Orlando, FL June 21, 2010 - It was "highly unlikely," said Judge Karla Spaulding, that a successful businessman like Pete Benevides would get involved in the drug trade, but the false testimonies cobbled together by an overzealous DEA Agent were sufficient to keep him locked up pending trial for eight months. When the lies were finally discovered, Benevides was released and all charges were dropped.
It all began in January of 2009, pilot Kenneth Henderson of Gulf Breeze was arrested as he taxied in to Pensacola Aviation Center, with more than 5 kilograms of Cocaine aboard his rented plane. He worked as a contract pilot for Benevides' company Skyview Aviation. At the time of his arrest, Henderson was noton company time,nor flying one Skyview Aviation's planes.
Henderson implicated his friend Marvin Jackson, another pilot working for Benevides. Facing lifetime sentences if convicted, they agreed to talk to authorities, accusing Mr. Benevides of financing their operation, flying down to the Dominican Republic to purchase large quantities of Cocaine, then smuggling it back to Florida.
Their plea bargain netted Henderson 17 years behind bars, while Jackson was sentenced to 9 years.
On September 16, 2009, Mr. Benevides was arrested, based on their testimony, as well as that of a paid informant for the DEA,a disgruntled former employee, who'd sworn revenge.
Following his arrest, Judge Spaulding presided over a four day hearing where she heard evidence over whether Benevides should be denied bail. She criticized the DEA Agent Keith Humphreys for testifying on behalf of the two accusers, and for failing to provide reports which could have refreshed his memory as to the inconsistencies in their accounts. Defense Attorney Kevin Darken of Tampa would later write in court filing, "The magistrate judge was asked to believe an unlikely, inconsistent tale told by convicted conspirators."
Several respected and well known members of the community spoke out in support of Benevides, during this time, including Emit Foster, CEO of National Bank of Georgia and Cleveland Hightower, president of Banker's Credit Corporation.
Benevides has been an active part of Orlando community for over a decade, widely known as a friendly energetic business partner. He currently owns over a dozen companies, including Skyview Aviation, a construction business, a funeral home, and a luxury car rental service, He's been heavily involved with children's charities over the years and two years ago prior to the tragedy of Caylee Anthony's murder, he put up a six-figure reward for any information leading to a safe return of Caylee Anthony.
Benevides chose to fight the accusation, despite the life sentence he would suffer if he was found guilty. As his court date approached he waited behind bars, looking forward to the chance to prove his innocence. Meanwhile, the DEA prepared Henderson and Jackson for their court appearances. The testimonies of the two men were the linchpin in the case against Benevides, yet right from the beginning there had been inconsistencies in their accounts. During a pretrial interview Henderson made statements that were materially inconsistent from those he had made earlier. Based on that, and the two's admission of lying to the court on other matters, the indictment against Benevides was finally dismissed.
"I'm just glad to be home," said Benevides, "All that time waiting, knowing I was innocent but that I might be found guilty anyways.I just keep thinking of my friends and supporters on the outside. Their faith in me is what kept me going."
This is hardly the first time that the DEA's overzealousness has resulted in a mockery of justice. In 2008 DEA Agent Lee Lucas botched a major drug case in Mansfield, Ohio when his informant Jerrell Bray admitted to lying. Of the 26 people indicted, charges were thrown out for all but three of them. Bray is currently serving 15 years for perjury, while federal grand jury investigates Lucas' role in all of this.
Back in 1993 this same agent had brought a case against Von Schlieffen, a Florida businessman, which was also tainted by false testimony. Only that time the truth didn't come out for seven years, at which point the innocent man was released from prison, only to die of natural causes shortly thereafter in 2003. The case against the government, due to their agents' actions of bad faith, is still making its way through the courts and could wind up costing taxpayers $356,000.
DEA agents are seldom held to the same level of accountability as other members of the public service. With the War on Drugs as a cover, a lack of supervision, and the power to overrule local police departments, there are many opportunities for corruption in the DEA. Sometimes this corruption takes the obvious form, as it did in the case of Richard Cramer, a former Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent whose work with the DEA allowed him to get involved in a cocaine smuggling operation. But other times it goes in the opposite direction, into overzealous policing, using paid, confidential informants to indict innocent people.
Unlike police officers, who must go through two years of training, DEA agents only go through a 16 week resident program. Only 30-60% of them come from a police or military background, the rest having no prior training whatsoever. Their website describes the training, saying "An integral part of basic agent training is a emphasis uponLeadership and Ethics, Human Dignity and Sound Judgment" but this is hard to square with the many abuses the DEA is becoming known for.
The lack of training, the lack of oversight, and the use of paid informants is a poisonous combination. While the police seek out quality convictions, it seems the DEA is more interest in quantity.
Thankfully for Benevides, his friends, family, employees and business partners, this time around it only took eight months for the truth to come out.
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