Wallkill police officer charged with stabbing man

 By Nathan Brown

WASHINGTONVILLE — A Town of Wallkill police officer was arrested early Tuesday after, Washingtonville police said, she stabbed a man during a domestic dispute.

Village police said they went to a home on Decker Drive around 5 a.m., were told an argument had gotten physical, and found a man with a knife wound to his left upper back. Blooming Grove Volunteer Ambulance brought him to the Newburgh campus of St. Luke’s Cornwall Hospital; from there, he was brought to Westchester Medical Center, in Valhalla.

Danielle Garcia, 34, was arrested at the scene, and charged with first-degree assault, a felony, and misdemeanor possession of a weapon.

The Town of Wallkill hired Garcia at the beginning of 2007.

At a work session Wednesday night, the town board decided to suspend her without pay, said Supervisor Dan Depew. He said they may take further action later.

Garcia was sent to Orange County Jail on $10,000 cash bail or $20,000 bond, said Washingtonville police; she wasn’t in the jail as of Wednesday afternoon, though, according to the booking department. She’s due back in village court at 5 p.m. on March 12.

Ex-Sheriff’s Reserve Officer Charged In Sex-For-Drugs Case

CLINTON TWP. (WWJ) - Authorities say a 45-year-old man who used to be a reserve officer with the Macomb County Sheriff’s Office was arrested after he solicited sex from an undercover detective in exchange for drugs.

Raymond Alfred Selman, of Macomb Township, was arraigned Thursday in the 41B District Court of Clinton Township on charges of using a computer to commit a crime, accosting and soliciting prostitution, and delivery/manufacturing controlled substances less than 50 grams.

According to police, Selman engaged in several online conversations with an undercover officer, during which he suggested that prescriptions drugs be exchanged for a sex act.

The Macomb Area Computer Enforcement Team set up a meeting with Selman around 3:30 p.m. on Wednesday at a prearranged location. When Selman arrived, he was taken into custody. According to police, Selman was in possession of Oxycodone, a prescription narcotic, when he was arrested.

Police say it was only after Selman was in custody that they realized he was a former volunteer reserve officer with the sheriff’s department. Lt. John Michalke told the Detroit Free Press that Selman was discharged from his position in the fall of 2012 because of a performance-related issue.

A judge ordered Selman held on a $15,000 bond in the Macomb County Jail.

Ex-Baldwin Park cop charged with filing false report on drug arrest

By Brian Day, San Gabriel Valley Tribune

LOS ANGELES >> Prosecutors Thursday filed a felony charge against a former Baldwin Park police officer accused of filing a false police report related to a drug arrest last year.

Matthew DeHoog, 29, pleaded not guilty to a count of filing a false report in Los Angeles Superior Court, Los Angeles County District Attorney’s officials said in a written statement. Judge Renee Korn ordered him released on his own recognizance pending his next court appearance.

“DeHoog wrote a false police report about a July 31, 2013 incident where a man was arrested for investigation of possession of methamphetamine,” according to the district attorney’s office statement.

The criminal complaint filed against DeHoog alleges that, while working as a police officer, he filed a report regarding the commission and investigation of a crime, “and knowingly and intentionally included a statement and statements regarding a material matter which the defendant knew to be false.”

But further details regarding the alleged false police report, including the identity of the man who was arrested, were not available.

“We’re not releasing any more facts of the case,” district attorney’s office spokesman Greg Risling said. “They’ll be released during the (preliminary hearing).”

The case was investigated by DeHoog’s former colleagues at the Baldwin Park Police Department. But police also declined to discuss the circumstances of the case.

“He’s a former police officer with our department and he’s no longer employed by us,” Baldwin Park Police Chief Michael Taylor said.

DeHoog’s employment with the department ended in early January, Taylor said, however a specific time frame was not immediately available.

The chief said he had no further comment regarding the allegations against the former officer, or the case filed Thursday by the district attorney’s office.

“It’s unfortunate when anything like this happens in the law enforcement community,” Taylor said.

DeHoog was ordered to return to court March 4 for a preliminary hearing setting, Risling said.

DeHoog could not be reached for comment Thursday.

Under state law, DeHoog faces up to three years in prison if convicted as charged.

The July, 2013, incident was not DeHoog’s first time being involved in a controversial arrest.

He, along with two other Baldwin Park police officers, arrested then-city councilman Anthony Bejarano on suspicion of being drunk in public.

The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office ultimately declined to file any charge against Bejarano, and the former councilman filed a personnel complaint against his arresting officers. He denied he was drunk or uncooperative, as was stated in the officers’ report.

An internal department review into the situation was conducted and completed, though the results were never made public, as then-police chief Lili Hadsell said the issue was a confidential personnel matter.

