Ex-Officer Not in Court to Testify in Drug Case : Warrant Issued for Participant in Seizure of Boat Containing Marijuana in Newport Harbor

An arrest warrant was issued Wednesday for a former Newport Beach police officer who failed to appear in court to testify in a drug smuggling case.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Thomas J. Borris said former officer Jeff Henig has been subpoenaed to testify and, in fact, had appeared in court Monday when a two-day delay was granted because a defense attorney was absent.

Henig was involved in the arrest of three men after 5 1/2 tons of marijuana were discovered on their boat in Newport Harbor on Jan. 21, 1985. Borris said the arrests came after boat owner Richard W. Nelson was detained by another police officer, Chuck Freeman, for docking violations and a routine check discovered $8,000 in outstanding warrants.

Freeman decided to arrest Nelson and called in Henig. They impounded the boat, and Henig found the marijuana while taking inventory.

The suspects, Nelson, Victor P. Lucini and David P. Choy, were released at their first preliminary hearing when Harbor Municipal Court Judge Russell A. Bostrom ruled that the search and seizure of their boat was unlawful. However, the three were charged again in January, 1986, after an Orange County Grand Jury investigation.

May Call 7 Officers

Borris, who is the prosecutor, said he will call as many as seven police officers to testify about the legality of the case. He admitted that Henig has said several times that he will refuse to testify despite warnings that he would probably be held in contempt of court.

Henig, who was fired last October by Newport Beach Police Chief Arb Campbell for allegedly lying during an internal investigation of alleged drug use before his employment as a police officer, could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

Richard Weinberg, one of the defense attorneys, noted that Borris wrote a November, 1986, memo stating that Henig had threatened to provide newspapers with details of a closed meeting involving police and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency that would harm the “integrity” of the department. “He’s got two lovers between whom he’s torn,” said Weinberg. “One is the truth, and the other is the fear of being blackballed by the Police Department.”

But Borris said the former officer met with him after the memo was issued and recanted those statements, saying there had been no improprieties by police. “That (the earlier statement) was just off the wall,” Borris said.

“The defense is trying to destroy his credibility as a witness, but when he says in court that he found 5 1/2 tons of marijuana on that boat, guess what? There was 5 1/2 tons of marijuana on the boat, and nobody’s not going to believe him,” Borris said.