August 21, 2008
From Saturday's Sun
FBI opens probe into raid at home of Prince George's mayor
County police chief apologizes for actions of officers
Berwyn Heights Mayor Cheye Calvo (right) and his wife Trinity Tomsic talk during a news conference outside their Prince George's County home, which was raided last week. (Sun photo by Lloyd Fox / August 7, 2008)
Prince George's County police Chief Melvin C. High said Friday that a suburban Washington mayor and his wife were "innocent victims of drug traffickers" and apologized for his officer's killing the couple's dogs during a raid on his home last week.
Meanwhile, the FBI has opened an investigation into the actions of the county police officers who burst into the house of Berwyn Heights Mayor Cheye Calvo and shot the dogs. Calvo and his mother-in-law were handcuffed after the officers mistakenly suspected he was involved in shipping marijuana to his home.
Special Agent Richard Wolf, a spokesman for the FBI's Baltimore field office, said the agency has opened a civil rights investigation upon the request of Calvo. He said the investigation will monitor the internal probe that the Prince George's County Police Department has begun into police conduct during last week's raid on Calvo's home.
Cpl. Stephen Pacheco, a county police spokesman, said the agency has begun a review of the incident that is common in cases where force is used by police, "to make sure everything was done correctly."
Related links
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FBI opens probe into raid at Maryland mayor's home Video
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Mayor Calvo describes raid in e-mail to friends
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Prince George's raid prompts call for probe
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In this undated photo provided by Cheye Calvo, he and his wife, Trinity Tomsic, walk their Labradors
In a statement released Friday, High said: "The Calvo family members were the apparent victims of a local drug ring. I called him to express my sorrow and regret for that and for the loss of the family's beloved dogs."
Last week, county police officers barged into the home with a warrant after they intercepted a package of marijuana addressed to the mayor's wife, Trinity Tomsic.
This week, Prince George's county police arrested two men who they said had orchestrated a plot to deliver hundreds of pounds of marijuana to several unsuspecting residents in the area, which they would then intercept in an effort to avoid detection by law enforcement.
gus.sentementes@baltsun.com
The relationship between Berwyn Heights Mayor Cheye Calvo and a woman handcuffed during a police raid at Calvo's home was misstated in an earlier version of this story. The woman is Calvo's mother-in-law, not his mother. The Sun regrets the error.
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