POLICE OFFICERS ACCUSED OF HIDING SUSPECT

Federal prosecutors told a court Thursday that while detectives hunted one
member of a Miami-to-Chicago drug ring as a suspect in a gang murder, other
officers were helping him avoid capture.

The extraordinary account of police working hand-in-hand with a criminal to
prevent his arrest was confirmed by the drug dealer, Nelson Padilla, who
appeared in federal court on Thursday to plead guilty.

So far, one officer, Joseph Miedzianowski, has been charged in a federal
investigation of the drug ring, which prosecutors say put an estimated $2
million worth of heroin and cocaine on Chicago streets.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Brian Netols told U.S. District Judge Blanche
Manning that more indictments are expected within weeks. But he did not say
specifically whether additional officers would be charged.

Prosecutors say Miedzianowski, a former Chicago gang crimes investigator,
started by making informants of drug gang leaders but then went into
business with them. He has pleaded innocent and denied any wrongdoing.

His current attorney, Ralph Meczyk, was not immediately available for
comment Thursday afternoon. But other Miedzianowski lawyers have said in the
past that accusations against him by admitted drug dealers are false.

Padilla pleaded guilty Thursday to federal drug conspiracy charges. He
pleaded guilty on Tuesday to a state charge of murder in a ``war'' between
his gang, the Latin Lovers, and the Maniac Latin Disciples.

He faces 35 years in prison with more charges pending in Florida.

Prosecutors made public a plea agreement signed by Padilla in which he made
detailed allegations of how police helped him elude detectives who sought
him in the 1995 killing of rival gang member Roberto Detres.

While he hid in an apartment that was used to cook and store cocaine,
Miedzianowski and an unnamed ``Police Officer A'' brought him a cellphone,
and twice weekly supplied food and information about the Detres case, the
plea agreement said. It said Miedzianowski warned Padilla to avoid the homes
of his relatives where detectives were looking for him.

After a month, Miedzianowski urged Padilla to leave Chicago and he did,
traveling first to Cleveland and then Boston, the statement said. It said he
used an alias suggested by Miedzianowski. When Padilla moved on to Miami,
Miedzianowski sent money to him, according to the account.

In 1997, Padilla started bringing drugs into Chicago, according to the
statement. On two of the trips, he allegedly gave a kilogram of cocaine to
an unnamed ``Deputy Sheriff A'' on Miedzianowski's orders.

After one of the deliveries, Deputy Sheriff A gave Padilla a loaded
.380-caliber handgun, saying, ``This is a little present for you,'' the
statement said. It said the deputy then told Padilla to let him know if he
needed a larger caliber weapon.

After Padilla's arrest in Chicago in December 1998, the statement said, he
met Miedzianowski inside the federal detention center. He said the former
officer told him to stab other members of the drug ring who were being held
in the center and cooperating with prosecutors, it said.