[UPDATE] 111th officer helped Jamaica drug dealer: Feds

By Phil Corso

A federal investigation of a heroin ring found that an officer from the 111th Precinct in Bayside was allegedly supplying information on license plates and narcotics probes to a dealer from Jamaica, the U.S. attorney in Brooklyn said.

Officer Devon Daniels, 30, was arrested Tuesday on charges of unlawful searches of law enforcement databases. He entered no plea at his arraignment in Brooklyn federal court and was released on $150,000 bond with home confinement and electronic monitoring, officials said.

Prosecutors said a wiretap from the federal Drug Enforcement Administration found that Daniels provided police information from the FBI and NYPD databases to Jamaica heroin dealer Guy Curtis, head of the drug-dealing organization Pov City, by running license plate information, providing an official police parking placard and tipping him off with inside information on narcotics investigations. Police said Curtis pleaded guilty to federal charges of conspiring to deal heroin in January.

A criminal complaint filed by the U.S. attorney’s office against Daniels outlined several instances in which the officer responded promptly to the calls of Curtis and his drug ring.

Daniels was suspended without pay Tuesday and faces department sanctions, regardless of the case’s outcome, including termination, police said.

According to the complaint, Daniels also asked favors of his own ranging from money to borrowing Curtis’ vehicles. The wiretap also showed Daniels asking Curtis to help him in acquiring “any working revolver,” the court papers said.

The court documents revealed Curtis had corresponded with the officer on various occasions to ask for advice or sensitive police information about his associates. In one instance, Curtis had asked Daniels how to get “gunshot residue off your hands” and if he could “clap a felon” for him, the complaint said.

Prosecutors said Daniels once drove one of Curtis’ vehicles to the scene where a fellow associate was arrested, The officer identified himself as a cop and asked information of the arresting officer, then relayed what he had learned back to Curtis, the complaint said.

Federal authorities said the investigation had also found that Daniels allowed Curtis to use his bank account to transfer money with Jermaine Ward, a suspected drug dealer in Wichita, Kan. In one instance, Ward wired $3,500 to Daniels’ account before the officer withdrew the funds for Curtis, according to court papers.

The DEA had been investigating the heroin trafficking organization out of Wichita, Kan. since October 2008 with the NYPD’s Internal Affairs Bureau and the Internal Revenue Service, officials said, which led federal investigators to Curtis. They began tapping the officer’s phone in April 2011, according to the complaint, which led to the discovery of Daniels’ involvement.

Upon Curtis’ requests, Daniels would run criminal background checks for the drug dealer to gather license plate information, prosecutors said.

“Yo do them plates real quick,” Curtis texted to Daniels, to which the officer replied, “What u need I got it,” the complaint said.

According to the documents, Daniels would respond to Curtis’ inquiries using the password for his partner.

Reach reporter Phil Corso by e-mail at pcorso@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-260-4573.