Idiots at work report
Saturday, February 19, 2011
Corrupt Ex-Cop Gets 40 Years
Corrupt ex-NYPD Officer Jerry Bowens gets 40 years for killing gal pal
The New York Daily News by Oren Yaniv - February 16, 2011
A corrupt ex-cop who admitted gunning down his girlfriend and wounding her pal got 40 years to life in prison on Tuesday - the sentence his victim's heartbroken relatives had demanded.
Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Alan Marrus handed down the maximum sentence allowed under a plea deal Jerry Bowens, 45, made for murdering Catherine D'Onofrio, 28, and shooting Melissa Simmons nearly two years ago. "In 28 years of being a judge, this is one of the easiest decisions I've had to make," Marrus said before the sentencing. Brooklyn prosecutor Michelle Kaminsky said the disgraced narcotics officer killed his estranged girlfriend by tricking her into coming to her friend's home, locking the two women in the bathroom and shooting them. " [D'Onofrio] was lying on the floor in her own blood with a hole in her head," a sobbing Simmons told the judge. "I had to sit there with her because I didn't want her to die alone."
Friday, February 18, 2011
Judge Denies Motion to Expunge Records from Police Misconduct
Judge denies motion to expunge case records linked to grand jury police investigation
The Tulsa World by Omer Gillham - February 17, 2011
A federal judge has denied a request by a Tulsa man to have his court record expunged even though the court had previously thrown out his life sentences due to alleged police corruption, records show. DeMarco Deon Williams, 35, was freed from federal prison April 30 as part of a grand jury investigation of police misconduct. Court records show Williams was convicted April 25, 2008, in a federal court in Tulsa of cocaine possession with intent to distribute. Williams received two life sentences in a trial presided over by U.S. Chief District Judge Claire Eagan, of the Northern District. Before being freed, Williams spent about six years in federal prison or in jail awaiting trial. He is represented by attorney Randy Lynn. On Jan. 11, Williams filed a motion in federal court to have his court records expunged involving his federal convictions, records show. Williams said that the convictions, even though thrown out, had subjected him to a social stigmatism. Williams' motion stated that "he has experienced extreme difficulty in finding employment and in generally establishing a life and identity for himself because of the unconstitutional conviction at issue in the case." Eagan denied Williams' request, stating that the court has a competing interest in keeping the records in place so they can be accessible for the criminal trials expected to occur during the prosecution of five Tulsa police officers. Williams also may need the records for a civil suit he is expected to file in the case, Eagan wrote. Eagan also noted that the government states that Williams has three previous convictions in Tulsa County District Court that remain in the record. Jane W. Duke, the U.S. attorney for eastern Arkansas, is a special prosecutor overseeing the grand jury investigation of police corruption. The investigation became public Nov. 1, 2009. The World reported that federal prosecutors were investigating alleged police misconduct involving stolen drugs and money, falsified search warrants, nonexistent informants and perjury. Six former and current police officers have been charged in the federal investigation. Thirty-one people have been freed from prison, had charges dismissed or sentences reduced. Omer Gillham 581-8301 - omer.gillham@tulsaworld.com
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Officer Indicted for Theft
Officer indicted for theft
Times-Journal by Mark Harrison - February 15, 2011
A DeKalb County grand jury indicted a former Powell police officer for theft. Neal Sparks, 36 of Fort Payne, is charged with second-degree theft of property. Sparks turned himself in to deputies Monday. DeKalb County District Attorney Mike O'Dell said a grand jury returned an indictment against Sparks last week. O'Dell said Sparks is accused of stealing a laptop computer from an unnamed person's vehicle during a traffic stop Sparks carried out while working as a police officer in Crossville. In addition to formerly working in Crossville and Collinsville, Sparks was also previously employed as Ider's police chief. It was during Sparks' tenure there that an Ider officer allegedly used a Taser on one of the town's councilmen. The Ider Town Council unanimously voted to fire Sparks from the job last March, following an executive session lasting more than an hour. The Ider council had placed Sparks on administrative leave prior to that after an earlier vote to fire him failed. During the earlier attempt, "citizen complaints" were cited as the reason he should be fired in Ider. Sparks was released Monday on $5,000 bond.
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Federal Lawsuit Alleges Misconduct by Prosecutors
Lawsuit Alleges Misconduct by Brooklyn Prosecutors
The Wall Street Journal by Sean Gardiner - February 16, 2011
A man who spent 16 years in prison for the murder of a Brooklyn rabbi has filed a wrongful conviction lawsuit alleging “blatantly illegal investigative tactics” were used by the Brooklyn District Attorney’s office to secure his conviction. Last June, Jabbar Collins was released from prison when prosecutors told a federal court judge that they were abandoning their efforts to retry him for the 1994 murder of Rabbi Abram Pollack. The district attorney vacated the murder conviction in May when evidence surfaced that one of the witnesses who implicated Collins had temporarily recanted, and prosecutors failed to inform Collins’s trial lawyer of it. The story of how Collins managed to overturn his murder conviction while in prison was the subject of a front-page Wall Street Journal article in December [SEE BELOW]. On Wednesday, Collins and his attorney, Joel Rudin, filed the lawsuit in Brooklyn federal court naming the city, Brooklyn prosecutor Michael Vecchione and eight other prosecutors and detectives as defendants. Jerry Schmetterer, a spokesman for the district attorney’s office, declined to comment. Vecchione led the prosecution during the original Collins murder trial in 1995. Much of the lawsuit concerns Vecchione’s alleged conduct during the murder investigation and that trial. At a hearing in 2010 on a possible retrial for Collins, a witness testified that Vecchione threatened to hit him over the head with a coffee table when he refused to cooperate. Among a long list of allegations of misconduct is a new charge that several notarized or sworn affirmations and affidavits purportedly signed by Vecchione were forged by a paralegal. Vecchione denied at Collins’s state appeal in 2006 that any witness ever recanted or “had to be threatened or forced to testify.” He also swore that claims authorities had either coerced witnesses or failed to turn over potentially exculpatory information “are, without exception, untrue.” At that time, Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes said, “Michael Vecchione is not guilty of any misconduct.”
The lawsuit claims that Vecchione’s case against Collins began to “evaporate” in the beginning of 1995: One witness recanted his statement; another said he saw Collins running from the shooting and called 911 but there was no recording of that call; and the third witness had fled to Puerto Rico in violation of his probation, according to the complaint. According to the lawsuit, Vecchione employed illegal tactics to coerce his witnesses to give false statements and testify. The lawsuit claims that one of Vecchione’s forged sworn statements was used to gain an order that allowed him to force a witness to be taken to his office against his will. It alleges that the witness was jailed as way to coerce him into making false statements and giving false testimony. The lawsuit claims that Collins subsequent attempts to obtain records were improperly blocked by the Brooklyn Attorney’s office. Collins, who became well versed in public records laws while incarcerated, obtained exculpatory evidence — in one instance by admittedly posing as a prosecutor’s investigator during a recorded phone call. The lawsuit also accuses Hynes, the Brooklyn D.A., of failing to provide proper training and failing to discipline prosecutors who withheld evidence potentially favorable to the defense. “His deliberate indifference to such violations created an ‘anything goes’ atmosphere that caused such violations to continue, including in (Collins’) case,” the lawsuit states.
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Family of Man Shot Dead Sues Cops and Town
Family of armed man shot dead by Ramapo officer sues cops, town
The Journal News by Steve Lieberman - February 15, 2011
The family of a man armed with a knife who was shot dead by a Ramapo police officer has filed a civil rights lawsuit against the officers involved in the December 2008 shooting that a Rockland grand jury found justifiable. Ramapo's attorney denied the allegations in the federal lawsuit seeking $25 million and will ask U.S. District Court Judge Kenneth M. Karas to dismiss the legal action. William Jackson claims in the lawsuit that Officer Edward Pascocello used excessive force when he shot his son Thomas on Dec. 24, 2008, and the younger Jackson never threatened the officer's life. The contentions accusing the police of negligence are based on Jackson's live-in girlfriend of eight years, Barbara Jean Nesi, who was inside the house at 96 Hempstead Road with Jackson and the two officers. Ramapo is accused of not properly training the officers in the lawsuit filed by Amy Bellantoni, a former Rockland prosecutor who is part of the Westchester law firm of Jonathan Lovett and her husband, Rory Bellantoni. Ramapo Town Attorney Michael Klein said Pascocello and Officer Monika Sitarz acted properly and Pascocello defended himself against a knife attack by Jackson. Nesi called the police and told them that Jackson had locked himself inside the bathroom with a knife and was suicidal, Klein said. Jackson also had a history of substance abuse and mental health issues. Ramapo police Capt. Brad Weidel said Tuesday that the department cannot comment on legal actions. On Christmas Day 2008 after the shooting, Weidel said at a news conference that Jackson "was coming at one of our officers with a knife. The act of shooting we consider an appropriate use of deadly force to defend himself." SLIEBERM@LOHUD.COM
Monday, February 14, 2011
Campus Police Under Investigation for Hiring Local Cops
Morris Brown Campus Police Under Investigation
WSBTV.com - February 8, 2011
Local Police Department Under Investigation
ATLANTA, GA -- The president of Morris Brown College says he's launching a full investigation into alleged wrongdoing uncovered by Channel 2 Action News. Channel 2 Action News has learned that the college's police department is under state investigation, accused of employing officers just to work off-duty jobs. Local Police Department Under Investigation. Channel 2 investigative reporter Jodie Fleischer found many of those officers have troubled pasts, or may not even be real officers at all. The Morris Brown College campus only spans about three blocks and enrollment has dwindled to just 63 students. But according to Georgia’s Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) Council, the campus police department employs 27 certified police officers. Fleischer found several more working at the school's police headquarters who are not on that list. “That’s way out of line,” said POST Director Ken Vance. "For 60 something students, they ought to have one walking hand in hand with them from class to class." POST launched an investigation, and Vance said the agency hopes to seek a Cease and Desist Order against the school’s police department. "It's about money. It's about money and using Morris Brown College to run a security agency that operates in metro Atlanta," said Vance. It isn't unusual for officers to work off-duty jobs to supplement their police income. But in most departments, they spend more time working on-duty, protecting the public. POST investigative documents show the school only requires an officer work 16 hours each month to remain on the police roster. That makes them eligible to work lucrative off-duty security jobs. Channel 2 obtained internal e-mails from Cobb County police confirming an investigation into two Morris Brown police officers caught working an off-duty job in Smyrna. Both were in uniform and their cars had blue lights. One had no identification, but told the officer he was Ali Bashir, date of birth 4/20/62. The only Morris Brown officer with that last name and birthday had his police certification revoked a decade ago. Fleischer asked if he could face charges for impersonating an officer. “Absolutely,” said Vance. “And you're going to see some serious looks in that direction." POST investigators are also taking a serious look at three fake identification cards seized while questioning Morris Brown Police Chief Jabir Bashir. They were signed by the current assistant chief, Daymond Langford, before he was demoted from the chief’s job. The cards call his employees "duly sworn police officers" authorized to perform law enforcement duties. But they are not POST certified. “I'm a PSO, public safety officer, not a police officer," said Sgt. Maurice Campbell. One of the three seized cards has Campbell’s Social Security number on it. Fleischer found many of the officers who are properly certified have troubling records also. Of the 27 on the roster, POST has publicly reprimanded, placed on probation, or otherwise investigated 17 of them. "It looks like it's someone that can't get hired anywhere else," said Vance. On three separate days, Fleischer tried to track down Bashir for answers. "He said, 'You could leave a card and he would be available tomorrow,'" said a student and part-time public safety officer. The next day, Fleischer returned. “Yeah, he probably, he will be here today,” said Public Safety Officer Henry Johnson. Johnson called Chief Bashir, who by phone told Fleischer he was out of town for training but would not disclose the nature of the training or the location. He said he would return Monday. On Monday, Fleischer found the doors locked and Public Safety Officer Johnson refused to open them. Investigators from Georgia’s Department of Public Safety also visited the Morris Brown Police Department to revoke the blue light permits from all of its unmarked vehicles. "We opened the case on one afternoon, and retrieved the permits by the close of business the next. It's a very serious matter," said DPS spokesman Gordy Wright. “Something is really, really wrong here,” said Vance. "I wouldn't even classify it as a police agency right now."
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Cop Suspended After Being Accused of Rape While On Duty
Cop suspended after being accused of rape
Fox5SanDiego - February 7, 2011
EL CAJON, Calif. -- A San Diego police officer was on compulsory unpaid leave Monday as detectives investigated a woman's accusation that he raped her at an East County home. "The El Cajon Police Department notified us on Thursday that they were investigating a case," said San Diego Police Chief William Lansdowne. "It was my decision to place that officer on unpaid administrative leave and remove his police powers by taking away his badge and his weapon." Late last Wednesday, a woman being treated at a hospital told a physician that the officer and a woman had sexually assaulted her at a residence in El Cajon earlier that evening, and medical staffers then notified the police, El Cajon Police Department Lt. Mark Coit said. There have been no arrests in the case, according to Coit. "If the person is in law enforcement and he's been listed as a suspect, he's gonna be treated the same as we would any other investigation," Coit said. The officer, who was off duty at the time of the alleged assault, has not been named. The alleged assailants and victim are acquaintances, the lieutenant said.
Saturday, February 12, 2011
Video Shows Cops Punching Student While Being Placed Under Arrest
YouTube video shows cops punching unruly Rutgers University student while trying to arrest him
The New York Daily News by Bill Hutchinson - February 8, 2011
A YouTube video showing cops punching an unruly Rutgers University student from Long Island was burning up the Internet on Monday night. The minute and 43 second video, taken by a witness viewing the incident from a perch above the scene, shows Elliott Marx, 20, of Lindenhurst being punched as five New Brunswick, N.J., police arrest him. Police officials said the incident stemmed from a parking lot fight early Saturday morning near the New Brunswick campus. Lt. J.T. Miller told MyCentralJersey.com that Marx was one of up 50 people involved in the 1 a.m. brawl. "Stop resisting! Give me your hand!" one cop is heard shouting at Marx in the video. When Marx continued to resist, an officer is seen punching the suspect at least four times. Marx, a Rutgers sophomore, was arrested on charges of resisting arrest, obstruction, aggravated assault and having a fake ID. Miller said Marx jumped on an officer's back before he was arrested. Defense attorney John Koufos said Marx suffered cuts and bruises to his face. Marx claimed that his friend was jumped when they tried to get into a house party. He was trying to help his friend when people attacked him. He claimed he didn't realized he was struggling with cops until they ordered him to stop resisting, Koufos told the news web site. New Brunswick Police Director Peter Mangarella said Internal Affairs has launched an investigators. "My first take is that I see somebody resisting arrest," Mangarella said. "Was the force justified? That's what our guys are trying to determine."
