TRENTON – A city cop faces termination for lying on a search-warrant affidavit in a high-profile, multi-defendant drug trafficking case.
Trenton Police Detective Sgt. David Ordille’s admitted falsehoods came out at a January suppression hearing in Timothy Wimbush’s drug-trafficking case.
Ordille, a 15-year veteran, is one of at least 30 city cops rung up on disciplinary charges in the last nine years, according to records obtained by The Trentonian.
A federal judge described Ordille’s tactics in obtaining a warrant to search Wimbush’s vehicle as “affirmative acts of deliberate deception.”
Ordille, who worked as a certified auto body technician before becoming a cop assigned to a violent crimes interdiction task force, was found to have falsified information in the search warrant that could have jeopardized the ongoing prosecution of several alleged members of a Trenton drug-dealing crew.
Many of the 27 defendants already pleaded guilty and are serving sentences.
Wimbush, Jerome Roberts, David Antonio, Omar Council, Brian Phelps, Taquan Williams, Jubri West, Dennis Cheston Jr., and Wayne Bush were hit with a 15-count superseding indictment last September, charging them with drug and weapons offenses.
Ultimately, U.S. District Court Judge Freda Wolfson didn’t suppress evidence in Wimbush’s case, finding cops had cause to conduct a warrantless search of Wimbush’s 2002 green Volkswagen Passat.
“Despite these errors and the significant misstatements in the affidavit, I have found that a search warrant was not required, and an independent basis existed for the search based upon the automobile exception and the positive canine sniff alerting to the odor of narcotics,” she said in her written opinion, issued in April.
But she went on to give a searing rebuke of Ordille, saying his “misstatements are reflective of more than mere carelessness or negligence on the part of the drafting officer. They are the product of wholly inappropriate police practices, which are tantamount to lack of candor to the Court.”
Because internal affairs records remain secret, and many officers settle disciplinary cases before they become public, Ordille’s blatant deception might not have come to light if not for The Trentonian’s obtaining of “privileged and confidential” records.
It definitely wouldn’t have come to light if some of the state’s most powerful police unions manage to block AG Gurbir Grewal from naming New Jersey cops who have been fired, demoted or suspended for more than five days for misconduct. The case goes before a state appeals panel in September.
For now, Ordille remains suspended without pay as he awaits a decision from his disciplinary hearing, records show.
He is not facing criminal charges despite a range of crimes that officers can face for intentionally lying in criminal investigations.
Wimbush’s attorney said in an interview investigating Ordille for perjury “may be appropriate,” but a spokeswoman from the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office said any prosecution of Ordille is a “federal decision.”
Even if he’s not charged, and somehow prevails in the disciplinary case, Ordille’s credibility appears shot.
The Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office labeled Ordille a “Brady cop,” meaning his honesty as a witness is doubted. Prosecutors informed the city they won’t call Ordille to testify in criminal cases unless his statements are independently corroborated, documents show.
According to court records, Ordille, who has participated in more than 2,000 narcotics investigations over his career, lied in a search-warrant affidavit that he submitted to Superior Court Judge Thomas Brown in September 2018.
The warrant allowed police to search Wimbush’s Passat after Ordille claimed an informant – who the FBI later terminated as a CI for engaging in crime – told him Wimbush had a hidden compartment, known on the streets as a trap, used to stash guns and drugs.
Ordille said in the search warrant affidavit, a copy of which was obtained by The Trentonian, that he spoke to the informant after pulling over Wimbush on Sept. 4. Witnesses had identified Wimbush’s vehicle as being involved in a retaliatory shooting two days before.
Wimbush allegedly sought revenge after his cousin, Preston, and several associates were wounded in a separate shooting on the first block of Bryn Mawr Avenue.
Moments later, witnesses reportedly told cops they saw a man, suspected of being Wimbush, retrieve a rifle-style weapon from the trunk of a green Volkswagen and open fire on an “unidentified victim” near West State Street and Lee Avenue, according to the affidavit. Officers recovered 25 spent .233 rounds from the area.
Ordille admitted at Wimbush’s suppression hearing that he never spoke to the informant. Trenton Detective Katherine Cox, who was one of the lead investigators in the federal drug-trafficking probe, testified she was the one who spoke with the informant.
In addition, Ordille misled Judge Brown about why cops were conducting surveillance in a crime-infested area of Trenton on Sept. 6, 2018.
Ordille claimed officers were focused on the area “due to recent shootings” when they were actually directed to tail one of Wimbush’s suspected associates as part of an FBI-led investigation.
Ordille’s and the government’s attempts to explain away his deception drew Wolfson’s ire.
“He went on to explain that he described the purpose of the surveillance in that fashion ‘[t]o keep the wiretap investigation from being known, and protect the integrity of the federal investigation,” Wolfson wrote. “The Government contends that ‘[Detective] Sergeant Ordille’s use of these five words [‘due to the recent shootings’] accurately captured the thrust of what quickly developed, albeit not the initial reason for that afternoon’s surveillance.”
The government called Ordille’s description in the warrant “an unfortunate choice of five words,” adding it wasn’t a “deliberate attempt to deceive.”
Wolfson said Ordille’s testimony showed the cop “deliberately obfuscated the purpose of the surveillance. Even if well-intentioned, Detective Sergeant Ordille deliberately misstated the information in the search warrant affidavit.”
The judge noted Ordille admitted he could have written, “I was advised by other members of law enforcement,” rather than claiming to have spoken directly to the informant.
Megan Davies, Wimbush’s attorney, told The Trentonian that she shared the judge’s trepidation over Ordille’s false statements.
