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 Bakersfield police Detective Damacio Diaz, 43, was also charged in
the 16-count U.S. District Court indictment handed down on Thursday
with possessing methamphetamine.
Diaz accepted $5,000 in bribes from a narcotics dealer each year
between 2012 and 2015, and in return he provided the dealer with the
identities of police informants and tipped him off to law
enforcement investigations, the U.S. Attorney's Office said in a
written statement
He also set aside for himself some methamphetamine that he obtained
through his work as a narcotics detective, said the statement. And
he filed false tax returns for 2012 and 2013, it said.
 "No one is above the law. The alleged criminal activity put law
enforcement officers at grave risk and significantly undermines
public trust in law enforcement," Special Agent in Charge Monica M.
Miller of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Sacramento field
office, said in a statement.
Diaz, who has been placed on administrative leave by the Bakersfield
Police Department, pleaded not guilty to all the charges in federal
court in Bakersfield on Friday, said his attorney, David Torres. He
was released in lieu of a bond of $200,000, he said.
Torres said he is awaiting documents from prosecutors on the basis
for the charges against his client.
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Diaz is charged with conspiracy, bribery, possession of
methamphetamine with intent to distribute, intentional disclosure of
wiretap information and making a false income tax return.
He faces a sentence of up to life in prison if convicted on all
charges.
(Reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis; Editing by Dan Whitcomb and Sandra
Maler)
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