Deputy Stole Drug Money, Dealer Says : Trial: Convicted trafficker testifies that officer handcuffed and beat him, and filed false report of finding heroin.

A convicted drug dealer, testifying as a federal witness in a civil rights trial, said Tuesday that a member of a Los Angeles County sheriff’s anti-narcotics team broke his jaw, stole $30,000 in drug money from him and then lied about finding heroin in one of his socks.

Rickey Latham told a federal court jury that the deputy, who was part of an anti-narcotics team based in Lennox, clubbed him--although he offered no resistance and was lying face down on the floor during a 1985 drug raid of an Inglewood apartment.

“I was spread out with my hands out on the floor,” said Latham, who testified that the deputy handcuffed him and began beating him continuously for “25 to 30 seconds” with blows to the head, face, sides and back.

“(He) then picked me up and put me on the couch . . . or, more like threw me on the couch,” Latham, 29, said.

When asked if he could identify the deputy who had allegedly tossed him on the couch, Latham pointed to Deputy J.C. Miller, one of six defendants accused of beating drug dealers, skimming drug money and planting narcotics on suspects during a three-year period.

Prosecutors say Miller fractured Latham’s jaw in two places with either a leather sap or a metal flashlight during that Sept. 19, 1985, raid. They also contend that Miller stole about $30,000 in drug money from Latham’s briefcase, later sharing some of the money with fellow defendants Robert S. Tolmaire, Roger R. Garcia and John L. Edner.

Federal attorneys say that Edner stole a 14-karat gold diamond ring from Latham’s West Covina home that same day and that Miller also falsified his police report to pin drug charges on Latham. According to prosecutors, Miller wrote that Latham had thrown a wadded piece of paper containing “tar heroin” at the deputy and that another 6 grams of heroin was found in Latham’s left sock--an allegation that Latham said Tuesday was ludicrous.

“That’s what’s really funny,” testified Latham. “I don’t really wear socks.”

Miller’s attorney, Robert Ramsey, later disputed Latham’s statements: “He’s lying and I think the inconsistencies in his statements are going to cast doubt on his credibility.”

Attorney Roger Cossack, who represents Tolmaire, agreed. “Rickey Latham is a drug dealer and a liar. Print that,” he said.

Latham was the first of a string of admitted and convicted drug dealers expected to testify for the federal government. Prosecutors claim the traffickers are victims of civil rights abuses by members of an anti-narcotics crew that operated out of the Lennox sheriff’s station from 1985 to 1987 and eventually became known as the Southwest Crew.

In addition to the other defendants, Deputy Edward D. Jamison and Los Angeles Police Detective Stephen W. Polak are on trial. But neither man was part of the crew in 1985 when Latham says he was beaten.

With prompting from a federal prosecutor, Latham acknowledged that prior to his confrontation with deputies he had been selling marijuana and cocaine since the late 1970s. Latham said he and a brother, Willie--who also was allegedly beaten by deputies--grossed as much as $600,000 in 1984 from their drug operations.

Although Latham was arrested on heroin charges in 1985, the charges were dropped as part of a plea bargain in another drug case.