By Justin Berton

The San Francisco Chronicle

RICHMOND, Calif. — Two Richmond police officers, angered by an investigation into their off-duty security company, tried to frame their supervisor by having him lured into an extramarital affair, federal prosecutors say.

In legal papers filed in U.S. District Court, prosecutors said the two officers had hired a Concord private investigator who specialized in stings using female decoys to tempt men into misconduct.

The officers' idea, prosecutors say, was to catch their lieutenant cheating on his wife while on duty and deliver video evidence to the police chief's office.

Prosecutors filed the papers in Oakland last week in connection with a case against Danny Harris and Ray Thomas, who quit the Richmond Police Department in April shortly after The Chronicle reported that the FBI was investigating them for possible wrongdoing in connection with a security company they ran on the side.

A federal grand jury indicted Harris in July for allegedly purchasing firearms for two young men who worked at the security business, and both officers were charged with attempting to prevent the men from cooperating with the investigation.

The new court document indicates that prosecutors want to cite the alleged setup attempt as evidence that the former officers already had ties to private investigator Christopher Butler, but will not charge them with a new crime.

Prosecutors said that in late 2010, Harris, 31, and Thomas, 34, paid $1,800 to Butler to create a video of one of his decoys making sexual advances toward the officers' boss, Lt. Michael Booker.

According to prosecutors, the men believed Booker "had gotten them in trouble" with officials over their security firm, which police supervisors had ordered them to shut down.

Prosecutors have previously said the officers tried to intimidate two young men working for the security outfit after they cooperated with law enforcement investigators, and had hired Butler to conduct a sting that would result in one of the men being arrested for drunken driving.

Not-guilty plea

Attorneys for Harris and Thomas did not respond to requests for comment. Both men have pleaded not guilty.

The new allegations are the latest twist in a police corruption scandal that began in early 2011 with the arrest of Butler and a drug task force commander in Contra Costa County, Norman Wielsch, for allegedly stealing narcotics confiscated in police raids. Prosecutors later added charges that Butler bribed a law enforcement officer to participate in drunken-driving-setup arrests.

Two former employees of Butler said in interviews with The Chronicle that Butler had told them that conducting a sting on Booker was an easy way to neutralize a corrupt cop.

A San Jose woman who said Butler had paid her to play the decoy said her instructions were to contact Booker and tell him she wanted to interview him for a college essay about his job.

The woman, who asked that her name not be used because she feared reprisals, said she had eventually met with Booker at a San Jose restaurant. Butler bugged her purse and told her to flirt with the lieutenant, then initiate physical contact outside that the detective filmed from a parked car, she said.

Going to chief

Another Butler employee, a former investigator, said he had been paid to bring the video to Police Chief Chris Magnus while posing as the decoy's enraged boyfriend.

Capt. Mark Gagan, a Richmond police spokesman, said the department had investigated the complaint without knowing of the alleged setup, and "concluded there were no policy violations by our employee." He would not confirm that the target of the complaint was Booker.

Booker did not respond to requests to comment. Butler's attorney did not respond to phone messages.

Thomas and Harris are scheduled to go to trial March 26.



Private investigator Christopher Butler allegedly was hired to orchestrate the setup scheme.

Copyright 2012 San Francisco Chronicle