Prosecutors BPD officer called wife from jail, told her to toss Steroids, By Shelley Murphy

November 8, 2006

A Boston police officer who had been free on bail while awaiting trial on federal cocaine and heroin trafficking charges was sent back to jail today for allegedly plotting with his wife to destroy evidence.

The officer, Carlos Pizarro, 36, of Dorchester, had been released under house arrest a month ago after his wife agreed to tell the court if he failed to abide by a number of strict bail conditions. The couple also agreed to let the government search their home for contraband before Pizarro came.

But, prosecutors alleged today that hours after the Sept. 22 hearing in which Pizarro agreed to the search, the officer called his wife, Michelle Joyce, from the Barnstable County jail and warned her to get rid of drugs he had stashed in the house.

Pizarro told his wife to throw out "the little pink things," according to a transcript of the telephone call that was filed in court. Prosecutors allege Pizarro was talking about steroids.

However, Pizarro's lawyers say he was talking about sex enhancing drugs, including Viagra.

"We made the argument that whatever they could have been talking about was purely speculative," said one of Pizarro's lawyers, R. Bradford Bailey, who insisted that Pizarro had abided by all of his bail conditions and should be allowed to remain free until the case is resolved.

US District Judge William G. Young ordered Pizarro, who was at today's hearing, taken into custody immediately, ruling that he will remain jailed until the case is resolved.

Pizarro was arrested July 20 in Miami on charges that he and two other officers, Roberto Pulido and Nelson Carrasquillo, protected 100 kilograms of cocaine while it was being trucked to Boston in June by undercover FBI agents posing as drug dealers. Pulido, the alleged ringleader who has also been accused of a variety of other crimes, has been denied bail. Carrasquillo is free on bail.