Post by KC on Jul 21, 2006 20:08:15 GMT -5
August 6, 2004 - Don't wear hats, jewelry or hoodies. Keep your car windows closed and turn down the stereo.
If you drive 5 mph over the speed limit, most cops won't stop you for speeding, but there's no guarantee.
According to court papers, those suggestions to an accused cocaine trafficker landed a Buffalo Police officer in serious trouble at federal court this week.
Federal prosecutors said Officer Ronnie Funderburk faces a felony charge and is suspended without pay because of wiretapped conversations he had last month with his brother-in-law, one of the alleged leaders of the city's biggest cocaine ring.
A partial transcript of the discussion was in court documents obtained by The Buffalo News. According to the transcript, alleged dealer Frederick Nolley III called Funderburk at least twice, asking for advice on how drug couriers could avoid being stopped and arrested by police.
"Don't wear no ball caps. Don't wear no jewelry . . . Wear your seat belt," Funderburk is quoted as telling Nolley. "I tell a lot of people, you gotta be, uh, incognito. In other words, you can't look like the typical stereotype."
Funderburk, 39, a six-year police veteran, pleaded not guilty to using a telephone to facilitate a drug felony. His attorney, John V. Elmore, asked the public not to jump to conclusions about Funderburk.
"This man has the reputation as a solid citizen, a good cop and a military veteran who served in Bosnia," Elmore said. "Our Constitution gives him the right to a presumption of innocence and also the right to free speech.
"The government probably has hundreds of hours of wiretap conversations from this investigation, and they picked out two of them to put in their transcript. Let's find out more about the context of these conversations, the inflections in the voices, before making a judgment."
Elmore is the author of "Fighting For Your Life: The African-American Criminal Justice Survival Guide." The book advises black citizens on how to deal with police and the justice system.
"From what I can see, the advice (Funderburk) was giving is like some of the advice I gave African-Americans in my book," Elmore said.
But agents of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration said Funderburk crossed the line into criminal activity with the advice he gave to his brother-in-law.
"(It) is clear that Funderburk is not just innocently discussing police automobile stops and search techniques . . . He ultimately gives Nolley precise instructions on how to successfully courier drugs into the city of Buffalo and avoid police contact," said Agent Dale M. Kasprzyk in a court affidavit.
Agents said they also recorded Funderburk telling Nolley that a speeding ticket led to the recent arrest of another Buffalo drug dealer in Ohio.
"He got pinched for $1.5 million of cocaine, uncut, 80 keys and $30,000 in cash on him," Funderburk said in a wiretapped conversation.
Funderburk advised Nolley to avoid speeding, adding that most -- but not all -- police officers will give motorists a 5 mph cushion above the speed limit. He also told Nolley not to wear hoodie sweat shirts, flashy jewelry or a hat and not to slouch back in his car seat with his stereo blasting.
He also told Nolley that, if police have suspicions about someone carrying crack cocaine in their car, they sometimes call for drug-sniffing dogs to examine the vehicle.
"The dog won't always get a hit," Funderburk said. "Once it start barking' and going' crazy and scratch in one spot, they can search.
Interior, exterior, undercarriage of the vehicle."
Nolley and Funderburk were two of 42 people charged Tuesday in connection with a major drug ring allegedly run by Robert Mullen of Sussex Avenue. DEA agents charge that Nolley was Mullen's right-hand man in a drug operation that provided the "lion's share" of cocaine sold in Buffalo over the past year.
If you drive 5 mph over the speed limit, most cops won't stop you for speeding, but there's no guarantee.
According to court papers, those suggestions to an accused cocaine trafficker landed a Buffalo Police officer in serious trouble at federal court this week.
Federal prosecutors said Officer Ronnie Funderburk faces a felony charge and is suspended without pay because of wiretapped conversations he had last month with his brother-in-law, one of the alleged leaders of the city's biggest cocaine ring.
A partial transcript of the discussion was in court documents obtained by The Buffalo News. According to the transcript, alleged dealer Frederick Nolley III called Funderburk at least twice, asking for advice on how drug couriers could avoid being stopped and arrested by police.
"Don't wear no ball caps. Don't wear no jewelry . . . Wear your seat belt," Funderburk is quoted as telling Nolley. "I tell a lot of people, you gotta be, uh, incognito. In other words, you can't look like the typical stereotype."
Funderburk, 39, a six-year police veteran, pleaded not guilty to using a telephone to facilitate a drug felony. His attorney, John V. Elmore, asked the public not to jump to conclusions about Funderburk.
"This man has the reputation as a solid citizen, a good cop and a military veteran who served in Bosnia," Elmore said. "Our Constitution gives him the right to a presumption of innocence and also the right to free speech.
"The government probably has hundreds of hours of wiretap conversations from this investigation, and they picked out two of them to put in their transcript. Let's find out more about the context of these conversations, the inflections in the voices, before making a judgment."
Elmore is the author of "Fighting For Your Life: The African-American Criminal Justice Survival Guide." The book advises black citizens on how to deal with police and the justice system.
"From what I can see, the advice (Funderburk) was giving is like some of the advice I gave African-Americans in my book," Elmore said.
But agents of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration said Funderburk crossed the line into criminal activity with the advice he gave to his brother-in-law.
"(It) is clear that Funderburk is not just innocently discussing police automobile stops and search techniques . . . He ultimately gives Nolley precise instructions on how to successfully courier drugs into the city of Buffalo and avoid police contact," said Agent Dale M. Kasprzyk in a court affidavit.
Agents said they also recorded Funderburk telling Nolley that a speeding ticket led to the recent arrest of another Buffalo drug dealer in Ohio.
"He got pinched for $1.5 million of cocaine, uncut, 80 keys and $30,000 in cash on him," Funderburk said in a wiretapped conversation.
Funderburk advised Nolley to avoid speeding, adding that most -- but not all -- police officers will give motorists a 5 mph cushion above the speed limit. He also told Nolley not to wear hoodie sweat shirts, flashy jewelry or a hat and not to slouch back in his car seat with his stereo blasting.
He also told Nolley that, if police have suspicions about someone carrying crack cocaine in their car, they sometimes call for drug-sniffing dogs to examine the vehicle.
"The dog won't always get a hit," Funderburk said. "Once it start barking' and going' crazy and scratch in one spot, they can search.
Interior, exterior, undercarriage of the vehicle."
Nolley and Funderburk were two of 42 people charged Tuesday in connection with a major drug ring allegedly run by Robert Mullen of Sussex Avenue. DEA agents charge that Nolley was Mullen's right-hand man in a drug operation that provided the "lion's share" of cocaine sold in Buffalo over the past year.