By Liz Spear
Prosecutors revealed additional evidence Monday against two veteran LAPD officers charged in workers' compensation fraud cases.
Officer John Hall, 45, a 19-year-old veteran last assigned to the Emergency Services Division, is charged with two counts of insurance fraud, one count of attempted perjury and one count of grand theft.
Prosecutors said Hall claimed he injured his back while on duty. But while on paid leave, he was spotted more than once on a boat helping to carry heavy diving equipment and giving scuba diving instructions to an undercover police officer, according to a District Attorney's Office spokeswoman.
Hall, free on $80,000 bail, appeared in court Moday, but his arraignment was postponed until Feb. 10.
Arraignment was also postponed for Officer Ralph Mendoza, who is set to return on Jan. 21 to enter a plea.
Mendoza, 44, a 13-year veteran who lives in San Bernardino County, was last assigned to the Hollenbeck Division patrol. He is charged with one count of insurance fraud and one count of grand theft.
Prosecutors said Mendoza altered a doctor's return to work slip in June 2012.
"Public trust is at the very core of the police profession, and when that trust is violated we must employ every measure to restore it," said LAPD Chief Charlie Beck when the officers were arrested Dec. 11.
"I am troubled whenever our officers are accused of violating that trust. As the chief, it is my duty to ensure that we fully investigate these cases of alleged misconduct and to take appropriate action when the misconduct is found to be true."
If convicted, Hall faces up to eight years in jail, while Mendoza faces up to six.
Fort Worth officer charged with sexual assault is fired
Douglas V. Campbell’s indefinite suspension from the Fort Worth Police Department took effect Dec. 23, according to Civil Service documents obtained Monday by the Star-Telegram.
Campbell, 33, is accused of sexually assaulting a prostitute, threatening another that he would take her to jail if she did not engage in sexual activity, and stealing $2 from an abandoned vehicle.
He was indicted on the sexual assault and official oppression cases Dec. 18 and remains free on bail awaiting trial in all three cases, according to Tarrant County court records.
“Officer Campbell, of course, denies those accusations in the indictments and looks forward to his day in court,” said Jim Lane, his defense attorney.
Campbell has appealed his termination. His attorney in the appeal, Craig Driskell of the Combined Law Enforcement Association of Texas, declined to comment Monday.
The department’s special investigation unit began investigating Campbell after receiving information in August from other officers that Campbell was possibly having sex with prostitutes.
Investigators began conducting surveillance of Campbell, then interviewing women with whom he had contact.
One prostitute told officers that Campbell had removed his penis from his pants and had told her to engage in sexual contact with him or he would take her to jail. She said the conversation stopped, however, when another officer drove up, according to an arrest warrant affidavit.
Another prostitute told investigators that Campbell had touched her and pulled her G-string between her legs, causing her pain, the affidavit states.
According to the disciplinary letter signed by Police Chief Jeff Halstead, Campbell admitted paying for sexual acts at least five times since being commissioned as a Fort Worth officer in 2007.
The theft charge stems from allegations that Campbell removed $2 from an abandoned vehicle that he had been dispatched to, then give it to a female friend whom he had arranged to meet there. The incident was recorded, according to the disciplinary letter.
Campbell also did not accurately report the chain of custody of narcotics found inside the van, the disciplinary letter states.
Halstead said an internal investigation sustained eight allegations of misconduct against Campbell.
“His actions are a disgrace to our department, our city, and the policing profession,” Halstead said in an emailed statement. “I will continue to hold all employees accountable for any violations of policy that jeopardize the level of public trust within our community.”
Openings in trial of cop expected this morning
PEABODY — In a strange coincidence, a potential juror in the trial of a Peabody police officer accused of molesting a relative was excused from serving yesterday after telling the judge about his long-standing resentment of police.
The jury pool member said the belief dates back to his arrest in 1983 on a drunken-driving charge. He told Lawrence Superior Court Judge Douglas Wilkins that he has long believed that the Georgetown police officer who arrested him should have given him a break because he was a friend of the officer’s son.
