Cosby
08-20-2005, 11:09 AM
Feds: Inmates Talked Through Toilets Fri Aug 19, 7:14 PM ET
PHILADELPHIA - Co-defendants in a drug case emptied toilet bowls in their Federal Detention Center cells and yelled to each other through the drainpipes about killing witnesses who might testify against them, prosecutors said.
What Dawud Bey and those he communicated with didn't know was that the FBI was also listening, via wiretaps in and around their cells, Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark J. Ehlers said Thursday.
Bey, 36, pleaded guilty in February to a charge of conspiracy to manufacture and distribute cocaine. Prosecutors revealed details from the wiretaps in an effort to prove that Bey also threatened government witnesses and their families.
U.S. District Judge Mary A. McLaughlin postponed Bey's sentencing Thursday until after Labor Day, saying she wanted to "take it under advisement."
Bey's attorney, Joseph C. Santaguida, said Bey's comments were just "talk" and "bravado." But FBI Agent Kevin M. Lewis testified that witnesses had to be relocated because of threats by Bey and others.
PHILADELPHIA - Co-defendants in a drug case emptied toilet bowls in their Federal Detention Center cells and yelled to each other through the drainpipes about killing witnesses who might testify against them, prosecutors said.
What Dawud Bey and those he communicated with didn't know was that the FBI was also listening, via wiretaps in and around their cells, Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark J. Ehlers said Thursday.
Bey, 36, pleaded guilty in February to a charge of conspiracy to manufacture and distribute cocaine. Prosecutors revealed details from the wiretaps in an effort to prove that Bey also threatened government witnesses and their families.
U.S. District Judge Mary A. McLaughlin postponed Bey's sentencing Thursday until after Labor Day, saying she wanted to "take it under advisement."
Bey's attorney, Joseph C. Santaguida, said Bey's comments were just "talk" and "bravado." But FBI Agent Kevin M. Lewis testified that witnesses had to be relocated because of threats by Bey and others.