Trial set for cop facing drug charges

Bill Gang

Thursday, Oct. 7, 1999 | noon

A Dec. 20 trial date has been set for a five-year veteran Metro Police officer charged with drug trafficking and being under the influence of drugs from a May incident that nearly cost him his life.

Officer Jon Aaron Brown, 30, pleaded not guilty to the felony counts Wednesday in District Judge Joseph Bonaventure's courtroom.

The charges were filed after he was found unconscious in the apartment of 26-year-old Lydia Frances Gorzoch from an apparent overdose of the so-called "date rape drug" gamma hydroxbutyric acid, known as GHB.

According to the indictment, Brown also had methylenedioxymethamphetamine, commonly known as "Ecstasy," in his system.

Gorzoch is scheduled to be arraigned on the same charges on Oct. 13.

The drug trafficking charges against the pair were the result of the discovery of more than 50 grams of GHB in the apartment at 4650 W. Oakey Blvd. No Ecstasy was found there, according to Deputy District Attorney Eric Jorgenson.

The prosecutor emphasized that the trafficking charges are a result of the quantity of drugs found and do not include allegations of actual drug sales.

Jorgenson said emergency medical personnel who were summoned to the apartment through a 911 call found Brown near death.

Brown testified in his own defense before the grand jury that he did not knowingly ingest the drugs, which are odorless and colorless.

But the grand jurors found his story to be inconsistent with other evidence, according to Jorgenson, and indicted him Sept. 29 on the felony charges that could cost him his career if he is convicted.