And that, it turns out, is also a central issue in Frederick Wojick’s defense as he goes on trial in Lawrence Superior Court on nine counts of indecent assault and battery and two counts of disseminating obscene material to a minor.
Wojick and his attorney, Thomas Drechsler, contend that the accusations, by a relative of Wojick’s estranged wife, were made in retaliation over Wojick’s refusal to intervene when the accuser’s boyfriend was charged with drunken driving last year. Wojick had instead expressed disapproval of the relationship, his attorney has said.
Wojick, 49, was arrested in November 2011 after a colleague went to his superiors with concerns about statements Wojcik had made to him about his troubled family life, and an investigation eventually led to the disclosures by the relative, a teenager.
Opening statements in the case are expected this morning, followed by testimony from the teenager and, potentially, other witnesses.
Drechsler and prosecutor Kate MacDougall told the judge the case is expected to take about a week.
Both sides are seeking to limit the evidence that can be used during the trial, according to court filings.
The defense wants to bar the prosecutor and witnesses from referring to Wojick’s hospitalization for mental health treatment around the time of the disclosures, as well as evidence taken from computers.
The prosecutor is asking the judge to block questions about the teen’s sexual history. Such questions are typically off-limits under the state’s “rape shield” law, a law that seeks to prevent defense attorneys from attempting to elicit irrelevant testimony that could prejudice jurors against an accuser in a sexual assault case.
The prosecutor is also seeking to bar introduction of evidence of “prior bad acts” by either the accuser or witnesses in the case, including the drunken-driving arrest of the accuser’s boyfriend, unless Drechsler can prove that they are relevant.
The jury pool member said the belief dates back to his arrest in 1983 on a drunken-driving charge. He told Lawrence Superior Court Judge Douglas Wilkins that he has long believed that the Georgetown police officer who arrested him should have given him a break because he was a friend of the officer’s son.
And that, it turns out, is also a central issue in Frederick Wojick’s defense as he goes on trial in Lawrence Superior Court on nine counts of indecent assault and battery and two counts of disseminating obscene material to a minor.
Wojick and his attorney, Thomas Drechsler, contend that the accusations, by a relative of Wojick’s estranged wife, were made in retaliation over Wojick’s refusal to intervene when the accuser’s boyfriend was charged with drunken driving last year. Wojick had instead expressed disapproval of the relationship, his attorney has said.
Wojick, 49, was arrested in November 2011 after a colleague went to his superiors with concerns about statements Wojcik had made to him about his troubled family life, and an investigation eventually led to the disclosures by the relative, a teenager.
Opening statements in the case are expected this morning, followed by testimony from the teenager and, potentially, other witnesses.
Drechsler and prosecutor Kate MacDougall told the judge the case is expected to take about a week.
Both sides are seeking to limit the evidence that can be used during the trial, according to court filings.
The defense wants to bar the prosecutor and witnesses from referring to Wojick’s hospitalization for mental health treatment around the time of the disclosures, as well as evidence taken from computers.
The prosecutor is asking the judge to block questions about the teen’s sexual history. Such questions are typically off-limits under the state’s “rape shield” law, a law that seeks to prevent defense attorneys from attempting to elicit irrelevant testimony that could prejudice jurors against an accuser in a sexual assault case.
The prosecutor is also seeking to bar introduction of evidence of “prior bad acts” by either the accuser or witnesses in the case, including the drunken-driving arrest of the accuser’s boyfriend, unless Drechsler can prove that they are relevant.
Off-duty Portland cop arrested, accused of vandalizing neighbor's vehicle
PORTLAND, Ore. – Tualatin police arrested an off-duty Portland police officer who they said vandalized a neighbor’s vehicle on New Year’s Eve.Homero Reynaga was taken to the Clackamas County Jail on one count of criminal mischief (second degree).
