Fairfax County Police Watch: Shocking revelations in King City police corruption case

KING CITY, Calif. —Prosecutors revealed details Thursday on how a car-towing scheme was allegedly masterminded by King City Police Sgt. Bobby Carrillo.

Before the Monterey County District Attorney put six King City police officers in jail in February, Bruce Miller was the Acting Police Chief, and his brother, Brian Miller, owned a tow yard company.

While testifying on Thursday, Brian Miller told the court that he met Carrillo in 2009, when the police sergeant began stopping by his tow yard to say hi.

One day, Carrillo stopped by and mentioned that he liked a 2001 Ford Expedition that was in the tow yard and wanted it for his wife, Brian Miller testified.

Carrillo then asked Brian Miller if he would "make a deal," in which Carrillo would pull over vehicles while out on patrol, order the cars be towed by Miller's Towing, and get free cars in exchange.

Prosecutors said Carrillo made a lot of unnecessary traffic stops to carry out this scheme. He also intentionally did not follow the police department's policy of calling dispatch before ordering a vehicle to be impounded. Brian Miller said Carrillo got him 20 cars in just one weekend.

Carrillo received eight cars for free, prosecutors said, and he either sold them for cash or gave them away to other police officers.

Prosecutors said Bruce Miller was eventually looped into the scheme when Carrillo arraigned for the chief to receive a 1995 Nissan Maxima for free that was seized in a drug bust.

District Attorney Dean Flippo said the scheme targeted the most vulnerable residents in King City. Car owners never got their cars back because they could not afford to pay impound fees or could not speak English.

"The victims were economically disadvantaged persons of Hispanic descent who were targeted by having their vehicles impounded, towed and stored by Miller's Towing," Flippo said in February.

"Some officers dishonored their badge. Any time you end up investigating those who are sworn to uphold the law and treat everyone fairly -- and you have violations of that oath -- that is difficult," Flippo said.

Charges against the seven are:

Sgt. Bobby Carrillo: Conspiracy to commit a crime. Accepting a bribe. Bribing an executive officer.
Acting Police Chief Bruce Miller: Accepting a bribe.
Civilian Brian Miller, Owner of Miller’s Towing and brother of Bruce Miller: Conspiracy to commit a crime. Bribing an executive officer.
Former Chief Nick Baldiviez: Embezzlement by a public officer.
Officer Mario Alonso Mottu, Sr.: Embezzlement a by public officer.
Officer Jaime Andrade: Possession of an assault weapon. Illegal storage of a firearm.
Sgt. Mark Allen Baker: Making criminal threats.

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.