COPS ACCUSED OF HELPING DRUG DEALERS

JACKSON -- Criminal complaints have been filed against six veteran Jackson
police officers accused of taking payoffs to provide protection for drug
dealers in the latest allegation of police corruption.

Sgts. Ronald Youngblood and Fred Gaddis, along with detectives Joe Wade and
Stanley Butler, and two officers, Tim Henderson and Nate Thomas, were
sought Wednesday by the FBI.

Jackson Police Chief Bracy Coleman joined federal agents Wednesday for a
news conference at FBI headquarters in Jackson to announce the arrests of
four of the officers. They are being held in jail in Grenada.

James Kessler Jr., a Special Agent in Charge of the Jackson Division of the
FBI, would not say which officers were in custody. He said the other two
suspects were being sought Wednesday evening.

''This undercover investigation has identified six . . . police officers
whose actions have tarnished their badges which represent the ideals of
honesty and integrity they are sworn to uphold,'' Kessler said.

''The undercover investigation determined that these officers accepted
bribe payments providing protection to drug dealers to allow multi-kilo
shipments of cocaine to pass through the city.''

Wade, 47, a 23-year veteran of the police department, has been charged with
one count of extortion or attempted extortion of money by a police officer
under color of law. Butler, 34, and Thomas, 41, both 8-year veterans of
JPD, face the same charge.

Youngblood, 35, a Jackson police officer for 13 years, Gaddis, 37, a
13-year veteran, and Henderson, 46, a police officer for 17 years, face
similar charges, Kessler said.

The complaint does not set forth all the charges that may be filed, he
said.

All six are on administrative leave without pay. An attorney for Gaddis,
who was one of the officers in custody, said his client intends to plead
not guilty at the preliminary hearings Thursday.

The arrests comes a year after a study determined that there was a public
perception of corruption inside the department.

Witnesses told the FBI that certain officers were involved in illegal drug
activity, Kessler said, and that led to the undercover probe.

Kessler said the drug dealers in the recent case were undercover federal
agents. He said bribes were captured on video and audio tape.