Escondido Officer Under Investigation By Four Agencies : Law enforcement: The 15-year police veteran has built a strong record of accomplishments. Now, however, Barry Sweeney is facing inquiries into allegations that some of his arrests and drug raids may have been illegal.

Escondido Police Officer Barry Sweeney repeated the same unsettling question that district attorney’s investigators, the FBI, sheriff’s homicide detectives and his department’s own internal affairs unit are asking these days.

“Is Barry Sweeney a dirty cop? There’s a lot of smoke, a lot of allegations about me,” he said. “But there’s no fire. Nobody’s got anything on me. I’ve got nothing to worry about.”

The 41-year-old Sweeney, who has been an Escondido policeman for 15 years, was brash and exuded confidence during a recent interview in his office. He repeated his innocence in the strongest terms, yet he also expressed concern about the four investigations.

“What have you heard? Who have you talked to?” he said.

Sweeney has angered more than his share of people over the years. Criticism of Sweeney, however, is overshadowed by the praise heaped on him.

During his tenure as an Escondido narcotics detective and with the North County Narcotics Task Force, Sweeney built a reputation as a tough cop with an impressive record of making arrests and recruiting informants.

In previous telephone interviews, he boasted about serving more than 1,000 search warrants during his police career and knowing every “tweaker” (drug user) in Escondido and North County.

“There isn’t much that goes on around here, in drug circles at least, that I don’t know about,” he said.

During the interview in his office, a uniformed patrol officer walked in, seeking help in identifying a suspect.

“He’s a light-skinned male Hispanic, with a Fu Manchu mustache and an Anglo last name,” said the officer.

Without hesitating, Sweeney named the individual and gave the officer his address from memory.

Sweeney agreed to the recent office interview on the condition that his photo not be taken. He also did not want a physical description of him included in the story. In addition, Sweeney said he was ordered by the Police Department and attorneys for the city of Escondido and the Police Officers Assn. not to discuss several cases that are the basis for the investigations.

His large number of arrests has garnered praise from judges, other cops, defense attorneys and dope dealers alike. He has bragged that he is “a legend in North County drug circles.”

But some of Sweeney’s arrests and drug busts are now the subject of scrutiny by various law enforcement agencies amid allegations that some arrests and drug busts may have been illegal.

Escondido Police Chief Vince Jimno acknowledged in a telephone interview that Sweeney has been accused of stealing money, drugs and valuables during raids at drug labs and dealers’ homes. Jimno is a candidate for San Diego County sheriff.

He described Sweeney as “a Serpico-type of personality.”

“He was a good investigator and pulled cases together and had guys with labs and picked them off and they were convicted,” Jimno said. “He always produced. He always worked.”

In the past year, various people, including drug dealers and upstanding middle-class citizens, have stepped forward with stories alleging Sweeney stole money, valuables and drugs during searches of homes, planted evidence and lied in search-warrant affidavits.

People allegedly victimized by Sweeney told The Times that typically he would only report a portion of the drugs or money he and other narcotics investigators recovered in drug raids. They also alleged that he frequently did not report chemicals, glassware and firearms seized in the raids. Sweeney has denied the accusations, which could not be substantiated.

The most serious allegation pending against Sweeney is that he was involved in the killing of a drug dealer. The victim’s family told a Sheriff’s Department homicide officer, who is investigating the killing, that Sweeney allegedly threatened the man.

Sheriff’s homicide Sgt. Steve Wood said the accusation is being reviewed by the Sheriff’s Department, but so far, according to Wood, there is no evidence to substantiate the allegation.

Sweeney himself says he has been accused of four murders during his law enforcement career.

Jimno said his department’s internal affairs unit and the district attorney together began investigating Sweeney about six months ago. He said the investigations were prompted by allegations from defendants arrested by Sweeney in drug cases that he stole drugs, drug money and other valuables.

“We have not been able to substantiate anything at this point. We’ve worked very closely with the district attorney’s office and go anywhere they want to go and produce any kinds of material they want. We’re always available to do that for them,” Jimno said.

Escondido police internal affairs officers and district attorney’s investigators are investigating the drug-related allegations against Sweeney, while Sheriff’s Department homicide detectives are looking into allegations that Sweeney was connected to the 1989 killing of Christopher Nielsen, a drug dealer who was one of Sweeney’s informants, according to Nielsen’s family.

