Deputy among 11 indicted in sting

More drug arrests expected, may include other officers

By S.K. BARDWELL
Copyright 1996 Houston Chronicle

A Harris County sheriff’s deputy is among 11 people indicted on
charges of participating in a Houston drug-trafficking
ring allegedly connected to Colombia’s Cali cartel.

Deputy James Manuel Phillips Jr., called Smokie by his fellow
officers, is accused of using his position to provide
security, surveillance and investigative skills to the drug
traffickers.

Sources familiar with the investigation, who asked not to be
identified, said more arrests are expected and may include
additional law enforcement officers.

Phillips, 36, of Humble has been with the Sheriff’s Department since
November 1990 and previously was a deputy for
Precinct 7 Constable A.B. Chambers. His job status is under review,
Capt. Don McWilliams said.

Phillips was booked into the Harris County Jail as a federal prisoner
Oct. 3 and has since been released after posting
$200,000 bail.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Ed Gallagher said the drug-trafficking ring
has been in operation since 1991 and has been the
target of an FBI investigation since 1993.

The first arrests in the case were made in August, when leaders
Wendell Alboyd Cornett, 40, of Missouri City and his
brother Warren Dean Cornett, 39, of Houston were indicted on federal
charges of conspiracy to distribute cocaine.

Warren Cornett was already in a state prison in Beeville on other drug
charges.

Also arrested on federal charges in August were Kim Benita Boutee, 25,
Kevin Renard Nixon, 31, and Kelvin Turner,
39, all of Houston. They were arrested at residences in Missouri City
and southwest Houston.

The more recent federal indictments in the case, handed down this
month, named Linda Knox Cornett, 46, Wendell
Cornett’s wife, and five other people including Phillips.

The other defendants are Henry Charles Derousselle, 43, Mary
Maltilliea Galloway, 32, Toni Lamont Scott, 29, and
Romalius Eugene Mathews, 23.

Gallagher said the Cornett brothers used two businesses — House of
Colors, an auto body shop, and the Pro Shop of
the Stadium Bowl, an Astrodome-area bowling alley — to distribute
cocaine and crack cocaine and to launder money
derived from drug sales.

Linda Cornett is charged with money laundering and making false
statements on income tax documents, Gallagher said.

The other defendants are charged with helping acquire and distribute
the cocaine, transporting the cash proceeds, and
recruiting other traffickers to the Cornett enterprise.

The group is accused of distributing cocaine to cities that include
Atlanta, Denver, Kansas City and Detroit, the FBI
said in August.

The investigation was carried out by the FBI, the U.S. Bureau of
Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, the Internal Revenue
Service, U.S. Customs Service, the Houston Police Department, and
Harris, Polk and Jefferson counties’ sheriff’s
departments.