Meth dealer with cop brother pleads guilty
TRENTON » You got me!
The infamous brother of a Trenton cop has copped a plea deal to a single count of possession of methamphetamine with intent to distribute, federal court records show.
According to the agreement retired corrections officer David T. Pope struck with the feds, he faces a mandatory 10-year bid and up to life imprisonment, along with up to $10 million in fines, when he’s sentenced later this year.
In addition, he agreed to forfeit $97,060 in cash that was seized from his Ewing home in January 2019.
Dave Pope’s admission transformed him from a former law enforcement official into the real-life Walter
White, the cancer-stricken high-school chemistry teacher turned drug kingpin played by Bryan Cranston in the hit show “Breaking Bad.”
He even has a brother, Trenton cop Ronald Pope, who at one point was out on loan to the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).
He was the lead investigator in a two-year-long $1.3 million drug bust operation in 2016 that targeted 60 people, some of them high-ranking members of the Bloods set of Sex Money Murder, including leader Bobby Williams.
Officials said there was no evidence that the Trenton cop knew or had any part in his brother’s “Breaking Bad” meth empire.
Rather than being indicted, which would have likely led to more charges against the ex-CO, David
Pope pleaded guilty by information to the single drug-distribution charge.
In return, the feds agreed not to “not initiate any further criminal charges against” David Pope for intending to sell another 1,796 grams of methamphetamine seized when Ewing Township cops raided his Langmoore Drive home.
The feds were investigating David Pope at the time of township cops’ raid.
The plea deal doesn’t prevent state prosecutors from pursuing criminal charges against Pope.
The feds, however, said they would make other prosecuting agencies aware of the plea deal “if requested to do so,” according to the plea deal.
The status of David Pope’s state charges wasn’t immediately clear as a spokeswoman from the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office did not respond to a request for comment.
Ewing Police visited David Pope’s home Jan. 13, 2019, to serve a temporary restraining order, according to court records.
The TRO allowed police to enter David Pope’s home to seize his guns.
That’s when they saw what appeared to be the mother-load of meth operations “in plain sight,” according to court records.
Armed with a warrant, township cops raided the home the next day, seizing more than 1,800 grams of methamphetamine.
In addition to the large amount of meth, cops also recovered 52 grams of cocaine, 184 grams of pot, prescription pills, vials of anabolic steroids and about $97,000 in cash, stored in sealed boxes wrapped in tinfoil, according the criminal complaints.
David Pope tried to play dumb with local investigators during an interrogation, claiming he was “unaware” about the meth found in his garage. He “insinuated” his girlfriend may have stashed it there.
But he gave up the act once the feds walked in, fessing up and taking ownership “in substance and in part” for the meth, according to the complaint.
He also admitted that he planned to sell the drugs to “customers,” the complaint stated.
The evidence was so overwhelming against the former CO that not even his high-priced and high-powered defense attorney Robin Lord could get him off.
She did not respond to messages seeking comment on her client’s guilty plea.
So much for that initial claim.
“What kind of meth empire? Leave him alone. You have false information,” Lord told The Trentonian last year when it broke news of David Pope’s arrest.
David Pope, who has been free on a $250,000 unsecured bond, is scheduled for sentencing Dec. 2 before U.S. District Court Judge Brian R. Martinotti.