A former state narcotics investigator and a Concord private investigator at the center of a widening law enforcement scandal have been indicted by a federal grand jury on drug and corruption charges, authorities said Monday.
Norman Wielsch, 50, a former state Department of Justice agent who led an antinarcotics task force in Contra Costa County, and Christopher Butler, 50, who worked as a private investigator, were named in a 17-count indictment that was unsealed Monday after FBI agents arrested Butler and Wielsch. Each is being held without bail in an Alameda County jail pending detention hearings.
The two were accused of crimes including stealing marijuana and methamphetamine from police to sell, embezzling cash and opening a massage parlor in Pleasant Hill that served as a front for prostitution. The methamphetamine allegations could lead to mandatory minimum term of 10 years in federal prison if the men are convicted.
The indictment “brings dishonor to all the fine men and women in law enforcement who work hard, do the right thing and risk their lives every day protecting our communities,” said U.S. Attorney Melinda Haag in San Francisco.
Wielsch’s attorney, Michael Cardoza said, “It’s nothing that we didn’t expect. We knew what they were investigating.”
Butler’s attorney, William Gagen did not return a call for comment.
The grand jury indictment was the result of an investigation that Contra Costa prosecutors asked the FBI to take over earlier this summer. The men were already facing state drug charges, but the indictment represents the first time that the men were formally charged with running a place of prostitution.
Both were charged with extortion under color of official right for allegedly setting up the parlor on Gregory Lane in Pleasant Hill and protecting the women who worked there in exchange for “weekly payments to Butler, which Butler shared with Wielsch,” the indictment said.
The men were also charged with running phony sting operations by contacting suspected prostitutes through online ads, meeting them in hotels and then stealing their money and property, authorities said.
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