The only law-enforcement officer to go to trial in a federal drug and public-corruption case centered in Helena-West Helena was sentenced Thursday to 2½ years in prison for her extortion and drug-trafficking convictions.
After a week-long trial, a federal jury convicted Marlene Kalb on Dec. 14 of 4 of6 charges she faced. Her convictions on two counts of attempted extortion under color of law and two counts of attempting to possess cocaine with intent to distribute were for accepting $500 cash on two occasions in September 2011 to provide a police escort for a man, unaware that he was acting as an FBI informant.
The informant, Cornelius “CC” Coleman, wasn’t actually carrying any cocaine when he asked her, at the recommendation of another Helena-West Helena officer, to follow him from one end of the city to another to make sure he didn’t get pulled over by other officers.
Although a jury determined that Kalb believed she was helping Coleman move a load of cocaine, Kalb, 50, maintains that she thought Coleman, whom she had known for several years, was transporting motorcycle parts. She said she thought he was worried about being stopped by other officers who had harassed him in the past for driving in the city on a suspended license as a result of a disputed child-support debt.
The jury acquitted Kalb on two related money-laundering counts.
Because she was in a supervisory position, Kalb, who was a sergeant at the time, faced a longer penalty range under federal sentencing guidelines than did three of the four other law-enforcement officers also indicted in October 2011 in an FBI-led investigation called Operation Delta Blues. Those three officers, including Robert “Bam Bam” Rogers, who recommended Kalb as a substitute when Coleman asked him in an FBI-monitored call to arrange an escort, each pleaded guilty to single extortion charges, agreeing that they had provided escorts for drug traffickers on at least one previous occasion.
Rogers, 36, of Lexa was sentenced to 14 months in a plea negotiation that rewarded him for providing “substantial assistance” in the investigation. Former Marvell officer Robert Wahls, 43, and former Helena-West Helena officer Herman Eaton Sr., 46, both pleaded guilty to money laundering in addition to extortion and were sentenced to two years and 16 months, respectively.
Winston Dean Jackson, a former Phillips County sheriff’s deputy whose conduct was considered worse than that of the other officers because he admitted actively participating in the drug-trafficking conspiracy, is serving a 6 ½ -year sentence. He pleaded guilty to conspiring to possess with the intent to distribute and conspiring to distribute cocaine, crack and marijuana, admitting that he was paid to alert drug-trafficking kingpins when other officers were headed their way with warrants.
In opting to go to trial, Kalb turned down a plea offer that would have netted her an 18-month sentence.
The other officers’ sentences were among the factors that U.S. District Judge James Moody considered when sentencing Kalb. The type and amount of drugs involved are usually factors, too, but in this case there were no actual drugs involved.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Julie Peters, noting that jurors found that Kalb attempted to escort cocaine, argued that it was clear in FBI-recorded conversations that during each escort Kalb believed she was escorting “at least 500 grams but less than 2 kilograms.” She urged Moody to sentence Kalb to between 12½ and 15 ½ years in prison.
In a sentencing memorandum, Peters cited excerpts of conversations in which Coleman told Kalb, “I am loaded down. … Man, this truck is loaded with f++++++ drugs” and “I got a shload of cocaine with me today.”
Kalb maintained that because some of Coleman’s in-person statements were made as she was driving away or was distracted during his calls by radio traffic and wind, she didn’t hear all those remarks and thought he was joking when he referred to a “shload of cocaine.”
Peters also argued for sentence enhancements on the grounds that Kalb obstructed justice by denying on the witness stand that she committed any crimes; that she carried a gun - her service revolver - during the crime; that she abused her position of trust as a law officer; and that a steep sentence was needed to deter other officers from becoming corrupt.
“When you have a law-enforcement officer who’s supposed to be protecting the public and instead is protecting the drug trafficker, why shouldn’t they be punished like the drug trafficker?” Peters argued in court.
Defense attorney John Wesley Hall of Little Rock asked that the judge impose a sentence between 21 and 24 months, which he said would acknowledge her supervisory role while also keeping the sentence in line with those of the other officers, who actually faced more charges and, unlike Kalb, were targeted by the FBI on the basis of information from sources.
Moody rejected Peters’ claim that Kalb obstructed justice and agreed with Hall that there was never any testimony about specific quantities of drugs, which would require him to unfairly speculate about quantity.
Instead, Moody fell back on the “default level” in the sentencing guidelines that applies when a drug crime cannot be quantified. He also increased Kalb’s penalty range for possessing a gun and for abusing a position of trust, finding that she fell within a sentencing range of between 27 and 33 months.
“I do think a guideline sentence here is appropriate,” Moody said. “I do think this is a serious offense. The fact that a police officer would assist in a drug transportation concerns me a lot.”
At the same time, Moody said, Kalb was a first-time offender and he had read several letters from the community describing her as a nice person and seeking leniency.
He settled on 30 months, noting that Kalb will receive credit for about 10 months that she has already served in jail, and declined to impose a fine, saying Kalb couldn’t pay one. He imposed three years of probation after her release from prison.
Kalb’s only statement in court was to thank Hall and his associates and to thank “my family and friends for standing by me. I’m sorry for putting them through this, and I’m sorry I trusted the wrong guy.”
Outside court, family members of Kalb’s said they had taken in one of her dogs but that another dog and about 14 cats that she cared for had all run off after she was taken into custody and someone who promised to care for them had dropped the ball.
The family members noted that Kalb, an animal lover, routinely cared for animals for which there was no room at the local shelter, allowing animal-control officers to take the animals to her home.
Arkansas, Pages 9 on 04/12/2013