Black book code with list of officer’s names said to be broken

SALINE CO.— Multiple sources have independently confirmed a story that Disclosure has been sitting on for nearly a year: that the federal Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) along with the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) has been and currently is investigating several area police officers for alleged use and trafficking of anabolic steroids and possibly narcotics.

The case dates back to the Fall of 2013, when a bank robbery occurred in Harrisburg.

Shawn Gregory, shown here after a court appearance in Saline County, is believed to be the drug dealer to numerous police officers. He is said to have kept a black book containing all his dealings with lawmen he dealt drugs to. He is also believed to be “telling all” to federal authorities in hopes of a lighter sentence in his criminal case.

Through a series of events that began almost immediately (as in, as soon as responding law enforcement got word of who was involved in the robbery), the situation has unfolded and has lead to a current investigation into what has, up until that time, been only rumored to be going on in the area: rampant steroid use, trafficking…and, “cooking” steroids, a practice that’s come to be popular in recent years due to successes in meth-making, and which involves “enhancing” legally-obtained steroids with illicit substances to increase their effects.

And while there’s no direct indication that this “cooking” practice is going on, what may lead to at least indirect indication of it is a black book with information written in code that was obtained during the course of the investigation…and what code authorities are saying has been “cracked” and is aiding significantly in tracking down exactly who is involved, and their level of involvement.

Coming on the heels of this discovery is the June 24 plea the bank robber, Casey A. Heflin, 28, of Boaz, Kentucky, entered in federal court (U.S. District Court in Benton), where he was indicted in March of this year.

And locals in Saline County and in particular, in Harrisburg, are wondering exactly what information Heflin has been issuing now that he’s a federal convict and could spend the next 20-plus years in the Federal Bureau of Prisons.

Gunman

The current DEA/FBI investigation began following the October 17, 2013 armed robbery of the Old National Bank in Harrisburg located at 719 Rollie Moore Drive just off Commercial Drive (Highway 45).

Authorities say Heflin walked into the bank that morning wearing a baseball cap and sunglasses, pointed a gun at teller Samantha J. Barnett, threw three plastic bags on the counter and told her to “fill the bags and hurry up!” at one point becoming so agitated at how long it was taking, he said, “Hurry up, faster, or I’ll cock the gun!”

Barnett continued filling the bag and when she reached for a stack of 50 dollar bills Heflin told her “Never mind!” grabbed the bag of cash and walked out, leaving the remaining two bags on the counter.

Barnett then pushed the hold-up alarm button and turned to her fellow tellers and informed them she had been robbed.

Kayla Blackford, one of the other tellers, ran to the west side window of the interior of the building to see if she could determine a direction of travel of the man, and said she saw a gold car pulling from the exit/entrance of the bank and onto Rte. 45.

Local response

Harrisburg police chief Bob Smith showed up at about 9:15 a.m. and contacted the FBI as well as the Illinois State Police Crime Scene Coordinator.

FBI agent Ron Bratcher was dispatched to the scene.

Barnett told authorities she believed the handgun was a revolver because of what she thought was a large cylinder she saw.

In all Heflin was believed to have gotten away with $4,197.

A photo from bank surveillance tapes was texted to Federal Parole Officer Mark Walker who positively identified the man as one of his parolees, Casey Heflin, 28, of 457 Walnut Rd., Boaz, Ky.

Gold car spotted, the Gregory connection

While the army of lawmen were still in the bank sorting things out, a call came in from Stacy Cottom, who reported she had spotted a gold car and a silver Jeep Grand Cherokee near where she lived at about the time of the robbery.

She said she watched as a gold car was placed in the back of a nearby wooded area and then saw the Jeep leave.

Chief Smith and Harrisburg officer Nathan Moore went to the area Cottom described and found a Gold KIA passenger car registered to Deloris Heflin, of 457 Walnut Rd., Boaz, Ky.

When authorities questioned Ms. Heflin she said she had loaned her car to her grandson Casey Heflin but that he failed to return it.

When asked why her grandson would be in Harrisburg she said he had a cousin that lived there named Shawn Gregory who drove a silver Jeep Grand Cherokee.

A computer check showed the Jeep in joint ownership of Gregory and Martha (Odell) Richey, so authorities contacted Richey and through her talked to Gregory, who was on his way back from Carbondale by phone and he said would drop by the police station when he got into town.

