Fairfax County Police Watch: Former GPD Officer Charged With Destroying Evidence

A warrant charging a former Greenville police officer sheds new information on what he is accused of doing.

Heriberto Calles, age 40 of Winterville, was charged this morning with common law obstruction of justice, altering, destroying or stealing evidence of criminal conduct, and willfully failing to discharge duties.

Greenville Police Sergeant Joe Friday says Calles responded to a domestic disturbance at 305 East 13th Street on February 17. The next day, someone involved in the case came to the police department to provide more information. That's when other officers noticed irregularities in the original report, according to Friday.

Police say a closer look found Calles had destroyed photographic evidence to minimize the domestic disturbance case.

An arrest warrant says Calles told the victim and plaintiff in the domestic call "that this never happened and we (the police) were never here, you need to settle this on your own."

Another warrant says Calles destroyed pictures taken of the domestic violence incident, while telling two other officers to lie in the internal investigation.

The Greenville Police Department launched an internal investigation into Calles on February 24 and contacted the SBI on February 27, according to Friday.

Calles was placed on administrative leave with pay on March 3, and Friday says he submitted his resignation on March 7.

Police say the former officer was hired in January 2010.

"The arrest of Officer Calles serves as reminder that the law enforcement community in our city is not above the law and that the investigative process is intact and unbiased," said Chief Hassan Aden. "I want our community to know that the Greenville Police Department holds itself accountable to the highest ethical standards and all laws that govern our society. This case was self-discovered and pursued by the Internal Affairs Division of the Greenville Police Department. I want to reaffirm that maintaining the public's trust is a top priority of my administration."

Calles was given a $10,000 bond at the magistrate's office. He made a first appearance this morning before a District Court judge and now has a June 26th court date.

The case Calles is accused of destroying evidence never went to court. Police say the person who brought the case decided on March 20 to not prosecute.

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.