Imprisoned ex-police officer charged with threatening witnesses

A disgraced former Philadelphia police officer, awaiting retrial for his role in a Pottstown home invasion, has been charged with plotting from prison to assault two suspected drug dealers he believed were cooperating with authorities against him.

Painted as a rogue cop who used fear, intimidation, and a loaded .380-caliber semiautomatic to separate suspected drug dealers from their cash, Malik Snell was charged in a six-count indictment handed up March 3 with threatening to "inflict bodily injury" on two suspected government witnesses.

While identified only by their initials in the indictment, one of the alleged targets was Ricardo McKendrick Jr., a major South Philadelphia drug supplier, according to sources familiar with the investigation.

The superseding indictment, which repeated earlier charges from the Pottstown break-in, also alleges that Snell took $40,000 in cash from McKendrick in a gunpoint robbery and that he and an accomplice robbed another dealer of an undisclosed amount of cash.

The indictment alleges that Snell robbed McKendrick on Dec. 14, 2007, three days before he was arrested in connection with the Pottstown home invasion.

The indictment also alleges that earlier this year Snell threatened "to retaliate against" McKendrick because he believed McKendrick was cooperating against him.

The threats allegedly were made from the Federal Detention Center in Philadelphia, where Snell has been held without bail since April.

Snell, who was assigned to the 18th Police District in West Philadelphia, was suspended and then fired after his arrest in the Pottstown home invasion. Authorities allege he and two accomplices believed a drug dealer was storing cash in the home.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Leo Tsao declined to comment yesterday about the new indictment. Meanwhile, Snell's attorney, John I. McMahon of Norristown, declined to discuss the specifics of the case. Snell is scheduled for trial on March 23.

"I'm going to do my talking in the courtroom," McMahon said in a brief telephone interview. "And there's going to be a lot to talk about."

The reputed drug dealers Snell allegedly targeted were identified in the indictment only by their initials "R.M." and "K.H."

Keino Herring, a suspected drug dealer, has been listed in federal documents as a possible witness against Snell.

McKendrick and his father, Ricardo McKendrick Sr., recently pleaded guilty to federal drug charges amid speculation that the younger McKendrick was cooperating in a major drug investigation.

The McKendricks were arrested in April when authorities raided their South Philadelphia rowhouse and found more than 600 pounds of cocaine valued at more than $28 million.

It was one of the biggest cocaine seizures in Philadelphia history.

Ricardo McKendrick Jr.'s lawyer, Brian McMonagle, has declined to comment.

The new indictment provides only bare-bones information about the alleged robbery of McKendrick. That charge was not part of the original case against Snell and is apparently based on information provided to authorities by the younger McKendrick.

Snell's original trial in the Pottstown home invasion ended with a hung jury in October. Two alleged accomplices pleaded guilty before trial.

Authorities alleged that the two accomplices broke into an apartment where they believed drug proceeds were being stored and assaulted a couple living there, but did not find any money. Snell allegedly drove the men to and from the location.

The three were arrested after a high-speed chase in which Snell crashed the SUV he was driving, police said.

In a bail motion that was subsequently rejected, Snell's lawyer argued that his client was an unwitting participant who was asked by his brother-in-law to drive him to Pottstown, where he had to collect some money.

The motion described Snell as an honorably discharged Marine Corps veteran who had served in Somalia. Snell's wife was identified as a Philadelphia corrections officer.

Ricardo McKendrick Jr., who at one time was an inmate at the Federal Detention Center in Philadelphia, was transferred to an undisclosed location shortly after pleading guilty to drug charges in December

Several documents detailing his guilty plea along with the transcript of his plea hearing have been filed under seal.

The elder McKendrick also pleaded guilty to a drug charge, and under the terms of a plea agreement will be sentenced to 10 years in prison. He originally faced a potential life term.

The McKendricks have been identified as major cocaine suppliers in the Philadelphia underworld, "suppliers to the suppliers," according to one law enforcement source.

In addition to the 600-plus pounds of cocaine seized at the McKendricks' Grays Ferry rowhouse in April, authorities confiscated nearly $1 million in cash from the trunk of the younger McKendrick's Mercedes-Benz parked in the garage of his Woodstown home.

Authorities would not comment on speculation that the younger McKendrick is cooperating, although that is one reason documents are sealed in criminal cases.