FORMER OFFICER GETS 17 YEARS

He's convicted of stealing from drug dealers, immigrants

Former Dallas police Officer Quentis Roper, convicted of stealing $100,000
from drug dealers and undocumented immigrants while on patrol, was
sentenced to 17 years in prison Friday after telling a judge that the
allegations against him were "a fairy tale story."

State District Judge John Creuzot also fined Mr. Roper $2,500 after
listening to a day of punishment testimony. Mr. Roper, a former Pinkston
High School and Rice University football star, was fired earlier this year
by Police Chief Terrell Bolton and convicted April 5. He could have
received up to 99 years in prison on the first-degree felony conviction.

During about a half-hour of testimony in his own defense, Mr. Roper
repeatedly told Judge Creuzot that he is innocent while asking for
probation.

"Whatever the decision, I will walk back to jail or out on probation with
my head held high," Mr. Roper told the judge.

Earlier, a woman testified that Mr. Roper had an affair with her when she
was 15 and paid her large sums of cash each week. Monique Williams, now 21,
also said the officer warned her when arrest warrants had been issued for
her.

Ms. Williams, a convicted burglar now serving two years in prison for
parole violations, said Mr. Roper paid her up to $800 a week, "whenever I
needed it."

Mr. Roper denied ever having a relationship with the woman.

Under questioning by Prosecutor Clark Birdsall, Ms. Williams said that on
frequent stays at Mr. Roper's apartment, she saw a shoe box full of cash,
and that he frequently gave her $300-$400 at a time. She said that she paid
her mother's rent for months.

Mr. Birdsall also called three witnesses who questioned the former
patrolman's on-duty tactics.

Two sisters who managed an apartment complex in Mr. Roper's Northeast
Dallas patrol sector testified that they watched Mr. Roper slam the trunk
lid of a squad car on a drug dealer's head in 1993.

The woman said the officer ordered the drug dealer to drop a bag of cash in
a trash bin, and the bag later disappeared.

Cpl. Ronald Pinkston, Mr. Roper's partner from 1993 to 1995, testified he
never saw Ms. Williams in Mr. Roper's presence or Mr. Roper slam a trunk
lid on a suspect's head.

"I've always considered him to be the best officer I know," Cpl. Pinkston
said. "I'd like to see the whole case dismissed, if you ask me."

Defense attorney Bob Baskett also called officer Albert Ruff, Mr. Roper's
roommate for four years, who testified that he never saw Ms. Williams in
their East Dallas apartment or any shoe box full of cash.

Calvin Roper, Mr. Roper's older brother and a social worker in Dallas,
asked Judge Creuzot to grant probation for his brother.

"I can't say what the jury saw, your honor," he said, "But it's totally
against his nature."

Two additional felony cases against Mr. Roper were dismissed last month
after his trial.

Another former Northeast Division patrolman, Daniel Maples, pleaded guilty
to a second-degree felony charge of theft by a public servant of more than
$20,000. Mr. Maples, who originally identified Mr. Roper to investigators,
was sentenced to two years in prison by a jury.