Yesterday CBS5 reported on the arrest of Norman Wielsch, the commander of the Central Contra Costa County Narcotics Enforcement Team. Wielsch, who has 12 years in the California Bureau of Narcotics Enforcement (and should know better), is staring down 22 felony charges for allegedly selling or otherwise distributing the methamphetamine, marijuana and steroids his team had pulled off the streets.

As if that weren't enough to get local screenwriters working on their movie treatments, Wielsch had a high-profile accomplice in Christopher Butler, the 49-year-old private investigator and owner of Butler and Associates Private Investigations. As the media-obsessives over at Uptown Almanac pointed out, fans of the Today show or People Magazine might have spotted Butler a few times over the past year. The former cop, who served with Wielsch as an officer for the Antioch PD, has been getting a lot of press for employing unassuming Soccer Moms as private investigators. "P.I. Moms of San Francisco", a reality TV show filmed over 2010 and starring Butler's crack team of undercover investigators was even rumored to begin airing next month on Lifetime. (Sidenote: of course, San Francisco can't have a normal reality show like "The Real Housewives of Pac Heights" or whatever.)

Like so many stories of fame gone bad, it seems Butler was heavily involved in Wielsch's circular drug scheme. According to both CBS5 and the Chronicle's reports on the arrests, the CC Country Drug Czar had been taking confiscated narcotics from his agency's evidence lockers and selling them back on the streets with Butler's help. The two men were eventually brought down by a month-long sting operation that ended with the pair being, "booked on suspicion of conspiracy, embezzlement, burglary and possession and transportation of controlled substances" according to the Chronicle.

Unfortunately for local TV viewers, it seems unlikely that the Lifetime reality show will ever see the light of day at this point. In the meantime, UptownAlmanac has a roundup of Butler's recent media appearances and we're still holding out for someone to adapt this story in to some kind of Nash Bridges-meets-Parenthood dramedy miniseries.

[CBS5]
[UptownAlmanac]
[Chronicle]