“I was treated like I was a criminal,” said Anecia Myers.
But the Delaware County woman insists that she’s not. Myers spoke exclusively to NBC10’s Lu Ann Cahn after she claims she was wrongfully arrested by several Philadelphia narcotics officers who are now under investigation.
Myers says she was driving a friend’s car on City Avenue back on February 9, 2011, when she was pulled over and surrounded by armed plain clothes officers.
"Next thing I know he comes out with these bags," said Myers. "He said, 'you know what this is? It's like heroin.' I'm like, 'no, I don't know what this is.' They charged me with possession of a handgun but I didn't have a handgun."
The officers also charged her with possession of narcotics. Myers claims the officers planted Oxycodone on her.
Myers told Cahn the officers targeted her because the friend whose car she was driving was dealing prescription drugs. She also says she had $1,300 in cash in her wallet at the time of her arrest, which she claims was for a vacation deposit.
Myers insists she had no idea at the time of her arrest that her friend was dealing drugs and that she was a law-abiding citizen who worked at a bank and car dealership.
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"A lot of people would think you must have done something wrong because you were in a drug dealer's car and you had $1,300 in your pocket," said Cahn.
"I did not know," said Myers. "I don't sell drugs."
"What happened to that money?" asked Cahn.
"I think they took it," replied Myers. "And I'll say they took it."
Myers was thrown in jail though the charges against her were eventually dropped. Four of the officers who arrested Myers are among the six officers who are now being investigated by internal affairs. The District Attorney recently wrote a letter saying he would no longer accept the officers as witnesses in narcotics cases. Over 260 cases, including Myers’, were dismissed last month as a result. Yet while Myers gained her freedom, she eventually lost her job and says she had to move back in with her mother. Myers has now filed a lawsuit against the officers who she claims ruined her life.
"Making up allegations, ruining her life, causing her to lose her job, taking money from her," said Myers' attorney Lloyd Long. "Everything that my client says happened to her, we're seeking to make her whole."
"It just turned my life upside down," said Myers. "It really did."
No charges have been filed against the six former narcotics officers who are being investigated. We tried to speak to an attorney for the officers but they did not respond.
