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Edit Transcript - Corrections Officer turned Reality Star Caught Sneaking Meth into Jail
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Corrections Officer turned Reality Star Caught Sneaking Meth into Jail
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What's his first name? Rean. Sean White. So Shawn White's a detention officer. They're he they're walking him out to his car. By the time they get to the car, uh we the our SD officer starts to basically tell him, "Hey, let me see your wallet. We'll start with their wallet. We'll start going through the vehicle search. At that point, he starts becoming defensive, non-compliant, says, "Nope, I refuse. I you know, there's no reason to search my car." And he basically just gets his car and splits. So, as he's walking back from So, the officer the car is parked right here. I'll show it to you in a sec. In that car, the officer also car pulled with our lieutenant Cohen Mansion. The same one that was also part of Same. Yeah. Okay. So, um, as the officer's walking back after he splits, he's walking over here and he sees a package on the ground, picks it up, and where's it at? Uh, ends up turning out to be methamphetamines. They go back, test it, test positive. They go back, start reviewing the tape. And the tape, you'll see here, but the lieutenant gets out of the car when he's walking right here. He pulls out of his pocket and drops on the ground while they're walking him out to his car to do the search. No, before the search even happened. Huh. So, backing up now. You see the car pulls up. They get officer white. He stays in the car. Con gets out first, right? Yes, sir. The lieutenant gets out. He starts walking. When he gets right here, for whatever reason, you see him put his hand in his pocket and it come out and then you see a package on the ground. He keeps walking. The package stays there in camera sight the whole time. So then everything else is transpiring about maybe 15 minutes later. They end up about right here, the lieutenant, the STU staff, and you see him go and he pick he sees on the ground, picks it up. So that's basically So that's when they came back, review camera, and that's when they open. Okay. So um any any chance that he knew it was going to go down? No. because this was all spontaneous. This he barely had instruction. They didn't we didn't even they just barely got directed from from Rita to do the search. Kind of a a last minute type thing. Okay. The only thing we can think of cuz I wondered the same thing. Why Yeah. Would you drop it there? Why wouldn't you drop it over here somewhere in between the cars? Exactly. So, and we'll have to you guys have to go back and look at the tape look at the cameras over here to see if Yeah. He saw something that spooked him. Kind of. Unless one of our STIU vehicles uh he knows drives a rather bright car and that's what we're kind of pointing at. Yeah. So, do you guys always like you normally work during the daytime or is it Yeah, we normally work. So, so when employees come in and see your vehicle, they're like something's going down. That's when they start. There's that chance. Yes, sir. Okay. Here's the vehicle. Okay. the Mustang and you'll see it right here. So, the LT is on the That's him. This is This is Lieutenant. Okay. Now, you'll watch right about right here. You're going to see more forward right here. Just Okay. And then um [ __ ] Wait, so he that was who was that was the lieutenant? That was the lieutenant that just got out and walked over. Huh. And the Sean White, that's the other guy in the car. Yeah. So it's lieutenant that you're Yeah. What's his name? Cohen Man. C O H E N. And the man was m a n g i n. Has anybody spoken with Sean? No, cuz he left. We haven't even got a whole I just told him. He refused to do the research. Grab his car and give up. So, it sounds like that maybe we're working together a little bit. So, I mean, you can still see it sitting there. Yeah. straight past. How much time passes from here? I was going to say it looks like he looked at how much time passes from this to when you guys walk them out. I would say probably about 20 to 25 minutes. Oh, it was that much time yesterday. What time was this at? This is at uh 5:58. So, it was about 5:55 or so when he walked in. What did you say? 556 about the time you saw him drop it. So yeah, it's about 25 minutes cuz uh I found the package at about approximately 6:23 and um you have video of the entire time that package is still on the ground. Yeah. Yeah. That camera is sat right there at that. So it'll stay it'll stay like that just constantly watching that bag until he picks it up. So you could burn um a copy of that. I actually did burn. Sweet. So the so Rita's going to serve uh and maybe you guys do this together, but she's going to serve him an adisement letter. He's being placed under investigation and then she's also going to serve him notice uh we're placing them on administrative leave. Okay. Um you don't you don't normally have to give them union representation for that, right? Yeah. Okay. And then so they're both gone now. They're both No, just one still here. Okay. Um, in fact, he's right. We're punching him right here. So, he has no clue what's going down. I think he if he's watching that the camera's in there. I mean, he's probably really nervous right now cuz this is him right here. Do you have a photo of him? Like his face? Um, trying to see if I recognize him at all. I don't remember him. Does he usually work in the master control? He works. You've probably seen him. Yeah, you've probably seen a rookie. Okay. Um, yeah. Um, would it be possible for me to watch the video of the full um, S? Because just basically because what it could amount to me is um, if I can determine that, you know, obviously I saw her drop out his pocket, he's still tested positive for meth. If nobody else that package stays there the entire time, then he could be u potentially arrested for the possession. Yeah. now. And I don't know if um and that's that's where I'm I need to figure out because if it gets to the point where an arrest is essential rather than just citing him, then I need to make a decision on whether I have him transport because I don't want him I really don't want him in here. Ah yeah, unless I absolutely have to. The only reason I would keep him is to try to call a judge and get him arraigned right away in the morning to get him out. But um the only thing so um because we've handled many of these cases similar to this u