A correction to an earlier model of this text has been appended to the tip of the article.
SAN JOSE — The bombshell federal drug trafficking fees filed final week towards the chief director of the San Jose Police union are prompting vital questions on how the long-time officer supervisor was ready for years to run the alleged opioid smuggling scheme proper below the noses of police in America’s tenth largest metropolis.
Joanne Segovia, 64, faces drug-trafficking fees and 20 years in jail for the decade-long opioid and fentanyl distribution community that she reportedly ran by means of her residence and the San Jose Police Officers’ Affiliation workplace the place she has been the chief director since 2003. She was arrested final week as a part of an ongoing Homeland Safety investigation into the drug ring that shipped unlawful and harmful medication from overseas by means of the Bay Space and to the remainder of the US.
“It’s like Breaking Dangerous, San Jose Version,” stated Raj Jayadev, a police reform activist with Silicon Valley Debug. “To have a world drug circle for almost a decade, proper throughout the road from police — what's the bigger ecosystem that will enable that to happen?”
“The kingpin for these medication touchdown within the our bodies of younger folks got here from the identical physique that was doing the arresting,” he added. So “there are some questions that should be answered that metropolis officers and native enforcement ought to really feel compelled to answer.”
The union — in addition to the San Jose Police Division and metropolis officers — has condemned Segovia’s alleged actions however has stated that “no different particular person related to the POA is concerned, being investigated, or suspected by the authorities of realizing or collaborating in any approach on this incident.
“Mr. Jayadev’s feedback are absurd, hypocritical and are in direct contradiction to the details made accessible by the U.S. Legal professional,” the union stated in a press release Wednesday. “Throughout the nation, workers commit crimes unbeknownst to their employers.”
Former union members instructed this information group that Segovia was a key civilian member of their employees who, after greater than 20 years of labor for the union, had a excessive degree of belief amongst government officers and board members, all of whom are full-time working cops.
The previous union members stated Segovia was the contact level and receiver of any cash introduced in by union fundraising and carried out most logistical capabilities, together with dealing with the mail. She additionally had entry to the union’s web-based software program that tallied member votes on issues corresponding to contract ratification, the previous union members stated.
But in accordance with the federal fees, for almost a decade Segovia additionally used her police union work laptop to position orders for artificial opioids from nations corresponding to India, China and Hungary and to orchestrate drug deliveries throughout the US. She even used the police union’s constructing — lower than a mile from San Jose Police headquarters, the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Division and varied Santa Clara County authorities businesses — because the return tackle for packages containing hundreds of dollars’ value of managed substances.
And she or he made no secret of who she labored for: In communications with drug suppliers, Segovia made frequent point out of her place with legislation enforcement, in accordance with courtroom data. Fb posts additionally present her inquiring concerning the standing of packages she delivered.
“As a result of Ms. Segovia is legislation enforcement-adjacent, as a result of her official capability with the POA, we should go to the identical scrutiny upon the actions not solely of Segovia but in addition her employer,” stated Greg Woods, a senior lecturer in prison justice at San Jose State College. “If it’s legislation enforcement officers that we placed on the entrance line to impede such a scheme, then we want to verify these are untouchable people who're ethically selling their very own integrity in addition to the integrity of their very own career.”
On Wednesday, Jayadev and different activists gathered exterior San Jose Metropolis Corridor to demand that metropolis leaders start an investigation into how Segovia was in a position to commit her alleged crimes whereas working aspect by aspect with police. They demanded an audit of all SJPOA marketing campaign contributions and referred to as for town of San Jose to refuse to go to the contract bargaining desk with the SJPOA till a full investigation is accomplished.
“They want their ft held to the hearth,” Gilroy metropolis councilwoman Rebeca Armendariz instructed these gathered at Metropolis Corridor on Wednesday. “They will’t poison our households and get away with it.”
In its assertion, the union stated it has “cooperated absolutely with federal authorities of their investigation” and has “initiated its personal inner investigation of this matter as required by its insurance policies and legislation, which implies we're not permitted to share these outcomes publicly.”
Sacramento County Deputy Sheriffs’ Affiliation President Nate Seger stated there have been actions the San Jose union might have taken that will have caught Segovia’s crimes earlier, together with detailed yearly monetary audits and inner audits that require interviews with every worker.
In his workplace, Seger stated, he can even audit workers’ emails and communications, in addition to their laptop use and social media, at any time.
“If there are emails coming in from Canada or Mexico or locations that we wouldn’t usually have a necessity to speak with in these methods, there are methods to be notified about these issues,” Seger stated.
That Segovia was trafficking fentanyl was notably egregious, Seger stated. Practically 6,000 Californians died from a fentanyl overdose in 2021, together with 125 in Santa Clara County. That very same yr — the newest for which full information is out there — fentanyl was behind an astounding 1 in 5 deaths of California youths between the ages of 15 to 24, in accordance with a current evaluation by this information group.
In April 2022, a fentanyl overdose claimed the lifetime of a San Jose police officer — and throughout the nation, officers have had run-ins with the drug, leading to a number of hospitalizations, together with that of a Sunnyvale police officer in 2019.
For years, San Jose Police and different businesses supporting legislation enforcement have warned about fentanyl, advocating for harder legal guidelines towards sellers and warning concerning the publicity that officers specifically must the drug.
“If the accusations are true, then it’s a slap within the face, as a result of that is what we’re attempting to fight,” Seger stated. “We’re combating using a drug that considered one of our personal folks is trafficking. It’s killing our children, it’s horrible. You’d assume that clearly in an affiliation like ours, we’re held to a better normal.”
An earlier model of an article printed April 5 concerning the San Jose Police Union's workplace supervisor who faces drug trafficking fees for allegedly being part of an opioid distribution community incorrectly stated the union's tackle is "throughout the road" from the San Jose Police Division and Santa Clara County places of work. The union's tackle is lower than a mile away from SJPD and county authorities buildings.
An earlier model of an article printed April 5 concerning the San Jose Police Union's workplace supervisor who faces drug trafficking fees for allegedly being part of an opioid distribution community incorrectly stated the union's tackle is "throughout the road" from the San Jose Police Division and Santa Clara County places of work. The union's tackle is lower than a mile away from SJPD and county authorities buildings.