Most recently, an informant in Plano who threatened to out police officers in five Metroplex departments was found shot to death in his home this morning, making him the second steroid dealer/informant killed this year before he could testify against law enforcement. Reported Jason Trahan at the Dallas News ("Convicted steroid dealer David Jacobs found dead in Plano home," June 5)
Jacobs claimed to have sold steroids to officers from the Garland, Richardson, Dallas, Arlington, and Plano police departments.Convicted steroids dealer David Jacobs, who recently agreed to tell the NFL which football players received banned substances he manufactured, was found dead in his Plano home this morning.
The body of a woman identified as Amanda Jo Earhart-Savell, 30, and a gun were also found at the home.
About 11:30 a.m., four men in ski masks and raid jackets with “police” on the back — indicating they may be undercover narcotics officers — arrived at the busy scene and entered the home with a cart to carry documents.
The Dallas Morning News spoke to Mr. Jacobs frequently and exchanged e-mails with him as recently as this weekend. He was interested in getting on with his life after accepting a plea deal for three years of probation on charges related to his steroids trafficking.
Mr. Jacobs said he wanted to rebuild his nutritional supplement business, but he was having trouble getting his old client base to work with him. He also was having financial problems, but the former Marine seemed to be in good spirits.
A similar case involving NYPD in January caught my eye, and made me wonder just how deep the rabbit hole goes regarding steroid use in law enforcement. A pharmacist set to testify against NYPD police was found shot to death. As I pointed out previously, "his case was ruled a suicide, despite 'gunshot wounds to the chest and head.'"
Reacting to this news, I'd wondered "Have you ever heard of a suicide with two shots to the chest and the head? If the guy accusing Roger Clemens turned up dead under these circumstances, do you think there'd be a bigger media hoopla than the one-day story in passing that constituted coverage of this pharmacist's death?"
Now we've seen informants accusing police of steroid use at two of the largest police departments in the country turn up shot to death within months of one another under suspicious circumstances before they could testify.
Maybe it's a coincidence. Maybe both cases were suicides, or perhaps one or both were killed by non-police customers or suppliers. I'm not so much speculating about likelihoods as acknowledging a dark, unhappy, but seemingly inescapable hunch. I'd certainly feel better if the FBI or somebody outside Plano PD took over the task of investigating David Jacob's' death.
See prior related Grits posts:
- Plano steroid dealer said he sold to police in five Metroplex cities
- NYPD requires steroid testing of officers in wake of scandal
- Feds should check names of steroid customers with state law enforcement registries
- Where is Congressional investigation of steroid abuse among law enforcement?
- Why test Texas high school athletes for steroids but not police officers?
- Arbitrator reinstates steroid using police officer
- Cops on Steroids
- Lawsuit: Private mercenaries, police trainers abuse steroids in Iraq
- Insert Shrunken Testicle Joke Here: Book by ex-Texas cop defends steroid use by police
- Readers back steroid testing for cops and high school athletes
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21 comments:
Hi Grits
I started reading you for the polygamist talk but I must say that you do a great job hitting on a number of my pet topics that nobody else wants to touch.
On steroids: What's crazy to me is how out in the open law enforcement steroid abuse is. Researchers have been showing since the late 1990's that long-term steroid abuse can be identified with an almost nonexistent false positive rate using nothing more than weight, height, and body-fat percentages. For some reading, try The Adonis Complex (blurb here ) or for original research try here
However you really don't even need precise body measurements. Anyone who has spent a lot of time around open steroid users can reliably spot steroid abuse with a simple eyeball test.
If you want to learn how to recognize drug-enhanced muscularity, simply refer to ancient Greek sculptures. The ancient Greeks were one of the few ancient cultures to celebrate male muscularity (most pre-industrial cultures probably considered it a sign of servitude). Their depictions of their male gods almost certainly represented what they thought to be the utter limit of male physique.
Now compare those depictions with what pass as "standard" male physiques in today's print media. The differences are profound. Forget body-builders, there are actors, doctors, lawyers, cops, and even college professors walking around today with physiques that are beyond the wildest artistic imagination of perhaps the most body-obsessed culture in history.
On the anecdotal front, while in college I was acquainted with a couple of steroid dealers. One of them asserted to me that 40% of his business came from law enforcement officers. Given the impunity with which he operated, I had little reason to doubt him.
