Feds say officers took cash, offered to protect shipments of
cocaine
HIGHLAND PARK, Mich. –
Four Highland Park cops are charged with accepting bribes
and conspiring to distribute cocaine.
The officers charged are 29-year-old Anthony Bynum, 38-year-old
Price Montgomery, 33-year-old Shawn Williams and 55-year-old Craig
"I was disappointed to learn the recent activities as
part of some of our officers who have made some extremely poor choices that
were in fact criminal in nature," said Highland Park Chief of Police Kevin
Coney during a Friday press conference. "When an officer abuses his
position, it is imperative that such behavior be dealt with swiftly."
Bynum and Montgomery are both officers with the Highland
Park police. Bynum also is a reserve officer with the Detroit Public Schools,
and Williams and Clayton both are auxiliary officers for Highland Park.
United States Attorney Barbara McQuade said the officers
were part of a scheme through Oakland Mall to move the drugs. They've been
under investigation by the FBI since August 2012.
“Our community deserves to be protected and served by
officers at the highest levels of integrity. And the vast majority of officers
that I know and work with do just that every day tirelessly and we applaud them
for that,” said United States Attorney Barbara McQuade. “But when an officer
strays, breaks the law, it is our duty to hold them accountable. “I want to
send a message out there to any officer who considers straying that you will be
discovered, you will be identified and you will be prosecuted.”
Investigation started with arrest, beating
According to the criminal complaint, Bynum and Montgomery
arrested a man in August 2012 in Highland Park on a firearms offense. The
officers beat the man after arresting him. While in the
hospital, the man offered to pay the officers if they would
dismiss the charges against him. The officers were willing to accept money in
exchange for failing to appear for trial. Subsequently, the man who had been
arrested by Montgomery and Bynum began working undercover for the FBI as an
unpaid confidential source. During the course of the investigation, Montgomery
and Bynum were captured on videotape accepting $10,000 in cash from the
confidential source, in return for failing to appear at the man's trial in the
Wayne County Circuit Court. On the date set for the man's trial in Circuit
Court, Officers Montgomery and Bynum failed to appear as witnesses as required
by subpoena, and the case was dismissed.
Later, Officers Mongtomery and Bynum agreed to transport and
deliver two kilograms of cocaine for the FBI confidential source, whom the
officers believed to be a drug trafficker. On November 15, 2012, Officers
Montgomery and Bynum protected and delivered a shipment of what they believed
to be two kilograms of cocaine from the Oakland Mall in Troy, Michigan, to a
location in Taylor, Michigan. Each officer was paid $1,500 for his role in the
delivery of sham cocaine. Subsequently, Officers Montgomery and Bynum recruited
two additional Highland Park officers, Williams and Clayton, to help with the
delivery of a second, larger shipment of cocaine. On January 23, 2013, the four
Highland Park cops delivered four kilograms of what they believed to
be cocaine, again from the Oakland Mall. Each officer was
paid either $1,000 or $1,500 by the confidential source for his work in
protecting and transporting the sham cocaine. The four cops each carried a
firearm, and some carried their police badges, while protecting the loads of
sham cocaine.