Officer charged after investigation into Iowan's death

DES MOINES, Iowa —An officer has been indicted on criminal charges in connection with an Iowan's death in Texas, reported KTVT-TV in Dallas, Fort Worth.

Officer Ernesto Fierro turned himself in to authorities at 5 p.m. Thursday.

A grand jury found Fierro did "intentionally, knowingly, or recklessly threaten William Livezey, Jr. with imminent bodily injury by causing the vehicle driven by said defendant to drive toward William Livezey, Jr., and did then use or exhibit a deadly weapon..."

The grand jury also found Fierro subjected Livezey "to an arrest that the defendant knew was unlawful."

He is charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, official oppression and three counts of reckless driving. KTVT said Fierro was released on $85,000 bond.

Iowan Bill Livezey was pulled over by Fierro on Dec. 11 who was off-duty at the time.  Authorities said witnesses told them Fierro was trying to run Livezey off the road.

The Navarro County Sheriff's Office told KCCI when their deputies arrived, Livezey said he was feeling ill and suffered a heart attack. Deputies took the handcuffs off and started CPR.

An ambulance transported Livezey to a nearby hospital where he was pronounced dead.

KTVT-TV reported that the Livezey family has hired an attorney to pursue the case.

Lago Vista Police Department: Officer charged with assault has been fired

By Ciara O'Rourke

American-Statesman Staff

A Lago Vista detective who was arrested last month after a co-worker said the officer kicked him in the back has been fired, according to the Lago Vista Police Department.

Lawrence Michael Jonap, 45, was charged on Jan. 30 with assault by causing bodily injury, a class A misdemeanor that carries a sentence of up to a year in jail.

Police officials confirmed Jonap had been fired, but would not answer further questions about the termination on Friday, including when or why the detective was let go.

Jonap’s co-worker, a dispatcher, said he was making coffee at the Lago Vista Police Department and talking to an officer on Dec. 10 when he was kicked in the back, causing his body to “lunge forward,” according to the affidavit. When he turned around, he saw Jonap standing behind him and laughing, the affidavit says.

The next day, the document says, Jonap hit the communications operator on the head with a notebook, flicked his ear and then “farted” in his face.

A reserve officer told a Travis County sheriff’s deputy that she saw Jonap “tap ” the other operator with a folder and then later shake his chair, saying, “How’s your back?” before grabbing his hat and throwing it on a desk.

The reserve officer also told the deputy she saw Jonap “pass gas” in front of the other operator’s face.

Jonap admitted to the deputy that he had physical contact with the operator, according to the affidavit, but he said he just “nudged” him with his foot.

According to court documents, Jonap has worked for the Lago Vista Police Department for 14 years.

A docket shows that he has a court date set in the assault case later this month.

Officer Charged With Aggravated Assault, Reckless Driving & Oppression

PARKER COUNTY (CBSDFW.COM) – An off-duty police officer from the Henderson County town of Malakoff has been indicted on criminal charges.

Officer Ernesto Fierro turned himself in at the Parker County Jail just after 5 p.m. Thursday afternoon. He was officially charged with one count of Aggravated Assault with a Deadly Weapon, one count of Official Oppression, and three counts of Reckless Driving. Fierro was released on $85,000 bond less than 35 minutes after arriving at the jail.

A reckless driving investigation began when driver Bill Livezey died in December after calling 911. Witnesses told authorities Fierro, who was riding his personal motorcycle, was trying to run Livezey off the road.

According to officials, Livezey was in handcuffs and complaining about not feeling well when sheriff’s deputies arrived. Paramedics took the 70-year-old father to a hospital, where he died.

Records obtained by the CBS-11 I-Team detail that before working in Malakoff, Fierro had trouble while an officer with the Dallas Police Department. Records show he was fired in May 2001 for conduct discrediting the department. But he was re-instated in October of that year after appealing, and instead, was suspended for 20 days.

Fierro left DPD and went to work as an investigator with the Dallas County DA’s office, before finally landing in Malakoff.

Livezey’s children have now hired attorney Greg Price, of Sulphur Springs, to investigate whether their father’s federal civil rights or state laws were violated.

Plum Council continues officer's suspension

About Karen Zapf

Plum Council voted Thursday night to continue the suspension with pay of borough police Officer Jeremy Cumberledge “pending further investigation.”

The 5-0 vote came at a special meeting called to address Cumberledge's situation. Councilmen Don Knopfel and Steve “Skip” Taylor did not attend.

The five council members who did, as well as Mayor Richard Hrivnak, left the five-minute meeting without commenting.

