By The Associated Press
DALLAS -- A police officer cleared of charges that he helped frame Mexican immigrants will be reinstated to his job immediately, officials said Wednesday.
On Tuesday, a jury acquitted former Senior Cpl. Mark De La Paz, who was the arresting officer in many disputed cases in which immigrants were sent to jail for buying fake drugs. In all, more than 80 cases were dismissed after tests revealed the purported drugs were actually gypsum powder or other legal substances.
Three confidential Dallas police informants have pleaded guilty to civil-rights charges and admitted they packaged the substances and passed them off as cocaine in drug busts.
Dallas city attorney Madeleine Johnson said Wednesday that De La Paz should be reinstated by early next week. He will receive back pay but will remain on administrative leave while the city conducts an internal investigation.
“The FBI requested we not do an internal investigation while they did their criminal investigation and trial,” Johnson said. “We’re now at a point where we feel we can proceed with our investigation . . . making sure we have full complete public accountability.”
De La Paz, 36, was fired in April after being indicted and had been on administrative leave since January 2002, when the FBI began investigating the case.
De La Paz’s attorney, Paul Coggins, said his client would accept the reinstatement but wanted to start working again.
Dallas-area Hispanic groups are calling for a congressional investigation of the police department and its treatment of minorities.