Police said Reynaga was vandalizing a vehicle in the 6400 block of Southwest Nyberg Lane.
Reynaga, a 15-year veteran of the Portland Police Bureau assigned to the Central Precinct, was place on paid administrative leave and his police powers have been rescinded pending an internal investigation, which is standard bureau procedure.
Suspended Greenwood Officer Resigns
(GREENWOOD) - A suspended Greenwood police officer has resigned from the department, according to Greenwood police.
The resignation is effective immediately.
Joey Rodriguez was suspended last week after getting into a fight during a New Year's party. During the fight, he's accused of punching responding officers and kicking at medical crews.
FOX59 learned last week that Rodriguez did not enter an alcohol rehabilitation program, which was part of his agreement to be released from the Johnson County Jail.
The Greenwood Police Merit Board was scheduled to meet Monday, and Rodriguez had until before the meeting to resign. Otherwise, he would face termination by the department.
As part of his agreement, Rodriguez was also ordered to have no contact with any of the people he fought with at the party
The resignation is effective immediately.
Joey Rodriguez was suspended last week after getting into a fight during a New Year's party. During the fight, he's accused of punching responding officers and kicking at medical crews.
FOX59 learned last week that Rodriguez did not enter an alcohol rehabilitation program, which was part of his agreement to be released from the Johnson County Jail.
The Greenwood Police Merit Board was scheduled to meet Monday, and Rodriguez had until before the meeting to resign. Otherwise, he would face termination by the department.
As part of his agreement, Rodriguez was also ordered to have no contact with any of the people he fought with at the party
Seabrook officers suspended, video shows man's head slammed against concrete wall
SEABROOK -- Two police officers have been placed on administrative leave and town officials are scrambling for answers after a four-year-old video uploaded on to YouTube yesterday shows one officer slamming a young man's head against a cement wall inside the Liberty Lane police station.
Town Manager Bill Manzi would not immediately disclose the names of the suspended officers pending a police investigation into the incident conducted by Chief Lee Bitomske. Manzi added that its possible that an outside agency will be hired to assist the investigation.
"While the investigation is conducted no town official will have able to offer additional comment beyond this station," Manzi said.
The roughly four-minute-long video, titled "police brutality in seabrook," and shot by a cell hall camera on Nov. 11, 2009, shows the suspect being lead down a hall by a police officer while two others walked along side. Seconds later, the officer throws the suspect's head against against the wall, knocking him off his feet and sprawling him onto the floor. Still dazed, the suspect is hauled to his feet before falling down again. Moments later, a second police officer douses the suspect with appears to be pepper spray. At various points, some of the officers smile, and one looks directly at the surveillance camera.
A description of the video, uploaded by a man whose screen name is Mike Berg, reads: "Charged with a dwi not even drunk and tried explaining that I wasn't drunk and they could be out catching actual criminals. Then after being in the cell for a while waiting for a bail bonds man I was taken out and brought in the booking room to call for a ride. After calling a ride I was told I could take my phone that I called from and my wallet. as soon as I grabbed my wallet from the table he officer with the glasses came at me saying he never told me I could take my stuff and choked me against the wall then tried to grab the wallet from my pocket. Once he got the wallet and my phone this is what happened."
Manzi said part of the investigation will focus on how the video, which he confirmed was shot within the police station, got into the hands of the suspect, whose identity has been confirmed.
"We don't know how it got out there," Manzi said, adding he didn't know why the video surfaced yesterday four years after the fact.
According to information found on the video post, the suspect said his lawyer, whom he hired after the incident, took the tape and kept it for two years until the suspect tracked him down. "But now I think it's to late to do anything with it even though I have a permanent lump on the back of my head chipped teeth and brain injuries but talking to a lawyer soon."
At the time of the incident, Seabrook police was led by now-retired Chief Patrick Manthorn. Bitomske was sworn in as the department's newest chief in November 2012.
