OTHER OFFICERS LINKED TO DRUG ACTIVITY

Spota: Appears More Cops Knew or Participated

Investigators have identified at least two police officers from Suffolk
County and one from South Florida who knew about or participated in illegal
drug activity involving four police officers arrested this week,
prosecutors, police and sources said.

"It appears that there may have been other police officers who were present
when these police officers were using or possessing these illegal drugs,"
Suffolk County District Attorney Thomas Spota said during a news conference
yesterday in Brentwood.

Departmental charges -- and possibly criminal charges -- are expected to be
brought against any officer who knew about the illegal drug activity and
failed to report it, Suffolk Police Commissioner John Gallagher said. Such
charges could lead to termination from the force, Gallagher said. Officials
yesterday did not identify the suspected officers, who remain under
investigation.

Arrested this week on charges relating to use and sale of cocaine and
anabolic steroids were officers from Suffolk County and New York City, two
state troopers and 10 civilians -- all of whom police said formed a loose
group of friends who partied and worked out together.

Additional charges may be filed against the four officers after evidence is
presented to a grand jury beginning today, Spota said.

Investigators are planning to notify the Boca Raton Police Department about
one of its officers who may have taken part in the illegal use or sale of
steroids, Spota and sources said yesterday.

The 14 arrests are the culmination of a two-year investigation that began
when several Suffolk County police officers reported seeing fellow officer
Thomas Foley, 30, of 7 Harmon Place, Hauppauge, using cocaine during a ski
trip in upstate New York in the winter of 2000. On Wednesday, Foley was
arraigned on charges of criminal sale of a controlled substance and conspiracy.

Other tips against Foley followed, and this spring the department reached
out to the NYPD Internal Affairs unit to request a team of investigators
who would not be recognized by the Suffolk officer.

"We agreed to assist," said NYPD Chief Charles Campisi, "and in the next
few weeks one of our undercovers became friendly with one of the subjects
under investigation."

The undercover officer was introduced to several other suspects, including
NYPD Sgt. Robert Grettler, who was charged Wednesday with criminal sale of
a controlled substance. Grettler, 35, of 1700 Race Ave., Medford, was
placed under surveillance, and investigators wire-tapped his phones,
Campisi said, which enabled investigators to develop evidence against
several other suspects.

State trooper Michael Christy, 32, of Amityville, was arrested Wednesday
and arraigned yesterday in First District Court in Central Islip on charges
of conspiracy and criminal sale of a controlled substance. He was released
on $15,000 bail.

"Mr. Christy is innocent of these charges, and we are confident that after
a full review of the evidence he will be exonerated," his attorney, Brian
Griffin of Garden City, said in court.

Trooper James Foley, 25, who lives with his brother, Thomas, also was
arraigned on conspiracy charges and released on $2,000 bail. Maj. Walter
Heesch, commanding officer of state police on Long Island, said both
troopers have been suspended without pay.

Thomas Foley was arrested Tuesday on his way to Long Island MacArthur
Airport, where he was planning to catch a flight to Florida, a source said.
He is being held at Suffolk County jail on $400,000 bail.

Foley, who is on medical leave from the Suffolk police, was arraigned again
yesterday in Southampton Town Justice Court on a charge of second-degree
criminal sale of a controlled substance. That charge stems from an incident
in March outside a Hampton Bays bar where Foley sold just under two ounces
of cocaine to an undercover investigator, Assistant District Attorney
Edward Heilig said yesterday.

"In these past months," Gallagher said, "I've come to see that there is a
tremendous police family. There's a tremendous, magnificent response when
you find out that some in the family are just no good."