Cop Accused Of Tipping Drug Dealers In Grand Jury Probe

Monongahela Police Veteran George Langan Arrested On Drug, Corruption Charges

WASHINGTON, Pa. — An 18-year veteran of the Monongahela Police Department was arrested while on duty Friday morning, following a grand jury investigation of drug and corruption allegations.

 Patrolman George Langan, 45, of Monongahela, declined comment to Team 4 investigator Jim Parsons as he arrived at the Washington County Courthouse, still wearing his uniform.

“The charges allege Langan protected drug dealers — first by alerting them to pending searches and arrests — and that he also revealed critical, highly confidential police information of counter-narcotics efforts in that area,” District Attorney Steven Toprani said

Langan is accused of accepting cash and cocaine for personal use and helping alleged dealers in exchange, said Toprani, who revealed that Langan came under investigation in June “after drug task force detectives from my county office suspected that several heroin and cocaine investigations were compromised by tip-offs that he allegedly made to targets of those investigations.”

Police Chief Brian Tempest — who worked alongside Langan as a patrolman until last year — wasn’t surprised by the arrest.

 ”We had rumors for at least 10 years that George Langan was involved in illegal activity,” said Tempest.

 Langan was arraigned at District Judge Curtis Thompson’s office and taken to Washington County Correctional Facility on $500,000 bond. A hearing was scheduled for Sept. 16.

 WTAE Channel 4′s news exchange partners at the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reported that the charges include obstruction of justice, hindering apprehension, official oppression, possession and delivery of suspected cocaine, conspiracy and witness intimidation.

 Law enforcement sources told Team 4 that Langan tried to hide his payoffs by using them to buy real estate in the Bentleyville area.

 The FBI, state police and the state attorney general’s office assisted with the investigation.

Ex-transit cop accused of murder posts $3M bail

By TERENCE CHEA and TERRY COLLINS, Associated Press Writers Terence Chea And Terry Collins, Associated Press Writers – 1 hr 8 mins ago

AP – In this Jan. 14, 2009 file photo, Johannes Mehserle, right, appears in the East Fork Justice Court in …

• Slideshow: Oakland Train Station Shooting

OAKLAND, Calif. – The former California transit officer charged with fatally shooting an unarmed man was freed Friday on $3 million bail as protesters gathered outside City Hall railed against his release.

Johannes Mehserle, 27, was released from Santa Rita Jail in Dublin, according to Alameda County Sheriff’s Sgt. J.D. Nelson. He had been in custody since his Jan. 13 arrest.

Mehserle has pleaded not guilty to one count of murder in the Jan. 1 shooting of Oscar Grant on an Oakland train platform.

Prosecutors said Mehserle shot Grant, 22, in the back while the man lay facedown and restrained on the ground. Mehserle’s lawyer said his client may have mistakenly pulled his pistol instead of a stun gun.

The shooting, caught on cell phone cameras and broadcast on TV and the Internet, has sparked numerous protests against the former Bay Area Rapid Transit officer, including several that resulted in arrests for arson and vandalism.

Protesters outside Mehserle’s bail hearing last week had demanded that he remain jailed. Judge Morris Jacobson had said he set bail at a high amount in part because the former officer fled to Nevada during the initial investigation.

Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums called on protesters outside City Hall on Friday to remain peaceful. About 150 of them had gathered when Mehserle’s release was announced.

“We must treat each other and our city with respect and dignity while the outcome of this case is determined by judge and jury,” Dellums said in a statement.

John Burris, who is representing Grant’s family in a $25 million wrongful-death claim against BART, urged the public to “not create any social unrest as a consequence of this.”

“The family wants peace and the process to flow in the normal course of events,” he said.

As a condition of release, Mehserle was ordered to surrender all weapons.

It’s unclear where Mehserle was headed after posting bail. His attorney, Michael Rains, did not immediately return a call.

The judge has imposed a temporary gag order in the case until the next hearing, set for Feb. 13.