SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. -- A former South Lake Tahoe police officer has been sentenced to 18 months in prison on charges that he persuaded a gang member's girlfriend to conceal and destroy evidence.
The U.S. Attorney's Office says a judge issued the sentence against 45-year-old John Poland on Wednesday. Court documents portray Poland as being caught up in a love triangle with the girlfriend of a gang leader.
He was accused of encouraging the girlfriend in 2011 to destroy evidence sought under a federal grand jury subpoena.
Prosecutors say a few months later he tampered with that witness in an investigation into his own conduct as well as that of the gang member.
Poland was investigated by the FBI and arrested earlier this year. He pleaded guilty in May to multiple counts of witness tampering and obstruction.
Ind. judge: Ex-cop sent court fraudulent letters
HAMMOND, Ind. (AP) — A federal judge who sentenced a former Gary police officer to 30 months in prison on drug and gun charges said the man committed a "travesty" by sending his court faked letters of support.
U.S. District Judge Joseph Van Bokkelen told David Finley at Friday's sentencing hearing he has no doubt Finley was involved in sending his court fraudulent character letters — the letters judges consider when determining sentences.
"The real travesty in that is this court relies on those letters. I'll never again read them the same way," Van Bokkelen said.
The judge not only took away Finley's credit for taking responsibility for his crime, but added to his sentence. He said Finley had obstructed justice by sending the faked letters.
Finley had submitted more than 100 pages of letters of support earlier this summer from about 25 relatives, friends and former co-workers. Many of them described Finley as a "super cop."
But federal officials discovered that at least two of the submitted letters had been faked and another was written by Finley with a friend's permission, the Post-Tribune reported (http://bit.ly/16t3TBl ).
One of the faked letters not only had the wrong first name for Finley's former fellow officer, Demonte Yanders, but a portion had been added to the original letter Yanders had written.
The faked portion claimed Finley helped Yanders at a gun range and helped get the Gary Police Department's first canine officers. Neither of those claims was true.
Finley's attorney, John Cantrell, said he believes one of Finley's relatives added to Yanders' original letter to make Finely look better. Cantrell argued that it wouldn't make sense for Finley, who knew Yanders' correct first name, to get it wrong.
Cantrell had asked for a sentence of probation or home confinement, while assistant U.S. Attorney Gary Bell had requested a 42-month prison sentence — a year more than the federal sentencing guidelines recommend.
Bell said Finley not only abused his position of trust by breaking the law as a police officer, but also broke the court's trust in character letters. He said he'd never before heard of someone faking a character letter.
"We can't have fake information being submitted to you," Bell said.
Van Bokkelen said he decided to go with a 30-month sentence because Finley has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder.
Finley pleaded guilty earlier this year to selling marijuana and lying when he bought a gun. Finley had said the weapon was for himself but he immediately gave it to a friend who turned out to be working for the FBI as an undercover informant. Finley resigned from the police department shortly after his arrest a year ago.
Fairbury policeman arrested, accused of auto theft
A policeman is in jail after he allegedly stole a police car in Fairbury, Nebraska, where he works. Fairbury Police Chief Chad Sprunk called the Lincoln County Sheriff's office Saturday at 6:40 p.m. and said one of his officers, 40-year-old Stanly Colby, stole a police car and might be in the Lincoln County area.
A North Platte police officer on the lookout near the I-80 overpass spotted the stolen police car, and police officers followed as the car headed south on U.S. Highway 83 out of North Platte, toward McCook.
"As it was unknown why Mr. Colby had stolen his police car, officers waited until they had multiple backup units in place before stopping him," the sheriff's office said. Deputies arrived to help and the car was stopped around mile marker 68 on U.S. 83, near Lone Star Road.
Officers ordered Colby out of the car. He was detained without incident and taken to the Lincoln County sheriff's office for questioning, then jailed and charged with possession of stolen property. Bond is set at $50,000. The investigation is ongoing, the sheriff's office said.
officer going to trial in prostitution case
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — A former Memphis police officer charged with driving two women to a party at a north Mississippi hotel so they could strip and perform sex acts is going to trial.
U.S. District Judge S. Thomas Anderson set an Oct. 7 trial date for Sean McWhirter on Friday.
