Tacoma cop gave tips to army buddy on how to be a better criminal

Officer Paul Jernigan advised his "bullet brother" to steal a "Hyundai or KIA" for future robberies, gave feedback on his alibi, and helped him investigate a potential informant.

Tacoma Police Officer Paul Jernigan advised a friend who was wanted for armed robbery on how to avoid prosecution, according to a disciplinary report obtained by DivestSPD.

Jernigan helped him come up with a cover story and offered tips for “future reference," such as “steal a Kia or Hyundai.” He also admitted to running the name of a suspected informant through Washington police databases for his friend.

On Jan. 25, 2024, Modesto police arrested Martin Olivarez for attempting to rob a massage parlor and shooting it up. Olivarez and Jernigan worked together at an army recruiting station in California, and the two stayed in touch through a fantasy football league on WhatsApp. When police extracted the messages from Olivarez’s phone, they found several suspicious texts to Jernigan from two days after the robbery.

Police had visited Olivarez’s home on Jan. 21, and he texted Jernigan for advice. Olivarez told Jernigan that he had committed an attempted armed robbery and a shooting.

After Olivarez acknowledged that he used his own car, Jernigan told him that the police likely identified his license plate as he was leaving the scene. He suggested that Olivarez “stack cash” for a “bugout fund” and consider fleeing to Mexico. He added that Olivarez should steal a car to do robberies in the future.

Jernigan also helped Olivarez refine his story for when the detectives returned. Olivarez’s cover for why he was in the area was that he was “taking a piss in a bush” on his way to start his DoorDash deliveries.

Jernigan identified a hole in that story: Olivarez couldn’t back it up with orders from the delivery service.

It was no secret that Olivarez dealt drugs. He sent a picture to Jernigan of his hand holding a wad of bills, captioned “Two hours of work, bro.” Jernigan replied, “Kids these days have hella lunch money.”

Olivarez sent another pic of cocaine on a scale that was tagged: “This shit will be gone in hours bringing me like 1800." Jernigan answered: “Play your game, player, don't be too greedy. That's how you get caught."

In 2023, Olivarez told Jernigan that he believed he had an “informant in his circle,” and Jernigan gave him some tips on how to spot them. Jernigan’s tips were mostly generic. He told Olivarez to watch out for the use of “proper terms” for drugs, develop a “special bro hug” to check for wires, and to “keep females out of the loop” because he “doesn’t know how many investigations were brought to [his] attention by a pissed off wife/girlfriend.”

Jernigan advised Olivarez to change things up and get a storage unit to stash his drugs. He recommended only carrying the minimum amount of drugs in his car for short trips to make deals.

Later, Olivarez asked Jernigan to use police databases to research a man he believed to be an informant, and Jernigan agreed.

In his interview with internal affairs, Jernigan denied being involved in any criminal activity. He said that he only offered advice to Olivarez because he had mental health issues, and more than one member of their unit had committed suicide.

Ultimately, the Tacoma Police Department had ample evidence to terminate Jernigan.