Fairfax County Police Watch: Former Carroll Valley officer charged with corruption of a minor

Daniel Lanious, 50, allegedly sent sexually explicit text messages to a 13-year-old girl

By Mark Walters

mwalters@eveningsun.com @walt_walters on Twitter

A former Carroll Valley Police officer has been accused of sending "flirtatious and sexual" text messages to a 13-year-old girl, police state in charging documents.

Daniel Lanious, 50, of South Middleton Township, Cumberland County, was charged with corruption of a minor, according to a police criminal complaint filed at District Justice Susan Day's office in Mount Holly Springs.

The teenager's mother told police that Lanious met her daughter in July 2013, according to the affidavit of probable cause.

The girl received a text message from Lanious out of nowhere, the affidavit states. The messages quickly became "flirtatious and sexual," the affidavit continues.

The girl said she believed Lanious obtained her cellphone number from her Facebook page, the affidavit states.

The girl told police Lanious often mentioned wanting to have sex with her, according to the affidavit. She said she played along to an extent, but was not as graphic as he was, the affidavit continues.

The messages reportedly stopped on Aug. 13, when the girl's mother caught the last text, which read ""¦ I wish you were home"¦ I wish you were on birth control"¦ I have a condom," according to the affidavit.

The mother replied to the message and told Lanious she hoped he was not over 18 because her daughter is only 13, according to the affidavit.

A day or two later the mother was visited by Lanious' son, who asked the mother if she would be contacting police, the affidavit states.

During an interview with state police Trooper Matthew Johnston from the Carlisle barracks, Lanious admitted to sending sexual text messages to the 13-year-old girl, the affidavit states.

Lanious apologized repeatedly for his actions and admitted what he did was "very stupid," according to the affidavit.

A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Lanious on April 2 in front of Day. He is being represented by Gettysburg attorney Steve Rice. Rice declined to comment on the case until he has spoken further with his client.

"As a well respected law enforcement officer, it would be nice if people could give him the benefit of the doubt," Rice said.

Mark Walters covers Adams County for The Evening Sun. Contact him at 717-637-3736 ext. 147.

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.