SLO Detective Busted by FBI
A San Luis Obispo detective was arrested Tuesday morning after being charged in a bribery scheme in which he allegedly took cash and narcotics from two individuals. In return, the detective allegedly provided these “cooperating witnesses (CWs)” with narcotics for their own use, as well as fake drugs to sell to drug dealers.
Cory Pierce
Cory Pierce, 39, of Arroyo Grande, was taken into custody without incident by FBI agents.
Pierce was charged with one count of bribery in a criminal complaint filed yesterday in United States District Court in Los Angeles.
Police Chief Stephen Gesell stated, “Integrity is the cornerstone of Policing. Without it, the public trust is compromised and we cannot hold true to our oath and our commitment to serving our community. Today, I am deeply disappointed….I offer an apology to the public and the law enforcement community as well.”
According to the affidavit in support of the complaint, Pierce is a six-year veteran of the SLOPD who was most recently assigned to a narcotics task force with the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office.
The complaint describes how Pierce cultivated two sources who are identified in the complaint only as CW1 and CW2 who have since cooperated with the FBI’s investigation.
After CW2 was arrested for heroin possession in 2011, he and his girlfriend, CW1, agreed to cooperate with Pierce. But soon after they agreed to work with the police officer, Pierce made unusual requests for the informants to bring him narcotics.
As the requests continued, Pierce allegedly provided placebo pain pills and real narcotics to the couple. Pierce exchanged those pills and drugs for cash and various narcotics brought to him by the witnesses, including oxycodone, heroin, and drugs that treat opiate addition, according to the complaint, which goes on to state that Pierce on several occasions provided CW1 with methamphetamine that was still in police evidence bags.
The complaint alleges that one of the witnesses obtained prescriptions for pain pills from her doctor and from emergency rooms to give to Pierce and that Pierce would provide her with money to purchase the prescriptions.
The complaint also alleges Pierce used his position as a police officer to influence CW2’s probation officer to perform little or no supervision of him and informed him that he could “work off” his heroin possession charge by cooperating with Pierce.
The complaint goes on to allege that Pierce informed the witnesses about ongoing police investigations, including where best to purchase narcotics and which drug houses to stay away from, so that they would not be caught purchasing drugs.
Pierce allegedly had the informants set up a meeting with a drug dealer, and, following the meeting, Pierce pulled over the dealer’s vehicle over at gunpoint, seized morphine pills and let the dealer go without making an arrest.
When the witnessess advised Pierce the drug dealers to whom they had sold the placebo pills realized they had received a deceptive product and wanted revenge, Pierce asked for their identities and indicated he would “take care of it.”
Last month, one of the witnesses began cooperating with a federal investigation and recorded multiple conversations with Pierce.
During those recorded conversations, Pierce allegedly instructed CW2 to sell placebo pills to a drug dealer for $11,000, money that was to be split between Pierce and CW2.
On multiple occasions, Pierce asked the witness for Suboxone, which is used treat opiate addictions, indicating that he was personally using the drug, according to the complaint affidavit.
Pierce will have an initial appearance before a United States Magistrate Judge at an undetermined time in United States District Court in Los Angeles.
If convicted of the bribery charge alleged in the criminal complaint, Pierce would face a statutory maximum penalty of 10 years in federal prison.
Read More:
The Reporter: California Detective, Cory Pierce, Facing Charges in San Luis Obispo
KSBY: Cory Pierce, SLOPD Officer, Arrested on Bribery Charges