Borough Manager Michael Thomas declined to discuss the investigation and what agency is conducting it.

Cumberledge, a borough patrolman since 2007, did not attend the meeting and did not respond to messages seeking comment. The officer's base pay salary is about $78,800.

Thomas declined to comment when asked why the meeting was called to continue the officer's suspension with pay. That's the way the issue was described on a printed meeting agenda.

Cumberledge has been suspended with pay since Jan. 11 after what borough officials have said was an internal breach of the municipal computer system.

The computer system contained records for the borough's 67 employees.

Thomas has said the breach did not involve any resident's information, such as tax records.

He also has said once the breach was discovered, measures were taken to ensure it didn't happen again.

Plum officials turned over information with respect to the computer breach to another law enforcement agency, Thomas has said.

Police vacancies to be filled

In other action, council authorized the borough staff to prepare a list of candidates for police lieutenant, sergeant and patrolman.

The openings are a result of the retirement last month of former police Chief Frank Monaco and the promotion of former Lt. Jeffrey Armstrong to chief.

Officer suspended after admitting hitting a handcuffed suspect

By Dee DeQuattro -

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) - Providence police officials have suspended an officer for a year without pay after he admitted hitting and kicking a handcuffed man.

Eight-year veteran Officer Richard Ramirez recently was disciplined for the incident last July. He had been suspended with pay pending an investigation.

Ramirez admitted striking 22-year-old Jose Moreno, who was arrested after eluding police for several hours while racing around the city on an off-road motorcycle. Ramirez wrote in a report that he slapped Moreno in the head and kicked him, after Moreno used profanity and spat on Ramirez.

Federal and state prosecutors declined to charge Ramirez, who was found to have violated police department rules.

New oversight for Buena police force

Daniel J. Kov

BUENA — The borough this week hired a former state trooper as its first full-time public safety director as it seeks to broaden administrative oversight of its police department.

Daniel T. Caregnato, 47, took over the position immediately after the Borough Council approved his hire Monday night.

“I am excited and humbled to be in this position to serve the Buena community,” the longtime New Jersey State Police veteran told the council after he was sworn in. “I look forward to be working with each of you, and I will serve with courage and humility.”

The post previously was a part-time position filled by Councilman Joseph Santagata. He took on the role when the borough created it last year after eliminating the position of police chief.

Santagata deemed Caregnato fit for the position. “He’s definitely going to be an asset for the community,” the councilman said.

In explaining the shift from part time to full time, Mayor Joseph Baruffi pointed to several changes that necessitated the need for the expanded position. Those include the upcoming retirement of Lt. Lawrence A. Petrillo, and an expansion of the role’s responsibilities.

Baruffi cited a “pretty young” police department as a main reason why the borough sought outside applicants rather than promoting one of its own to the director post.

“We were looking for someone who had a strong public safety background and can hit the ground running,” he said.

Petrillo, who plans to retire in September, had been the top officer supervising the police department since 2012, after Chief David P. Sherma forfeited his position because he was caught illegally obtaining prescription medication.

In the newly defined role of public safety director, Caregnato will act as the director of police, where he will be responsible for the overall performance of the borough’s 24/7 police department.

In addition, the position now involves oversight of the borough’s Emergency Management Service, including authority for day-to-day operations.

Caregnato will receive a salary of $48,000 for the first year of his three-year contract, with a $1,000 increase in the subsequent years. He won’t be entitled to compensation time or overtime pay.

Baruffi spoke highly of Caregnato’s reputation and background.

“I know him very well,” said the mayor, who reminisced at one point about teaching Caregnato in seventh grade. “He comes highly qualified. He takes on responsibilities and tasks with the utmost desire to accomplish his goals.”

Baruffi added, “With his experience and his desire to achieve, I think he’s a perfect fit here in Buena.”

A lifelong Buena resident, Caregnato is a Buena Regional High School graduate who served 25 years with New Jersey State Police. His most recent title was commander of the Buena Vista Station. He also has coached youth sports in the borough.

“I’m big on community policing,” Caregnato said, “and I just want to continue that.”

Proposed Civilian Police Oversight Board in Anaheim Already Compromised Before it's Even Approved

By Gabriel San Roman 

Who'll police Anaheim police?

Anaheim is finally on the verge of creating a body that will include residents in police oversight, but all is quiet. Departing city manager Marcie Edwards will set in motion a pilot program for a "Public Safety Board" later today, during a previously unscheduled council meeting.

No other city in Orange County can claim to have any citizen oversight board of law enforcement--and in this case, the Fire Department, too. But the last time policing the police was raised, the City Council cried Marxism. So why the silence now?

