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Drug informant stings cops as case against merchant dropped
Merchant's case increases scrutiny
By Paul Nelson
Published 11:28 pm, Friday, April 26, 2013


Scotia

Donald Andrews' nightmare came to an end Thursday when he walked out of a village courtroom.

Three weeks after being jailed on multiple felony drug offenses, a village judge granted a motion by a prosecutor to dismiss the criminal charges against the business owner who had been falsely accused by a paid confidential informant of selling cocaine twice from his store in late March. The case is causing authorities to scrutinize their use of such informants.

In early April, Andrews' Dabb City Smoke Shop on Mohawk Avenue was raided by police and he was slapped with two counts each of criminal possession of a controlled substance and criminal sale of a controlled substance, all felonies. If convicted, the 24-year-old Andrews, who has no criminal record, could have faced 25 years behind bars.

The Schenectady man is instead back in business hawking bongs, hookahs, shisha tobacco and incense, among other items. He's still upset by how his life was nearly destroyed by a paid police informant who authorities have confirmed set him up.

The man, who was working for the Schenectady County Sheriff's Office, visited the shop March 25 and bought a $15 bowl pipe, recalled Andrews. He said the customer acted "weird" and even stuck his head in Andrews' employee office when he returned March 29 and bought the same type of pipe before leaving.

On April 6, several sheriff's deputies and Scotia police officers stormed his business, handcuffed Andrews and ushered him into a back area, repeatedly telling him was being arrested for selling cocaine and that he'd better fess up. The officers confiscated his cash register, cell phone, wallet, cash and the store's security cameras.

"I didn't know what to think at all," Andrews told the Times Union Friday with his attorney, Michael Horan, present. Amid the commotion, Andrews said his mind flashed to the man, who he went to school with and occasionally would see at local bars.

His legal problems forced Andrews to shutter the smoke shop from April 6 to 18. Since he's reopened, business hasn't been as brisk as before. Andrews contends it has something to do with the media coverage around his arrest.

He said a sheriff's deputy visited him at his home on April 17 and explained to him that after reviewing footage from the store security cameras authorities determined Andrews had not committed a crime. The lawman apologized.

That's not enough for Andrews and his attorney. They plan to file a lawsuit, and Horan said the time has come for police and prosecutors to re-consider the role of confidential informants.

"The system uses the criminals to fight crime but we may want to see if these same criminals now are not using the system to commit crimes and benefit themselves. Who's using whom?" Horan asked.

Speaking in general terms, District Attorney Robert Carney, said "there are controls that most departments have for dealing" with informants.

"There are issues we are studying at this juncture and it would be premature for me to fully address the issue but it is off great concern," said Carney.

Sheriff Dominic Dagostino said Friday that security system footage showed the informant removing a small quantity of cocaine from his rear end when Andrews walked away from the counter.

"In hindsight my officers got burned, and this will cause them to be even more cautious in their dealing with informants," said Dagostino. "Our office worked within the confines of our policy with respect to searching the informant."

The informant had been thoroughly searched, but the sheriff's office doesn't conduct cavity searches, a policy the sheriff argued is in line with the protocol of other law enforcement agencies.

Dagostino said that the informant, for whom authorities have issued a felony warrant, had "proven credible and reliable" in the past. Still, the retired Rotterdam detective, understands the inherent risk of using informants.

"There is no informant out there that wraps themselves in the flag and does these things for God and country," said Dagostino.

Nationwide, law enforcement agencies rely on informants, some with criminal backgrounds, to build their criminal cases. Besides the Sheriff's Office, the Schenectady Police Department also uses informants, said Carney. Some are paid, while others receive favorable treatment on their criminal cases in exchange for working with police.

The prosecutor said Friday that his office requested the criminal charges against Andrews be dropped after "further evidence had come to light" and the case was "unprosecutable." The circumstances under which Andrews was arrested are under investigation, added Carney.

Horan surmised that the informant may have been motivated by the money. Authorities would not disclose how much the informant was paid. Andrews, who opened his store on Jan. 21, estimates he has spent about $10,000 on attorney's fees and bail money.

pnelson@timesunion.com • 518-454-5347 • @apaulnelson

Read more: http://www.timesunion.com/loca.....70.php#ixzz2Rfqg4Hnn

Quoted from visitor

Strange because of what the informant risks by doing it, they are actually committing  more serious crime than the person they are trying to set up.

Quoted from visitor

Strange because of what the informant risks by doing it, they are actually committing  more serious crime than the person they are trying to set up.

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By Vicki Brown

L E B A N O N, Tenn.


A 61-year-old man was shot to death by

police while his wife was handcuffed in another room during a drug

raid on the wrong house.

Police admitted their mistake, saying faulty information from a drug informant contributed to the death of John Adams Wednesday night. They intended to raid the home next door.

The two officers, 25-year-old Kyle Shedran and 24-year-old Greg Day, were placed on administrative leave with pay.

“They need to get rid of those men, boys with toys,” said Adams’ 70-year-old widow, Loraine.

John Adams was watching television when his wife heard pounding on the door. Police claim they identified themselves and wore police jackets. Loraine Adams said she had no indication the men were police.

“I thought it was a home invasion. I said ‘Baby, get your gun!,” she said, sitting amid friends and relatives gathered at her home to cook and prepare for Sunday’s funeral.

Resident Fired First

Police say her husband fired first with a sawed-off shotgun and they responded. He was shot at least three times and died later at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville.

Loraine Adams said she was handcuffed and thrown to her knees in another room when the shooting began.

“I said, ‘Y’all have got the wrong person, you’ve got the wrong place. What are you looking for?“‘

“We did the best surveillance we could do, and a mistake was made,” Lebanon Police Chief Billy Weeks said. “It’s a very severe mistake, a costly mistake. It makes us look at our own policies and procedures to make sure this never occurs again.” He said, however, the two policemen were not at fault.

The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation is investigating. NAACP officials said they are monitoring the case. Adams was black. The two policemen are white.

Family members did not consider race a factor and Weeks agreed, but said the shooting will be “a major setback” for police relations with the black community.

“We know that, we hope to do everything we can to heal it,” Weeks said.

Johnny Crudup, a local NAACP official, said the organization wanted to make sure and would investigate on its own.

Weeks said he has turned the search warrant and all other evidence over to the bureau of investigation and District Attorney General Tommy Thompson. A command officer must now review all search warrants.

Quoted from visitor

very strange story