“An officer is supposed to gather evidence and report truthful facts. A separate, neutral body, is supposed to weigh that evidence and those facts. When an officer lies to make his evidence stronger or to sway the opinion of others, he takes on a role that’s not meant for him. He destroys the integrity of our justice system. We have seen recently in this country what can happen when those warrants are inaccurate,” she said, referring to the case of Breonna Taylor, who was killed when officers served a no-knock warrant on her home in Louisville. “When you are talking about fundamental rights, you can’t justify lies.”
Wolfson was perturbed by the lies because judges are often required to make credibility assessments about witnesses, including informants. To ensure fairness to the accused, they must know all facts when deciding what evidence is allowed at trial.
“The search warrant affidavit’s failure to disclose that the affiant, Detective Sergeant Ordille, did not speak to the confidential informant, and instead was relying upon information from another officer is deceptive and lacks candor to the Court,” Wolfson wrote.
“Law enforcement is already given great latitude in drafting a search warrant affidavit; they are permitted to rely on the collective knowledge of the department, as well as hearsay. Here, however, the affidavit is written in the first person and affirmatively states that Detective Sergeant Ordille spoke to the confidential informant. This misrepresentation is particularly disconcerting.”
Rich Rivera, a former cop and police accountability expert, said officers should never swear to facts that they don’t know. And if they’re relying on another officer’s information, they should spell that out in search warrants.
“He took a shortcut,” Rivera said, “because it’s extraordinarily rare that an officer is going to get caught. And this guy got caught. [The misstatements] are significant enough that he shouldn’t be a cop and are significant enough that the prosecutor should review every one of his affidavits.”
It was revealed at the suppression hearing that Ordille isn’t the only Trenton cop engaging in the shady tactics, court records show.
“Detective Cox admitted, ‘[t]he information that we receive is often just interchangeable and that’s how we write it,'” Wolfson wrote. “This testimony is eye opening and should be remedied.”
Wolfson found the practice of officers swearing to facts they’re not personally aware of troubling and inexcusable given leeway afforded officers who apply for search warrants. Cops can rely on hearsay and “collective knowledge” uncovered by the police department during investigations.
Explaining the reason for the shortcuts, Rivera said officers may feel pressured to “produce numbers. That’s how they retain their [assignments] Often times, the police bosses don’t care how they get the information. They only care about the numbers.”
Wolfson wasn’t having any excuses.
“Time constraints and pressures often arise during a criminal investigation, which is why law enforcement is not held to a standard of absolute, exacting accuracy,” she wrote. “But, there is no excuse for an officer, swearing on a search warrant affidavit, to not make all reasonable attempts to ensure the accuracy and completeness of the information provided to the reviewing judge. Absent candor and diligence on the part of the affiant, the judge reviewing the warrant application cannot perform his or her role in safeguarding the warrant process.”
The Case
Ordille was one of the officers who testified at the two-day suppression hearing in January.
He faced questions about many of the statements in his police report and on the search warrant, some of which turned out to be false.
The search of Wimbush’s vehicle occurred Sept. 6, 2018.
By that time, cops had already wiretapped the phone of another target, Jakir Taylor. Officers intercepted a call, between Taylor and another man, two days before the Wimbush stop.
On the call, the men discussed “in cryptic terms” their beliefs that Wimbush was the target of the Sept. 2 shooting that injured Wimbush’s cousin and associates. The men thought Wimbush would retaliate.
Ordille stopped Wimbush – who served prior prison stints for drug convictions, aggravated assault on law enforcement and intent to distribute – Sept. 4, claiming he had illegally tinted windows and a suspended New Jersey driver’s license.
Davies, Wimbush’s attorney, said her client’s certified driving history showed his New Jersey license wasn’t suspended at the time of the stop.
A Pennsylvania driver’s license that Wimbush had at one time had been suspended after he was convicted of driving under the influence, according to court records.
Ordille didn’t issue Wimbush citations and allowed him to drive off, testifying it was “officer’s discretion” whether to allow someone with a suspended license to continue operating a vehicle following a car stop.
On the day of the stop, detectives reportedly were conducting surveillance on Taques “Buddah” Hall, when Wimbush’s Volkswagen parked in front of 52 Laurel Place.
Ordille’s search warrant affidavit and police report claimed that Williams walked out of 44 Laurel Avenue, toward 52 Laurel Avenue, Wolfson wrote, noting the inconsistencies.
“The record before me suggests that law enforcement’s approach to documenting this investigation was careless and at times, purposely false,” she wrote. “Although the haphazard documentation itself does not rise to the level of a constitutional violation in this instance, these practices are not merely ‘typos’ or ‘errors,’ and thus, I caution that such ‘mistakes’ in other circumstances may jeopardize future investigations and prosecutions.”
Williams got into the vehicle holding a yellow plastic bag that one of the detectives claimed appeared “weighed down.”
Officers Eliezer Ramos and Aaron Bernstein pulled over the vehicle and ordered the men in the car to roll down the windows.
Wimbush, Williams, West and Tyrese Oden were removed from the vehicle and frisked for weapons. West had 80 heroin packets and a small bag of marijuana.
A drug-sniffing dog was brought after nothing else was found in the vehicle and hit on the area near where the trap was reportedly located.
Ordille noticed the back passenger seat was modified and discovered two boxes of ammunition, three loaded .45-caliber magazines and a semiautomatic gun and rifle-style weapon.
Ordille obtained the warrant to further search the vehicle.
A detective later cut after-market wiring for the trap, which revealed three semiautomatic guns, a rifle, more ammo and 2,850 heroin packets.
