Fairfax County Police Watch: 12/09/13

Former Mission cop arrested for taking cash to "fix cases"

A former Mission police officer found himself on the other side of the law after being accused of taking bribes in order to "fix" court cases.
Hidalgo County Sheriff's Office deputies arrested 40-year-old Carlos Celedon on state jail felony theft charges on Friday evenving.
Investigators told Action 4 News that the former Mission Police Department corporal is accused of taking bribes on at least two occsasion.
Court records obtained by Action 4 News show that Celedon no longer worked with the police department but told both victims that he had "connections" in the courts.
One victim told deputies that he paid Celedon $1,582 to make a prior DWI and a traffic ticket "go away" but that never happened.
Another victim told deputies that he paid Celedon $3,546 to expunge his three DWI's from his criminal record.
Deputies reported the man came forward because Celedon refused to give him his money back after he failed to deliver what he promised.
Investigators reported that Celedon once worked for the Mission Police Department but was convicted on theft charges in a 2010 case where he promised to deliver large screen televisions and other items for discount prices but never delivered.
Celedon appeared before Hidalgo County Justice of the Peace Ismael "Melo" Ochoa where he was issued $15,000 in bonds.

Former Philadelphia police officer convicted of corruption

PHILADELPHIA - December 3, 2013 (WPVI) -- A 23-year veteran of the Philadelphia Police force was found guilty Monday of interfering with a federal drug investigation.

52-year-old Rafael Cordero of Philadelphia was convicted by a federal jury for passing along sensitive information about a drug investigation to his half-brother, David Garcia, who is an alleged member of the Christian Serrano/Edwin Medina Drug Trafficking Organizations.

Prosecutors say Cordero tipped Garcia off to a surveillance camera installed by the DEA to monitor drug related activities at a garage, located at 538 East Indiana Street in Philadelphia.

In addition, when the FBI and DEA executed search warrants at several locations, including the garage, Cordero showed up at the locations without having any official reason to be there - allegedly informed of the raids by his half-brother. Authorities found him looking in the windows of the garage, and when asked what he was doing, Cordero allegedly lied about his reasons for being there, and even offered to assist in the search.

Cordero then called Garcia immediately after leaving the garage to share with him details about the search. In a subsequent phone call Cordero allegedly told Garcia, "When you get home take my picture down."

Garcia also removed a recording that law enforcement missed during the search which captured footage of Cordero at the garage at the time of the search. Prosecutors say Cordero never informed law enforcement of the video tape's existence.

In addition, prosecutors say that between January and July of 2011, David Garcia was permitted to store money at Cordero's home, which Cordero apparently knew were the proceeds of illegal drug sales. After DEA agents arrested David Garcia on July 27, 2011, Cordero allegedly had his brother, E.C., take the money, thereby obstructing justice.

Cordero faces a maximum possible sentence of 20 years in prison. A sentencing date has not yet been set.

longtime Chicago police lieutenant pleads guilty

By Jason Meisner, Chicago Tribune reporter

December 6, 2013

A former longtime Chicago police lieutenant pleaded guilty Thursday in connection with a mortgage fraud scheme involving a Northwest Side real estate mogul and a crooked former suburban police chief.

Erroll Davis, 52, choked up as he entered his guilty plea in federal court to one count of making false statements in a tax return. Prosecutors told U.S. District Judge Samuel Der-Yeghiayan that Davis faces 12 to 18 months in prison under federal sentencing guidelines but that they would recommend a lighter sentence if he continues to cooperate. Davis, a 27-year police veteran who spent years with the marine unit, resigned from the department after the charges were announced last month.

Robert Michael, 62, a former CEO of the now-defunct Citizens Bank and Trust, has pleaded not guilty to charges he hoodwinked his own bank into illegally lending $650,000 to Davis for the fraudulent purchase of an apartment building in the South Chicago neighborhood.

The building was actually owned by Regina Evans, the former police chief of Country Club Hills, who owed Michael's bank and realty company more than $300,000 in mortgage payments on the building and rent for a nightclub. But the bank loan instead went to pay off Evans' debt, and Davis was given a $30,000 check for his troubles, according to court records.

Davis admitted in his plea agreement he lied on the loan application and failed to claim the $30,000 as income on his 2008 tax return. Evans, who was not charged, is scheduled to be sentenced next week in a separate case for stealing state grant money.

police officer arrested on child sexual assault charges

A former Rio Grande City Police Officer has found himself on the other side of the law.

