La Crosse police officer charged after estranged wife says he threatened to kill family
LA CROSSE, Wis. — A La Crosse
police sergeant has been charged with a felony accusing him of threatening to
kill his family after his wife asked for a divorce.
Patrol Sgt. Alan Iverson, 45,
was charged Tuesday in La Crosse County Circuit Court with threats to injure
and disorderly conduct as a domestic abuse offense, the La Crosse Tribune
reported (http://bit.ly/1fqYPO2 ).
Iverson's wife said he drove to
her workplace and asked if he should get his gun and "take care of this
right now," according to investigators' reports.
His wife also told
investigators that Iverson brought his gun home later that night and threatened
her again the next day during an argument in which she tried to walk away.
"He said, 'If you are
going to walk away, I am going to kill you, (their children) and myself,"
she told investigators. "'If you go to the police, there is going to be a
catastrophe.'"
The La Crosse police department
has placed Iverson on paid administrative leave. His case will be handled by a
judge from another county.
Iverson's attorney did not
immediately return a message left by The Associated Press for comment.
Troy officer charged under state's super drunk law will face jury trial
By John Turk
Rochester Hills
The Troy police officer accused
of drunken driving will soon face jury trial in district court.
Candace LaForest, 34, who is
charged with operating a vehicle with a high blood-alcohol content, stood
Tuesday in front of 52-3 District Judge Julie A. Nicholson for a pretrial
hearing.
The officer, who has been with
the Troy Police Department for 12 years, appeared with Farmington Hills
attorney Arthur J. Weiss, who requested the case be set for jury trial.
Weiss mentioned that LaForest
“has been alcohol free” since her Jan. 18 arrest after a traffic stop on Big
Beaver Road near Rochester Road, and that she had “completed an in-patient
program at Sacred Heart,” as well.
Nicholson, in a short hearing,
set a future hearing for jury selection at 9 a.m. April 11 and continued
LaForest’s $1,000 personal bond.
Nicholson also ordered that
LaForest verify counseling and disclose “any and all” prescribed substances she
may be taking with pretrial services.
LaForest pleaded not-guilty
during her early February arraignment in Troy’s 52-4 District Court, and the
case was swiftly moved to Rochester Hills when judges in Troy recused
themselves.
Her charges, which fall under
Michigan’s super drunk laws, come after she was stopped by colleagues while
off-duty, driving home from Troy bar “Norm’s Field of Dreams.”
The officer broke down while
being taken to the Troy Police Department lockup, and agreed and refuse a
Breathalyzer test twice before officers obtained a warrant for a blood sample
from her. Her blood-alcohol content was later found to be 0.27 percent.
Weiss, who called the case “a
tragedy” out of the courtroom, declined to comment further.
Ex-hero cop pleads guilty to drug, assault charges
BY MENSAH M. DEAN,
THE FALL FROM grace is almost
complete for onetime hero police officer Richard DeCoatsworth, who entered a
courtroom yesterday and pleaded guilty to promoting prostitution, simple
assault and drug possession.
DeCoatsworth, 28, could face
seven to 14 years in state prison when sentenced March 11 by Common Pleas Judge
Charles Ehrlich.
His attorney, A. Charles Peruto
Jr., however, said DeCoatsworth has changed, no longer uses heroin to cope with
the pain of a gunshot wound to the face he suffered in the line of duty and
should be released with credit for time served.
Behind bars since May on bail
amounts ranging from $60 million to the current $3 million, DeCoatsworth's
current predicament is a far cry from how his law-enforcement career began.
In September 2007, the
21-year-old rookie cop made headlines for surviving a shotgun blast to the face
and helping to catch the gunman during a traffic stop.
DeCoatsworth was soon
transferred to the Police Department's elite Highway Patrol, and in 2009 was
invited to sit next to Michelle Obama during President Obama's first address to
Congress.
He retired abruptly in 2011. By
then, the city had settled a series of lawsuits - the largest for $1.5 million
- in which DeCoatsworth was accused of misconduct.
DeCoatsworth apparently hit
rock bottom in May, when he was arrested for choking and punching his
girlfriend and for serving as a pimp for two prostitutes.
The disgraced ex-cop was
initially charged with more than 30 crimes that could have resulted in a
lifetime in prison. The charges included rape, aggravated assault, human
trafficking, witness intimidation, terroristic threats and impersonating an
officer.
All but the three charges he
pleaded guilty to were dropped yesterday, which prompted DeCoatsworth's father
to question the validity of the entire case.
"From a $60 million bail to
this? Apparently, there was no case," Mark DeCoatsworth said.
"These women . . . were
hookers before he knew them and they are hookers now," he said of the two
women for whom his son pleaded to pimping.
Assistant District Attorney
Ashley Lynam disputed the senior DeCoatsworth's assessment of the case, saying
the former cop would not have pleaded guilty if the case lacked merit.
"The fact that Richard
DeCoatsworth was a former police officer has absolutely no bearing on any
decisions made by us," she said. "It's not going to be relevant at
sentencing and it certainly isn't relevant in the plea today."
Peruto said DeCoatsworth turned
to heroin after Percocet failed to relieve his pain.
"He's a different person
now than he was when he was arrested. When he was arrested, his brains were
scrambled. He got involved with things to relieve the pain," Peruto said.
