JOSEPH Torres White, also known as “Dimps,” has withdrawn his plea agreement with the government and chose to proceed with his jury trial.
White is accused of selling methamphetamine to an informer on two occasions and was charged with two counts of trafficking a controlled substance.
At a change of plea hearing on Jan. 11, 2022, White was represented by Assistant Public Defender Tyler Scott while Chief Prosecutor Chester Hinds appeared for the government.
Following the proceedings, Superior Court Associate Judge Joseph N. Camacho scheduled White’s jury trial for Jan. 23.
Jury empaneled
On Monday, Jan. 23, after a jury was empaneled and jury instruction was provided by Judge Camacho, the prosecution and defense delivered their opening statements.
Hinds said, “Unfortunately, real life is not a TV show, and crimes are not solved in an hour. This is real life and investigations and operations happen over time. Especially when investigating drug trafficking. It is illegal to sell methamphetamine or ‘ice’ in any amount to others. That is what this case is about. The defendant Joseph White is accused of selling meth to a confidential source…. That brings up a question, who buys drugs from a drug dealer? I’ll answer that: a drug user. In real life law enforcement has to use every resource they can including people who themselves do drugs. It just so happens that…the drug user who bought drugs were working with [the Drug Enforcement Task Force or] DETF as a confidential source.”
That informer, the prosecutor added, will testify how the defendant sold her meth on two occasions.
Hinds said DETF agents will also testify about the process they used in their drug investigation and explain what a “controlled buy” is.
One witness
In his opening statement, Scott said, “This is a highly unusual case.”
“The government’s case rests solely on the words of one witness,” he added. “They have no other evidence at all to prove that my client sold narcotics on July 13 or July 14. There is no data, no photographs, no text message exchanges, no call logs, no eyewitness testimony.”
Scott said, “Not one of these surveillance teams supposedly trained to investigate and do surveillance on supposed drug traffickers saw my client do anything at all.”
First witness
The prosecution’s first witness was Lt. George David, the DETF commander, who told the court that the informer in this case had signed an agreement with the DETF, and sometimes got paid for providing information.
“We pay her as soon as we get confirmation of the information that she gives us,” David said, referring to the informer.
For this particular operation, David said, “she received $400. She conducted two controlled buys.”
During cross-examination, David said there were no video recordings of the controlled buy, only audio recordings.
He said DETF has used this particular informer more than 10 times in other drug investigations.
“Sometimes we pay her, sometimes we don’t,” David added.
The prosecution called another DETF officer to the stand as its second witness.
The informer was the government’s third witness.
Judge Camacho, for his part, excused one juror after learning that the juror and the informant knew each other.
The jury trial continues today, Tuesday, at 9 a.m.
The complaint
According to the criminal complaint against White, DETF officers learned from a cooperating source or C.O. on July 12 that the C.O. had purchased $100 worth of “ice” from White on July 11.
DETF officers then launched two controlled buy-walk operations against White, the first one on July 13 and the second on July 14.
According to DETF, the first buy-walk operation resulted in the C.O. buying drugs from White in Garapan on the afternoon of July 13.
DETF said it acquired one small Ziploc bag containing a crystalline substance that was later tested and yielded presumptive positive for methamphetamine.
During the second buy-walk operation conducted on July 14, the informer purchased $100 worth of methamphetamine from White in San Jose.
After the operation, DETF officers showed the informer a photo of White. The informer confirmed that the man was “Dimps” from whom the informer purchased “ice.”