Rodolfo Hinojosa was arrested this morning on two charges of sexual assault of a child.

Hinojosa appeared before Judge Zarrate around 7:00 p.m. and his bond was set at $200,000 for the two counts.

The case is currently investigated by the Starr County District Attorney’s office and the Texas Rangers.

City Manager Matt Ruszczak told the McAllen Monitor that Hinojosa resigned from the department on November 21 and had been working with the department since 2006.

Investigators told Action 4 News that Hinojosa worked as a supervisor and had sexual contact with a teenage girl who had enrolled in the police department's Explorer program.

Coroner Testimony Crushes Cop Lawyer Claims That Kelly Thomas Killed Himself

By R. Scott Moxley

Four days into the sensational Kelly Thomas murder trial, it's clear that defense lawyers for two Fullerton cops accused of criminal conduct in the gory July 2011 police killing will rely largely on half-truths, complete distortions and semi-cleverly spun nonsense to win.

I reported after the Dec. 2 opening statements that John Barnett and Michael Schwartz, lawyers for Manuel Ramos and Jay Cicinelli, declared that a severe, five-minute attack by a group of cops was not even a minor factor in the death of the unarmed, comparatively small, homeless man.

As if somehow exculpatory for their clients, Barnett and Schwartz proclaim that Thomas (blood-covered, unconscious and horrifically mauled) still had a pulse at the immediate conclusion of the beating.

Though the defense claims Thomas killed himself during the attack by overexerting an enlarged heart and suffering a heart attack, the coroner who performed the autopsy ruled that out as a possibility during today's testimony.

"He died with an enlarged heart," said Dr. Aruna Singhania. "But he didn't die because of an enlarged heart."

Singhania directly attributed the cause of death to what everyone but apologists for police brutality knows: The length and severity of the unnecessary physical attack--including numerous crushing blows to his face--restricted Thomas' oxygen supply.

Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas quickly followed up, asking that at the very time Thomas needed more oxygen during the incident, was his supply "getting less and depleted"?

"That's correct," the veteran coroner replied.

Digital audio records made by police at the scene document the 37-year-old Thomas repeatedly and with ever-increasing exasperation telling the much-heavier officers pummeling him with punches, kicks, baton slams, stomps and Taser gun blasts, "I can't breathe."

The defense team has tried to use the declarations to, at best, underscore their laughable assertion that Thomas' complaints of pain at the scene had no merit, and, at worse, to mock the dead man's statement as a lie.

They've even secured testimony that if a person can say he can't breathe, then he's breathing.

But to view Thomas' statement without context is as absurd as holding someone accountable for the literal meaning of the following type of utterances: "I lost my head," "You crack me up," "I have a chip on my shoulder" and "Lend me your ear."

Under an attack that would kill him, Thomas voiced an urgent expression that was ignored by the cops. He wasn't uttering a lie. He was communicating that he felt the horrific sensation of losing critical oxygen.

Guess what, folks?

Despite the defense team's premature freeze-framing of events to when Thomas was alive, he ultimately fell unconscious while hog-tied at the feet of joke-cracking cops, who rendered no aid and fretted about minor scratches they suffered.

Shortly thereafter, the man--who'd committed no crime and certainly no act to justify his execution by the Fullerton Police Department--lost his breath forever.

During the three-minute ambulance trip to a hospital trauma unit, Thomas' heart stopped beating, and according to paramedics, he flatlined on the electrocardiogram.

(During the preliminary hearing phase in the case, Barnett and Schwartz strongly implied that Thomas might have died because of medical incompetence after he'd been moved from the cops.)

Over the objections of the defense before the noon recess, Rackauckas showed the jury multiple autopsy photographs of a badly beaten corpse.

The defense team will work to undermine Dr. Singhania's findings beginning this afternoon and will likely continue to press its claim that Rackauckas coached the coroner on the cause of death, an assertion Singhania testified is groundless.

Officer suspended after video surfaces of alleged abuse

CALIFORNIA, Pa. —

A police chief in Washington County has suspended one of his officers after he viewed surveillance video allegedly showing the officer abusing a handcuffed suspect.

California Boro Police Chief Rick Encapera said he felt he had to report the actions of Officer Justin Shultz.

According to Encapera, the video showed Shultz assaulting a handcuffed man, Adam Logan, who was simply sitting on a bench after getting arrested for an alleged purse snatching.

“He grabbed the detainee, shook him, threw him against the wall and then the floor. You could tell by the guy’s face he caused substantial pain,” Encapera said.