"But you don't know what you would do if you got shot in the face."
Two former cops, Cherryville man sentenced in federal court
JENNA-LEY HARRISON
The last three defendants in a
Cherryville police scandal from 2012 were sentenced to prison today in federal
court.
Frankie Dellinger, 42, Wesley
Clayton Golden, 41, and Mark Ray Hoyle, 40, will each spend at least the next
year and a half behind bars for their roles in transporting stolen goods and
cash through the area multiple times in 2012, according to the United States
Attorney’s Office in the western district of North Carolina.
Dellinger, who worked with the
Cherryville Police Department and Gaston County Sheriff’s Office throughout his
nearly 20-year career in law enforcement, received a three-year prison sentence
in the case followed by supervised release for two years, the U.S. Attorney’s
Office said.
Hoyle, a Cherryville resident
and civilian accomplice who also claimed to be a Gaston County Sheriff’s deputy
in the conspiracy, received 20 months prison time and two years of court
supervision.
Lastly, U.S. District Court
Judge Robert Conrad, Jr. sentenced Golden to 21 months in prison and one year
of supervised release, federal officials said.
The Federal Bureau of
Investigation (FBI) targeted Dellinger after learning he may have been involved
in illegal activity.
Federal agents disguised
themselves as criminals and worked alongside the seasoned cop and his
co-conspirators to transport stolen property on tractor-trailers through Gaston
County.
The trucks contained what the
convicts believed was more than $400,000 in cash proceeds from the sale of
goods along with nearly $160,000 in other stolen property, federal officials
said.
Dellinger and his
co-conspirators used their badges to protect the goods during transport and
accepted cash bribes on certain occasions, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
Each of the three men pleaded
guilty in January 2013 to conspiracy to transport and/or receive stolen
property and conspiracy to extort under color of official right, according to
the release.
Hoyle and Dellinger
additionally pleaded guilty to money laundering conspiracy.
Three other individuals
involved in a related area conspiracy were sentenced in November, federal
officials said.
Cherryville patrol officers
Casey Justin Crawford, 34, and David Paul Mauney, III, 25, received 33 and 18
months in prison, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
John Ashley Hendricks, 49, a
second civilian accomplice and Cherryville resident, received two years of
probation in the case.
All defendants have been in
federal custody since October 2012, when the FBI raided the local police
department.
The FBI and State Bureau of
Investigation (SBI) jointly conducted the investigation.
Michael Savage, of the U.S.
Attorney’s Office in Charlotte, served as lead prosecutor in the case
2 NH officers charged with assaulting suspect
DOVER, N.H. (AP) — Two New
Hampshire police officers have been charged with assaulting a suspect after a
traffic stop last year.
A Strafford County Grand Jury
has indicted Farmington Sgt. Michael McNeil Jr. and Officer Gregory Gough on
simple assault charges.
Randy Gray told Foster’s Daily
Democrat that he fled the stop after asking the 34-year-old McNeil, who was
off-duty, for ID and McNeil refused.
Police eventually tracked Gray
to his home where the struggle occurred. McNeil’s charged with grabbing Gray’s
neck and forcing him to the ground. The 24-year-old Gough is charged with
grabbing Gray’s arms and torso.
The misdemeanor assault carries
up to a year in jail upon conviction.
The officers were suspended
Tuesday. Neither had a listed phone number and it could not immediately be
determined if they had lawyers.
Innocent teen spent 35 days in jail due to cop’s mixup
The officer will be suspended
for only a third of the time the Florida teen was wrongly jailed
NATASHA LENNAR
Owing to a name mixup by a
Florida police officer, an innocent teen spent 35 days in jail for child rape
charges. Cody Lee Williams, 18, was confused by the cop as Cody Raymond
Williams.
While the innocent Williams
spent over a month in jail for the mistake, the officer — Deputy Sheriff Johnny
Hawkins — will spend only a fraction of that time suspended as punishment (he
will be suspended for 10 days without pay). The New York Daily News reported:
In a letter following the
investigation, Sheriff Rick Beseler told Hawkins that because of his
incompetence, “an innocent man was arrested for an offense that he did not
commit.”
The mistake wasn’t discovered
until the teen looked into court documents detailing the charges.
According to the investigation,
Hawkins interviewed the little girl, who said she was assaulted by a high
school boy named Cody Williams, but never showed her any photos to confirm the
boy’s identity.
Williams told the Times-Union
“his insides just kind of dropped” when deputies arrested him at his home on
suspicion of sexual battery in August.
The mix-up wasn’t cleared up
until October, after Williams called his mother to say he believed police were
looking for the other Cody Williams, a classmate at Clay High School.
Former cop gets 10 years in drug scheme
By Kathy Jefcoats
ATLANTA — A former Clayton
County police officer was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison for his role
in a scheme to steal cocaine from a drug dealer for his own personal gain.
Dwayne Penn was assigned to the
U.S. Marshals Service Fugitive Task Force at the time of the scheme. He was
terminated Aug. 28, the day he was arrested by federal agents. He pleaded
guilty Jan. 21 to conspiring to distribute more than 5 kilograms of cocaine.
Clayton County police Chief
Greg Porter said Penn was held to a higher standard as a police officer and
violated the public’s trust.
