Agent: Cop planned holdup
A then-Jackson police officer took a bribe to protect an undercover agent posing as a drug trafficker and then conspired to rob him of his next shipment, an FBI agent testified Monday.
Monyette Quintel Jefferson, 27, is one of three former officers charged with accepting bribes to provide protection for men they thought were drug dealers.
Arrested with him last week were Terence Dale Jenkins, 25, and Anthony Ricardo Payne, 25.
All were patrol officers at the time of the federal sting on June 25, 2010.
Jenkins and Payne were released on $10,000 bond each, but Jefferson was kept in custody without bond pending his detention and preliminary hearing Monday before U.S. Magistrate Judge Linda Anderson.
Anderson refused again to grant bond for Jefferson, agreeing with Assistant U.S. Attorney Jerry Rushing that Jefferson is a danger to the community.
"He orchestrated those officers to assist in illegal activity," Anderson said. "That gives him a step beyond the others."
And Anderson said Jefferson admitted to planning an armed robbery. She, however, didn't rule out that Jefferson would be allowed bond at some other time.
Jefferson's attorney, Faye Peterson, said she wasn't surprised that bond was denied, but she will make another request in the future.
Peterson expressed concern in court that authorities failed to show Jefferson would have committed the alleged offense unless prompted by undercover agents.
"There is no independent act, other than the contact by the agent," Peterson said. "It was a staged crime."
Peterson said federal agents, not Jefferson, paid the other two then-officers.
But Rushing argued nothing federal agents did led to Jefferson allegedly conspiring to commit a robbery.
FBI Special Agent Brendan Sheehan testified that the former JPD officer admitted to authorities during questioning that he had conspired with three others to rob a drug dealer. It was not clear from Sheehan's testimony, however, who Jefferson's alleged co-conspirators were.
The same undercover agent Jefferson thought was a drug dealer in June 2010 contacted Jefferson about bringing another shipment of drugs to Jackson this month, Sheehan said.
Sheehan said Jefferson told federal authorities of plans to stage an armed robbery of the drug dealer by causing a traffic accident while the drugs were transported.
"We were concerned he was going to commit a robbery," Sheehan testified. "We were aware of that from other sources."
The investigation began when an individual in the process of another probe relayed suspicions about the officers to the FBI. Authorities are declining to give any clues about the person's identity.
Shortly thereafter, JPD brass approached federal officials with the possibility there were corrupt officers on the force.
Jefferson, Jenkins and Payne had provided protection for what they thought was 100 kilos of cocaine flown into Hawkins Field, according to the criminal complaint. Jefferson was paid $6,000 to assist the undercover FBI agents in removing four suitcases from the airplane and putting them into an undercover agent's vehicle.
Payne and Jenkins allegedly were present for the transaction between two undercover agents involving 20 kilos of cocaine. Payne then escorted one agent from Hawkins Field to the Hanging Moss Road area. Another vehicle was escorted from Hawkins Fields to I-20.
The officers were in uniform and were driving marked vehicles, according to the complaint.
Jenkins and Payne were paid $5,000 each, according to Sheehan.
Initially on June 25, 2010, the undercover FBI agent, posing as a drug dealer, met with Jefferson and Payne at the Metrocenter mall to discuss their protection of a shipment of cocaine coming into Jackson.
Jefferson and Jenkins were fired last week. Both were hired by the city Dec. 30, 2007.
Payne had left the force 1 1/2 years ago to join the military and was living in Hattiesburg.
A similar sting occurred in 2001 when six city police officers were arrested after a 15-month FBI investigation. The officers were accused of providing protection for drugs coming in through the Greyhound Bus Station. Four pleaded guilty; one was convicted, and charges against the other one were dropped.