A federal judge set bond at $10,000 Tuesday for three men, including a DeKalb County police officer, accused of taking payments to protect drug dealers.
Suspended DeKalb Police Officer Dorian Williams, 25, former DeKalb jail deputy Monyette McLaurin, 37, and Gregory Lee Harvey, 26, were arrested last week along with eight current or former law officers from across metro Atlanta in a federal sting targeting cops who allegedly sold their services to an unnamed street gang.
Federal Magistrate Alan Baverman set $10,000 bond for each man after federal prosecutors agreed to the release, provided the three are under house arrest and are monitored by an electronic ankle bracelet.
The charges are the most widespread case of police corruption in metro Atlanta in years. Investigators said officers guarded staged drug transactions while in uniform, sometimes using their patrol cars. Payments ranged from several hundred to a few thousand dollars.
Williams had been given good evaluations on his annual reviews and was promoted to master police officer, despite his suspension for domestic violence.
"Officer Williams takes pride in handling his beat," wrote his supervisor Sgt. J.R. Anderson in August 2011. "Since coming to the watch, he is my most improved officer."
But on Jan. 30, Williams had told told one of his confederates he would kill the opposition if necessary, an affidavit said. And McLaurin and Harvey discussed killing someone they feared might report Harvey for protecting drug deals.
Harvey had falsely presented himself to gang associates as a law officer. He introduced McLaurin as a DeKalb County sheriff deputy, according to an affidavit. McLaurin quit working for the sheriff in 2011, the same year he picked up a DUI in Gwinnett County, according to public records.
Two days after New Year’s Day, McLaurin and Harvey met a gang associate for a drug deal and the associate and McLaurin retrieved three kilos of counterfeit cocaine to sell from a warehouse in Chamblee.
“McLaurin volunteered that, if given a signal, he would be willing to shoot the buyer if necessary,” an affidavit said.
The gang asssociate paid Harvey $6,000 to be shared with McLaurin, the affidavit said.
Williams was booked with conspiring to commit extortion by accepting bribe payments and attempted possession with intent to distribute more than five kilograms of cocaine.
McLaurin and Harvey are each charged with attempted possession with intent to distribute more than five kilograms of cocaine and with possessing a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime.
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