How come so little has been said in the media about the largest
theft in Dept. of Justice history?DEA THEFT OF 6
MILLION BUCKS!
Selected clippings from some local police beat columns
Deputy prosecutor resigns after methamphetamine pipe found in briefcase
The Associated Press
03/12/98 7:11 PM Eastern
SEATTLE (AP) -- A King County deputy prosecutor resigned earlier this month
after security devices in the county courthouse revealed a methamphetamine
pipe in his briefcase as he entered the building.
The 35-year-old lawyer, who has worked in the prosecutor's office for more
than two years, quit his job three days later on March 5, said Dan Donohoe,
a spokesman for the prosecutor's office.
He has not been charged with a crime and his name was not released.
Neither the prosecutor's office nor the King County sheriff's office
disclosed the incident. Authorities acknowledged it Wednesday after the
Seattle Post-Intelligencer received a tip and asked them about it.
Seattle Post-Intelligencer received a tip and asked them about it.
Donohoe said the deputy declined to be interviewed by the media. King
County Prosecutor Norm Maleng declined to discuss the allegations.
Donohoe said the prosecutor's office has no indication that the deputy used
drugs on the job. There also was no indication the pipe was evidence in a
criminal case, he said.
Metal detectors and an X-ray machine at a courthouse entrance revealed the
pipe in the briefcase, said spokeswoman Joanne Elledge in the King County
sheriff's office, which follows up on items turned up by those devices.
Security officers also found what they believed was drug residue in a
plastic bag, and a laboratory later confirmed it to be methamphetamine,
Elledge said. Officers also took a scale found in the briefcase into
evidence, she said.
"He was not arrested, but he was questioned and released," Donohoe said.
"We were notified a short period of time after it happened."
Elledge said officers saw no need to arrest the deputy prosecutor since
they did not consider him a flight risk.
King County officers are completing an investigation of the incident. They
will refer possible criminal charges to office of state Attorney General
Christine Gregoire to avoid any appearance of a conflict of interest with
the prosecutor's office, Elledge said.
From the Everett Herald:
JUDGE TAKES
IT EASY ON POT GROWERS!
The Snohomish County Treasurer BOB DANTINI caught
with cocaine
excerpts from the Mukilteo Tribune
- 09/09/97 *juvenile incident*
On sept. 9, an officer answered a call in the 5000 block of
Harbour Pointe Blvd, responding to a security guard who had found two
juveniles in the woods between two Harbour Pointe Schools. The security
guard had found three packs of cigars, a pack of cigarettes,
a small retractable razor knife and an Swiss army knife.
The Swiss army knife had on it what looked to be marijuana residue.
The juveniles told the officer they found thetobacco
products
behind Payless. When the officer asked them about the residue on the knife,
one boy said it had been on there more than a year.
- 10/02/97 *suspicious photographs*
A women in the 11700 block of state road 525 reported to the police
on Sept 13 that she had found some suspicious photos while developing
film.
She believed they were photos of a marijuana growing operation.
The officer tried to contact the owner of the film by telephone but was
unsuccessful.
- condensed from the Seattle P-I
10/20/97 *Yule glow in TV cabinet goes to pot*
MEDFORD OREGON --- Kyron grow told a judge that the marijuana plant
found growing in his television cabinet last June was being rasied to
be a Christmas tree.
But Jackson County Circuit Judge Patricia Cain put a damper on his
holiday spirit Tuesday.
"NOW YOUR CHRISTMAS PRESENT IS BEING A CONVICTED FELON"
the judge replied.
- excerpted from the Seattle P-I
11/13/97 *Bong found on restricted
Hanford Property*
RICHLAND WASH. --- A marijuana pipe has been found discovered on
restricted part of the Hanford Nuclear Reservation.
The pipe - a bong - was found by a worker Wednesday in a parking
lot in the 200 East area of the spawling nuclear weapons site.
Benton County Undersheriff Bill Morey said the bong probably
belonged to a Hanford worker or someone working for the various
subcontractors helping with the cleanup.
"You need a badge to get to that point" Morey said.
Hanford spokesperson, Craig Kuhlman said that the worker wasn't
sure what it was. A sheriff's deputy indentified the object.
Drugs and drug paraphernalia are banned from the
Hanford site,
which contains the nation's largests volume of nuclear waste.
- excerpted from the Seattle P-I
12/03/97 Why smuggle pot to the NW?
AUTHORITIES PUZZLED; THERE'S PLENTY HERE!
on December 2nd a sailboat from Thailand named OK TEDI
dumped around 5000 thousand of lbs of marijuana, was set on fire
and sank off of Cape Flattery.
The Coast guard was said to have rescued about 3,800 lbs of the Thai weed.
"We have so much homegrown ( marijuana) that goes undetected
of the same or better quality, it's kind of befuddling to us why
(Thai marijuana)would be coming into Seattle" DEA spokesperson
JULIANNA WEST
- COP SELLS POT TO SUPPORT IMPRISONED SISTERS CHILDREN
PORTLAND: SEATTLE-P-I 11/14/97
Officer facing marijuana charge granted lower bail
A judge has lowered the bail for a police officer accused of dealing
marijuana. Multnomah County Circut Judge Micheal Marcus lowered
Steven Regalado's bail from more than $1 million to $92,500.
Marcus also ruled that Regalado will be released pending trial if
police find he was not involved in other criminal activity.
Prosecutors objected, saying the officer has threatened a witness.
A court official found that Regalado had built up huge debts, was depressed
over the shooting of a fellow officer and wa overwhelmed with the care
of his mother and the children of his imprisoned sister
Marijuana; Not Guilty as Charged