When the various allegations began to surface a year ago, Escondido police officials took Sweeney out of narcotics and assigned him to the homicide unit. Recently, as the district attorney and FBI investigations became widely known, Sweeney was reassigned as a training officer.

In a recent telephone interview, Sweeney said acting Police Chief Mike Stein told him the investigations “have embarrassed the department” and led to his reassignment. Stein has refused to comment about Sweeney or the investigations.

Local FBI spokesman Ron Orrantia said the agency is investigating possible civil rights violations by Sweeney. Orrantia declined to elaborate on the FBI investigation but said it began in April when agents received a complaint about Sweeney from an Escondido couple, John and Pamela Aldridge.

A second FBI agent was assigned to the case two weeks ago. Although Orrantia declined to talk about the FBI investigation, other Escondido residents have told The Times that they too have been interviewed by agents about possible civil rights violations involving other Escondido detectives.

Orrantia said the investigators’ findings will be forwarded to the Justice Department’s civil rights division in Washington. Justice Department lawyers will review the FBI reports and decide whether to pursue charges against Sweeney and the other officers.

The internal affairs investigation of Sweeney also includes allegations by the Aldridges that Sweeney deliberately lied in preparing a search warrant affidavit for their home and office last year. In March, a judge ruled that a police search of the home was illegal and berated Sweeney for “reckless disregard for the truth” in writing the affidavit.

The most frequent allegations against Sweeney accuse him of falsifying search warrants and stealing drugs and money from drug dealers and their families. These accusations are being investigated by Escondido police internal affairs officers and district attorney’s investigators.

In March, Vista Municipal Judge Victor Ramirez threw out a search warrant Sweeney had drawn for a search of the Aldridges’ house in Escondido. Sweeney alleged in the search warrant affidavit that John Aldridge, who is an architect, was selling methamphetamine from his house.

Judge Ramirez said Sweeney lied.

“This is absolutely an outrage. This affidavit . . . (was) prepared with reckless disregard for the truth. . . . It’s just totally shocking to me,” Ramirez said during a court hearing.

Sweeney had persuaded another judge to sign the search warrant by implying that Jolynn Sanders, an informant, had purchased drugs from John Aldridge at his house. Sanders testified that she had not been to Aldridge’s house in four or five years.

“It does a disservice to you and your office to present a warrant like this and then try to come in here and justify some of the wording, and giving it a twisted explanation,” said Ramirez, according to a court transcript.

” . . . You didn’t have the evidence and you didn’t have the information to support it, and yet you took the broadest possible application for a warrant against (Aldridge) and his assets.”

John Aldridge was eventually convicted on a misdemeanor charge of possessing 0.3 grams of methamphetamine and sentenced to 90 days in jail. Sweeney was not involved in the arrest.

Aldridge’s conviction resulted partly from a search of his business office that Ramirez ruled was legal. Although no drugs were found in the office, an Escondido detective testified that he allegedly recovered the drug during a pat-down search of Aldridge. Aldridge alleges that the detective found the drug after he was searched by two other officers, who reportedly did not find anything.

Aldridge is appealing the conviction and has charged in interviews and complaints to Escondido police, the FBI and the district attorney that Escondido detectives planted the drug on him. He is being investigated by the FBI.

Robert Schooley, who worked as an informant for Sweeney for nine years, has told the FBI and a district attorney’s investigator that Sweeney allegedly falsified search warrant affidavits. Schooley, 27, is a former alcoholic and drug addict who was treated for his addictions in April, 1988, and says he has been clean ever since. He was recently interviewed by The Times at his North County home.

“There were times when Barry would say in a search warrant that he had received information from two confidential informants. Or he’d say that an informant made a controlled buy, or that a phone call was made to the residence. He’d write these things so the judge would grant a search warrant,” Schooley said. “But there were times when he lied. There were no informants. There was no controlled buy and there was no phone call made.”

In response, Sweeney said he was “disappointed” that Schooley “would say these things about me.” He acknowledged that Schooley and his former girlfriend, the daughter of a well-known North County criminal defense attorney, had been his informants. But he denied ever lying in search warrant affidavits.

