John Abel Baca pulled as much as the assembly in a Ferrari with a gram of cocaine in a medical glove.
The person he was there to satisfy was a buyer, and Baca, an Inglewood police officer and the division’s union rep on the time, mentioned he had a kilogram extra of the product he might promote for $22,000.
However Baca wasn’t working an undercover case. As an alternative, the assembly in 2021 was being recorded by the FBI.
On Tuesday, Baca, 48, was sentenced to 30 months in federal jail after pleading responsible to at least one depend of distribution of cocaine and ordered to pay a $40,000 advantageous.
In a plea settlement with federal prosecutors, Baca admitted he’d stolen medicine from Inglewood Police Division’s proof room and offered them on the aspect for revenue.
“Former officer Baca tarnished the badge and dishonored the vast majority of those that serve and defend our communities with integrity,” mentioned Akil Davis, assistant director accountable for the FBI’s Los Angeles discipline workplace.
U.S. Legal professional Martin Estrada echoed that sentiment in an announcement, saying Baca “abused his place as a regulation enforcement officer to advertise his drug trafficking actions.”
Baca bragged to a possible purchaser in September 2020 that he stole narcotics and cash throughout routine site visitors stops, prosecutors mentioned. He provided to promote “White China” heroin, a limiteless provide of black tar heroin and a kilogram of cocaine, in line with his plea settlement. The client knowledgeable the FBI of what Baca was saying in February 2021.
The client, later recognized as a confidential witness in court docket data, requested Baca what he ought to say if anybody requested the place he obtained the cocaine.
Baca reportedly instructed him, “Inform them it got here from f— Mexico,” in line with court docket data.
Prosecutors targeted on two conferences of their case in opposition to Baca.
In April 2021, Baca drove to a purchaser’s house in his 2012 Ferrari FF with a small pattern of cocaine in a medical glove. The assembly was recorded by federal brokers, in line with court docket data.
Afterward, the client gave the cocaine to the FBI. The product examined at 75% purity, prosecutors mentioned.
In a observe up name, Baca organized to promote the confidential witness a kilogram of cocaine. He met the client at his enterprise on Could 4, 2021. On that go to, he drove up in a Nissan Maxima with no license plates.
He delivered a brick of cocaine wrapped in a plastic bag and tape, which he carried in a Goal purchasing bag, in line with court docket data. He requested the client for $22,000, which was supplied by the FBI as a part of their operation. Baca claimed he was making solely $1,000 as a part of the deal, however the authorities by no means recovered the money.
Baca instructed a federal informant that he typically traveled to Las Vegas to gamble at casinos and launder his cash, in line with court docket data.
Baca was additionally accused of recruiting a second particular person to assist in his drug dealing. That particular person, Gerardo Ekonomo, 42, from South L.A., was arrested in Las Vegas in June 2021 with 3 kilograms of heroin in his automotive, prosecutors mentioned.
In accordance with federal prosecutors, Baca known as Las Vegas police and tried to intervene in Ekonomo’s case. He claimed he was Ekonomo’s “handler” and recommended he “work the case off” by serving to them.
Ekonomo was ultimately charged with intent to distribute the heroin, and on Oct. 28, 2021, the FBI dug in his yard and located giant portions of medicine wrapped in black plastic, together with 1,258 grams of fentanyl and roughly 462 grams of heroin, court docket data present. FBI brokers additionally discovered proof of a drug trafficking operation in his house.
Ekonomo claimed he labored for Baca as an informant and was approved to move the medicine to Las Vegas as a part of a regulation enforcement operation, prosecutors mentioned, however he additionally claimed ignorance of the medicine within the yard.
Prosecutors mentioned Baca had $300,000 in his financial institution accounts and an identical quantity in investments across the time of his arrest in October 2021. The sum of money in his accounts dwarfed his family revenue, prosecutors mentioned. He additionally owned or partially owned a number of houses in California and Arizona, together with a 2018 Audi Q7, a 2001 Chevy pickup truck, and the Ferrari.
Baca provided a “honest apology” in court docket, in line with an announcement from his lawyer Victor Sherman.
He mentioned he acknowledged that “he disgraced the police badge which he’ll dwell with for the remainder of his life.”
