Fairfax County Police Watch: Alton officer indicted for misconduct

MADISON COUNTY, Ill. – An Alton, Illinois police officer is accused of destroying evidence. Now, he has been indicted on a felony charge of official misconduct.

Jonathan K. Forrler, 38, is accused of destroying forensic evidence gathered as part of a sexual assault case. According to the indictment, the evidence included a rape kit and clothing.

The Madison County State's Attorney's Office says someone notified it over the summer that evidence was missing from the Alton Police Department. So the office, along with the FBI and Illinois State Police, launched an investigation. Authorities say they found missing evidence in 130 cases.

Forrler, who was working as an evidence officer, was charged in the sexual assault case because of the strict standards the law holds when it comes to handling rape kits. Madison County State's Attorney Thomas Gibbons says the missing evidence will allow felons to walk free in dozens of cases. His office notified the defendants in all 130 cases of the situation.

Gibbons says a very thorough investigation did not find any malicious intent behind the missing evidence, but investigators are convinced Forrler destroyed evidence on purpose. In the sexual assault case, Gibbons says investigators could not find any connection between Forrler and anyone involved in the case.

"Truly, the facts of this case defy logic. And, it does not make any sense. But, there was no personal gain to the officer, and to try to understand the motive and intent here, fortunately we don't have to prove that in a court of law. Because it truly does defy logic," said Gibbons.

The Alton Police Department declined to comment on the situation, or on the status of Forrler's employment. Forrler's bail was set at $20,000.

In response to the indictment, Alton Mayor Brant Walker released the following statement:

The City of Alton and the Alton Police Department have worked closely with county, state, and federal officials during the course of the investigation into the destruction of evidence at the Alton Police Department.

The Police Department is currently conducting an internal investigation of this serious incident and the City of Alton will take all appropriate corrective action to ensure that such an incident does not occur again.

It is important to understand that individual actions do not reflect on the entire Police Department, and I remain confident in the Department's ability to protect our City.

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.