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TBI's tape of Club 229 owner, ex-Kingsport police officer played at hearing; no mention of drugs so far

Published July 22nd, 2009 | 3 Comments

BLOUNTVILLE — A taped phone conversation between James “Jimmie” Swafford Jr. and former Kingsport Police Department Officer Chris Smith, both suspects in a large-scale drug conspiracy, were played in public for the first time in a Blountville courtroom Wednesday.

The call was one of thousands the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation recorded after Judge Phyllis Miller, who has since retired, granted agents’ request to monitor Swafford’s phone line for evidence he and others might be involved in a sizeable marijuana distribution operation.

Swafford’s defense attorney, Jim Bowman, objected to the recording, and several others, based on the length. This recording in particular lasts more than 20 minutes and makes no apparent mention of drugs.

When Bowman confronted TBI Agent Chuck Kimbril about the lack of any mention of drugs during the conversation at Wednesday’s suppression hearing, Kimbril responded that the part that concerned him involved Smith telling Swafford he was being followed and divulging information about the police department and its policies to Swafford, whom the KPD was also investigating for possible drug dealings.

Until now, investigators have said only that Smith told Swafford he was being followed and to be careful.

If the recording played Wednesday is the only one in which Smith issued such warnings to Swafford, then the context of his words are now a part of public record.

Before playing the recording, Kimbril advised the court that, according to the monitor’s notes, it was Swafford who called Smith’s number to talk.

According to Sullivan County Circuit Judge Jerry Beck, the “general rule of thumb” is that officers should stop listening or recording after three minutes in the absence of any conversation deemed pertinent to their investigation, although applicable wiretap laws do not specifically require officers to stop at that point.

Beck also noted that officers are allowed to conduct “spot checks,” which involves restarting the recording to check back in on the status of the conversation.

The recorded conversation between Swafford and Smith played by Kimbril lasted approximately 24 minutes.

A considerable portion of the tape involves Smith bad-mouthing the Kingsport Police Department and sympathizing with Swafford over various issues, such as his troubles with city leaders who sought to shut down Club 229.

A sizeable chunk of the conversation involves Swafford recounting to Smith how Kingsport police stopped him downtown for not having his headlights on, then a K-9 unit being called to check his car for drugs.

Smith immediately demanded to know who stopped him and where he was stopped. Even before he and Swafford had completely sorted out the details of who stopped Swafford and where, Smith was telling Swafford he was being followed.

Once Smith appeared to have an understanding of who stopped Swafford and where, he told Swafford, “Just watch your a — , because that means they’re following you every chance they get.”

Swafford responded, “I was just hoping they wouldn’t plant nothing on me. I said ‘please don’t plant nothing on me, I ain’t got — I’m way too (unintelligible word) to get stuff planted on me. I ain’t got no drugs, nothing like that, and I won’t even bang that way’”

The conversation moved on to Swafford’s sale of Club 229 to the Kingsport Housing and Redevelopment Authority and his plans regarding the Lime Light Club before turning back to the issue of whether Swafford was being followed.

The question Bowman raised that Kimbril couldn’t answer was whether Smith was just making an observation or telling Swafford something he knew to be a fact.

Kimbril said he didn’t know, but “The fact is that he was being followed.” According to Kimbril, investigators did, at times, follow Swafford, and Smith had no business even suggesting to a known drug suspect that he might be being followed by police.

At one point Smith told Swafford, “You gettin’ pulled over, that ain’t no coincidence.”

And Swafford responded, “That ain’t no coincidence. Why, I ain’t doin’ nothin,’ I went out there to see Jerry to thank him for selling the club for me.”

That’s when Smith offered to “go in halves” with Swafford on starting up the now-defunct Lime Light club.

According to Sullivan County Assistant District Attorney Gene Perrin, Bowman may have objections to nearly 150 of the TBI’s recorded phone conversations.

Only 12 of them were played for the court on Wednesday, and Beck only sided with Bowman on two of them. The conversation between Swafford and Smith was not among those Beck agreed should have been “minimized” or kept to approximately three minutes.

Just before 5 p.m., Beck called a halt to the suppression hearing and set a date of Aug. 14 for a status review in the case. At that time, the court may set a date to continue reviewing the recordings to which Bowman has raised objections.

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The white trash is up late drowning themselves in the Natty Ice again, eh JG?

Eric Taylor | 7/24/2009 - 4:06 AM - ( Comment

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I will be the first to point out that I have not been very sympathetic to to police officers who have made it to the local news by doing dumb, or criminal, actions but this scenario just wreaks of personal prejudice and bias on the behalf of the KPD and TBI.
Everything printed so far seems to only point to the fact that the KPD is punishing Officer Smith for being associated with a known drug dealer. First, if Mr. Swafford is a "known" dealer then why the ongoing investigation. If the person is "known" to be criminally active then he should have already been arrested.
Why do they expect Officer Smith to automatically know information that they have to use dozens of officers and hours of wire taps to try to obtain?
Maybe I am trying to hard to put myself into his shoes, but I feel as if Mr. Smith's warning sounds like a : "You better not be doing anything wrong", warning rather than a " be careful not to get caught" warning.
So far it looks as if the prosecutions case is shaky at best when it comes to either of these defendants but especially so when it comes to Officer Smith.
As I said, I may be just injecting my personal insight onto this, but I can't shake the feeling that this was a botched witch hunt where the KPD and TBI let what they thought they knew, and what they really knew get perverted and mashed together. As a result they have ruined the life of an officer just for trying to keep someone honest and for not walking the line like a good little Schutzstaffel.

Will A Blige | 7/23/2009 - 3:15 PM - ( Comment

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I may not be the brightest bulb in the pack but I have a couple problems with this. First off, if the cop was involved in drugs why was the other guy telling him that he don't have drugs and don't "bang that way" and second, if the cop was involved you'd think the TBI agent would have a better answer than "I don't know". On top of all that there's no talk of drugs except the guy saying he was afraid they'd plant some on him. Something is wrong with this picture.

Bruce Wayne | 7/23/2009 - 7:52 AM - ( Comment

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