Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, January 11, 1992 TAG: 9201110346
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DOUGLAS PARDUE and VICTORIA RATCLIFF
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
2 VICE OFFICERS' `IMPROPER' SECRET FUND REVEALED
THE MONEY two former vice officers took was used to buy equipment instead of for personal gain, making the acts improper but not illegal, police say.Two former commanders of the Roanoke vice squad created and used a secret fund with money seized from suspected drug dealers, an internal police investigation has revealed.
The discovery of the unauthorized fund, which was used to buy such things as portable cellular phones and video equipment for the vice squad, led to the dismissal of the squad's former lieutenant and the resignation of his sergeant.
Former Lt. George Sutherland, a 23 1/2-year veteran, filed an appeal of his dismissal this week, saying he did nothing wrong and hopes to be reinstated. His former sergeant, Dave Ragland, resigned last month during the internal investigation. Ragland has said his conscience is clear and he resigned for personal reasons.
Police sources say all of the money has been accounted for and $11,000 has been returned to the department. The officers kept records of purchases, as well as of where the money had come from, since the fund's creation in 1987.
One source said $17,000 was spent over the years to pay for repairs and paint jobs on undercover vehicles and for assorted investigative equipment. On two occasions, money was used for sandwich trays for federal, state and local members of an organized crime drug task force participating in a round-the-clock undercover operation. Among the questionable purchases, the source said, was a $500 cherry desk for the vice lieutenant.
Many of the purchases might have been approved, but Ragland and Sutherland did not ask for authorization, preferring instead to buy what they wanted when they wanted, police investigators said.
Police are trying to return some money to suspected drug dealers who never were charged and never bothered to reclaim the money that was confiscated.
However, the money being returned is a relatively small portion of the remaining $11,000. The bulk of the money was obtained through court orders as restitution to the vice squad for expenses incurred in drug raids, officials said.
Police officials say the two officers did not do anything illegal, but the did violate departmental rules. The two officers failed to turn over seized money to the property room, maintained a secret fund and made unauthorized purchases, the officials said.
"It started small, well-intended, and it grew and got out of hand, even for them," one high-ranking police official said. The official described the two officers' actions as misfeasance - doing something that is improper, but not illegal because the money was not used for personal gain.
Sutherland and Ragland managed to keep purchases secret because of the very nature of the vice squad - a dozen close-knit officers who live by secrecy, not only on the streets but in the department.
Police officials said the vice officers under Sutherland and Ragland were unaware that Chief M. David Hooper, to whom Sutherland directly reported, had not authorized the use of the money.
The vice officers cooperated in the secrecy because their commanders told them that they did not want drug dealers to know about the special equipment. They also said that they wanted to avoid possible resentment from other officers in the department who did not get the same type of equipment.
Officials said the vice officers simply followed their commanders' orders to seize money, give receipts to suspects from whom they took the money and turn the cash over to Ragland.
Sutherland and Ragland started the fund to get enough cash on hand for "flash" money to make the large drug buys necessary to snare big dealers, one source said.
They decided to create the fund when, on one occasion, vice officers were so strapped for cash that they took money from their own pockets to put together enough "flash" money for a drug deal, one source said.
The source said their reasoning was, "Let's put a flash roll together and not use it for anything." They usually kept the money in an envelope locked in Ragland's desk drawer.
Seized drug money eventually was added to the fund and was used to get state-of-the-art equipment for the vice unit.
When the fund was created, Roanoke was beginning to see large amounts of crack cocaine turn up on the streets. Federal and local police countered the crack invasion with Operation Caribbean Sunset, which resulted in the arrest and conviction of dozens of drug dealers.
As the demands for undercover drug investigations increased, Roanoke vice officers often found themselves lacking specialized equipment that other agencies had, sources said.
They frequently had to borrow the listening devices needed to keep track of officers sent into undercover deals. Roanoke's listening equipment occasionally malfunctioned, leaving backup officers out of touch with what was going on during deals, sources said.
Officers familiar with the situation said Sutherland and Ragland felt they could not get the authorization to purchase the safety and investigative equipment they felt they needed to do their jobs.
Once, according to a source, Ragland tried to get authorization to buy improved bulletproof vests because officers were worried that their vests did not provide adequate neck and side protection. When he could not get approval, he began saving money in the fund.
The $11,000 Ragland turned in at his resignation was to be used to buy the new vests, the source said.
Use of the fund stopped in January 1991, when Lt. Steve Lugar took command of the vice unit. Lugar, who had worked in vice several years earlier, did not know the fund existed and simply began accounting for seized money in the routine manner under departmental rules, officials said.
Police Chief Hooper refused to comment on the internal investigation. However, he confirmed that he recently fired Sutherland, who headed the vice unit until September 1990.
At that time, Sutherland was demoted and transferred after his conviction for drunken driving while driving a Porsche seized from a drug dealer. Sutherland appealed that demotion, and city officials agreed to restore his lieutenant's salary but left his rank at sergeant.
Hooper said he fired Sutherland because creation and use of the secret fund were "not only a violation of police procedures but a violation of trust as well - repeatedly. . . . I feel very strongly that there has to be trust" in order for any command structure to work, he said.
Hooper also said that for years vice officers have had a supply of cash for "flash" money to make necessary undercover deals. The pool - about $2,500 - is enough to make most small and medium-sized deals, and agents never were denied permission to get more money. It just took longer because it had to be applied for from the city, he said.
Hooper said he also never denied permission for the vice squad or any other department to purchase necessary safety and investigative equipment. But, he said, he did not believe the department needed to buy everything that was requested. Much of the high-priced equipment might be used only occasionally, is quickly outdated and could easily be borrowed from other agencies.
Sutherland's attorney, Tom Key, said this week that Sutherland's dismissal was "unfair and without merit." Sutherland, he said, "denies any wrongdoing in connection with the handling or expending of any monies but does acknowledge that he was in a supervisory position."
Ragland, who temporarily commanded the squad after Sutherland's demotion, declined to comment on the secret fund. He said his actions and Sutherland's were so intertwined that he was afraid he might jeopardize Sutherland's appeal.
Sutherland's attorney said that if there was anything improper in the handling of the fund, it happened after Sutherland left the vice unit.
The secret fund was discovered in an internal investigation that began when a drug dealer accused vice officers of stealing more than $6,000 from his home during a search in August.
Commonwealth's Attorney Donald Caldwell decided there was not enough evidence to charge anyone after a city and state police investigation of those allegations. Caldwell said this week that he did not know about the secret fund.
One source close to Ragland said that the former sergeant justified what he was doing because of the vice unit's accomplishments in drug arrests. The source said Ragland thought the equipment was necessary but knew, deep down, that he wasn't getting it the right way and that the purchases eventually would come back to haunt him.
Police officials concede that, several years ago, the vice squad occasionally lacked ready access to cash for fast-breaking undercover drug deals. That was largely because they had to take the time to apply for the money through the city general fund.
Vice officers still have to go through channels for cash, but they now have faster access because more than $100,000 has been turned over to the Police Department for its narcotics enforcement. The money was given to the city under a federal program to give seized drug profits to local police agencies that help in cooperative drug investigations.