TWO DRUG CONVICTIONS REVERSED IN POLICE PROBE

An internal Philadelphia police file had called one arresting officer
a ``possible corrupt officer.''

A federal judge has overturned the cases of two convicted drug dealers
in another aftershock from an ongoing investigation of corruption in
the Philadelphia Police Department.

In a response to a request by federal prosecutors, U.S. District Court
Judge John R. Padova last week reversed the drug convictions of Nelson
Rosario, 32, of Kensington, and Alfredo Perez, 35, a Dominican
Republic national.

When Rosario and Perez were arrested in a North Philadelphia rowhouse
on Dec. 29, 1994, police said they seized $250,000 worth of heroin and
crack cocaine.

The two pleaded guilty to federal drug charges. A third man arrested
with them was convicted on the same charges.

But more than three years after the arrests, the case began to
unravel.

The federal public defender's office successfully argued that the
third man, Santiago Arias, 55, was wrongly convicted. Prosecutors said
they neglected to give Arias' lawyer several important documents that
raised questions about the credibility of one of the police narcotics
agents who arrested the three.

Arias was freed from federal prison in June 1997, after U.S. Attorney
Michael R. Stiles told a federal judge that Philadelphia police had
not disclosed that former narcotics officer John Boucher was described
in a 1988 internal police file as a "possible corrupt officer."

Stiles has said Philadelphia police had not given him the file because
of what apparently was a clerical error. The U.S. Attorney's Office,
therefore, never passed it on to Arias' trial attorney, as required by
law.

The 1988 report surfaced two years ago during federal civil rights
lawsuits against five corrupt officers from the city's 39th Police
District.

After his release from prison last year, Arias quickly filed suit
against Boucher -- who resigned from the force last year -- and the
city. He contended that he had been framed, and earlier this month,
the city agreed to pay him $250,000 to settle the case.

Boucher has declined all requests for comment. His attorney could not
be reached yesterday but has repeatedly said that Boucher was not
involved in wrongdoing.

After Arias was freed, attorneys for Perez and Rosario moved to have
their clients released, and Judge Padova issued the order July 10.

Rosario, who is being held in the federal correctional institution at
Fort Dix, N.J., is expected to be released next week, as soon as the
necessary paperwork is completed. He had been scheduled to remain in
prison until May 28, 2000.

Perez will receive little benefit from the federal court action. He
was also convicted in Philadelphia Common Pleas Court of
drug-trafficking charges and will simply be transferred from a federal
prison to a state prison. After he serves his state sentence -- a
minimum of four years -- he will be deported to the Dominican
Republic, federal prosecutors said.

The action to overturn the three federal convictions demonstrates some
of the problems faced by the U.S. Attorney's Office in prosecuting
arrests made by Philadelphia police. Federal officials privately have
expressed concern about record-keeping practices of city police.

On Tuesday, a group of civil rights lawyers involved in a
court-monitored effort to reform the police issued a detailed report
that also cited deficiencies in ways the department keeps records on
problem officers.

Checked-by: "Rich O'Grady"