Miami Dade Police Officer and Miami Beach Firefighter Convicted of Drug and Gun Charges
Wifredo A. Ferrer, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, and Michael B. Steinbach, Acting Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI), Miami Field Office, announce the convictions after trial of defendants Henry L. Bryant, a former City of Miami Beach Beach Firefighter, Daniel L. Mack, a Miami-Dade police officer, and Octavius Mclendon, for their participation in a drug trafficking conspiracy and the use of a firearm to transport and protect what they believed to be multiple kilograms of cocaine. Sentencing is scheduled for December 19, 2012 at 10:00 a.m. before Chief U.S. District Judge Federico Moreno. At sentencing, the defendants face a maximum statutory penalty of up to life imprisonment and a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years.
Defendants Mack, Bryant, and Mclendon were charged with conspiring to possess with the intent to distribute more than five kilograms of cocaine, in violation of 21 U.S.C. §§ 841(a)(1) and 846. The defendants were also charged with two counts of attempted possession with the intent to distribute more than five kilograms of cocaine, in violation of 21 U.S.C. §§ 841(a)(1) and 846, and one count of possession of a firearm in furtherance of drug trafficking crime, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 924(c).
According to evidence presented at trial, in early December 2011, an undercover FBI agent and Bryant discussed the possibility of recruiting police officers who could provide protection for the movement of cocaine. Over the following weeks, during recorded meetings and conversations, Bryant explained that he knew police officers that would escort the cocaine and that he would personally move the cocaine in his own vehicle. After reaching an agreement with the undercover agent, Bryant and Mclendon transported what they believed to be cocaine from the nightclub in Miami Beach to pre-determined drop-off points in Miami-Dade County on two separate occasions. On December 21, 2011, the defendants moved approximately nine (9) kilograms of sham cocaine. On January 14, 2012, the defendants moved approximately ten (10) kilograms of sham cocaine.
On both occasions, Bryant and Mclendon picked up the sham cocaine and returned for cash payment. On both occasions, Bryant and Mclendon were escorted by Mack in his Miami-Dade Police Department police cruiser. Mack had been introduced to the undercover agent as a police officer who would be providing security for the movement of cocaine. At that meeting, Mack wore his Miami-Dade Police Department uniform, was armed, and drove his Miami-Dade police cruiser. For these two transactions, the undercover agent paid the defendants a total of $25,000 in cash pay-offs.
The case was investigated by the FBI Miami Area Public Corruption Task Force, assisted by the Miami-Dade Police Department Professional Compliance Bureau and U.S. Customs Border Protection’s Office of Internal Affairs. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jared E. Dwyer and Robin W. Waugh.
A copy of this press release may be found on the website of the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida at http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/fls. Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at http://www.flsd.uscourts.gov or on http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov.