like in the casinos where um somebody will drop you know whether it's a wallet or the drugs or something and they'll surveillance just because they just what they do they'll review video and watch you know who dropped it and you know say they use a players club card or something like that they'll ID the person they're still there you know they'll detain them and then they'll call us and I mean it's a felony so It's like uh it's um if we don't arrest on it um the only thing I could do would be contact because of the in because of the situation of him being housed here would be to contact the um district attorney's office and see if they'd be willing to um allow us to summon him because it's a nonviolent crime. Um, and that way he'd be released tonight and um, you wouldn't have to worry about him being here. But it's really and it's kind of up to my lieutenant, too. I'll I'll have to brief him. I mean, that's and I'm not I don't have an opinion on either way. I I just um Cohen has he's worked at the penitentiary. He's been here. He's worked at Valencia County. So, I just and I really don't care about those pills, but I really don't I just don't feel comfortable putting him in custody here. Sure. Um No, I understand. It could be it I don't want the staff, you know, focusing on that and not on the job. Yeah. It's going to create a lot of It's going to It's going to create a big deal. Yeah. Um and I don't Yeah, cuz that's that's going to be And he's a lieutenant. We're not talking about just a random officer. Exactly. Um I mean if you I always I always try to play things back into you know my shoes if if uh if it were me if I put myself in the lieutenant shoes and I did the same thing that you know he allegedly did. You know I myself would expected would would expect myself to be arrested. Yeah. I you know what I mean? I don't I don't have a purpose either of the way. Yeah. I just have to make the if it goes that route, I just have to make the decision if I'm going to leave them here or if I'm going to set up a transport team and okay, we're going to take him somewhere else to get booked in. So, where was your vehicle parked in? Was it like visible from my vehicle? Yes, it was visible. Um, is this still the same spot you're in? No, I actually moved it a little bit back earlier to the dogs, but uh uh I mean it was visible. It was my vehicle. Is it What kind of vehicle is it? It's a It's an Interceptor. A Ford Interceptor. The sailing on it or Yeah. K9. So they know Oh, yeah. They know which one. Yeah. Would have been invisible from him walking there. Oh, yeah. Or he would have driven around it. They they had to have Joe passed it. Okay. Um do you have can you print off um their data sheets for me if you have for their their file? Give me another read. Do we have any for for both the passenger and the driver? We don't have that in the morning or anything like that. Once Dian gets in the morning, I can have a print that stop to you. But um I'm sure he he can give you that information when you talk to him. Yeah. Um because I I'll basically, you know, it's like any other investigation. I'll have to read him as Manderites and you know, if he doesn't want to speak to me, then you know, it's it's kind of how it goes. But um um All right. Could I watch that video? Yeah. And then that gives me time to Where's that? Yeah. Well, we can You can watch it right here. Right. You don't even need to put the radio. Can I actually have that chain of custody at the bottom so I can get it? Yeah. Just make sure you on a on a chain of custody. You're handing Are you taking disposition of the the drugs? The drugs. Yeah. Yeah, just make sure you you make sure that thing. Let me call dispatch and get a case number and everything for you guys. And then just to update this to those what I was telling you about. Yes, sir. Yeah. Hey, Daniel 79. Hey, can I get a can I get a case number? 79. Sure. Can I Yeah. 196 Mhm. 1 19669. Yeah. Thank you so much. You tell me when you're ready. Give me just a second. These TVs are huge. Go ahead. I got two things for you. The first one's going to be um notice of investigation. Uh you're familiar with this, so if you have any questions that you can ask me. Um I set up your interview for tomorrow at 8:00 at 2 p.m. I need you to print your name here, your signature date, and the time right there. Right. Yeah. Yes. Almost. It's the seventh still. 34. This is your copy. This is what this is. And I need you to read this. This is notice of administrative e. Okay. So, if you understand that, you have any questions? No. So, I need you to hear everything here. It's going to be your signature acknowledging that you understand everything on here. If you need a current telephone number and current address. Okay. Charlie 300. So this is your copy. The important thing I want to point out to you is just you got to make sure that you got to call Sonia HR every every day Monday through Friday and then later the night 9:00 a.m. Okay. At this time I will ask that you give me your appointment. There any personal belongings in your locker? I need your shirt. Why do you need my shirt? I have all kinds of shirts on this. That's fine for now. I need that. You want this, too? Um, yeah. You okay? No. I'm going to take your Hold on. Hold on. Keep your hands here. Okay. These gentlemen are going to ask you a few questions. Okay. All right. What's going on? How's it going, man? What's your first name? Cohen. Cohen, can you spell for me? Co hen. And last name? Man. Men. Gn. Okay. I'm departing. This is Lieutenant Zado at the Sheriff's Office. Um, by chance, do you have your ID on you, man? You all right? Take a deep breath. You moved up pretty quick, huh? For I have nine years transferred from the prison. Oh, the prison. Which one was better to work for? My ID was in the car that he took the other employee. Yeah. Okay. All my stuff's in there. My keys, my phone, everything. Oh. Do you guys live together? No. Okay. You just commute together? Yeah, he used to be am clerk. I don't carpo staff who me um I'm giving you that that uh um basically it's a standard protocol. I know my parents are both cops, but I don't get your Miranda rights conducting an investigation. You're not free to leave right now. So because of that, we have to read your um so I'm going to read these to you, sir. Um, if you don't uh understand something or you want me to clarify, just let me know and I'll be happy to do so. Okay. Um, so you have the right to remain silent. Anything you say may be used against you as evidence in court. You're