Monday I mentioned a good piece the Belo daily had about a dirty ex-cop running a housing scam. An FBvian noticed something glaringly missing from Lee Hancock’s story — any mention of disgraced former DPD Chief Terrell Bolton. Jump for the details.
Most interesting was all the huge drama that (Lee) Hancock left OUT of the
piece (was from) coverage of the FBI investigation of Jones back in 01
and 02. …Terrell Bolton and his
top staff blew the investigation of Jones, at least for awhile, when
FBI agents gave the new police chief’s command staff a courtesy heads
up about the wiretapping of his patrol cops. Within a day or two of
that courtesy alert, Jones was picked up on the wire saying friends in
the pd had alerted him he was under investigation.Within a short period, Terrell Bolton and his senior staffers were
under active FBI investigation for “unauthorized disclosure” of a
public corruption probe, an offense that comes with 5-year prison
sentences. It didn’t end in indictment of Bolton or his command staff… Bolton responded to being under
investigation by calling top DOJ officials (Janet Reno) and
congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson attempting to have FBI Special
Agent in Charge Danny Defenbaugh TRANSFERRED to the boondocks for
investigating him!Bolton’s paranoid vision was such that he falsely ascribed the
investigation of him and his command staff to rank-and-file patrol
officers who happened to be part of the FBI’s joint terrorism task
force – and moved to PULL THEM OUT on the eve of the 2000 millenial
celebrations and nationwide gearing up for terror attacks.Interesting little history lesson in Hancock’s story that went untold
about one of the city’s more distateful little official
embarrassments.…Interesting how Hancock refers to all of this: “Turmoil ensued within
the FBI and Dallas police headquarters over the apparent police
corruption.”When City Manager Ted Benavides fired Bolton in August 2003, he
released a list of 20 reasons. Among them were Bolton’s push to
transfer Defenbaugh over the unauthorized disclosure investigation
related to the Jones probe, and his move to pull cops from the FBI’s
joint terrorism task force.So in effect, the affair over the Jones investigation contributed
quite directly to the firing of the city’s first black police chief.That might have been interesting to note somewhere in Hancock’s story.
What say you, Lee?
