TEARFUL EX-AUSTIN OFFICER ADMITS HIS ROLE IN DRUG RING

A former Austin tactical officer pressed a tissue against his face to dry
the tears as he admitted in federal court Thursday to stealing rock cocaine
and cash from numerous drug suspects and drug houses.

Gregory Crittleton, 31, who pleaded guilty to racketeering and weapons
charges, was one of seven Austin District police officers indicted in 1996
for allegedly shaking down drug dealers and undercover federal agents who
posed as drug dealers.

Under a plea agreement with the government, Crittleton agreed to cooperate
with the government in the prosecution of his co-defendants, in exchange
for a sentence of 11 years and 6 months in prison. The government also is
requesting $29,000 in restitution.

He is the second of the officers indicted in the Operation Broken Star
investigation to admit his guilt in the scheme. Officer Lennon Shields
pleaded guilty Jan. 29, 1997, to robbing an undercover agent.

And in what appeared to be an unusual move, a third defendant, Alex Ramos,
has agreed to waive his 5th Amendment rights and testify for the
prosecution when he and the other remaining defendants go on trial next
Wednesday, Assistant U.S. Atty. Brian Netols told U.S. District Judge Ann
Williams.

As Crittleton's voice cracked with emotion as he entered his guilty plea,
Williams offered him tissue from a box on her clerk's desk and said, "Take
your time."

He then described an 18-month career in law enforcement marked by a pattern
in which he and other Austin District cops behaved more like street gang
members.

The defendant, who said he was known in the Austin neighborhood by street
names "G" and "G-Money," told of ransacking apartments and houses in the
search for cash and drugs while on duty.

In the plea agreement, Crittleton recounted how he and co-defendants Edward
Lee Jackson, known as "Pacman," and Cornelius Tripp, known as "Peanut," or
"Nut," went to an apartment on Huron Street on Dec. 11, 1996, believing it
was a drug stash house.

Crittleton said Jackson had been staking out the apartment, which belonged
to a drug dealer, for about three weeks.

According to Crittleton, Jackson searched the kitchen and told the others
he had recovered a bag there that later turned out to hold 221 grams of
cocaine and eight golfball-sized chunks of rock cocaine.

When a sergeant arrived on the scene, Crittleton said Jackson showed him
the 221 grams of cocaine, but not the rock cocaine.