entitled. Talk to a lawyer now and have him or her present during questioning um or at any time during questioning. If you cannot afford a lawyer, uh, one can be appointed for you at no cost. If you decide to answer any questions now without a lawyer present, you still have the right to stop answering at any time. Um, if you so desire, you also have the right to stop answering at any time until you are able to speak to a lawyer. Did you have any questions on that? Okay. Um, I would like you to review this. It's up to you. Um, read the statement here. um if you're willing to speak with us. Time right now is 11:42 p.m. Thank you, sir. Okay. So, tell me what's going on. What happened? All I know is I came up to my briefing to brief my shift and STI came up and they passed me a note. Um, and it stated, "LT, um, we're going to search this car and this car and this guy and this guy. Um, and, uh, we're going to pat search you as well." And I said, "Okay." Wrote, "Okay," in my note, passed it to the officer. I did my briefing. My briefing left. Um, they told me to grab my belongings, come in here, which I came in here, they pat searched me. They took all my stuff out of my pockets, went through everything individually. Um, then they did to my staff, and they gave me a consent to sign a vehicle. I told them I didn't drive. Um they stated, "Who'd you drive with?" I told them who I drove with and they said, "Okay." And then uh they talked to him. I told us to follow them. We walked outside. Um we stood in admin. They went to the car. Um Sean went with the the officer over there, Dela Cruz. They stood by the car and then uh Dela Cruz opened his door. They were there for a minute talking about his ID. And one thing I'll say is I know he doesn't have registration and I believe his insurance is expired. Not his car. So he started panicking because at the prison at that is they impound your car right away. His car is co-signed by his father. So he started freaking out. Okay. Um he's young. He's 22 years old. I don't know. Anyway, um that's when he Dela Cruz said asked for went to go write down his ID number and then he told Dela Cruz, I want you to search my car. And then uh I don't know what happened from there. All I know is that Sean walked back inside. We were standing right there. Um he kept looking at me. I kept looking at him. I'm like, "What are you doing?" And he's like, "They're not searching my car." And I believe it's on their lapel probably because they have lapel footage of it. Okay. And then he uh told them he's leaving. He said, "I'm leaving." I said, "All right." That was it. Like I said, I can't I can't control um I don't hang out with Sean White on the streets at all. He lives about four miles from me. He's It's easy to commute with all the driving I do. I worked this my 12 out of 13 day straight that I've worked. Okay. Um, I can't dictate what's in his car or what he has or anything like that. It's just writing with him. You know what I mean? So, I don't know. Do you um do you you said you have your keys and my phone and all that stuff in his car? Um, anything else in that car that's yours? No. Okay. Um, do you always take his car? You got or do you guys alternate back and forth? Yeah. Okay. Um, and he didn't mention anything to you today. No, nothing. Have you ever known him to use drugs or anything like that? He's in the military. Military? Yes. He's actually leaving next month. Uh going back a whole year. Uh Army or what? Army. Yeah. Uh is he a newer employee here? Uh he's been here maybe about 18 months, I believe. 18 months. Yeah. What's Sean's last name? White. And he transferred from um he came from another facility, Santa County. Came here, hired him. He was a SEO for a little bit, but then he went to EM as a EM clerk. Then after EM um they uh he transferred, I believe, back. That's when he became an officer. He's only been an officer maybe three months. Okay. Back online. Was uh in Sandival? Was he an officer, too? Yes, he was. He's a booking officer. Okay. Um and you've never known him. Do you have a drug problem, anything like that? And we talked about it. Said I don't really know him like that on a personal level, but he's he's one of my best officers, honestly. Yeah. He's one of the only ones that know his master control, anything. Always on time. He's never had abusive sick leave. I've never had to write him up before. Um I don't I don't understand. Okay. So, um, in in our investigation, um, they, uh, the officers were, um, had found a package in the parking lot. A package? Yeah. Just a small little baggie. Um, so, as you know, protocol is whenever they find potential narcotics, calling. Yeah. and they'll review surveillance video and all that um to see where it came from to see if it was from, you know, a civilian, you know, trying to trying to smuggle drugs in or something like that or if it's an employee. Um so they reviewed the video and uh clearly in the video um you're seen and in that same video um there's a package that when you reach into your pocket, you pull out and you drop something on the ground. I did. You did? What? It's right here, man. This is it right here. I dropped the pack. I dropped that package on the floor. There's a little envelope in there. So, you reached into your right pocket and you pulled out that and just dropped it as you're walking through the parking lot right in the front. I dropped it. Yeah. and you continued walking in because when you guys pull in the parking lot, um Sean stayed in the car, you got out immediately and started walking in. Um and clear as day and it it sits it sits right there the entire time. Nobody touches it. Nobody looks at it. Um it sits in that same spot until they take you guys out. Um and you're dealing with Sean's dealing with the officer who's about to search and you're standing there with a female I forget her name. Yeah, bet. Yeah. And um that's when one of the officers sees it on the ground and picks it up and protocol of course is to to review video and that came dropped that on the ground. Yeah. And I'm just I I know the job can be stressful. I mean, everybody has their their outs. I mean, is it something you want to talk about? Like I I know you said you're working. This is what your 12th day in a row. Yeah, it is, man. But I I have no idea what that is. And I dropped it on the ground. I I have money and stuff in here that is similar to that. I I dropped it on the ground. Can I see the footage? Am I allowed to? You know what, Coen? Yeah. Let Let me just be straight up with you, okay? Um