4 COPS PLEAD NOT GUILTY TO LYING, PLANTING DRUG EVIDENCE

Four Miami-Dade Police officers accused of telling lies and planting
evidence went to court Tuesday to plead not guilty -- and to keep
their pictures out of the newspaper and off television.

Three narcotics detectives and their supervisor -- Officers Hector J.
Llevat, 25, Andre B. Vaughn, 37, and Florencio Boucourt, 31, and Sgt.
Jose J. Diaz, 36 -- were arrested last month after allegedly lying
during sworn statements.

Prosecutors say the four confiscated drugs from two women who had
bought pills and marijuana from a small-time dealer working out of a
Kendall townhouse. Prosecutors say the officers let the women go but
planted their drugs on someone else.

The officers face a variety of charges, including false imprisonment,
perjury and official misconduct.

Now they say their lives are at risk, because their addresses and
booking photos were released to the media. One officer claims someone
has been driving past his house at night. Others complained of
unsolicited visits from reporters.

Circuit Judge Victoria Platzer granted a motion by Llevat's attorneys
C. Michael Cornely and Doug Hartman asking that the officers' home
addresses and Social Security numbers be deleted from their court
files. She also ordered the media to quit broadcasting the detectives'
mug shots -- photos the lawyers say were illegally released and could
endanger the undercover detectives.

"Releasing these pictures is really dangerous," said Boucourt's
attorney, Richard Sharpstein. "A drug dealer they investigated could
be watching TV and say, `Hey, that's Louie' -- or whatever the
undercover name was. Then they could come here, read his court file
and find out where he lives."

Florida law exempts police officers' personal addresses from public
records laws. Herald General Counsel Sam Terilli said deleting
addresses and Social Security numbers from public court records goes
along with Florida law, but the rest of the judge's order is
unconstitutional. The newspaper, he said, plans to challenge it.

"They can't tell us not to publish something," Terilli said. "First of
all, we don't publish police officers' addresses and Social Security
numbers. Pictures of officers who are accused of a crime and are on
trial? That's another thing. Their cover has been blown."

NBC 6 News Director Ramon Escobar said the order makes no sense
because the pictures have been broadcast.

"Why would we treat police officers differently from any other
person?" said Escobar, who was unfamiliar with the judge's order. "On
the surface, that sounds ridiculous. The question isn't whether we are
going to air the pictures or not. The larger issue is whether we have
the right to air it. It bothers me if we are asked to hold cops to a
different standard."