Two Former Police Officers Admit to Federal Corruption Charges |
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U.S. Attorney’s Office
Eastern District of Missouri
7 December 2018
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
St. Louis, MO – Mark Taylor, 49, and Marlon Caldwell, 51, admitted to accepting bribes in exchange for un-redacted accident reports while police officers with the City of St. Louis, bringing to an end an investigation that led to charges against four former police officers, a local chiropractor and his wife.
According to court documents, between 2007 and 2016, Dr. Mitchell Davis owned and operated Davis Chiropractic Clinic, now known as City Health and Chiropractic. Located on Lindell Blvd in St. Louis, the clinic primarily provided services to accident victims. Galina Davis assisted Dr. Davis in identifying, soliciting, and scheduling potential accident victims.
According to SLMPD policy, the SLMPD will provide un-redacted accident reports only to persons involved in the accidents, the companies insuring them, or the lawyers representing them. Un-redacted accident reports contain detailed information, including addresses, telephone numbers, birthdates, and insurance information of the occupants of the vehicles. Dr. Davis and Galina Davis knew that the SLMPD would not disclose un-redacted police reports to them. To get around this policy, Galina Davis and Dr. Davis recruited, solicited, and paid individual SLMPD police officers to obtain un-redacted accident reports for them.
Using the information from the un-redacted reports, Galina Davis contacted accident victims, identified herself as Gail, Allison, Kelly, Laura, or Shannon, and offered the accident victims free services at Davis Chiropractic. Dr. Davis and Galina Davis focused on identifying accident victims from neighborhoods where there was a large concentration of low-income victims. They believed that low-income individuals would be more receptive to their solicitations and offers of free services.
Taylor and Caldwell both admitted to facilitating this exchange of cash for reports. Caldwell admitted to identifying other officers to continue the arrangement after his retirement. Caldwell pleaded guilty to conspiracy to accept bribes. Taylor admitted to a substantive count of bribery. They appeared before Judge Stephen N. Limbaugh, Jr. who accepted their pleas and set sentencing for March 6, 2019.
Caldwell faces up to five years imprisonment while Taylor faces up to ten years imprisonment. Both defendants also face fines or up to $250,000. The parties will recommended sentencing guidelines and terms of imprisonment well below those statutory maxima.
This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the United States Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General. Assistant United States Attorneys Dorothy McMurtry and Reginald Harris are handling the case for the U.S. Attorney’s Office.