Escondido to Pay Woman $96,666 Over Drug Raid

A woman who sued Escondido police for misconduct has received a $96,666 settlement from the city. The woman, Pam Aldridge, announced the settlement Tuesday, about five weeks before the case was scheduled to go to trial.

Aldridge sued the city and Detective Barry Sweeney after a June 28, 1989, raid by narcotics officers on her house. Sweeney said police had received a tip that Aldridge’s husband, John, was a major drug dealer, and a task force searched the couple’s home and office.

No drugs were found in either place, but police said they found 0.3 grams of methamphetamine in John Aldridge’s pocket. He was convicted on a misdemeanor count of drug possession and sentenced to 90 days in jail. The Aldridges charged that police planted the drug on John Aldridge after two earlier searches of his clothing failed to produce any drugs.

Pam Aldridge sued police over the search of the couple’s home. In March, 1990, a Superior Court judge ruled that Sweeney lied in preparing the affidavit for a search warrant for the Aldridge house.

Although the lawsuit was settled out of court, Sweeney and other members of the Escondido Police Department are still under investigation by the FBI for possible civil rights violations. Attorney Tom Adler, who represented Pam Aldridge, said he forwarded a deposition from one of Sweeney’s former informants to the FBI.

Dorthy Jolynn Sanders, who acknowledged working as a drug informant for Sweeney, testified in a deposition that Sweeney had asked her to plant drugs on another man who was under investigation by Escondido drug officers.