Posted 11:53 pm Thursday, July 23, 2009
Honored Tylerite, Police Chaplain Cited For Drugs
By KENNETH DEAN
Staff Writer
Staff Writer
A spiritual and community leader in Smith County caught with marijuana in a hotel parking lot in a Dallas suburb Saturday night has been relieved of his chaplain duties with the Tyler Police Department.
Tyler Police Chief Gary Swindle said after his department was contacted by the Frisco Police Department over the weekend he called Anwar Khalifa and told him to bring all of his chaplain materials supplied by the TPD, including a badge, and tender his resignation from the department's chaplain service.
"We called him in and asked him to bring all of his (chaplaincy-issued) stuff. When he arrived at the police station he resigned and apologized," Swindle said.
According to Frisco police reports obtained by the Tyler Morning Telegraph, a Frisco officer working off-duty security at the Embassy Suites at 7600 John Q. Hammons Dr. was patrolling the parking lot looking for signs of vehicle burglaries when he smelled an odor of marijuana.
Officer Jerry Profeta said he had noticed a man sitting in a black Chevrolet Avalanche with the dome light on when he smelled the marijuana.
"I then looked over my shoulder in the direction I thought the odor was coming from. I, again, saw the black Chevy Avalanche with the dome light on, but with no one inside. I then began to walk closer to the vehicle to see if that is where the odor was coming from. As I got closer to the vehicle, the odor became stronger," the officer said in his official report.
Profeta then stated he saw a man, later identified as Khalifa, in a tan suit ducking between vehicles and then take off walking toward the lobby of the hotel.
The officer said he attempted to get Khalifa to stop, but the man kept walking into the lobby and to the elevators where Profeta caught up with him.
"I asked Khalifa how much marijuana he had on him. He responded by saying he had no idea what I was talking about. I then asked him the same question again, to which he answered me by saying he had been smoking a cigar," he said.
Profeta told Khalifa the odor coming from his person and vehicle was not from a cigar and asked him if he would show him the cigar, to which Khalifa agreed.
Profeta said during the walk back to the vehicle Khalifa told him the remainder of a marijuana cigarette would be found on the floorboard of his vehicle.
During a consented search, officer Profeta located the remainder of a marijuana cigarette where Khalifa said it would be.
While searching the vehicle, the officer also located a canister police badges come in and asked Khalifa about it.
Khalifa told officer Profeta he was a police chaplain for Tyler Police Department.
Profeta then radioed for additional units and conducted a through search of the vehicle, which resulted in no additional marijuana being found.
Khalifa was issued a citation for possession of drug paraphernalia, and released. The citation is a Class C misdemeanor and Frisco city officials said Khalifa faces a fine of $517.
Profeta said Frisco Police Sgt. Crawford took the remainder of the marijuana and rolling paper and logged it as evidence and also notified the Tyler Police Department of the incident.
In 2005, Khalifa was co-recipient of the T.B. Butler Award, which recognizes outstanding community service.
He has received multiple community awards and served on Governor Rick Perry's commission for human rights.
When contacted, Khalifa refused to comment on the Frisco incident saying, "I'm not going to have anything to say. I'm' sorry."
Swindle said the incident was saddening to his department, but added he took the only action appropriate in the situation against the former president of the East Texas Islamic Society.
Khalifa led the opposition to a recent alcohol initiative in Smith County Precinct 4, which failed to allow consumers to purchase alcohol for off-premise consumption.
"He was one of the original Tyler Police chaplain members when we started the program in 1996, and a lot of officers are upset with this, because he is so well liked," he said.
Swindle said he felt officers in Frisco handled the incident correctly. He said he believes a citation was the best option in this case.
"When you have a miniscule amount of marijuana, it is easier to cite them for drug paraphernalia than to charge them with a Class B possession of marijuana. It could have gone either way here in Tyler, but it comes down to an officer's discretion," he said.