“It is the position of this
administration that, I along with the Clayton County community, will always
demand that every officer as well as each employee of the CCPD family, be held
to a higher standard when it comes to the oath each of us have passionately
sworn to uphold,” said Porter in a statement released Monday. “Our core values
of honor, integrity, transparency and professionalism must always remain at the
forefront of our minds. We owe a duty to ourselves and the Clayton County
community to ensure that we remain worthy of our community’s trust and do
nothing to tarnish the badges that we wear proudly on our chests.”
U.S. Attorney Sally Quillian
Yates said it was Penn’s job to serve and protect, not seek illegal business
ventures.
“The public rightfully expects
police officers to protect them from drug dealers, not go into business with
them,” she said. “The defendant crossed over to become one of the bad guys and
now he will suffer their fate.”
Yates, said evidence and
testimony showed that in August, Penn conspired with Adrian Austin, an
Atlanta-based drug dealer, to use Penn’s official position as a police officer
to stage a fake traffic stop of a car that he and Austin believed would contain
6 kilograms of cocaine.
Penn would conduct a fake
arrest of the car’s occupant, seize the cocaine for themselves and then sell
the cocaine, sharing their ill-gotten gains, she said. “Fortunately, the person
whom Penn and Austin sought to recruit for this corrupt endeavor was
cooperating with federal law enforcement and agreed to record meetings with
Penn and Austin,” said Yates.
In the lead up to the fake
arrest and seizure, Penn and Austin met face-to-face with the confidential
informant on two separate occasions to plan their operation. Penn drove his
police car to the planning meetings.
As planned, on the morning of
Aug. 28, Penn and Austin arrived at the appointed Decatur parking lot. Penn
drove his police car and parked it in view of where the drug deal was to occur.
Before the deal’s consummation, the confidential informant met with Austin in
Austin’s car in the parking lot.
Austin relayed information
between the confidential informant and Penn over his cellphone. The
confidential informant exited Austin’s car and shortly thereafter met with the
supposed drug dealer, who was also a law enforcement source, in the parking lot
in view of Penn.
The confidential informant received
a shopping bag containing 6 kilogram-size bricks of fake cocaine, walked back
to the vehicle, and placed the bag inside, placing 2 kilogram bricks in the
back seat and leaving the remaining 4 kilogram bricks in the shopping bag in
the front seat, said Yates.
After the confidential
informant emerged from the vehicle, Penn sped over in his police car with the
lights on and blocked the confidential informant from leaving.
“Penn jumped out of his car
with his firearm drawn and pointed it at the confidential informant,” said
Yates. “Penn was wearing a bulletproof vest, which read ‘Police,’ and a black
baseball hat.”
Penn and Austin were arrested
shortly afterward in the vicinity of the Decatur parking lot. Each had a loaded
firearm with a round in the chamber. The shopping bag with substituted cocaine
was recovered from Penn’s vehicle.
Austin pleaded guilty to the
same charge Jan. 14.
In addition to the 10-year term
of imprisonment, Penn was also sentenced by U.S. District Judge Amy Totenberg
to five years of supervised release, 120 hours of community service following
his release from prison, and was ordered to pay a $100 special assessment.
Sentencing for Austin is
scheduled for April 10 at 2 p.m., also before Totenberg.
Ex-cop in northern Missouri charged with child pornography possession
UNIONVILLE, Missouri — A former
police officer in northern Missouri has been arrested on a charge of child
pornography possession.
KTVO-TV (bit.ly/1cmQQ4B )
reports that 23-year-old Clinton Montalbetti was arrested Tuesday in Linn
County on an outstanding warrant from Putnam County. The warrant was issued
from after suspected pornographic images were found on a flash drive used by
Montalbetti while he worked as a Unionville officer in late 2013.
Montalbetti was jailed on a
$10,000 cash bond. Kirksville police say additional charges may be filed
pending a review of items retrieved from a search of his home near Brookfield.
Trumbull Police Officer Charged with Sexual Assault
David Gurliacci
Trumbull Police Officer William
Ruscoe has been charged by state police with three counts of sexual assault
involving a member of an Explorer scout program at the department.
"Due to the nature of
these criminal charges, Officer Ruscoe has been suspended from duty, and an
internal investigation is underway to determine if he has violate any
departmental policies or regulations," Trumbull police said in a news
release.
State police from the Tolland
barracks at 9 p.m. Monday charged Ruscoe, 44, with second-, third- and fourth-degree
sexual assault and with tampering with a witness. Ruscoe was initially held on
a $50,000 bond. He was released after posting the bond, according to NBC
Connecticut.
Ruscoe, a 19-year veteran of
the department who joined it in June 1994, has served as an advisor with the
Explorer program for several years, according to the town police news release.
"I am deeply troubled and
concerned by the nature of the charges that have been presented," said
Trumbull Police Chief Thomas Kiely in the news release. "We will make
every effort to ensure that the integrity of the department and its officers is
preserved as this case is investigated, and that the case is handled in a fair
and timely manner."
The investigation and arrest
was entirely handled by state police, said Trumbull Deputy Police Chief Michael
Harry. "We haven't even seen the contents of the arrest warrant."
Criminal investigations of
police officers are typically handled by other police agencies.
Ruscoe hadn't been in any kind
of trouble with his department until Monday's arrest, Harry said.
