PROBE OF PHILADELPHIA OFFICER CAUSES CASE TO BE DROPPED

The Philadelphia District Attorney's Office dismissed yesterday more
than a dozen drug and gun charges against a Kensington man, in what is
believed to be the first case dropped because of the ongoing
investigation of narcotics officer Jeffrey Cujdik.

Common Pleas Court Judge Jack A. Snite Jr. approved the dismissal of
charges against [name redated], 35, but allowed the prosecutor to
refile if the probe's outcome makes that possible. The [name redated] case was
hitting the deadline by which it had to be tried. Scores more cases
resulting from the work of the veteran narcotics officer could soon be
in the same place.

Early this year, Cujdik, 34, a police officer since 1997, was assigned
to desk duty and surrendered his service weapon after his long-time
paid confidential informant, Ventura Martinez, publicly alleged that
he and Cujdik sometimes made up information needed to persuade judges
to sign search warrants for homes and cars of suspects.

The [name redated] case is not one of those in which Cujdik's sworn affidavit
backing the search warrant has been questioned. Instead, in what could
become a more ominous problem for prosecutors, the 2007 case simply
ran out of time under speedy-trial rules.

Because of the investigation, prosecutors have assumed that Cujdik
would be unable to testify without possibly incriminating himself. For
that reason, the District Attorney's Office has routinely sought
delays in Cujdik's pending cases.

Cujdik's attorney has called Martinez's allegations lies by a career
criminal trying to retaliate against his former police handler.

A task force that includes FBI and Internal Affairs investigators has
been looking into the allegations for three months. No one has been
charged, but police officials have since assigned two other veteran
narcotics officers to desk work: Richard L. Cujdik, 35, a 13-year
police veteran who is Cujdik's brother, and Robert McDonnell Jr., 38,
an officer since 1993 who often partnered with Jeffrey Cujdik and Martinez.

The Philadelphia Public Defender's Office has identified 52 cases it
says were based on bogus search warrants, and has petitioned to
dismiss the cases or hold new trials.

Yesterday, according to [name redated] attorney, Perry deMarco Sr., Snite
ruled that [name redated] case had to be tried by May 27, a date that almost
certainly will pass before the task force probe is done.

Assistant District Attorney Mark Levenberg declined to discuss the
decision or whether his office might refile the charges: "We asked for
the continuance awaiting the outcome of the investigation. The judge
refused and so we decided to withdraw the charges. I really don't want
to go beyond that."

According to court documents, [name redated] Dec. 11, 2007, arrest came
three days after Cujdik was contacted by Martinez - identified in
records as CI 103 - and told that $5 bags of marijuana were being sold
from inside a house in the [address redacted].

Between 6 and 8 p.m. Dec. 8, 2007, according to Cujdik's sworn
affidavit, Martinez - with McDonnell as a witness - was given marked
money and bought marijuana from a man inside the house.

[name redated], who had a brief, unsuccessful career as a professional
featherweight boxer from 2001 to 2003, was arrested by police on the
enclosed front porch of the house in an incident that ended with
[name redated] going through a glass window and being apprehended on the
sidewalk.

Charges against [name redated] included drug violations, possession of a
firearm by a prohibited person, disarming a police officer, and simple
and aggravated assault. He was released Dec. 22, 2007, after posting
$50,000 bail.

Court records show that [name redated] has an arrest record dating to 1996 but
just one prior conviction for drug possession, for which he served a
year on probation.