JUDGE DENIES BAIL TO SIX ACCUSED IN FBI STING

CLEVELAND (AP) -- One videotape showed a uniformed jail guard holding a
bale of marijuana and putting it on a plane.

Another depicted what prosecutors said was a payoff to two police officers
sitting in a squad car. Others showed officers talking about how best to
protect drug deals.

After seeing the tapes, a federal magistrate judge on Monday denied bail
for six men charged in a scheme to get law enforcement officers to provide
security for a man they thought was a drug dealer.

The "drug dealer" was really an FBI undercover agent who staged
transactions with other agents between November 1996 and this month. The
agent paid officers as much as $3,700 to watch over the deals, the FBI said.

Five of the men at the hearing -- including alleged ringleaders Michael
Joye and John Evanish -- successfully recruited officers and other men to
join in the racket, prosecutors said. A sixth, Thomas Gravette, was willing
to recruit other people but was unsuccessful, FBI agents said.

"These people were on the track to doing something very positive with their
lives," Magistrate Judge Patricia Hemann said. "I'm not about to use that
as a special standing" for granting bail.

Fifty-two men were arrested last Wednesday. The protection ring included 44
police officers and jail guards, along with eight civilians who also are
accused of working as security for the undercover agent.

All the suspects are charged with conspiracy to distribute cocaine, which
carries a maximum penalty of 10 years to life in prison.

Ms. Hemann denied bail for Joye, 29, a former Cuyahoga County corrections
officer, current corrections officer Evanish, 25, and Gravette, 27, a bar
bouncer. She also ordered Shaun Woods, a civilian; Fred Cody, an East
Cleveland police officer, and Stephen Salerno, a Cleveland Heights police
officer, held without bail after a five-hour hearing.

The other 46 men charged in the case were released on bond last week. They
are not accused of trying to recruit for the security ring.

FBI Special Agent John Kane played a series of surveillance videotapes in
court.

In one taken last Feb. 27, several men, including Joye, Evanish and
Gravette are seen helping load 14 bales of marijuana -- about 600 pounds --
onto a plane in exchange for what they think is 4 kilograms of cocaine.
Gravette is wearing his correction guard uniform as he holds the drugs.

Another tape shows Cody and a second East Cleveland officer sitting in
their marked squad car taking envelopes from the undercover agent, which
Kane said contained their payoff money.

Kane and Special Agent Stephen Vogt said Joye did most of the recruiting at
first, but Evanish later became heavily involved.

"I can get guys from the Cleveland Police Department every day ... all day
... for the next two months. Different guys, no problem," Evanish says on
one videotape. Seven Cleveland police officers were arrested in the sting.

Under cross-examination, Vogt admitted the undercover agent portrayed
himself as a "mafia type" to the officers. He also told Joye early in their
relationship he was a "regional manager" for a topless bar, Kane said.

Defense attorneys suggested Cody and Woods feared they might be harmed by
the agent if they didn't go along with the deals, but the argument was
rejected.

"You make your own decisions," Ms. Hemann said. "You have free choice."

© The Associated Press, 1997