Ex-Cartersville officer charged with obstruction

z Bryson-Taylor Wayne Banks is accused of tipping off drug traffickers while he was a Cartersville police officer.

Bryson-Taylor Wayne Banks is accused of tipping off drug traffickers.

A former Cartersville police officer has been charged with obstructing a drug trafficking investigation and providing confidential information to drug traffickers.

Bryson-Taylor Wayne Banks, 31, was arraigned in U.S. District Court in Rome on multiple federal charges, including unlawfully accessing a law enforcement database and disclosure of confidential information.

Banks was assigned to a DEA task force and allegedly used his access to law enforcement databases to alert an informant and drug traffickers to an active federal investigation.

“The defendant allegedly used his position to tip off drug traffickers to an active FBI investigation,” said U.S. Attorney John A. Horn.

Once Cartersville police heard Banks may have been cooperating with drug traffickers they began an internal investigation, and Banks was terminated for issues related to earlier conduct.

According to U.S. Attorney Horn, the charges — and other information d — presented in court:

While serving as a Cartersville police officer Banks began giving confidential information from a confidential law enforcement database — which allowed the informant to warn drug traffickers about the presence of law enforcement.

Also during 2014 and 2015, while the FBI was investigating a drug trafficking organization, which included an inmate in a Georgia state prison — Banks warned his informant to advise the subject of the investigation not to pick drugs up that day.

He also then let the subjects of that investigation know the inmate’s phones had been wiretapped by the FBI. The inmate then discontinued the use of his telephones compromising the FBI investigation.

The indictment also alleges that in July 2015, Banks sent his informant a photograph of another law enforcement confidential informant. Banks advised his informant to stay away from that individual because they worked with law enforcement.

He was released on his own recognizance after the hearing, according to court records.