EX-COP GETS PRISON TERM IN DRUG CASE

A former Houston police officer, who used a department van and wore his
uniform while stealing drugs and cash, was sentenced to 15 years in prison
for possession of cocaine and five years for theft by a public servant Monday.

Robert Flores Jr., 39, pleaded guilty last month in an arrangement that
allowed him the minimum sentence on the drug charge. He could have received
up to life in prison, said prosecutor Mia Magness.

Perhaps prompted by his weeping family when he was sentenced, Flores leaned
over to the prosecutor and said: "I hope you can live with yourself."

Later, Magness said: "That type of thinking does not bode well for
rehabilitation."

"It was a just punishment," she said of the two sentences that will be
served concurrently. "But any time an officer is sent to jail, it does not
feel good. You feel sick to your stomach."

Flores had been assigned to the department's Community Services Division,
which includes the Police Activities League, a department-sponsored
organization to help youths avoid drugs and gangs.

He was arrested March 31 after officers with the Internal Affairs Division
targeted him for a sting operation.

Flores had been under surveillance earlier that night while he was on duty
wearing his uniform and driving a PAL van.

Investigators observed him taking $5,000 in cash and what he thought was 10
kilograms of cocaine from a person in a vehicle in the 1200 block of West
12th Street.

The IAD officers then saw Flores take the substance to the downtown police
station at 61 Riesner, where he put it in his personal vehicle. He was
arrested later that night.

Flores, a 10-year veteran, had been under surveillance for some time for
questionable activity, a police spokesman said. Flores was fired the night
he was arrested.

Last month both Police Chief C.O. Bradford and Mayor Lee Brown cited the
Police Activities League as one of several organizations helping to lower
Houston's crime rate by providing role models and mentors for youths.

About 14 police officers are assigned to HPD's PAL program, formed in 1983
by Brown while he was Houston's chief of police, with assistance from the
Exchange Clubs of Greater Houston.

The PAL program serves more than 1,100 youths per year in 21 city parks, 34
schools, 12 community centers and 10 apartment complexes.

Some of the vans are used to pick up youths after school each day to
participate in organized team sports played at parks or the HPD gym.