McWhirter has pleaded not guilty to charges of transporting the women for prostitution and racketeering. He was arrested Sept. 17, 2012, and has resigned from the force.
FBI agents said McWhirter took payment for the prostitutes while he was on duty in Memphis. The FBI alleges McWhirter later drove the unidentified women to a hotel in Tunica, Miss., where several casino-hotels are located. The FBI says one of the women told agents McWhirter drove her there to engage in prostitution.
County employee and Greenport police officer charged with unemployment fraud
Joseph Meicht, a full-time Columbia County motor equipment operator and former part-time Greenport police officer, was recently arrested and charged with grand larceny for unemployment fraud.
State police announced his arrest today following a joint investigation with the New York State Department of Labor, Unemployment Insurance Investigation Section.
The investigation findings allege that Meicht was working in the county’s highway department and as a Greenport police officer while receiving unemployment benefits.
Meicht, 36, of Claverack, was charged with third-degree grand larceny, a class D felony, and first-degree offering a false instrument for filing, a class E felony.
State police did not release the amount in unemployment benefits Meicht is alleged to have received or how long he received them in its written statement.
According to county records, Meicht earned $31,354 last year working for the highway department.
Columbia County Highway Department Division Director Bernie Kelleher said Meicht was still employed with the department, where he has worked full-time for the last two and a half years as a motor equipment operator.
Greenport Police Chief Kevin Marchetto said Meicht resigned yesterday from his job as an officer. Meicht had been employed by the department for the past three and a half years.
Last year, Meicht was named Hero of the Year by the Hudson Moose Lodge after being credited with saving a man’s life in 2011. While working as a Greenport police officer, Meicht perfomed CPR on a man who was suffering a cardiac arrest.
Marchetto presented Meicht with a medal and town of Greenport Supervisor John Porreca gave him the town’s Achievement Award for Excellence. Meicht was also recognized by the State Senate in 2011 for his actions in saving the man’s life.
“We will wait for due process,” Marchetto said. “There were no incidents,” with Meicht as an officer, Marchetto said.
Meicht was released on his own recognizance after being charged. He was scheduled to appear in town of Greenport court on Nov. 12.
Union: West York officer suspended for five days for crash
The borough council voted on the suspension and Officer Sean Hightman agreed to it, his union said.
West York Borough Council voted Monday that a police officer will serve a five-day suspension after he crashed his marked police cruiser into a minivan in York in March, according to the officer's union.
Mario Eckert, business agent of the Teamster Local 776, confirmed that West York Borough Police Officer Sean Hightman, 27, agreed to the suspension Monday.
"When it actually takes effect, I don't know," he said.
Eckert called the punishment "excessive" and "heavy-handed."
"They could've at least looked at something less than what they gave him," he said.
Eckert said he and Hightman accepted the terms of the agreement, in light of the fact that council began their discussion of sanctions against Hightman with possible termination.
However, if the council had decided to terminate Hightman, the union would have pursued appropriate legal action, Eckert said.
"Reluctantly, we accepted the terms of the agreement," Eckert said. "This should close the matter."
York City Police said that on March 23, they responded to the intersection of West Philadelphia and North Hartley streets for a two-vehicle crash.
The crash involved a 2007 Dodge, driven by Hightman, of Wrightsville, and a silver 2001 Dodge minivan, driven by Jessica Lee, 31, of York.
Hightman told police he was westbound on West Philadelphia Street, in the right lane, and that when he approached the intersection with North Hartley, the light turned yellow.
Hightman said he was accelerating through the intersection when he struck the minivan, police said.
Lee said that she had been stopped at North Hartley Street at West Philadelphia Street for a red light. When the light turned green, she proceeded through the intersection, but was struck by Hightman's vehicle, police said. A passenger in Lee's minivan gave police the same account.
Another witness also was westbound on West Philadelphia Street in the left lane and stopped at the red light when Hightman's vehicle passed, drove into the intersection and struck the minivan.
Both vehicles sustained severe damage and had to be towed. There were no injuries, police said.
Hightman was cited for driving through the red light, but no record of the charge exists in online documents.