you're on lapel right now. This is all being videotaped. Okay. Um, I've been a cop for 16 years and we have good relationships with the DA's office. We have good relationships with, you know, the judicial process. Your best bet right now is to be completely honest. Okay? Honesty, believe it or not, it's instilled to us when we're kids. It does go a long ways. I mean, it's It's clear as day on video. I mean, we're giving you the opportunity right now to tell us what's going on. Were you, you know, cuz we don't know. Are you smuggling this into inmates? Is it personal use? You know, is there more people involved? Because I I I guarantee you that tonight is the tip of the spearhead, man. A thorough indepth investigation is going to be conducted by our investigations division starting first thing tomorrow. So your honesty will go a long ways. I don't know what to say. The truth. We're not here to judge you or anything, man. I'm not here for that either. I'm just saying I don't I don't understand really don't. Like I said, if it's something that um you need help with, I mean, this is this we're an avenue to to get that help. I mean, we're we're all in this team together. We're not separate, you know what I mean? We're here for each other and if it's something you're having an issue with, um, we have resources to to help you with that. Um, but the first step in anything is is to admit that you have the problem. That's all it comes down to. You don't want to answer any more questions? No, I want um Okay. 51 51. This is your wallet. Okay. Huh? Can you take it? All right. Can you stand up for me? Turn around for me. Oh, no. Come on, man. Why? We have to. No. Why? Why do you have to do this, Tado? Come on, man. I'll tell you. I'll tell you what everyone knows. No, we're we're past that. I'm trying. No, I'm trying to talk. Let me talk about this, man. We're past that point. Oh, please. I will talk to you, man. Just get do this, man. I'll talk to you. I was not You're under arrest. Why? Because you were in possession, man. No. Come on, man. I didn't bring How? I didn't bring it into the facility. You were in possession of it. LT, give me a chance, man. You know what? I'll talk to you. I promise, man. You already told us you didn't want to talk to me. No, I meant because I need to calm down. Now we're telling you you're under arrest and now you're wanting to change your story. I'll talk to you and tell you anything you want to know legally. You know if you're telling us you don't want to talk and now you're I didn't say I didn't want to talk. I said I I said I don't want anything else to say right now. Okay. If you have something else to say that's fine but understand you're being arrested tonight regardless. Are you serious? Yes. Whatever man. So we can talk but you're being but I'm not going to lie to you and say you're not being arrested. I'm going to jail tonight. Why? Possession of serious right now, man. How? How? I I didn't like I told you it's clear, man. Clear as day on video. Can I talk to you real quick before I go in there, man? Please. Yeah. Sit down. Talk to us. We'll talk to us. I'm going to read you the rights again. Okay. Just because you said you refused last time. I didn't. Well, no. You want to stop answer questions, so we're just going to reread them to you just to make sure nothing's changed. Okay. So, you have the right to remain silent. Anything you say may be used against you as evidence in court. I'm really going to jail. You're entitled to talk to a lawyer now and have him present during questioning. My dad's in the FBI. Dude, if you cannot afford a lawyer, one will be appointed to you at no cost. If you decide to answer any questions now without a lawyer present, you will still have the right to stop answering any time if you so so desire. You also have the right to stop answering anytime until you are able to speak to a lawyer. Would you still wish to speak to us? Yes, sir. Yes. Okay. Talk to us. How long has this been going on? Not long. Not long. Is it work? No, sir. No. Personal things getting done into your your mind or what? just don't want to blame myself. Well, this is what I was talking about before. Um, I wanted to talk to you guys, man. I just didn't I don't I didn't want to be on camera. No, I know. And it wasn't even because of that. It's just because that I just I I have nine years in two weeks, man. I I Everything's gone now. Corin, let me ask you the hard questions. Okay. Yes, sir. Um, were you bringing this into the facility? Swear to God, sir. It was not on my children. For the inmates? No, sir. No, sir. If you were to submit to a drug test right now, would you have methamphetamine in your system? Yes, sir. You would? Yes, sir. When did you last use? Um, two days ago. Two days ago. Does anybody know of this problem? No, sir. Sean? No, sir. Are you aware of any other um staff members that either have a drug problem or are bringing bringing drugs into the facility? No, sir. Of course not. No, I don't. And you're the overall supervisor of your shift, correct? Yes, sir. talked to any What What caused you to disregard it in the in the parking lot like that? I didn't even know I dropped it, man. You didn't? No, I did not, sir. You didn't see like the STI uh explorer out there freak out? I don't know cuz they've been staying out there. I don't know. I didn't freak out. I I honestly I would never do that, man. Bring anything to a facility. Never have. So it accidentally fell out of your pocket. You didn't intentionally throw it in your shirt. Did you know you had it on you? Honestly, no, man. I didn't. Um, so did it start with meth or did it go No, that's it. I never I barely started messing with it. And the reason why is because of all the overtime that I've been working and everything like that. I can't stay awake during the day. Yeah. I can't It's It's rough, man. I know. stressful. So these are obviously your work clothes, right? So I mean just be straight up with us. Be honest with us. You say you didn't know it was in your pocket, but I mean you if it's in your work if it's in your work pocket. You see these little pockets right here? No, but what I'm saying is these are your work pants. I know. I washed I washed my pants and it's inside that little pocket right there. Man, have you brought it to work before? I I hadn't been doing it and I started to so I could stay awake. You use it at work to stay awake in the parking lot? Yes, sir. Do you get like breaks where you go out into the parking lot or just through a pipe? How do you how do you