,
received 15 months in prison after pleading guilty to accepting bribes from
a police informer.

The investigation that led to Monday's reassignments began after federal
authorities received a complaint that officers had taken items during a
drug raid, sources said. The FBI subsequently installed surveillance
cameras in a house as part of a sting operation.

Law enforcement keeps an inventory of items seized during searches.

Initially, investigators feared the items had been misplaced, but later
concluded that they had been taken by someone on the task force, a source said.

Defense attorneys said yesterday that federal prosecutors should disclose
what the FBI investigation found.

"If a police officer takes something from a house, what's a person to do?"
asked defense attorney James Willis.

"Who is a judge or jury going to believe, a police officer or a criminal?
But there are some honest cops who will tell someone to put something back."

Contact John Caniglia at:

jcaniglia@plaind.com, 216-999-4128

Contact Mike Tobin at:

mtobin@plaind.com, 216-999-4141