Update 12-17-2010 - Information on the State of Texas vs. Richard Nutt in available online. For the record, Nutt's SPN is 02535111. For updates enter the SPN at the Harris County District Clerk Office search page.
Recently two cases of police accused of allegedly working with drug dealers for protection surfaced in Houston. While I believe most law enforcement officers are honest, I also believe power corrupts and sometimes even an honest person will throw away his good name in pursuit of seemingly easy gain.
This topic is also of concern and interest to me due to the on going violence, corruption and drug cartel wars in Mexico. For people believing that their influence and reach isn't strong in the United States, they are delusional. Drugs and money are powerful influences and the corruption that is caught may only be the tip of the iceberg.
In the case, Harris County Deputy Richard Nutt stands accuse of helping out drug dealers in a scam called a "Drug Rip." A drug rip is a simple scam. The dealer sells to a buyer. The crooked cop pulls the buyer over on a traffic stop and confiscates the drugs. The cop returns the drugs to the dealer and gets paid. The drug dealer gets to keep the money and the drugs. It's a nice deal cause is the dealer really going to go to the cops to report his stolen stash?
To top things off, according to the linked article in the Houston Chronicle, Nutt pulled down over $94,000 in salary. I know deputies don't earn that much so it had to be through overtime and extra jobs. When you earn that much and it's dependent on extra work, it is easy to get in over your head financially. Since the money is dependent on extra work, if the work dries up the bills loom big. He may have used the drug money as a way to make up in case the extra work goes away. Or the temptation of easy money was just to good to pass up.
Whatever the case, I'm sure we'll find out more in the future.
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