adjust it? Snort it. Snort it. And when did you start doing this? A few months back. a few months ago. I don't know, Co. I'm having a hard time believing you. No, I don't. You're You're a big guy. You're in shape. I'm not finding you. You don't look like I will do a pistach right now. You're addicted to me to me. I'm not addicted, man. I'm telling you. I mistake. I'm telling you. I kept it inside that little pocket right there. I would never bring [ __ ] into a facility, man. Never. That's against everything that I put down on my children's life. I'll take a polygraph, anything you want, man. I would never do that. I've been in this game too long, man. In this game way too long, my mom worked across. He's a lieutenant across the street. My dad was FBI. He's a captain across the street. Went to Reancho PD. My uncle, my brother, everybody's in law enforcement. Man, I have a hard time. I'm a single father with three kids, two baby mamas. I I don't have problems financially, nothing like that at all. I don't I have a beautiful home, everything. I just I I work a lot of overtime, man. We only have three lieutenants. Now they only have two, you know what I mean? And I I know I haven't called in in over a year, man. I just got an award for it. You know, I I would never bring it into a facility and and give it to an inmate. I'll take a whatever you want me to do. I'll polygraph anything. and I'll take it. All right. I mean, like I said, I have to ask the hard questions. That's fine. And I I would tell you these questions are going to be investigated further. You know, that's fine. And I would never do that, man. I would never do that. Okay. Like I said, I'll submit to a playraph on it. You said the last time you used was 2 days ago. Yes, sir. And does this uh Sean have any I mean cuz we're going to find out. I'm telling you right now. We're going to find out. And it seems extremely suspicious and coincidental to me that you guys pull up, you get out of the car, you're walking towards the facility. It was 6:01 and I wasn't My briefing is supposed to start at 6:00. I don't know. It it you know I don't know if something spooked you. It could have accidentally fallen out. Um I didn't see any other reason in the video why you're it's not like you came out of your pocket with something else in your hand. You weren't putting anything in your pocket. I mean these are all clues that I've been a cop for 16 years. I'm telling you I didn't drop it for anybody. If you said that I I didn't. Then on top of that, when they asked Sean to search his vehicle, he gets he basically refused knowing that that's probably going to be the end of his job here. So looking at it from outside in at in an investigative standpoint, and you're not done. You've been in corrections for nine and a half almost 10 years. You were STIU across the street, right? Yes, ma'am. You've conducted investigations. You've watched the plenty of them. You That's why I have I have no You have that mind, right? Yes, sir. You have an investigative mind. So, see where we're coming from. I do. I do, man. I'm This guy takes off basically knowing I'm going to lose my job tonight if I don't let him search my car. And he makes a decision not to let them search his car. That tells me he either, you know, he must have had something in the car. I'll tell you guys. All right. Little baggie. Whenever he had found it, we didn't know because I like I checked my pocket and I didn't have it. Okay. And I told him there's something in there that you're going to be upset about. You can watch the lapel cuz I didn't know where it went. Then Dela Cruz walked over after he had already told them he wasn't let him search a car and he said he found the baggie in the parking lot. And that's when the kid said, "I'm out of here. That's honest to God, man. Telling you. I couldn't find it when I walked in. I was like, "What the hell?" I started panicking. And then when Del Cruz came over and he said he found it, I said, "Fuck, man." And the kid saw him. His eyes got big and then he left. Panicked and left. So, you're saying, just so we're clear on this, you're saying when they first approached you guys, said, "Hey, we're doing a random search on you guys tonight." You realized you didn't have the myth in your pocket. You started freaking out and you told Sean. No. A after the fact. So, listen. Sean Sean couldn't see me because he was in briefing over there. I I talked to all the shift. He got up and he walked away and he went to go uh he um when they said who was being searched, we came down here. They took us individually and here we're standing. Then he went to go search the car and I went to go when we were walking down. I checked my pocket and I didn't fill it. And then when they said they were searching the car, he if you look, he already signed the consent. I believe they could or something. And I don't remember. Then he goes over and I told him I said, "There's something in your car that's not supposed to be." Where did this happen at? Um we're walking out the front admin right here to go to the car. Yes. I said, "There's something in your car that's not supposed to be in there at." And he panicked. He went over and Dela Cruz already opened up his car door. We go look on camera. He opens his car door. He's already looking there. Then we came over. He's like, "Okay, come over and stand over." And he he's standing next to me. And that's when Dela Cruz says, "I found this in the parking lot." And then his eyes got all big like that. And then we come back inside and then he says, "I'm out of here." He left. That's why he didn't give me my stuff or anything. I'm being serious. My phone or my keys. Who knows what the kid's going to do, man? Do you know where he lives? I don't. You said you guys car. He comes. We meet at my house every time. Oh, he's at your house. So this happened a couple you said you started about a couple months ago. Just where do you get it from? See where they got fired at the prison. My sergeant was Andrew Hill back about eight months ago. never got booked in or anything. Where does he Does he work anywhere now? No, he's moved. He's gone. Really? But you get your supply from him? It's not even a supply, man. No, I've never had anything more than that. Like, be like, be honest with me. Seriously, the mountain is little. Why if I was bringing that into an inmate? You like how easy it is. I'm a ship commander, man. How easy to walk through. I would never bring drugs into a facility, man, and give it to an inmate. You know what I mean? Like, well, I'm