West York Borough Police Chief Justin Seibel wrote in an email Thursday, "Concerning the disciplinary action, we do not discuss personnel issues with the media."
Kernersville police officer resigns after incident in which he was found in contempt of court
A Kernersville police officer found in contempt in court for an incident in which he burst out of the courtroom and loudly confronted a defense attorney has resigned.
Officer S.P. Senor was suspended with pay in June pending an internal investigation. He was ordered to pay a $100 fine by Forsyth District Judge David Sipprell.
Senor was upset after Sipprell had found a man not guilty of misdemeanor possession of marijuana after a trial in Kernersville District Court.
Senor resigned Aug. 8, said Raeford Smith, the town’s human resources director. He was suspended with pay from June 26, the day he was found in contempt of court, until July 15, Smith said.
Senor could not be reached for comment Thursday. Kernersville Police Chief Scott Cunningham did not immediately return a message seeking comment.
Senor was the officer who had stopped the defendant for a broken license plate light. A K-9 dog sniffed around the car, and Senor searched the car, finding a small amount of marijuana in a compartment. Sipprell found the defendant not guilty after determining that prosecutors had failed to prove under state law that the marijuana belonged to the defendant and that he was in possession of it, according to John Barrow, the defendant’s attorney.
When the trial ended, Senor stormed out of the court and angrily confronted Barrow. Sipprell said in court that he heard raised voices outside the courtroom and thought they were coming from the general public and was surprised when he learned it was coming from a police officer.
Senor said in court June 26 that he raised his voice after Barrow told him to get his “(expletive) finger out of my face.” Sipprell said that he had only heard Senor’s voice and that there was nothing that happened in court to have justified Senor yelling.
Sipprell ordered Senor to apologize to the court and to Barrow, which Senor did. Barrow and Senor shook hands afterward.
Senor had been with the Kernersville Police Department since 2000. He had an annual salary of $47,880.
Provincetown police chief suspended with pay
PROVINCETOWN - After months of controversy and complaints regarding Police Chief Jeff Jaran, the selectmen voted before a packed meeting room Thursday night to suspend him with pay.
Selectmen named Lt. James Golden as the acting chief.
The suspension vote came after a bombshell letter from the Provincetown Police Labor Federation New England Police Benevolent Association, the police union. It stated that the overwhelming majority of the union members gave the chief a no-confidence vote in an emergency meeting Wednesday.
The letter stated that members of the union could not condone behavior by the chief of police that included ordering police officers into The Squealing Pig pub to collect names of employees and patrons who were present when the chief objected to an employees exercise of their First Amendment rights to play music of their choosing.
The Squealing Pig on May 7 was where Jaran ran into trouble for his angry reaction to a song with anti-police lyrics by the rap group N.W.A played on the sound system.
People complained that Jaran, who was off-duty, was intimidating in his angry outburst.
The Board of Selectmen have since hired an independent investigator to look into the incident.
The letter also stated the union members did not condone other behavior by the police chief, including ethical violations regarding the undue influence on employee votes in recent elections, including the distribution of campaign signs from the police station.
The letters also raised objections to the chief's treatment of a union member who was sexually assaulted in the police station by an officer.
Andrea Poulin, a former police department employee, has filed a sex discrimination complaint with the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination. She alleges that a former Provincetown police officer grabbed her breast in 2012. She further alleges that Jaran failed to take seriously and remedy the sexual assault by Patrol Officer Nathaniel McConatha, who no longer works for the department.
Jaran has denied the charges listed in the MCAD suit in an email to the Times.
The union letter stated Jaran failed to fully investigate and to document the crime, and then protected the offending officer, which included a positive job recommendation to other police departments.
Painfully loud applause followed the reading of the police union's letter.
Thursday night's special meeting, scheduled to discuss the suspension of the police chief, brought out so many people it had to be moved to the auditorium upstairs, where the crowd appeared to equal that of some town meetings.
Many thanked the police union for its stance.
"That took tremendous courage," said Jen Cabral, a resident, who also thanked the selectmen for listening to the citizens' complaints regarding Jaran.
Others, however, supported Jaran and called an earlier meeting on Monday, a lynch mob.
On Monday, people lined up at microphones to complain about police intimidation under the current chief.
