CALIFORNIA CORRUPTION INVESTIGATION RESULTS IN SHERIFF’S OFFICER BEING ARRESTED

The story started out with two former Antioch, California police officers, Norman Wielsch, who was the head of the Central Contra Costa Narcotics Enforcement Team (CNET), and Christopher Butler, who now has a private detective agency, being arrested on drug charges. It was alleged that Wielsch stole drugs from CNET and provided them to Butler who sold them and presumably shared the profits. Twenty-eight felony charges are pending against Wielsch and Butler. Dirty cops–big deal. But as the story has evolved it turns out that Butler represented some women in child custody matters. In order to get custody for their children and to blacken the fathers, he hired decoys to get the men drunk. Then he arranged for a third former Antioch police officer, Stephen Tanabe, now employed by the Contra Costa County Sheriff’s Department and assigned to Daville to be waiting near the bar and to arrest the fathers for driving under the influence. Tanabe has not been charged with incidents involving the DUI’s. Rather he has been charged with drug and weapons offenses.

CNET’s operations have been suspended pending a state audit.

Wielsch, Butler and Tanabe are now out on bail. But at a bail hearing for Butler the district attorney played a video of Butler kidnapping a boy, with Wielsch present, and stealing 4000 Xanax pills found in the boy’s room to scare him from being involved with drugs. In the video Butler and several of his employees impersonated police officers. Deputy district attorney Jun Fernandez said they may be charged with kidnapping. The Xanax was found when officers searched Butler’s possessions after he was arrested.

Paying to have people arrested is about as corrupt as you can get.