Ruscoe received a Medal of
Excellent Arrest from his department last August, according to the minutes of
the Police Commission meeting (page 5). In that case he had arrested people
outside a shopping mall, some of whom were in possession of at total of 53
fraudulent credit cards.
Marion deputy suspended following internal investigation into handling of possible DUI Florida Fraternal Order of Police President says he may call for FDLE investigation
OCALA, Fla. —A Marion County
Sheriff's Office deputy has been suspended for two days following an internal
investigation into his handling of a possible DUI case.
A Marion County Sheriff's Office
deputy has been suspended for two days following an internal investigation into
his handling of a possible DUI case.
In the early-morning hours on
Jan. 18, Deputy Calvin Batts pulled over 26-year-old Matthew Tillander, the son
of former Ocala bar owner and City Council candidate Bobby Tillander.
The investigation was caught on
dash camera video.
"You've been drinking a
little tonight?" Batts asked.
"No, sir," Matthew
Tillander said.
"I can smell it coming off
you," Batts said.
According to court records,
when Bobby Tillander learned his son was pulled over, he called Maj. Tommy
Bibb, the leader of the special investigations unit at the Sheriff's Office.
Matthew Tillander can then be
seen answering a phone call during the middle of a field sobriety test.
"Sir, please hang up the
phone," Batts said. "I don't want anybody else coming up in this
traffic stop."
"This is (Sheriff) Chris
Blair. You want to talk to him?" Matthew Tillander said.
"I'd rather not,"
Batts said.
Batts never got on the phone,
but a few minutes later gets a call of his own.
Bibb then allegedly called
Batts and told him to hold off on an arrest until he talked with Blair. A few
minutes later, Bibb called Batts back and said the Sheriff wanted Batts to
"do what he needed to do."
Batts had already decided not
to charge Matthew Tillander and let a friend drive him home.
The sheriff's office said
questions were later raised about the situation so Blair ordered an internal
investigation. It concluded with Bibb being suspended for two days without pay
and ordered to make apologies.
"That's the reason why
Sheriff Blair himself called for an internal investigation because we want to
show transparency here and we want to show that there is no favoritism,"
said Capt. James Pogue, Sheriff's Office spokesman. "It would appear that
Maj. Bibb interfered in the investigation which may or may not have hampered
the decision making process of Deputy Batts and he was disciplined."
Batts told the Sheriff's Office
he would have arrested Matthew Tillander had he not been influence by Bibb.
There are questions as to
whether Bibb's punishment was severe enough. The president of the Florida
Fraternal Order of Police said he may call for a Florida Department of Law
Enforcement investigation.
This is not Matthew Tillander's
first run-in with the law. He currently faces felony drug and resisting arrest
with violence charges for another traffic stop in December 2013.
Texas Officers Suspended For Homeless Sign Contest
MIDLAND, Texas (AP) — Two
police officers in an oil-rich West Texas city spent weeks competing to see who
could take the most cardboard signs away from homeless people, even though
panhandling doesn't violate any city law.
Nearly two months after the
Midland Police Department learned of the game, the two officers were suspended
for three days without pay, according to findings of the internal affairs
investigation obtained by The Associated Press through a public records request.
Advocate groups immediately
blasted the department's handling, suggesting that the punishment wasn't harsh
enough and that the probe should have been made public much earlier, before
news organizations, including the AP, started asking about it.
"The fact that they are
making sport out of collecting the personal property of homeless individuals
could be seen as them targeting these individuals for discriminatory
harassment," said Cassandra Champion, an attorney in the Odessa office of
the Texas Civil Rights Project. "Simply holding a sign is absolutely a
protected part of our free speech."
Police Chief Price Robinson
said the actions were an isolated incident in a department of 186 officers and
didn't deserve a harsher punishment. After the investigation all officers were
reminded to respect individual rights and human dignity, he said.
"We want to respect
people, no matter who they are — homeless, whatever," Robinson said.
"That situation's been dealt with. Those officers understand."
The investigation found the two
officers, Derek Hester and Daniel Zoelzer, violated the department's
professional standards of conduct. There is no ordinance against panhandling in
Midland, an oil-boom city of more than 110,000 where a recent count put the
homeless number at about 300. About a quarter of those are transient.
Evan Rogers, founder of Church
Under the Bridge Midland's ministry, said the failure by police to disclose the
officers' behavior once discovered made it appear the department was
"pushing it under the carpet.
"I think that does give
the public the wrong message," he said.
Asked Wednesday about why the
investigation wasn't made public earlier, city spokeswoman Sara Higgins said it
is not the department's standard protocol to announce when an internal affairs
investigation is completed. She said the officers weren't suspended until
January because of staffing issues and the winter holidays.
On a recent afternoon, one
group of homeless people could be seen near a trash bin behind a fast-food
restaurant and another around an intersection. Among their signs was one that
read: "Anything helps. God bless."
"If it was them, I
guarantee you they'd be doing the same thing," said Desarie Caine, who
sought donations on a street corner while eating from a package of beef jerky.
"I think they're bored."
The two officers, who did not
appeal their suspensions, have been with the department about two years. They
both returned emails from the AP declining to be interviewed.