That meeting, said Rob Tosner, a local businessman, amounted to a lynch mob run amok.
Tosner went on to say, "It's sad that (Jarans) fellow officers couldn't stay by his side."
And he said to Selectman Thomas Donegan and Selectman Erik Yingling, who have been critical of Jaran, you are dividing this town.
"This is an ugly state of affairs ... now you think you've won the battle," Tosner continued. "But what you'll be left with is a bunch of malcontents ... you're really discouraging good people from working for this town."
"I think it's a good day in Provincetown, and I want to disagree that Monday's meeting was mob rule, countered Howard Birchman, a resident. "If that's mob rule, then so is town meeting."
"Given the police union's stance, no way can the chief return to his position," Birchman added.
Jaran, who was not at the meeting, may appeal his suspension under the rules of the town charter.
During the suspension, an investigation of The Squealing Pig incident will be completed. The union's accusations will be added to the scope of the investigation, said Town Manager Sharon Lynn.
Police brutality in Greensboro
Greensboro has seen its fair share of protests for student rights, equal treatment and other civil rights issues. Although recently, civil rights leaders in the city have been dealing with a more wide spread issue of police brutality.
Several complaints have been filed against the Greensboro Police Department. Two weeks ago, Bennett College graduate Ashley Buchanan was charged with assaulting a police officer. Although she filed a complaint with the police department after allegedly being harassed by an officer, she was ultimately found not guilty of all charges.
I do believe there was excessive force used,” said Bennett alum and mayor Pro Tem Yvonne Johnson. “You should handle them in a way and you talk to them in a way that exhibits they are human beings and you are going to treat them like human beings.”
Katelyn McCray, a Charlotte native and political science major here at N.C. A&T is a resident in the same apartment complex in which Buchanan’s incident took place. “I was aware of [Buchanan’s] story,” said McCray. “It made me feel as if we were not being protected by the police.”
McCray said that although she feels safe in her residence, she feels unsafe whenever she sees police.
The Beloved Community Center is playing its part in trying to resolve police brutality. The center has published a book entitled Our Democratic Mission that discusses past cases dealing with the Greensboro Police Department as well as steps that citizens should take into consideration when dealing with the authorities. Their website also has information on police accountability.
Town hall meetings have also been held to raise awareness.
A petition to form a Citizens Complaint Review Board has been formed by Beloved as well.
“Seeing as police have a number of lawsuits that are coming up and seeing that there’s a rise in police activity within the communities that are on the east side of Greensboro, there is a stronger need for transparency and truth within our police department,” said Joe Frierson, a staff coordinator for Beloved.
Rep. Gladys Robinson believes that some officers in the police department lack necessary training. “To me it’s about training, it’s about sensitivity, it’s about not saying that one community is too violent and you should go over there and not respect people,” said Robinson.
Local youth activists have formed a group called The Youth and Student Coalition for Police Accountability. The group meets at Beloved Community Center on Mondays at 6:30 p.m. They are focused on educating youth and college aged citizens on their rights and police conduct.
“It’s important for young people to know that they do have a place where they can go when they are violated or feel harassed or feel targeted by the police department,” said Wesley Morris, a member of YSCPA and Beloved.
Morris has had his own experiences of police misconduct. The youth activist says that he has been profiled more than once and has filed numerous complaints with the police department, all of which have been overlooked.
Frierson believes that it is extremely important for college students to get involved in the Greensboro community.
“Young people need to be seen having a strong justice voice. College students have always been a strong conduit by which a lot of social actions have transpired,” he said.
“We believe that now more than ever it is important for the community to aggressively see this as a key component to us, really grasping a true spirit of democracy in our city,” Frierson said.
Memphis police officer pleads guilty in crash that killed 2 from Mississippi
Alex Beard was sentenced to six months in jail after he entered his guilty plea in Criminal Court in Memphis. He is scheduled to start his sentence Sept. 17.
Beard had been facing up to six years in prison if convicted at trial. Police records show Beard was driving 94 miles per hour on a Memphis street in his squad car, without his sirens or lights in operation, seconds before striking another car.
