E.C. POLICE VETERAN SUSPENDED AFTER DISCOVERED AT HOME RAIDED FOR DRUGS

Chief Vows To Continue Cleaning Up Department

EAST CHICAGO | East Chicago police Sgt. Roosevelt Howard is on
administrative leave because the FBI discovered him at a home in
which agents were executing a search warrant for narcotics, city police said.

Following widespread speculation regarding why Howard was suspended
last week, Police Chief Angelo Machuca said in a written statement
Thursday that Howard is on paid administrative leave pending an
internal investigation into his brush with the FBI. "I have committed
to clean up this department, and I will continue to stand to that
commitment," Machuca's statement says.

Howard was not arrested or charged with a crime and could not be
reached for comment.

Under former Mayor Robert Pastrick, Howard was a police commander,
the third-highest ranking position in the department behind the chief
and deputy chiefs. Mayor George Pabey demoted the 18-year veteran to
his former rank of sergeant in 2005, Police Department attorney Tom Ryan said.

Information on last week's FBI raid was scant.

Mark Becker, supervisor of the FBI's Gary Response Investigative
Team, declined to comment on the raid except to say that the search
warrant has been sealed and no one was arrested.

City police officials said that on May 24, federal agents searched
the home at 1428 Georgia St. in Gary for "possible narcotic activity."

Howard was discovered at the house and questioned by authorities but
was released, city officials said. He was placed on leave after city
police learned of his alleged presence at the home.

"Chief Angelo Machuca stated he will not tolerate illegal activity,
period," the city's press release on the matter states. "We as police
officers must be held to a higher standard than the average citizen."