Sergeant Accused of Sexually Abusing Teen Girl
Park police sergeant accused of sexually abusing teen girl
The Democrat and Chronicle by Victoria E. Freile - February 10, 2011
A sergeant with the New York State Park Police has been accused of sexually abusing a teenage girl in Greece. Todd M. Johnson, 41, of Mount Vernon, Westchester County, was charged Tuesday with one count of endangering the welfare of a child and two counts of third-degree sexual abuse, both misdemeanors, Greece Police Capt. Steve Chatterton said today. Greece police officers started investigating the case last month after they learned of the alleged sexual abuse ,which reportedly occurred in Greece late last year, Chatterton said. The victim is younger than 16. Further details of the incident were not released. While investigating the case, officers learned that Johnson is a state park police sergeant downstate. Chatterton said Johnson was not on duty when the alleged abuse occurred. Greece Police said the arrest was not related to Johnson’s job. Johnson was suspended without pay from his job as of Tuesday, said Dan Keefe, spokesman for the Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation. Keefe said Johnson is facing disciplinary action, but declined to say where in the state park system Johnson was stationed, or how long he worked as a parks patrol officer. Johnson pleaded not guilty in Greece Town Court and was remanded to the Monroe County Jail. He posted $1,000 bail and is scheduled return to court on at 1 p.m. Feb. 23. VFREILE@DemocratandChronicle.com
Trooper Charged With Sex Assault
Trooper charged with sex assault
The Journal Sentinel by Don Behm - February 6, 2011
Attacks on teenage girl continued over 2 years, complaint alleges
A 48-year-old Wisconsin state patrolman has been charged in Green County Circuit Court with three felony counts of sexual assault of a child who was placed in his Town of Clarno home for foster care in November 2008, a criminal complaint says. James M. Norquay was suspended without pay indefinitely, pending an independent administrative investigation of the allegations, State Patrol Capt. Charles Teasdale said. Norquay is a trooper with the patrol's Southwest Region. The child was 15 years old at the time of the first assault, according to the criminal complaint filed by special prosecutor Dennis Krueger, an assistant attorney general. She is now 18. The assaults continued until the child was removed from the home on Jan. 2 of this year, the complaint says. Norquay is scheduled to make an initial appearance Monday on the charges in Green County Circuit Court, according to a news release from the Wisconsin Department of Justice. Each count carries a maximum penalty of 40 years' imprisonment and a fine of $100,000. The charges against Norquay resulted from an investigation by the Justice Department's Division of Criminal Investigation. "Investigation and prosecution of cases involving those who prey on children are a high priority of the Department of Justice and we will continue to assist local law enforcement and prosecutors in child maltreatment investigations," Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen said in the release. Individuals with information about this case can contact agent Lourdes Fernandez of the Division of Criminal Investigation at (608) 266-1671
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Former Sheriff's Deputy Pleads Guilty to Extortion Charges
Former sheriff's deputy pleads guilty to extortion charges
The Houston Chronicle by James Pinkerton - February 7, 2011
A former Harris County sheriff’s deputy suspected of using his badge and gun to stop drug dealers and steal their loads pleaded guilty Monday to federal extortion charges. Richard Bryan Nutt Jr., 43, entered a guilty plea before U.S. District Judge Vanessa Gilmore on Monday, admitting his role in an undercover sting set up in December by Houston police and FBI agents. Nutt, wearing his sheriff’s uniform and carrying his gun, and four Houston men were arrested Dec. 15 after Nutt followed an SUV driven by an HPD officer posing as a Mexican drug courier. One of the men, Nathaniel House, 37, entered the SUV and retrieved a package containing a 2-kilogram load of fake cocaine. The HPD undercover officer left the SUV and walked into a sporting store. Nutt and two other men were stopped as they left with the contraband. Houston police set up the undercover sting operation after obtaining "information that members of law enforcement were robbing shipments of narcotics,’’ according to a statement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Nutt, who is free on bond, faces up to 20 years in federal prison without parole, and a $250,000 fine. A co-defendant in the case, House, also pleaded guilty and is set to be sentenced with Nutt in June. The former lawman’s attorney, Mark Thering, said Nutt was told the courier would be carrying $500,000 in drug proceeds — not drugs. The officer’s cut was supposed to be $100,000. Thering said Nutt regrets his behavior. "This is the first time he’s done this," Thering said. "Others can differ with that, but there has to be a first time for everyone and this truly was Mr. Nutt’s first time to engage in any criminal activity." Thering said Nutt did not know any of the four men he was arrested with, adding the ex-deputy was recruited by a man he met while working security at a local nightclub. "Why does any law-abiding citizen delve into criminal activity — I’m thinking it’s a question of easy money,’’ Thering said. "I don’t want to trivialize what he did, because he broke the law and expects to go to prison. He regrets with every fiber of his being making that decision. He’s disappointed his family, and put a black mark on the quality of people who work for the sheriff department.’’ Nutt was separated from his wife at the time of his arrest, and was under financial strain, Thering said. "He hadn’t done it before and this was going to be the proceeds of money, and money only. But when he got down to it he ended up sitting on two kilos of cocaine,’’ Thering said. Thering said his client elected to plead relatively quickly because of the videotaped evidence against him, as well getting favorable consideration at sentencing for taking early responsibility for his crime. "Sheriff Garcia and his almost 4,000 employees have worked hard to restore public trust in the Harris County Sheriff’s Office," said Alan Bernstein, director of public affairs for Sheriff Adrian Garcia. "In the thankfully rare cases where that effort involves holding current and former employees responsible for breaking the law, the justice system at multiple levels is once more demonstrating that it works. In addition, Mr. Nutt was dismissed from his job as a deputy soon after charges were filed against him." james.pinkerton@chron.com
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Ex-Girlfriend of Cop Recalls Terror of Gun Threat
Ex-girlfriend of Albany cop recalls terror of gun threat
The Albany Times Union by Brendan J. Lyons - February 9, 2011
Former girlfriend of Albany cop recalls terror of gun threat
ALBANY, NY -- The former girlfriend of an Albany police officer testified Tuesday that he held her face down on the floor of his Albany residence two years ago and threatened to kill her while grinding the barrel of a loaded handgun against her skull. Barbara Waters said her former boyfriend, Officer Robert L. Schunk, later threatened in a voicemail message to kill her and her young son if she told anyone about the incident or jeopardized his job. Waters cried while recounting the alleged assault during the first day of testimony at Schunk's criminal trial in Albany County Court. Schunk, 39, a 12-year veteran of the Albany police force, is on trial for felony and misdemeanor charges as the department seeks to fire him. He is accused of assaulting Waters with his departmental handgun, holding her against her will and shoving her down a flight of stairs as she tried to end their relationship on Jan. 4, 2009. Waters, 37, said Schunk held her on the floor with his knee in her back and she prayed for help from her father, who had recently died. "He told me he was going to kill me," she said. "He kept calling me whore, bitch .... I don't even know if I could hear what he was completely saying the whole time. I was praying to my dad to stop him." Schunk sat motionless at the defense table as Waters spoke. His neck and head flushed bright red as Waters' voice cracked and she described a terrifying ordeal that she said lasted about 90 minutes. The encounter turned violent, Waters said, when Schunk shoved her down a flight of stairs as she started to leave without the belongings she had gone to his residence to retrieve. She had gone there to break up with Schunk as a result of his jealousy and rage, she said. Schunk's attorney, Cheryl Coleman, during a grueling cross-examination that lasted almost two hours, questioned Waters about why she had waited more than a year to report the incident, and only after her own arrest in Albany last April on charges she "trashed" Schunk's residence. Coleman, through questioning, suggested Waters and her estranged husband, Steven, had concocted the story so Waters could get out of her criminal case. But Waters corrected Coleman when the defense attorney noted Waters had never told police about the incident until last year. Waters said a female Glenville police officer came to her home a couple days after the 2009 incident and that Waters told her what happened. The Glenville officer responded to the residence after Steven Waters called 911 in a panic because his wife, who was in a bath, would not answer the telephone. Waters testified that she and Schunk reunited after the gun incident and entered therapy. "I loved him," she testified.
Steven Waters, the last of five witnesses called by special prosecutor Lyn A. Murphy, testified that his wife called him on her cell phone minutes after she bolted from Schunk's house the night of the incident and that she was extremely distraught. When Waters arrived home, he said, "she was shaking, kind of in a rocking motion. ... I felt on her right side of her head, slightly towards the back, a lump." He said his wife's legs and arms were covered with bruises. Ten days later, Waters went to a doctor's office and reported her injuries and what happened to a physician's assistant, Karen Kasarda, who testified about treating Waters for the injuries. Waters testified that at one point during the incident she fled into the bedroom of Schunk's daughter, who was not home, and tried to escape out a window while screaming for help. Schunk pulled her back, she said, and placed his handgun, which was loaded, on the daughter's dresser. "I was petrified," she testified. "I thought he was going to kill me. ... He just kept saying you're never going to leave me." Officer Christian Mesley, president of the Albany Police Officers Union, testified that he drove Schunk home to meet with Waters the night of the incident. Mesley said that before leaving, and while Schunk and Waters argued in a car outside, he took Schunk's loaded service weapon off a kitchen counter and disabled it by removing internal parts. Mesley said he put the magazine back in the weapon, with 11 rounds inside, and placed the gun back on the counter after hiding the gun parts in the house. Schunk did not know the weapon was inoperable when he held it to Waters' head, the prosecutor said. Murphy, a Saratoga County assistant district attorney, told jurors in her opening statement to listen carefully to Waters' testimony about how Schunk allegedly looked curiously at the weapon before "putting it back to her head." "Draw your own conclusions as to what was going on there," Murphy told the panel. "The defendant let Ms. Waters up and said do what you got to do. She fled for her life." Judge Stephen W. Herrick is presiding. Coleman, the defense attorney, said she will call several Albany officers to testify Wednesday. Three of the officers were involved in arresting Waters last April. Herrick has not allowed the jury to hear evidence about other documented domestic violence incidents involving Schunk. That includes criminal charges filed against him last April for allegations he attacked Waters at her Halfmoon apartment in a jealous rage. Hours later, Waters was arrested in Albany after breaking into Schunk's residence to retrieve belongings and allegedly damaging his property. James Lyman, a former Albany detective and executive director of Council 82, which is the umbrella union for the Albany police union, also testified Tuesday. Lyman said he went to Mesley's house the night of the incident when Schunk showed up there emotionally distressed and that he had been drinking. Lyman said he and Mesley drove Schunk home and that he saw Mesley disable Schunk's gun before they left as the couple argued. Brendan J. Lyons can be reached at 454-5547 or by e-mail at blyons@timesunion.com.
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Judge Denies Request to Release Jailed Officers
Judge denies request to release jailed Tulsa officers
The Tulsa World by Omer Gillham - February 7, 2011
Grand jury investigates police corruption: Read all of the stories, view a timeline and read key documents. A federal judge has denied a request by two suspended Tulsa police officers to release them from jail while they await trial on numerous counts in a police corruption case. U.S. District Judge Bruce Black of New Mexico denied the request to release officers Jeff Henderson and Bill Yelton following a hearing today. Former federal agent Brandon McFadden testified during the hearing about threats that Henderson and Yelton had made against him. McFadden is a key witness in the case. Henderson and Yelton have been jailed since July 20, the day five Tulsa police officers were indicted on alleged civil rights violations, perjury and other various crimes. The other officers have been released on bond. McFadden testified that Henderson and Yelton allegedly threatened him on three different occasions, with the first incident allegedly occurring during the fall of 2007. During one alleged incident in the summer of 2008, McFadden said Henderson and Yelton threatened him at a waste water treatment plant in Tulsa. During the alleged incident, while the three were sitting in Henderson’s car with McFadden in the back seat, Yelton removed his gun from the holster and racked the slide. The gun ejected what appeared to be a bullet, which hit against a window or another part of the interior of the car, he said. Yelton allegedly said, “Get back to Lubbock and keep your mouth shut,” McFadden testified. McFadden testified about another incident in which he said Yelton showed him the state Department of Corrections mugshot of a former Tulsa police officer convicted in a crossbow killing. In that case, former officer Jimmie Dean Stohler was convicted in the 1982 contract killing death of Michelle Powers. Under cross examination by defense attorney Stephen Jones, McFadden said he told no one of the alleged threats by Henderson and Yelton. McFadden said he had not seen Yelton pull his gun out at the waste water treatment plant. Yet, he reaffirmed he heard what he believed to be a gun and a round of ammunition being ejected. Questioned by U.S. Assistant Attorney Pat Harris, McFadden said he told no one about the alleged threats because to do so would implicate him. McFadden said he, Henderson and Yelton were involved in stealing money and falsifying search warrants, and he had witnessed Henderson and Yelton allegedly beating and assaulting drug defendants. “I took the threats seriously from them,” McFadden said. “These guys are pretty smart. They don’t mess around.” Henderson took the stand in his own defense and denied ever threatening McFadden and said Yelton also did not threaten him.
Monday, February 7, 2011
Cop Charged with Felony Theft
Officer Charged with Felony Theft
MyFoxHouston.com by Damali Keieth - February 7, 2011
HOUSTON, TX - An area police officer is finding himself on the wrong side of the law. The Stafford Police Officer is now indicted on two felony counts. Paul Kevin Germany worked for the Stafford Police Department for 19.5 years. A department spokesperson says Germany was in charge of the property room since 1994. Germany is now accused of stealing more than $14,000 from the very evidence room he was supposed to guard. "He was the only person that actually maintained custody and preservation of the evidence that was submitted during the course of all the investigations," Fort Bend County Deputy District Attorney Scott Carpenter said. The veteran police officer has been indicted on charges of theft by a public servant and abuse of office. They are third-degree felonies. "It's totally unacceptable as far as law enforcement is concerned. It's totally unacceptable for the citizens of Fort Bend County," Carpenter said about Germany's alleged wrongdoing. Carpenter, who is prosecuting the case against Germany, said the officer was stealing from the property room from 2005 to 2010. The prosecutor said Germany was only caught after he accidentally shot himself in the leg at the shooting range last summer and had to miss work. Germany recovered from the injury. Those missed days, however, seemed to have killed Germany's career after Carpenter says another officer discovered the missing money. "We're, kind of, really somewhat surprised that it went criminal," a member of Germany's legal team, David Donahue, said. "Yes we definitely feel Paul is not guilty on this." Defense attorneys plan to prove what they call possible mismanagement in the property room. "Paul's been an outstanding law enforcement officer. He's highly respected in law enforcement and the community and it's really been hard on him that this has happened. It's really been hard on him and his family," Donahue said. If convicted of the charges Paul Germany faces two to ten years behind bars and a $10,000 fine. Germany has been fired from the Stafford Police Department.
Sunday, February 6, 2011
Anger Over Police Corruption Takes Off
Anger and a Facebook Page That Gave It Voice
The New York Times by Jennifer Preston - February 5, 2011
If there is a face to the revolt that has sprouted in Egypt, it may be the face of Khaled Said.
