Fairfax County Police Watch: Charges piling up against Waupun officer

MEENON | Charges were filed against Waupun Police Lt. Brad Young in Burnett County Tuesday, adding to the charges filed against him in Barron and Green Lake counties.

Young, 43, is charged with burglary of a building or dwelling and misdemeanor theft in Burnett County. He is scheduled to make an initial appearance today.

He is also charged with fleeing or eluding an officer and taking and driving a vehicle without the owner’s consent in Barron County and three counts of burglary of a building or dwelling and one count each of possession of burglarious tools, taking and driving a vehicle without the owner’s consent, obstructing an officer and criminal damage to property over $2,500.

Young turned in his resignation from the police department on Aug. 21. However, the Police and Fire Commission have to accept the resignation at their next meeting on Aug. 29.

Young had been on the Waupun Police Department for 22 years.

According to the criminal complaint, officers responded to a burglary complaint on Aug. 6 at 5:25 p.m. in Burnett County. The homeowner said that someone broke in using the window above the kitchen sink. The only thing missing from the home was a firearm and some ammunition. There was an estimated $1,500 in damage done to patio doors and a garage door. The firearm was found north of the home.

The complaint states that Young told officers that he headed to a family member’s cabin to kill himself, but found that there were no firearms in the cabin.

So instead he took a jar of change, a cell phone charger and a bicycle. According to the complaint he rode the bicycle to another residence, broke in, charged his phone, and took a rifle and one round of ammunition. The complaint states that his mother called and after he spoke with his children he decided not to kill himself and instead turned himself in.

Young is currently in custody in the Burnett County Jail.

Internal Probe Triggers Firing of Petaluma Cop

Lt. Dave Sears had been on paid leave since June.

A two-month internal investigation of veteran police Lt. Dave Sears has culminated with the veteran Petaluma cop's firing.

Sears confirmed his dismissal in an interview with the Santa Rosa Press Democrat.

“At this point all I can tell you is that we are disappointed it has come to this,” he told the publication.

Sears' firing hasn't been officially announced, the report said. Petaluma's official city website still has Sears listed as a current member of the force.

Sears had been on paid leave since June. It is not clear what led to his dismissal, the report said.

“I have no more knowledge of anything that transpired that led to this than anyone else,” Petaluma Mayor David Glass told the Press Democrat.

Sears was hired by the Petaluma Police Department in 1999 after serving 12 years on the Benecia force. He has worked in patrol, criminal investigations, SWAT, Field Training Program, and Administrative Services.

His current responsibilities as Administrative Services Lieutenant includes supervising the Communication Center and Records Department. He is also responsible for the police budget and evaluating claims and risk management.

Sears was a former captain and a candidate to succeed former Chief Steve Hood after his 2009 retirement. He was demoted to lieutenant in a move that cost him $35,000 in annual salary.

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.