Fairfax County Police Watch: Oklahoma state trooper accused of rape resigns

Eric Roberts

An Oklahoma Highway Patrol trooper arrested earlier this month on accusations that he raped and sexually assaulted three women during traffic stops has resigned from the patrol, according to OHP Capt. George Brown.

Brown said Eric Roberts’ resignation letter arrived late Thursday and was processed Friday.

Roberts has not been charged, though a document released this month by the Creek County District Attorney’s Office outlined three traffic stops that Roberts made this summer where he allegedly sexually assaulted women:

• Roberts stopped a 36-year-old woman on Interstate 44 in Creek County just after 2 p.m. June 15, offered her $20 for a lap dance and then instructed her “to use a U-Haul truck to move, so he could stop her and they could have sexual intercourse in the back” of the truck, an affidavit states.

• Roberts allegedly pulled over a 22-year-old woman on July 8 for a traffic violation and asked her “what she would do for that amount of money,” according to the affidavit. It says Roberts placed the woman in his patrol vehicle, drove her to a secluded location and had her give him oral sex.

• On July 22, Roberts allegedly pulled over a woman who had warrants out for her arrest and informed her that he “didn’t need to take her to jail or write her a ticket, but he needed some convincing.” He eventually drove her to a secluded location, where the rape occurred.

Assistant Creek County District Attorney Mike Loeffler said Monday that Roberts’ scheduled arraignment Tuesday would likely be postponed, as charges are not ready.

“Quite frankly, I believe the Highway Patrol did not pick the right charges,” Loeffler said. “There’s a question in regards to the sexual aspects … as to what degree of rape or other charges would be correct. We have some research yet to do.”

Loeffler said the office may add a bribery or imposition of office charge against the trooper.

Roberts was quietly suspended from the OHP on July 24, the day after the July 22 victim came forward with her account of the traffic stop. That woman eventually contacted attorney Kevin Adams, who filed a lawsuit Aug. 11 on the woman’s behalf, accusing Roberts of raping her during a traffic stop.

Roberts was arrested Sept. 15 on one complaint of second-degree rape, one count of forcible oral sodomy, two counts of sexual battery and two counts each of rape by instrumentation, kidnapping and indecent exposure.

OHP Commander Ricky Adams said during a media conference regarding Roberts’ arrest that the 16-year trooper had turned off his dash camera and microphone during all three of the alleged sexual assaults, as well as during three other stops that were deemed “questionable” by the department, though not illegal.

Roberts was the first of three law officers in the state accused this summer of sexual misconduct while on duty. Oklahoma City Police Officer Daniel Holtzclaw was arrested Aug. 21 after the city’s department completed an investigation into claims that he sexually abused a number of women while on duty.

Tulsa County Sheriff’s Deputy Gerald Nuckolls was arrested Sept. 16, the same day he allegedly assaulted two women after he responded to a 911 hang-up call at their home. Nuckolls, 26, faces two counts of sexual battery and one count each of indecent exposure and outraging public decency.

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.