To refresh readers' memory, expensive robocalls went out last year by former Mayor Curt Pringle and Anaheim Police Association President Kerry Condon ridiculously claiming creating such a board would "lead to more violence against police and less public safety." This time around? Not so much. The agenda item is easy to miss, being simply noted as "Public Safety Board update" with no description.

After years of foot dragging, the city will trot out a weak-salsa excuse for oversight that tosses the Anaheim Fire Department into the fray. (Because we all remember in the summer of 2012 when a Dalmatian somehow got loose from a fire truck after a fireman-involved hosing and started biting Mexicans on Anna Drive, right?). The Public Safety Board will bring together piecemeal components. Unlike in Fullerton, the program to be comprised of nine members selected by lottery won't be sacrificed at the altar of the Los Angeles-based Office of Independent Review (OIR) but instead will work in tandem with it.

In a council meeting last June, a unanimous vote with very little public discussion nearly doubled OIR's contract, carving out a role for it as an external auditor of APD's Internal Affairs investigations. The firm's objectivity was called into question at the time by Weekly "Best Gadfly" Duane Roberts, who showed that the APD's budget funded it in the past as it received lofty praise from Condon himself. Surprise, surprise!

While the OIR gets its paychecks, the nine-member Public Safety Board won't get even a stipend for their troubles. The resident component of police oversight will also be bereft of subpoena powers. Edwards quickly dismisses the question in a staff report, calling it "likely to be ineffective" without much in-depth to back the claim. A comparison chart shows that cities and counties, like San Diego County, do have boards with such powers...just that Anaheim's pilot program won't.

A time table is given saying that the City Manager's Office will handle applications, but the Public Safety Board will be staffed long after Edwards' departs for her new digs as head of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power.

The summer of 2014 is when it's expected to begin its work, two years after officer-involved shootings and a downtown riot set the city ablaze.

Vt. bills aim to boost police oversight, training

By DAVE GRAM

MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) — Vermont lawmakers are considering two bills that backers say will boost the professionalism of police officers, but some law enforcement officials see them as meddling in their affairs.

One would require part-time police officers, including deputy sheriffs, to undergo the same 16 weeks of training that full-time officers get at the Vermont Police Academy in Pittsford. The part-timers now spend one week — that will be increased next month to two — at the academy, with additional coursework and on-the-job training while serving.

The other would strengthen the authority of the Vermont Criminal Justice Training Council, which oversees the academy. The council would be able to hear allegations of professional misconduct by police officers and have the power to strip officers of their professional license.

The measures have the backing of key lawmakers, including the chairs of the House Judiciary Committee and the House Government Operations Committee. But they’re getting pushback from the Department of Public Safety, which oversees the Vermont State Police, and the Vermont Sheriffs’ Association, which represents the 14 county sheriffs’ departments.

Rep. Bill Lippert, D-Hinesburg, chairman of the Judiciary Committee, said the bills align with his committee’s longstanding effort to support law enforcement with increased training and resources.

‘‘We've tried to give them the resources they need, as well as the accountability and training,’’ he said. He called expanding the powers of the training council to discipline officers an effort to give law enforcement ‘‘better tools to self-monitor their own profession.’’

But Windham County Sheriff Keith Clark, president of the Vermont Sheriff’s Association, opposes the bills and says they will hurt police departments.

The professional discipline measure ‘‘steps on some of my authority to manage my own personnel,’’ he said. He said he knows his employees best and is better suited to come up with solutions when problems arise among his 10 full-time and roughly 20 part-time deputies.

Clark also took a dim view of the measure to increase training for part-time officers. Most of the part-timers have other jobs and would struggle to get time off for 16 weeks of Police Academy training, he said. He generally tries to assign the part-timers to less sensitive roles — directing traffic around construction sites, for example, versus the road patrols that might deal with drunken drivers and domestic violence, he said.

Rep. Linda Waite-Simpson, D-Essex, a member of the Judiciary Committee, said Clark’s practice for part-timers is not uniform across the state.

Other professionals, from architects to doctors, ‘‘do not have a different standard based on the number of hours a person works,’’ Waite-Simpson said. ‘‘People carrying firearms and carrying out the statutes we pass here, we expect them to be fully trained.’’

Clark called the training bill a solution in search of a problem.

‘‘If the legislators could say to me that of the last 50 shootings by police officers, 49 were by part-time officers, that’s a problem. But that’s not been the case,’’ he said.

Clark, Public Safety Commissioner Keith Flynn and others said top law enforcement officials are working together to come up with rewrite of the training bill that likely will call for specific training for the duties to which part-time officers are assigned. Rep. Donna Sweaney, chairwoman of the House Government Operations Committee, said her committee stands ready to review such a proposal.

