Mr Uncle Leroy
All Star
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A disgraced ex-police officer testifying against his drug squad colleagues acknowledged Tuesday that he stole drug money, planted evidence and lied on police paperwork too many times to count.
Jeffrey Walker told jurors that the Philadelphia Police Department drug squad targeted white "college-boy, ... khaki-pants types" who were "easy to intimidate."
That matches the description of some of the drug dealers who have testified in recent weeks in the federal police corruption trial. The witnesses have said the squad stole as much as $80,000 at a time during illegal raids marked by threats and physical violence.
Walker, 46, said police brass applauded the drug squad because they made big arrests that made them look good. Squad leader Thomas Liciardello, the lead defendant, "produced big jobs, a lot of arrests," he said.
"They liked that, as far as the bosses and supervisors were concerned. It made them look good. It was nothing but a dog and pony show. That's all it is," Walker said.
Liciardello, he said, always got a cut of the money stolen or skimmed from drug suspects, while the others split the "jobs" they worked, Walker said.
He said he first stole money as a uniformed patrolman when he chased a dealer into a house and spotted a large bag of cash on top of the refrigerator.
"I never saw that much money. I was a young kid," Walker told jurors. "I took some money, put it in my jacket pocket."
Defense lawyers have attacked Walker's credibility and will no doubt point out on cross-examination the times he admits acting alone, even before he joined the elite undercover drug unit. He also said he developed a drinking problem and became forgetful.
Walker joined the department at about 20 and had nearly 24 years in when he was arrested in an FBI sting last year. Before then, he had refused to cooperate when the FBI asked him to speak to them about the unit.
But he changed course after being caught in the sting, accused of stealing $15,000 and planting drugs in someone's car. He has been in custody for nearly a year and hopes to avoid a life sentence through his testimony.
Walker said he once worked out of the same undercover squad car with Liciardello and Brian Reynolds but was turned out by those work friends as he went through a divorce, weight loss surgery and other personal problems.
More than 160 drug convictions have been overturned since Walker pleaded guilty, and scores of civil-rights lawsuits are pending against Walker and the defendants.
http://news.yahoo.com/ex-drug-officer-says-stole-cash-planted-drugs-170947488.html
Jeffrey Walker told jurors that the Philadelphia Police Department drug squad targeted white "college-boy, ... khaki-pants types" who were "easy to intimidate."
That matches the description of some of the drug dealers who have testified in recent weeks in the federal police corruption trial. The witnesses have said the squad stole as much as $80,000 at a time during illegal raids marked by threats and physical violence.
Walker, 46, said police brass applauded the drug squad because they made big arrests that made them look good. Squad leader Thomas Liciardello, the lead defendant, "produced big jobs, a lot of arrests," he said.
"They liked that, as far as the bosses and supervisors were concerned. It made them look good. It was nothing but a dog and pony show. That's all it is," Walker said.
Liciardello, he said, always got a cut of the money stolen or skimmed from drug suspects, while the others split the "jobs" they worked, Walker said.
He said he first stole money as a uniformed patrolman when he chased a dealer into a house and spotted a large bag of cash on top of the refrigerator.
"I never saw that much money. I was a young kid," Walker told jurors. "I took some money, put it in my jacket pocket."
Defense lawyers have attacked Walker's credibility and will no doubt point out on cross-examination the times he admits acting alone, even before he joined the elite undercover drug unit. He also said he developed a drinking problem and became forgetful.
Walker joined the department at about 20 and had nearly 24 years in when he was arrested in an FBI sting last year. Before then, he had refused to cooperate when the FBI asked him to speak to them about the unit.
But he changed course after being caught in the sting, accused of stealing $15,000 and planting drugs in someone's car. He has been in custody for nearly a year and hopes to avoid a life sentence through his testimony.
Walker said he once worked out of the same undercover squad car with Liciardello and Brian Reynolds but was turned out by those work friends as he went through a divorce, weight loss surgery and other personal problems.
More than 160 drug convictions have been overturned since Walker pleaded guilty, and scores of civil-rights lawsuits are pending against Walker and the defendants.
http://news.yahoo.com/ex-drug-officer-says-stole-cash-planted-drugs-170947488.html
