Fairfax County Police Watch: More drunk and drugged up cops…a national epidemic

Littleton cop from Parker arrested on drug charges

Littleton Police Officer Jeffrey Allan Johnston, 46, is facing charges that “The alleged drug activity was confined to his personal life and there is no indication or belief that any criminal misconduct occurred in relation to his work with the Littleton Police Department,” said Cooper.According to an FBI affidavit, on July 15, Johnston called a known drug dealer who has peddled his wares during parties at Johnston’s Parker home in the past. Johnston asked if he could buy between 40 and 50 ecstasy pills. The FBI then conducted a “controlled delivery” of 37 pills and 6 grams of ecstasy powder, for which Johnston paid $1,300. Following the exchange, Johnston was taken into custody and his home was searched.In the kitchen, agents found the fresh delivery and a Colt Officers Model .45-caliber pistol loaded with seven rounds in the magazine and one in the chamber. They also found suspected cocaine, suspected steroids, hundreds of suspected prescription pills, additional firearms, hundreds of rounds of ammunition, empty pill pouches, a drug test kit and a scale.

Suspended Bergen Sheriff's officer accused of Westwood break-in due in court

Westwood police were called to the home around 4:30 a.m. on July 16.The woman said she did not recognize the officer, identified as 28-year-old Kevin Garrett. “He was high as a kite,” said Westwood Police Chief Frank Regino. “He was banging on the windows, banging on the doors. The homeowners were alarmed by this and called 911.”

TN officer and wife arrested on drug charges

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. A Murfreesboro Police Officer and his wife were arrested Monday night after authorities said they sold their television for prescription painkillers.

The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation arrested 43-year-old Andrew Messick and his wife 44-year-old Crystal Messick in a Walgreens parking lot. They were charged with simple possession and casual exchange of a controlled substance.

TBI agents had received information about the couple wanting to exchange a television for hydrocodone pills. They set up the exchange, and took them into custody.

The couple was booked into the Rutherford County Jail and released on bond.

Murfreesboro Police issued a statement saying they were aware of Messick's arrest. He has been decommissioned and relieved of all police authority.

Messick was a member of the Uniformed Division, Patrol Section, and has been with department since September 2010.

Feds Arrest Columbus Cop on Drug Charges

COLUMBUS A robbery detective is behind bars after being arrested on federal drug and weapons charges. F.B.I. agents took Columbus Division of Police officer Stevie Billups into custody on July 18 at Hollywood Casino after several months of surveillance.Agents said Billups was paid $3000 by a confidential informant to provide protection while the man claimed to participate in a heroin transaction worth tens-of-thousands of dollars.Billups participated in the crime to feed his gambling habit, according to investigators.

Officer’s case draws out-of-town interest

David Bisard 39, is the suspended Indianapolis police officer accused of driving drunk in his police car and plowing into two motorcycles stopped at a stoplight in 2010, killing one and injuring two others. He faces multiple charges from the crash, including reckless homicide, operating a vehicle while intoxicated causing death and criminal recklessness. The case is set for a four-week jury trial in October.

Belle Plaine Cop Sentenced For DWI…think you would get the same deal?

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – The Belle Plaine police officer accused of driving under the influence in November 2012 while off-duty pleaded guilty on Wednesday to one gross misdemeanor count of DWI. Bryan Pasek’s second DWI charge and his speeding ticket for driving 96 mph in a 55 zone on Highway 169 at Park Boulevard were dismissed. Pasek had registered a 0.17 BAC at the time. His sentence includes two years of probation, a $700 fine, and 40 hours of community service. He was granted a stay of imposition, so as long as Pasek follows the terms of probation, his conviction will be discharged at the end of the probationary period, although a misdemeanor conviction will remain on his criminal record.

Morrogh finds cop he doesn’t love. In other news, hell freezes.

Probe of fatal police shooting goes to federal authorities

By Justin Jouvenal/Post

The Fairfax County prosecutor has turned over the investigation of a fatal police shooting of an unarmed Springfield man to federal authorities, citing complications with the five-month-old case.

Commonwealth’s Attorney Ray Morrogh said the U.S. attorney’s office for the Eastern District of Virginia has agreed to continue the probe into the death of 46-year-old John Geer, who was shot during a standoff with Fairfax County police in August. No one has been charged in the incident.

“There is a conflict of interest that has arisen in the case,” Morrogh said Thursday. “And there is a second potential conflict of interest that has arisen out of my office. . . . This is the prudent thing to do.”

Morrogh declined to describe the nature of the conflicts because the investigation is ongoing. The U.S. attorney’s office said Thursday that it could not confirm or deny any investigation or comment on pending investigations.

Police went to Geer’s Pebble Brook Court home on Aug. 29 because of a report of a domestic disturbance. Geer’s father, Don Geer, said his son was upset because his girlfriend, the mother of his two children, had decided to leave him.

John Geer had thrown his girlfriend’s belongings in the front yard. She called police and told them that Geer had a firearm. Police said they tried for about 50 minutes to persuade Geer to leave the home, but he refused.

Don Geer said he watched the climax of the encounter. He said that he could not hear what officers were saying to his son but that he saw him standing with empty hands resting on top of a screen door at the home’s entrance.

At some point, John Geer began to slowly lower his hands and an officer opened fire, hitting Geer in the chest, his father said. Geer retreated inside and closed the door. A SWAT team eventually entered the home and found Geer dead.

Don Geer said detectives later told him that his son did not have a gun on him at the time of the shooting but that there was a holstered handgun a couple of steps from the front door.

Don Geer said it appeared to him that the shooting was unjustified, but he was unsure what to make of the probe being turned over to federal authorities.

“I don’t know whether that’s good or bad — if I had a better idea of why they are doing it, I could form an opinion,” he said.

Geer and friends of his son have been critical of how long the investigation has taken, but Morrogh said police and prosecutors were working to explore all the evidence. He did not think federal prosecutors would have to start from scratch.

“No one wants these things to linger on,” Morrogh said.

Our ink will outlast his career

Under the reign of former Chief of Police Rhorer the Fairfax County Police arrested a man for not wearing clothes in his house while he made coffee, set up an eye doctor on a gambling charge and then used the SWAT team to kill him. An investigation into the charge that the Doctor’s primary clients were cops has never been investigated. The police gunned down an emotionally unstable man because cop who shot him wrongly assumed the man was trying to escape. He wasn’t. The cops also shot dead four other citizens under highly questionable circumstances. The department under Rhorer was sued multiple times by citizens. So did they fire Rhorer? Naw they promoted him. According to news reports Rhorer draws a salary of $191,168 per year as Deputy Fairfax County Executive as well as a concurrent pension from the Fairfax County police of $173000 per year.

Occupation by force

According to the most recent U.S. Census figures, nearly one in five Fairfax residents (17.5 percent) is of Asian descent while Hispanics make up nearly 16 percent of Fairfax’s overall population. Those numbers drop considerably when applied to the Fairfax County Police Department, where only 4.3 percent of officers are Asian and 4.1 percent Hispanic. White officers make up 84 percent of Fairfax County’s 1,360-member police department, significantly higher than the county’s general population (54 percent white). Almost 90% of the force lives outside the county.