Flat Rock, Michigan - Cop faces drug charges
Officer calls case retaliation for his refusal to help FBI investigate his doctor; job status hearing is today.
Paul Egan. The Detroit News. 05/27/07
A Flat Rock police officer was arraigned in federal court Tuesday on charges he illegally trafficked in prescription drugs and used a firearm in committing a drug offense.
David Wayne Dewitt, 37, said outside court he is innocent of the charges and alleged the FBI and the U.S. Attorney's Office are retaliating against him for refusing to cooperate in a criminal investigation of his doctor.
Dewitt is on medical leave and an internal hearing will be held today to determine his future on the force, said Flat Rock Police Chief Stephen Tallman.
According to an FBI affidavit attached to the criminal complaint, Dewitt between 2003 and 2005 received prescriptions for large quantities of painkillers and muscle relaxants from Paul H. Emerson, an osteopath who has been under investigation by the FBI and the Drug Enforcement Administration.
Yet Dewitt, a 14-year veteran of the Flat Rock force, tested negative for some of the same drugs he was being prescribed during annual police physicals, the affidavit alleges.
"It appears based on the amount of drugs involved that Dewitt either had a very serious drug addiction to prescription drugs, he was illegally distributing the prescription drugs, or a combination of both," the affidavit said.
Emerson, who has addresses in Monroe and Taylor, has not been charged but his offices have been searched twice by agents with search warrants, the affidavit alleges. He could not be reached for comment.
The charges against Dewitt are the latest in a string of recent charges against police officers in southeast Michigan, including charges for attempted murder, drunken driving, sex-related felonies, and using the Internet to solicit a child to have sex.
In 2004, Dewitt received prescriptions for nearly 2,800 tablets of various prescription drugs, mostly the painkiller Oxycontin and the anxiety drug alprazolam, the complaint alleges.
Dewitt said outside court the allegations are false. Federal authorities have pressured him for three years to be "the star witness" against Emerson, but "I will not go against my doctor," he said.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Virginia Morgan released Dewitt on a $10,000 unsecured bond and ordered him to return for a preliminary examination June 11. Morgan ordered Dewitt to possess no drugs or firearms.
Dewitt is represented by Detroit lawyer Juan Mateo, who declined comment.
You can reach Paul Egan at (313) 222-2069 or pegan@detnews.com.
Retrieved May 28, 2007 from http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070523/METRO01/705230364
Paul Egan. The Detroit News. 05/27/07
A Flat Rock police officer was arraigned in federal court Tuesday on charges he illegally trafficked in prescription drugs and used a firearm in committing a drug offense.
David Wayne Dewitt, 37, said outside court he is innocent of the charges and alleged the FBI and the U.S. Attorney's Office are retaliating against him for refusing to cooperate in a criminal investigation of his doctor.
Dewitt is on medical leave and an internal hearing will be held today to determine his future on the force, said Flat Rock Police Chief Stephen Tallman.
According to an FBI affidavit attached to the criminal complaint, Dewitt between 2003 and 2005 received prescriptions for large quantities of painkillers and muscle relaxants from Paul H. Emerson, an osteopath who has been under investigation by the FBI and the Drug Enforcement Administration.
Yet Dewitt, a 14-year veteran of the Flat Rock force, tested negative for some of the same drugs he was being prescribed during annual police physicals, the affidavit alleges.
"It appears based on the amount of drugs involved that Dewitt either had a very serious drug addiction to prescription drugs, he was illegally distributing the prescription drugs, or a combination of both," the affidavit said.
Emerson, who has addresses in Monroe and Taylor, has not been charged but his offices have been searched twice by agents with search warrants, the affidavit alleges. He could not be reached for comment.
The charges against Dewitt are the latest in a string of recent charges against police officers in southeast Michigan, including charges for attempted murder, drunken driving, sex-related felonies, and using the Internet to solicit a child to have sex.
In 2004, Dewitt received prescriptions for nearly 2,800 tablets of various prescription drugs, mostly the painkiller Oxycontin and the anxiety drug alprazolam, the complaint alleges.
Dewitt said outside court the allegations are false. Federal authorities have pressured him for three years to be "the star witness" against Emerson, but "I will not go against my doctor," he said.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Virginia Morgan released Dewitt on a $10,000 unsecured bond and ordered him to return for a preliminary examination June 11. Morgan ordered Dewitt to possess no drugs or firearms.
Dewitt is represented by Detroit lawyer Juan Mateo, who declined comment.
You can reach Paul Egan at (313) 222-2069 or pegan@detnews.com.
Retrieved May 28, 2007 from http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070523/METRO01/705230364