News (Media Awareness Project) - US CA: Former Officer Indicted In Case Of Stolen Drugs |
| Title: | US CA: Former Officer Indicted In Case Of Stolen Drugs |
| Published On: | 2000-01-15 |
| Source: | Fresno Bee, The (CA) |
| Fetched On: | 2008-09-05 06:31:01 |
FORMER OFFICER INDICTED IN CASE OF STOLEN DRUGS
A former California Highway Patrol officer whose cooperation helped crack a
Southern California drug case was named in a 13-count indictment unsealed
Friday in Fresno.
The indictment charges Michael Wilcox with "structuring financial
transactions" in an effort to hide an unexplained accumulation of wealth.
Wilcox, 40, of Fresno appeared briefly before U.S. Magistrate Judge Dennis
L. Beck, who set Feb. 14 for arraignment and a status conference in the case.
According to investigators, Wilcox aroused suspicion when he began making a
series of bank deposits throughout Fresno, Merced and Kings counties.
The frequent deposits, made between February and October 1998, ranged from
$1,800 to $4,400.
Deposits of less than $10,000 are usually not reported to federal authorities.
Wilcox was indicted in November in Fresno, but the indictment was kept
sealed as he worked with investigators on the drug case.
His cooperation led to the arrests of others in a Southern California drug
case, including George Ruelas, also a former CHP officer and a partner of
Wilcox's.
Wilcox and Ruelas were linked to former Bureau of Narcotics Enforcement
agent Richard Wayne Parker in narcotics transactions that authorities say
could have netted each of them as much as $1 million.
Authorities had suspected that Parker, who was convicted on narcotics
possession and distribution charges, had help in the theft of nearly 650
pounds of cocaine from a BNE evidence locker in Riverside on July 4, 1997.
Officers reportedly cracked the case with the cooperation of Wilcox, who
had resigned from the CHP.
Ruelas and Wilcox burglarized the evidence locker using a key and a code
that Parker had provided, investigators said in affidavits filed in federal
court.
Since Ruelas' arrest in Fresno last month, authorities have also arrested
James Tracy Strickler, a sheriff's deputy from Pima County, Ariz.
According to court documents, the four law officers wore official gear to
raid a Malibu Canyon home in the early 1990s.
Prosecutors said they took about $13,000 from a suspected drug dealer and a
pound of marijuana.
A former California Highway Patrol officer whose cooperation helped crack a
Southern California drug case was named in a 13-count indictment unsealed
Friday in Fresno.
The indictment charges Michael Wilcox with "structuring financial
transactions" in an effort to hide an unexplained accumulation of wealth.
Wilcox, 40, of Fresno appeared briefly before U.S. Magistrate Judge Dennis
L. Beck, who set Feb. 14 for arraignment and a status conference in the case.
According to investigators, Wilcox aroused suspicion when he began making a
series of bank deposits throughout Fresno, Merced and Kings counties.
The frequent deposits, made between February and October 1998, ranged from
$1,800 to $4,400.
Deposits of less than $10,000 are usually not reported to federal authorities.
Wilcox was indicted in November in Fresno, but the indictment was kept
sealed as he worked with investigators on the drug case.
His cooperation led to the arrests of others in a Southern California drug
case, including George Ruelas, also a former CHP officer and a partner of
Wilcox's.
Wilcox and Ruelas were linked to former Bureau of Narcotics Enforcement
agent Richard Wayne Parker in narcotics transactions that authorities say
could have netted each of them as much as $1 million.
Authorities had suspected that Parker, who was convicted on narcotics
possession and distribution charges, had help in the theft of nearly 650
pounds of cocaine from a BNE evidence locker in Riverside on July 4, 1997.
Officers reportedly cracked the case with the cooperation of Wilcox, who
had resigned from the CHP.
Ruelas and Wilcox burglarized the evidence locker using a key and a code
that Parker had provided, investigators said in affidavits filed in federal
court.
Since Ruelas' arrest in Fresno last month, authorities have also arrested
James Tracy Strickler, a sheriff's deputy from Pima County, Ariz.
According to court documents, the four law officers wore official gear to
raid a Malibu Canyon home in the early 1990s.
Prosecutors said they took about $13,000 from a suspected drug dealer and a
pound of marijuana.
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