DATE: Friday, April 4, 1997                 TAG: 9704040662

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY SUSIE STOUGHTON,STAFF WRITER

DATELINE: NORFOLK                           LENGTH:   53 lines

FORMER SUFFOLK OFFICER PLEADS GUILTY TO EXTORTION, FACES 20 YEARS IN PRISON

Former Suffolk Police drug investigator Darien L. Brannen admitted in federal court Thursday that he had teamed up with a dealer, splitting profits in return for protection and at times receiving payments while on duty.

Knowing he could face a lengthy prison sentence and heavy fines, Brannen pleaded guilty to eight counts of extortion before U.S. District Judge J. Calvitt Clarke.

According to the prosecutor's summary, between Jan. 29 and March 18, when Brannen was arrested by FBI agents at the McDonald's on Holland Road, he received $4,220 from his partner - a drug informant Brannen had recruited to return to his former heroin trade.

The informant contacted other Suffolk police officers, who later called in the FBI. Brannen's meetings with his contact were videotaped at Days Inn in Franklin and Green Pines and Comfort Inn motels in Suffolk - at times showing Brannen stuffing money into his sock and once putting cash in his rear pocket.

While on duty on March 4, Brannen drove his police car to the Comfort Inn on Holland Road, walked into a room with his police radio and received $500, said U.S. Attorney Robert J. Seidel.

Then he and his contact discussed selling a large amount of heroin for a $2 million profit so they could quit dealing, Seidel told the court.

During that fifth meeting, Seidel said, Brannen told the contact that he would provide any information that came across his desk and described police officers working narcotics detail, their undercover cars and their shifts.

At their next meeting, Brannen revealed information contained in a fictitious report that police had planted on his desk, Seidel said.

Brannen, who will be sentenced June 30, could receive up to 20 years in prison and five years supervised probation on each count. He also could face a maximum $250,000 fine and a mandatory assessment of $100 on each count.

Brannen, 30, had been a Suffolk police officer 4 1/2 years before his arrest. He had been assigned to the special investigations unit since last July. He resigned after his arrest.

Charles R. Burke, Brannen's court-appointed attorney, asked the judge to allow his release from jail on bond. But Seidel objected, explaining that Magistrate Judge Tommy E. Miller had refused to grant bond at a detention hearing two weeks ago because Brannen had threatened the informant if there was a double cross.

``That makes the court uneasy about his being at liberty,'' Clarke said.

Brannen's role as a police officer was to ``catch criminals, not be a criminal,'' Clarke said.

As Brannen turned to allow federal marshals to handcuff him, he mouthed to his wife: ``I love you,'' then he blew her a kiss as he was led away. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo

Darien L. Brannen KEYWORDS: SUFFOLK POLICE DEPARTMENT EXTORTION

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