Mr. Mayor, Mr. Vice mayor, councilmen.
My name is John Dedmon and for more than a year I worked as an informant for District Attorney General William E. Gibson.
During that time, I was paid to set up innocent people for General Gibson. General Gibson knew they were innocent but he wanted the busts because they made him look good and because his drug task force and economic crime slush funds benefited when innocent people pleaded guilty to false charges to avoid imprisonment.
I know of TBI agents who skim drugs they confiscate and later use them. People like this should be in Nashville or Memphis or Brushy Mountain doing their drugs. Instead, Cookeville tax payers are footing the bill to bring them here. The task force has, then, in my experience, facilitated the distribution of drugs into the city and brought drug users to Cookeville.
General Gibson's office encourages informants to set up innocent people then rewards them, through payment of public money.
They even ran an ad in the local advertising circular soliciting informants and offering good pay.
Why did Bill Gibson pull TBI agents off the biggest meth bust ever planned?
In one case lazy agents left 2 pounds of cocaine with an informant who sold half of it and kept the money.
Cookeville taxpayers are in essence financing an ongoing criminal enterprise by contributing police officers to William Gibson's politically motivated drug task force. It exists not with the main objective of reducing the amount of drugs on the streets, but to generate money to Gibson's slush fund.
Then, they have the nerve to ask for overtime. I guarantee you that if you go down to the drug task force at 9 p.m., they'll either be at home in bed or at the office watching TV and eating pizza.
Has the city ever audited the hours Bob Terry and other city officers allegedly spent working overtime to see what cases were worked or arrests made?
The task force is a year behind in reimbursements. Bob Terry was authorizing his own overtime, and his response to the city's attempts to collect the money is to let Terry make the decision to not send bills any more.
Furthermore, the overtime repayments, when made, are paid from the profits from sales of confiscated property in violation of state law. Gentlemen, there is no accountability.
I today propose to you the following: I will take a polygraph test to show the truthfulness of the allegations I make tonight.
If I am truthful, I ask you to invite the U.S. Justice Department and it's civil rights division to investigate what I am sorry to report is a systemic corruption that is otherwise uncorrectable.
If anyone suggests to you that a federal investigation is unnecessary, ask why they would want to obstruct it unless they are tied in.
This government has the opportunity here and now to eradicate this pestilence.
What will people think if you miss your chance?
All the color brochures in the world will not change the image of Cookeville if these conditions are not addressed.
Finally, I am giving copies of my remarks to The Putnam Pit to post on the Internet so that this message can be available to all those who were not able to see it on cable tonight.
Thank you.
John Dedmon
You are Visitor No: