Former Cartersville officer pleads guilty
Bryson-Taylor Wayne Banks is accused of notifying drug traffickers about an FBI wiretap.
ROME — A former Cartersville police officer who notified drug traffickers that the FBI was conducting a court-authorized wiretap will be sentenced on May 11 in U.S. District Court in Rome. Bryson-Taylor Wayne Banks pleaded guilty Friday to a felony charge of unlawful notification of electronic surveillance.
“The defendant made a decision to side with the drug dealers and sabotage an FBI investigation,” said U.S. Attorney Byung J. “BJay” Pak. “He placed his fellow law enforcement officers in imminent danger, and sold out his oath to uphold the law.”
According the charges and other information presented in court:
In 2015, Banks, a member of the Bartow-Cartersville Drug Task Force, was investigating a number of drug traffickers operating in the Cartersville area and used a female confidential source to obtain information about the network. In cultivating his relationship source, Banks improperly gave her information from law enforcement databases and illegally sent her a picture of another cooperating source.
Banks, knowing that the drug trafficker he had been investigating was about to be arrested by a different agency, contacted a confidential source and warned her that a sting was being planned. The tip compromised the investigation. However a renewed investigation was ultimately successful, with two drug traffickers sentenced to prison.
“Mr. Banks’ actions do not reflect the values or culture of the Cartersville Police Department,” said Cartersville Police Department Lt. Michael Bettikofer.