Deputy's partner recounts 'dirty DUI' scam

Defendant Stephen Tanabe sits in the courtroom waiting to be arraigned in the law enforcement abuse of power case, at the Contra Costa Superior Courthouse, Thursday June 23, 2011, in Walnut Creek, Calif. Defendant Stephen Tanabe sits in the courtroom waiting to be arraigned in the law enforcement abuse of power case, at the Contra Costa Superior Courthouse, Thursday June 23, 2011, in Walnut Creek, Calif. Photo: Lacy Atkins, The Chronicle Photo: Lacy Atkins, The Chronicle Image 1 of / 3 Caption Close Deputy's partner recounts 'dirty DUI' scam 1 / 3 Back to Gallery

A former reserve sheriff's deputy in Contra Costa County testified Tuesday that his partner laid out an unusual plan for their shift one night.

Rather than cruise around looking for drunken drivers, they parked in front of a Danville wine bar, waiting for a targeted man to emerge intoxicated and get behind the wheel, said the reserve deputy, William Howard.

Howard said his partner, former Deputy Sheriff Stephen Tanabe, called what they did a dirty DUI and explained that the target "needed to be dirtied up" in a child custody case.

Howard was the first witness at Tanabe's federal trial in San Francisco. Tanabe is accused of making prearranged arrests at the behest of a longtime friend, private investigator Chris Butler, in exchange for cocaine and a pistol. Butler often represented the arrestees' estranged wives.

The charges - wire fraud, conspiracy and extortion under color of official right - carry a maximum 20-year prison sentence.

Tanabe's attorneys say the former deputy from Alamo was motivated only to meet goals for arrests. On Tuesday, they cast Howard as a disgruntled part-time reservist with little experience busting drunken drivers.

Howard sued the Contra Costa County's Sheriff's Office earlier this month, alleging he was relieved of duty after nearly 20 years of service because he had told investigators about Tanabe's lawbreaking.

Defense lawyer Tim Pori, while cross-examining Howard, suggested Tanabe's conviction would bolster his civil case. Howard insisted he was the victim of retribution.

"I violated the blue code; I stepped over the line," Howard said. "I committed the cardinal sin of being a rat."

Earlier in his testimony, Howard described going on patrol for drunken drivers with Tanabe on Jan. 14, 2011.

He said Tanabe parked their car for nearly two hours outside the Vine wine bar on Danville's downtown strip. Tanabe, he said, took phone calls from his "P.I. buddy," who relayed the status of a targeted man inside.

Prosecutors say that the "P.I. buddy" was Butler, the former private investigator at the center of the dirty DUI scandal. Tanabe and Butler became friends as Antioch police officers in the 1990s.

According to prosecutors, Butler gave Tanabe $200 worth of cocaine and a Glock handgun to arrest the target that night, along with two others in similar stings.

The target was Mitchell Katz, the owner of an eponymous winery in Livermore, who was in the midst of divorce proceedings. He has said an employee of Butler lured him to the bar with a fabricated story about wanting to create a reality television show about the winery.

The reserve deputy said he didn't mention the Danville arrest to superiors until Butler was arrested a month later. Howard said Tanabe showed up at his house the evening Butler was arrested and asked him to stash a firearm in his attic.

Later Tuesday, one of Butler's former female "decoys," who was paid to go undercover and ply targeted men with alcohol, testified that she was among those who set up Katz.

Sharon Taylor, now a security manager in San Francisco, admitted she worked on several stings for Butler. In one case, she said, she pretended to be interested in David Dutcher, a Concord man who was arrested for drunken driving after he spent hours drinking with Taylor and another woman at a Spaghetti Factory.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Hartley West asked Taylor why she referred to being "cast" in roles by Butler.

"Because," Taylor said, "Chris always said, 'You're paid to be an actor.' To be something you're not in real life."

For the Katz sting, Taylor said Butler asked her and three or four other young women to approach Katz at the Vine and pretend to be starstruck by the local winemaker. Katz did not know that the women and the man he came with - the one interviewing him about the reality television show - were in cahoots.

"Did you see the target in the bar?" West asked.

"Yes," Taylor said. "We refer to them as subjects."