telling you, I would tell you, man, Coin, I'm telling you, bro, when you're if you're using them, drugs change people. I would never do that, man. I don't use I mean, you've seen it. I've seen it. I know I don't. And so I mean I'm not no disrespect whatsoever but I can't just sit here and believe everything you're telling me. I'll take a poligraph man on anything you want. I'll take it. I'm submit to anything right now and saying it. I mean you could say it's such a small amount. Why would I bring more in? I could say maybe you're afraid to bring more in and so you're just bringing in a little at a time. Test and you'll see for yourself, man. Go get one right now. I don't have nothing to hide about that. I'm telling you everything on my life right now. I'll take a urine test. Go get one. How often do you use a week? Only on my day off. Your days off? Except tonight because you originally said you were going that you use it in the parking lot. Yes, sir. So, how many times a week then? I'm not sure, man. Like I said, this is this was my I worked six and six straight days. That was my No, I worked so I worked Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday. I had Sunday off and then I worked Monday, Tuesday, all hours and I have three little kids, man. Exhausted. 12 hours. 12 16 sometimes I have to stay if I have an incident and and you know they take a lot of heat, man, as a lieutenant all the time. I'm getting shoot off with my staff. Why am I doing this? Why am I doing that? I stress and I have to deal with my baby mas to try and stay awake watching my little kids. It's not an excuse, man. It's on me. But I'll take a urine test right now and show you. I would never bring anything in, man. And now, and look what happened to me now, guys. My life's ruined now. It is. My life is ruined. I wouldn't say your life is how embarrassing it's going to be, dude. My parents, man. I get that. I'm not trying to minimize it. I would never bring [ __ ] in, man. And I have to My parents are going to see this [ __ ] I'm probably going to be on the news, man. I was on TV for rookie of the year and [ __ ] bro. Like, don't do this to me, man. Your hands are tied. You can't I didn't bring it in the facility. It's in the parking lot. It's not even a secure perimeter, man. I wouldn't do that. Why would I drop something right there, man? It's unfortunately it's still a felony crime just to be in possession of it. Yeah, but I don't get it, man. I'm telling you, man. And unfortunately, our hands are tied. We have laws we have to enforce and policies we have to follow. It's not in the It's not in the Trust me. We're not getting any pleasure out of this whatsoever. Tell me, man. My staff's if anything uncomfortable for us. This is not the call we want to go to. I don't want to be on a new battle. Please, man. Don't put me on the news. I ain't putting you on the news. I have no control over Come on, man. At least if I go in there, don't put me on the news, dude. My family, why would I tell everybody? That's why I don't tell nobody about this stuff, my parents, and my mom mean everything to me, man. Look, picture of my mom right there, man. Do they live locally? Huh? Do they live downtown? My dad just got the law passed for reanch schools that carry guns and security now. First time. What did your dad do? You said he FBI. He's still in there. No, he retired two years ago, man. [ __ ] embarrassing, bro. Bro, this isn't anything I want to deal with either, man. Huh? I don't want to deal with this either. I'm sorry. It's cool, man. I know. You just have to understand, man. You You know that. I know. No, I'm not mad at you, man. No, I know. I know, man. I knew it. I knew it. I knew that. Just sometimes, I mean, it's tough, man. I mean, we just like, you know, you have things you have to hold your subordinates accountable for. We have laws and so if we get approached with something like this and we don't do anything about it, then we're in trouble, too. You know what I mean? things things everything works itself out. It's not the end of the world. Trust me. I can't I don't I'm worried about my family. I know my name is going to be out on the news. I've I've had many friends in the news and it's rough. I know. If it makes the news I mean I'm not going to it's not like I'm not going to go to the news. You know what I mean? What can I do, bro? Well, um, so basically what happens, man, um, as I explained to you in the beginning, the first step was admitting that problem. And there's programs out there. I know, man. I got to go to court and see partnership with my kids. I'm going to lose my children. I mean, I I can't I can't speak for that. Um, but I I know in the in the criminal aspect, the more you comply, the better things are. I mean, I've I've been around almost the same amount of time you have, and it's it's uh it looks a lot better in people when they're they're cooperative. Um, as hard as it is, I mean, I I honestly, man, I appreciate just talking with us. And we're not we're not here to make your life horrible. I that's the last thing I want to do, man. It's just that's the unfortunate side of my career sometimes. Um, but I can tell you that from all my all the people that I've known in this career that have done things that have got him in trouble, um, they're still alive and they're happy. I know. I know. I just don't my family. I know. I don't care about me. I don't I I care about you, bro. Walking through the door and everything, bro. I don't care about I care about you, bro. I don't understand. I get the stress. I got to see hangings, people getting stabbed, everything, dude. Like, they don't talk to me. They ask me if I need to help or nothing. I know. I know. I I know. I've worked some cases with you, man. Do you know you know Corpal Garcia? They call him Bob. Where does he Where does he normally work? For you, man. Oh, yeah. Yeah. That's my kid stepfather. I cannot let him know about this. Okay. That's my kid. Me and him were cool, too, man. It doesn't mean you still can't be cool, man. No, he's a good guy to my kids. Like, he co-arent really good, man. That's what I'm saying. This is deeper than what you think. I I know. It's a It's a small community. I know. I know, man. It'll be okay in the end, though, man. I I know right now it it's it seems terrible and I and I wouldn't disagree with that, but sometimes you got to hit your lowest to see your highest and um I'll I'll I'll uh be sure to document everything, bro. How cooperative you were, man. I'm telling you right now, never bring