CHARGES UNLIKELY AGAINST MAN WHO ACCUSED DETECTIVE IN BRIBERY CASE

The government probably will not bring bribery charges against a man who
accused indicted Milwaukee police Detective Edwin Bonilla of soliciting a
bribe to drop drug and gun charges, a prosecutor said Friday.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Brian Pawlak said the government believed defendant
Juan C. Arenal offered Bonilla a bribe - later partly paid in a sting
operation - but an indictment is not likely to be sought.

Even without the bribery charge, Arenal, 51, faces a potential prison
sentence of more than 10 years, Pawlak said. The twice-convicted drug
offender still faces charges of possession of marijuana with intent to
distribute and being a felon in possession of a firearm.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Patricia J. Gorence on Friday ordered Arenal detained
pending trial.

Arenal's lawyer, William U. Burke, said earlier this week that Arenal
alleged that Bonilla, now indicted on conspiracy and theft of public money
charges, solicited a $7,000 bribe from him to make the charges "go away."

Pawlak said Friday, however, that Arenal allegedly repeated his bribe offer
- - made first to Bonilla - in the presence of a second officer who is not
under suspicion of any wrongdoing.

Arenal allegedly offered Bonilla $10,000 to alter the charges to state that
Arenal did not know what was in a package he received in the mail that
contained more than 13 pounds of marijuana, Pawlak said. He also allegedly
offered Bonilla $10,000 a month "if he would watch his back," Pawlak said.

After a sting was set up, Arenal's girlfriend delivered $6,880 in bribe
money to Bonilla and the second officer, he said.

The woman was arrested and released, he said.

In a separate case, Bonilla is one of four members of the Police
Department's vice unit to have been suspended with pay, and the only one so
far to have been charged publicly with a crime.

The government contends that Bonilla and three other vice squad members
were dispatched Aug. 31 to a suite of rooms at the Baymont Inn, 5442 N.
Lovers Lane Road, where FBI agents had planted a brown bag with $23,000 in
cash.

Observed by video camera, Bonilla discovered the cash and placed something
in the fanny pack draped over his shoulder. When authorities counted the
rolls of money Bonilla turned in, the bills totaled $17,000, the complaint
says.

About $4,000 later was found in a black eyeglass case on Bonilla's desk at
the Police Administration Building. Another $1,000 was found in an air vent
adjacent to a locker area in the building.

Bonilla, according to the complaint, told authorities he gave $1,000 from
the FBI's stash to each of two detectives who had joined him in the search
of the hotel rooms.

Arenal was arrested Aug. 26 after picking up the package of marijuana at
his apartment. That package had been intercepted by a U.S. postal inspector
and then forwarded under surveillance.

At the time of his arrest, Arenal, who said he worked for a janitorial
service, had $1,105 in his pocket. A search of his car turned up $22,080, a
.22-caliber pistol and more than 14 pounds of marijuana, according to the
criminal complaint.