On October 27, 2016, the same day that Houston drug cops searched a house based on a marijuana sale that never happened, they searched the house next door based on a fictional crack cocaine purchase. The first search, at 2807 Nettleton Street, resulted in the arrest of Frederick Jeffery, who was later convicted of possessing methamphetamine based on false testimony by veteran narcotics officer Gerald Goines, the same cop who had invented drug transactions to justify the search warrants. The second search, at 2811 Nettleton Street, resulted in the seizure of about $3,000 from Andre Thomas, who was detained for several hours but never charged.
Thomas' loss pales beside what happened to Jeffery, whose sentence was enhanced because of prior convictions. Jeffery got 25 years in prison, which amounted to five years for each gram of meth that Goines falsely linked to him. But while Jeffery was freed last month after the Harris County District Attorney's Office recommended that his conviction be overturned, Thomas is still waiting to get his money back.