that in to facility for an inmate. I I'll give you a drug test right now. Well, it's something we just have to ask. It's not we're not necessarily saying that you were but like but it's something we have to look into because obviously when you're position any any detention officer's position whether it's you know cadet to lieutenant to warden it doesn't even really matter. It's it's a question when this situation arises we have to ask and it's something we have to look into. You know it's it's our it's our authority and the public demands it. So, u when he's asking me these question, he's not just saying that you're doing it. Um, but it's something that we we have to look into. You know what I mean? Yeah. Like I said, I'll take a year test and show you guys. No, you said you were going to Peter, right? Yeah, I know. I'll do it right now. Um, so did they put you um what was the leave? Is it paid or unpaid? Paid. But I'll I'll I'll even resign right now, man. Just I I can't Well, I mean, I I I can't give you any advice, but I mean, they're putting you on paid leave. I mean, in in our in the law's eyes, you're you're innocent till proven guilty. I mean, you know what I mean? Well, I that's the law. I mean, we have probable cause to arrest you, but it doesn't mean you're guilty. You know what I mean? And that's why there's a court process. I'm not the judge. I I am just the officer, you know what I mean? So, it's not like this is the end of it. This is, you know, this is the end. Um there's still a process has to go through. Have to go to court and everything eventually. Eventually. Yeah. Um yeah, it's uh so generally uh felonies are handled through the district attorney's office. Um I know, man. I know. I know. It's Yeah. Any any measurable amount. Cocaine, heroin, meth, anything like that, it's it's all the same. Um, you know, if it were marijuana or something, it's a misdemeanor. But the the harder drugs are are felonies. you about wrapped up. Like I said, man, I we we take no no interest in this. This this is not what we want to do, but I'm telling you things will get better. I got to go sit in a cell right now. The warden wants to talk to you in private. Are you all right with that? You okay with that? The kid, man. I know he's pissed. I let his ass down. Mhm. He's not mad. He's not mad. Disappointed, I'm sure. But can I talk to dear? I want them to see me crying. Yeah, we're going to talk if we told him as soon as we were done, we're going to have him come in here and talk with you. Look, I'm embarrassing you. No, come here. It's okay. you. Um, it's going to be hard. It's going to be some rough time for you right now, but uh, you'll get through it. It ain't the end of the world, man. Okay. Have a good talk. Put the word in. He's known you since you were a kid. Okay. One of my my kids that that officer for you guys, Bob Garcia, corporal. Okay. Me and him go parent really good, man. But I'll tell him, please don't tell him. I'll tell him, man. I don't want my kids for me. I have them 50/50. I want them to take it from me. Yeah, my word. I'm I won't tell. I'll tell it. Okay, that works. Hold on. Let me ask you something. Yeah. you guys have you decide what you're going to charge him with? Um, and the minimum possession and then um probably the bringing because it's on prison ground. There's a sign when you come in saying you don't know. Okay. So, it's probably going to be both. Okay. It's a fourth degree and a third degree. And are you going to walk you walk them back to do the booking and take as professionally as we um you know, if we can clear the hallways or Yeah, of course. Yeah. Did you have a good talk with him? Is there anybody I can call for you, man? Yeah. Can I make a phone call? Who do you want to call? Thomas. Thomas? Yeah. Who's that? He's like my brother, my roommate. Um, what's his number? Awake right now? Yeah. I don't know. He might. Okay. I want to call my girlfriend, man, but I remember last four digits. Okay. Oh, yeah. Cuz your phone's on here. Okay. Okay. Um, give me just a second, man. You okay? All right. Uh, so we'll make let you make a phone call um through here. They'll give you a phone. Okay. Um uh that way you can at least let them know what's going what's going on. I know you want to talk to somebody. I know I'm just a stranger to you, but um I feel for you, man. No, you're you're familiar to me, man. Your name wasn't familiar. I I couldn't Well, I deal with so many of you guys. I You have a big uh a lot of people over here. So, um, do you have anything else on you, man? Nothing on you. What's that ring for? Grandfathers. Grandfathers. Really? I'm sorry, man. Pretty close to him. How about your necklaces? You good, man? I'm going to You're a pretty big dude. I'm going to put two cuffs on. Okay, man. No, we're good. Sorry, I forgot to tell you. Thanks for that one. Is this yours, too? Good. Okay, I'm just going to carry all this over. Amen. Get the other stuff. Oh, okay. 17. Let's just Do you know how much cash you have in here? $6. How much? $6. $6. Okay. Straight in here. Huh? I just want to just I just set the camera off. That's all. $6. You have is it just one necklace? Yeah. Okay. Give us a welcome sit down. Give us a few minutes. Right. Checking on. You okay? Yeah. There you go. Okay. Um, so today is the 8th of November. Um, in your off, what's your official title? I am STI K9 and STIU special security threat intelligence unit. Yes. Okay. Um, and you work for Santa Fe County, Santa. Okay. Um, so I understand you had some involvement today with an incident regarding a lieutenant who works here um and some alleged narcotics. Can you explain your involvement in this process? Yes. So today we were my me and my team were advised to do a uh rand random uh staff search. Okay. So we selected three three officers. Two were officers, one was a lieutenant. um did our normal procedure and then talking to them, letting them know what's going to happen, having the officers and the liendant sign a waiver saying that we search their vehicle. Um at that time, I escorted another officer out officer, his name is Officer White, Sean White. Okay. I es escorted him to his car. I was assigned to him. Um during my time with him, he refused to let me search his car. Um from there, he he left. He He just left the premises. He just left. He left the premises. Yeah. I mean, he came back. We talked for a little while and I again tried to, you know, convince him to like, "Hey, let's search your car if you have nothing nothing to worry about." But he refused. So, is that