The crash killed 53-year-old Delores Epps and her daughter, 13-year-old Mackala Ross, both of Senatobia, Mississippi
Some of the victims' relatives had pushed for a trial. Michael Ross, who was the girl's father and Epps' fiance expressed frustration at the plea deal and sentence. He was seriously injured in the crash.
"This man done killed my whole entire family and destroyed me, got my eyesight messed up," Ross told WMC-TV outside the courtroom. "I'm ruined for life."
Prosecutor Billy Bond said victims' relatives were informed about the deal ahead of Tuesday's court hearing.
"If we went to trial, I had no expectation that it would have come out any better" than the six-month sentence, Bond said.
Beard pleaded guilty to vehicular homicide with reckless conduct, and aggravated assault. He was fired from Memphis Police Department in February.
Critics of the department pointed to the crash as an example of a lack of discipline among officers. Beard is one of about 25 Memphis officers to be arrested on or convicted of charges related to police misconduct since January 2012.
North Chicago families renew police brutality claims
Families and supporters of two victims of alleged police brutality in North Chicago are renewing efforts to remove an officer they say was culpable in both arrests, which resulted in legal action against the city.
Ralph Peterson of Waukegan, a cousin to Darrin “Dagwood” Hanna, 45, who died a week after he was taken into custody on an domestic violence charge on Nov. 6, 2011, insists the department should fire officer Gary Grayer. According to police statements, Grayer used a Taser on Hanna multiple times the night he was arrested, and also used a stun gun on Stretha “Van” Alston, an ailing veteran, during an arrest on Oct. 28, 2009.
“We want officer Grayer removed for falsifying reports and for unnecessary ‘tasAsing’ in both arrests,” said Peterson.
As evidence, Peterson points to “Use of Force” reports filed by Grayer that detail nearly identical language in claiming that both men were “given multiple verbal commands to stop resisting.”
A witness to Alston’s arrest claimed he did not resist.
Calling a news conference Thursday, Sept. 12, Peterson introduced Alston’s neighbor, Adriana Rojas, who reiterated what she wrote in a complaint against the department on Dec. 1, 2009. She said Alston exited his truck with hands up and that he was knocked down and beaten by police.
Police investigation finds misconduct by officers
BAY CITY, Mich. (AP) — An internal Bay City police investigation has confirmed allegations of misconduct against three former officers involved in a confrontation a bar in May.
The Bay City Times obtained the investigation's findings through a Freedom of Information Act request and published details (http://bit.ly/14Ish3B ) Thursday
The report supports Joshua Elzinga's claims that he was improperly detained and had his cellphone stolen by the officers outside of Steamer's Pub on May 2. The three officers resigned June 17, the same day they were presented with the results of the investigation.
Bay City Public Safety Director Michael J. Cecchini says the "conclusions in the investigation were supported by fact."
With the resignations, the Bay City Public Safety Department considered the matter closed. A criminal investigation, however, also was conducted.
Judge Hears Arguments on Police Brutality Suit Against UC Berkeley
A federal judge heard arguments but didn't make a ruling today on a legal issue in a lawsuit that seeks $15 million in damages for demonstrators who were injured in an "Occupy Cal" protest at the University of California at Berkeley in November 2011.
The activist group By Any Means Necessary and 29 other protesters filed suit on Nov. 29, 2011, accusing the UC Berkeley and other agencies of police brutality, false arrest and violating their free speech rights during protests on Nov. 9, 2011.
The defendants include UC Berkeley, top university administrators, university police, the Alameda County Sheriff's Office and the Oakland Police Department.
U.S. District Court Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers didn't address the merits of the lawsuit today but instead focused on a motion by UC Berkeley to have former Chancellor Robert Birgeneau and other top administrators dismissed from the suit.
The university's lawyer, Janice Scancarelli, said even if it can be proven that Birgeneau, former Vice Chancellor George Breslauer and other top officials told police to crack down on protesters the issue is "if they knew or should have known that constitutional violations would occur" when police attacked protesters.
Scancarelli said the lawsuit "doesn't link these particular individuals to the injuries" the protesters suffered.
But George Washington, an attorney for the protesters who filed suit, said he believes top administrators "gave orders to police to attack defenseless students."
