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Saturday, March 28, 2009

Philly cop busted by feds

Quick excerpt on a story I'm sure you've all heard about by now:

ALHINDE WEEMS, armed with his gun and Philadelphia police badge, allegedly was pumped and ready to go.
After weeks of covert meetings and careful planning, Weems met yesterday morning at a local hotel with two of his trusted associates, eager to finally put his scheme in motion. The 5 1/2-year police veteran was ready to rob — and possibly shoot — a narcotics supplier, law-enforcement officials said.
And then everything fell apart. FBI agents swarmed in and arrested Weems, 33, the main target of a three-month corruption investigation run by the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
The skinny cop had been living a life of a character in an urban crime film. Authorities said Weems was a drug dealer who became a cop but continued to peddle drugs on the side.
News of Weems’ criminal dealings sent shockwaves through the Police Department. Most of the department’s top brass weren’t even aware of the investigation until yesterday, and many wondered how a man accused of being so morally bankrupt could serve among them.“This kind of thing makes you sick,” said Deputy Commissioner Richard Ross. “This man tarnished the reputation of our department and everyone else who is out there laying their lives on the line and protecting people.”
Weems, a married father of four who spent his career in the 18th District in West Philadelphia, got away with his double life for years, according to authorities.
His luck ran out in December, when a confidential informant working for the ATF Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives claimed he knew a Philly cop who was involved in drug trafficking, said Linda D. Hoffa, chief of the criminal division for the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
 

You can pick up the rest of the story in Saturday's Daily News, of course. One thing I can say for sure: this won't be the last you hear about Weems.
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About The PhillyConfidential team

Dana DiFilippo has covered murder, mayhem and miscellany at the Daily News since 2000. She grew up in Delaware County and studied journalism and photography at Penn State University. E-mail tips to difilid@phillynews.com.

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Stephanie Farr has been reporting for the Daily News since 2007, covering everything from gay porn stars who entered the burglary business to moon trees, skinheads, murders and naked bike rides. She covers crime, both in the city and suburbs, and keeps clippings of bizarre Associated Press articles. Her favorite this year was the story about the drunk in Punxsutawney who gave mouth-to-mouth resuscitation to a dead opossum. E-mail tips to farrs@phillynews.com.

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Phillip Lucas joined the Daily News crime team in 2011. He grew up on the mean streets of Seattle and studied journalism and psychology at Howard University in Washington, D.C. Before landing in the City of Brotherly Love, Phillip was a reporter for The News Journal in Wilmington, Del. Email tips to lucasp@phillynews.com.

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Morgan Zalot is the newest crime reporter at the Daily News, starting in 2011 after interning at the paper twice as a Temple University journalism student. In her past stints at the DN, she covered just about everything, from drunken Phillies fans to a barber shop in a high school to a grisly murder-suicide. She’s a born-and-raised Philly girl who grew up in the Northeast. E-mail tips to zalotm@philly.com.

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