Columbia, S.C. Police Chief Allegedly Plotted To Frame City PoliticianBrandon Turbeville Back in September of this year, Columbia, S.C. Police Chief Ruben Santiago found himself facing accusations that he had attempted to mastermind a conspiracy to frame Assistant City Manager Allison Baker with gun and drug charges in order to get him fired. The plan, according to former CPD Captain David Navarro, was to allow then-Police Chief Randy Scott to move into his position, thus allowing Santiago to move up to the position of Police Chief. The plot, nicknamed Black Ops, allegedly involved planting both a stolen gun and cocaine in Bakers car, which would then set off the chain of events resulting in Santiagos promotion. The plan, however, was blown wide open when Captain David Navarro filed reports to both S.L.E.D. (State Law Enforcement Division) and Internal Affairs. Navarro was suspended without pay within hours of his making the reports. Captain Navarro was Commander of the Community Services Team which consisted of several other teams including: P.A.C.E. Team, Police Athletic League and Drug Suppression Team, Warrant Team, and a K-9 Unit. He is a 34-year Law Enforcement and military veteran and has been with the Columbia Police Department for two years. Previously, he served as Fort Jacksons Police Chief and spent over eight years with the Richland County Sheriffs Department as well as twenty years in the U.S. military. At each meeting, Navarro says that Santiago would check Navarros phone so as to ensure that the conversation was not being recorded, then tell Navarro that he was just joking after confirming that there were no recordings being made. As WISTV reports, The plan, according to Navarro, was he would use his position as commander of the drug suppression team to gain access to a stolen gun and powder cocaine from a future crime scene. Santiago told me the next time a case involving cocaine and a stolen gun came in, that he and I would go to the scene, take control of the scene and send the officers away, the affidavit states. We would remove a gun and powder cocaine from that scene and he would then place those into Assistant City Manager Allison Bakers car, the affidavit continues. Santiago said he could claim that an anonymous tip led him to direct other officers to search Allison Bakers car. In specifics, He didnt just tell me a gun, he told me, Dave, it must be a stolen gun, and he also said cocaine and I asked him that question: Why cocaine, chief? Nobody will believe that Mr. Allison Baker would use crack cocaine, Navarro told WIS during an interview on Sunday. Navarro says the end result of the plan was to move then-Chief Randy Scott into Bakers position freeing up the police chiefs job to be Santiagos. For his trouble, Navarro says he would be named number two in the department. Shortly after the first conversation between Navarro and Santiago, Scott left the department after a short leave of absence citing stress and PTSD. After Scott left and Santiago took the reins of the department on an interim basis, two more conversations about the Black Ops plan took place, Navarro says. Navarro states in his affidavit, that Santiago stressed to me that he was going to teach me what he called how to play chess, trust him only.' Navarro also states that Santiago told him that he had Internal Affairs under his [Santiagos] control. Navarro is convinced that Santiago was anything but joking. As he has stated, There was no doubt in my mind that he [Santiago] meant what he was planning to do, said Navarro. He meant it and he was going to carry it through if he found the right person to do it with, but Dave Navarro was not going to be the person to do that for him. I blew the whistle on Ruben Santiago 100 percent, said Navarro. The only reason, right now, Im suspended without pay and have no idea why Im being suspended for is because Ruben Santiago is trying to work another scheme as the one he was trying to work on Mr. Baker and try to figure out what can he fabricate on Dave Navarro so he can do whatever it is hes going to try to do an retaliate against Dave Navarro and his family. Im very angry. Im disgusted. Im very sick. I havent been able to sleep, I havent been able to eat because Im very concerned about it, said Navarro. Im the main provider in my family. After 20 years of military service and then 14 yearsthats 34 years of serving my country and my community. This is not the way I wanted my law enforcement career to end. Santiago and City Manager Wilson assert that Navarros claims are entirely baseless and are nothing more than retaliatory measures because, as Santiago alleges, Navarro was resistant to change. Still, the allegations against Santiago have done nothing to dampen his propensity toward causing controversy. Santiago was recently in the news for responding in an intimidating fashion to an individual who criticized the Police Departments zealotry regarding marijuana laws. After posting to its Facebook page that the CPD had arrested a man and seized $40,000 worth of marijuana from his home, a Facebook user commented How many unsolved murders and rapes do you have in your jurisdiction? Maybe you should focus your attention on those instead? wrote one commentator. Another simply wrote that Pot should be legal. Santiago then responded via the CPDs official Facebook page, (W)e have arrested all of the violent offenders in Five points. Thank you for sharing your views and giving us reasonable suspicion to believe you might be a criminal, we will work on finding you. The Facebook threats mark the second major media fiasco for the CPD since Santiago took over the reins of the department only months ago. As for the earlier charges leveled against him by Navarro, Santiago referred to them as both puzzling and disturbing, an ironic use of language since those are two words which Columbia residents have used to describe Santiagos department for some time. Recently by Brandon Turbeville Brandon Turbeville is an author out of Florence, South Carolina. He has a Bachelors Degree from Francis Marion University and is the author of six books, Codex Alimentarius The End of Health Freedom, 7 Real Conspiracies,Five Sense Solutionsand Dispatches From a Dissident, volume 1 and volume 2, and The Road to Damascus: The Anglo-American Assault on Syria.Turbeville has published over 275 articles dealing on a wide variety of subjects including health, economics, government corruption, and civil liberties. Brandon Turbevilles podcast Truth on The Tracks can be found every Monday night 9 pm EST at UCYTV. He is available for radio and TV interviews. Please contact activistpost (at) gmail.com. 