A former DeKalb County police officer admitted Thursday he tipped off suspected drug dealers about an impending search warrant because he had sold one of them a gun and did not want agents to find it.
"I'm not a bad guy," Gabriel Hoskins, his voice breaking, told U.S. District Judge Richard Story. "I made a mistake. I realize I made a mistake. ... I was just trying to make sure I didn't get caught up in that mess, that's all."
Hoskins, 39, pleaded guilty to a felony charge of alerting the suspects to the June 2011 raid, but said he did not know they were drug dealers. He said he met the three men at an Atlanta apartment complex where he lived and served as a courtesy officer, making occasional security checks in exchange for a discount in his rent. He sold one of the suspects his handgun for $500, he said.
One day a U.S. Postal Service inspector showed up at the complex, inquired about the suspects and confided to Hoskins that federal agents were about to execute a search warrant on the men's apartment.
Hoskins said he called the apartment to make sure agents did not find his handgun there, fearing if they did, he would lose his police officer certification. What Hoskins didn't know was the suspects' phone was tapped and agents soon learned he was the tipster, Assistant U.S. Attorney Kurt Erskine said.
"Honestly, your honor, I panicked," Hoskins told Judge Story, who will impose a sentence at a later date. "Whatever they had going on in there, I didn't want to be associated with it."
Hoskins said he never intended to put agents in harm's way.
"I just wanted to get my gun before they kicked in the door," he said. "I was just trying to clear my name."
Hoskins served as a DeKalb police officer until November 2010 and as a reserve patrolman for the Clarkston Police Department. He told Judge Story he was not in law enforcement at the time of the incident.
U.S. Attorney Sally Yates said the integrity of law enforcement is critical to the public.
"This police officer's criminal betrayal," she said, "placed his fellow law enforcement officers at risk when he alerted suspected drug dealers that a federal search warrant was about to be executed."
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