Ex-law officers were part of FBI sting    Edited to add, $30k was seized, only $25k was turned into property room. Where did the other $5k go??? Guess where!
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by: RHETT MORGAN World Staff Writer
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
6/17/2009 3:29:10 AM


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View affidavit for the search warrant from McIntosh County Sheriff's Office ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––


MUSKOGEE — A former Mc- Intosh County sheriff and undersheriff who were charged last month with taking confiscated cash from a motorist were caught up in an FBI sting that originated with another traffic stop 19 months ago, court records show.

Terry Alan Jones, 36, and Mykol Travis Brookshire, 38, both of Eufaula, resigned after being charged in federal court with depriving Adan Sandival of his civil rights on allegations that they stole his money during a traffic stop.

The FBI said the Sheriff's Office used its official position to "gain personal benefit through the theft of funds seized from highway stops," according to an FBI affidavit unsealed Monday in U.S. District Court in Muskogee.

County Commissioners selected Joe Hogan of Checotah as the new sheriff two weeks ago.

Jones and Brookshire were involved in a May 21 traffic stop on Business U.S. 69 south of Interstate 40. An undercover FBI employee who had concealed six $5,000 bundles in the spare tire wheel well of the vehicle's trunk was stopped, records show.

In a recorded conversation with Drug Enforcement Administration Agent Darren Lane, Jones said that day that his office had seized $25,000 in U.S. currency from the vehicle, documents show.

In applications to search the Sheriff's Office and Jones' and Brookshire's homes, federal authorities had sought the recovery of $30,000 in cash bearing serial numbers recorded by the FBI, wrapping materials used to package the cash, and any recorded images taken at the scene of the traffic stop.

Five cellophane wrappers were recovered May 22 from the McIntosh County Sheriff's Office in Eufaula, search warrant records show.

U.S. Attorney Sheldon Sperling said Tuesday that authorities have recovered the $30,000.

The investigation of the defendants began after Nov. 5, 2007, when Brookshire, then a deputy, pulled over Marco Antonio Delgado-Hernandez on Interstate 40, a federal affidavit shows.

During a search of Delgado-Hernandez's vehicle, Brookshire found what he reported to be $7,000, records show.

The motorist was released, and the next day, Assistant District Attorney Scott Biggs ordered the money returned to Delgado-Hernandez.

Delgado-Hernandez arrived at the District Attorney's Office in Eufaula on Oct. 27, 2008, to request the return of his money. He left soon thereafter without the money, having been told to return in a couple of weeks, an affidavit for a search warrant says.

Biggs then questioned Sheriff's Office personnel for more than four hours about where the money was, the document says. Jones, who had been away from his office all afternoon, returned about 5:50 p.m. and produced from his desk a yellow envelope containing cash, the affidavit says.

Biggs counted the money and returned it to Jones, who told the prosecutor he didn't want to return the money to Delgado-Hernandez before talking to Brookshire, the document says.

Sperling said Tuesday that the seized money has since been returned to Delgado-Hernandez.

Brookshire arrived at the scene of the May 21 traffic stop after the motorist was detained by another deputy, records show.

The undercover FBI employee was instructed that if stopped, he was to provide vague and misleading information and agree to a search of his vehicle.

The undercover agent was told to sign a release of currency form if he wanted to avoid jail. The agent was released from custody about noon, and a subsequent search of his vehicle conducted by the FBI found that all of the bundles were missing, records show.

The federal investigation of Jones also showed links between him and the relative of a known drug supplier, the affidavit says.

No court date for Jones and Brookshire has been scheduled.


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World staff writer Curtis Killman contributed to this story.


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Rhett Morgan 581-8395
[email protected]

i don't get it?  they seized money and documented that they were doing so and impounded at the station?

Read the affidavit, they seized $30k and only reported $25k

Read the affidavit, they seized $30k and only reported $25k

Thieves with badges.

ah that makes sense. haha hope they enjoy federal prison.

They seized cash under asset forfeiture and pocketed a portion of it, which is apparently an ongoing practice for those individuals or perhaps dept.

I had 5 pounds but they only recorded 3. What am I going to do stand in front of the judge and explain the mistake.

Another victory for the War on Freedom errr Drugs.

LOL

Sucks for them.

Undercover FBI with six $5k bundles is stopped and they seize them, and the report states five $5k were seized.


Niiiiiiiiiiiice

I'm ashamed to say that I know the (former) Sheriff Jones. I always thought that he was a good cop. Guess I might have been wrong.

So how much money do you think they managed to steal before they finally got caught?

Good riddance, have fun in prison.