According to the investigation
report, eight signs were found in the trunk of Hester's patrol car on Nov. 20
and Zoelzer had thrown the about 10 signs he had confiscated into a city trash
container after Hester called him to warn him he had been reprimanded by his
superior for having the signs.
The two told the internal
affairs investigator, that they were issuing criminal trespass warnings when
they took the signs. But according to the report, no homeless people were
issued criminal trespass warnings by either officer in 2013. Most of those
warnings in Midland are written, but some are verbal.
The investigation also looked
into complaints from within the department that Hester and Zoelzer failed to
log into evidence brass knuckles, a small set of scales and two knives they had
obtained during other patrol stops. The investigation into the signs began
after an officer on patrol with Hester when Hester obtained the brass knuckles
sent an email to his sergeant Nov. 18 about Hester saying he wasn't going to
log them in as evidence.
The signs and the brass knuckles
were found in Hester's car during a vehicle inspection two days later.
The contest between Hester, 25,
and Zoelzer, 26, was alluded to in text messages on Nov. 21 obtained by the AP.
It was unclear which of the officers sent each message.
"My bad man when he first
ask me about it he didn't seem mad or anything so I just told him me and u
wereaking (sic) a game outta it when we'd trespass them and stuff," one
text read. Another read, "Man this is some bs."
Although Rogers said he doesn't
believe the officers' actions reflect on the whole department, he considered
the penalty insufficient.
"I don't believe three
days gives it justice," Rogers said.
2nd Circuit Slams Monroe PD on False Arrest Case
Louisiana’s Second Circuit
Court of Appeals this morning reversed a district court and held that the
Monroe Police Department falsely arrested, falsely imprisoned, and maliciously
prosecuted Annette Brown in 2009.
The court also awarded her $20
thousand in damages, money that the taxpayers of Monroe will have to pay.
This court concurs with
plaintiff’s argument that because Det. Dowdy’s investigation was substandard,
he failed to perform his duty to correctly identify the suspect prior to her
arrest and incarceration and this was the cause-in-fact of the Ms. Brown’s
wrongful arrest at her place of employment in the presence of her co-workers.
The law imposes a duty on law enforcement officers to correctly identify a
suspect prior to arresting and jailing her specifically in instances such as
these to prevent injuries of the exact nature that Ms. Brown suffered.
The plaintiff attorney in the
case was Anthony Bruscato. Defending was City Attorney Nanci Summersgill.
Brutal Arrest Claim May Stick to Chester, PA, Cop
By ROSE BOUBOUSHIAN
(CN) - A cop must face claims that he
helped arrest a black couple whom troopers allegedly tore from their car,
choking the husband and Tasering the wife, a federal judge ruled.
The arrest of Nadine Francis and her
husband, Odinga Arthur, allegedly occurred while the black couple was moving
from Florida to New York for Arthur's job on the night of Feb. 14, 2012.
Francis said she had been driving below
the speed limit and obeying all traffic laws on I-95, but that the Pennsylvania
state police pulled her over near Chester, Pa., at about midnight. Chester
Township Police Officer Richard Barth allegedly arrived as backup.
After Francis provided her license and
registration, Troopers Joseph Harmon and James Sparenga asked for her sleeping
husband's identification, without explaining why they had been pulled over,
according to the complaint.
When Arthur did not immediately present
his ID, and instead sought permission to ask a question, the troopers allegedly
ordered him to exit the car.
Before he could do so, Sparenga grabbed
Arthur's neck in an attempt to pull him through the passenger window, causing
the man to choke, according to the complaint.
Francis said she screamed and begged the
trooper to stop, at which point Harmon used his Taser on her. Sparenga
meanwhile then allegedly slammed Arthur into the ground, handcuffed him and
removed his wallet.
Arthur said Harmon asked him how much
money he had and where he was going, then removed his wife from the car, held
her face down, and handcuffed and interrogated her.
The complaint insists that Francis and
Arthur broke no laws, never posed a threat to the troopers, fully cooperated,
and did not resist arrest or act violently on the night of the incident.
After the troopers allegedly said that the
IDs "came up clean," they held Francis and Arthur overnight at a
Delaware County police station without reading them their Miranda rights,
according to the complaint.
Arthur and Francis said the officers
meanwhile prepared false affidavits of probable cause, charging them with
driving in the left lane, disregarding traffic lane, disorderly conduct, and
resisting arrest.
Francis and Arthur were released on bail
later that day, and the criminal proceedings against them were dismissed in
state court on March 6, 2013.
The three officers are accused in the
complaint of violating Francis and Arthur's Fourth and 14th Amendments, and of
unlawful detention, racial profiling, excessive force, false arrest and
imprisonment, and malicious prosecution.
U.S. District Judge Mary McLaughlin
refused on Feb. 13 to dismiss the malicious prosecution and false arrest and
imprisonment claims against Barth.
"According to the complaint, Barth
was present throughout the interrogation and arrest of the plaintiffs, and he
participated in preparing the affidavits of probable cause," McLaughlin
wrote. "During the time Barth was present, the plaintiffs did not engage
in any unlawful or violent activity and did not resist arrest. Because the
magistrate judge relied on the statements in the affidavit of probable cause to
charge the plaintiffs, it is reasonable to infer that Barth made false
statements or omissions or failed to disclose exculpatory evidence in the
affidavits."