Mr. Said, a 28-year-old Egyptian businessman, was pulled from an Internet cafe in Alexandria last June by two plainclothes police officers, who witnesses say then beat him to death in the lobby of a residential building. Human rights advocates said he was killed because he had evidence of police corruption. The Egyptian police and security services have a well-earned reputation for brutality and snuffing out political opposition. But in Mr. Said, they unwittingly chose the wrong target. Within five days of his death, an anonymous human rights activist created a Facebook page — We Are All Khaled Said — that posted cellphone photos from the morgue of his battered and bloodied face, and YouTube videos played up contrasting pictures of him happy and smiling with the graphic images from the morgue. By mid-June, 130,000 people joined the page to get and share updates about the case.
It became and remains the biggest dissident Facebook page in Egypt, even as protests continue to sweep the country, with more than 473,000 users, and it has helped spread the word about the demonstrations in Egypt, which were ignited after a revolt in neighboring Tunisia toppled the government there. “There were many catalysts of the uprising,” said Ahmed Zidan, an online political activist marching toward Tahrir Square for a protest last week. “The first was the brutal murder of Khalid Said.” The Tunisian rebellion was set off after a fruit vendor, Mohamed Bouazizi, burned himself to death after being humiliated by the police. His desperate act led to protests, which were recorded on mobile phones, posted on the Internet, shared on Facebook and eventually broadcast by Al Jazeera. But Mr. Said’s death may be the starkest example yet of the special power of social networking tools like Facebook even — or especially — in a police state. The Facebook page set up around his death offered Egyptians a rare forum to bond over their outrage about government abuses. “Prior to the murder of Khaled Said, there were blogs and YouTube videos that existed about police torture, but there wasn’t a strong community around them,” said Jillian C. York, the project coordinator for the OpenNet Initiative of the Berkman Center for the Internet and Society at Harvard University. “This case changed that.” While it is almost impossible to isolate the impact of social media tools from the general swirl of events that set off the popular uprisings across the Middle East, there is little doubt that they provided a new means for ordinary people to connect with human rights advocates trying to amass support against police abuse, torture and the Mubarak government’s permanent emergency laws allowing people to be jailed without charges.
Facebook and YouTube also offered a way for the discontented to organize and mobilize — and allowed secular-minded young people to seize the momentum from Egypt’s relatively neutered, organized opposition. Far more decentralized than political parties, the strength and agility of the networks clearly caught Egyptian authorities — and American intelligence analysts — by surprise, even as the Egyptian government quickly attempted to shut them down. Mr. Said, who was from a middle-class family and worked in the import-export business, was not an activist or involved in politics. But human rights advocates said he was killed because the local police believed he had shot a video showing officers with illegal drugs. Such a video did eventually show up on YouTube. The police had told Mr. Said’s family that he was involved in drugs and died of asphyxiation from swallowing a package of marijuana while in police custody. But witnesses denied that account, telling their stories in YouTube videos. “What made this case different is that Khaled Said was just an ordinary person,” said Gamal Eid, 47, a lawyer and executive director of the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information in Cairo. “He was just a guy who found evidence of corruption and he published it. Then when people learned what happened to him, when people saw pictures of his face, people got very angry.” Mr. Eid said that Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and cellphones made it easy for human rights advocates to get out the news and for people to spread and discuss their outrage about Mr. Said’s death in a country where freedom of speech and the right to assemble were limited and the government monitored newspapers and state television. “He is a big part of our revolution,” said Hudaifa Nabawi, a 20-year-old student in Tahrir Square on Saturday. “Khalid Said was a special case. He didn’t belong to any faction, and he didn’t do anything wrong. He became the way to focus our perceptions around the oppression that all the youth all face. You can consider him a symbol.”
Facebook has been the social networking tool of choice for human rights activists in Egypt. There are five million Facebook users in Egypt, the highest number in any Middle Eastern or North African country. Its power and importance has been building for years. In 2008, the April 6 Youth Movement used Facebook to gain more than 70,000 supporters to help raise awareness for striking workers in Mahalla al-Kobra, Egypt. In the last two years, that movement and other human rights advocates have also turned to Twitter and to YouTube, the third most visited Web site in Egypt after Google and Facebook. YouTube, which human rights advocates have used to upload dozens of videos showing Egyptian police torture and abuse, has evolved as an enormously powerful social media tool as more people have been able to capture and share video on cellphones. When video of the corrupt police officers with drugs attributed to Mr. Said was uploaded on YouTube on June 11, 2010, a member of the April 6 Youth Movement left a message in Arabic on the video that said: “We are Khaled. Each one of us can be Khaled.” The message urged people to stand up against police abuse and torture and say no to “bullying police.” This single video has been viewed more than 500,000 times since June and spawned dozens more videos about Mr. Said, including rap songs and more solemn presentations with haunting music. Last June, besides providing regular Facebook updates about the stalled police investigation into Mr. Said’s death, the anonymous administrator of the Facebook page began posting invitations to join street protests and silent protests in Alexandria and Cairo, which spread to nine other cities. Mohamed ElBaradei, the former chief of the International Atomic Energy Agency and a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, was among thousands attending the protest in Alexandria. With the conversation on social networks translating into street protests — and with the well-documented evidence of the police abuse posted online for hundreds of thousands to see — prosecutors were forced to arrest the two police officers in early July in connection with Mr. Said’s death. But the case remains unresolved. Other Egyptians died at the hands of the police last summer. The protests continued, first every week or so, and then sporadically last fall, until Tunisia fell and then the April 6 Youth Movement Facebook group and the We Are All Khaled Said Facebook page began inviting Egyptians to a protest on Jan. 25. Signaling the Mubarak government’s growing awareness about the powerful role that social media are playing in Egypt, pro-Mubarak supporters began jumping into the Khaled Said Facebook page’s conversation soon after access to the Internet was restored last week. There are now wall posts and comments on the page, blasting antigovernment supporters, demanding that Mr. Mubarak be given a chance and spreading disinformation, including that the “day of departure” protest on Friday was canceled. But that did little to deter the protesters. “If you think you can go on Facebook and tell the people to go home, it’s too late for that,” said Omar Ghoneim, 32, who walked to Friday’s protest, wearing two bandages on his right hand from, he said, throwing tear gas canisters back at the police. David D. Kirkpatrick, Kareem Fahim and Anthony Shadid contributed reporting from Cairo.
Saturday, February 5, 2011
Two Cops Write Bogus Tickets To Real Motorists
Two Staten Island cops write bogus tickets to real, unsuspecting motorists
The New York Daily News by Rocco Parascandola - February 4, 2011
Two Staten Island cops were busted for writing dozens of phony tickets to motorists. Two Staten Island cops are accused of writing motorists more than 40 bogus tickets while assigned to overtime duty, authorities said. The officers - Stephen Gerwer, 39, and Vincent Adinolfi, 40, of the 122nd Precinct - issued moving violation summons to real motorists last May. The accused officers submitted paperwork to their bosses to make it look like they were doing their jobs, but never gave the summonses to the unsuspecting motorists, sources said. And Adinolfi and Gerwer never gave the summons information to the Department of Motor Vehicles, sources said. The scam may have worked, sources said, if the motorists had appeared in court to appeal the summonses. When supervisors realized Adinolfi and Gerwer did not show up at any hearings an investigation was launched, sources said. It was not clear though how the supervisors came to learn the officers had not appeared in court. Adinolfi and Gerwer, who could face three years in prison, were arraigned Thursday and released without bail. Gerwer was charged with 37 counts - one for each ticket - of tampering with public records, offering a false instrument, second-degree falsifying business records and official misconduct. Adinolfi, accused of writing 10 bogus tickets, faces 10 counts each for the same charges. Gerwer, an eight-year veteran, and Adinolfi, a 17-year veteran, were suspended without pay following their arrests. Their lawyer, Stephen Worth, had no comment. rparascandola@nydailynews.com
Friday, February 4, 2011
Cop Gets 3 Years Probation for Arson and Insurance Fraud
Ex-NJ Police Officer Sentenced for Insurance Fraud
The Associated Press - February 4, 2011
NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — A former East Orange police officer who admitted setting fire to his personal vehicle to defraud his insurance company has been sentenced to three years' probation. Thirty-five-year-old Kareem Spence pleaded guilty in November to one count of insurance fraud. The six-year veteran officer resigned from the force last year after being indicted in the case. Prosecutors said Spence tried to get rid of his 2002 Cadillac De Ville because it had mechanical problems and he still owed $8,000 on it. He was sentenced Friday in state Superior Court in Newark.
State Trooper Convicted Of Obstructing Child Molestation Investigation
Mixed verdict in Pa. trooper meddling allegation
The Associated Press - February 2, 2011
CARLISLE, Pa. (AP) — A central Pennsylvania state trooper has been convicted of obstructing the investigation into a child molestation allegation involving a woman the trooper said was his lover. The Cumberland County jury returned a mixed verdict Tuesday, acquitting Trooper Barry Tangert Jr. of improperly influencing a public servant and retaliating against a prosecutor. Prosecutors say Tangert wanted state police to investigate so he could interrogate the alleged victim himself. A former state police official testified that Tangert planned to arrest a county assistant district attorney in retaliation for not doing as he asked. Tangert's lawyer said his client may have violated state police policy but didn't break the law. The prosecutor was never arrested. Sentencing is scheduled for March 29.
Police Inspector Charged With Extortion
Sources: FBI Took Inspector Into Custody Friday
MYFOXPHILLY.COM
PHILADELPHIA, PA - Federal prosecutors announced charges Friday against a Philadelphia police inspector, Carlo Daniel Castro, saying he has been involved in an extortion and bribery scheme. "Danny" Castro works in the traffic division and is known as a rising star in the department. He was there when officers arrested the last of Sgt. Stephen Liczbinski's three killers, Eric Floyd. Sources told Fox 29 News the FBI took Castro into custody Friday morning. According to the indictment, Castro invested $90,000 in real estate and when it failed to yield any financial result, he allegedly sought help from a witness cooperating with the FBI to get money back. The document says Castro wanted $150,000 back, instructed the "collector" to use threats of violence and violence, and he was willing to pay a 10 percent fee.
According to a U.S. Attorney's Office news release, "Castro specifically instructed the (cooperating witness) to deal directly with the collector as Castro's representative, and not to disclose his position within the Philadelphia Police Department, telling the CW 'I can't get myself in trouble. I want to be Police Commissioner.'" Prosecutors allege that Castro ultimately accepted three payments totaling more than $21,000, all of which the cooperating witness told them was money "collected" from the former business partner by way of threatening violence or actually using violence. Authorities said Castro, during a subsequent meeting with FBI agents, made several material false statements concerning his efforts to collect the debt. The indictment further alleges that, as part of a bribery scheme, Castro accepted a free 42-inch LCD television from the witness and, in return, conducted a check of a license plate on someone who owed the witness money in law enforcement databases. Castro had a court appearance scheduled for Friday afternoon, but it was not immediately clear if he had an attorney. U.S. Attorney Zane David Memeger said in the news release, "Police officers committing crimes have a corrosive impact on our system of justice. Along with our law enforcement partners -- in this case, the FBI and the Philadelphia Police Deaprtment -- we will continue to aggressively investigate and prosecute police corruption." If convicted, Castro faces a maximum possible sentence of 80 years imprisonment, a $2 million fine, three years of supervised release, and an $800 special assessment, authorities said. The announcement, made Friday, is the latest in an embarrassing string of in-house arrests in recent months. Other cases have included two officers who allegedly robbed a supposed drug dealer of 20 pounds of marijuana and $3,000 cash, and a longtime officer who allegedly stole $825 from a bar where an officer was slain four years ago.
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
New York Cop Charged With Assault and False Arrest
Yonkers cop charged with assault, false arrest
The Journal News by Rebecca Baker - February 2, 2011
YONKERS, NY — A city police officer is accused of assaulting two people in a bar while on duty last year, then falsely arresting one of them to cover up his actions. Officer Raul Ramirez, 31, surrendered Tuesday to the Yonkers Internal Affairs division, which investigated the case. He had been on modified duty for weeks. He was arraigned in Westchester County Court and pleaded not guilty to all charges, which include felony counts of assault, filing a false instrument and falsifying business records. He is also charged with misdemeanor counts of writing a false statement and official misconduct. Ramirez's gun and badge were taken away after he surrendered. He was released without bail. "We recognize that these are serious charges," said his attorney, Andrew Quinn. "We are not aware of the specific details of the allegations. Until we are, I can't comment further." Ramirez was assigned to the Third Precinct and was working the midnight shift on April 12 when he got a call from his brother at 3:48 a.m. asking him to come to Las Palmas Bar at 59 Yonkers Ave., authorities said. He was not sent there by a police dispatcher.
After arriving, Ramirez allegedly attacked two people in the bar and filed criminal charges against one of them, according to the county District Attorney's Office. Police learned of the incident after a complaint was filed with the District Attorney's Office. Detective Sgt. Patrick McCormack said once the department was notified, it immediately launched an investigation. "We police ourselves on this one," he said. Police Commissioner Edmund Hartnett said the charges against Ramirez were "troubling." "This was a single act by this guy who thought he was going to settle a score for his brother," Hartnett said. "It is really aberrant behavior." Ramirez was in a marked cruiser with a partner that night, Hartnett said. His partner, whose name was not released, is the subject of an Internal Affairs probe. Other officers eventually arrived at the bar, but there is no indication any were involved in any misconduct, Harnett said. Ramirez was suspended for 60 days, the maximum allowed under the police contract. He was hired by Yonkers on Jan. 3, 2008, after serving less than six months with the New York City Police Department. His annual salary is $78,257. He faces up to seven years in prison on the assault charges and possible termination from the department. A pre-trial hearing is set for Feb. 16. "Officer Ramirez betrayed the trust of the citizens of Yonkers and the Yonkers Police Department by putting himself and his own interests above the law," District Attorney Janet DiFiore said in a statement. "Abuse of the public trust is a serious breach, and my office will continue to prosecute and convict any public servant who uses their position for personal gain." Mayor Phil Amicone praised DiFiore's office and the Internal Affairs Unit for their work on the case. "The people of Yonkers should be reassured that if these types of abuses do occur, as in this case, we will find those responsible and hold them accountable," he said in a statement. Ramirez was suspended for 60 days, the maximum allowed under the police contract. He was hired by Yonkers on Jan. 3, 2008, after serving less than six months with the New York City Police Department. His annual salary is $78,257. He faces up to seven years in prison on the assault charges and possible termination from the department. A pre-trial hearing is set for Feb. 16. "Officer Ramirez betrayed the trust of the citizens of Yonkers and the Yonkers Police Department by putting himself and his own interests above the law," District Attorney Janet DiFiore said in a statement. "Abuse of the public trust is a serious breach, and my office will continue to prosecute and convict any public servant who uses their position for personal gain." Mayor Phil Amicone praised DiFiore's office and the Internal Affairs Unit for their work on the case. "The people of Yonkers should be reassured that if these types of abuses do occur, as in this case, we will find those responsible and hold them accountable," he said in a statement. Staff writer Will David contributed to this report.
