Click photo to enlarge
Former Contra Costa Narcotics Enforcement Team Commander, Norman Wielsch,... ( JIM STEVENS
MARTINEZ -- Disgraced former police officer Norman Wielsch apologized to a federal court Wednesday, saying just days before he'll be sentenced for conspiring to sell seized drugs that he had "tarnish(ed) the badge."
Wielsch, the former head of the Central Contra Costa Narcotics Enforcement Team (CNET), pleaded guilty in December to charges that he had sold drugs that had been seized by CNET agents, robbed prostitutes and made phony arrests.
Wielsch, who is scheduled to be sentenced by a federal judge May 20, said in his apology note that he resisted help from doctors and family for treatment of depression and post-traumatic stress. He said he was hesitant because of a belief among some law enforcement officers that admitting weakness means an officer cannot adequately perform his duties.
"I was a big macho cop," he said in the note. "I didn't need help."
But Wielsch admitted he was wrong, and that his destructive behavior has hurt many. He said while he gave 24 years of honest work, he realized he had made gross errors in judgment.
"I have seen things and been through things that would make a normal person go crazy after one incident," he said. "Please have mercy on me."
Federal sentencing guidelines call for between 14 and 17.5 years in federal prison. Wielsch's attorney, Michael Cardoza, has previously said that he's forbidden from arguing for fewer than 10 years.
Former Concord private investigator Christopher
Advertisement
Butler, who was also implicated in the criminal scheme, pleaded guilty last year to seven felony counts covering methamphetamine and marijuana distribution, theft, conspiracy, extortion, robbery and illegal wiretapping. He was sentenced to eight years in federal prison.Former CNET agent and San Ramon police officer Louis Lombardi, 40, of Discovery Bay, pleaded guilty to stealing drugs in the case and was sentenced to three years in prison. Former Danville officer Stephen Tanabe, 48, of Alamo, is awaiting trial on charges that he conspired with Butler to set up the estranged husbands of Butler's private investigation firm clients for DUI arrests.