EX-POLICEMAN FACES LIFE IN PRISON FOR HIS CRIMES

NORFOLK -- A 46-year-old Chesapeake man faces up to life in prison when he
is sentenced in December for trafficking in cocaine, witness tampering,
retaliation against an informant and firearms violations.

Douglas Emanuel Foreman, a Portsmouth police officer in the 1980s, was
found guilty last month by a jury in U.S. District Court in Norfolk.

He was convicted of possession of a firearm and ammunition by a convicted
felon; cocaine trafficking; possession of a firearm in furtherance of a
drug trafficking crime; witness tampering and retaliation against a
witness. He also was convicted of possession of marijuana, a misdemeanor
upgraded to a felony because of prior drug convictions.

Foreman could be sent to prison for more than 100 years when sentenced Dec.
12. He was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney James A. Metcalfe under
"Project Exile," a multi-agency joint federal and state task force
targeting armed criminals.

Foreman was arrested Feb. 9 after police seized cocaine -- some of it
packaged -- from his Chesapeake home. Police also found two loaded
semiautomatic firearms with two high-capacity ammunition magazines,
according to evidence presented during his four-day trial.

Chesapeake narcotics detectives arrested Foreman on state charges, but his
case was referred to federal authorities for prosecution. During a federal
grand jury investigation, Foreman was released April 9 on bond by the
Chesapeake court.

A month later, he assaulted a government witness with a ratchet wrench,
said Gregg Evans, a task-force agent assigned to Alcohol, Tobacco, and
Firearms from the Chesapeake Police Department.

The witness was walking near Belmont Avenue in Portsmouth when Foreman
discovered and attacked him with the tool, Evans said. The witness suffered
deep wounds to the head.

"He was covered in blood and on the ground and couldn't move," Evans said.

Several citizens scared Foreman off, but the victim needed about 30 staples
to close head wounds and another 20 stitches, police said. The witness was
treated at Sentara Norfolk General Hospital and was able to testify last
month in federal court.

Foreman was a sworn Portsmouth Police Department patrol officer from July
11, 1983, to April 27, 1984, working evening and night shifts, according to
a department response to a Freedom of Information Act request.

Portsmouth police declined to say why Foreman's employment ended, but court
records show Foreman soon began operating on the other side of the law.

In December 1985, he was arrested for trafficking in drugs, allegedly
caught with cocaine and 136 capsules of heroin in the 1200 block of Godfrey
Avenue in Norfolk. He also was charged with receiving a stolen gun.

He pleaded guilty to cocaine trafficking, received 15 years in prison and
was fined $1,000 and $134 in court costs. A Norfolk judge suspended all of
Foreman's prison time and placed him on 15 years of probation.

He violated probation, court records show.

In 1993, Foreman was sentenced to 12 months in prison after he pleaded
guilty to heroin possession in state court in Norfolk. Foreman's sentence
was again suspended, and he was placed on two years of unsupervised probation.

Foreman's latest case was investigated by Chesapeake police, Evans and
federal ATF agents.

Since its inception locally, Project Exile has been responsible for more
than 325 convictions, with an average prison sentence of more than nine
years. More than 700 illegal firearms have been seized.

Reach John Hopkins at 446-2793 or jhopkins@pilotonline.com