Businessman files lawsuit against San Diego police, claims wrongful arrest

Matt Mendes  

SAN DIEGO - A businessman has filed a lawsuit against the San Diego Police Department, claiming he was wrongfully arrested because he refused to answer an officer's questions.

10News learned the incident happened in July at a 7-Eleven store in National City. David Levy filed the lawsuit alleging negligence, false imprisonment and that the officer searched his car without reason.

Levy's attorney, Chris Ramey, said his client was stopped by police for having expired car tags. According to Ramey, once Levy showed the officer he had paid his registration, the officer suspected Levy was high on drugs.

Levy was arrested for being under the influence and having a burglary tool, which was a pair of wire cutters used for work. Ramey said drug tests later came back negative and Levy has no criminal history.

"It's a big blow to Mr. Levy and it's unfortunate someone had to suffer at the hands of police that didn't do anything wrong," said Ramey.

Ramey believes the officer got upset when Levy refused to answer his questions. Levy felt the officer was being irrational so he refused to talk.

"When Mr. Levy said, 'I don't want to answer any more questions,' [the officer] became angry and began to teach Mr. Levy a lesson by making up stories so that he can put Mr. Levy in jail for not answering questions, and that's exactly what happened," said Ramey.

Levy is suing the city for $25,000 in damages. Ramey said his client has been embarrassed and humiliated by the incident and wants to make sure it doesn't happen to anybody else.

Ramey is hoping this case will go to trial and have a jury decide the outcome within a few months.

10News' calls to the City Attorney's Office were not returned, likely because they do not normally comment on pending litigation.

Jury continues deliberations in former West Sacramento cop's rape case

A jury ended the week without a verdict in the trial of a former West Sacramento police officer accused of raping multiple women while on duty.

WOODLAND, Calif. - A Yolo County jury ended the week without a verdict in the trial of a former West Sacramento police officer charged with raping multiple women while on duty.

The jury began deliberating last Friday in the case of Sergio Alvarez. They've had the case for five days (Presidents Day was a holiday), but experts say that isn't surprising for a trial this complex.

The jury spent several weeks listening to testimony from five alleged victims who accused Alvarez of rape, kidnapping, and related charges. Alvarez faces 27 counts. The jury has a lot of information to consider.

"The jury will be allowed to continue to deliberate as long as the foreperson of the jury reports to the judge that continued deliberations will be beneficial to the jury in reaching a verdict," former U.S. Attorney McGregor Scott said.

At this point in the deliberations, there could be a majority of votes on one side that just need a little more time to win over those in the minority.

"But then the other scenario would be that that one simply says, 'this is my verdict; I'm not changing my mind'. It's 11 to 1, and then at that point, you have a hung jury and an impasse, and the judge brings them in, and typically after this lengthy of deliberations would declare a mistrial," Scott said.

No one can be sure what the jury is thinking or how much longer they'll take. Antoinnette Borbon writes for the Davis Vanguard. She was in court for most of the Alvarez trial and studied the jury closely.

"During trial, some of them looked pretty convinced that they felt he was guilty, but you never know. Body language can be a tell-tale, but once they get behind there and having to look at everything, you got pages and pages of transcripts to look at," Borbon said.

With 27 different counts to weigh, the jury could convict on all, some, or none of them. Even if jurors reach a partial verdict, the prosecution would have the option of retrying anything that is left undecided.

Deliberations resume Monday.

Texas officer charged in reckless driving case

CORSICANA, Texas (AP) — An East Texas police officer has been charged in a reckless driving investigation prompted by the death of an Iowa motorist who witnesses say was run off the road.

Ernesto Fierro turned himself in at the Parker County jail Thursday and later was released on an $85,000 bond. He's charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, official oppression and three counts of reckless driving.

The officer in the town of Malakoff, 70 miles southeast of Dallas, was off-duty riding his personal motorcycle when the December incident occurred in Navarro County.

Seventy-year-old William Livezey, along with witnesses, called 911 claiming Fierro was trying to force Livezey off the road. When deputies arrived, Livezey was in handcuffs and said he wasn't feeling well.

He was taken to a hospital where he died.

Unionville police officer charged with sexual misconduct with minor

  David Banks, 25, found, arrested in DeKalb County after termination from Unionville PD

DeKalb County

A former Unionville Police officer was charged with sexual misconduct involving a child after Kirksville Police received and investigated claims he was exchanging inappropriate text messages with a juvenile.

David Banks, 25, was arrested at a residence in Stewartsville after being terminated from the Unionville Police Department over allegations of sexual misconduct.

According to the Kirksville Police Department, the suspect had been exchanging sexual explicit text messages and had sent at least one image to a 14-year-old female in Unionville. KPD began its investigation Thursday.

