OFFICER LEAKED DETAILS OF RAID

He Retires After His Actions Botch a Large-Scale Venice-Sarasota Bust

VENICE -- A 24-year veteran of the Venice Police Department will take
"early retirement," effective Friday, following an internal
investigation that found he leaked information that botched a drug
raid.

Sgt. Ralph Adrian, a patrol supervisor, was suspended for four days
without pay for telling a local woman about the pending drug bust --
information that spread to the primary target of the
investigation.

The sergeant was also reprimanded for his unexplained absence during
the April 3 raid, when he was expected to be on the scene.

When police served a search warrant at the suspect's Sea Jay
apartment, the suspect indicated to police he had been expecting them,
prompting the internal investigation into a possible leak.

According to the police department's internal report, an unidentified
female said her "cop friend" told her "something's gonna go down."

Their conversation apparently spread to the suspect, who police say is
a longtime heroin user and drug dealer.

When the Sarasota County Sheriff's Office Special Investigation
Bureau, which works with the Venice police on large-scale busts,
arrived at the suspect's apartment, they found no drugs.

Police said they would not release the identities of the woman or the
suspect because the criminal investigation is ongoing.

Adrian said he was just trying to give the woman, who also lives at
the Sea Jay apartments, some "fatherly advice," according to the report.

The sergeant did not return calls seeking comment.

Neither the woman nor Adrian could identify the exact date this
information was relayed, according to the police investigation.

Detective Sgt. Mike Treanor, a spokesman for Venice police, said the
leak was a "case of stupidity."

"He has been a good cop his whole career," Treanor said. "He did screw
up on this one."

Adrian's personnel file shows an unblemished record prior to the
recent case. He is a Venice native with many ties in the community,
including to the unidentified woman's family, Treanor said.

Although police did not find drugs, they found a "long gun," which
created "an unsafe situation that endangered others," Police Chief
Julie Williams wrote the report.

Chief Williams also said it was a possible "dereliction of duty," that
Adrian was not at the scene of the raid. She said it is department
protocol that a uniformed supervisor be at the scene.

Adrian was the uniformed supervisor on duty the night of the raid, but
during questioning he said he did not go because "he wanted to stay
available in case anything happened," Williams wrote in the report.

In total, Adrian was punished for violating four city rules and
regulations.

Committing unsafe acts or endangering self or others.

Communicating official department business without
approval.

Individual deportment, for conduct that was "not free from impropriety
and created a work environment not conducive to operational goals of
the city."

Conflict of interest, for compromising "the active narcotics
investigation and the working relationship of the department with the
(Sarasota County Sheriff's Office Special Investigations Bureau.)"

Williams, who signed the disciplinary action form June 5, did not
return calls seeking comment.

Meanwhile, police are continuing their investigation into the man they
say they bought Oxycontin, a prescription painkiller, from on three
different occasions prior to the botched raid, Deputy Chief Dan
McGoogan said.

While Venice and Sarasota County officials say the leak was a one-time
incident that didn't sour relations between the agencies, cops are
anonymously sounding off on the incident online.

"How can we take your department seriously when a supervisor tips off
people about a drug raid and he only gets a four-day suspension?" one
poster wrote Monday on leoaffairs.com, a Web site that bills itself as
"the voice of law enforcement online."

Treanor said the department is not pursuing criminal charges against
Adrian.