By Jaxon Van Derbeken
The San Francisco Chronicle
SAN FRANCISCO — San Francisco police opened an investigation Wednesday into surveillance camera video that shows an undercover officer taking a duffel bag from a drug suspect’s room that was never booked into evidence.
The suspect, Fernando Santana, said Wednesday that the bag taken in a Dec. 30 search contained an iPod, a bottle of Tequila, 2 pounds of coffee, and caps and T-shirts he had received for Christmas.
Santana’s cocaine-dealing case was dismissed by a judge last week, but he hasn’t gotten the items back and police say they don’t know what became of the bag.
It’s the fourth instance since March in which surveillance video released by the public defender’s office has raised embarrassing questions for the Police Department and its plainclothes operations. Earlier revelations led to the dismissal of almost 100 criminal cases and prompted the FBI to open an investigation that is still under way.
Santana’s complaint stems from a search of his room at a residential hotel on Eddy Street in the Tenderloin.
At a news conference at Public Defender Jeff Adachi’s office, Santana, 48, said he first thought other residents of the Jefferson Hotel had stolen his distinctive duffel bag and his property after he was taken to jail on charges of selling crack cocaine.
“I never imagined it would be the police officers that did it,” Santana said.
‘Disturbing’ questions
Adachi cited the earlier allegations of wrongdoing by undercover units and said Santana’s case raised “disturbing” questions about police conduct.
A judge dismissed Santana’s drug case May 5 after Officer Robert Sanchez, one of the six plainclothes officers from Mission Station who took part in the search, failed to honor a subpoena to testify in Santana’s preliminary hearing.
Before the case was dropped, however, the officer who Adachi said walked away with the duffel bag did take the stand. The officer, Richard Guerrero, testified that he had removed only a digital scale, packaging material and marijuana from the room, said Santana’s lawyer, Deputy Public Defender Qiana Washington.
The Police Department has no record that the Mission Station officers ever turned in a duffel bag or an iPod, Tequila and other items as evidence, Washington said. The surveillance footage does not show the officers carrying a duffel bag before they entered Santana’s room.
Seeking return of bag
“What Mr. Santana wants is simply his property returned,” Adachi said. “There’s absolutely no justification for that bag being taken out of that room.”
The search took place while George Gascón, now the district attorney, was police chief. Newly named Police Chief Greg Suhr, who headed the Bayview Station at the time, said he ordered an internal investigation after receiving a copy of the videotape Wednesday morning.
Suhr said the officers remain on field duty in the meantime.
“Until we find out there is any merit to the allegations, the officers, as anyone else would be, are considered innocent until proven guilty,” Suhr said.
Suhr added, however: “There is no place in this Police Department for dishonest cops. If there is something proven that shows any sort of dishonesty, it will not be tolerated.”
The FBI is investigating allegations that undercover officers at Southern Station, located in police headquarters, raided rooms at a residential hotel in December and January without search warrants, then lied in reports by saying the targets had allowed them in. Video from surveillance cameras in the Henry Hotel on Sixth Street shows the officers entering the rooms with master keys.
Prosecutors have since dropped almost 100 drug, robbery and other cases while the investigation into those incidents continues. Eight officers have been reassigned to desk duty, and Southern Station’s undercover operations have been suspended.
Adachi has raised similar questions about a drug search of a Richmond District apartment that was conducted by plainclothes officers from Richmond Station.
Santana was arrested after the Mission Station officers allegedly saw him selling drugs outside the Jefferson Hotel. When they searched him in the hotel’s lobby, they said, the officers found crack cocaine.
Santana told the officers he was “just a user,” according to the police report.
The report that Officer Jacob Fegan filed said Santana had allowed them to search his room - something Santana denied Wednesday.
Signing consent form
The surveillance camera video shows the officers opening the door with a key and leading him inside.
Santana signed a form several hours later consenting to the search, although he said Wednesday that hadn’t known what he was signing because he didn’t have his glasses. He said officers had told him the form stated that they hadn’t found anything illegal.
The video also shows the officers grabbing and holding a man who knocked on Santana’s door during the search. Joseph Mierisch, who said he was visiting his friend that day, said at Wednesday’s news conference that the officers had grabbed him around the neck and barked out questions about Santana. Mierisch was not arrested.
Copyright 2011 San Francisco Chronicle