U.S. SAYS OFFICER AGREED TO BE A GUARD IN DRUG SALES

A veteran New York City police officer was accused Tuesday of agreeing
to act as a guard for a drug dealer, federal prosecutors said.

The officer, Mark Acosta, who is assigned to the 26th Precinct in West
Harlem, was charged with attempted distribution of cocaine and
released on $100,000 bond in Federal District Court in Manhattan.

Police officials said last night that Officer Acosta was suspended
with pay and had been on the force since 1990. They would not provide
further details about his career.

Officer Acosta's arrest stemmed from an investigation that began last
month after a drug dealer working as an informant for the United
States Drug Enforcement Agency said Officer Acosta had offered to act
as a paid escort for narcotics deals, according to a federal
complaint, a five-page document filed by federal prosecutors in the
case.

At the direction of the federal agency, the informant agreed to meet
with the officer and engage him in such a deal, the complaint said.

On Nov. 2, the informant, whose name was not disclosed, used a hidden
tape recorder to capture his conversation with Officer Acosta as they
sat in the officer's car in the Bronx, the government complaint said.

The informant told Officer Acosta that he planned to carry out
narcotics deals twice a week and was willing to pay him $5,000 each
time he drove as a guard for the car carrying drugs, the complaint
said.

The officer agreed and "said to keep it on the 'down low' and not to
talk about money," said the complaint, which was signed by a federal
agent, David Morina, and a federal prosecutor, Cheryl A. Krause.

In court Tuesday, Joseph Perez, a lawyer for Officer Acosta, said he
had no comment.

Federal court papers said the informant had been convicted in the past
on drug charges and was expected to plead guilty in a new arrest on
narcotics and gun charges. Prosecutors said that he had been
registered as a paid informant with the Police Department and that
information he gave the federal agency had led to arrests and search
warrants.

On the night of Nov. 9, the informant called Officer Acosta and met
him on his police scooter near 120th Street and Riverside Drive, the
government said, adding that Officer Acosta pointed to his mouth and
indicated that he did not want to speak audibly.

Instead he wrote a note, asking how many kilograms of cocaine would be
in the car he would be escorting, the complaint said.

The informant wrote "10."

The officer then scribbled down other questions, asking whether the
deal could take place in the morning, how many people would be
involved, and how it would be carried out, the complaint said.

After the meeting, Officer Acosta asked the informant to give him the
notes so he could burn them, the complaint said. He also checked the
informant for a hidden recording device.

The next day, last Wednesday, the informant drove to Officer Acosta's
house in the Bronx, and from there the officer followed the informant
to an underground parking garage to pick up a car that contained five
kilograms of fake cocaine, the complaint said.

With Officer Acosta still following closely, the informant drove the
fake drugs to a restaurant on City Island in the Bronx, where the fake
cocaine was to be delivered to an undercover agent posing as a drug
dealer.

The complaint says that as the informant entered the restaurant,
Officer Acosta was secretly videotaped by federal agents as he
"conducted countersurveillance maneuvers, including numerous U-turns."

The informant returned with an envelope that contained $9,000 in cash.
Officer Acosta eventually took $3,500, the complaint said.

Later, when the informant again visited Officer Acosta's house, the
officer took him to his backyard and showed him where he had burned
the notes.

The informant had kept one note and turned it over to the
authorities.

According to the complaint, the officer said he had used gasoline to
burn the notes and almost lost control of the fire, which he feared
might spread to his house.