Deputy Denies Skimming Any Drug Money : Trial: The 22-year veteran, on trial with six others on charges of stealing cash during raids, also disputes allegations that he beat a suspected narcotics dealer.

A Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy, accused of beating a suspected drug dealer in 1988 and threatening him with execution, denied the allegations Thursday and disputed government claims that he and other narcotics officers on trial skimmed more than $1.4 million during drug raids.

Deputy Terrell H. Amers, a 22-year veteran of the Sheriff’s Department, told jurors in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles that he never participated in any thefts nor did he receive stolen money from fellow deputies who worked with him on an elite crew of narcotics investigators.

Amers, 47, along with six other veteran officers, are accused of stealing cash from money launderers and narcotics traffickers and using much of that money to buy cars, boats, vacation homes and other luxuries until they were caught in an FBI sting operation last year. But Amers testified that he was unaware of any money skimming during his seven years as a narcotics deputy.

With his attorney guiding him through a litany of cases where prosecutors allege drug money had been stolen, Amers denied assertions that he and other deputies had skimmed drug money and then passed out shares of cash in a motel room, restaurant parking lot, a Santa Fe Springs shopping mall and even at narcotics headquarters in Whittier.

“There’s not a bit of truth in those claims,” he said.

The deputy also was asked about the allegation of a convicted money launderer named Arturo Rojas Zavala, who testified last month that Amers and another defendant--Deputy Eufrasio G. Cortez--had beaten him during a 1988 drug raid.

According to Rojas, the narcotics officers had stopped his pickup truck with $200,000 inside and then taken him to a West Covina motel. When he refused to give deputies the combination to his locked briefcase, Rojas claimed the officers handcuffed him and placed him face down on a bed. Amers then put a pillow on his back and pummeled him.

Afterward, Rojas testified, Amers drove him to a nearby warehouse and pointed a gun to his head as if the deputy was going to execute him, then put the weapon away. Rojas, 22, who has used the name Carlos Luis Soto, also claimed that Cortez later punched him in the stomach.

The allegations led to extortion charges against both deputies.

Amers testified that he “never touched Mr. Soto in a threatening matter the entire day.” Asked by his attorney, Paul DePasquale, whether he ever put a gun to Rojas’ head, Amers shook his head and said, “That’s ridiculous.”

Cortez, who has yet to testify, also has denied the extortion charge.

Deputies James R. Bauder, Ronald E. Daub, John C. Dickenson, Macario M. Duran and Daniel M. Garner are also defendants in the trial, which is in its fifth week. All have denied any wrongdoing.

Amers is the fourth defendant to testify, and like the others, he disputed the testimony of his former boss and the prosecution’s chief witness, former Sgt. Robert R. Sobel, who claimed that sheriff’s narcotics crews often relied on a “kitty” of stolen drug cash to buy weapons and other items.

“I never had any knowledge of any kitty or any thefts during my time in narcotics,” Amers testified.

Amers, who worked for Sobel on an anti-drug task force out of the Lennox sheriff’s station before joining him on the department’s “majors” team, had been under the former sergeant’s command longer than any other defendant. He portrayed Sobel as “a loose wheel” in the narcotics bureau.

Amers testified that Sobel and his deputies once confronted a suspected drug dealer named Ricky Williams who was discovered hiding in an attic during a 1986 raid. As he emerged, Williams accidentally placed his hand on a faulty electrical connection and shocked himself so badly that sparks flew, Amers said.

“(Sobel) thought it was funny,” Amers recalled. “He laughed and then he directed Williams to put his hand back on the electrical connection again.”

When the man hesitated, Amers said the shotgun-wielding Sobel threatened to shoot him. But the deputy said he left before seeing whether Williams complied.

During cross-examination, Assistant U.S. Atty. Thomas A. Hagemann asked Amers why he departed that scene so abruptly.

“I didn’t want to have any part of it,” the defendant replied.

When asked if he had reported the incident to Sobel’s supervisors, Amers said he had not. This prompted Hagemann to suggest that the deputy was adhering to a policy of “see no evil” by ignoring the alleged misconduct.

“When it came to beefing (reporting) a supervisor, it came to that,” Amers said, “because I never had any success in the past doing that.”