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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE August 9, 2006
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United
States Attorney's Office
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION |
Three Memphis Police Officers Indicted for Civil Rights and Drug Conspiracy Violations
Memphis, Tennessee - David Kustoff, United States Attorney for the Western District of Tennessee, Wan J. Kim, Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division, My Harrison, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and Larry Godwin, Director of the Memphis Police Department today announced that a federal grand jury indicted three Memphis police officers in a 50 count indictment. Former officer Arthur Sease was indicted on all 50 counts, while officers Antoine Owens and Alexander Johnson were each charged with two conspiracy counts for conspiring to violate civil rights and to distribute controlled substances.
The indictment alleges that from late 2003 until early 2006, the defendants and others, led by Sease, worked with drug dealers to arrange drug transactions, when drug dealers arrived to consummate the transaction, Sease and other officers while in uniform and in marked squad cars would detain the drug dealers and then steal the drugs and the money. The officers then shared the drugs and money between themselves and their co-conspirators. The officers would then sell the drugs and keep the profits.
“The Justice Department takes these charges very seriously. We are committed to prosecuting those who abuse their positions of trust and authority,” said United States Attorney David Kustoff.
The charges include one count of conspiracy to violate civil rights, in violation of 18 U.S.C. 241; one count of conspiracy to possess a controlled substance with intent to distribute, in violation of 21 U.S.C. 846; 15 counts of violating civil rights under color of law, in violation of 18 U.S.C. 242; 14 counts of interference with commerce by threats or violence, in violation of the Hobbs Act, 18 U.S.C. 1951; 12 counts of possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute, in violation of 21 U.S.C. 841; and 15 counts of using a gun in relation to a crime of violence or drug trafficking crime, in violation of 18 U.S.C. 942. The mandatory minimum sentence for conviction on the firearms charges is 355 years without parole.
If convicted, Sease faces a potential sentence of life, while Owens and Johnson could be sentenced to up to thirty years in prison.
U. S. Attorney David Kustoff commended the exceptional investigation conducted by Lieutenant Wayne Hightower and Sergeants Billy Greenwood and Matt Whittington of the Memphis Police Department Security Squad and Special Agent Tracey Harris of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Assistant United States Attorney Steve Parker of the United States Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Tennessee and trial attorney Jonathan Skrmetti from the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice are prosecuting the case.
The three officers have been taken into federal custody.
Note: An indictment is an accusation, and a defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.