The former chief of Contra Costa’s narcotics unit has entered guilty pleas to charges of theft and selling narcotics. Norman Wielsch admitting to conducting false prostitution raids and then pocketing the cash from the busts. He also said he took up to $70,000 in drugs from the County lock-up to sell on the streets.
Wielsch did not act alone, and his codefendant is a former Antioch police officer named Christopher Butler.
Among the crimes that Wielsch admitted to, he said that the two officers conducted a false narcotics “sting” where they detained a man and then kept the cash and narcotics. A similar plot was used against prostitutes, where the pair took more than $10,000 in cash.
The pair now face maximum sentences of life in prison, but the drug crimes carry a mandatory minimum of 10 years in prison.
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