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News (Media Awareness Project) - US FL: Ex-Cop Details Dealing Drugs
Title:US FL: Ex-Cop Details Dealing Drugs
Published On:2000-02-11
Source:Florida Times-Union (FL)
Fetched On:2008-09-05 03:59:35
EX-COP DETAILS DEALING DRUGS

Presents Testimony Against His Cousins

Carl Kohn Jr. wasn't wearing his blue police uniform and badge this week
when he shuffled into U.S District Court to testify in a drug trial.

Instead, the former Jacksonville Sheriff's Office patrol officer was dressed
in orange Duval County jail scrubs with shackles on his feet. He was there
to tell a jury how he and his cousins sold thousands of dollars of cocaine
in Jacksonville.

Kohn, 32, agreed to testify against his cousins for a lighter prison
sentence. He pleaded guilty in May to transporting cocaine and selling the
drug while in uniform and in his patrol car.

June Lundy, 30, and Tarrance Lundy, 32, are the only two of 15 people
indicted in the case last year who haven't pleaded guilty in the cocaine
conspiracy. The others are awaiting sentencing, including Kohn.

Kohn is scheduled to be sentenced March 27 and faces 10 years to life in
prison.

Closing arguments in the trial begin today.

With the brothers sitting across the courtroom, Kohn told a jury about his
double life as a police officer and drug dealer who invited at least five
cousins and a few childhood friends to profit from the business.

The former cop matter-of-factly began his story at Florida A&M University,
where he earned a bachelor's degree in criminology.

He played football there with his cousin, Tarrance Lundy, and graduated in
1989. Kohn left Tallahassee to come back to Jacksonville to be a juvenile
detention worker. His cousin moved to Atlanta, but the two kept in contact.

Within a year, Kohn turned to selling crack cocaine to subsidize his income.
He then lied about being a drug dealer on his application to be an officer
with Jacksonville Beach police.

He even told the department he was interested in drug enforcement and
narcotics interdiction.

Three and a half years later, he joined the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office.
Again, he lied about being involved with selling drugs.

Kohn fulfilled his duty as a police officer -- to protect and serve and
answer calls -- and was even commended in 1997 for helping bust an auto
theft ring.

But that wasn't enough. Kohn wanted more.

The police officer needed to earn some extra money, though he made $35,000 a
year and extra pay from off-duty work and lived rent-free in a three-bedroom
apartment at the Ortega Arms , where he provided security.

Kohn heard about a high school friend who was selling cocaine. Instead of
turning him in, the officer asked if he could buy some to sell.

Nathaniel Hatcher sold him 2 pounds of cocaine for $20,000. Kohn quickly
sold it to his cousin, Douglas Dixon, for $22,000.

Kohn and Hatcher decided if they worked together, they could make even more
money.

The plan was simple. Kohn would drive to Miami to pick up Hatcher's cocaine
supply and bring it back to Jacksonville. If police stopped Kohn on
Interstate 95, he could flash his badge with no questions asked.

In October 1997, Kohn caught a ride to Miami with two other Jacksonville
patrol officers to make his first deal. They were going to the World Series
and oblivious to his plan. The deal fell through and Kohn returned to
Jacksonville.

But over the next year, he made at least eight more trips to Miami. He
sometimes brought money with him, including once more than $100,000 stuffed
in a garbage bag, and other times just picked up the supply for Hatcher.

Tarrance Lundy eventually moved home from Atlanta and he and Kohn continued
their friendship. Kohn lent him money, gave him a key to his apartment and
let his cousin borrow one of his vintage Chevrolet Impalas.

Kohn then asked Tarrance Lundy to make the trips to Miami with him.

Though he paid his cousin for his time, Kohn had Tarrance Lundy rent cars
and hotel rooms in his name, so police couldn't link Kohn to the South
Florida city.

In all, Kohn transported about 71 pounds of cocaine, worth about a half
million dollars. Of that, he sold about 28 pounds himself.

He even sold one of his dealers $800 worth of cocaine from his patrol car
while on duty.

But by the fall of 1998, Kohn was searching for drugs. He lost $34,000 in a
drug deal that went bad in Miami. Others also fell through.

And some of his customers, including his cousin June Lundy, owed him money.
Kohn kept a log on his Sheriff's Office alarm citation book of his cousin's
debt, which reached $11,000.

He was making drug-related phone calls while on duty. He once talked about
drug activities while someone he had arrested was sitting in the back of his
patrol car.

The last trip Kohn made to Miami was in October 1998. He planned to buy five
pounds of cocaine from the mother of his daughter.

When Kohn got back to Jacksonville, he realized it was flour.

By January 1999, the drugs in Jacksonville had run dry. Kohn was out of
cocaine and so were his dealers.

A friend, Pedro Lopez, came through. He knew someone who was willing to sell
11 pounds of cocaine. His shipment had come in.

But Lopez's source turned out to be a police informant.

On Feb. 8, 1999, Kohn was arrested after paying undercover officers $90,000
for the cocaine. He later pleaded guilty to dealing and transporting the
drug.

While Kohn hopes to be sentenced to less than 10 years, his fate rests with
U.S. District Judge Harvey Schlesinger. Kohn is willing to take his
punishment.

"For what you did, you deserve it," Deputy Managing Assistant U.S. Attorney
Jim Klindt said.

"Yes, I do," Kohn replied.
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