Following his termination with the police department Thursday, Banks is alleged to have left Unionville and was located at a residence in DeKalb County, where a search warrant was executed for his arrest early Friday morning.

Banks was being held in the Daviess/Dekalb Regional Jail as of Friday morning on a $10,000 cash-only bond. He was charged with the class D felony of sexual misconduct involving a child.

The investigation is ongoing and other charges are pending, according to KPD.

Police: Airport Cop Who Hit Man was OWI

An Indianapolis Airport police officer was arrested Saturday morning in connection with a drunken driving accident that left an Indianapolis man in critical condition.

Around 4 a.m. Saturday morning, Indiana State Police responded to a crash on I-65 northbound at the 112.5 mile marker, near the I-65/I-70 split in downtown Indianapolis.

Officers arrived to find Paul Hines, 58, of Indianapolis, had been pinned between his car and a guardrail in the emergency shoulder. Hines had been changing the right front tire on his car when another vehicle, driven by Lindsay Standeford, 24, of Mooresville, collided with his vehicle.

Police said their preliminary investigation revealed that Standeford crossed the white fog line and struck the left rear of Hines' vehicle, shoving it forward and pinning him against the guard rail.

Hines was transported to Eskenazi Hospital in critical condition with injuries to his upper body.

Standeford, who is an Indianapolis Airport police officer, submitted to a blood test following the crash that showed her BAC at .14 percent. She was off-duty at the time of the crash, and was not injured.

Officials from the Indianapolis Airport Police Department said Standeford had been placed on paid administrative leave pending further investigation.

Standeford was taken to Marion County Jail on preliminary charges of operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated causing serious bodily injury, a class "D" felony.

Mayor addresses disciplinary action within Seattle Police Department

Seattle Mayor Ed Murray on Friday spoke out about disciplinary action within the Seattle Police Department.

Murray is defending Interim Police Chief Harry Bailey, who reduced the penalty of Seattle Police Officer John Marion. Marion originally got a one-day suspension for threatening to harass Dominic Holden, who is a reporter and news editor for The Stranger newspaper.  The punishment was changed to Marion being required to get more training.

"While this could be perceived as a lesser punishment under the current legal framework, Chief Bailey believes, and I support him, that the framework for this process is reflective of what is most constructive," said the mayor.  "Training.  Changing behavior."

The one-day suspension, Murray says, would not be as effective because Marion, or any other officer who is suspended, could use vacation pay to make up the hours and income he would've lost.

Holden says Marion was let off too easy, and argues that the officer could have been ordered to go through more training, in addition to the one-day suspension.

"Training is not a punishment," said Holden.  "Training is what we should be doing no matter what.  What police officers do is punish people who do wrong, and we need the same standards for them as they give us."

Holden also says the interim chief mis-led city officials, including the mayor, by trying to pretend he had not reduced the officer's punishment.

"The letter you sent to the mayor and city council says you concurred with the finding of misconduct," Holden challenged Bailey during Friday's press conference.

Then he turned his attention to the mayor.

"If you want to reform a police department, don't you want a chief who is honest with you?"  he asked.

Mayor Murray immediately responded.

"First of all, I disagree with you," said Murray.  "I believe we have a chief who is honest and taking action against individuals who need to have action taken against them."

Holden isn't so sure.

"The police chief has let him off the hook and that sends a message to all cops that you can commit acts of misconduct and you can simply wait it out and political forces will free you later," he said.

If was also disclosed Friday that Bailey changed the discipline of several more officers, in unrelated cases.

Mayor Ed Murray has asked for a review of the entire grievance process.  He hopes that re-evaluating the process will help both the public and the police department.

Walnut Ridge officer faces drug and fraud charges

By Jorge Quiquivix

Guilty verdict born of a dinner meeting

Former cop who plotted kidnapping, murder met the man who recorded plans at West Side restaurant

The story behind the bizarre trial of Steven Mandell and his plot to murder and dismember a businessman began at a quiet table at a popular restaurant on Chicago's Near West Side.

It was July 2012, and real estate mogul George Michael was lunching at La Scarola on West Grand Avenue. At the table was Albert Vena, a reputed Outfit boss, and several other alleged mobsters. A friend brought Mandell to the table and introduced him to Michael, and a relationship was born.

What unfolded over the next three months, culminating in Mandell's sensational arrest that October, was "so chilling, so grim ... it's almost stunningly hard to believe," as one federal prosecutor said in court.

Mandell, a former Chicago cop who was once on death row, was convicted Friday on charges he plotted to kidnap, torture, kill and dismember a suburban businessman. The jury acquitted him, however, in a separate plot to kill an associate of a reputedly mob-connected strip club. Mandell faces up to life in prison.

