Ex-Philly narcotics cop admits swapping drugs for sex

A former Philadelphia Police narcotics officer assigned to one of the neighborhoods hardest hit by the opioid epidemic admitted Friday to trading heroin and other drugs for sexual favors from women — including one who, while high, was involved in a fatal car wreck that killed a 90-year-old woman.

In a brief hearing in federal court, Stanley Davis, 50, pleaded guilty to federal drug distribution charges, telling U.S. District Judge R. Barclay Surrick that he enticed two women he met in Kensington last year into a series of sexual liaisons in New Jersey motel rooms and in his police-assigned vehicle.

Investigators learned of the trysts after the woman involved in the car wreck, Rosie Dorothy Forsyth, 28, told them that Davis was one source from whom she had obtained drugs, Jack McMahon, the officer's attorney, said.

McMahon said that Davis – a 21-year veteran of the force, and a member of an FBI narcotics task force, who is married to a Philadelphia cop – confessed immediately when confronted with his crimes. But, the lawyer added, it is impossible to know whether Forsyth's intoxication on the day of the fatal wreck was tied to drugs she received from Davis.

"This was not about the accident," McMahon said Friday. "That is not anything he was responsible for legally or morally. It was just an independent event that was how all this came to light originally."

Court filings in Davis' case do not mention the wreck, and Davis is not charged with any crime related to the Nov. 16 crash along the Pennsylvania Turnpike in West Pikeland Township. Forsyth's passenger, Thelma Frey, died six days later from injuries sustained in the collision, prompting Chester County prosecutors to charge Forsyth in connection with the woman's death.

The plea agreement in Davis' case details liaisons with two women. One was Forsyth, although neither is identified by name in court records. Davis told investigators he met both last fall on the streets of Kensington as he approached them about becoming confidential police informants while they were seeking to buy drugs.

As he continued to communicate with the pair, Davis began exchanging sexually charged text messages with one of them that included nude photos of himself, according to his plea agreement. Davis later met that woman for sex at least twice over the next several weeks, with each liaison involving drug use, the document says.

One encounter outlined in court filings began with one of the women snorting heroin and smoking crack cocaine in front of Davis prior to having sex. In another, the officer gave the woman several bags of heroin — hidden under a floor mat — after she had performed a sex act upon him in his car.

Davis' last meeting with the woman occurred in November, and he quickly turned his attentions to her friend using similar seduction techniques. He offered her cocaine and heroin in exchange for sex on at least two occasions, according to the plea agreement.

McMahon said that Davis deeply regrets his actions and hoped he had made that clear to the court Friday.

During Friday's court hearing, Davis – a imposing, beefy man with a military buzz cut – spoke softly, at times barely more audible than a whisper, as he offered one-word answers to questions from Surrick.

"We've all done bad things and stupid things," McMahon said. "Some are just more stupid than others, and this was particularly stupid."

Staff writer Chris Palmer contributed to this report.