The information comes in the form of United States Magistrate Judge James E. Gates's May 12 order on motions regarding pretrial detention in the case.

Thirteen of the 15 charged are currently being held in custody of the government until their trial date. There are numerous motions now filed in which some of those 13 are seeking release to the custody of family members.

The revelation comes in a portion of the motion centering on the risk factors of the defendants working with a bogus drug trafficking operation.

“With respect to the risk of danger presented by the subject defendants, the fact that the DTO was not real tends to attenuate the danger that the subject defendants would again participate in drug-trafficking activity if released,” the order says. “The obvious reason is that there is no DTO to which to return.”

But, Gates wrote in the motion, “A significant danger of continued drug-trafficking activity does exist with respect to (Lann) Clanton, because of his statements that he had previously engaged in robberies of drug dealers; (Ikeisha) Jacobs, because of her statements that she had been transporting drugs and drug proceeds for a real DTO for the prior three years and attempted to broker a deal for the sale of drugs by one DTO to another; and (Adrienne) Moody, because of her request to another DTO member to front her 10 kilograms of drugs to distribute herself.”

Gates wrote the defendants as a group do present a risk of danger associated with flight. “They have specialized law enforcement skills, including firearms skills, that could be used to facilitate flight and, in the process, present a risk of safety to others. The subject defendants also present a more generalized risk of dangerous criminal activity,” he said in the order. “As recently as within the last two weeks, they demonstrated by their conduct that they view themselves as above the law. Moreover, their conduct entailed the risk of violence. They willingly placed themselves in the position of protecting by force drug-trafficking activity, a notoriously violent enterprise. In doing so, they carried and/or associated with others who carried firearms.”

Gates contended in the motion there is an element of desperation to the situation in which the subject defendants have placed themselves. “The government has a strong case against them. To the extent that financial concerns motivated their participation in the DTO, their employment situation is now worse (with the possible exception of (Cory) Jackson, who was previously unemployed).”

The order continued, The government’s burden was to show, by clear and convincing evidence, that no condition or combination of conditions would reasonably assure the safety of another person and the community before trial if the subject defendants were released. The court appreciates that this is a higher standard than that relating to flight. Nonetheless, for the reasons stated herein and in open court, the court finds that the government has met this standard.”

Additional details of the operation

In his order, Gates reviewed information that the government presented showing the Federal Bureau of Investigation initiated the investigation in April 2013 to investigate reports of corruption within the Northampton County Sheriff's Office.

“During the investigation, defendants were recorded transporting materials that they were told were, and were packaged as, cocaine and heroin, and drug proceeds for a large-scale drug trafficking organization in exchange for payments of money and, in two instances — Clanton and Jacobs — Rolex watches, the order says.

Gates continues, writing, “There were no real drugs or drug proceeds involved in the DTO. There were 14 separate transport operations, in addition to the operation defendants were told they were going to undertake and for which they reported to locations previously used in previous operations on the day of their arrest, 30 April 2015.”

The document shows the aggregate amount of purported drugs subject to the operations was 55 kilograms of cocaine and 60 kilograms of heroin, and the aggregate amount of purported drug proceeds $3 million.

The total payments defendants accepted for their participation in the DTO, including cash bribes, cash extorted, and Rolex watches, exceeded $200,000 in value.

Recruitment

Varying defendants participated in the operations, the order says, and firearms were typically carried during the operations.

“While Clanton was recruited by undercover agents posing as members of the DTO, the remaining defendants were recruited by other defendants,” Gates wrote. “The defendants understood that they were being recruited to work for the DTO because of their status as law enforcement or ties to law enforcement, and they were told to bring badges and guns to protect the drugs from law enforcement and other criminals.”

Ample time for abandonment

The duration of participation was also a factor in the detention ruling for 13 of those charged, Gates wrote, explaining “there was ample time for reflection and abandonment of involvement; and, perhaps most significantly, the status of the subject defendants (other than (Wardie) Vincent (Jr.) and Jackson) as law enforcement officials when participating in the DTO in violation of their special duty to uphold the law.

“Many such officials, no less, were in leadership positions: Jason Boone as a captain, (Jimmy) Pair (Jr.) as a lieutenant, and Jacobs and (Thomas Jefferson) Allen (II) as sergeants in the NCSO, and (Alphonso) Ponton as a correctional officer sergeant in the Virginia Department of Corrections. Moreover, the disregard of the law continued up until less than two weeks ago. Thus, it is a current predilection, not a remote one in the distant past.”

Wrote Gates, “Even though the drugs and drug proceeds were not real, that fact does not negate the demonstrated willingness of the subject defendants to violate the law because the record before the court shows that the subject defendants believed them to be real.”

Gates wrote the record does not show that any of the subject defendants were precluded by the government from rejecting at the outset or abandoning at any time participation in the DTO. “Only one of the subject defendants, Clanton, was recruited by a government agent. While the subject defendants in the past had ties to their communities, some very strong, those ties are attenuated for the reasons previously noted.

“Moreover, particularly in light of their law enforcement backgrounds, the subject defendants knew that by participation in the DTO they were taking the risk that they would be separated from their communities, as well as their families, by extended incarceration. Yet they took that risk and now face the strong possibility of such incarceration. In this regard, they have less to lose than before. While flight from prosecution would separate them from their communities and families, separation may well occur anyway.”