Delta Blues
Framed by FBI ally, says ex-officer
posted: 12/13/2012 12:58 a.m. Discuss
A former Helena-West Helena police lieutenant testified Wednesday during her trial that she was set up by an FBI informant who made it falsely appear in secret recordings that she agreed to help him transport cocaine through the city in return for cash.
Informant tells jury he hired officer to escort drugs
posted: 12/12/2012 12:37 a.m. Discuss
A career drug dealer now living in Memphis spent most of Tuesday describing for jurors in a Little Rock federal courtroom the enormity and pervasiveness of public corruption in and around Helena-West Helena, where he grew up. Cornelious Coleman, 35, whom an FBI agent described as a true “player,” revealed a seedy world of drug deals, thefts and payoffs that blatantly thrived alongside official business.
Total paid to felon in 'Delta Blues' case to eclipse $50,000
posted: 12/11/2012 10:51 a.m.
Discuss
A convicted felon who worked as an informant for authorities during a broad investigation into drug trafficking and corruption in eastern Arkansas will receive a total of more than $50,000 for his involvement and expenses, an FBI agent testified Tuesday.
Special agent reveals details of Delta probe
posted: 12/11/2012 12:52 a.m. Discuss
A former Helena-West Helena police lieutenant wasn’t an initial target of a public-corruption investigation in eastern Arkansas, but a fellow officer named her to stand in for him and provide an escort for a man believed to be carrying a load of cocaine, an FBI agent testified Monday.
Trial under way for officer in Delta Blues case
updated: 12/10/2012 9:54 a.m.
Discuss
Jury selection has started in the trial for the only police officer not to plead guilty among five indicted last year in a broad federal investigation into corruption and drug dealing in eastern Arkansas.
Rifle-toting ‘pot’ seller gets 5 years in Delta Blues case
posted: 12/05/2012 12:31 a.m. Comments 5
A federal judge ordered a five-year prison sentence Tuesday for a Helena-West Helena man who admitted to trafficking pounds of marijuana and possessing an AK-47 rifle to protect his illicit drugs and drug proceeds.
4 sentenced in Delta drug-trafficking
posted: 11/29/2012 4:07 a.m. Discuss
Four more defendants in the ongoing drug-trafficking and public-corruption investigation known as Operation Delta Blues were sentenced to prison Tuesday and Wednesday in connection with earlier guilty pleas.
Guns case shows ripple effect
posted: 11/09/2012 1:29 a.m. Comment 1
Part four in a series A Helena-West Helena man admitted in federal court Thursday that he spent months dealing drugs and illegally building up a small cache of high-powered firearms, all while he was charged in a 2010 doubleshooting case.
Ex-probation officer pleads innocent
posted: 10/17/2012 5:14 a.m. Discuss
A former state probation and parole officer pleaded innocent Tuesday morning to a federal indictment accusing her of turning a blind eye to the drug trafficking of a convicted murderer and another man she supervised in exchange for goods and cash.
Ex-probation officer indicted in 'Delta Blues' case pleads innocent
posted: 10/16/2012 10:37 a.m. Discuss
A former probation officer charged with extortion in an ongoing federal investigation into drug dealing and corruption in eastern Arkansas has entered an innocent plea.
Drug-ring member gets 11 years
posted: 09/26/2012 2:09 a.m. Discuss
A Helena-West Helena man who let two drug kingpins use his house to store firearms and sell crack cocaine was sentenced to 11 years in federal prison Tuesday.
2 days after FBI arrest, state parole officer resigns
posted: 09/20/2012 1:42 a.m. Comment 1
A state parole and probation officer, accused of taking bribes from a Marianna drug kingpin convicted of murder, resigned Wednesday, two days after her arrest by federal agents.
Parole officer is Delta arrestee
posted: 09/18/2012 1:43 a.m. Discuss
A convicted murderer and Marianna drug kingpin admitted Monday that he bribed his parole officer with cash, gifts and shoes in exchange for turning a blind eye as he distributed more than a hundred pounds of cocaine in the Arkansas Delta.
State parole, probation officer arrested in Delta Blues case
updated: 09/17/2012 4:33 p.m. Comments 3
The Department of Justice has arrested an Arkansas Department of Community Corrections parole/probation officer in connection to an east Arkansas drug ring investigation, according to a news release.
2 plead guilty in Delta Blues case
posted: 09/15/2012 3:57 a.m. Discuss
Two Helena-West Helena men admitted in federal court Friday to their roles in two drug-trafficking rings that funneled hundreds of pounds cocaine and marijuana into the impoverished Arkansas Delta.
