Fairfax County Police Watch: Former Colville cop Rex Newport sentenced to 29 months in prison

Author: Kylee Cruz

COLVILLE, Wash. -

Former Colville Police Officer Rex Newport spent 15 years putting countless criminals in prison. On Tuesday, Newport found out he would be heading off to prison for 29 months himself.

Newport pleaded guilty in February to multiple felony and misdemeanor charges, including unlawful imprisonment with sexual motivation. The court identified Newport's behavior as reckless and the arrogance he displayed was truly disturbing.

"Your honor, I messed up," Newport said, addressing a packed Stevens County courtroom Tuesday morning. "I'm absolutely ashamed of myself."

Last year a woman came forward saying she was drunk when Newport came into her home, handcuffed and sexually assaulted her while he was on duty. Four other women later said Newport made sexual advances towards them as well. In February Newport accepted a plea deal.

Newport's lawyer argued he's a good man, who made terrible mistakes, but the court argued that Newport, "identified and isolated not just these women and others and used the authority of your office to coerce them into sexual activity for no reason but to satisfy your desires," adding that his actions brought shame to himself and black eyes to other Colville police officers. "With the multiple victims, multiple incidents, I would say the only appropriate decision would be the maximum sentence."

Washington Assistant Attorney General John Hillman said he was pleased with Newport's sentence.

"He's also now a convicted felon, a sex offender who will have to register when he is released from prison, he will no longer be able to carry a firearm or work as a police officer in his state," Hillman said.

After years of putting people in handcuffs, Newport was the one to be handcuffed and taken away to prison. Like all Department of Corrections inmates, Newport will be transported to the prison in Shelton, where he'll be assessed and DOC will determine which prison to send him to. They'll take several things into consideration including the length of sentence, nature of crime and his background.

After Newport gets out of prison, he will have to register as a sex offender for 10 years.

John Geer

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.