CLEVELAND POLICE OFFICER INDICTED IN COCAINE RING

Federal prosecutors yesterday charged a Cleveland police officer with
running a cocaine ring that used exotic dancers to recruit customers in
show bars.

Officer Gregory Colon supplied cocaine to others in the ring and instructed
them to sell it at Attitudes Showbar at W. 25th St. and Clark Ave. and at
"other areas near W. 25th St. where it was common knowledge that Colon was
a Cleveland police officer," according to an indictment.

Colon, 34, a patrol officer in the 5th District on the East Side, has been
a Cleveland police officer since March 1992. He was arrested yesterday
afternoon at his home.

Police Chief Martin L. Flask said the investigation of the drug ring began
after other Cleveland police officers "reported the activity of Officer
Colon."

"It was because of these officers we were able to work with the FBI to
build a case against Officer Colon and obtain an indictment," Flask said.

Colon probably will be suspended without pay, Flask said. No other officers
were involved in the drug ring, he said.

Colon is charged with one count of conspiracy, seven counts of drug
distribution, one count of distributing drugs within 1,000 feet of a school
and five counts of using a communications device to sell drugs.

Also charged in the indictment filed in U.S. District Court yesterday were
Cleveland residents Iona Rhodes, 22; Jose Rodriguez, 31; Jorge Webster, 30;
and Vanessa F. Messenger, 23.

The indictment said Colon would use exotic dancers, such as Rhodes and
Messenger, "to attract new drug customers in show bars in the W. 25th St.
area." Colon would use Rodriguez and Webster as a "buffer" between himself
and his customers, the indictment said.

The drug sales occurred between Sept. 15 and Dec. 10, according to the
indictment.

Colon is charged with directly selling small amounts of cocaine on seven
occasions. The largest sale listed in the indictment was 7 grams, about
one-quarter of an ounce.

One of the sales occurred within 1,000 feet of Blessed Sacrament School at
Fulton Rd. and Trowbridge Ave., the indictment said.