Get-away driver

Once in town, Gregory was questioned by Bratcher and Harrisburg Officer David Morris.

After spending some time allowing Gregory to spin his story, Bratcher informed Gregory that he knew his story was a lie.

That’s about the time Gregory got a bit closer to the truth.

He told officers that he had met Heflin near the woods and that he thought Heflin had “robbed a drug dealer.”

Gregory said that Heflin got into his Jeep with a dark duffle bag, and that he saw the Wal-Mart bag was “full of something,” but he could not identify the contents.

He said he then drove to the Sherman Street house where Heflin changed clothes.

Gregory said they grabbed the rest of Heflin’s bags and left for Carbondale.

He said he never saw any money, was never given any money and that he thought Heflin was nervous but didn’t know why.

And that’s about the time Gregory asked for an attorney and the interview was stopped.

Story changes— again

At 4:49 p.m. that evening Gregory told corrections officers he needed to talk to officer Morris again.

When he did he suddenly said he remembered everything.

Gregory offered a confession.

“He then began to tell me that it was all his idea. He said that he did it all,” Morris said. “He said he got the gun for Heflin, described it as a break action 45/410 type stainless steel. He said he found it on the road with bullets in it.

“He kept saying it was all his idea and that he made Heflin do it all. Basically Shawn was trying to take the rap for it all to keep Heflin out of trouble.”

Heflin and Gregory were both charged with Armed Robbery.

Steroid connection/little black book code broken

The silver Jeep Grand Cherokee was impounded and when it was searched, Harrisburg officers, some shocked, others not so much, discovered at least 60 vials containing testosterone, syringes and needles in a bag.

A further search of Gregory’s home uncovered what authorities described (with the same amount of “shock” and “not so much”) as a “large amount of other controlled substances.”

But what has really busted the case wide open is the discovery of a black book/ledger.

The black book is said to contain the names and specific illegal business dealings with area police officers who use and aid in the traffic of steroids and possibly narcotics and have for some time.

The black book was originally thought to be in some unbreakable code created by Gregory.

Sources have indicated the book was taken to individuals whose jobs it is to break code for a living.

“Given enough real names of all possible players, possible slang terms, locations including addresses, dates and times, a computer can break some homemade code created by a drug dealer in a matter of hours,” said one source familiar with the process. “Working with local authorities to look over the data, they start seeing what makes sense and before you know it, the code is broken and everything comes out. The process will both eliminate suspects and identify suspects.”

Curious occurrences

There have also been incidents in the process of the investigation into the robbery that have caught the eye of federal investigators.

Sources have indicated that three weeks had passed before the FBI asked the Harrisburg authorities for the video surveillance tapes that were running in the bank the day of the robbery.

The disturbing answer was that the tapes of the robbery had not been taken into evidence, which quickly happened following a show of understandable irritation on the part of the FBI.

There had also been rumored by jail staff that while Gregory was being held in the Saline County Detention Center, he received what was perceived by some as special/preferential treatment.

One source indicated that Gregory not only got additional food in his cell and free phone cards, but also was actually given a cellphone.

Another source, this one with a lengthy criminal history, said he was called in off the street and interviewed by the feds and when they took him back to his car, he was surrounded by several Harrisburg police officers (names withheld at this time), in uniform and in squad cars, who then drove him to an undisclosed location and wanted to know what the feds had talked to him about.

The handgun used in the bank robbery has never been located.

Non-disclosure agreements/oaths

One of the more difficult aspects of attempting to investigate the story is that, according to federal sources, nearly every local lawman with knowledge of the case has signed a federal non-disclosure agreement which makes it a crime if they were to speak to the media.

With the agreements in place, Disclosure sought out, to varying degrees of success, federal agents as well as those believed to be involved in the drug trade for information regarding the investigation.

Disclosure has learned that there are indeed federal agents in and around Saline County, including members of the FBI and the DEA, interviewing individuals with knowledge of officers who are believed to be involved in the steroid and “other controlled substance” use and trafficking.

For the record, Disclosure has sat on this story since shortly after the bank robbery took place. With a list of officer’s names beginning to be leaked to other media, Disclosure decided to break the story but has no intention of publishing the names at this point in the investigation.