ADDICTED AND CORRUPTED - Kentucky.com

Originally published Jan. 29, 2003By Bill Estep and Tom LasseterHERALD-LEADER STAFF WRITERSIn the late 1980s, two professors compileda list of criminal rings in Eastern Kentucky,then hung around game rooms, roadhousesand restaurants, played a little poker and dida lot of listening.The goal was to make contact with peoplein crime rings and find out whether drugdealers, gamblers, prostitutes and others usedbribes or relationships with local public officialsto protect illegal activity.Turns out they did.Gary W. Potter and Larry K. Gaines, thencriminal-justice professors at Eastern KentuckyUniversity, reported that of 28 criminal organizationsthey studied in five counties, 25 benefitedfrom some corrupt or compromising relationwith government and law-enforcement officials.The study reported payoffs; family ties betweenpeople paid to enforce the law and peoplebreaking it; and cases of “official acquiescence,”or cops looking the other way.“It is inconceivable that in these rural counties,illicit gambling, prostitution, alcohol anddrugs could be delivered on a regular and continualbasis without the knowledge of governmentofficials, law enforcers and ‘legitimate’ businessmenin the community,” said the study, publishedin February 1992 in the Journal of ContemporaryCriminal Justice, an academic journal.Potter and Gaines used news accounts toidentify criminal organizations. They later interviewed16 people involved in the rings,promising them anonymity.The professors did not identify the fivecounties in the study.Not much had changed by the late ’90s, accordingto a 1999 report from the AppalachiaHigh Intensity Drug Trafficking Area, basedin London.The assessment said the marijuana problemin Appalachia, compounded by the ruralnature of the area and “increasing law enforcementand government corruption, is beginningto overwhelm the limited capacity ofstate and local officials.”Lawmen broke the lawSince the professors compiled their information,the courts have been busy dealingwith corrupt cops.In August 1990, six Eastern Kentucky lawenforcementofficers, including the sheriffs ofPRESCRIPTION FOR PAINLEXINGTON HERALD-LEADERGovernment corruption widespread, studies sayLee, Wolfe, Owsley and Breathitt counties,were arrested in an FBI drug sting describedas the largest of its kind in Kentucky history.A 42-count indictment charged them withconspiracy to extort money, distribute drugsand protect drug dealers. Five of the six wereconvicted.Two years later, Terrence Cundiff, a formerhonorary deputy in Breathitt County who wasrunning for sheriff, was arrested in Texas enroute to Kentucky with 400 pounds of marijuana.Cundiff later pleaded guilty to being involvedin a multistate marijuana conspiracy.In 1994, Douglas Brandenburg became thesecond Lee County sheriff charged with drugcrimes since 1990. Brandenburg, chargedwith conspiring to distribute marijuana andobstruction of justice, later pleaded guilty toobstructing justice. He was sentenced to ninemonths in prison.Other arrests of cops followed in Bell,Breathitt and Perry counties over the years.Potter said this month he doubts the incidenceof police and government corruptionhas declined in Eastern Kentucky since hewrote about it a decade ago.“I think that it’s pretty ingrained,” he said.PHOTOS BY DAVID STEPHENSON | STAFFState police Trooper Bret Kirkland hacked through briars while looking for a plot of marijuana. Anti-pot efforts in Kentucky cost about $7 million a year.‘Just growing marijuana’◆SOME SAY ANTI-POT MONEYSHOULD BE SPENT ELSEWHEREOriginally published Jan. 29, 2003By Tom Lasseter and Bill EstepHERALD-LEADER STAFF WRITERSHAZARD — As he prepared for anotherworkday scrambling around Eastern Kentucky’shills, cutting and burning marijuana, state policeTrooper Chris Clark pondered the future.“I feel like I’m going to show my kids photosone day — ‘Look at me burning this marijuana’— and it’ll be like Prohibition, like Iwas busting liquor barrels,” said Clark, a oneyearveteran of the most-questioned front inKentucky’s drug war.Clark is part of an annual effort by statepolice, the National Guard and the U.S. ForestService to cripple the state’s giant marijuanaindustry.The strike-force campaign in Kentuckycosts taxpayers about $7 million a year. It patrolsthe mountains in helicopters, Humveesand pickups on a search-and-destroy missionthat has burned an estimated $4.2 billionworth of pot over the past five years.But as prescription-drug abuse has skyrocketedin Eastern Kentucky, many peoplehave come to think that marijuana eradicationburns time and money that should be focusedon deadlier, more-addictive drugs.One example is the abuse of prescriptionpainkillers. Federal officials report that betweenJanuary 2000 and May 2001, Kentuckyhad 69 deaths in which the drug that makesup the painkiller OxyContin was present inthe deceased. In 36 deaths, the levels weretoxic, according to a federal report.“Marijuana is a big problem in all of EasternKentucky, but it’s not killing people,” saidSusan Ramos, the executive director of theOwsley County Industrial Authority.Ramos spends her days trying to bring employersto one of the poorest counties in thenation — a job she said is complicated by thearea’s drug problem. But it’s harder drugs, notpot, that scare off companies and limit thesupply of able workers, she said.Meanwhile, police are “busy flying helicoptersand driving Humvees looking for marijuana,”Ramos said. “It’s backward.”Some prosecutors agree. “I think they wastetoo much time on marijuana,” said Clay CountyAttorney Clay Massey Bishop Jr. “I have yet tohear of anyone overdosing on marijuana.”Not a ‘benign herb’Larry Carrico, head of the KentuckyAgency for Substance Abuse Policy, said theeradication campaign is needed.Marijuana can cause health problems forusers and serves as an entry-level drug foryoung people, which can lead to bigger