Encapera said in his police report that Shultz, 29, defended his actions.

“He said he was attempting to calm down a prisoner who was unruly and aggressive. I didn’t see that in the video,” Encapera said. “I couldn’t live with myself if I let this go without any action.”

Channel 11’s Cara Sapida reported Shultz has been placed on leave while the district attorney’s office investigates.

Shultz was previously placed on leave in May after a number of complaints were filed against him for using excessive force.

Cop punished for drunken behavior at Seahawks game in trouble again

Posted by John de Leon

A Bellevue police officer who was disciplined for his drunken off-duty behavior at Seattle Seahawks game in September 2012 has been charged with misdemeanor drunk driving in an incident in which a fellow Bellevue officer stopped him for erratic driving and then allowed him to go home with a relative.

The officer who was pulled over has been identified as Andrew Hanke.

Bellevue police say on Nov. 20, an unidentified off-duty Bellevue police officer was driving home in his patrol car when he stopped a car on Interstate 90 near Issaquah to investigate the driver for possible DUI. The driver of the vehicle that was pulled over was Hanke, according to Bellevue city Prosecutor Lynn Moberly, who filed the DUI charge Thursday in King County District Court in Issaquah.

The off-duty officer did not arrest Hanke and instead allowed him to be driven home by a relative, police said.

The investigating officer notified a supervisor of the incident.

The following morning, Bellevue police Chief Linda Pillo was notified of the incident and Hanke was immediately placed on administrative leave, said Bellevue police public information Officer Seth Tyler. The department has also opened an internal investigation into the officer who stopped Hanke but did not arrest him.

“While officers are allowed some discretion during a traffic stop, the officer’s decision in this case not to make an arrest is undergoing a thorough and objective internal investigation. That investigation will determine whether the on-duty officer used poor judgment and/or failed to perform their duties,” police said in a news release.

Police say details of the internal investigations will not be released until they are completed.

“I expect our officers to abide by our guiding principles of respect, accountability, integrity and service, and to abide by the laws of the state of Washington both on and off duty,” Pillo said in a statement. “If these allegations are sustained, the involved officers will be held accountable for their actions.”

Hanke was one of two Bellevue officers punished last year for their off-duty behavior at a Seahawks game, when they drunkenly confronted a female Seattle police officer and got into a profanity-laced altercation with a fan and his family.

During the investigation into that incident, which was first reported by The Seattle Times, Hanke was suspended for 30 days without pay and removed from the Bomb Squad. Hanke had told investigators that he was too drunk to remember driving home to Snoqualmie from CenturyLink Field.

Officer Charged with Stealing Money

MAYSVILLE, Ky. (WKRC) -- A Maysville police officer is now charged with stealing money from a federal drug task force. A grand jury today indicted Timothy Fegan on charges of stealing from the Buffalo Trace-Gateway Narcotics task force. It's based in Maysville and investigates drug crimes in northern and eastern Kentucky counties.

The 52-year-old Fegan served as executive director of the task force for two-and-a-half years. According to the indictment, Fegan took money agents seized during drug raids and money task force members kept on hand for controlled drug buys.

Fegan faces up to ten years in prison and a fine of up to 250,000 dollars.

Officer Charged with Stealing Money

Fegan faces up to ten years in prison and a fine of up to 250,000 dollars.

Fort Wayne officer charged with raping woman

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (AP) — Prosecutors have filed rape charges against a Fort Wayne police officer, saying he attacked a woman he had arrested for drunken driving.

Allen County prosecutors added the two counts of rape on Thursday to the charges against Officer Mark Rogers. He had first been charged in September sexual and official misconduct.

The Journal Gazette reports (http://bit.ly/1bmNqkM ) the new charges allege Rogers stopped the woman and took her to a hospital for treatment because of her high level of intoxication. Prosecutors say that after she was release from the hospital Roger took her to a city park and had sex with her.

Defense attorney David Zent didn't immediately return a telephone message from The Associated Press seeking comment.

Internal affairs questions chief

Police Chief John Tedesco was questioned by the police department's internal affairs unit Monday afternoon, city officials confirmed Tuesday.

Tedesco was interviewed about a letter he sent to a person who filed a complaint regarding alleged police brutality. Tedesco said in the letter that the complaint was upheld by the internal affairs investigation.

Mayor Lou Rosamilia said Tedesco faced internal affairs after he had postponed the meeting several times.

"I will have the findings after it's over," Rosamilia said.

