After an Indianapolis police officer appeared in court this morning on charges he knowingly sold a firearm to a convicted burglar, the Marion County prosecutor admitted he’s worried about the fate of the investigator’s pending drug cases.
Jason Barber, 32, appeared in Marion Superior Court on charges of selling a handgun to a felon and official misconduct. Barber, a narcotics detective, was arrested at his home Friday. He is the fourth police officer to be arrested in the last two weeks.
“These officers were in this court several weeks ago testifying against defendants,” Prosecutor Carl Brizzi said after the hearing. “Now they are defendants.”
Barber is the third narcotics officer to be arrested, although police say Barber’s alleged crime had nothing to do with the federal investigation that landed his colleagues, former officers Jason Edwards and Robert Long, in jail.
The arrests have damaged more than a dozen other pending cases and could lead to successful appeals for convicted drugs dealers who may have been sent to prison based on testimony from one of the tainted officers, Brizzi said.
“Every other man and woman on the force is tarnished by this,” Brizzi said. “Every single case these officers were on becomes less strong.”
Long, Edwards and former patrol officer James Davis are accused of stealing marijuana and cash from drug dealers. They are being held in the Marion County Jail while awaiting trial in U.S. District Court.
According to a probable cause affidavit, Indiana State Police Officer Donna Elam, assigned to the FBI Safe Streets Task Force, used a confidential informant to catch Barber illegally selling the handgun.
The informant, who was not identified, gave $110 in marked cash to Barber in exchange for a .25-caliber Sundance handgun on March 16. The informant wore a hidden recording device during the transaction, which took place inside Barber’s car in the parking lot of the Walgreen’s at 711 E. 38th St., according to the document.
Barber was held Monday in the Marion County jail with bond set at $100,000. He will appear in court on Wednesday to seek to have his bond reduced.
No comments:
Post a Comment