GRAFT INQUIRY TARGETS PAIR OF OFFICERS

Opa-Locka Case Brings Arrests

Two veteran Opa-locka police officers were arrested by the FBI Wednesday,
one charged with repeatedly ripping off crack dealers and reselling their
drugs, the other for stealing firearms from the department evidence locker
and local dealers.

Officer Robert C. Kukowinski, 38, of Weston, a 12-year veteran of the
department, and Corporal William B. Booker, 35, of Parkland, a seven-year
veteran, are free on $100,000 bond.

Both were immediately suspended with pay pending further disciplinary
proceedings, said Police Chief Ronald Wilson.

According to court records and sources, the case centers on Kukowinski, a
midnight-shift patrol officer whose on-the-job behavior had become
increasingly erratic in recent months and who appears to have fallen in
love with a crack-addicted prostitute he had previously arrested.

Drug Use Alleged

The ex-girlfriend eventually handed up Kukowinski, telling agents that they
smoked crack and marijuana together -- some of it, she said, stolen from
police department evidence lockers.

After he was captured in a June 7 drug sting, Kukowinski started
cooperating with agents, helping them make a case against Booker, his
former partner and road-patrol supervisor, court records show.

Federal sources say the case appears to be contained to the two officers,
but agents are continuing to investigate whether Kukowinski, Booker or
other Opa-locka officers could have accepted payoffs from drug dealers in
return for protection.

Opa-locka police officials initiated the probe, informing federal
prosecutors about a growing number of citizen complaints that Kukowinski
was frisking known drug dealers and residents, pocketing the drugs and
money without making arrests or even documenting the incidents.

The FBI and Miami-Dade corruption detectives then took over.

Kukowinski was well known in the community for setting up his cruiser just
outside The Triangle in downtown Opa-locka and stopping people for traffic
violations as they left the area known as an open-air drug market.

"He'd hit the people as they were leaving, and pocket the goodies," said a
police source.

An Informant

One dealer-turned-informant told agents he would call Kukowinski when
certain competitors were holding drugs. On duty and in uniform, Kukowinski
would steal the drugs and deliver them to his informant, who would resell
them on the street, court records show.

The cop and the dealer would split the profits on an equal basis, the
dealer told the FBI.

A 22-year-old prostitute who lived with Kukowinski in a Weston apartment
from October 2000 to November 2001, said she smoked crack with the officer
on several occasions. The woman told agents that Kukowinski sometimes came
home from work with crack and marijuana that he said he stole from the
police evidence locker.

Law enforcement sources said Kukowinski initially described her to
colleagues as one of his informants.

"I don't think anybody knew initially that he fell in love with her," a
police officer said. "We thought she was one of his snitches."

Watched By FBI

Kukowinski was under FBI surveillance on June 6 when they trailed him to a
Miramar home of a man with a history of cocaine possession.

Agents armed with a search warrant raided the house later that day.

The dealer reportedly told agents that Kukowinski was buying drugs and
agreed to help them set up a $100 crack deal the next day.

Kukowinski was detained, but not arrested because he initially agreed to
cooperate after admitting that he bought the 20 rocks of crack that agents
found in his pocket.

He also told agents that he and Booker illegally entered the police
department evidence room sometime in 2000; Kukowinski said he stole crack
and his partner took a TEC-9 handgun. Kukowinski also told agents that he
purchased 700 rocks of crack from his partner sometime in 2001.

According to the complaint, Booker is also accused of keeping a Colt AR-15
assault rifle that was seized during the search of a drug dealer's
apartment sometime in 2001. The weapon was never checked in as evidence.

Weston Meeting

With surveillance agents watching, Booker met with Kukowinski in Weston on
June 11 and sold him $200 worth of cocaine and the stolen AR-15 rifle for
$600. Booker voluntarily admitted his role in stealing the weapons and
dealing the cocaine to Kukowinski, court records show.

On Wednesday, U.S. Magistrate Judge Lurana S. Snow appointed Fort
Lauderdale attorney John Howes to represent Kukowinski.

Booker, who is reportedly building a new home for his third wife and two
young children, hired a private attorney, Abe Bailey of Miami.

Both lawyers declined to comment until they could learn more about the case.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Edward Stamm and Terry Lindsey declined to comment.

Case Demoralizing

Wilson, the crestfallen Opa-locka police chief, said the arrests were
particularly demoralizing because Booker and Kukowinski were veterans; both
officers have been the object of internal affairs complaints in the past,
but neither was accused of "anything out of the ordinary," Wilson said.

Opa-locka City Manager Newall Daughtrey, who has crusaded for reform inside
City Hall and to rid the city's streets of drugs, praised Wilson and the
department for promptly reporting the problem to federal investigators.

Drug Tests

In the past, police officers were required to take drug tests annually. But
after learning of Kukowinski's problems, Daughtrey quietly changed the
policy and police are now required to submit to the same random
drug-testing as other city employees.

"We are going to start in our own household," Daughtrey said.

"If we won't police ourselves, how can we police our community?" he asked.