Tedesco is the city's first police chief to be the target of an internal affairs probe.

Deputy Chief Richard McAvoy and Capt. Terrance Buchanan of internal affairs met with Tedesco for about 30 minutes in an office that was cordoned off.

Tedesco had said the media were invited to attend his interview, but no reporters were present.

The chief faces the investigation after a complaint was filed saying that the letter he sent was written before the officer under investigation had exhausted the appeals process.

Tedesco's questioning came as city officials learned that the chief asked the City Council to investigate the police department's operations and internal affairs unit under Police Commissioner Anthony Magnetto.

Tedesco also has called for the FBI to investigate the department's internal affairs cases.

The City Council and members of Rosamilia's administration received an eight-page letter Friday night from Tedesco's attorney outlining the need for the inquiry.

"Recent events have again made clear the need for a properly trained and autonomous ISB (Inspectional Services Bureau) officer who remains free from the influence of any outside sources, especially the PBA," wrote Brian Premo, Tedesco's lawyer.

Premo's letter alleged that Buchanan is influenced by the Troy Police Benevolent Association due to having received off-hours employment through the union.

Rosamilia said the latest letter from Tedesco, which he reviewed Monday, is "the same thing." He called the chief's actions a distraction to the police department.

Premo's letter was widely circulated throughout the police department Monday.

Since Magnetto was appointed earlier this year, Tedesco has been pushed aside in managing the police department. Magnetto has moved ahead with implementing programs, such as school resource officers, that Rosamilia promised he would deliver if elected mayor.

Premo's letter attacks Magnetto's appointment as illegal and highlights the influence that the Troy Police Benevolent Association has in the department.

"Chief Tedesco firmly believes that a zero-tolerance policy against egregious misconduct must be strictly enforced to prevent future incidents of brutality and that his other 'best practices' and policies must be reinstated for effective and efficient management of the Police Bureau," Premo wrote.

Columbus Settles Police Misconduct Case

BY JIM LETIZIA

Columbus City Council last night approved a 35 thousand dollar legal settlement with a man whose constitutional rights were violated by Columbus police.

Earlier this year, a three judge panel of the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati reversed a judge's decision to dismiss a civil rights lawsuit filed in 2008 by Tremaine Nelms against the city and two police officers. The panel said it appears the officers violated Nelms' constitutional right against unreasonable search and seizure. Nelms claimed the officers and his North side apartment complex manager entered and searched his apartment unlawfully and without reason. City attorney Rick Pfeffier.

Jury chosen for ex-officer in Katrina shooting

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Opening statements are set to begin Wednesday in the retrial of a former New Orleans policeman who shot and killed a man four days after Hurricane Katrina.

David Warren is charged with violating 31-year-old Henry Glover's civil rights and with using a weapon in a violent crime.

Warren was guarding a police substation from a second-floor balcony when he shot Glover in 2005. He testified that he thought Glover had a gun. He was convicted of manslaughter in 2010, but a federal appeals court overturned the conviction.

The court ruled he should have been tried separately from officers charged in a cover-up designed to make Glover's shooting appear justified.

Suit spotlights AC police brutality complaints

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) — A federal judge is raising questions about the Atlantic City police department's handling of brutality complaints against its officers.

U.S. District Judge Joel Schneider in Camden is presiding over a 2010 excessive-force lawsuit against two Atlantic City officers who have faced nearly 80 complaints between them. None has been upheld by the department's internal affairs.

The city previously provided summaries of the complaints against the officers, Sgt. Frank Timek and Officer Sterling Wheaten. But the judge has ordered the city to turn over the full internal affairs reports, The Press of Atlantic City (http://bit.ly/18izzKU ) reported.

The judge said the reports are needed to determine if the city has been, as alleged, "deliberately indifferent to the violent propensities of its police officers."

He noted that no complaints against Timek and Wheaten were ever upheld in internal affairs investigations even though the two "regularly appear in this court as defendants ... in excessive force cases, several of which are remarkably similar to the instant one."

Beyond the allegations made against the two officers, Schneider noted, not one of hundreds of excessive force complaints against any city police has been upheld through internal review.

The city police union's president, Paul Barbere, said it's wrong to judge the officers by the number of complaints received. He called such complaints an occupational hazard for officers and the work of defendants looking to improve their chances in court.

In the case now in federal court, Matthew Groark alleges that he and his girlfriend were at a nightclub at Caesars Atlantic City on Aug. 7, 2010, when they approached Wheaten and Timek, who were working a security detail there, for assistance.

