HomeMembers LoginLatest NewsRefer A LawyerMessage BoardOnline StoreAffiliatesAbout UsContact Us
Who's A Rat - Largest Online Database of Informants and Agents Worldwide!
Members Login
 
Forgot Username and Password
Site Navigation
Refer A Lawyer
Link To Us
Latest News
Top Secret Documents
Make A Donation
Important Case Law
Members Login
Feedback
Message Board
Legal Information
Advertise on this Site

Informants and Agents Latest News

 
Boss: Delapaz disobeyed Supervisor testifies he forbade continuing with fake-drug informant

The Dallas Morning News
By ROBERT THARP

Former Dallas Detective Mark Delapaz disobeyed three direct orders to stop working with a disreputable confidential informant responsible for a series of bogus drug arrests, the officer's former supervisor testified in his felony trial Friday.

"I told him there's absolutely no doubt in my mind that the ... [informant] is dirty and to not use him anymore," said retired police Lt. William Turnage. "I trusted Mark Delapaz to do the right thing."

Mr. Turnage said Mr. Delapaz "circumvented" his orders by continuing to work with another informant without disclosing to Mr. Turnage that the two informants were closely associated. Had he realized the deception, Mr. Turnage said, he would have immediately placed Mr. Delapaz on administrative leave and started an investigation.

Although prosecutors do not allege that Mr. Delapaz was part of his informants' scheme to plant fake drugs on innocent people, they charge that the veteran detective knew his informant was not trustworthy and that he broke the law when he lied to get a search warrant from a judge for another drug bust by swearing that his confidential informant was always reliable.

Mr. Turnage spent the entire day testifying Friday and will return Monday as special prosecutor Dan Hagood continues presenting his case that Mr. Delapaz knew that drug informant Enrique Alonso was not trustworthy by the time he went before a judge in October 2001 and obtained a search warrant by swearing that the informant was reliable "on each and every occasion."

Highlights of Mr. Turnage's testimony included:
•Mr. Turnage said he became suspicious of Mr. Alonso in September 2001 after lab tests found that two drugs seizures made by Mr. Delapaz with the informant's help did not contain real drugs. By that time, Mr. Delapaz was aware of five other bad cases but didn't tell him, Mr. Turnage said.

•Even after Mr. Alonso passed a polygraph test – which has since been found to have been flawed – Mr. Turnage told Mr. Delapaz he did not want the detective to work with Mr. Alonso.

"I said, 'I still don't trust him,' " he testified. "'We don't resume using him, and we don't resume paying him.'"

•Days after making his final "emphatic" order, Mr. Turnage was promoted to the rank of deputy chief and left the narcotics division. Three days later, Mr. Delapaz officially resumed working with and making cash payments to Mr. Alonso, according to court testimony.

In all, Mr. Alonso received more than $200,000 in cash payments from Mr. Delapaz in 2001 for his work making drug seizures that were later revealed to be little more than crushed pool chalk.

Attorneys for Mr. Delapaz are arguing, among other things, that a different crooked informant who worked closely with Mr. Alonso – Jose Ruiz – was the man who supplied the information that the officer used to get the warrant.

A report created by Mr. Delapaz shows that Mr. Alonso was paid $500 for a search warrant related to the case on which he stands trial.

But defense attorney Paul Coggins noted in Mr. Turnage's cross-examination that Mr. Ruiz was also paid $100 for making a drug purchase at the house days before the warrant was issued. He suggested that Mr. Alonso was paid only for making an "introduction" for Mr. Ruiz.

Mr. Turnage said he still believes Mr. Alonso was the informant that the detective referred to in his sworn affidavit because Mr. Alonso was the leader of the group of six informants who have since admitted to making fake drugs and setting up innocent people for arrest.

"Enrique Alonso touched everything that those other people touched," he said.

After five days of testimony, jurors in the trial have heard from just eight witnesses. The trial resumes Monday. If convicted of the charge, Mr. Delapaz faces punishment ranging from probation to 10 years in prison.

E-mail rtharp@dallasnews.com
 
Page:   1 |  2 |  3 |  4 |  5 |  6 |  7 |  8 |  9 |  10 |  11 |  12 |  13 |  14 |  15 |  16 |  17 |  18 |  19 |  20 |  21 |  22 |  23 |  24 |  25
 
Copyright © 2004-2021 Who’s A Rat. All Rights Reserved.
Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission is prohibited.