Fairfax County Police Watch: Former San Diego Police Detective Pleads Guilty in Campaign Finance Conspiracy

U.S. Attorney’s Office March 18, 2014 Southern District of California (619) 557-5610

SAN DIEGO, CA—Former San Diego Police Detective Ernesto Encinas pled guilty today to charges that he conspired to commit campaign finance crimes in connection with a series of elections at the local and federal level. At the same hearing, Encinas also pled guilty to charges that he made false statements to the Internal Revenue Service when filing tax returns on behalf of his private security business, Coastline Protection and Investigations Inc.

As part of his plea agreement, Encinas admitted to a range of allegations first brought to light on January 21, 2014, when prosecutors unsealed a complaint against him. Speaking under oath before U.S. Magistrate Judge William V. Gallo, Encinas admitted that he and his co-conspirators agreed to make illegal contributions on behalf of Jose Susumo Azano Matsura, a foreign national who was arrested by FBI agents on related campaign finance charges in February. Foreign nationals cannot lawfully contribute to any campaign at the federal, state, or local level. Also as part of the plea, Encinas confirmed that he and others, including Azano, Ravneet Singh, and Marco Polo Cortes, agreed to make conduit contributions in connection with a federal election, as well as falsify records with the intent to impede a federal investigation—both of which are felonies regardless of whether the source is a citizen or foreign national. (Azano, Singh, and Cortes, who were charged earlier this year, have pleaded not guilty to the charges filed against them.)

Encinas’s plea agreement detailed other aspects of the scheme not previously disclosed in public filings. For example, Encinas admitted to FBI agents that Azano induced a series of individuals to donate directly to Candidate 1, described as a candidate for the office of mayor of San Diego during the 2012 primary election cycle. Encinas stated that Azano provided cash, which the straw donors each used to make the maximum possible donation to Candidate 1.

In addition, as part of his plea agreement, Encinas admitted that during tax years 2011 and 2012, Azano paid Encinas approximately $10,000 in cash “off the books.” Encinas failed to report approximately $147,300 of such cash payments in tax year 2011 and approximately $74,900 in cash payments in tax year 2012, for a total of approximately $222,200 in unreported cash income. This resulted in a tax loss of $69,394.36 over two years, which Encinas agreed to pay back as restitution.

First Assistant United States Attorney Cindy M. Cipriani said, “To secretly inject foreign money into our elections is an affront to the transparency and integrity of our electoral system. In obtaining this guilty plea, we demonstrate our continuing efforts to investigate and prosecute campaign finance crimes in San Diego and beyond.”

FBI Special Agent in Charge Daphne Hearn said, “Illegal campaign contributions from foreign sources undermines our electoral process and ultimately our democracy. The FBI is committed to working with our law enforcement partners to identify and root out public corruption wherever it may be happening.”

Special Agent in Charge of Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation (IRS CI) Erick Martinez commented, “Retired San Diego Police Detective Ernesto Encinas intentionally failed to report over $222,000 in cash received by keeping this money ‘off the books.’ Today’s guilty plea should serve as a reminder—all of us have an obligation to file an accurate and truthful tax return. Failure to do so could result in criminal prosecution.”

Encinas’s sentencing hearing has been set for June 9, 2014, at 9 a.m. before United States District Judge Michael M. Anello.

Defendant in Case Number: 14CR0344-MMA

Ernesto Encinas

Age: 57

San Diego, California

Summary of Charges and Maximum Penalties

Count one: conspiracy to commit offenses against the United States—18 U.S.C. § 371

Maximum penalties: five years in prison, three years of supervised release, $250,000 fine, and a $100 special assessment

Count two: false tax return—26 U.S.C. § 7206(1): three years in prison, one year of supervised release, $250,000 fine, and a $100 special assessment

Investigating Agencies

Federal Bureau of Investigation

Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation

San Diego Police Department

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.