When the officers shined a light in the couples' eyes, Groark said, he asked why and then alleges he was thrown down the stairs, punched and kneed by the officers. He alleges the attack was unprovoked, and that he then was charged with obstruction of justice, resisting arrest and aggravated assault.

Court records show Groark has no criminal record and that the 2010 charges were dismissed.

Timek had 52 complaints filed against him over 11 years, and Wheaten had 26 over nearly four years, the summaries of the cases against them showed.

Las Vegas police officer indicted for sexual harassment

By FRANCIS McCABE

LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL

A Las Vegas police officer was indicted by a grand jury on charges he sexually intimidated and harassed women he met on duty, prosecutors said Friday.

Solomon Coleman faces two counts each of oppression under color of law and gross lewdness and one count each of indecent exposure and taking pictures of a person’s private area, all gross misdemeanors.

Authorities said Coleman developed a pattern of starting “relationships” with women he met at crime scenes and on routine calls, using his authority as an officer to gain their trust.

Coleman’s misdeeds were uncovered in June after a woman complained about his behavior. The Review-Journal does not publish the names of alleged sex crime victims.

After other officers took her boyfriend to jail following a domestic disturbance, Coleman stayed behind.

A female officer had already taken photos of bruises on her neck, arms and back, but Coleman said he also needed to “check for bruises on her ass,” according to a police report.

The woman told Coleman she didn’t have bruises there, but he “insisted on checking anyway,” the report said. She said Coleman pulled down her shorts and underwear to her knees and asked her to bend over on the bed.

The woman said Coleman stayed behind to give her paperwork, but then followed her into her bedroom to help her look for missing house keys.

She felt forced to comply when Coleman pulled down her pants.

At one point, her son walked into the bedroom before being ushered out by the officer.

Coleman later exposed himself to her in her bathroom.

When the officer came back after his shift, the woman saw him through the blinds but wouldn’t open the door, she said.

Detectives checked Coleman’s patrol log, which showed the officer left her home 36 minutes after his fellow officers.

After the first complaint, investigators dug through Coleman’s cellphone records and patrol logs. They found another victim, but she was not even aware of what happened.

Coleman used his phone to record more than 20 minutes of a personal sex video the woman had stored on her phone, the report said. The video had been on Coleman’s phone for a year when detectives found it.

Coleman’s defense lawyer Josh Tomsheck declined to comment.

Coleman remains on house arrest pending an arraignment hearing set for Jan. 16 before Judge Valorie Vega.

Police officers suspended for cursing at a school bus full of children

DALTON, Ga. (WXIA) -- Two Dalton police officers were suspended for cursing at a bus full of children, and the entire incident was captured on video.

It began when a stressed out bus driver pulled over and warned students she would call police if the students on board didn't quiet down. Two Dalton police officers responded.

"You want to act like a bunch of hellions and she can't f****** focus on what she's doing," Officer John Gurrieri can be heard saying to the students.

Officer Steven Collins talked to one student off the bus, using one swear word. Officer John Gurrieri talked to the rest of the kids, cursing multiple times.

"You want to act like crazy a**holes, do it at home," Gurrieri is heard saying on the school bus video.

The Dalton Police Chief Jason Parker calls this a "serious mistake of judgement."

Officer who shot at van with kids is suspended

Updated: Friday, December 6 2013, 04:57 PM CST

A New Mexico police officer is off the job for now -- after shooting at a minivan full of kids. This is the dashcam video that sparked outrage around the world. Police say the chaos started when officers pulled over a woman for speeding. They say she wasn't cooperative and when she began driving away an officer opened fire. New Mexico police say the officer was trying to shoot at the tires. For now he has been suspended with pay pending a disciplinary investigation

Police: Delayed death notification an 'oversight'

NEW HAVEN, Conn. (AP) — New Haven police say the three-day delay in releasing information about the death of a Yale professor while in detention was an oversight.

Police announced last Wednesday that Samuel See had been found unresponsive in his cell at the detention facility the previous Sunday.

Assistant Chief Archie Generoso tells the New Haven Register that the delay was not sinister, but an oversight.

He said the announcement would likely have been made on Nov. 25, the day after See's death. But police and other authorities were preoccupied that day with an anonymous report of a gunman that prompted a lockdown at Yale University.

The 34-year-old See was an assistant professor of English and American studies and was on leave.

He had been charged with violating a protective order, threatening and interfering with police.

