BY KRISTEN DELGUZZI
and ADAM WEINTRAUB
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Sgt. John Sess

Shadarle Ragan says there were two reasons he agreed to plead guilty to drug charges almost 13 years ago in a case where evidence against him was tainted.

Mr. Ragan is the man Cincinnati police have been looking for since Sgt. John Sess admitted last month to placing marijuana in a suspect's pocket in 1984. He said Thursday that he admitted guilt to avoid a lengthy prison sentence.

When Mr. Ragan - on whom the evidence was planted - agreed to plead guilty to the single count of drug trafficking, prosecutors said they would not try to send him to prison for violating his probation on a 1983 drug-trafficking charge, Mr. Ragan said.

The 42-year-old from Mount Sterling, Ky., who has a long history of arrests, convictions and drug activity, also said he did not think anyone would believe him if he accused a police officer of planting evidence.

"Who is the judge and the people sitting in the jury box going to believe? The police, or the guy sitting down there in handcuffs," Mr. Ragan said Thursday afternoon at a press conference with his attorney, Kenneth Lawson.

Mr. Ragan, who also had been sought on pending drug charges from 1994, turned himself in early Thursday. He was released on his promise to return to court next month. Mr. Lawson said he will enter a plea of not guilty at that hearing.

Sgt. Sess, an officer since 1973, was suspended without pay Monday, more than three weeks after he admitted to planting a bag of marijuana on Mr. Ragan during a 1984 arrest. Sgt. Sess was interviewing for transfer to the Regional Enforcement Narcotics Unit.

City officials will meet Saturday to consider discipline against Sgt. Sess, who faces administrative charges of failure of good behavior, neglect of duty and violating the division's ethics code. Possible actions include suspension or termination.

Because Sgt. Sess made the admission at the direct order of a supervisor, neither his statement nor any evidence resulting from it can be used as the basis for a criminal charge.

Mr. Lawson said he could not discuss how he would try to clear Mr. Ragan because he has not been able to find records of the 1984 court case. He also would not say whether Mr. Ragan had, in 1984, accused then-Officer Sess of impropriety.

Mr. Ragan discussed some aspects of his case with the media and with listeners of WCIN radio, but he would not talk about whether he was carrying drugs of his own when he was arrested in 1984. Police previously have said that Mr. Ragan was prosecuted based on a packet of marijuana he tossed away during a chase - not on the planted evidence. Mr. Ragan has arrests dating to at least 1979. He is listed as a "major offender" with local police agencies, with convictions on at least 14 criminal charges.

Local records show at least four convictions for drug trafficking, and the misdemeanor charges pending against him allege drug abuse and possession of drug paraphernalia.

Mr. Ragan had not, by late Thursday, agreed to talk to investigators about his 1984 arrest on a charge of drug trafficking.

Mr. Lawson said he would not permit the interview unless he could pick the officer who would conduct it. Members of the internal investigations section, which is handling the probe, will not honor that request. The cautious approach - and the need to hand-pick investigators - is necessary because of the sensitive nature of some of the details of the case, Mr. Lawson said. He said that additional, high-ranking officers may have been involved in faking the case against Mr. Ragan. Police spokesman Lt. Tim Schoch said the investigator Mr. Lawson wants to meet with is not involved with the case.

"The Internal Investigations Section stands ready to meet with Mr. Lawson and his client at any time, morning, noon or night," Lt. Schoch said.

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POLICE OFFICER SUSPENDED May 13, 1997