Washington argued the university's motion is "an attempt to get the top administrators out of the lawsuit and let the cops take the rap."
He said UC Berkeley administrators used an inappropriate "political judgment" in deciding to crack down on an Occupy Cal encampment on Sproul Plaza on Nov. 9, 2011, even though they hadn't removed an encampment at the same place in May 2010.
Washington alleged that university officials were more sympathetic to the May 2010 protest because it opposed Arizona's anti-illegal immigration law but were concerned about the Nov. 9, 2011, protest because it addressed what he described as the more "entrenched and deep-seated" issue of inequality at UC Berkeley.
However, Scancarelli said, "The allegations do not indicate that the chancellor or vice chancellor took action because of anyone's viewpoint" and "any attempt to infer a political intent would not be reasonable."
Scancarelli said UC Berkeley officials wanted to remove the protesters from Sproul Plaza because they were concerned about safety and sanitation problems that had plagued other "Occupy" encampments across the country in the fall of 2011.
Although Gonzalez Rogers took the matter under submission and won't rule until later, she told Washington that the lawsuit doesn't have enough hard facts to back up its allegation that top university officials were aware of the harsh tactics police were using against protesters.
The judge said to Washington, "My main problem with your complaint is that it does much less than your argument."
Gonzalez Rogers said, "What I do not appreciate is all these allegations which are not actually supported by the facts in the complaint."
She also said the lawsuit has more facts for some administrators than it does for others and told Washington, "It's incumbent to make sure you have the facts for each of the individuals instead of as a group."
The lawsuit alleges that university administrators "saw police viciously clubbing peaceful protesters, yanking women by their hair, clubbing people on the ground and clubbing people after the tents had already been secured or destroyed and they did nothing to stop this conduct."
In fact, the suit alleges that after police engaged in harsh tactics between 3:30 and 4 p.m. on Nov. 9, 2011, administrators "still set in motion a more violent police attack in the evening," around 9:30 p.m.
Brother's death a result of police brutality
CAMDEN — The sister of a Camden County man who died in a police shooting last year has filed a civil rights lawsuit over his death.
In a federal lawsuit, Deborah Wilson contends her brother Michael Wood — fatally shot in a confrontation with police in a Bellmawr apartment in April 2012 — was a victim of “wrongful death because of police brutality.” Her suit also asserts local law enforcement agencies tolerate excessive force by officers, conduct “minimal” investigations into alleged wrongdoing and have “a culture of violence.”
The suit, filed Thursday, names the boroughs of Bellmawr and Brooklawn as defendants, as well as police officers from each borough who were at the shooting scene.
Bellmawr Mayor Frank Filipek declined to comment, saying he had not seen the suit.
Brooklawn Mayor Theresa Branella could not be reached.
The suit says Wood was living temporarily at his brother’s Bellmawr Manor apartment when the shooting occurred around 10:20 p.m. on April 26, 2012. Two Bellmawr officers and a Brooklawn policeman came to the Kings Highway complex after an apparent 911 call from Wood, described in the lawsuit as “depressed and very intoxicated.”
“Instead of waiting for a trained crisis intervention mediator, or otherwise using restraint ... several police officers broke down the entrance door to the unit and stormed up the steps to the second floor apartment,” the lawsuit alleges.
The suit says officers awoke his brother Christopher Wood, who was sleeping on a sofa, and learned from him that Michael Wood was in a rear bedroom.
Police forced Christopher Wood to leave the apartment and apparently ordered Michael Wood to come out of the bedroom, according to the suit.
It acknowledges Michael Wood “may have had a knife” when he emerged from the bedroom. It says a Brooklawn police officer, Charles Holland, shot Wood, who died about 90 minutes later at an area hospital.
The suit contends the police response involved “the unnecessary and illegal use of excessive force and deadly force.” It also asserts police departments in the two boroughs of allowing officers to ignore incidents of police abuse.
According to the suit, “Other officers do not intervene to prevent the use of the illegal force, do not arrest the officer engaging in the illegal activity, and do not report the illegal activity.”
“As a result of this code of silence,” the lawsuit claims, “police officers reasonably conclude that their use of excessive force will not result in discipline, termination or criminal prosecution.”