unusual? It's very unusual. Okay. Um, we So, the other officer that we searched, he was flying. He went through the process and nothing was found on him. The lieutenant carpulled with uh with Officer White. So, what's the lieutenant's name? I'm sorry. What's the lieutenant's name? Uh, Magic. Co Magic. Okay. So, those two car pulled. It was officer White's car. So, we were searching his car. We tried to search his car. He said no. So, I contacted my supervisor. I was advising her what was going on, what we had attempted to do. And uh as I was calling there, I happened to see a clear white plastic baggie that had a like a white crystal like substance in it. Where was this at? It was in the parking lot. Um where in the parking lot? It was uh if you like Where was it near? I guess you could say cuz it's kind of a big park. It was near the facility. The entrance to the facility is near there. And it was near uh it was like booking or like the front like the admin the admin area. So, were you were you guys going through the employees go through? Yeah, we were going to the employees at Okay. So, we were driving from the facility. Um, I picked it up, told my supervisor while I was on the phone with her. Uh, she then advised me to let one of my team members go to the back and review the camera footage as I test the substance. So, we concluded our our searches since one of the officers drove off, one was complaining, one didn't have a car. uh went to the back while one of my officers was was uh reviewing camera. Me and another officer were field testing. The the substance I was found, the substance was with me the whole time, never changed hands. So, I held on to it the whole time. And during the test process, she assisted me into making sure that I was getting some some of the substance inside the outside the the NIK test kit, tested it, tested positive for methamphetamine. Um and then While my guy was reviewing the cameras, we we noticed some suspicious behavior as the Lieutenant Goen Manin was was walking. It appeared that he stuck his hand in his pocket and dropped a dropped an item on the floor exactly where that packet that found was. We reviewed it multiple times and that packet not once moved within I believe it was approximately a 25 time uh time period. Um, and from there we just uh contacted the wardens, contacted our our direct supervisor and I contacted you guys. Okay. Um, did you search the lieutenant's person? I did not. Um, somebody else did though. Yes, one of my officers, she did. Um, it was in a passage. It was just empty out your pockets. Let me fill your pockets. Nothing was located. Yeah, that's that's good to do. And um when uh you noticed the the item on the ground, what what was it? What did it look like to you? As soon as I saw it, I said that's myth. Okay. That's Christian meth. And I say that just I mean I you deal a lot. I deal with it a lot. I mean that's one of my main duties in my position is dealing with the narcotics here. Okay. So you've seen meth. You've seen a lot of drugs. I've seen a lot of drugs. I'm the K9 officer. So I mean I have to run my dog through actual drugs sometimes. I mean, so you have a lot of training then with dealing with narcotics. Narcotics. Okay. Um the item um what was it contained in? It was in a small little plastic baggie with like alien faces on one side of it. The other side was clear. Okay. Um, and so, uh, going back to the the, uh, the operation, are these usually like scheduled or is it kind of like a last minute thing or depends really, um, depends on the intelligence we gathered throughout the week, throughout the month. Um, this time it was just random. Our boss uh, just said, "Hey, I want to do some staff searches. Select three." Selected three. And so, just random search. So, the people you you selected, you didn't have intelligence on them that they were doing anything or nothing. I mean we we I guess we have intelligence on anything that goes on in the facility. Oh yeah, of course. But overall with this operation, it was nothing on intelligence on these certain individuals. It was just just random. Okay. Just chance. Just happened. Okay. All right. Um and employees, I'm assuming, uh correct me if I'm wrong, uh are required to complete the searches. Yeah. you know, um, as a we have them sign a waiver and even when they get employed, they acknowledge that if they're a member of Santa Fe County, they're, uh, entire, what's the word? They're, uh, subject to search. Okay. And, uh, because of the controlled environment. Exactly. And also, it goes for visitors as well that come in, they have signs all over the before you enter the facility that you are subject to search. Yeah. as being an officer, an employee of the of the of the jail, you're subject to search without any question. And the only the paper I was trying to give him was just to get his license and his license number on it really. And he he refused. Um, did he say why he refused? Uh, no. He just kept telling me he's no, he refuses. He refuses. And, uh, toward the end he told me, "Well, I don't have uh, insurance." And I said, "I'm not looking for insurance. It's not my job." Yeah. I, you know, I'm just want to look inside your car subject to search to a directive given to me and uh he just said no while I refuse. So it's basically your your uh objective is to find uh not just narcotics but any contraband any type of contraband that can be a weapon or any threat to our facility to the inmates or to our staff or any potential weapon that can hurt staff members themselves or the inmates. So that's our job is we just make sure that we stop any any threat coming into understood. Um did you ever have any other contact with lieutenant? Um after uh finding the after the fact the little bit contact that we did have I was I just asked him why did officer white leave you know they carpool together they work together and he was just telling me the same thing. Oh it's cuz he doesn't have any insurance registration. So he didn't know anything about the item that he dropped then or did you I uh at that point I hadn't connected it yet because we hadn't reviewed the video. So okay I was just asking just bas basic questions keeping it short and when we went back that's when we saw it but after we saw the video we had no further contact with him. Okay. Um anything further you can add anything else you think at this point? No. Awesome. I appreciate your time man. I appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you.
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