Post by WaTcHeR on May 24, 2006 10:47:33 GMT -5
Officer Trampus Gaspard(L) & Officer Keith Richard(R)
05.24.2006 - One of the two Lafayette Police officers fired last summer after testing positive for anabolic steroids has been reinstated by the Civil Service Board, but the other has not.
After a 12-hour hearing Tuesday that revealed the first public details about why the officers were the focus of an Internal Affairs investigation, Cpl. Trampus Gaspard was returned to the force.
Former Cpl. Keith Richard, who also was arrested on drug charges the same day he was fired last year, lost his appeal in a case that hinged on whether police officials had reasonable suspicion to order a drug test for the two men.
"Mere speculation or hunches are not sufficient to meet this standard," said board member Richard Chappuis, quoting the city-parish Policy and Procedure Manual in voting to overturn Gaspard's termination.
The board denied Richard's reinstatement because they said there was reasonable suspicion to order a drug test.
Gaspard and Richard had no comment after the decision, which was handed down at about 9:30 p.m. Tuesday. Daniel Landry, Gaspard's attorney, said he was very pleased and that Gaspard is "an outstanding police officer."
Both men had maintained that they never took steroids, but suggested the dietary supplements they were taking may have caused the positive drug test. An expert in forensic toxicology testified Tuesday he believed that to be highly unlikely.
Central to the internal affairs investigation was a June 9 drug bust prompted by a tip from former Officer Jason Galatas. That day, Galatas had confided in his friend Jason Herpin, who also was a narcotics officer, that he had just seen roughly 20 pounds of marijuana at his friend's apartment at the 100 block of Meaux Blvd., according to testimony of several officers.
But Galatas was hesitant to get involved, Herpin testified, in part because he also believed that his friends had sold steroids to Trampus Gaspard - a statement he later recanted.
Chappuis called that story "double-hearsay" in telling Police Chief Randy Hundley that he shouldn't have relied solely on it to demand the drug test from Gaspard. By ordering the test without following proper procedure, Hundley and Internal Affairs rendered its results irrelevant, Chappuis said.
Shortly after Galatas shared his story June 9, the Metro Narcotics unit went to the apartment, breaking down the door believing there were people inside. But instead they found an empty apartment and some marijuana on a tray table, the officers testified.
Herpin and Agent Kane Marceaux left to get a search warrant, but when they called Galatas to get the spelling of his name for the affidavit, Galatas at first refused, citing his reluctance to implicate his friends.
Marceaux convinced him, and the officers returned to the apartment, where they found 20 pounds of marijuana in an ice chest and 21 bottles of anabolic steroids in a safe.
During the raid, Richard got a call from Marc Cormier, the apartment's tenant and owner of the drugs, Richard said. The two knew each other because both Cormier's roommate, Jason Segal, and Cormier's brother, Chad Cormier, were bouncers at Club 410, where Richard regularly worked off-duty security detail.
As officers were kicking down the door of his apartment and photographing evidence, Marc Cormier was hiding out at his brother's apartment across the hall. Richard called two officers on the scene, asking them what was going on, but never mentioned that the suspects were across the hall, officers testified.
"The bad guys were right next door, and not telling them (the officers) that information, I think, is very vital to this investigation," said Sgt. Darryl Fontenot with Internal Affairs.
But Richard said he did tell one of the officers, who ended up calling Marc Cormier and negotiating his surrender.
Based on all these events, narcotics team leader Sgt. Gabriel Thompson went to Internal Affairs with his suspicions. Galatas, Herpin, Gaspard and Richard were soon placed on administrative leave, and drug tests were ordered.
Herpin was quickly cleared of any wrongdoing and returned to duty, but after the results of a drug test showed the steroid Stanozolol in their system, Gaspard and Richard were fired Aug. 2.
In denying Richard's reinstatement, board members said these circumstances, combined with the fact that Richard knew Cormier and had been to his apartment twice before, provided reasonable suspicion for a drug test.
In September, Galatas was fired for reasons undisclosed at the time, but what now appears to be his involvement in the Cormier drug bust. His appeal before the civil service board is scheduled for next month.
Also that day, Louisiana State Police conducted a raid on the apartment that Richard shared with Jesse Walton, also a bouncer at Club 410. They found Stanozolol, along with other steroids and a gram of marijuana, in Walton's bedroom. No steroids were found in Richard's bedroom, but police did find the prescription painkiller Lortab and an allegedly stolen handgun.
Richard was booked on the drug possession and stolen gun charge, but as of last week, the district attorney's office had not yet filed charges in the case. Bill Goode, Richard's attorney, has said Richard had a prescription for the painkiller because of an old back injury.
Richard also plans to appeal the Civil Service Board's ruling to the 15th Judicial District Court, Goode said.
"I think it's unbelievable that they would not overturn his termination as well," Goode said after the hearing.
