Breaking News
There is an old saying that says everyone has skeletons in their closet. It appears Kanawha County WV Commission President Kent Carper’s may be starting to talk. According to new allegations, sometime in late November of 1986 while Carper was Charleston’s police chief, he not only fabricated drug related statistics, he also was instrumental in the introduction of crack cocaine onto that cities streets.
Sound totally bizarre?? Authorities thought so until court documents, witness testimony and other records from 1987 appear to corroborate the accusations. Now, some officials are reportedly running for cover as this scandal comes to light.
Why did this happen?? Carper allegedly needed the arrest and conviction of an actual crack cocaine dealer in order to receive federal funding being offered to cities fighting the new found drug epidemic. In a Sept. 5th, 1986 newspaper article, Carper told the local newspaper his officers had yet to find crack cocaine anywhere in Charleston or WV. So, he allegedly did the next best thing and had a drug dealer imported in. Shortly thereafter, presto, a crack cocaine problem. In the end, Carper received his federal funds.
New details show that long time drug dealer Darrell L. Paige of Jacksonville Florida actually made the 1200-mile round trip journey and met with WV undercover officers posing as drug dealers. Paige sold them a $300 sample of the drug with a promise to return with larger supplies for street sales. That sample tested positive as crack according to then Charleston officer Steve Utt, who now works for the DEA.
When Jacksonville Florida DEA agents Jerry Rinehart & John Burns learned of the details behind the police chiefs plot, they quickly shut the operation down. Rinehart, then resident agent in charge of the Florida office immediately called WV authorities and allegedly stated “this will never occur while I am alive.” And, “why would anyone introduce a drug to a city that did not have the problem?” Darrell Paige was later arrested in February of 1987 by Florida authorities for conspiracy to traffic cocaine in relation to the WV case. He received three years in prison. That docket number is 8702767 – Duval County FL.
What officials had not anticipated was Darrell Paige’s associates found out that Charleston WV was “crack free” so they made the trip north and covertly set up a drug network selling their crack cocaine on city streets. Carper resigned as chief in November 1987, just two days after his long-time friend and former Charleston mayor Mike Roark pled guilty to cocaine possession.
Carper, who also is an attorney, former prosecutor and emergency director, is said to have ambitions to be either Governor or run for the U.S. Senate.
The FBI has not commented on the request for them to investigate.
For more information & links go to:
http://www.kanawhacountyblog.blogspot.com/
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