My personal observations would suggest that, dependent upon the jurisdiction, anywhere from 25-75% of law enforcement agents have engaged in substantial steroid use (i.e. at least six months to a year of cumulative use) at some point in the previous decade. Even if I'm off by a factor of two (which I doubt), the rabbit hole goes really, really deep.
Last time (first time) I eyeballed Grits, he appeared to be an 'oid user of long standing.
Plato
The cops only like rats that work on their side. Mr. Jacobs clearly underestimated what happens when a cop "roid rages" against a rat working against them.
Grits,
I agree with a lot of what you are saying, with the exception of one area.
First, if police officers are using illicit drugs, whether they are steroids or other substances, we need to identify them, investigate them, and, after they have received due process under Chapter 143, fire them. There is no place in law enforcement for those that break the law.
I also believe that Plano PD would be better served by having an outside agency do the investigation, but unless there is a federal ground for investigation that is readily apparent, it should be a state agency instead of the FBI. The Rangers do this type of investigation often, and would seem to be the logical choice.
My major point of disagreement is that you waited until the last paragraph to note that it might be a murder-suicide, or a murder by other former customers (NFL players stand to lose a great deal of money if implicated). You are basically making the same argument that you disagree with when made in respects to the likelihood of FLDS abuse.
I don't have a problem with your opinion and support your right to publish it, but if you demand hard evidence in one case you should also demand it in the cases where your position is lacking hard evidence.
Bluesman, my position is that this should be investigated independently. Calling for an investigation to find evidence BEFORE accusing anyone is not the same as taking away hundreds of kids based on no evidence and then spending weeks looking for crimes where there's no complainant.
Two people are dead in Plano - this isn't a case as in YFZ where the allegations were a hoax and authorities have no offense to look into.
One more thing, bluesy, there is plenty of basis for the feds to get involved; many steroid dealers, particularly those like Jacobs plugged into the bodybuilding circuit, have multi-state businesses.
For that matter, I'm still waiting for the feds to investigate the leads they already have regarding steroid use among officers.
Grits,
I agreed with you that an outside investigation would be best.
My disagreement is the slant you put on your post - "a pair of killings this year of informants who ratted out steroid using cops, taken together, are beginning to give me the creeps..."
True, in the best journalistic fashion, you cover yourself in the final paragraph, but the whole thrust of your post is slanted towards possible police involvement in the case, "and made me wonder just how deep the rabbit hole goes regarding steroid use in law enforcement" and "Now we've seen informants accusing police of steroid use at two of the largest police departments in the country turn up shot to death within months of one another under suspicious circumstances before they could testify."
In the FLDS case you a have sworn affidavits stating that an 18 year old girl had given birth at age 16 (the 4th wife of Lee Roy Jessop), by her own admission and the admission of Jessop. That is clearly evidence of Sexual Assault. I won't rehash the other evidence.
I grant you, it may not be sufficient grounds to remove all of the children, which was the basis for the mandamus vacating the order, but to state that there was no evidence is to misstate the facts. Remember, the SCOT never said that there was no evidence of abuse, they said that the "removal of the children was not warranted" which is considerably different than stating no evidence of abuse.
In this case, you have evidence of a crime, just as in the FLDS case (even if you refuse to acknowledge it), but nothing to tie it to law enforcement. You could have made just as good a case for NFL players being involved, and at least the DMN looked at this angle.
I stand by my criticism, which is just that, and not meant as a insult or to demean in any way.
Grits,
Like venya started reading for the YFZ coverage (thank you!)..your post is really great..referred you to my b-i-l who is a sheriff...I bet he will love your blog! I don't know of a suicide with bulletholes like that. I hope the truth comes out.
Since you are talking about a system that is corrupt, the "criminal justice" system is correctly named. It is now a criminal justice system instead of an upright justice system.
Things have definitely changed from when the Constitution was written. The current system of our peers places "guilty until proven innocent" on citizens instead of innocent until proven guilty. Forcing the conscience, dishonesty, lying, rape, pillage, extortion, control, manipulation and more are common place in every level of government and our citizenry.
If one is Godly and a student of prophecy they would say the end is here, that the system cannot be fixed and is in its throes of being destroyed along with all those who are in agreement with its evil.
If one isn't religious it can be seen that something is terribly wrong and the same symptoms that existed before the fall of Jerusalem, Rome, and other kingdoms now exist in the United States. We are a fallen nation and the reaping will not be pleasant.
