2 Ex-Deputies Convicted of Stealing Drug Money : Trial: Verdicts give new momentum to federal probe that suffered setbacks with recent acquittals, hung juries.

Two Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies were convicted Monday of conspiracy, theft and tax evasion for joining other narcotics officers in stealing more than $200,000 in drug money that was divided among them in a Norwalk motel room.

After deliberating for four days, a federal jury found deputies Robert Juarez and Tyrone Powe guilty of all seven counts against them, including an allegation that the deputies received more than $50,000 apiece in the 1986 incident.

The jurors also convicted Yhvona Garner, the wife of a former deputy, of laundering stolen drug cash and signing a false income tax return that prosecutors said concealed thousands of dollars in stolen cash that the Garners spent.

“The message that we want to send out to police officers in Los Angeles is: Don’t compromise your integrity,” said Assistant U.S. Atty. Steven M. Bauer after the verdicts. “Once you step over that line, it’s hard not to keep walking and walk all the way to becoming a criminal.”

Bauer and co-prosecutor Sean Berry relied heavily on financial evidence against the three defendants, as well as the testimony of two ex-deputies who had pleaded guilty in the case and agreed to cooperate with investigators.

Bauer said the testimony of former narcotics officers Virgil Bartlett and Eufrasio G. Cortez was a key to the convictions. The verdicts also restored momentum to a government investigation stymied by the recent acquittals and deadlocked verdicts involving five sheriff’s deputies and a Los Angeles police officer.

“We gain a lot of momentum with this case,” Bauer said. “You can expect a lot more indictments and lot of convictions.”

Powe, 39, and Juarez, 46, were members of an elite Sheriff’s Department narcotics squad that investigated major drug traffickers and money launderers in the 1980s.

As the verdicts were read, Powe leaned forward at the defense table and showed no emotion. Juarez leaned back in his chair, his jaw clenched, his hands crossed across his lap. His wife broke into tears and rushed from the courtroom, followed by their son.

Garner, 43, whose husband was also a member of the anti-drug team, hung her head, raising it only to hear the jury confirm its unanimous verdict on all counts.

Garner’s husband, Daniel, had pleaded guilty in the case but insisted that his wife knew nothing of the stolen drug money. Although Yhvona Garner acknowledged that she had deposited much of the cash in family bank accounts, she told jurors she thought the money came from legitimate sources.

“I think it’s ridiculous,” her lawyer, Philip Deitch, said of the verdict as they left the courtroom.

Deitch would not speculate on the possibility of an appeal, but Joel Levine, the lawyer for Powe, said he was “disappointed and looking forward to appealing the verdict.”

The defendants declined to comment.

Sentencing was set for June 8. According to prosecutors, Juarez, convicted on four counts including a money-laundering allegation, faces up to 38 years in prison. Powe, convicted on three counts, could be sentenced to as long as 18 years, and Garner, who was convicted on four charges, could be in prison for up to 53 years.

Several jurors later said they had difficulty believing some of the defense witnesses and testimony that the money spent by the deputies came from loans, rental income and other legitimate sources of income.

“We took their testimony with a lot of caution,” said one juror who did not want to be identified.

Although jurors said it took several votes to reach their verdict, they added that none of them had any doubts about the final decision. “It was very, very painful,” said the jury foreman. “But everyone agreed on the verdict.”