Fairfax County Police Watch: Plea bargain in works for officer

January 10, 2014

By MICHAEL ANICH , The Leader Herald

JOHNSTOWN - A plea bargain is being worked out in the case of a city police officer accused of raping a 16-year-old girl, and the deal may result in his resignation, attorneys said.

Lawyers associated with the case involving suspended city Patrolman Adam Schwabrow wouldn't say whether the plea will involve jail time.

The 32-year-old Schwabrow, accused in September of felony statutory rape, was due to be in City Court Thursday. A court official said Acting City Court Judge Lisa Lorman canceled that proceeding and moved it to 9 a.m. next Thursday.

Defense attorney Michael McDermott of Albany didn't return a phone call Thursday or this morning seeking comment.

Special prosecutor Jennifer Buckley of the Saratoga County District Attorney's Office on Thursday said, "The [defense] attorney and I are discussing plea negotiations."

She said it is "possible" the matter might be transferred to Fulton County Court. Plea negotiations are expecting to end soon.

Schwabrow was charged Sept. 19 by his own police department with felony third-degree rape, commonly known as statutory rape.

He is accused of having sexual contact with the girl sometime over the past year and a half.

Schwabrow is the department's former Johnstown Police Benevolent Association president and K-9 officer.

If convicted, Schwabrow would face the possibility of 1 1/3 to four years in state prison. Schwabrow is free on $5,000 cash bail.

Attorney Mary Roach, a city labor counsel from the Albany law firm of Roemer Wallens Gold & Mineaux, said Thursday she couldn't comment on Schwabrow's suspension from the police force.

"The city is hopeful that part of the plea arrangement will be a resignation," Roach said.

City police Chief Mark Gifford said Thursday that Schwabrow currently is suspended with pay.

Schwabrow had also served as director of the Montgomery County Emergency Management Office, but the county legislature last week appointed Jeff Smith as his replacement.

Gifford previously said Schwabrow was arrested after an investigation revealed evidence he had sexual contact with a 16-year-old girl.

Saratoga District Attorney James A. Murphy III said last fall the victim "was known to the defendant" and that Schwabrow didn't attack the victim.

He also said his office was investigating whether Schwabrow pulled his police firearm while fellow officers were trying to arrest him in September at City Hall.

Buckley this week declined to comment on the alleged gun incident. She said her office is working with Johnstown police.

Fulton County District Attorney Louise Sira said after the arrest the alleged rape took place in the city of Johnstown. She said there has been no allegation or evidence of forced sexual contact between Schwabrow and the victim.

She said forced sexual contact typically falls under the category of first-degree rape, which was not alleged in this case.

She said people younger than 17 in New York state cannot legally consent to sexual contact with an adult.

Michael Anich covers Johnstown and Fulton County news. He can be reached at manich@leaderherald.com.

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.