The court also upheld the false arrest and
imprisonment claims, finding that Barth participated in the arrest, despite his
ability to determine that the couple had not violated the law.
"The complaint alleges that Barth
arrived on the scene shortly after the plaintiffs were pulled over, with time
to see for himself that Francis and Arthur were not a threat, were not acting
violently, and were not violating the law," McLaughlin wrote. "There
are no allegations indicating that Troopers Harmon and Sparenga made statements
to Barth regarding probable cause. Barth participated in the arrest of Francis
and Arthur without probable cause, and participated in writing affidavits of
probable cause by making false statements or omissions. There are no
allegations in the complaint that would allow the court to conclude that Barth
was acting reasonably under the circumstances. Barth is free to raise the
argument again at the summary judgment stage."
‘Teflon’ Cop Avoided Serious Investigation for Years
BY: LIAM DILLON
Before former San Diego police
officer Anthony Arevalos’ arrest in 2011, his supervisors knew he had made
sexually charged comments to a woman with mental disabilities while
transporting her to a hospital. They knew he looked at pornography at work on
his department-issued computer. And they knew he had been accused of behaving
inappropriately toward a 16-year-old girl during a traffic stop.
Supervisors had also cleared
Arevalos of sexually assaulting a 28-year-old woman while taking her to jail a
year before his arrest. They had sent him back out on the streets to patrol
downtown alone. In that case, the sergeant in charge of the criminal
investigation was convinced of Arevalos’ guilt, and a district attorney who
later reviewed the case found problems with the department’s investigation
(though still declined to prosecute him for it).
One of Arevalos’ colleagues
described him this way: “Teflon.”
“I felt he believed no matter
what he did, that he would not get in trouble,” said Henry Castro, who worked
in traffic division with Arevalos and said in court filings he’d used the word.
The depth to which high-ranking
police officials knew about Arevalos’ behavior prior to his 2011 arrest for
soliciting a sexual bribe from a 32-year-old women in a convenience store
bathroom is revealed in a trove of interviews and documents from a civil
lawsuit filed by Arevalos’ final victim.
With new accusations surfacing
against two more SDPD officers this month, the court documents raise fresh
concerns about the department’s ability to stop potential predators before they
strike. Lawyers in the case are arguing SDPD has a pattern of covering up
serious misconduct and are seeking a court-ordered independent monitor to
oversee the department.
In the almost three years since
Arevalos’ arrest, Police Chief William Lansdowne has admitted the department
missed red flags about Arevalos’ behavior. The chief, who retired abruptly
Tuesday, has promised numerous reforms to prevent further officer problems, and
recently ordered an external audit of SDPD. Shelley Zimmerman, an assistant
chief, was nominated Wednesday to be Lansdowne’s replacement. She promised to
reinstate an internal anticorruption unit, which Lansdowne had disbanded, to
proactively monitor officer conduct.
Arevalos’ final victim is known
in court papers as Jane Doe. Among the revelations from her case:
• In the late 1990s Arevalos
told his supervisor he’d flirted with a woman with mental disabilities in the back
of his patrol car. Officer Francisco Torres, who was on the call with Arevalos,
said his partner’s conduct went far past flirting. Torres said in a deposition
that Arevalos had also taken naked photos of the woman and the woman had put
Arevalos’ baton in her vagina while Arevalos watched.
Arevalos’ supervisor at the
time, Rudy Tai, who now leads the department’s criminal intelligence unit, gave
Arevalos a verbal warning after the incident. Tai said in his deposition he
doesn’t recall being told of the more serious allegations. If he had, he said,
he would have acted on them.
• In 2007, department officials
found Arevalos repeatedly visited a pornographic website on his work computer
while on duty. Arevalos was transferred to the traffic division as a result.
In a deposition, Arevalos’
supervisor in the traffic division said it’s department policy to advise new
supervisors of any disciplinary transfers. She said she had no idea Arevalos
had been transferred because of pornography on his computer.
• Later in 2007, the father of
a 16-year-old girl complained to two of Arevalos’ supervisors about a traffic
stop in La Jolla. He alleged Arevalos made his daughter, who was driving alone,
get out of her car and bend over in front of him, ostensibly to check her registration
tags.
Arevalos again was issued a
verbal warning by his supervisors, who determined he had no reason to be in La
Jolla because he was assigned to patrol downtown.
• In 2010, Arevalos was
transporting a DUI suspect to jail when the arrestee alleged he pulled over and
forced his hand inside her vagina.
At the jail, she immediately
complained about being sexually assaulted. Two investigations were launched as
a result of the complaint. An Internal Affairs investigation cleared Arevalos
of wrongdoing. A criminal investigation was more controversial.
Sgt. Dan Cerar, who oversaw
that investigation, concluded that Arevalos was guilty. He said in a deposition
that his investigation was hampered by shoddy evidence gathering. A prosecutor,
Sherry Thompson, agreed.
“I thought that the case was
troubled in the way the police department handled it,” Thompson said.
Cerar said he wanted to bring
in experienced detectives to work the case. His supervisor told him he
couldn’t. Cerar also wanted to interview Arevalos’ colleagues in the traffic
division. His supervisor denied that request, too.
“I was told this is as far as
we’re going to go,” Cerar said.