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
dismisses case against former officer
Judge dismisses case against former officer
The Tulsa World by Omer Gillham - February 1, 2011
A judge dismissed a misdemeanor assault and battery charge against a former police officer Monday because a key witness in his case failed to appear in court, records show. Eric J. Hill, 32, was charged Sept. 14 in Tulsa County District Court with one misdemeanor count of domestic assault and battery, records show. Hill also is expected to be a federal witness in a police corruption probe. The assault charge was filed by the Rogers County District Attorney's Office after the Tulsa County District Attorney's Office recused itself from the case. The victim, Lindsay Johnson, is a former victims advocate for the Tulsa County District Attorney's Office's Victim-Witness Center. Tulsa County Special District Judge Dawn Moody dismissed Hill's case Friday, citing the failure of a witness to appear, records show. Hill's attorney, Patrick Adams, said Johnson was not interested in being a witness. "From my understanding, the witness wanted no part of the prosecution of Eric Hill," Adams said. "Mr. Hill has maintained his innocence from the start, and he was ready for trial. He is working and moving on with his life." The charge against Hill states that on July 18, he allegedly struck Johnson, whom he had been dating, pulled her into a car by her hair, slammed her head into the dashboard several times and shoved her to the ground. If convicted, Hill could have faced a year in jail and a $5,000 fine. The Tulsa Police Department fired Hill on Aug. 18 after an internal investigation revealed that he admitted during a federal investigation to engaging in criminal activity while on duty, records show. Hill was placed on paid leave June 22 after his name surfaced in a federal grand jury investigation into police corruption. Hill, who joined the Police Department in July 2005, has not been charged in the federal investigation. With prosecutorial immunity, Hill is expected to be a federal witness in a police corruption investigation in which six former and current police officers have been charged and as a result of which 31 people have been freed from prison, had felony cases dismissed or charges reduced or granted a new trial.
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Husband Claims FBI Agent Seduced Wife During Investigation
Spurned husband Yanko Belliard claims FBI agent seduced his wife during a federal investigation
The New York Daily News by Simone Weichselbaum and Alison Gendar - January 30, 2011
A jilted husband claims a randy FBI agent seduced his wife during a federal fraud investigation - then tried to put the kibosh on charges against her in a state probe. Law enforcement sources confirmed the Justice Department is investigating Special Agent Adrian Busby - who denies he did anything wrong. But Yanko Belliard said his partner of 13 years, Yanet Salazar, had a torrid affair with Busby after she came forward with information about bogus Queens mortgages. Salazar spent hours talking with Busby, slept at his Far Rockaway apartment and even went on a vacation with the agent, his young sons and Belliard's own three young daughters, Belliard claims. "Before this happened, I thought we had a good life, a house, a solid family. No secrets. He comes and it's all ruined," said Belliard, 39, a computer program specialist. Belliard told his tale of betrayal to an investigator with the Justice Department nearly a year ago and said he has not heard the outcome. His ex - they were married in a church ceremony but never got a license - was convicted on state identity theft charges in 2009 and will be sentenced on April1.
A Justice Department lawyer and an FBI spokesman declined comment. Reached by cell phone, Busby, 37, did not want to talk specifics. "Was she a suspect in my case? She wasn't a suspect in my case," he said of Salazar. "Was she a confidential informant? That's something that the FBI would have to give out." He said the feds have been investigating the allegations since 2009. "If they did not find anything, then apparently my actions were appropriate," he said. Belliard said he gave investigators what he considered proof of an affair: his wife's cell phone bills; a photo of her running a red light near Busby's apartment, and a phone-tracking service that put her outside Busby's apartment. He also gave them an airline luggage tag with Busby's name on it, saying it was mistakenly switched from Salazar's luggage during a vacation. "I finally call Busby, and say, 'What are you doing? You have no right to sleep with my wife,'" Belliard said. "He said, 'What proof do you have?'" Busby's ex, Virginia, told the Daily News she was interviewed last year as part of the misconduct investigation but does not believe Busby would do anything improper. "As much as Adrian and I went through, he's a good man. He's a good father," she said, adding their eight-year relationship ended before the allegations. Belliard said the problem began in 2007 when Salazar, a real estate loan officer, learned the feds were looking into corrupt real-estate dealings in Queens. She got a lawyer, called the FBI, confessed she was involved and offered to turn snitch, Belliard said. Belliard and Salazar met Busby at their home and later at a Manhattan restaurant, and she agreed to help them set up a sting operation.
While the FBI probe marched on, the Queens district attorney was also looking into fraud and charged Salazar with felony identity theft in February 2008. Queens prosecutors said she and Realtor Elba Garcia stole the identity of a woman named Aurora Solano and used it to get a bogus mortgage. That's when, according to Belliard, Busby tried to intervene on behalf of Salazar, who had become his "confidential informant" in the federal probe. "Yanet told me that Aurora moved to New Jersey. Busby went there and tried to get a deal with Aurora to drop the charges against Salazar," Belliard said. "She told me Busby was trying to get to Aurora to make the case against Yanet go away." Solano and Garcia refused repeated requests for comment. Salazar's lawyer in the state case, Ronald Nir, said he knew Busby was spending an unusual amount of time with her but "did not see anything untoward." Busby said he did nothing wrong in regard to Solano, and said Belliard's own past discredits his allegation. "An abusive husband told you this. There are tons of females that he has threatened. How credible is he?" he said. Belliard was convicted of disorderly conduct in a 1995 assault case. He also admitted he snapped at his daughter's birthday party in 2009, angrily confronted Salazar and hit her, court records show. He was arrested and barred from coming near Salazar. She was arrested four months later for hitting Belliard, but the charge will be dismissed if she keeps out of trouble. "Sometimes I feel sorry for Busby," Belliard said. "It's the hunter that got hunted. In another way, Yanet used him." agendar@nydailynews.com
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Former Trooper Sentenced to 30 Years
Former Texas trooper sentenced to 30 years in Arkansas
The Associated Press - January 26, 2011
TEXARKANA, AK — A former Texas state trooper has been sentenced to 30 years in prison in Arkansas after being convicted of a variety of crimes — including molesting a 14-year-old girl. Forty-five-year-old Travis Eugene McRae was sentenced Monday in Miller County Circuit Court in Texarkana, Ark. McRae was arrested in May after police found his identification inside a home where the girl said she was awakened from sleep by a man who disrobed and molested her. Police later found McRae hiding in a pond in Clark County. He was convicted of sexual indecency with a child, residential burglary and theft of property. The Texas Department of Public Safety has said McRae was a trooper in Bowie County for four years before resigning in 1990. He was convicted in 1991 in Texas of sexual indecency with a 13-year-old girl.
Man Left With Catastrophic Brain Damage by Cops
The moment innocent man was left with catastrophic brain damage after being tackled by sheriff's deputy
The Daily Mail Reporter - January 20, 2011
Cocooned in tubes and blankets, he has spent the last 20 months lying helpless in a hospital bed. Christopher Harris, 31, suffered catastrophic brain damage when he was violently tackled by a sheriff's deputy outside a cinema in Seattle. Astonishingly, the moment he was knocked unconscious when he was slammed head-first against a wall was caught on a surveillance camera. His family, including his wife, are now taking the case to court alleging King County Deputies Matthew Paul and Joseph Eshom used excessive force. They are expected to claim at least $25 million in damages. Mr Harris had been walking through the Belltown district on May 10, 2009, when the incident happened. The two officers had been called out to a disturbance in a convenience car and had headed down an alley believing the culprits had gone that way. Instead, they stumbled across Mr Harris who was an innocent passerby. They asked him to stop but instead he ran away. One of the deputies, Matthew Paul, tackled him outside the Cinerama cinema, and he collapsed on the floor. He was taken to hospital and diagnosed with irreversible brain damage. He is unable to walk, talk or care for himself and needs 24 hours care. His lawyer Simeon Osborn said he would have choked on his own blood but for the intervention of a passerby. 'Christopher Harris has irreversible brain damage, and will never recover,' he said. 'He will never walk or talk with his wife and family, or engage in any activities or experiences of daily life.' He told the Pierce County Superior Court Judge Stephanie Arend that Mr Harris had been attempting to surrender when he was tackled by the deputy, who was clad in black fatigues. 'Mr Harris stopped running, put his hands out in front of him and said, "I don't have anything, I didn't steal anything,"' he said. King County has claimed that Mr Harris was responsible for his own injuries because he ran away. Senior Deputy Prosecutor Kristofer Bundy said that his decision to run away was 'extremely foolish and negligent. 'If he had not ran, the officers would have been able to speak with him and quickly determine that he was not the violent felon that they thought he was,' Bundy told the court. 'Therefore, Mr Harris would not have been injured if he had not run.' The case is due to go before a jury on Tuesday and is expected to last several weeks.
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Corruption Lawsuit Gets Boot Due To Lack of Service
The case is one of several in the aftermath of a federal police corruption probe
Scripps TV - January 24, 2011
TULSA, OK - A lawsuit filed against the City of Tulsa in connection to a police corruption scandal has been dismissed. On Monday, Judge Carlos Chappelle dismissed a lawsuit filed in April 2010 by Larry Barnes and his wife, Linda Sue Barnes. Defense attorney Clark Brewster made the request, because the defendants had not been served since the filing. Defendants named are the City of Tulsa, former police chief Ron Palmer, officer Jeff Henderson and former ATF agent Brandon McFadden. Barnes claims his civil rights were violated when Henderson and McFadden conspired to present false testimony at his felony drug trial in 2008. He was convicted and spent 16 months in a federal prison. More lawsuits are pending against the City in the aftermath of a federal police corruption probe in which several Tulsa officers have been indicted. Those officers, including Jeff Henderson, are accused of planting evidence, intimidating witnesses and stealing drug money. McFadden has since pleaded guilty. Henderson is awaiting trial.
Chicago Cop Stands Trial For Beating Motorist
James Mandarino, Suburban Chicago Police Officer, Stands Trial For Beating Motorist
The Huffington Post - January 24, 2011
A police officer from the Chicago suburbs stands trial Monday for a ruthless beating captured on his own squad car's dashboard video camera. James Mandarino, a Streamwood police officer, is charged with aggravated battery and official misconduct for the beating of 28-year-old Ronald Bell. Bell and a friend, Nolan Stalbaum, were driving home from an Ultimate Fighting Championship match last April, according to the Chicago Tribune. They were stopped by Mandarino, who followed them a few blocks to Bell's driveway. Bell pulled up to his house, and Stalbaum got out of the car. But Mandarino emerged from his patrol car, firearm drawn, and Bell got back into the driver's seat. The officer then used his stun-gun on Stalbaum, who was already out of the car, making him collapse in a heap on the stairs. For a few minutes, Mandarino speaks to Bell -- the video has no sound, but Bell appears docile and compliant. Then, with Bell on his knees, hands behind his head, Mandarino starts relentless beating Bell with his metal baton, hitting him 15 times before he collapses to the pavement. All this is captured on the video camera in Mandarino's squad car. Still, according to NBC Chicago, the officer's union lawyer claims he is denying any wrongdoing. Bell and Stalbaum have also filed a federal lawsuit against Mandarino.
Monday, January 24, 2011
Ex-Deputy Sentenced on Corruption, Drug Charges
Ex-Deputy Sentenced on Corruption, Drug Charges
NBC 11 Atlanta by Michael King - January 24, 2011
ATLANTA, GA -- A former Fulton County Sheriff's Deputy was sentenced on Monday to six years in federal prison on corruption and drug charges. According to prosecutors, Anthony Atwater of Atlanta, at two different times, provided protection for what he believed to be large cocaine deals. For each instance, the 33-year-old agreed to protect those he thought were drug dealers in exchange for $2,000. He was in uniform, in a marked police vehicle and on duty when he provided the protection. "While dressed in his uniform, this former law enforcement officer sold out his badge to people he knew as drug dealers, and chose to protect them rather than the citizens," US Attorney Sally Yates said in a statement released late Monday. "Any sworn officer who thinks they can abandon their oath and become a criminal in police clothing should know this: Your betrayal makes you a criminal ready for federal prison." At Monday's sentencing hearing, prosecutors said FBI agents initially investigated Atwater after getting word that he had illegally searched a Fulton County home while driving a marked car and wearing a Sheriff's Department uniform. According to authorities, Atwater told the resident of the home that he had a warrant to search the home, but refused to show a copy of the warrant and entered to search the home. Atwater was sentenced to six years in prison, to be followed by four years of probation. He was also ordered to perform 80 hours of community service.
Corrupt Ex-Cop Gets 40 Years
Corrupt ex-NYPD Officer Jerry Bowens gets 40 years for killing gal pal
The New York Daily News by Oren Yaniv - February 16, 2011
A corrupt ex-cop who admitted gunning down his girlfriend and wounding her pal got 40 years to life in prison on Tuesday - the sentence his victim's heartbroken relatives had demanded.
Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Alan Marrus handed down the maximum sentence allowed under a plea deal Jerry Bowens, 45, made for murdering Catherine D'Onofrio, 28, and shooting Melissa Simmons nearly two years ago. "In 28 years of being a judge, this is one of the easiest decisions I've had to make," Marrus said before the sentencing. Brooklyn prosecutor Michelle Kaminsky said the disgraced narcotics officer killed his estranged girlfriend by tricking her into coming to her friend's home, locking the two women in the bathroom and shooting them. " [D'Onofrio] was lying on the floor in her own blood with a hole in her head," a sobbing Simmons told the judge. "I had to sit there with her because I didn't want her to die alone."
Friday, February 18, 2011
Judge Denies Motion to Expunge Records from Police Misconduct
Judge denies motion to expunge case records linked to grand jury police investigation
The Tulsa World by Omer Gillham - February 17, 2011
A federal judge has denied a request by a Tulsa man to have his court record expunged even though the court had previously thrown out his life sentences due to alleged police corruption, records show. DeMarco Deon Williams, 35, was freed from federal prison April 30 as part of a grand jury investigation of police misconduct. Court records show Williams was convicted April 25, 2008, in a federal court in Tulsa of cocaine possession with intent to distribute. Williams received two life sentences in a trial presided over by U.S. Chief District Judge Claire Eagan, of the Northern District. Before being freed, Williams spent about six years in federal prison or in jail awaiting trial. He is represented by attorney Randy Lynn. On Jan. 11, Williams filed a motion in federal court to have his court records expunged involving his federal convictions, records show. Williams said that the convictions, even though thrown out, had subjected him to a social stigmatism. Williams' motion stated that "he has experienced extreme difficulty in finding employment and in generally establishing a life and identity for himself because of the unconstitutional conviction at issue in the case." Eagan denied Williams' request, stating that the court has a competing interest in keeping the records in place so they can be accessible for the criminal trials expected to occur during the prosecution of five Tulsa police officers. Williams also may need the records for a civil suit he is expected to file in the case, Eagan wrote. Eagan also noted that the government states that Williams has three previous convictions in Tulsa County District Court that remain in the record. Jane W. Duke, the U.S. attorney for eastern Arkansas, is a special prosecutor overseeing the grand jury investigation of police corruption. The investigation became public Nov. 1, 2009. The World reported that federal prosecutors were investigating alleged police misconduct involving stolen drugs and money, falsified search warrants, nonexistent informants and perjury. Six former and current police officers have been charged in the federal investigation. Thirty-one people have been freed from prison, had charges dismissed or sentences reduced. Omer Gillham 581-8301 - omer.gillham@tulsaworld.com
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Officer Indicted for Theft
Officer indicted for theft
Times-Journal by Mark Harrison - February 15, 2011
A DeKalb County grand jury indicted a former Powell police officer for theft. Neal Sparks, 36 of Fort Payne, is charged with second-degree theft of property. Sparks turned himself in to deputies Monday. DeKalb County District Attorney Mike O'Dell said a grand jury returned an indictment against Sparks last week. O'Dell said Sparks is accused of stealing a laptop computer from an unnamed person's vehicle during a traffic stop Sparks carried out while working as a police officer in Crossville. In addition to formerly working in Crossville and Collinsville, Sparks was also previously employed as Ider's police chief. It was during Sparks' tenure there that an Ider officer allegedly used a Taser on one of the town's councilmen. The Ider Town Council unanimously voted to fire Sparks from the job last March, following an executive session lasting more than an hour. The Ider council had placed Sparks on administrative leave prior to that after an earlier vote to fire him failed. During the earlier attempt, "citizen complaints" were cited as the reason he should be fired in Ider. Sparks was released Monday on $5,000 bond.