problems;it’s not the “benign herb” some peopleclaim, Carrico said.Sgt. Ronnie Ray, director of operations forthe strike force, said the marijuana tradewould explode if not for his team’s efforts. “Ilook at what we do as drawing a line in thesand,” he said.In some ways, it’s hard to imagine the illegalcrop growing much more.Kentucky and Tennessee account for almosthalf of the marijuana grown outdoors inthe United States, according to a 2000 federalreport.Marijuana, not tobacco, is Kentucky’sNo. 1 cash crop, federal law-enforcementagents say. They are not alone in that conclusion.A national group that hascampaigned for legalizing marijuana, theNational Organization for the Reform ofMarijuana Laws, says that in 1997, Kentucky’smarijuana crop was worth $1.36 billion,eclipsing approximately $814 millionfrom tobacco.Local impactThose who grow pot might think they arenot contributing to local drug problems becausethey sell their crop out of state, saidLeslie County Attorney Phillip Lewis, whotook office this month.In reality, he said, the business brings in abad element. The drug trafficker who comesto buy marijuana might try to barter withpills, which could be sold locally, Lewis said.“I don’t think you can fool with drugs andkeep it a clean crop going north,” Lewis said.Other prosecutors take a less-stringentview.Lori Daniel, the assistant commonwealth’sattorney for Magoffin and Knott counties, saidmarijuana is nowhere near the top of her listof drug crimes to prosecute.“I’m to the point now where when I’mlooking at cases, it’s ‘Oh, he’s just growingmarijuana.’ When did it get to that point? Wejust have another, bigger problem,” Danielsaid. “As bad as it sounds, people on marijuanastay home, get the munchies and don’t goout and rob and steal.”Left: Kentuckyand Tennesseeaccount for almosthalf of the marijuanagrown outdoorsin the United States,according toa federal report.Below: State policeTrooper Mike Wolfecarried marijuana cutdown during a raid inPerry and Breathittcounties in October.ANATOMY OFA FAILED BUSTThanks tobad tapes,Bell casesdrew a blankOriginally published Jan. 29, 2003By Tom Lasseter and Bill EstepHERALD-LEADER STAFF WRITERSPINEVILLE — The informant gotmore than $3,000. The cops and the prosecutorgot nothing except a note backfrom the jury that said, “not enough evidence.”And a dozen defendants went free.A failed 1996 drug roundup in BellCounty shows how police can be burnedby unreliable informants, bad recordingsand their own missteps.In the Bell cases, informant Ricky Adkinswas sent to make secret audiotapes ofdrug buys with a hidden recorder — butthe tapes turned out to be either blank orgarbled, court records show.State police Det. Alice Chaney, then a15-year veteran with several commendations,was running the investigation. Whenshe was named Post 10 Trooper of theYear in 1990, her boss wrote that no casewas too complicated for her.Had Chaney checkedthe tapes soon after gettingthem — as police sayshe should have — shewould have discovered theproblem and could havetried again.Instead, Chaney testified,she didn’t listen tothe tapes until later.In all, a dozen peoplewere indicted in theroundup.But Bell Commonwealth’sAttorney KarenBlondell said she didn’tlearn of the tape problemuntil her office wasAlice Chaneyfailed to checkaudiotapes ofdrug buys.The tapesturned out tobe unuseable.preparing for the first trial — a cocainetraffickingcase against Derrick “Bugsy”Hariston, 26.“It’s disappointing, but you have got todo the best you can with what you’rebrought by the police,” Blondell said in arecent interview. “I’ll say this — it wasembarrassing.”Even without tapes, Blondell decided totake the Hariston case to trial with testimonyfrom Adkins and Chaney.Chaney testified that she had workedabout 400 drug cases in one 10-month period.Defense attorney Jennifer Nagle boredown on the tape issue, according to atranscript.Nagle: “That tape is totally blank?”Chaney: “Yes ma’am.”Nagle: “That tape had to be turned off,didn’t it?”Chaney: “It was either turned off or thetape recorder wasn’t working.”Hariston denied selling cocaine to Adkins,saying it was a case of mistaken identity.Jurors acquitted Hariston, writing“not enough evidence” on the verdictform.Charges against the other 11 Bell Countydefendants were eventually dismissedbecause of the poor quality of the tapesand problems locating Adkins, accordingto state police files.Adkins could not be reached for comment.Chaney testified that for working as aninformant, Adkins received a standard paymentof $100 for each felony drug buy hemade and $50 for each misdemeanor. Thatwould have totaled more than $3,000 forthe charges listed in the 12 Bell County indictments.Chaney resigned from the state police inApril 2000. She recently said she sufferspost-traumatic stress disorder from her serviceas a state-police officer and receivesfederal and state disability payments.“It bothered me a lot … when thosethings started going to trial and the complicationsstarted happening,” Chaneysaid, though she did not recall specific detailsof the 1996 drug roundup.State police Maj. Mike Sapp said that afew years ago, some detectives doingstreet-level drug investigations out of regionalposts — such as Harlan, whereChaney worked — didn’t have enoughtraining in such work. Nor were post-levelsupervisors specifically trained to overseesuch investigations, Sapp said.The Kentucky State Police now trainsdetectives who do drug investigations tolisten to audiotapes of undercover buyssoon after the transactions, Sapp said.Also, supervisors now get specific trainingin narcotics investigations, he said.Sapp also said the state police hadproblems with recording equipment at thetime of the Bell County roundup. Theagency has since upgraded its equipment.Prosecutor Blondell said she also has anew policy: She or someone in her officelistens to undercover tapes before presentinga case to the grand jury.