Police union head suspended over bee-sting death

By Shawn Regan sregan@eagletribune.com

HAVERHILL — The patrolman's union president has been suspended for 15 days without pay for mishandling a call from an elderly woman who was concerned about her son — a 57-year-old Silsby Farm beekeeper found dead from bee stings.

Police Chief Alan DeNaro previously suspended Patrolman Rick Welch for five days without pay and recommended that Mayor James Fiorentini suspend the officer without pay for another 175 days. A five-day suspension is the maximum the chief can impose on his own.

In his Dec. 3 ruling, the mayor upheld DeNaro's original five-day suspension and added 10 more for a total of 15 suspension days. Fiorentini said he relied on Welch's clean record in rejecting DeNaro's recommendation to suspend the officer for six months.

The case focuses on Welch's decision not to send a patrol car to check on beekeeper Alan Schwartz, after his mother called police at 2 a.m. on June 11 to report that her son did not come home that night and was not answering his cell phone.

Welch took the mother's call, which was made to the Police Department's non-emergency line, while he was working in the public safety dispatch center.

Police said Ina Schwartz told Welch that her son was working with bees, that she feared for his safety, and that she wanted Welch to send an officer to check on him.

Instead of dispatching a cruiser to the farm on Salem Street in Bradford, Welch sent an email-style message to the patrolman assigned to patrol that part of the city that night. Welch told him to be on the lookout "during his travels" for Schwartz's white Tacoma truck, according to the message.

But Welch did not include other information provided by the caller, such as her son's last known location at the end of the dirt road at the farm. Schwartz was found dead by Marlene Stasinos, a Silsby Farm caretaker, around 8 a.m. six hours after the mother called police.

Stasinos found the body after she received a phone call that morning from Schwartz's mother. The state medical examiner ruled that Schwartz died from an allergic reaction to bee venom.

Fiorentini's decision mirrors the recommendation of a hearing officer who presided over Welch's appeal of DeNaro's recommendation. The hearing took place in September at City Hall and included testimony from Welch, several other officers, city officials and witnesses.

"A 10 tour suspension (in addition to the previous five day suspension) is a significant level of discipline," the mayor's decision said. "Officer Welch's actions fell well below those required of a professional police dispatcher ... and contravened policy and regulations of the Haverhill Police Department. The public must have confidence that their calls will be taken seriously and acted on judiciously. In this instance, Officer Welch actions frustrated an essential component of effective policing."

Welch, a nine-year patrolman, told The Eagle-Tribune he believes his punishment is excessive and that it is payback for his union activities. He also said he believes the hearing officer's report is biased and that he intends to appeal the mayor's decision to the state Civil Service Commission.

"This decision to decrease my punishment from the chief's suggestion of a six month suspension reveals the serious internal issues that the patrolman's union members have faced for several years now," Welch said in a written statement to the paper. "The administration has made it evident that it's not about presenting a fair and reasonable punishment for officers who make a mistake or allegedly violate our many rules, regulations, policies and procedures. And though I recognize my case is an extreme example, I know that many more officers have faced the oppressive and harsh work environment created by this very behavior."

DeNaro called Welch's claims about unfair treatment and political retribution "misleading and self-serving."

"It is blatantly obvious that he (Welch) has used and continues to use his union position in a feeble attempt to exonerate himself from all wrongdoing regarding his actions in dispatch on the night in question," DeNaro said in an email to newspaper. "For a community to have confidence in its police department it must have confidence in the department’s ability to objectively police itself and take corrective action when warranted. "

DeNaro cited Welch for violating department rules for making field reports and handling requests for assistance, as well as neglect of duty and unsatisfactory work performance.

The report by hearing officer David Connelly said his findings were based on "undisputed evidence that Officer Welch failed in his duties and responsibilities as a police dispatcher."

"Mrs. Schwartz's phone call provided clear and concise information to Officer Welch," the report said, in part. "The information gave exact areas of Mr. Schwartz's suspected location (e.g. a dirt path, the beekeeping area, Salem Street, Silsby Farm) ...The call was at 2:30 in the morning from an elderly woman who was understandably concerned about the well-being of her adult son because of his non-response to her calls to his cell phone."

Connelly's report said the call should have provoked a vigorous response from Welch, but that the officer determined it was not a priority call.

"Officer Welch suggested that because Mr. Schwartz was an adult, a more serious response was not warranted," the hearing officer wrote.

It is up to DeNaro to determine when Welch begins to serve the suspension. He said he expects the city's decision will prevail on appeal.