A former Cartersville, Ga., police officer was indicted Tuesday on multiple federal charges of using his position to protect drug traffickers, according to the U.S. attorney’s office.
Bryson-Taylor Wayne Banks, 31, was arraigned before U.S. Magistrate Judge Walter E. Johnson in Rome, Ga.
U.S. Attorney John A. Horn said in a news release that Banks used his position on a DEA task force to tip an informant and drug traffickers about an active federal investigation.
“His conduct is shocking, especially from someone sworn to uphold the law. Leaks of sensitive investigative information undermined the hard work of law enforcement officers and put them in real danger,” Horn said.
The release said Banks, a Cartersville officer from October 2008 to August 2015, had an informant who provided information about drug traffickers. Starting in 2014, though, Banks allegedly began giving his snitch tips from a law enforcement database, which let the informant warn traffickers about law enforcement activities.
The release states that in July 2015, Banks sent his snitch a picture and warned him it was another federal informant and to stay away from him.
Banks was caught after the FBI tapped contraband cellphones being used by a Georgia prison inmate to run a drug ring, according to the release. On the tapped phones, agents heard details of drug transactions involving the inmate and a dealer named Tomas Pineda Mendoza.
On Aug. 11, 2015, the FBI told Banks about that investigation and said the inmate was arranging for the delivery of 2 kilograms of methamphetamine to Mendoza that afternoon.
Banks straightaway warned his informant to tell Mendoza not to pick up the drugs. He also told him the inmate’s phones were tapped, compromising the investigation, the release stated.
Banks has been charged with:
- Unlawful notification of electronic surveillance;
- Unlawful disclosure of wire, Ooral, or electronic communications;
- Use of a communication facility in causing or facilitating the commission of felonies under the Controlled Substances Act;
- Misprision of a felony;
- Unlawfully accessing a law enforcement database;
- Disclosure of confidential information.