http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/03/08/BA7F1I6IQC.DTL&tsp=1
(03-08) 15:23 PST DANVILLE -- A Contra Costa County sheriff's deputy told another officer he was making "dirty DUI" arrests - in which men were being plied with alcohol and set up for police stops - on behalf of a private investigator who was seeking damaging information against the victims, an investigator said in court documents.
Deputy Stephen Tanabe, 47, told the reserve sheriff's deputy on patrol with him the night of Jan. 14 that a drunken-driving arrest the pair were making outside a Danville bar was a "set-up" and that the target needed to be "dirtied" for a future court date, a sheriff's investigator wrote in a search warrant affidavit unsealed Tuesday.
Tanabe, an Alamo resident, was arrested Friday night on suspicion of drug and weapons crimes but has not been charged. He is free on $260,000 bail.
The weapons count involves an illegal assault rifle that Tanabe allegedly asked the reserve deputy, William Howard, to keep in his house. Tanabe was afraid his house would be searched after police arrested private investigator Christopher Butler and a state drug agent, Norman Wielsch, on charges of stealing and selling drugs last month, sheriff's Sgt. Detective Jason Vorhauer wrote in the search warrant affidavit, filed Friday in Contra Costa County Superior Court.
The Chronicle first reported Sunday that investigators from the state Justice Department and Contra Costa district attorney were reviewing two arrests that Tanabe made in January outside the Vine wine bar on Hartz Avenue in Danville to determine whether the deputy was working on Butler's behalf.
Contra Costa prosecutor Jun Fernandez said in court last week that Butler hired attractive women to make passes at the men and suggest they meet for drinks at a local bar. In other cases, Butler used decoys posing as journalists or documentary filmmakers who wanted to conduct lengthy interviews with their subjects over drinks.
In each case, Fernanez said, Butler would call police officer contacts and give a description of the target, the car he was driving and the moment he left the bar. After the man drove from the parking lot, the officer would fall in behind and arrest him.
(03-08) 15:23 PST DANVILLE -- A Contra Costa County sheriff's deputy told another officer he was making "dirty DUI" arrests - in which men were being plied with alcohol and set up for police stops - on behalf of a private investigator who was seeking damaging information against the victims, an investigator said in court documents.
Deputy Stephen Tanabe, 47, told the reserve sheriff's deputy on patrol with him the night of Jan. 14 that a drunken-driving arrest the pair were making outside a Danville bar was a "set-up" and that the target needed to be "dirtied" for a future court date, a sheriff's investigator wrote in a search warrant affidavit unsealed Tuesday.
Tanabe, an Alamo resident, was arrested Friday night on suspicion of drug and weapons crimes but has not been charged. He is free on $260,000 bail.
The weapons count involves an illegal assault rifle that Tanabe allegedly asked the reserve deputy, William Howard, to keep in his house. Tanabe was afraid his house would be searched after police arrested private investigator Christopher Butler and a state drug agent, Norman Wielsch, on charges of stealing and selling drugs last month, sheriff's Sgt. Detective Jason Vorhauer wrote in the search warrant affidavit, filed Friday in Contra Costa County Superior Court.
The Chronicle first reported Sunday that investigators from the state Justice Department and Contra Costa district attorney were reviewing two arrests that Tanabe made in January outside the Vine wine bar on Hartz Avenue in Danville to determine whether the deputy was working on Butler's behalf.
Contra Costa prosecutor Jun Fernandez said in court last week that Butler hired attractive women to make passes at the men and suggest they meet for drinks at a local bar. In other cases, Butler used decoys posing as journalists or documentary filmmakers who wanted to conduct lengthy interviews with their subjects over drinks.
In each case, Fernanez said, Butler would call police officer contacts and give a description of the target, the car he was driving and the moment he left the bar. After the man drove from the parking lot, the officer would fall in behind and arrest him.