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Federal Lawsuit Alleges Misconduct by Prosecutors
Lawsuit Alleges Misconduct by Brooklyn Prosecutors
The Wall Street Journal by Sean Gardiner - February 16, 2011
A man who spent 16 years in prison for the murder of a Brooklyn rabbi has filed a wrongful conviction lawsuit alleging “blatantly illegal investigative tactics” were used by the Brooklyn District Attorney’s office to secure his conviction. Last June, Jabbar Collins was released from prison when prosecutors told a federal court judge that they were abandoning their efforts to retry him for the 1994 murder of Rabbi Abram Pollack. The district attorney vacated the murder conviction in May when evidence surfaced that one of the witnesses who implicated Collins had temporarily recanted, and prosecutors failed to inform Collins’s trial lawyer of it. The story of how Collins managed to overturn his murder conviction while in prison was the subject of a front-page Wall Street Journal article in December [SEE BELOW]. On Wednesday, Collins and his attorney, Joel Rudin, filed the lawsuit in Brooklyn federal court naming the city, Brooklyn prosecutor Michael Vecchione and eight other prosecutors and detectives as defendants. Jerry Schmetterer, a spokesman for the district attorney’s office, declined to comment. Vecchione led the prosecution during the original Collins murder trial in 1995. Much of the lawsuit concerns Vecchione’s alleged conduct during the murder investigation and that trial. At a hearing in 2010 on a possible retrial for Collins, a witness testified that Vecchione threatened to hit him over the head with a coffee table when he refused to cooperate. Among a long list of allegations of misconduct is a new charge that several notarized or sworn affirmations and affidavits purportedly signed by Vecchione were forged by a paralegal. Vecchione denied at Collins’s state appeal in 2006 that any witness ever recanted or “had to be threatened or forced to testify.” He also swore that claims authorities had either coerced witnesses or failed to turn over potentially exculpatory information “are, without exception, untrue.” At that time, Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes said, “Michael Vecchione is not guilty of any misconduct.”
The lawsuit claims that Vecchione’s case against Collins began to “evaporate” in the beginning of 1995: One witness recanted his statement; another said he saw Collins running from the shooting and called 911 but there was no recording of that call; and the third witness had fled to Puerto Rico in violation of his probation, according to the complaint. According to the lawsuit, Vecchione employed illegal tactics to coerce his witnesses to give false statements and testify. The lawsuit claims that one of Vecchione’s forged sworn statements was used to gain an order that allowed him to force a witness to be taken to his office against his will. It alleges that the witness was jailed as way to coerce him into making false statements and giving false testimony. The lawsuit claims that Collins subsequent attempts to obtain records were improperly blocked by the Brooklyn Attorney’s office. Collins, who became well versed in public records laws while incarcerated, obtained exculpatory evidence — in one instance by admittedly posing as a prosecutor’s investigator during a recorded phone call. The lawsuit also accuses Hynes, the Brooklyn D.A., of failing to provide proper training and failing to discipline prosecutors who withheld evidence potentially favorable to the defense. “His deliberate indifference to such violations created an ‘anything goes’ atmosphere that caused such violations to continue, including in (Collins’) case,” the lawsuit states.
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Family of Man Shot Dead Sues Cops and Town
Family of armed man shot dead by Ramapo officer sues cops, town
The Journal News by Steve Lieberman - February 15, 2011
The family of a man armed with a knife who was shot dead by a Ramapo police officer has filed a civil rights lawsuit against the officers involved in the December 2008 shooting that a Rockland grand jury found justifiable. Ramapo's attorney denied the allegations in the federal lawsuit seeking $25 million and will ask U.S. District Court Judge Kenneth M. Karas to dismiss the legal action. William Jackson claims in the lawsuit that Officer Edward Pascocello used excessive force when he shot his son Thomas on Dec. 24, 2008, and the younger Jackson never threatened the officer's life. The contentions accusing the police of negligence are based on Jackson's live-in girlfriend of eight years, Barbara Jean Nesi, who was inside the house at 96 Hempstead Road with Jackson and the two officers. Ramapo is accused of not properly training the officers in the lawsuit filed by Amy Bellantoni, a former Rockland prosecutor who is part of the Westchester law firm of Jonathan Lovett and her husband, Rory Bellantoni. Ramapo Town Attorney Michael Klein said Pascocello and Officer Monika Sitarz acted properly and Pascocello defended himself against a knife attack by Jackson. Nesi called the police and told them that Jackson had locked himself inside the bathroom with a knife and was suicidal, Klein said. Jackson also had a history of substance abuse and mental health issues. Ramapo police Capt. Brad Weidel said Tuesday that the department cannot comment on legal actions. On Christmas Day 2008 after the shooting, Weidel said at a news conference that Jackson "was coming at one of our officers with a knife. The act of shooting we consider an appropriate use of deadly force to defend himself." SLIEBERM@LOHUD.COM
Monday, February 14, 2011
Campus Police Under Investigation for Hiring Local Cops
Morris Brown Campus Police Under Investigation
WSBTV.com - February 8, 2011
Local Police Department Under Investigation
ATLANTA, GA -- The president of Morris Brown College says he's launching a full investigation into alleged wrongdoing uncovered by Channel 2 Action News. Channel 2 Action News has learned that the college's police department is under state investigation, accused of employing officers just to work off-duty jobs. Local Police Department Under Investigation. Channel 2 investigative reporter Jodie Fleischer found many of those officers have troubled pasts, or may not even be real officers at all. The Morris Brown College campus only spans about three blocks and enrollment has dwindled to just 63 students. But according to Georgia’s Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) Council, the campus police department employs 27 certified police officers. Fleischer found several more working at the school's police headquarters who are not on that list. “That’s way out of line,” said POST Director Ken Vance. "For 60 something students, they ought to have one walking hand in hand with them from class to class." POST launched an investigation, and Vance said the agency hopes to seek a Cease and Desist Order against the school’s police department. "It's about money. It's about money and using Morris Brown College to run a security agency that operates in metro Atlanta," said Vance. It isn't unusual for officers to work off-duty jobs to supplement their police income. But in most departments, they spend more time working on-duty, protecting the public. POST investigative documents show the school only requires an officer work 16 hours each month to remain on the police roster. That makes them eligible to work lucrative off-duty security jobs. Channel 2 obtained internal e-mails from Cobb County police confirming an investigation into two Morris Brown police officers caught working an off-duty job in Smyrna. Both were in uniform and their cars had blue lights. One had no identification, but told the officer he was Ali Bashir, date of birth 4/20/62. The only Morris Brown officer with that last name and birthday had his police certification revoked a decade ago. Fleischer asked if he could face charges for impersonating an officer. “Absolutely,” said Vance. “And you're going to see some serious looks in that direction." POST investigators are also taking a serious look at three fake identification cards seized while questioning Morris Brown Police Chief Jabir Bashir. They were signed by the current assistant chief, Daymond Langford, before he was demoted from the chief’s job. The cards call his employees "duly sworn police officers" authorized to perform law enforcement duties. But they are not POST certified. “I'm a PSO, public safety officer, not a police officer," said Sgt. Maurice Campbell. One of the three seized cards has Campbell’s Social Security number on it. Fleischer found many of the officers who are properly certified have troubling records also. Of the 27 on the roster, POST has publicly reprimanded, placed on probation, or otherwise investigated 17 of them. "It looks like it's someone that can't get hired anywhere else," said Vance. On three separate days, Fleischer tried to track down Bashir for answers. "He said, 'You could leave a card and he would be available tomorrow,'" said a student and part-time public safety officer. The next day, Fleischer returned. “Yeah, he probably, he will be here today,” said Public Safety Officer Henry Johnson. Johnson called Chief Bashir, who by phone told Fleischer he was out of town for training but would not disclose the nature of the training or the location. He said he would return Monday. On Monday, Fleischer found the doors locked and Public Safety Officer Johnson refused to open them. Investigators from Georgia’s Department of Public Safety also visited the Morris Brown Police Department to revoke the blue light permits from all of its unmarked vehicles. "We opened the case on one afternoon, and retrieved the permits by the close of business the next. It's a very serious matter," said DPS spokesman Gordy Wright. “Something is really, really wrong here,” said Vance. "I wouldn't even classify it as a police agency right now."
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Cop Suspended After Being Accused of Rape While On Duty
Cop suspended after being accused of rape
Fox5SanDiego - February 7, 2011
EL CAJON, Calif. -- A San Diego police officer was on compulsory unpaid leave Monday as detectives investigated a woman's accusation that he raped her at an East County home. "The El Cajon Police Department notified us on Thursday that they were investigating a case," said San Diego Police Chief William Lansdowne. "It was my decision to place that officer on unpaid administrative leave and remove his police powers by taking away his badge and his weapon." Late last Wednesday, a woman being treated at a hospital told a physician that the officer and a woman had sexually assaulted her at a residence in El Cajon earlier that evening, and medical staffers then notified the police, El Cajon Police Department Lt. Mark Coit said. There have been no arrests in the case, according to Coit. "If the person is in law enforcement and he's been listed as a suspect, he's gonna be treated the same as we would any other investigation," Coit said. The officer, who was off duty at the time of the alleged assault, has not been named. The alleged assailants and victim are acquaintances, the lieutenant said.
Saturday, February 12, 2011
Video Shows Cops Punching Student While Being Placed Under Arrest
YouTube video shows cops punching unruly Rutgers University student while trying to arrest him
The New York Daily News by Bill Hutchinson - February 8, 2011
A YouTube video showing cops punching an unruly Rutgers University student from Long Island was burning up the Internet on Monday night. The minute and 43 second video, taken by a witness viewing the incident from a perch above the scene, shows Elliott Marx, 20, of Lindenhurst being punched as five New Brunswick, N.J., police arrest him. Police officials said the incident stemmed from a parking lot fight early Saturday morning near the New Brunswick campus. Lt. J.T. Miller told MyCentralJersey.com that Marx was one of up 50 people involved in the 1 a.m. brawl. "Stop resisting! Give me your hand!" one cop is heard shouting at Marx in the video. When Marx continued to resist, an officer is seen punching the suspect at least four times. Marx, a Rutgers sophomore, was arrested on charges of resisting arrest, obstruction, aggravated assault and having a fake ID. Miller said Marx jumped on an officer's back before he was arrested. Defense attorney John Koufos said Marx suffered cuts and bruises to his face. Marx claimed that his friend was jumped when they tried to get into a house party. He was trying to help his friend when people attacked him. He claimed he didn't realized he was struggling with cops until they ordered him to stop resisting, Koufos told the news web site. New Brunswick Police Director Peter Mangarella said Internal Affairs has launched an investigators. "My first take is that I see somebody resisting arrest," Mangarella said. "Was the force justified? That's what our guys are trying to determine."
