Feds reward local police for cooperation in drug bust

By Andria Simmons

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Georgia law enforcement agencies who helped federal agents dismantle two Mexican drug trafficking organizations got a sweet reward on Thursday.

Five state and local police agencies received a share of a total of $23 million dollars in cash that was confiscated from drug cartels during an investigation dubbed Operation Four Horsemen. The money was one its way back to Mexico to line the pockets of drug kingpins when authorities intercepted it.

Now, those ill-gotten gains will be used to finance new equipment and officer training in an extremely tight budget year.

"We are asking our local law enforcement partners to step up and help us with an international crime problem, but really on a local law enforcement budget," said U.S. Attorney Sally Yates. "It was important that we give back some of the money that was stripped from the cartels."

Local agencies benefiting from the windfall were: the Lawrenceville Police Department ($2.1 million), the Henry County Sheriff's Office ($1.2 million), the Georgia Bureau of Investigation ($1.2 million), the Georgia Department of Public Safety ($1 million) and the Troup County Sheriff's Office ($174,730).

Lawrenceville Police Chief Randy Johnson said the money can't be used to pay salaries or plug holes in his budget. But it can be spent on training and equipment such as police cars and computers.

"This helps, no doubt about it," Johnson said.

GBI Inspector Fred Stephens said the money his agency received hasn't been earmarked yet. It will likely go toward maintaining the infrastructure of the Georgia Crime Information Center, propping up the overwhelmed crime lab and training for agents.

By law, drug forfeiture funds cannot be used to buy real estate or pay for personnel expenses, such as salaries and overtime.

A total of 23 people were arrested, $23 million in cash was seized and 567 kilograms of cocaine was confiscated in Operation Four Horsemen. The series of busts resulted in the dismantling of two drug trafficking cells operating in Atlanta. Twenty-one of those cases have been adjudicated; two are still pending, Yates said.

The drug trafficking groups were affiliated with the ruthless Mexican Beltran Leyva cartel, which has been crippled in recent years by the arrests of two of the four Beltran Levya brothers in charge. A third brother was killed in a December 2009 gun battle with Mexican authorities.

The cartel used tractor-trailers to route huge shipments of cocaine from Mexico to the East Coast via Atlanta, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration. U.S. currency was then shuttled back to Mexico in trucks and other vehicles.

Cartel operatives park their drugs and cash in a network of stash houses around Atlanta until it can be distributed elsewhere, said Rodney Benson, DEA special agent in charge of the Atlanta Field Office.

"They have designated this area as a trans-shipment hub for a lot of the same reasons that businesses are here," Benson said, referring to the network of interstates, the airport and proximity to the East Coast.

The largest cash seizure occurred Dec. 7, 2008, when authorities discovered more than $8 million after stopping a tractor-trailer on I-85 in Troup County.

The most recent seizure came on Aug. 4, when agents seized over $5 million concealed inside a Mariachi band tour bus at a hotel in Vinings.