The Associated Press
DALLAS, TX - A former narcotics detective was sentenced to five years in prison for lying to a judge to get a search warrant in a case that was part of the Dallas police department’s fake-drug scandal that ensnared dozens of innocent people.
Mark De La Paz was convicted of the one charge on March 31. Thirteen state charges against him are pending, the district attorney’s office said. De La Paz was acquitted at a federal trial on civil rights charges in November.
Three informants who worked with De La Paz have admitted to the complicated scheme to use crushed billiards chalk to set up people, mostly Mexican immigrants, for drug arrests. Dozens were jailed because of the scheme since 2001.
Prosecutors argued De La Paz knew he was working with crooked informants, yet lied to superiors and exploited lax supervision to continue his work. His defense attorneys argued that De La Paz had been fooled by the informants.
Witnesses at the trial testified that De La Paz obtained an October 2001 search warrant by swearing that informant Enrique Alonso’s information had been reliable “on each and every occasion,” even though he knew of six previous times when Alonso’s information had produced little or no drugs.
De La Paz’s attorneys argued that another person had provided the information that the detective cited in his search warrant affidavit.
De La Paz had faced the possibility of probation to 10 years in prison. He posted bond to remain free while his attorneys appeal his conviction.