2 drug suspects freed from prison amid investigation into Camden police officers

Authorities haven't spoken publicly about three Camden officers who are under federal investigation, but more men arrested by the officers have been freed from prison or their indictments were dismissed, court records show.

Two men, Timothy Davis, 39, and Brian Holmes, 35, of Camden, were both released from prison on Jan. 15 after Superior Court Judge Thomas Brown granted motions by the Camden County Prosecutor's Office on Jan. 5 to dismiss their indictments, court records show.

Holmes was arrested in Camden on Nov. 21, 2005, by Patrolman Jason Stetser for multiple drug offenses. Davis was arrested on May 15, 2007, by Patrolman Kevin Parry on drug-possession charges.

In November, Camden police confirmed that Parry, Stetser and Patrolman Antonio Figueroa had been suspended without pay, and law-enforcement sources told the Daily News that the officers were under federal investigation for allegedly stealing drugs and money from suspects.

Last week, the Daily News reported that inmate Alanda Forrest had been released from prison Jan. 5 as a result of another motion filed by the Prosecutor's Office to dismiss charges.

Forrest claimed Stetser and Parry beat him and planted drugs on him when they arrested him in July 2008.

Indictments against two other suspects, Jerman Russ, 23, and Robert Henderson, 54, of Camden, were dismissed by Brown on Jan. 5 but remain in prison on other charges. According to court records, Russ was arrested by Figueroa in November 2007 on multiple drug charges.

Russ' girlfriend, Crystal Townsend, said he wasn't aware that those charges had been dropped.

"He always said he had nothing on him when he was arrested," she said.

Henderson, court records show, was arrested by Sgt. Dan Morris on Oct. 24, 2007, on multiple drug charges. Camden Police Inspector Mike Lynch said Morris is out on injury leave but last week, a law-enforcement source told the Daily News that Morris and another supervisor in the department had been questioned by federal authorities.

Another law-enforcement source told the Daily News last week that Camden Patrolman Robert Bayard punched a wall and broke his hand inside the police building while being questioned about the investigation. Lynch would confirm only that Bayard is suspended without pay but declined to say why or comment on the other suspended officers. The FBI has not confirmed or denied an investigation and the Camden County Prosecutor's Office would only confirm that the court records were accurate.

John Williamson, an FOP spokesman for Camden police, said none of the officers have been charged and declined to comment on the indictments that were dismissed.