UPDATE: Officers denied bond in Delta corruption case

A judge denied bail Friday for two of five police officers arrested in a four-year investigation of corruption and drug trafficking in eastern Arkansas.

Prosecutors offered new details in court about audio and video recordings they say implicate Helena-West Helena police officer Robert “Bam Bam” Rogers and Marvell police officer Robert Wahls. An FBI special agent testified that both men admitted taking bribes from people posing as drug traffickers.

Authorities say Rogers, Wahls and two other officers — Herman Eaton and Marlene Kalb of Helena-West Helena — received $500 payments to guard shipments of what they thought was cocaine, crack, marijuana and other drugs. A fifth officer, Phillips County deputy sheriff Winston Dean Jackson, is accused of taking money to overlook criminal activity. All five have pleaded not guilty.

Seventy people have been indicted in the “Operation Delta Blues” investigation that focused on drug trafficking in and around Helena-West Helena, an impoverished, crime-ridden town in the Mississippi Delta.

Rogers and Wahls appeared in court Friday, with family members watching from the gallery. U.S. Magistrate Judge Joe Volpe said he was troubled by the allegations and evidence against the men.

“As a sworn police officer, you took an oath and agreed to (be held) to a higher standard,” Volpe told Rogers.

FBI special agent Ward Seale testified that both officers were approached by informants working with investigators.

Under questioning from Rogers’ attorney, Justin Eisele, Seale acknowledged the informant who purportedly bribed Rogers had a criminal record and was paid $25,000 for his own cooperation in the investigation.

Seale did not identify the informant or detail the charges against him. He did not say whether the same informant had snared Wahls.

Rogers briefly leaned over and held his head with his hands in court, especially when one of his daughters, 18-year-old Nicole Rogers, spoke in support of her father. Eisele said Rogers served in the Arkansas National Guard and had done two tours of duty in Iraq.

But Volpe said military service made the allegations against Rogers even more serious.

A law enforcement informant also contacted Wahls and paid him $500 three separate times to protect what he thought were drug shipments as they moved through Marvell, Seale testified. Marvell is about 20 miles west of Helena-West Helena.

Wahls’ attorney, Molly Sullivan, repeatedly pointed out the reported shipments involved “phantom cocaine” rather than real drugs. But Volpe also refused bail for Wahls, saying the evidence “cuts to the core of law and order.”

Seale also said both men had been forced to resign for misconduct while working as sheriff’s deputies in Phillips County, which includes Helena-West Helena. Rogers was accused of stealing gas that was meant for official vehicles, and Wahls was accused of pawning a stolen handgun. Both men were later hired as Helena-West Helena police officers.

Helena-West Helena Police Chief Uless Wallace said Friday he hadn’t been aware of the previous allegations. He said the sheriff’s office only told him that both men had resigned.

The remaining three officers and other defendants in Operation Delta Blues are expected to appear in court early next week.

Read tomorrow's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.

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