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Pinellas sheriff: Drug cases to close because informant gave drugs to dealers

 
Anthony E. Walker is charged with drug trafficking and is being held on $90,000 bail.
Anthony E. Walker is charged with drug trafficking and is being held on $90,000 bail.
Published Jan. 10, 2015

For more than a year, Anthony E. Walker tipped Pinellas County sheriff's detectives about drug dealers in St. Petersburg.

But detectives recently discovered that Walker was supplying drugs to others who then made deals with investigators. Essentially, he was creating deals that he was helping detectives with. More than two dozen cases he was involved in will be closed, Pinellas Sheriff Bob Gualtieri said.

"The only thing I can tell you about confidential informants is that we trust none of them," the sheriff said during a news conference Friday. "They're all bad guys, and we have to realize that. They're not our friends, and they're not our colleagues."

Walker became an informant in October 2013. Nothing seemed awry until Dec. 5, when an undercover detective bought what he thought were 35 morphine pills from a woman for about $1,000.

The detective tested the drugs and realized the pills were actually muscle relaxers. When he questioned the woman who sold him the pills, she told him Walker had asked her to sell them to him, Gualtieri said.

The Sheriff's Office began investigating Walker's involvement in other drug deals and discovered two other times when he was involved in selling morphine, other pharmaceuticals, and even fake cocaine to detectives.

The dealers would then give all the money to Walker, who cut them some cash.

Sixteen active drug investigations that Walker was involved in will be closed and reviewed to determine if he lied to detectives, and nine other cases that had been forwarded to the State Attorney's Office will be tossed.

Gualtieri also informed statewide and federal prosecutors about Walker's connection to two other cases, including one in which a defendant had entered into a plea agreement and was awaiting sentencing.

The Sheriff's Office will not change any of its procedures regarding informants.

"There's nothing that could have been done differently," Gualtieri said. "There weren't any indicators of (false information), but as soon as there were, we took a look at it."

Informants are motivated to work with authorities for three reasons, Gualtieri said: money, revenge or helping their own criminal cases.

Walker worked for money. He was paid $7,260 for information to the Sheriff's Office and made more cash from the fake drug deals he set up, including $3,900 in one transaction.

He has an extensive criminal history that includes convictions for attempted murder, vehicle theft and cocaine possession, state records show.

He faces three counts of drug trafficking and could face additional charges.

Because of his status as an informant, Walker is in protective custody in the Pinellas County Jail, where he remains in lieu of $90,000 bail.

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Times staff researcher John Martin contributed to this report. Contact Laura C. Morel at lmorel@tampabay.com or (727)445-4157. Follow @lauracmorel.