Sergeant Accused of Sexually Abusing Teen Girl
Park police sergeant accused of sexually abusing teen girl
The Democrat and Chronicle by Victoria E. Freile - February 10, 2011
A sergeant with the New York State Park Police has been accused of sexually abusing a teenage girl in Greece. Todd M. Johnson, 41, of Mount Vernon, Westchester County, was charged Tuesday with one count of endangering the welfare of a child and two counts of third-degree sexual abuse, both misdemeanors, Greece Police Capt. Steve Chatterton said today. Greece police officers started investigating the case last month after they learned of the alleged sexual abuse ,which reportedly occurred in Greece late last year, Chatterton said. The victim is younger than 16. Further details of the incident were not released. While investigating the case, officers learned that Johnson is a state park police sergeant downstate. Chatterton said Johnson was not on duty when the alleged abuse occurred. Greece Police said the arrest was not related to Johnson’s job. Johnson was suspended without pay from his job as of Tuesday, said Dan Keefe, spokesman for the Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation. Keefe said Johnson is facing disciplinary action, but declined to say where in the state park system Johnson was stationed, or how long he worked as a parks patrol officer. Johnson pleaded not guilty in Greece Town Court and was remanded to the Monroe County Jail. He posted $1,000 bail and is scheduled return to court on at 1 p.m. Feb. 23. VFREILE@DemocratandChronicle.com
Trooper Charged With Sex Assault
Trooper charged with sex assault
The Journal Sentinel by Don Behm - February 6, 2011
Attacks on teenage girl continued over 2 years, complaint alleges
A 48-year-old Wisconsin state patrolman has been charged in Green County Circuit Court with three felony counts of sexual assault of a child who was placed in his Town of Clarno home for foster care in November 2008, a criminal complaint says. James M. Norquay was suspended without pay indefinitely, pending an independent administrative investigation of the allegations, State Patrol Capt. Charles Teasdale said. Norquay is a trooper with the patrol's Southwest Region. The child was 15 years old at the time of the first assault, according to the criminal complaint filed by special prosecutor Dennis Krueger, an assistant attorney general. She is now 18. The assaults continued until the child was removed from the home on Jan. 2 of this year, the complaint says. Norquay is scheduled to make an initial appearance Monday on the charges in Green County Circuit Court, according to a news release from the Wisconsin Department of Justice. Each count carries a maximum penalty of 40 years' imprisonment and a fine of $100,000. The charges against Norquay resulted from an investigation by the Justice Department's Division of Criminal Investigation. "Investigation and prosecution of cases involving those who prey on children are a high priority of the Department of Justice and we will continue to assist local law enforcement and prosecutors in child maltreatment investigations," Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen said in the release. Individuals with information about this case can contact agent Lourdes Fernandez of the Division of Criminal Investigation at (608) 266-1671
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Former Sheriff's Deputy Pleads Guilty to Extortion Charges
Former sheriff's deputy pleads guilty to extortion charges
The Houston Chronicle by James Pinkerton - February 7, 2011
A former Harris County sheriff’s deputy suspected of using his badge and gun to stop drug dealers and steal their loads pleaded guilty Monday to federal extortion charges. Richard Bryan Nutt Jr., 43, entered a guilty plea before U.S. District Judge Vanessa Gilmore on Monday, admitting his role in an undercover sting set up in December by Houston police and FBI agents. Nutt, wearing his sheriff’s uniform and carrying his gun, and four Houston men were arrested Dec. 15 after Nutt followed an SUV driven by an HPD officer posing as a Mexican drug courier. One of the men, Nathaniel House, 37, entered the SUV and retrieved a package containing a 2-kilogram load of fake cocaine. The HPD undercover officer left the SUV and walked into a sporting store. Nutt and two other men were stopped as they left with the contraband. Houston police set up the undercover sting operation after obtaining "information that members of law enforcement were robbing shipments of narcotics,’’ according to a statement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Nutt, who is free on bond, faces up to 20 years in federal prison without parole, and a $250,000 fine. A co-defendant in the case, House, also pleaded guilty and is set to be sentenced with Nutt in June. The former lawman’s attorney, Mark Thering, said Nutt was told the courier would be carrying $500,000 in drug proceeds — not drugs. The officer’s cut was supposed to be $100,000. Thering said Nutt regrets his behavior. "This is the first time he’s done this," Thering said. "Others can differ with that, but there has to be a first time for everyone and this truly was Mr. Nutt’s first time to engage in any criminal activity." Thering said Nutt did not know any of the four men he was arrested with, adding the ex-deputy was recruited by a man he met while working security at a local nightclub. "Why does any law-abiding citizen delve into criminal activity — I’m thinking it’s a question of easy money,’’ Thering said. "I don’t want to trivialize what he did, because he broke the law and expects to go to prison. He regrets with every fiber of his being making that decision. He’s disappointed his family, and put a black mark on the quality of people who work for the sheriff department.’’ Nutt was separated from his wife at the time of his arrest, and was under financial strain, Thering said. "He hadn’t done it before and this was going to be the proceeds of money, and money only. But when he got down to it he ended up sitting on two kilos of cocaine,’’ Thering said. Thering said his client elected to plead relatively quickly because of the videotaped evidence against him, as well getting favorable consideration at sentencing for taking early responsibility for his crime. "Sheriff Garcia and his almost 4,000 employees have worked hard to restore public trust in the Harris County Sheriff’s Office," said Alan Bernstein, director of public affairs for Sheriff Adrian Garcia. "In the thankfully rare cases where that effort involves holding current and former employees responsible for breaking the law, the justice system at multiple levels is once more demonstrating that it works. In addition, Mr. Nutt was dismissed from his job as a deputy soon after charges were filed against him." james.pinkerton@chron.com
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Ex-Girlfriend of Cop Recalls Terror of Gun Threat
Ex-girlfriend of Albany cop recalls terror of gun threat
The Albany Times Union by Brendan J. Lyons - February 9, 2011
Former girlfriend of Albany cop recalls terror of gun threat
ALBANY, NY -- The former girlfriend of an Albany police officer testified Tuesday that he held her face down on the floor of his Albany residence two years ago and threatened to kill her while grinding the barrel of a loaded handgun against her skull. Barbara Waters said her former boyfriend, Officer Robert L. Schunk, later threatened in a voicemail message to kill her and her young son if she told anyone about the incident or jeopardized his job. Waters cried while recounting the alleged assault during the first day of testimony at Schunk's criminal trial in Albany County Court. Schunk, 39, a 12-year veteran of the Albany police force, is on trial for felony and misdemeanor charges as the department seeks to fire him. He is accused of assaulting Waters with his departmental handgun, holding her against her will and shoving her down a flight of stairs as she tried to end their relationship on Jan. 4, 2009. Waters, 37, said Schunk held her on the floor with his knee in her back and she prayed for help from her father, who had recently died. "He told me he was going to kill me," she said. "He kept calling me whore, bitch .... I don't even know if I could hear what he was completely saying the whole time. I was praying to my dad to stop him." Schunk sat motionless at the defense table as Waters spoke. His neck and head flushed bright red as Waters' voice cracked and she described a terrifying ordeal that she said lasted about 90 minutes. The encounter turned violent, Waters said, when Schunk shoved her down a flight of stairs as she started to leave without the belongings she had gone to his residence to retrieve. She had gone there to break up with Schunk as a result of his jealousy and rage, she said. Schunk's attorney, Cheryl Coleman, during a grueling cross-examination that lasted almost two hours, questioned Waters about why she had waited more than a year to report the incident, and only after her own arrest in Albany last April on charges she "trashed" Schunk's residence. Coleman, through questioning, suggested Waters and her estranged husband, Steven, had concocted the story so Waters could get out of her criminal case. But Waters corrected Coleman when the defense attorney noted Waters had never told police about the incident until last year. Waters said a female Glenville police officer came to her home a couple days after the 2009 incident and that Waters told her what happened. The Glenville officer responded to the residence after Steven Waters called 911 in a panic because his wife, who was in a bath, would not answer the telephone. Waters testified that she and Schunk reunited after the gun incident and entered therapy. "I loved him," she testified.
Steven Waters, the last of five witnesses called by special prosecutor Lyn A. Murphy, testified that his wife called him on her cell phone minutes after she bolted from Schunk's house the night of the incident and that she was extremely distraught. When Waters arrived home, he said, "she was shaking, kind of in a rocking motion. ... I felt on her right side of her head, slightly towards the back, a lump." He said his wife's legs and arms were covered with bruises. Ten days later, Waters went to a doctor's office and reported her injuries and what happened to a physician's assistant, Karen Kasarda, who testified about treating Waters for the injuries. Waters testified that at one point during the incident she fled into the bedroom of Schunk's daughter, who was not home, and tried to escape out a window while screaming for help. Schunk pulled her back, she said, and placed his handgun, which was loaded, on the daughter's dresser. "I was petrified," she testified. "I thought he was going to kill me. ... He just kept saying you're never going to leave me." Officer Christian Mesley, president of the Albany Police Officers Union, testified that he drove Schunk home to meet with Waters the night of the incident. Mesley said that before leaving, and while Schunk and Waters argued in a car outside, he took Schunk's loaded service weapon off a kitchen counter and disabled it by removing internal parts. Mesley said he put the magazine back in the weapon, with 11 rounds inside, and placed the gun back on the counter after hiding the gun parts in the house. Schunk did not know the weapon was inoperable when he held it to Waters' head, the prosecutor said. Murphy, a Saratoga County assistant district attorney, told jurors in her opening statement to listen carefully to Waters' testimony about how Schunk allegedly looked curiously at the weapon before "putting it back to her head." "Draw your own conclusions as to what was going on there," Murphy told the panel. "The defendant let Ms. Waters up and said do what you got to do. She fled for her life." Judge Stephen W. Herrick is presiding. Coleman, the defense attorney, said she will call several Albany officers to testify Wednesday. Three of the officers were involved in arresting Waters last April. Herrick has not allowed the jury to hear evidence about other documented domestic violence incidents involving Schunk. That includes criminal charges filed against him last April for allegations he attacked Waters at her Halfmoon apartment in a jealous rage. Hours later, Waters was arrested in Albany after breaking into Schunk's residence to retrieve belongings and allegedly damaging his property. James Lyman, a former Albany detective and executive director of Council 82, which is the umbrella union for the Albany police union, also testified Tuesday. Lyman said he went to Mesley's house the night of the incident when Schunk showed up there emotionally distressed and that he had been drinking. Lyman said he and Mesley drove Schunk home and that he saw Mesley disable Schunk's gun before they left as the couple argued. Brendan J. Lyons can be reached at 454-5547 or by e-mail at blyons@timesunion.com.
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Judge Denies Request to Release Jailed Officers
Judge denies request to release jailed Tulsa officers
The Tulsa World by Omer Gillham - February 7, 2011
Grand jury investigates police corruption: Read all of the stories, view a timeline and read key documents. A federal judge has denied a request by two suspended Tulsa police officers to release them from jail while they await trial on numerous counts in a police corruption case. U.S. District Judge Bruce Black of New Mexico denied the request to release officers Jeff Henderson and Bill Yelton following a hearing today. Former federal agent Brandon McFadden testified during the hearing about threats that Henderson and Yelton had made against him. McFadden is a key witness in the case. Henderson and Yelton have been jailed since July 20, the day five Tulsa police officers were indicted on alleged civil rights violations, perjury and other various crimes. The other officers have been released on bond. McFadden testified that Henderson and Yelton allegedly threatened him on three different occasions, with the first incident allegedly occurring during the fall of 2007. During one alleged incident in the summer of 2008, McFadden said Henderson and Yelton threatened him at a waste water treatment plant in Tulsa. During the alleged incident, while the three were sitting in Henderson’s car with McFadden in the back seat, Yelton removed his gun from the holster and racked the slide. The gun ejected what appeared to be a bullet, which hit against a window or another part of the interior of the car, he said. Yelton allegedly said, “Get back to Lubbock and keep your mouth shut,” McFadden testified. McFadden testified about another incident in which he said Yelton showed him the state Department of Corrections mugshot of a former Tulsa police officer convicted in a crossbow killing. In that case, former officer Jimmie Dean Stohler was convicted in the 1982 contract killing death of Michelle Powers. Under cross examination by defense attorney Stephen Jones, McFadden said he told no one of the alleged threats by Henderson and Yelton. McFadden said he had not seen Yelton pull his gun out at the waste water treatment plant. Yet, he reaffirmed he heard what he believed to be a gun and a round of ammunition being ejected. Questioned by U.S. Assistant Attorney Pat Harris, McFadden said he told no one about the alleged threats because to do so would implicate him. McFadden said he, Henderson and Yelton were involved in stealing money and falsifying search warrants, and he had witnessed Henderson and Yelton allegedly beating and assaulting drug defendants. “I took the threats seriously from them,” McFadden said. “These guys are pretty smart. They don’t mess around.” Henderson took the stand in his own defense and denied ever threatening McFadden and said Yelton also did not threaten him.
Monday, February 7, 2011
Cop Charged with Felony Theft
Officer Charged with Felony Theft
MyFoxHouston.com by Damali Keieth - February 7, 2011
HOUSTON, TX - An area police officer is finding himself on the wrong side of the law. The Stafford Police Officer is now indicted on two felony counts. Paul Kevin Germany worked for the Stafford Police Department for 19.5 years. A department spokesperson says Germany was in charge of the property room since 1994. Germany is now accused of stealing more than $14,000 from the very evidence room he was supposed to guard. "He was the only person that actually maintained custody and preservation of the evidence that was submitted during the course of all the investigations," Fort Bend County Deputy District Attorney Scott Carpenter said. The veteran police officer has been indicted on charges of theft by a public servant and abuse of office. They are third-degree felonies. "It's totally unacceptable as far as law enforcement is concerned. It's totally unacceptable for the citizens of Fort Bend County," Carpenter said about Germany's alleged wrongdoing. Carpenter, who is prosecuting the case against Germany, said the officer was stealing from the property room from 2005 to 2010. The prosecutor said Germany was only caught after he accidentally shot himself in the leg at the shooting range last summer and had to miss work. Germany recovered from the injury. Those missed days, however, seemed to have killed Germany's career after Carpenter says another officer discovered the missing money. "We're, kind of, really somewhat surprised that it went criminal," a member of Germany's legal team, David Donahue, said. "Yes we definitely feel Paul is not guilty on this." Defense attorneys plan to prove what they call possible mismanagement in the property room. "Paul's been an outstanding law enforcement officer. He's highly respected in law enforcement and the community and it's really been hard on him that this has happened. It's really been hard on him and his family," Donahue said. If convicted of the charges Paul Germany faces two to ten years behind bars and a $10,000 fine. Germany has been fired from the Stafford Police Department.
Sunday, February 6, 2011
Anger Over Police Corruption Takes Off
Anger and a Facebook Page That Gave It Voice
The New York Times by Jennifer Preston - February 5, 2011
If there is a face to the revolt that has sprouted in Egypt, it may be the face of Khaled Said.
Mr. Said, a 28-year-old Egyptian businessman, was pulled from an Internet cafe in Alexandria last June by two plainclothes police officers, who witnesses say then beat him to death in the lobby of a residential building. Human rights advocates said he was killed because he had evidence of police corruption. The Egyptian police and security services have a well-earned reputation for brutality and snuffing out political opposition. But in Mr. Said, they unwittingly chose the wrong target. Within five days of his death, an anonymous human rights activist created a Facebook page — We Are All Khaled Said — that posted cellphone photos from the morgue of his battered and bloodied face, and YouTube videos played up contrasting pictures of him happy and smiling with the graphic images from the morgue. By mid-June, 130,000 people joined the page to get and share updates about the case.
It became and remains the biggest dissident Facebook page in Egypt, even as protests continue to sweep the country, with more than 473,000 users, and it has helped spread the word about the demonstrations in Egypt, which were ignited after a revolt in neighboring Tunisia toppled the government there. “There were many catalysts of the uprising,” said Ahmed Zidan, an online political activist marching toward Tahrir Square for a protest last week. “The first was the brutal murder of Khalid Said.” The Tunisian rebellion was set off after a fruit vendor, Mohamed Bouazizi, burned himself to death after being humiliated by the police. His desperate act led to protests, which were recorded on mobile phones, posted on the Internet, shared on Facebook and eventually broadcast by Al Jazeera. But Mr. Said’s death may be the starkest example yet of the special power of social networking tools like Facebook even — or especially — in a police state. The Facebook page set up around his death offered Egyptians a rare forum to bond over their outrage about government abuses. “Prior to the murder of Khaled Said, there were blogs and YouTube videos that existed about police torture, but there wasn’t a strong community around them,” said Jillian C. York, the project coordinator for the OpenNet Initiative of the Berkman Center for the Internet and Society at Harvard University. “This case changed that.” While it is almost impossible to isolate the impact of social media tools from the general swirl of events that set off the popular uprisings across the Middle East, there is little doubt that they provided a new means for ordinary people to connect with human rights advocates trying to amass support against police abuse, torture and the Mubarak government’s permanent emergency laws allowing people to be jailed without charges.
Facebook and YouTube also offered a way for the discontented to organize and mobilize — and allowed secular-minded young people to seize the momentum from Egypt’s relatively neutered, organized opposition. Far more decentralized than political parties, the strength and agility of the networks clearly caught Egyptian authorities — and American intelligence analysts — by surprise, even as the Egyptian government quickly attempted to shut them down. Mr. Said, who was from a middle-class family and worked in the import-export business, was not an activist or involved in politics. But human rights advocates said he was killed because the local police believed he had shot a video showing officers with illegal drugs. Such a video did eventually show up on YouTube. The police had told Mr. Said’s family that he was involved in drugs and died of asphyxiation from swallowing a package of marijuana while in police custody. But witnesses denied that account, telling their stories in YouTube videos. “What made this case different is that Khaled Said was just an ordinary person,” said Gamal Eid, 47, a lawyer and executive director of the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information in Cairo. “He was just a guy who found evidence of corruption and he published it. Then when people learned what happened to him, when people saw pictures of his face, people got very angry.” Mr. Eid said that Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and cellphones made it easy for human rights advocates to get out the news and for people to spread and discuss their outrage about Mr. Said’s death in a country where freedom of speech and the right to assemble were limited and the government monitored newspapers and state television. “He is a big part of our revolution,” said Hudaifa Nabawi, a 20-year-old student in Tahrir Square on Saturday. “Khalid Said was a special case. He didn’t belong to any faction, and he didn’t do anything wrong. He became the way to focus our perceptions around the oppression that all the youth all face. You can consider him a symbol.”
