Cop Appears in Court in Prince George's Corruption Probe

Cop Appears in Court in Prince George's Corruption Probe

GREENBELT, Md. - New details continue to emerge in the Prince George's County corruption probe. Three more suspects appeared in court Wednesday including a county police officer accused of dealing drugs.

Prosecutors say that officer was involved in the cigarette and alcohol smuggling operation linked to the county corruption case and that's how they discovered the drug trafficking.

During a detention hearing, Assistant U.S. Attorney David Copperthite said Simic was running contraband cigarettes to New York and New Jersey, in a smuggling operation previously linked to the owner of Tick Tock liquors, involving bribes to public officials.

However, authorities say Simic then used those shipments for his own gain, to traffic in cocaine. His lawyer says the case has been unfairly tainted by the link to the corruption case against County Executive Jack Johnson.

"I think what has happened here since Friday," when Johnson and his wife Leslie were arrested, "has been sort of a frenzy and I think everybody needs to realize the process needs to work itself out and let this go forth in the normal course," said Brian Stolarz, Simic's attorney.

Simic who is charged with drug trafficking was suspended by Prince George's County police three months ago and told he was under investigation. It's his third suspension. Prosecutors say twice he's been stopped in Fairfax County, Virginia in which traces of drugs were found in his vehicle.

Simic's job, authorities say, was to drive the contraband from Virginia to Maryland and further north to New York and New Jersey and to use his police powers if anyone stopped them.

In court, Copperthite describe wiretaps of Simic and his alleged partner, Mirza Kujundzic. On one, the prosecutor says Simic is heard talking about buying a 50 caliber desert eagle handgun for his partner in a straw purchase.

"'I want to get the damn gun,'" the prosecutor said Kujundzic is heard saying and Simic replies "I told you we're going to get you one." It's the same type of gun, investigators say was found in a search of Simic's home.

The judge ordered the officer detained pending trial saying with the mix of guns and drugs, "that is very much a danger to the community."

Simic's attorney asked the judge to make accommodations to protect Simic in prison.

"Anytime you have a police officer in custody you are concerned about other inmates knowing that and doing harm to them," said Stolarz.

Chun Chen, who is also known as Eddy Chen, appeared in court charged in the cigarette smuggling operation. He was released to his wife and is under home detention with electronic monitoring.

An interpreter for the family says agents seized cash during a search of his home but his wife claims the cash was from their carryout business and frequent gambling trips to Atlantic City.

"They were stunned. The wife told me that the husband he goes to Atlantic City every weekend so the thing is regular gambling. It's fine you know. But suddenly the police come you know," said Alex Mong.

Simic's alleged partner, Kujundzic, had his detention hearing postponed.

The government says it has wiretaps of Simic and Kujundzic described what they called their "protection business," which was code for the drug and cigarette trafficking. The prosecution also says based on those wiretaps, they were able to covertly record drug transactions involving the two suspects, in which cocaine is laid out on a table and repackaged in front of them.

At one point, the prosecution says Simic said, "The heat sealer is better than they one they have in (the police department) evidence control."