The district attorney’s office
decided not to bring charges against Arevalos. A year later, he was arrested in
the convenience store bathroom incident. During that time, Arevalos solicited
sexual bribes from at least three other women.
♦♦♦
When San Diego police officers
are punished, Lansdowne said in his deposition, everyone’s aware of it.
“There are no secrets in this
police department as it relates to discipline in this organization,” Lansdowne
said. “It’s almost always common knowledge.”
In its legal filings, the city
argued SDPD acted appropriately against Arevalos at all times, given the
information available. The city says each incident either wasn’t sexual
misconduct, didn’t happen or was properly investigated.
Still, the department’s failure
to fully document problems with Arevalos’ behavior left him with a record that
looked better than it should have.
Arevalos’ supervisor in the
traffic division didn’t know about Arevalos’ previous discipline when he was
accused of acting inappropriately toward a 16-year-old girl. Cerar, the
sergeant who supervised the 2010 sexual assault investigation, didn’t know Arevalos
had been punished before, either.
Had Cerar been allowed to
interview Arevalos’ colleagues, he might have learned about the officer’s
reputation. Arevalos’ fellow officers knew that he passed around the driver’s
license photos of good-looking women he had pulled over, and they believed he
profiled attractive women for traffic stops.
Tai, who was Arevalos’
supervisor in the 1990s, led the sex-crimes unit when Arevalos was arrested in
2011. Tai didn’t tell his own investigators Arevalos had admitted to flirting
with a woman with mental disabilities in the late 1990s. He said in his
deposition he didn’t think the incident was relevant to the case.
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Jury hung on 10 counts in case of former West Sac cop accused of sexual assault; reading of verdict continues Thursday
By SARAH DOWLING
A Yolo County jury hung on 10
counts Wednesday in the case of a former West Sacramento police officer accused
of sexual assault; however, the remaining 17 charges were not read until Thursday
morning.
Jurors were not able to come to
a decision on the following charges Sergio Alvarez, 38, faced: three counts of
rape, sexual penetration, and oral copulation by threatening to use his
authority as a police official, four counts of rape, sexual penetration and
oral copulation by means of duress, and two counts of aggravated kidnapping.
Yolo County Superior Court
Judge Timothy Fall declared a mistrial on those 10 counts. Before he could read
the definitive verdict on the remaining charges, Fall found an error on the
verdict form for count one and ordered the jury to correct the error and
continue deliberations.
After 30 minutes, Fall
addressed the court, continuing the reading of the verdict to Thursday morning
in Department 2.
The jury was given the case on
Friday, Feb. 14. Jurors were on their eighth day of deliberation, not
deliberating on Presidents' Day Monday, Feb. 17. The jury entered Department 2
at the Yolo County Courthouse one by one on Wednesday afternoon, the jury
foreman with a smile on his face. The foreman read a list of 10 charges that
the jury was not able to reach a decision on.
Alvarez, 38, is accused of
using his position as a uniformed police officer to coerce at least five female
victims to have sex with him. He pleaded not guilty to charges of kidnapping,
sexual penetration, oral copulation and sodomy.
During closing arguments,
Supervising Deputy District Attorney Garrett Hamilton said that Alvarez was a
"rogue" police officer who drove the West Sacramento streets in the
early morning hours, targeting the "vulnerable members of our
society" and using his authority to subdue them.
Hamilton went over each of the
five victims, stating that "these women were selected by Alvarez for
victims on the belief that they were not going to report it, and that no one
would believe them if they did." The alleged victims were prostitutes and
drug addicts.
J. Toney, defense counsel for
Alvarez, said that this case is really about an embarrassed police force
"throwing the book" at an officer. The case, according to Toney, is
actually about two things: the women Alvarez admitted to having sex with, and
the women that he didn't.
Alvarez admitted to having
consensual sexual relationships with three of the five female victims and did
not deny that a number of the sexual occurrences happened while he was on duty.
Alvarez was arrested in
February 2013 and remains in custody with bail set at $26.3 million.
Former police officer charged with corruption of minors
South Middletown Township
>> A former police officer and Carlisle man has been charged with
corruption of minors for allegedly sending sexually explicit text messages to a
minor, according to Pennsylvania State Police, Carlisle. Daniel M. Lanious, 49,
allegedly sent texts to a girl, now 13 years-old, between July 1 and Aug. 17,
according to the report.
The messages were found by the
juvenile's mother and she reported it to State Police, Carlisle.
Lanious was most recently a
patrolman of the Carroll Valley Borough Police, according to their website.
He has been charged with
misdemeanor corruption of minors, and will have a preliminary hearing on April
2, according to online court documents.
Police Chief Art Acevedo Defends Jogger Arrest, Compares to Sexual Assault
Natalie San Luis
APD had a pretty rough weekend,
PR-wise.
On Thursday, a young woman was
detained and then arrested while jogging when she reportedly jaywalked in West
Campus. After failing to provide identification, a group of four police
officers arrested her.
Photos and a video of the
encounter were taken by UT student Chris Quintero, who claimed that an officer
ran after her and grabbed her by the arm.
Police Chief Art Acevedo didn't
make the situation better when he commented the next day, "In other cities
there's cops who are actually committing sexual assaults on duty, so I thank
God that this is what passes for a controversy in Austin, Texas."