Facebook has been the social networking tool of choice for human rights activists in Egypt. There are five million Facebook users in Egypt, the highest number in any Middle Eastern or North African country. Its power and importance has been building for years. In 2008, the April 6 Youth Movement used Facebook to gain more than 70,000 supporters to help raise awareness for striking workers in Mahalla al-Kobra, Egypt. In the last two years, that movement and other human rights advocates have also turned to Twitter and to YouTube, the third most visited Web site in Egypt after Google and Facebook. YouTube, which human rights advocates have used to upload dozens of videos showing Egyptian police torture and abuse, has evolved as an enormously powerful social media tool as more people have been able to capture and share video on cellphones. When video of the corrupt police officers with drugs attributed to Mr. Said was uploaded on YouTube on June 11, 2010, a member of the April 6 Youth Movement left a message in Arabic on the video that said: “We are Khaled. Each one of us can be Khaled.” The message urged people to stand up against police abuse and torture and say no to “bullying police.” This single video has been viewed more than 500,000 times since June and spawned dozens more videos about Mr. Said, including rap songs and more solemn presentations with haunting music. Last June, besides providing regular Facebook updates about the stalled police investigation into Mr. Said’s death, the anonymous administrator of the Facebook page began posting invitations to join street protests and silent protests in Alexandria and Cairo, which spread to nine other cities. Mohamed ElBaradei, the former chief of the International Atomic Energy Agency and a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, was among thousands attending the protest in Alexandria. With the conversation on social networks translating into street protests — and with the well-documented evidence of the police abuse posted online for hundreds of thousands to see — prosecutors were forced to arrest the two police officers in early July in connection with Mr. Said’s death. But the case remains unresolved. Other Egyptians died at the hands of the police last summer. The protests continued, first every week or so, and then sporadically last fall, until Tunisia fell and then the April 6 Youth Movement Facebook group and the We Are All Khaled Said Facebook page began inviting Egyptians to a protest on Jan. 25. Signaling the Mubarak government’s growing awareness about the powerful role that social media are playing in Egypt, pro-Mubarak supporters began jumping into the Khaled Said Facebook page’s conversation soon after access to the Internet was restored last week. There are now wall posts and comments on the page, blasting antigovernment supporters, demanding that Mr. Mubarak be given a chance and spreading disinformation, including that the “day of departure” protest on Friday was canceled. But that did little to deter the protesters. “If you think you can go on Facebook and tell the people to go home, it’s too late for that,” said Omar Ghoneim, 32, who walked to Friday’s protest, wearing two bandages on his right hand from, he said, throwing tear gas canisters back at the police. David D. Kirkpatrick, Kareem Fahim and Anthony Shadid contributed reporting from Cairo.
Saturday, February 5, 2011
Two Cops Write Bogus Tickets To Real Motorists
Two Staten Island cops write bogus tickets to real, unsuspecting motorists
The New York Daily News by Rocco Parascandola - February 4, 2011
Two Staten Island cops were busted for writing dozens of phony tickets to motorists. Two Staten Island cops are accused of writing motorists more than 40 bogus tickets while assigned to overtime duty, authorities said. The officers - Stephen Gerwer, 39, and Vincent Adinolfi, 40, of the 122nd Precinct - issued moving violation summons to real motorists last May. The accused officers submitted paperwork to their bosses to make it look like they were doing their jobs, but never gave the summonses to the unsuspecting motorists, sources said. And Adinolfi and Gerwer never gave the summons information to the Department of Motor Vehicles, sources said. The scam may have worked, sources said, if the motorists had appeared in court to appeal the summonses. When supervisors realized Adinolfi and Gerwer did not show up at any hearings an investigation was launched, sources said. It was not clear though how the supervisors came to learn the officers had not appeared in court. Adinolfi and Gerwer, who could face three years in prison, were arraigned Thursday and released without bail. Gerwer was charged with 37 counts - one for each ticket - of tampering with public records, offering a false instrument, second-degree falsifying business records and official misconduct. Adinolfi, accused of writing 10 bogus tickets, faces 10 counts each for the same charges. Gerwer, an eight-year veteran, and Adinolfi, a 17-year veteran, were suspended without pay following their arrests. Their lawyer, Stephen Worth, had no comment. rparascandola@nydailynews.com
Friday, February 4, 2011
Cop Gets 3 Years Probation for Arson and Insurance Fraud
Ex-NJ Police Officer Sentenced for Insurance Fraud
The Associated Press - February 4, 2011
NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — A former East Orange police officer who admitted setting fire to his personal vehicle to defraud his insurance company has been sentenced to three years' probation. Thirty-five-year-old Kareem Spence pleaded guilty in November to one count of insurance fraud. The six-year veteran officer resigned from the force last year after being indicted in the case. Prosecutors said Spence tried to get rid of his 2002 Cadillac De Ville because it had mechanical problems and he still owed $8,000 on it. He was sentenced Friday in state Superior Court in Newark.
State Trooper Convicted Of Obstructing Child Molestation Investigation
Mixed verdict in Pa. trooper meddling allegation
The Associated Press - February 2, 2011
CARLISLE, Pa. (AP) — A central Pennsylvania state trooper has been convicted of obstructing the investigation into a child molestation allegation involving a woman the trooper said was his lover. The Cumberland County jury returned a mixed verdict Tuesday, acquitting Trooper Barry Tangert Jr. of improperly influencing a public servant and retaliating against a prosecutor. Prosecutors say Tangert wanted state police to investigate so he could interrogate the alleged victim himself. A former state police official testified that Tangert planned to arrest a county assistant district attorney in retaliation for not doing as he asked. Tangert's lawyer said his client may have violated state police policy but didn't break the law. The prosecutor was never arrested. Sentencing is scheduled for March 29.
Police Inspector Charged With Extortion
Sources: FBI Took Inspector Into Custody Friday
MYFOXPHILLY.COM
PHILADELPHIA, PA - Federal prosecutors announced charges Friday against a Philadelphia police inspector, Carlo Daniel Castro, saying he has been involved in an extortion and bribery scheme. "Danny" Castro works in the traffic division and is known as a rising star in the department. He was there when officers arrested the last of Sgt. Stephen Liczbinski's three killers, Eric Floyd. Sources told Fox 29 News the FBI took Castro into custody Friday morning. According to the indictment, Castro invested $90,000 in real estate and when it failed to yield any financial result, he allegedly sought help from a witness cooperating with the FBI to get money back. The document says Castro wanted $150,000 back, instructed the "collector" to use threats of violence and violence, and he was willing to pay a 10 percent fee.
According to a U.S. Attorney's Office news release, "Castro specifically instructed the (cooperating witness) to deal directly with the collector as Castro's representative, and not to disclose his position within the Philadelphia Police Department, telling the CW 'I can't get myself in trouble. I want to be Police Commissioner.'" Prosecutors allege that Castro ultimately accepted three payments totaling more than $21,000, all of which the cooperating witness told them was money "collected" from the former business partner by way of threatening violence or actually using violence. Authorities said Castro, during a subsequent meeting with FBI agents, made several material false statements concerning his efforts to collect the debt. The indictment further alleges that, as part of a bribery scheme, Castro accepted a free 42-inch LCD television from the witness and, in return, conducted a check of a license plate on someone who owed the witness money in law enforcement databases. Castro had a court appearance scheduled for Friday afternoon, but it was not immediately clear if he had an attorney. U.S. Attorney Zane David Memeger said in the news release, "Police officers committing crimes have a corrosive impact on our system of justice. Along with our law enforcement partners -- in this case, the FBI and the Philadelphia Police Deaprtment -- we will continue to aggressively investigate and prosecute police corruption." If convicted, Castro faces a maximum possible sentence of 80 years imprisonment, a $2 million fine, three years of supervised release, and an $800 special assessment, authorities said. The announcement, made Friday, is the latest in an embarrassing string of in-house arrests in recent months. Other cases have included two officers who allegedly robbed a supposed drug dealer of 20 pounds of marijuana and $3,000 cash, and a longtime officer who allegedly stole $825 from a bar where an officer was slain four years ago.
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
New York Cop Charged With Assault and False Arrest
Yonkers cop charged with assault, false arrest
The Journal News by Rebecca Baker - February 2, 2011
YONKERS, NY — A city police officer is accused of assaulting two people in a bar while on duty last year, then falsely arresting one of them to cover up his actions. Officer Raul Ramirez, 31, surrendered Tuesday to the Yonkers Internal Affairs division, which investigated the case. He had been on modified duty for weeks. He was arraigned in Westchester County Court and pleaded not guilty to all charges, which include felony counts of assault, filing a false instrument and falsifying business records. He is also charged with misdemeanor counts of writing a false statement and official misconduct. Ramirez's gun and badge were taken away after he surrendered. He was released without bail. "We recognize that these are serious charges," said his attorney, Andrew Quinn. "We are not aware of the specific details of the allegations. Until we are, I can't comment further." Ramirez was assigned to the Third Precinct and was working the midnight shift on April 12 when he got a call from his brother at 3:48 a.m. asking him to come to Las Palmas Bar at 59 Yonkers Ave., authorities said. He was not sent there by a police dispatcher.
After arriving, Ramirez allegedly attacked two people in the bar and filed criminal charges against one of them, according to the county District Attorney's Office. Police learned of the incident after a complaint was filed with the District Attorney's Office. Detective Sgt. Patrick McCormack said once the department was notified, it immediately launched an investigation. "We police ourselves on this one," he said. Police Commissioner Edmund Hartnett said the charges against Ramirez were "troubling." "This was a single act by this guy who thought he was going to settle a score for his brother," Hartnett said. "It is really aberrant behavior." Ramirez was in a marked cruiser with a partner that night, Hartnett said. His partner, whose name was not released, is the subject of an Internal Affairs probe. Other officers eventually arrived at the bar, but there is no indication any were involved in any misconduct, Harnett said. Ramirez was suspended for 60 days, the maximum allowed under the police contract. He was hired by Yonkers on Jan. 3, 2008, after serving less than six months with the New York City Police Department. His annual salary is $78,257. He faces up to seven years in prison on the assault charges and possible termination from the department. A pre-trial hearing is set for Feb. 16. "Officer Ramirez betrayed the trust of the citizens of Yonkers and the Yonkers Police Department by putting himself and his own interests above the law," District Attorney Janet DiFiore said in a statement. "Abuse of the public trust is a serious breach, and my office will continue to prosecute and convict any public servant who uses their position for personal gain." Mayor Phil Amicone praised DiFiore's office and the Internal Affairs Unit for their work on the case. "The people of Yonkers should be reassured that if these types of abuses do occur, as in this case, we will find those responsible and hold them accountable," he said in a statement. Ramirez was suspended for 60 days, the maximum allowed under the police contract. He was hired by Yonkers on Jan. 3, 2008, after serving less than six months with the New York City Police Department. His annual salary is $78,257. He faces up to seven years in prison on the assault charges and possible termination from the department. A pre-trial hearing is set for Feb. 16. "Officer Ramirez betrayed the trust of the citizens of Yonkers and the Yonkers Police Department by putting himself and his own interests above the law," District Attorney Janet DiFiore said in a statement. "Abuse of the public trust is a serious breach, and my office will continue to prosecute and convict any public servant who uses their position for personal gain." Mayor Phil Amicone praised DiFiore's office and the Internal Affairs Unit for their work on the case. "The people of Yonkers should be reassured that if these types of abuses do occur, as in this case, we will find those responsible and hold them accountable," he said in a statement. Staff writer Will David contributed to this report.
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
dismisses case against former officer
Judge dismisses case against former officer
The Tulsa World by Omer Gillham - February 1, 2011
A judge dismissed a misdemeanor assault and battery charge against a former police officer Monday because a key witness in his case failed to appear in court, records show. Eric J. Hill, 32, was charged Sept. 14 in Tulsa County District Court with one misdemeanor count of domestic assault and battery, records show. Hill also is expected to be a federal witness in a police corruption probe. The assault charge was filed by the Rogers County District Attorney's Office after the Tulsa County District Attorney's Office recused itself from the case. The victim, Lindsay Johnson, is a former victims advocate for the Tulsa County District Attorney's Office's Victim-Witness Center. Tulsa County Special District Judge Dawn Moody dismissed Hill's case Friday, citing the failure of a witness to appear, records show. Hill's attorney, Patrick Adams, said Johnson was not interested in being a witness. "From my understanding, the witness wanted no part of the prosecution of Eric Hill," Adams said. "Mr. Hill has maintained his innocence from the start, and he was ready for trial. He is working and moving on with his life." The charge against Hill states that on July 18, he allegedly struck Johnson, whom he had been dating, pulled her into a car by her hair, slammed her head into the dashboard several times and shoved her to the ground. If convicted, Hill could have faced a year in jail and a $5,000 fine. The Tulsa Police Department fired Hill on Aug. 18 after an internal investigation revealed that he admitted during a federal investigation to engaging in criminal activity while on duty, records show. Hill was placed on paid leave June 22 after his name surfaced in a federal grand jury investigation into police corruption. Hill, who joined the Police Department in July 2005, has not been charged in the federal investigation. With prosecutorial immunity, Hill is expected to be a federal witness in a police corruption investigation in which six former and current police officers have been charged and as a result of which 31 people have been freed from prison, had felony cases dismissed or charges reduced or granted a new trial.
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Husband Claims FBI Agent Seduced Wife During Investigation
Spurned husband Yanko Belliard claims FBI agent seduced his wife during a federal investigation
The New York Daily News by Simone Weichselbaum and Alison Gendar - January 30, 2011
A jilted husband claims a randy FBI agent seduced his wife during a federal fraud investigation - then tried to put the kibosh on charges against her in a state probe. Law enforcement sources confirmed the Justice Department is investigating Special Agent Adrian Busby - who denies he did anything wrong. But Yanko Belliard said his partner of 13 years, Yanet Salazar, had a torrid affair with Busby after she came forward with information about bogus Queens mortgages. Salazar spent hours talking with Busby, slept at his Far Rockaway apartment and even went on a vacation with the agent, his young sons and Belliard's own three young daughters, Belliard claims. "Before this happened, I thought we had a good life, a house, a solid family. No secrets. He comes and it's all ruined," said Belliard, 39, a computer program specialist. Belliard told his tale of betrayal to an investigator with the Justice Department nearly a year ago and said he has not heard the outcome. His ex - they were married in a church ceremony but never got a license - was convicted on state identity theft charges in 2009 and will be sentenced on April1.
