Fairfax County Police Watch: Mesa police officer charged with sex crimes

by Christina O'Haver

MESA, Ariz. -- A Mesa police officer is accused of having sexual contact with two females without their consent and molesting a child under the age of 15, according to the Maricopa County Attorney's Office.

A Maricopa Grand Jury indictment charged 34-year-old Justin Cherry with two counts of sexual assault and one count of child molestation.

The felony charges stem from an investigation Cherry conducted while on duty. According to Mesa police, females who were detained as suspects reported in August 2013 that the officer touched them during searches.

Mesa police said the officer was immediately placed on administrative leave and the accusations were investigated.

The case was presented to the county attorney's office, and the indictment was handed down late Thursday.

Accompanied by his attorney, Cherry self-surrendered Friday afternoon after a warrant was issued for his arrest. He was being held without bond.

Cherry is a 13-year veteran of the Mesa Police Department.

Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery said in a statement, "The alleged conduct of this defendant is not representative of the high degree of professionalism and integrity with which the Mesa Police Department carries out its duties.

"As my office has demonstrated in the past, we will not hesitate to prosecute sworn peace officers when sufficient evidence exists to support charges of criminal conduct. Those we entrust with enforcing the law will be equally held to account when they violate it."

Mesa police stated the following in a press release Friday night:

"This is a unfortunate event for the community as well as the police department. We believe that this is an isolated event and immediately placed Cherry on administrative leave upon the initial complaint. The matter has been investigated and scrutinized by the county attorney's office to ensure the appropriate charges were presented and filed.

"There is nothing more important than the trust of the citizens and community we serve. Remaining transparent, we want the community to understand that we do hold ourselves to the highest standard and will not tolerate acts of this nature.

"Moving forward, the men and women of the Mesa Police Department will continue to provide world-class police service. Mesa is a great place to live, work and play. With the support of the community, we will do our best to maintain their trust and protect our citizens."

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.