TESTIMONY REVEALS DRUG SETUP

Witness Says Ex-Officer Made Arrest, Stole Cocaine

Derrick Robinson expected a big payoff for providing 13 ounces of
crack cocaine for Ralph Tyrone Williams' friend to sell, he testified
Thursday. Instead, he found himself in handcuffs with Mr. Williams,
then a Richmond County Sheriff's Office narcotics investigator, asking
him where the drugs were, Mr. Robinson testified.

"He asked me where the dope at, and I say, 'Joe walked out with it.'
He said, 'Joe who?' and I said 'You know, your friend Joe,"' Mr.
Robinson testified in the fourth day of Mr. Williams' trial in U.S.
District Court in Augusta.

Mr. Williams, 36, and former Richmond County sheriff's officer Joseph
Ellick, 34, have pleaded innocent to charges of conspiracy to possess
and distribute cocaine, attempt to possess cocaine and extortion.

Like many of the prosecution witnesses testifying against the former
officers this week, Mr. Robinson took the witness stand wearing prison
garb. He is serving 10 years for two separate cocaine trafficking
convictions and hopes his cooperation could lead to a sentencing reduction.

Earlier Thursday, the jury heard Mr. Williams friend, Joe Nathan
Green, testify that he and Mr. Williams set up Mr. Robinson. The plan,
Mr. Green testified, was to lure Mr. Robinson to Augusta with crack,
let Mr. Williams arrest him, and make off with the drugs, worth about
$9,000.

FBI Special Agent John Parrish testified that a tracking device on Mr.
Williams' unmarked police car showed him at the scene of the arrest
two hours early, and later in the area where Mr. Green testified he
and Mr. Williams met to discuss the crack taken from Mr. Robinson.

The tracking device also placed Mr. Williams at a meeting site that
Mr. Green told federal investigators about after he was arrested and
facing a mandatory life sentence for drug dealing. A tap on Mr.
Green's telephone also showed calls between Mr. Williams and Mr. Green
in May 2001, when Mr. Green testified, he suspected the Drug
Enforcement Administration was after him.

Mr. Green later learned his suspicion was correct. Federal agents sent
a confidential informant to buy 11 ounces of cocaine for $8,500 from
him in February 2001. Before he agreed to sell to the man, however,
Mr. Green called Mr. Williams for advice, Mr. Green testified.

Mr. Williams told him the sale was safe because he had checked with a
member of the DEA task force, Mr. Green testified.

Former Richmond County narcotics officer Barry Davis testified that on
Feb. 2, 2001, Mr. Williams asked him what the maximum amount agents
could spend for a DEA undercover buy, and Mr. Davis revealed it was
$2,500 without prior authorization from the state headquarters.

"I thought he was fishing," Mr. Davis testified, and he reported the
conversation to his boss.

DEA Special Agent Patrick Clayton and FBI Agent John Parrish were
already investigating Mr. Williams, and had been for some time. It
wasn't until recently, according to statements made in court this
week, that Emanuel Johnson, 40, surfaced as a witness.

On Thursday, Mr. Johnson testified that he was shooting dice at a
southside lounge in January 1998 when the place was raided by
sheriff's officers. Mr. Williams took a little cocaine and $3,000 from
him when he was arrested, Mr. Johnson testified.

District Attorney Danny Craig testified that he became aware of Mr.
Johnson's case when an investigator from his office told him that Mr.
Johnson's defense attorney proposed a deal: Drop the charges in
exchange for Mr. Johnson's agreement to forfeit the $3,000. The
problem was, Mr. Craig testified, Mr. Williams listed on the property
sheet that he had taken cocaine from Mr. Johnson, but there was no
mention of any cash.

"I already had a concern I may have a dirty cop," Mr. Craig testified.
He instructed his investigator to let the deal go through for Mr.
Johnson and later in the year he wrote a memo for the case file,
explaining what had happened, Mr. Craig testified.

On cross-examination, Mr. Craig testified he did not know that one of
the other officers present at Mr. Johnson's arrest was Roderick Berry.

Mr. Berry, who had been a member of the sheriff's department
two-member vice squad until his indictment on corruption charges in
December, is among the prosecution witnesses subpoenaed to testify.