Bay City News Service
You can view the ongoing contrition of disgraced police drug squad commander Norman Wielsch on a couple of television shows.
Earlier this month, a judge ruled Wielsch, 50, of Antioch, couldn't go to LA/ Hollywood. But Hollywood has come to Wielsch with taped interviews aired on "Dr. Phil" on Friday and on the CBS "48 Hours Mystery" Saturday in excerpts of an interview legally recorded in Northern California by CBS correspondent Maureen Maher. Wielsch is the former commander of the Central Contra Costa County Narcotics Enforcement Team, or CNET.
It featured taped onstage interviews with three former Butler employees and Maher as well as segments of Maher's previously recorded interview with Wielsch.
In interview excerpts played on the Dr. Phil Show, Wielsch acknowledged he agreed to provide co-defendant Christopher Butler, 50, of Concord, with confiscated marijuana that was due to be destroyed by CNET.
"I somehow agreed to it. I don't understand why," said Wielsch.
Wielsch suggested the reason may have been that he "was in a bad place" with stress from nerve problems that were deforming his feet and the illness of a daughter diagnosed with liver tumors. He wept as he spoke of his daughter.
"I cry about it every day. I shamed my family, I shamed my department, I shamed law enforcement. I violated their trust," Wielsch said in the taped interview.
The former officer also said, "I have no one to blame but myself."
Butler did not appear on the television shows.
The two men are scheduled to return to U.S. District Court Judge Saundra Armstrong's court on March 20 for a status conference and the setting of future court dates.
Wielsch and Butler are accused in a 2011 federal grand jury indictment of stealing and selling marijuana and methamphetamine from CNET and extorting weekly protection payments from women in an illegal massage business.
Wielsch and Butler are accused in federal court in Oakland of an array of corruption charges, including stealing and selling drugs seized by CNET, extortion and conducting phony law enforcement stings.
Wielsch is free on $100,000 bail and is required to remain in Northern California while awaiting trial.
