Fairfax County Police Watch: Woman who accused Harrisburg police officer of stalking also sought protection order

The woman who accused a Harrisburg police officer of stalking her also claimed the officer raped her in late August, according to a protection from abuse order filed in Dauphin County Court.

Corporal Todd R. Chance has not been charged with any sex crimes. He has been charged with misdemeanor counts of stalking and harassment. Chance has no prior criminal record.

Dauphin County District Attorney Ed Marsico Jr. said Thursday in an email that the "criminal complaints [against Chance] were filed on charges that investigators believe can be proven beyond a reasonable doubt and that there is sufficient evidence to meet that burden of proof."

He said detectives and prosecutors worked with the woman and her family during the investigative process. Marsico also stressed that convictions on the stalking and harassment charges would ensure Chance will be prohibited from working as a police officer.

When asked for comment Thursday on the rape allegation, Brian Perry, Chance's attorney, said, "The fact that criminal charges involving sexual misconduct were not filed tells the story."

Perry earlier acknowledged that Chance has made some poor choices, saying he had "lost his cool and made some dumb decisions." Perry also said the case is a difficult one where there is an element of "he said, she said."

Perry said all the facts of the case have yet to be made public.

Chance could not be reached for comment Thursday evening.

Chance's accuser filed her petition for a protection from abuse order on Sept. 8. County Judge William T. Tully granted it on Tuesday.

The woman claimed in the petition that Chance raped her on Aug. 27 at a residence in Harrisburg.

Tully's order forbids Chance from having any contact with his accuser for three years. A violation of the order could result in a $1,000 fine, 6 months in prison or other criminal penalties.

The PFA order was granted the same day county investigators filed the stalking and harassment charges against Chance. He was arraigned Wednesday and is free on $10,000 unsecured bail as he awaits his preliminary hearing.

Harrisburg officials said Wednesday that Chance was immediately suspended last month when police learned of the stalking allegations made against him. They stressed the allegations did not involve Chance's official police duties.

An 11-year veteran of the department, Chance will remain suspended with pay until the charges filed against him are bound over to county court.

Charging documents show Chance's accuser met with county investigators on Sept. 8 and told them she had been involved in an on-and-off relationship with Chance for 10 years.

She described Chance to police as "very possessive, controlling and jealous." She told police said that on Aug. 27, she sent text messages to two other men in whom she was romantically interested, angering him. Threats and stalking followed, she told police, according to the charging documents.

Aug. 27 is the same day the woman says Chance raped her, according to her petition for a protection from abuse order.

Chance is tentatively scheduled to appear Oct. 31 for a preliminary court hearing.

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.