“Bob and his girlfriend were at the bottom of the barrel when I met them,” Sweeney said. “They were both in bad shape and living in his truck. I’m sorry and disappointed to hear that he’s bad-mouthing me. . . . You know, I helped him get cleaned up.”

Schooley said he was ambivalent about criticizing Sweeney. He said Sweeney was “like a father figure to me.” He added that he never saw Sweeney steal money or drugs.

“He was there toward the end of my crystal use,” Schooley said. “He was there to talk about my addiction and talk to my parents for me. At the time, I wasn’t talking to my parents.”

But Schooley, who was interviewed three weeks ago by the FBI for about three hours, and a week ago by a district attorney’s investigator for 3 1/2 hours, said his conscience was gnawing at him and that he now regrets working as an informant.

“There’s a good side to him, but he’s also involved in a lot . . . I swear, the guy has watched too many ‘Miami Vice’ movies,” Schooley said.

Last month, an elderly couple sued the Escondido Police Department, charging that they lost $2,500 in cash and a $700 watch when Sweeney and other officers searched their house for drugs. No drugs were found, but officers seized money and other items from the house, said Edgar Maloney, 64, and his wife, Johanna, 61.

Sweeney declined to discuss the allegations made by the Maloneys.

In interviews with The Times, several North County residents alleged that Sweeney and other narcotics investigators stole money, drugs and other valuables during searches of their homes. Some attorneys interviewed by The Times said they attempted to pursue allegations of theft from their clients, only to learn that the missing items were not included in police inventories of items taken from the clients’ homes.

These allegations, however, could not be substantiated, and Sweeney repeatedly denied ever stealing anything during drug searches.

He said allegations made by a number of felons and drug dealers are “groundless.”

“It’s their way of getting back at me,” he said. “They say, ‘It’s my turn to get back at him. He put me in prison, now I’m getting back at him.’ You know what’s neat? A lot of people making these complaints, I wasn’t even there.

“You know, you can’t work narcotics for 10 years without pissing someone off.”

The most serious allegation against Sweeney involves the unsolved slaying of Christopher Nielsen, a man identified by police and his family as a drug dealer. Nielsen was last seen alive by his family July 7. His skeletal remains were found Sept. 18 by a hiker near Lake Wohlford Road.

Sheriff’s Sgt. Wood said that Sheriff’s Department homicide investigators are looking into allegations by Nielsen’s family that Sweeney had Nielsen killed. But Wood said there is no evidence linking Sweeney to the slaying.

“We have not been able to substantiate this allegation,” Wood said. “But we’re still willing to look into it. If anybody has any information on this case, please give us a call. We’re willing to look at anything or anybody.”

Sweeney refused to talk about Nielsen under orders from his department and from attorneys.

Some members of Christopher Nielsen’s family--his brother, Joe Nielsen, and his mother Becky Schrader--said in interviews that Nielsen told relatives last year that Sweeney was going to have him murdered. They said Christopher worked as an informant for Sweeney.

Schrader and Joe Nielsen said they told Sheriff’s Detective Russ Oliver that Christopher Nielsen feared that Sweeney was going to have him killed. In addition, Schrader and Joe Nielsen said they gave Oliver a list of names of drug dealers whom Christopher Nielsen was involved with.

Although Sweeney denies ever knowing Christopher, Joe Nielsen said he and his brother used to work at a local dry cleaner patronized by Sweeney and other Escondido police officers and met him there several years ago. Joe Nielsen insists Sweeney and his brother were “friends before he became an informant.”

Sweeney said he recently learned that Christopher Nielsen was an informant for another Escondido detective.

Despite the allegations surrounding him, Sweeney still enjoys widespread support in the law enforcement community, including the courts.

After the Escondido Times-Advocate recently printed a story detailing some of the allegations against Sweeney, Vista Municipal Judge David W. Ryan wrote a letter to the editor, praising the work done by Sweeney and other narcotics officers.

“This is a byproduct of the war on drugs,” Ryan said in a telephone interview. “When you put police officers as a group in infiltrating organizations, nobody should be surprised that the characters who are infiltrated turn on the officers.”

Times staff writer Richard A. Serrano contributed to this report.