Two high-profile examples of Bay Area law enforcement personnel being on the wrong side of the opioid trade are back in the news, just with lighter sentencing than what law enforcement usually clamors for in the newspapers.
In today’s news, two old stories about opioid use in law enforcement come back to light on the same day. In one case, the executive director of the San Jose Police Officers’ Association union who was charged with importing and distributing fentanyl and other synthetic opioids in 2023 has been sentenced for that, and given a three-year probation sentence, according to KQED. In the other case, a decades-long SFPD officer who robbed a San Mateo Rite-Aid to steal painkillers back in November 2021 was profiled in today’s Chronicle, in a piece that details former SFPD Sergeant Davin Cole’s fall from grace and new life in recovery.
Both stories are examples of how opioids can ruin successful careers and good lives, and how people can still rebound from this ruin in recovery. But they also show a pattern of legal sympathy rarely afforded to suspects outside law enforcement, when it comes to sentencing or punitive measures.
The newsier piece here is former San Jose Police Officers’ Association Joanne Segovia, sentenced Tuesday in a federal courthouse in San Jose. While working with the police union, Segovia admitted to distributing 18,000 pills of the opioid tapentadol over a 17-month period starting in 2021. But her attorneys struck a deal with prosecutors, who seemed sympathetic that she was supporting an addiction more than participating in a criminal enterprise.
“The story of Joanne Segovia is the story of years of heavy opioid addiction, drug importation, self-delusion, and some very poor choices,” US Attorney Joseph Tartakovsky wrote in his pre-sentencing memo. "It is not, however, the story of a drug dealer."
That said, one would think that Segovia initially trying to pin the whole thing on her housekeeper would have aggravated that same prosecuting US Attorney. But Segovia has successfully passed dozens of random drug tests since her arrest, and the judge felt she was reformed.
We also have the case of SFPD Sergeant Davin Cole, who before knocking over that Rite-Aid in 2021 had often given local media figures ride-alongs on SFPD business, and was on the verge of a promotion to lieutenant. But by night, Cole was struggling with an opioid and alcohol addiction.
The Chronicle has the compelling inside story of the day Cole attempted that heist, when he was armed with a .38-caliber snub-nose revolver, and slipped a note to the pharmacy counter reading “I HAVE A GUN GIVE ME NORCO DO NOT PUSH ALARM!! HURRY!!”
With the pills secured, he showed the other side of the note that read, “SORRY!! DOCTORS F’D ME UP WAIT 15 MINS TO CALL COPS.”
Cole was arrested moments later, and eventually sentenced to nearly a year in County Jail, though only had to serve six months of that, which his sentencing allowed for. And surprisingly, Cole has still been allowed to collect his police pension, despite, you know, knocking off a Rite-Aid while armed to steal narcotics.
Both Cole and Segovia did lose their jobs, so they’ve paid some debt to society, and both have apparently remained sober since their incidents. But their fairly light sentencing does reflect a two-tiered system of justice when it comes to people in the law enforcement racket falling prey to the very crimes for which they prosecute suspects.
Image: Addictive Prescription drugs With Warning Labels. (Getty Images)
