(05-13) 19:33 PDT PLEASANT HILL -- The former commander of a law enforcement task force in Contra Costa County robbed prostitutes whose operations were competing with his own brothel in Pleasant Hill, his co-defendant in a drug theft case told investigators.

The former commander, ex-state Department of Justice agent Norman Wielsch, said prostitutes and drug dealers deserved to have their money stolen, said Christopher Butler, a private eye in Concord and Wielsch's former colleague on the Antioch police force.

In a 34-page narrative that he wrote for investigators detailing his alleged criminal exploits and obtained by The Chronicle, Butler also said a woman accused of prostitution had told him that she had sex with Wielsch in exchange for having charges against her reduced.

In 2009, at Wielsch's suggestion, the woman helped the task force commander and private eye set up a massage parlor on Gregory Lane in Pleasant Hill that fronted for a brothel, Butler said.

Wielsch, 50, and Butler, 49, were charged in February with stealing drugs from evidence lockers in Contra Costa and selling them. Separately, Butler has been charged with arranging the false drunken-driving arrests of men who were targets of his investigations firm. Wielsch and Butler have pleaded not guilty.

Lawyer's denial

Michael Cardoza, Wielsch's attorney, did not return a call Friday seeking comment. On Thursday, after Butler's lawyer said Wielsch had been the brains behind the alleged Pleasant Hill brothel, Cardoza said the private eye was a liar who was angling to reduce his own prison time and "would rat out his mother and father if he had to."

In his March 17 statement to Contra Costa prosecutors and state investigators, Butler said Wielsch had hired him as a confidential informant and brought him along for raids on prostitutes who worked out of hotels or apartments.

He wrote that Wielsch, who headed the multiagency Central Contra Costa Narcotics Enforcement Team, told him that the task force had to start raiding massage parlors in November 2009 after the mayor of Pleasant Hill was solicited across the street from City Hall.

Targeted Asians

Wielsch preferred raiding operations with Asian women "because they could be easily bullied into shutting down," Butler said.

When he staged the raids, Wielsch would walk away with the prostitutes' cash, in one case putting it in a grocery bag, Butler said.

"Wielsch told me that by taking their cash, condoms and cell phones, it would make a serious dent" in the prostitutes' operations, Butler wrote. "However, I understood that Wielsch was robbing the prostitutes."

Butler said he and Wielsch had taken part in at least five such robberies.

At the same time, the men were running their own brothel on Gregory Lane, Butler said. He said Wielsch had him act as the bag man for the brothel, making weekly pickups of $250 to $500 in cash from each woman, the amount they paid to work at the massage parlor.

Laughing about theft

Butler said the idea for the brothel grew out of a May 2009 meeting with Wielsch and San Ramon police Officer Louis Lombardi at a Pleasant Hill barbecue restaurant, where he said the two officers laid out plans to make money through drug dealing and prostitution.

The men also laughed at the prospect of stealing from narcotics and brothel raids, Butler wrote.

"Wielsch and Lombardi both joked about how they would routinely steal any cash found during these raids," Butler wrote. Both men "remarked how these criminals deserved to have their money stolen and how these criminals deserved whatever Wielsch and Lombardi did to them."

Wielsch, said the private eye, "remarked how one recent massage parlor bank account containing $170,000 was seized" by the Contra Costa anti-crime task force.

The desire for such cash, Butler wrote, led the men to hatch a plan to open the Pleasant Hill brothel.

Butler's attorney, William Gagen, said Thursday that the massage parlor at 670 Gregory Lane produced disappointing returns and closed sometime last year.

Lombardi, 38, was charged earlier this month with working with Butler and Wielsch to sell stolen drugs and embezzle cash connected to narcotics investigations. He appeared in court Friday but did not enter a plea.

A veiled threat

Butler wrote that one night in 2010, Lombardi, who worked for Wielsch on the county task force, warned Butler to keep quiet about the illicit operations.

"Lombardi showed me his San Ramon PD badge and a .22 revolver," Butler wrote. "I asked why he was carrying a revolver. Lombardi replied, 'Because it doesn't make much noise and the bullet will bounce around inside you and f- you up bad."

Lombardi's attorney, Dirk Manoukian, did not respond to messages Friday.

According to Butler's account, his first dealings with Wielsch came after he left the Antioch Police Department in 1997 and became a private investigator.

He said he often paid Wielsch to hand over information from the Department of Motor Vehicles on men he was investigating. Wielsch demanded cash payments at the task force's Pleasant Hill headquarters, Butler said.

In late 2009, Butler said, Wielsch told him he would no longer charge for the DMV information if Butler sold drugs for him.

'Dirty DUI'

Butler also provided details to investigators on one of his "dirty DUIs," drunken-driving arrests he allegedly arranged with police officers on behalf of women who were angry with their husbands and wanted to get them in trouble.

He said he had arranged one such arrest at the request of an Oakland woman who told him she was dying of breast cancer. The woman "advised that one of the things she wanted to do before she died was to make sure the father of her child got help for his serious drinking problem," Butler wrote.

He added, "I told (the woman) that the only police officer I knew who would pull over a possible drunk driver for me was in Danville."

Butler wrote that the officer, Contra Costa sheriff's Deputy Stephen Tanabe, "advised me ... that he wanted to be compensated $200 for his time and efforts."

Tanabe is charged along with Butler with making false arrests. He has pleaded not guilty and resigned from the Sheriff's Office. His attorney, Dan Russo, did not respond to a phone message Friday.