Ex-cop sentenced for revealing FBI wiretap

A former Cartersville police officer was sentenced to 18 months in federal prison Friday for notifying drug traffickers that the FBI was conducting a court-authorized wiretap of their phones, authorities said.

Bryson-Taylor Wayne Banks, 31, of Calhoun, will also serve three years of supervised release after his 18 months in prison, U.S. Attorney Byung J. “BJay” Pak said in a news release.

In 2015, Banks was an officer with the Cartersville Police Department and a member of the Bartow-Cartersville Drug Task Force, Pak said. He was investigating multiple drug traffickers, including Thomas Pineda Mendoza, by using a female confidential source to obtain information about the network.

However, Banks improperly gave her information from law enforcement databases and illegally sent her a picture of another source, Pak said.

At the same time, the FBI was investigating an inmate in a Georgia state prison, Francisco Palacios Baras, Pak said. A court-authorized wiretap on two of Baras’ cellphones revealed Mendoza was one of Baras’ associates and the confidential source had been storing drugs for Mendoza.

Mendoza was scheduled to pick up two kilograms of methamphetamine from Baras, and the FBI planned to arrest Mendoza after he picked up the drugs and then search the confidential source’s house, Pak said.

Banks compromised the arrest plan, allowed a surveillance team to be identified and exposed the wiretap, Pak said.

He said the FBI agents had to take precautions for agents’ personal safety on top of trying to rebuild the investigation.

Pak said the renewed investigation was successful and led to the arrests of Baras and Mendoza, who were sentenced to nine years and seven months and 10 years and 10 months of imprisonment, respectively.

Banks pleaded guilty to unlawful notification of electronic surveillance on March 1.