[Politech] St. Louis crime boss used "confidential" police database, indictment says [priv]

From: Declan McCullagh (declan@private)
Date: Mon Nov 28 2005 - 17:21:44 PST


Other examples, from the archives:
http://www.politechbot.com/p-02347.html
http://www.politechbot.com/p-02763.html

-Declan

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Crime boss uses police database
Date: Mon, 14 Nov 2005 06:09:13 -0500
From: Richard Diamond <me@private>
To: declan@private

http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/stlouiscitycounty/story/59BB18ACEB5349DF862570B9001C67C3?OpenDocument

Crooks covet justice databases
By Peter Shinkle
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
Sunday, Nov. 13 2005

ST. LOUIS -- Adrian Minnis ran a heroin distribution ring that was
violent and tightly knit, making it difficult for informers to penetrate it,
federal authorities say.

The gang also had a secret weapon: It cultivated a police officer to dig 
into a
law enforcement database to figure out which of its customers might be
undercover informers, according to an indictment filed against Minnis and 20
other alleged ring members.

There is no indication the officer actually identified an informer, or 
that his
prying into the REJIS database led to anyone being hurt. Yet the accusation
against St. Louis police Officer Antoine Gordon, who has since resigned,
suggests that crime rings can target REJIS or other databases to insulate
themselves against investigations.

"A police officer's participation in a drug conspiracy heightens the risk to
civilians and other law enforcement officers," then-U.S. Attorney Jim Martin
said at the time of Gordon's indictment in February. "Such conduct is
inexcusable."

[...remainder snipped...]
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