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| Former San Antonio jail officer found guilty |
| By San Antonio Express-News |
| Published: 08/25/2003 |
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Jurors took 11/2 hours today to convict a former officer at the Wackenhut jail of trying to distribute to an inmate a package of heroin that was given to him by an undercover San Antonio police officer. David C. Higginbotham, 42, faces five to 40 years in prison for the conviction on a charge of attempting to possess with intent to distribute heroin. He was taken into custody immediately after the verdict. Higginbotham claims police set him up and forced the package, which actually contained brown sugar, on him during a meeting in a San Antonio sports bar parking lot on March 26, 2002. His lawyer, Alfredo Villarreal, said in closing arguments today that Higginbotham thought he was only accepting contraband like chewing tobacco, gum and cigarettes - stuff he took from the officer in an earlier meeting and agreed to deliver for $75. Villarreal told federal jurors that the gum and tobacco are prohibited in the jail, but that Higginbotham is not on trial for violating any Wackenhut rules. Villarreal also claimed that an earlier meeting Higginbotham had with the officer, who posed as a Texas Syndicate gang associate, left Higginbotham with the impression that he would be accepting contraband like tobacco and gum, not drugs. Villarreal argued that, when the exchange of the drug package went down, Higginbotham didn't want to accept it. Assistant U.S. Attorney Priscilla Garcia told federal jurors that Higginbotham ultimately took the package and the $500 in cash that the officer offered him. The money was later found in his wallet after police followed him to work and arrested him there. The U.S. Marshals Service sought the help of police to do the sting operation after receiving information from inmates that Higginbotham was smuggling in contraband and drugs. |
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