As a side note I think the police shouldn't receive any revenue from tickets or seizures since that gives them incentive to enforce the "law" in certain possibly unjust ways.

they only stole 5 grand?

thats kinda measly i was expecting they would report like 10K and take the rest

I can only cast so much blame. If I stopped a drug smuggler and he had lots of drugs and 1 million in cash....well....I'm only human, and man enough to admit it.
DAMN hard thing to walk away from!

Could you break through a wall in Saddam's palace and find 100 million dollars and NOT take a single bill?

PLEASE say you will NEVER be a cop.

no worries

for what it's worth, no way in hell would I even consider taking any of the drugs.

Good question, I'd hate to think that he sold a career for a measly $5k.

No good dirty thieves.  Fuckers

Damn,  I drove through there on Sunday with my NH tags...

a thief is a thief regardless of amount.

no kidding! How bad would that suck!?

I doubt it though. If the FBI set up a sting, I'm sure they had more than a hunch.

This.

But wait! Police officers would never do this!!

These cops need to go to prison for a very very long time!!

Was the guy in "No country for old men" a bad person for taking the money?

- isolated incident,

- just a couple rogue's in a hick dept

- 2%

Between this and "Troopergate", the OHP scandal with a Trooper lying on his report about contact with a Paramedic, this is truly a sad day for Oklahoma LEO's.

Oklahoma has 77 counties...take out Oklahoma County and Tulsa County and we have 75 "hick" counties. Thank God the biggest percent are good cops. We sure have had a couple of black eyes recently.

So basically the Feds were carrying a large amount of hidden cash in a sting and it got confiscated and went God-knows-where.

Gee, I wonder what would happen if the FBI caught me with large amounts of cash hidden in my car.  

Fucking hypocrites.

yep.
God only knows what brought about this sting.

Had the officers been suspected of doing this?

Was it a setup to take them down for other reasons, knowing that a large majority of officers would take a pinch?

...makes you wonder.

LEO's claim to hold themselves to a higher standard, however when one succumbs to corruption shouldn't the punishment be more severe due to the "higher standard"?

Isolated Incident!

leave that out of your oral review board

Don't let the badge and snazzy uniform fool ya!

In this case, yep...



Somehow I don't think that 5k was worth it...



 

Cops are human just like the rest of us - there are bad apples....



Hopefully, the action of the FBI here will help to keep some of those bad apples in line, via fear of getting caught....





 

Nothing hypocrytical about it... The 'sting' was against these cops for stealing... They purposefully hid the cash where it would be found & siezed, so they could bust these officers for pocketing some of it...





If the FBI (or MOST LEOs) confiscate cash, it gets logged into evidence, etc...





Had these cops reported and logged in all 30k, they would have passed the test... Instead, they took 5K and will go to Club Fed because of it...





 

Yes it should.

B... I... N... G... O...

you're shittin me..

Asset forfeiture is bad for a whole host of reasons but this is a big one.  There's just WAY too much temptation that's there every day to do something bad, and way to many justifications for doing it.  Just like lots of other bad laws, it tends to create crime/evil where none would exist otherwise.

you can bet they and probably others in the Dept have taken thousands more off of that highway and Interstate. i grew up not far from there.

Of course it should... Nothing wrong with stricter punishment for thieves, ever...



And in many cases, 'Theft under color of law' IS a more serious crime.... Not to mention civil rights charges (which don't apply to ordinary theives)...



Based on the information given here, it is VERY likely that these guys WILL get significantly more prison time because of using their badges to steal....



 

He was deaded, I guess it didn't matter in the long run.

I would disagree with that, mainly because the 'temptation' to steal evidence is there either way...



A cop who would steal asset-forfeiture money would just as soon steal any other evidence money.....



 

This was a direct sting operation.  Clearly the FBI found a pattern of abuse before they took action.

I'd bet they get little to no time myself. Less then a year easily.

I strongly approve of the FBI's actions in this matter.  There is absolutely no place in law enforcement, or even in America, as far as I'm concerned,

for anybody who'd steal money,  ESPECIALLY in the course of his official duties.



As far as I'm concerned, the proper penalty for corruption on the part of a public servant should be death by firing squad in every case.



I firmly believe that responsibility and accountability must go hand in hand with authority,  and they must all be proportionate to each other.





CJ

I agree with you.. which is why, where I am at least we DONT get any revenue from tickets..the STATE does, but the town get's IIRC 20% of the fines to cover Court Costs.

You'd be surprised how stupid people can be.  Sadly there's no Crystal Ball that says "This guys is going to be a Sittum" when he walks through the door the first time.