Did you just do a double take
too?
According to Quintero, police
officers had been standing on a corner in West Campus writing citations to
passersby who were jaywalking.
At one point, the young woman
wearing earbuds jogged past. An officer followed her and grabbed her arm, which
she jerked away.
In his blog, Quintero wrote,
The cop viewed this as
resisting arrest and proceeded to grab both arms tightly, placing her in
handcuffs. She repeatedly pleaded with them saying that she was just exercising
and to let her go. She repeatedly cried out, "I did not do anything
wrong...just give me the ticket." The other officer strolled over and now
they were making a scene. She tried to get up. I doubt she was running away as
she was in handcuffs, but the second cop pushed her back down to the ground.
Because of the commotion, they walked her to the cop car in the alleyway next
to Big Bite, where she, overcome with frustration, yelled loudly to gain
attention. Because of that, the cops tightened their grip causing her to squirm
and kick. Then came two bike cops from down the alley. We now have four cops
and one small, helpless girl in the back of a cop car, because she was just
going for a run.
After the incident received
significant attention from local media, APD Police Chief Art Acevedo addressed
the arrest at a press conference. Surprisingly, he vehemently defended the
officers involved.
"Whether or not he grabbed
her by behind it doesn't...it's not relevant," Acevedo said. "At some
point she knows it's a cop. The cop asked her a lawful question that she is
lawfully required to answer and she didn't. That's why she went to jail."
"It's kind of interesting
what passes for controversy in Austin, Texas," he added. "Thank you
Lord that there's a controversy in Austin, Texas that we actually had the
audacity to touch somebody by the arm and tell them 'Oh my goodness, Austin
Police, we're trying to get your attention.' Whew! In other cities, cops are
actually committing sexual assaults on duty, so I thank God that this is what
passes for a controversy in Austin, Texas."
I kind of understand the
comment that Acevedo is trying to make, but he's not doing himself any favors
by patting his officers on the back for not also sexually assaulting citizens.
Also, Art Acevedo doesn't get
to evaluate how frightening it is to get grabbed by a strange person in the
street until Art Acevedo is a woman who has endured street harassment.
The day after his interview,
Acevedo released an apology, in which he said, "In hindsight I believe the
comparison was a poor analogy, and for this I apologize. I stand committed to transparent leadership
and will continue to engage the community we serve in an open, honest, and
timely manner."
RAW VIDEO: Cell phone captures fatal fight between KCPD officer, firefighter
RAW VIDEO: Cell phone captures fatal fight between KCPD officer, firefighter: WARNING GRAPHIC, DISTURBING RAW VIDEO: A couple record cell phone video that captured captures the final moments when a routine arrest turned into a fatal confrontation between an off-duty firefighter celebrating his wedding reception and a Kansas City police officer working security.
Fairfax County Cops Find another way to intrude on Our Lives.
The Fairfax County cops are painting a car
with distracting sentences and parking it near a busy road to stop drivers from
being distracted.
This leads us to the question…..does it
get….could it possibly get..…more white trashy than this? People, we have got to elect someone to the
Board of Supervisors who will take charge the morons at the police department,
I mean, my God, what’s next? Mandatory
incest? Regulation flower planters in old tires on our front lawns?
It’s terrible to pick on the mouth
breathers I know, and yes, understandably most cops on the Fairfax County
police force probably have an abandoned car on cinder blocks in their drive way
in Loudon County so printed cars make sense to them and yes, were in Dixie, but
Good Lord, can we at least try to pretend
were not? I mean….printed cars?
I’m going to write this next sentence
slowly so as not to confuse the cops: A car
covered in anti-drinking- and-driving sentences will not decrease the vast
number of idiots who drive around drunk. They’re too drunk to read the notes
side of the car and attention deficit drivers are too busy to read it.
The cops say that it’s okay for this idiocy
to happen because the printing cost is being covered by Transurban, the people
who operate the 495 Express Lanes. You
want stop crime? Arrest those shameless money hungry pricks.
Start there and work your way up to
finding the missing files in the John Geer shooting case then you’ll have the credibility
to tell other people about obeying law.
We would rather live with drunk and distracted driver than with a police
force that guns down unarmed citizens.
East Hampton Village Officer Suspended For 30 Days Without Pay
By Erica Thompson
The East Hampton Village Board
passed a resolution on Friday to suspend East Hampton Village Police Officer
Julio Galeano for 30 days without pay, pending a trial of disciplinary charges
that were filed against him on February 11.
Mr. Galeano, 31, had been on
paid administrative leave after being accused of trespassing at a Talmage Lane
home with Jennifer Rosa, a traffic control officer, on the morning of December
30. Ms. Rosa was terminated from her position after a Village Board meeting in
mid-January. Mr. Galeano, through his labor union, denied the charges,
according to the Village Board’s resolution.
“The resolution is pretty
standard,” said East Hampton Village Police Chief Jerry Larsen. “It’s just a
procedure in the law.”
East Hampton Village Mayor Paul
F. Rickenbach Jr. said the decision is a personnel issue and that he couldn’t
comment any further about whether Officer Galeano would lose his job.
“We’re hopeful that the hearing
for this will happen within 30 days,” said Chief Larsen, “and then we’ll figure
out where to go from there. But until then, it’s hard to speculate.”