Former Clayton County Police Officer Sentenced to 10 Years in Prison for Cocaine Conspiracy

ATLANTA – Dwayne Penn, a former police officer with the Clayton County Police Department assigned to the U.S. Marshals Service Fugitive Task Force, was sentenced to 10 years in prison for conspiring to distribute cocaine.

According to United States Attorney Sally Quillian Yates, Penn conspired with Adrian Austin, an Atlanta-based drug dealer, to use his official position as a police officer to stage a fake traffic stop of a car that they believed would contain six kilograms of cocaine, conduct a fake arrest of the car’s occupant, seize the cocaine for themselves, and then sell the cocaine, sharing their ill-gotten gains.

In August 2013, Penn and Austin met face-to-face with a confidential informant to plan their operation. Penn drove his police car to the planning meetings, while they discussed the confidential informant obtaining cocaine from his/her drug source of supply.

Penn agreed to handcuff the confidential informant, put the drugs in the trunk of his police car, and drive the confidential informant to a second location. During one of the meetings, Penn even drove Austin and the confidential informant around the parking lot, scouting out possible spots for various events the next day.

On the morning of August 28, 2013, Penn and Austin arrived at the appointed Decatur parking lot, where Penn parked his police car and ran the tags of a number of vehicles in the area through law enforcement databases. He also called task force officers with the DeKalb County Police Department and DeKalb County Sheriff’s Office and asked if DeKalb County had any surveillance vehicles that fit the description of vehicles Penn saw in the parking lot.

“The public rightfully expects police officers to protect them from drug dealers, not go into business with them,” said United States Attorney Sally Quillian Yates. “The defendant crossed over to become one of the bad guys, and now he will suffer their fate.”

Harry S. Sommers, the Special Agent in Charge of the DEA Atlanta Field Division, commented, “It is always disturbing when someone in a position of trust such as a law enforcement officer tarnishes the badge by violating his or her oath. Law enforcement officers are held to a higher standard and any misconduct that they engage in will not be tolerated. Penn’s actions were deplorable and he is deserving of the sentencing handed down today.”

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