Pittsburgh Post-Gazette - Win at all costs - Feds finally use safeguards but only to protect their own

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Feds finally use safeguards but only to protect their own

November 30, 1998
By Bill Moushey, Post-Gazette Staff Writer

There is a system in place to keep prisoners from trading lies for leniency. They are supposed to be given polygraph tests to determine if they are telling the truth.

But that safeguard is often ignored.

Gilberto Martinez proved the system can work – at least if the target of the lies is a federal agent.

In early 1995, Martinez was arrested, convicted and sentenced to a federal prison for drug-trafficking.

Like many other inmates, once he was in prison, Martinez found a way he could help the government and, in the process, make himself some extra money.

Authorities said it was a classic case of "jumping on the bus."

Usually, the scam involves inmates who fabricate testimony against suspected drug dealers or other common criminals, and some prosecutors, eager for witnesses who will corroborate a crime, ignore safeguards such as polygraph tests that help ensure a witness’s credibility.

Martinez made a mistake. He tried to set up one of the government’s agents.

The scheme behind bars began in October 1997, when Martinez contacted a U.S. Customs Service internal affairs officer to say a fellow inmate, Narcisco Rodriguez, had information about a corrupt agent. Rodriguez told internal affairs officers that he had paid $28,000 in bribes to the agent who was never identified in court papers.

In return, the agent had guaranteed that Rodriguez’s brother, Luis Rodriguez, would have his sentence reduced for cooperating with the federal government, Narcisco Rodriguez said.

To test the veracity of their accounts, customs officials administered polygraph tests to Luis and Narcisco Rodriguez. "Both men showed strong deception," according to an affidavit.

There was no dirty agent, Martinez finally admitted. He planned to pocket the $28,000 himself. Martinez, a former boxing promoter, pleaded guilty in the scheme and had 11/2 years added to his prison sentence.

There were other repercussions. According to court documents, Martinez’s admission has raised questions about his earlier testimony that helped federal prosecutors convict a former Miami Beach mayor of corruption and helped snare some Metro Dade County police officers who were charged with stealing drugs.

Both are appealing their convictions, basing their appeals on the prospect that Martinez might have lied.

If he hadn’t tried to finger a federal agent, Martinez’s veracity as a witness might never have been questioned.