THIRD HOLLYWOOD OFFICER GUILTY IN DRUG STING

A third Hollywood police officer pleaded guilty Wednesday to heroin
conspiracy charges arising from an undercover FBI corruption sting in
which federal agents posed as mobsters involved in drug trafficking,
illegal gambling and stolen valuables.

Detective Thomas Simcox, 50, pleaded guilty to being one of four
Hollywood officers who helped escort a large load of what they
thought was heroin concealed inside a truck from Miami Beach to
northern Broward County in November 2006. In reality, the drugs were
fake and the traffickers were FBI agents.

"Guilty, your honor," Simcox told U.S. District Judge Donald Graham
when asked for a plea.

Graham set sentencing for July 18. The drug charge carries a sentence
of between 10 years and life in prison, but because Simcox cooperated
with the FBI he could receive a reduced sentence if prosecutors recommend one.

Simcox and his attorney, Bruce Udolf, declined comment after the hearing.

Under a plea agreement, Simcox agreed to resign from the Hollywood
police force, surrender his law enforcement credentials and repay the
FBI $16,000 he got for the drug escort and other corrupt activities.

The ringleader of the group, Detective Kevin Companion, 41, and
Officer Stephen Harrison, 46, pleaded guilty to identical charges
last month and face sentencing July 20. A fourth Hollywood officer,
Sgt. Jeffry Courtney, 51, is scheduled to plead guilty Thursday in
Fort Lauderdale.

The drug escort plan was hatched between Companion and the undercover
FBI "mobsters" during a meeting at the Borgata Hotel in Atlantic
City, N.J., on Oct. 26, according to court documents. Later meetings
involving the four Hollywood officers and the undercover agents were
held at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Miami Beach. All of these were
audiotaped and videotaped.

The "drugs" were moved on Nov. 30, with Companion, Simcox and
Courtney providing protection using rental cars as the load was
driven from Miami Beach to Hollywood. Harrison was at the Hollywood
location to keep watch on a truck that was to take the heroin north
and to keep an eye out for a law enforcement presence, the documents show.

"Companion also said that the drugs were serious and that they did
not want to get 'pinched' with it," an FBI affadavit says.

Aside from the drug escort, the officers were involved in protecting
what they thought were illegal gambling games as well as operations
involving purported stolen diamonds, watches and cigarettes,
according to the affidavit.

The undercover probe was shut down prematurely because of a leak, but
Hollywood Police Chief James Scarberry has said no one on his senior
command staff was responsible for any wrongdoing. Scarberry did
inform senior police and city officials about the probe a few weeks
before the arrests were made.