Charles Kiker here:
Anyone who seriously believes that there are not major problems in the CJ system, from county to state all the way to USDOJ, take a gander at Alan Bean's posts of the Alvin Clay trial (federal)at friendsofjustice.wordpress.com
Hi Grits,
Where in the Dallas Post story (or anywhere else) does it say Jacobs was going to rat out cops in five Metroplex depts? Where are you getting this info?
It had been reported previously. I don't know why the MSM isn't including the information in the coverage now.
Good question 9:52. The allegations of Cops buying roids from Mr. Jacobs was conspicuously absent from the Dallas Morning News story this morning.
Very interesting. Looks like nobody wants to talk about this. ESPN left it out of their coverage as well, although perhaps for them it was an unintentional omission.
Just in on the newswire:
"In a news release Friday, Plano police said Jones died from self-inflicted gunshot wounds to the stomach and head."
Another 2 shot suicide? Too weird!
Bill Baumbach
The Collin County Observer
From the latest update:
http://tinyurl.com/6ogd9x
"The department, known for a strict by-the-book approach that minimizes slip-ups in major investigations, has not released many details about the shootings."
What kind of reporting is this? Glad to know that the newspaper feels so strongly about the Plano PD's investigation before it has even really begun.
“Until the medical examiner makes a ruling on the cause of death, the only thing we’re speaking of is that there were in fact gunshot wounds sustained by both parties,” said Officer Smith. “But we’re not discussing any of the details.”
So why did the Medical Examiner's Office rule it a suicide if they still don't have the autopsy results? The PD is playing to the media big time, and from the way the staff at the Dallas Star is handling this, they're playing right along.
Conspiracies are ubiquitous (witness all the laws on the books against conspiracy, and how many people are routinely charged under said laws), and the most egregious perpetrators of murderously brutal conspiracies are governments upon their own innocent citizens. More than six times the amount of noncombatants have been systematically murdered for purely ideological reasons by their own governments within the past century than were killed in that same time-span from wars. From 1900 to 1923, various Turkish regimes murdered from 3.5 million to over 4.3 million of its own Armenians, Greeks, Nestorians, and other Christians. The Soviet government murdered over 61 million of its own noncombatant subjects. The communist Chinese government murdered over 76 million of it own subjects. And Germany murdered some 16 million of it own subjects in the past century. And that's only a sampling of governments mass-murdering their own noncombatant subjects within the past century. (The preceding figures are from Prof. Rudolph Joseph Rummel's University of Hawaii website at http://www.hawaii.edu/powerkills/ .)
All totaled, neither the private-sector crime which government is largely responsible for promoting and causing or even the wars committed by governments upon the subjects of other governments come anywhere close to the crimes government is directly responsible for committing against its own citizens--certainly not in amount of numbers. Without a doubt, the most dangerous presence to ever exist throughout history has always been the people's very own government. (This is also historically true for the U.S. govermment, as no group has killed more U.S. citizens than the U.S. government. Viz, the Civil War; etc.)
Not only were all of these government mass-slaughters conspiracies--massive conspiracies, at that--but they were conspiracies of which the 9/11 attacks are quite piddling by comparison.
TxBluesMan,
I'd rather see a blogger discuss his hunch than read 4 pages of what-if's. He point out a potential precedent and explained why that's a viable concern in this occurrence - support your own theory if you disagree.
Blogs aren't intended to be substantially objective, imo.
I'll bet the victim's papers listing his customers never see the light of day. That'll be the real reason the drug agents came to collect them.
The most important reason we must end the War on Drugs is that it makes cops into crooks, through and through.
"Jacobs was going to rat out cops in five Metroplex depts"
You know, that was in the news a while back here as was the statement that Plano was waiting for him to make an official internal affairs complaint before they began their investigation.
I'm surprised that isn't in the Dallas Morning News now.
Ah well, the Dallas Observer will probably have a story on it next week.
Otherwise, I can't tell the rumor from the facts right now. I'm glad that people are talking though.
OK, while you're at it, why don't we ask the Feds to launch investigations into steriod use by Federal Agents, Politcians, Judges (at all levels), lawyers, and anyone else who works for any government (all levels) agency. Then when you're done with that, let's move on to ALL teachers and workers in public services. Well, wait a minute, why don't we just test EVERYONE for steriod use?
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