Michael secretly wore a wire for the feds and pretended to go along with the plan to kill Riverside landlord Steven Campbell. Michael found Mandell a suitable space to carry out Campbell's torture and murder — a Northwest Side storefront that Mandell referred to as "Club Med" — and had contractors outfit it with an industrial sink, butcher table and other equipment needed to drain the body of blood and chop it to pieces.

The undercover recordings made by Michael, as well as conversations caught on FBI cameras at Club Med, gave Mandell's trial the feeling of something out of a Quentin Tarantino movie. There was snappy dialogue, a cast of foul-mouthed underworld characters and moments of dark humor.

Jurors seemed to be stunned at times as they listened to Mandell and his alleged accomplice, Gary Engel, joke about mutilating Campbell before they killed him. Much of the action played out on a giant screen in U.S. District Judge Amy St. Eve's darkened courtroom as jurors watched hours of video of Mandell and Engel making final preparations for Campbell's kidnapping. They laid out saws, knives, a meat cleaver and Ambien pills in case they needed to put Campbell to sleep. A chessboard was set up to pass the time.

The jury heard the two quibble over the workmanship of their torture chamber, with Engel pointing to the plumbing and exclaiming in a clipped Chicago accent, "What the (expletive) is this (expletive) abortion?" Engel hanged himself in his jail cell soon after his arrest.

Also featured was a 30-minute video from an infrared camera mounted on an FBI spy plane. An agent in the plane circling high over Arlington Heights followed Mandell as he placed a tracking device on a girlfriend's car and tossed what amounted to a killer's "to-do" list inside a garbage can in a secluded suburban park.

On the last day of testimony, some jurors cracked smiles as they listened to a series of phone calls Mandell made to his 82-year-old wife from a Loop federal jail after his arrest. Mandell told her to find her Nissan that he'd left parked near Campbell's home, instructing her in a cooing voice several times to "throw away" the trash in the car, explaining, "You need all your space for your groceries."

A frustrated Mandell could be heard trying to give his wife directions to the car as she wrote them down. "Just go to Joliet Road!" Mandell shouted.

"Oh my God, I'm telling you," she replied. "Ah, slow down!"

The jury also convicted him of obstruction of justice.

The trial offered a short course on the current state of the Chicago Outfit and included names like "Little Guy" Vena and Robert Panozzo, the convicted burglar who Michael testified introduced him to Mandell during that lunch at La Scarola.

One part of Michael's testimony went barely noticed amid the lurid charges against Mandell, but it undoubtedly caught the attention of the people who dined with Michael that July day at La Scarola. The FBI recorded the meeting, though the tape was never played during Mandell's trial and his attorneys were barred from delving into how or why it was made.

After the verdict was handed down Friday evening, U.S. Attorney Zachary Fardon called the case "extraordinary" and praised the work of the FBI and federal prosecutors in taking a dangerous figure off the street.

Robert Holley, the special agent in charge of the Chicago FBI, acknowledged that Michael's role in the case was significant, but he stopped short of praising him for wearing a wire.

"Yes, there was a risk to him for his involvement in this case, but he did what he needed to do," Holley said.

Former Philadelphia officer pleads guilty to robbery plot; more arrests may follow

  By DAVID HENRY

PHILADELPHIA - February 24, 2014 (WPVI) -- A veteran Philadelphia police officer has entered a guilty plea in a far-reaching corruption probe.

Former narcotics officer Jeffrey Walker pled guilty to robbery and weapons charges in federal court today. But he is just one crooked cop who may be among many rounded up in an ongoing federal investigation.

Walker is cooperating and naming names.

Walker's defense attorney Thomas Fitzpatrick explains, "These are dangerous people who've engaged in significant criminal activity for quite some time."

Fitzpatrick says he has been talking to the FBI and a grand jury, and it appears to be a far-reaching investigation.

Walker was tripped up by a drug dealer who was cooperating with the FBI. Walker approached the dealer with a plan to set up and rob another drug dealer.

They went to a bar on West Girard Avenue last May where Walker was videotaped planting cocaine in the other dealer's car.

When that man left the bar, Walker had him pulled over and arrested. He then went to the man's house on Florence Avenue and stole $15,000 cash and five pounds of marijuana.

Walker was arrested by the FBI as he left the house.

Assistant United States Attorney Anthony Wzorek says, "It's outrageous behavior. It's a front to the citizens of the city and to the other honest members of the Philadelphia Police Department."

Since he was arrested Walker has been cooperating with the FBI. That cooperation led to a search of the Schuylkill River for a safe that was never found.

Walker has also been naming others.

His lawyer says the investigation involves too many cops and civilians to count, and he says there's a lot of money involved.

"At the end of the day it's going to result in a significant amount of indictments, we believe, and significant police corruption being uncovered in the city," Fitzpatrick said.

This corruption investigation has been ongoing for some time, and there's no indication of when it might be wrapped up. So far Walker is the only one arrested, although the police have recently removed six other narcotics officers from active duty.

Trumbull Cop Accused of Sex Assault of Police Explorers Member

State police have arrested a 20-year veteran of the Trumbull police department who is accused of sexual assaulting one member of the police department's explorer program and sharing inappropriate texts with another.

Trumbull police said William Ruscoe, 44, has been suspended from duty and there is an internal investigation to determine if he violated any department policies or regulations.

Ruscoe served as an advisor to the explorer program, which works with youth interested in possible law enforcement careers, for several years, according to a statement from Trumbull Police Chief Thomas Kiely.

The application for the arrest warrant says one victim is now 17 and he is accused of sharing inappropriate texts with her.

The other victim is now 18-year-old.

The investigation into Ruscoe started on Oct. 14, 2013, when a suspicious incident was reported at a high school in Tolland County.

The 17-year-old girl told police that she joined the police explorers program in 2011, when she was 14. Months later, her drill instructor, identified as Ruscoe, started sending inappropriate and flirty messages, the girl told police.

Then it escalated to Ruscoe asking the teen to send him photos of herself.

In all, the teen said she sent Ruscoe about 50 photos of herself, exposed and Ruscoe sent her inappropriate photos of himself.

During a cadet camp at the University of Hartford last year, the teen said she noticed Ruscoe paying attention to two Trumbull girls and told him that people were talking about him flirting with one of the teens in an effort to get him to stop flirting, police documents state.

After meeting with the teen, police searched her phone for the messages.

In January, police obtained a search warrant for Ruscoe's phone and met with him at the police station to retreive it.

Ruscoe handed over his phone but said he did not want to provide the password or provide a written statement, according to the warrant application. 

Ruscoe's attorney also told police that his client did not want to be interviewed.

On Sunday, troopers met with the second victim, who told police that she was "very intimidated" because of Ruscoe's position and she did not want him to get in trouble.

She told investigators she joined the explorers program in December 2012 and Ruscoe started sending her inappropriate messages in 2013. when she was 17.

She told police that she did communicate with Ruscoe but only after he was very persistent.

In the texts, Ruscoe wrote that he loved the girl and the texts progressively became more graphic and sexual in nature, according to police paperwork.

She told police that Ruscoe begged the her to send him photos of  her and she eventually did, according to police. She also provided police with information about three inappropriate incidents that occured in June.

Ruscoe took the teen to a beach in Stratford and gave her a silver bracelet with a heart-shaped charm that said "Made With Love," according to police. 

On another night in June, Ruscoe picked her up early in the morning after a "band gig."

He was drunk, she told police, became aggressive in a sexual manner and kissed her, but she tried to push him away.

At the end of the month, Ruscoe took the teen to a Trumbull home he had moved out of.

Once they were inside, he placed a gun on the counter and and was looking at her "in a threatening way that made her very uncomfortable," the warrant says. 

The girl told police that things became sexual and she kept telling him to stop. He also restrained her hands behind her back with handcuffs while in bed, police said. 

The girl told police she recalled one conversation in which Ruscoe said that if he ever got caught, he would go to jail and that he would kill himself if he went to jail.

She said this was intimidating and she did not want anything to happen to him because of anything he did.

The girl told police that Ruscoe had asked the teen to change his name in her phone to "Jack" because she liked the movie Titanic and told her he could get in trouble because of her age. 

Toward the end of January, Ruscoe reached out to the 18-year-old and told her that police had come to take his phone because "an older friend that was a girl he used to help out was going through a rough time and she dropped his name," court documents said.

Ruscoe told her he was nervous that police would contact her because her number was in his phone and advised her not to say anything because she is 18 and is not required, the teen told police.

Ruscoe was charged with second-degree sexual assault, third-degree sexual assault, fourth-degree sexual assault and tampering with a witness.

Police released a statement about Ruscoe's arrest.

"I am deeply troubled and concerned by the nature of the charges that have been presented. We will make every effort to ensure that the integrity of the department and its officers is preserved as this case is investigated, and that the case is handles in a fair and timely manner," a statement from Kiely says.

Ruscoe was arrested on Thursday and bond was set at $50,000. 

He posted bond and is due back in court on March 5.

Student Arrested for Crossing the Street by 6 cops who drag her to ground