Cop helped group rob people for years using information learned on the job, feds say
A group of individuals posed as law enforcement officers to seize drugs and money from people in Tennessee, authorities said.
Now, they face prison time.
Between 2014 and 2018, Anthony Davis, Sam Blue, Ronnie Woods, Lester Page, Kenneth Hicks, David Douglas and Jarvis Howard posed as officers to assault and rob targets, according to an April 21 news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Tennessee.
Blue was an officer in the Memphis Police Department and would provide the rest of the group with information, such as home addresses, obtained from “restricted sources” to pick targets for their robberies, according to court documents obtained by McClatchy News.
Blue would give out equipment such as official police badges and a dashboard blue light to pose as officers during the robberies, prosecutors said.
The individuals also ordered “official looking clothing” to disguise as officers, court documents show.
In 2018, the group targeted individuals believed to possess drugs, according to the release. In July that year, Hicks and Douglas dressed as officers with masks and handguns and ordered a man leaving his apartment to get on the ground, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
The men then handcuffed him, covered his face with a hood, and drove him to another location. There, the pair “beat him, burned him on his arm, neck, and head, and demanded that he tell them where he kept his money and/or drugs,” according to the release.
The man was able to escape after he dived out a window with the hood still on his head. He was seen by a construction worker who called authorities to get him help, authorities said.
“The victim suffered second and third-degree burns on his neck, face, and arms,” the U.S. attorney said. “He was hospitalized for a week in the burn unit at the Med and had to undergo surgery for his injuries including a skin graft to his arm.”
The people involved in this case have all pleaded guilty and await sentencing, the release said.
This story was originally published April 21, 2022 at 4:02 PM with the headline "Cop helped group rob people for years using information learned on the job, feds say."