A Justice Department lawyer and an FBI spokesman declined comment. Reached by cell phone, Busby, 37, did not want to talk specifics. "Was she a suspect in my case? She wasn't a suspect in my case," he said of Salazar. "Was she a confidential informant? That's something that the FBI would have to give out." He said the feds have been investigating the allegations since 2009. "If they did not find anything, then apparently my actions were appropriate," he said. Belliard said he gave investigators what he considered proof of an affair: his wife's cell phone bills; a photo of her running a red light near Busby's apartment, and a phone-tracking service that put her outside Busby's apartment. He also gave them an airline luggage tag with Busby's name on it, saying it was mistakenly switched from Salazar's luggage during a vacation. "I finally call Busby, and say, 'What are you doing? You have no right to sleep with my wife,'" Belliard said. "He said, 'What proof do you have?'" Busby's ex, Virginia, told the Daily News she was interviewed last year as part of the misconduct investigation but does not believe Busby would do anything improper. "As much as Adrian and I went through, he's a good man. He's a good father," she said, adding their eight-year relationship ended before the allegations. Belliard said the problem began in 2007 when Salazar, a real estate loan officer, learned the feds were looking into corrupt real-estate dealings in Queens. She got a lawyer, called the FBI, confessed she was involved and offered to turn snitch, Belliard said. Belliard and Salazar met Busby at their home and later at a Manhattan restaurant, and she agreed to help them set up a sting operation.
While the FBI probe marched on, the Queens district attorney was also looking into fraud and charged Salazar with felony identity theft in February 2008. Queens prosecutors said she and Realtor Elba Garcia stole the identity of a woman named Aurora Solano and used it to get a bogus mortgage. That's when, according to Belliard, Busby tried to intervene on behalf of Salazar, who had become his "confidential informant" in the federal probe. "Yanet told me that Aurora moved to New Jersey. Busby went there and tried to get a deal with Aurora to drop the charges against Salazar," Belliard said. "She told me Busby was trying to get to Aurora to make the case against Yanet go away." Solano and Garcia refused repeated requests for comment. Salazar's lawyer in the state case, Ronald Nir, said he knew Busby was spending an unusual amount of time with her but "did not see anything untoward." Busby said he did nothing wrong in regard to Solano, and said Belliard's own past discredits his allegation. "An abusive husband told you this. There are tons of females that he has threatened. How credible is he?" he said. Belliard was convicted of disorderly conduct in a 1995 assault case. He also admitted he snapped at his daughter's birthday party in 2009, angrily confronted Salazar and hit her, court records show. He was arrested and barred from coming near Salazar. She was arrested four months later for hitting Belliard, but the charge will be dismissed if she keeps out of trouble. "Sometimes I feel sorry for Busby," Belliard said. "It's the hunter that got hunted. In another way, Yanet used him." agendar@nydailynews.com
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Former Trooper Sentenced to 30 Years
Former Texas trooper sentenced to 30 years in Arkansas
The Associated Press - January 26, 2011
TEXARKANA, AK — A former Texas state trooper has been sentenced to 30 years in prison in Arkansas after being convicted of a variety of crimes — including molesting a 14-year-old girl. Forty-five-year-old Travis Eugene McRae was sentenced Monday in Miller County Circuit Court in Texarkana, Ark. McRae was arrested in May after police found his identification inside a home where the girl said she was awakened from sleep by a man who disrobed and molested her. Police later found McRae hiding in a pond in Clark County. He was convicted of sexual indecency with a child, residential burglary and theft of property. The Texas Department of Public Safety has said McRae was a trooper in Bowie County for four years before resigning in 1990. He was convicted in 1991 in Texas of sexual indecency with a 13-year-old girl.
Man Left With Catastrophic Brain Damage by Cops
The moment innocent man was left with catastrophic brain damage after being tackled by sheriff's deputy
The Daily Mail Reporter - January 20, 2011
Cocooned in tubes and blankets, he has spent the last 20 months lying helpless in a hospital bed. Christopher Harris, 31, suffered catastrophic brain damage when he was violently tackled by a sheriff's deputy outside a cinema in Seattle. Astonishingly, the moment he was knocked unconscious when he was slammed head-first against a wall was caught on a surveillance camera. His family, including his wife, are now taking the case to court alleging King County Deputies Matthew Paul and Joseph Eshom used excessive force. They are expected to claim at least $25 million in damages. Mr Harris had been walking through the Belltown district on May 10, 2009, when the incident happened. The two officers had been called out to a disturbance in a convenience car and had headed down an alley believing the culprits had gone that way. Instead, they stumbled across Mr Harris who was an innocent passerby. They asked him to stop but instead he ran away. One of the deputies, Matthew Paul, tackled him outside the Cinerama cinema, and he collapsed on the floor. He was taken to hospital and diagnosed with irreversible brain damage. He is unable to walk, talk or care for himself and needs 24 hours care. His lawyer Simeon Osborn said he would have choked on his own blood but for the intervention of a passerby. 'Christopher Harris has irreversible brain damage, and will never recover,' he said. 'He will never walk or talk with his wife and family, or engage in any activities or experiences of daily life.' He told the Pierce County Superior Court Judge Stephanie Arend that Mr Harris had been attempting to surrender when he was tackled by the deputy, who was clad in black fatigues. 'Mr Harris stopped running, put his hands out in front of him and said, "I don't have anything, I didn't steal anything,"' he said. King County has claimed that Mr Harris was responsible for his own injuries because he ran away. Senior Deputy Prosecutor Kristofer Bundy said that his decision to run away was 'extremely foolish and negligent. 'If he had not ran, the officers would have been able to speak with him and quickly determine that he was not the violent felon that they thought he was,' Bundy told the court. 'Therefore, Mr Harris would not have been injured if he had not run.' The case is due to go before a jury on Tuesday and is expected to last several weeks.
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Corruption Lawsuit Gets Boot Due To Lack of Service
The case is one of several in the aftermath of a federal police corruption probe
Scripps TV - January 24, 2011
TULSA, OK - A lawsuit filed against the City of Tulsa in connection to a police corruption scandal has been dismissed. On Monday, Judge Carlos Chappelle dismissed a lawsuit filed in April 2010 by Larry Barnes and his wife, Linda Sue Barnes. Defense attorney Clark Brewster made the request, because the defendants had not been served since the filing. Defendants named are the City of Tulsa, former police chief Ron Palmer, officer Jeff Henderson and former ATF agent Brandon McFadden. Barnes claims his civil rights were violated when Henderson and McFadden conspired to present false testimony at his felony drug trial in 2008. He was convicted and spent 16 months in a federal prison. More lawsuits are pending against the City in the aftermath of a federal police corruption probe in which several Tulsa officers have been indicted. Those officers, including Jeff Henderson, are accused of planting evidence, intimidating witnesses and stealing drug money. McFadden has since pleaded guilty. Henderson is awaiting trial.
Chicago Cop Stands Trial For Beating Motorist
James Mandarino, Suburban Chicago Police Officer, Stands Trial For Beating Motorist
The Huffington Post - January 24, 2011
A police officer from the Chicago suburbs stands trial Monday for a ruthless beating captured on his own squad car's dashboard video camera. James Mandarino, a Streamwood police officer, is charged with aggravated battery and official misconduct for the beating of 28-year-old Ronald Bell. Bell and a friend, Nolan Stalbaum, were driving home from an Ultimate Fighting Championship match last April, according to the Chicago Tribune. They were stopped by Mandarino, who followed them a few blocks to Bell's driveway. Bell pulled up to his house, and Stalbaum got out of the car. But Mandarino emerged from his patrol car, firearm drawn, and Bell got back into the driver's seat. The officer then used his stun-gun on Stalbaum, who was already out of the car, making him collapse in a heap on the stairs. For a few minutes, Mandarino speaks to Bell -- the video has no sound, but Bell appears docile and compliant. Then, with Bell on his knees, hands behind his head, Mandarino starts relentless beating Bell with his metal baton, hitting him 15 times before he collapses to the pavement. All this is captured on the video camera in Mandarino's squad car. Still, according to NBC Chicago, the officer's union lawyer claims he is denying any wrongdoing. Bell and Stalbaum have also filed a federal lawsuit against Mandarino.
Monday, January 24, 2011
Ex-Deputy Sentenced on Corruption, Drug Charges
Ex-Deputy Sentenced on Corruption, Drug Charges
NBC 11 Atlanta by Michael King - January 24, 2011
ATLANTA, GA -- A former Fulton County Sheriff's Deputy was sentenced on Monday to six years in federal prison on corruption and drug charges. According to prosecutors, Anthony Atwater of Atlanta, at two different times, provided protection for what he believed to be large cocaine deals. For each instance, the 33-year-old agreed to protect those he thought were drug dealers in exchange for $2,000. He was in uniform, in a marked police vehicle and on duty when he provided the protection. "While dressed in his uniform, this former law enforcement officer sold out his badge to people he knew as drug dealers, and chose to protect them rather than the citizens," US Attorney Sally Yates said in a statement released late Monday. "Any sworn officer who thinks they can abandon their oath and become a criminal in police clothing should know this: Your betrayal makes you a criminal ready for federal prison." At Monday's sentencing hearing, prosecutors said FBI agents initially investigated Atwater after getting word that he had illegally searched a Fulton County home while driving a marked car and wearing a Sheriff's Department uniform. According to authorities, Atwater told the resident of the home that he had a warrant to search the home, but refused to show a copy of the warrant and entered to search the home. Atwater was sentenced to six years in prison, to be followed by four years of probation. He was also ordered to perform 80 hours of community service.
Idiots at work weekly report
The Pennsylvania State Police have settled a lawsuit for an unknown sum to a man who claims that a trooper falsely arrested him in retaliation for filing an excessive force complaint against him.
Two Tulsa OK police officers are the subject of a lawsuit filed by a man claiming the officers lied in order to wrongfully convict him. He spent 435 days in jail until the drug trafficking case against him was dismissed by a judge who stated that the officers lied about his arrest. This is the fourth such suit filed recently against Tulsa officers, several of whom are the subject of a federal investigation into corruption and wrongful arrests.
A Los Angeles County CA deputy is the subject of a lawsuit alleging he injured a court spokeswoman when he shoved her into wall for being in a restricted area even though she was allowed to be there and had credentials.
A Tarpon Springs FL police officer is accused of lying in his arrest report after the Pinellas State Attorney refused to prosecute a college student the officer arrested for recording police while they conducted an arrest. The student claims the contradictions were captured on video.
The San Francisco CA police may be facing quite the lawsuit after they conducted a wrong door drug raid on the home of a law professor who has now pledged to conduct the best litigated lawsuit this century against the department and officers involved.
The Washington DC police are being sued by a couple claiming 10 police officers executed a wrong door drug raid on their apartment.
A North Carolina State trooper received probation as a result of his plea deal to a felony unlawful restraint charge for detaining and handcuffing a woman during a traffic stop, driving her to a secluded area, then masturbating in front of her. Records released after the case indicate this wasn’t the only sexual misconduct complaint against him.
A Pawtucket RI police officer was found guilty of indecent exposure in a case that started after two women reported seeing him perform lewd acts in truck
A Huron SD police officer has been fired and charged with solicitation of a minor and disseminating materials harmful to minors on allegations that he sent explicit videos and text messages to a 15-year-old girl.
A Dallas TX police officer is being investigated for allegedly injuring hospital worker by throwing a boot at him during a dispute then bragging about it on Facebook. The Facebook postings on her page also allegedly include racist commentary and images the demean minorities and the homeless.
A Midland TX police officer was suspended for 3 days over a drunken bar fight where he threatening to return with a gun. Apparently police were called but he was never charged.
A Milwaukee WI police detective has been suspended after arrested on domestic violence charge involving an unnamed woman who called 911.
A Honolulu HI police major has been indicted for extortion, witness tampering & lying to federal agents as a result of a an investigation into alleged illegal activities that spanned over 5 years.
A Fort Worth TX police officer has been sentenced to probation and will be decertified after pleading guilty to keeping marijuana that was meant for evidence.
A Bexar County TX deputy was convicted on an abuse of official capacity charge for fixing a traffic ticket in exchange for a car payment.
A Syracuse NY police officer has been sentenced to time served, equaling about 8 months, after years of legal maneuvers over a drunk driving conviction for an accident that injured two teens.
A Teller County CO deputy has pled guilty to a drunk driving charge in a deal that dropped a weapons violation and other charges.
A Dickson County TN deputy has been charged with criminal trespass for repeatedly entering the home of an ex’s parents without permission in order to see his son.
A Suffolk VA police officer is on leave after arrested on misdemeanor charges over allegations of phone harassment.
And finally, a Sarasota FL police detective was fired after he attempted to secede from the United States as a sovereign citizen in a court filing he made.
Midland TX police are being sued by the family of a man they claim was unarmed when police shot him to death as he stepped out of his door during a standoff.
An Anaheim CA officer-involved shooting is under investigation after a police officer who was apparently on duty in his own neighborhood shot an unarmed man he accused of burglarizing stuff. The man was apparently carrying a bag of mail and a cell phone but was not armed and neighbors claim the man sounded surprised at being shot but investigators are not disclosing any possible reason for the shooting and the man who was shot hasn’t been charged.
An Edmonton AB police officer has been sentenced to 12 months of probation for assaulting a handcuffed man in the back of a cruiser.
The St Ann MO police and the Missouri state patrol are being accused of withholding information about an officer-involved shooting incident that occurred weeks ago
A Pennsylvania state trooper has been arrested on allegations that he sent explicit videos of himself to a person he thought was a 13-year-old girl in a chat room.
A Walnut Creek CA police officer has been charged with dissuading a witness and unlawful sex with a minor involving a teen between 16-18.
A Biloxi MS police officer has been indicted on sexual battery charges on allegations he had sex with a teen. He resigned while he was under investigation over the allegations.
A Midland MI police officer has been suspended while under investigation on unspecified sexual assault allegations. I didn’t want to add this at first as the initial news reports were citing an anonymous phone call as a source of the story but subsequent stories indicated that evidence is being analyzed as part of the probe.
Oakland CA settled a lawsuit for $300,000 to a man who claims that an officer planted a gun on him in order to wrongfully put him behind bars for 22 months.
An FBI agent is under investigation on suspicion of being intoxicated when he crashed into a car, killing one teen and critically injured another.
An Evansville IN police officer has been sentenced to a $10 fine after pleading guilty to a battery charge for punching a retired deputy while both were drinking at an FOP lodge then kneeing him in the head when he was down.
The Lubbock ISD TX police chief has been suspended after police were called to a restaurant when employees were unable to get him to leave despite repeated requests and a female employee felt threatened since he was allegedly intoxicated while wearing his gun at the time.
A Maryland state trooper received a suspended sentence but must repay $5,502 he fraudulently claimed in overtime pay.
Two San Francisco CA cops were suspended for a year without pay over their roles in making videos described as “racist & offensive”.
The police chief of Houston TX is apparently claiming that videotaping cops is an act of “provocation” that he believes can lead to cops being assaulted or killed and that his officers are afraid because people are filming them