![]() Detectives obtained a search warrant and arrested Loran on Nov. Undercover sheriff's Detective Dave Vincent accompanied the informer for the next purchase, an ounce for $900. Four days later, detectives had the informer purchase two "eight balls," or a quarter ounce, under their watch. ![]() The informer told Coleman in July 1998 that a man he knew as "Mike" had at least a kilogram of cocaine in his home at 3930 W Laguna Loop. Loran sold cocaine by the ounce from his waterfront home in Hernando until another informer tipped off police, who arranged a series of buys and arrested him in 1998. "Doggonit, sometimes there's no other way to do it." ![]() "Sometimes, the only way to get someone who's selling drugs is to use someone who's selling drugs," Pope said. Using informers who have been involved in criminal activity is a necessary evil for law enforcement to gain access to close-knit drug traders, he said. Loran was no lunker bass, said Assistant State Attorney Willard Pope, who, as supervisor of prosecutors in Citrus County, was consulted about Loran's use as an informer. "You don't use the bass as bait for the minnow." "You use the minnow as bait for the bass," said Daniel Snow, who recently won an acquittal for one of the accused dealers. Why was a known drug dealer facing at least 10 years in prison allowed to roam free with almost no oversight? And why is the Sheriff's Office consorting with a convicted trafficker to build cases against small-time dope peddlers in the first place? They say the episode raises broader policy questions about how the Sheriff's Office uses informers. He is being held without bail until the last of the alleged dealers he helped catch goes to court, in case he needs to testify.ĭefense attorneys representing some of the accused dealers Loran has implicated say he lacks credibility. Now Loran is awaiting sentencing on his trafficking charges at the Citrus County Detention Facility. ![]() "Once something like that happens, we cease any kind of work with them because their reliability is shot," said Crystal River police Detective Brian Coleman, who oversaw Loran while working on a drug task force coordinated through the Sheriff's Office. Citrus County prosecutors did not learn of the other charges _ which include lying to a Hillsborough County deputy _ until much later. The Sheriff's Office retired Loran as an informer when the Broward County charge surfaced. It was his third out-of-county arrest in a two-week span, according to records discovered by a Citrus County defense attorney last month. He turned up at the Broward County jail in early August, charged with grand theft in a discount store rip-off scheme. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |