CLEVELAND EX-PATROLMAN ADMITS HE LED DRUG RING

YOUNGSTOWN - Cleveland Patrolman Gregory Colon Jr. pleaded guilty yesterday
to a drug conspiracy charge for having led a drug ring that operated out of
a W. 25th St. show bar.

Colon, 34, was indicted Jan. 18 in U.S. District Court along with four
other people who allegedly recruited customers and made most of the sales
for Colon. All of his co-defendants already pleaded guilty.

Colon stood in the courtroom of U.S. District Judge Peter C. Economus
wearing an orange jail uniform, his hands clasped behind his back as he
admitted his involvement in the drug ring and selling drugs within 1,000
feet of a school, Blessed Sacrament in Cleveland.

"I plead guilty," he told the judge in a raspy voice.

The plea agreement calls for a sentence of between 33 and 41 months in
prison. The deal also calls for Colon to cooperate with both the FBI and
Cleveland police, which investigated the drug ring.

Colon’s attorney, Edward Wade, said Colon will continue to cooperate "in an
attempt to bring other perpetrators to justice."

After the hearing, Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph M. Pinjuh credited FBI
agents and detectives from the Cleveland Police Department’s internal
affairs unit with bringing the case to a quick close. He declined to
comment further.

Colon, who has been in custody of the U.S. Marshals Service since his
arrest, was freed yesterday and placed into home detention.

At a detention hearing to determine whether Colon could be freed on bond in
January, FBI agent Christine C. Oliver testified that Colon told his patrol
partner in the 5th District before his arrest that his troubles would go
away if Colon or his "boys" would take an informer "for a ride."

The plea agreement stated that Colon sold between 400 and 500 grams (14 to
17.6 ounces) of cocaine. He bought the drugs from Jorge Webster, 30, one of
his co-defendants, nearly every week and then gave the drugs to Iona
Rhodes, Vanessa Messenger and Jose Rodriguez, 31, to sell for him,
according to the agreement.

Rhodes, 22, and Messenger, 23, were exotic dancers at Attitudes Show Bar,
where most of the drugs were sold, the plea agreement said.

Colon personally sold drugs "on numerous occasions," the plea agreement
said. The charge of selling drugs near a school resulted from Colon having
sold cocaine to a customer near a convenience store at W. 41st St. and
Marvin Ave.

Colon has been a police officer since 1993. He has been suspended without pay.

"Gregory Colon violated his oath of office and cast discredit on all of the
men and women who wear the uniform of Cleveland police officer," Cleveland
Police Chief Martin Flask said yesterday. "I cannot and will not accept an
apology."