Published: April 11, 2008 11:27 pm      

COPS NOTEBOOK: Arrest or sale?

Cops Notebook

In his second trip to the witness stand on Friday, retired City of Tonawanda police captain and Narcotics Detective David Bentley admitted that some of the conversations he had with accused killed Richard Matt, from a Matamoros, Mexico, jail truly bordered on the bizarre.

Take, for example, the last call. The first three calls to Bentley had come in typical jailhouse fashion, collect.

The fourth and final call came from a cell phone.

“I’m not exactly sure how he got a cell phone (in a Mexican jail),” Bentley admitted.

But the story gets even better after that.

“(Matt) told me there were drugs and prostitutes there (at the jail),” Bentley said. “He told me he could hook me up with a pound of cocaine the next day.”

Turning to the clearly confused jurors, Bentley added, “It was unclear to me whether it was for me to make an arrest or sell.”



The cocaine stash

The game of cat and mouse that gets played between drug dealers and drug agents can be fascinating to watch.

As agents from the Niagara County Drug Task Force and the DEA searched her home two weeks ago, Mindy Donovan, a former Lockport resident identified as the organizer of a large-scale cocaine distribution network was being anything but cooperative.

The agents had found a couple of “8 Balls” and a few hundred dollars, but they knew she had a bigger stash hidden somewhere. They bantered with her about her break-up with her boyfriend, which of her girlfriends was the best pool player and even her canceled plans for a May trip to Florida.

“Good thing you canceled that timeshare for May huh,” said an agent as he walked by the handcuffed woman. “You might have trouble making that date now.”

As the search continued, agents asked for permission to search her SUV, parked in the driveway of her home, but Donovan refused.

“Come on help us out,” the agents said. “You know we’re gonna get in there (with a search warrant) later. Let us do it now.”

Donovan just shook her head no.

Then came a yell from the kitchen, “I found it.”

Agent Randy Fry stepped into the room where Donovan was cuffed and dumped, from her purse, a quarter pound of cocaine and $7,000 to $8,000 cash on a table. At the same time, another agent gamely asked, “Come on, let us search the car.”

“OK,” Donovan replied.

“Huh?” replied the agent. “Now you’ll let us search it?”

“I thought my purse was in the car,” Donovan explained.



Sympathies for Shanko

It was more than a little sadness that I learned that Falls police K-9 Shanko passed away on Wednesday night.

Shanko was 14 years old and had completed his career as a police dog some years ago. That didn’t mean he was ready to stop “working.”

Shanko and his partner, Juvenile Squad Detective Shawn Larrabee, made quite a team right the end. He worked his last job last weekend providing overnight security at a coin show.

It’s sad to see him pass. Here’s hoping there was an endless supply of doggie treats and a great chew toy waiting for him at the pearly gates.