Earlier today, Bitomske visited the town office building where he and Manzi discussed the matter further. Upon leaving the building, Bitomske declined to comment but said he may have a statement later this afternoon or tomorrow.
Manzi said he first watched the video yesterday after being alerted that there was a video involving Seabrook police that he should see.
Charges for 106 in Huge Fraud Over Disability
The retired New
York City police officers and firefighters showed up for their psychiatric
exams disheveled and disoriented, most following a nearly identical script.
They had been
coached on how to fail memory tests, feign panic attacks and, if they had
worked during the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, to talk about their fear
of airplanes and entering skyscrapers, prosecutors said. And they were told to
make it clear they could not leave the house, much less find a job.
But their
Facebook pages told investigators a starkly different story, according to an
indictment and other court papers.
Former police
officers who had told government doctors they were too mentally scarred to
leave home had posted photographs of themselves fishing, riding motorcycles,
driving water scooters, flying helicopters and playing basketball.
“The brazenness
is shocking,” Cyrus R. Vance Jr., the Manhattan district attorney, said on
Tuesday.
The online
photos, along with intercepted phone calls and the testimony of undercover
officers, were evidence of what officials said was the largest fraud ever
perpetrated against the Social Security disability system, a scheme stretching
back to 1988 in which as many as 1,000 people — many of them officers and
firefighters already collecting pensions from the city — were suspected to have
bilked the federal government out of an estimated $400 million.
An indictment
unsealed on Monday by the Manhattan district attorney’s office charges 106
people, four of whom are accused of running the scheme. The group was headed by
Raymond Lavallee, 83, a Long Island lawyer who started his career as an agent
with the Federal Bureau of Investigation and once served as a senior Nassau
County prosecutor, court papers said.
Mr. Lavallee
worked most closely with two men: Thomas Hale, 89, a pension consultant who
investigators say filled out applications, and Joseph Minerva, 61, a former
police officer who works for the Detectives’ Endowment Association.
The organizers
received cash kickbacks of more than $28,000 from each applicant, money that
was taken from the recipients’ first check from the Social Security
Administration, prosecutors said.
Lawyers for all
four men denied the accusations.
Scores of former
police officers and firefighters were arrested on Tuesday and brought in
handcuffs to State Supreme Court in Manhattan, where they were arraigned before
Acting Justice Daniel Fitzgerald on charges of grand larceny. They are accused
of collecting between $30,000 and $50,000 a year.
Many of the 72
city police officers and eight firefighters named in the 205-count indictment
had blamed the Sept. 11 attacks for what they described as mental problems:
post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety and severe depression.
“It’s a
particularly cynical part of the charged scheme that approximately half the
defendants falsely claimed that their psychiatric disabilities were caused by
the 9/11 attacks,” Mr. Vance said at a news conference.
Yet investigators
said the accused were living full lives and in many cases were holding jobs in
private security, construction and landscaping.
Several of the
defendants documented their activities on Facebook. The bail letter includes
photographs culled from the Internet that show one former officer riding a
water scooter and others working at jobs including helicopter pilot and martial
arts instructor. One is shown fishing off the coast of Costa Rica and another
sitting astride a motorcycle, while another appeared in a television news story
selling cannoli at the Feast of San Gennaro in Manhattan.
Prosecutors said
Joseph Esposito, 64, who retired from the Police Department in 1990, coached
the applicants to act symptomatic during exams conducted by psychiatrists for
the Social Security Administration.
In one secretly
recorded telephone conversation, Mr. Esposito told an applicant to misspell
words and miscalculate simple arithmetic, and to say that she kept the
television on at home “just to hear a voice in the house,” but to emphasize
that she kept changing channels because she could not focus.
“When you’re
talking to the guy, don’t look directly at him,” Mr. Esposito said, according
to a transcript of the conversation in the bail letter. “You know, pause for a
second. You’re just trying to show that, you know, you’re depressed. You, you
can’t, you, you don’t have any desire for anything, and if you can, you pretend
you have panic attacks.”
Mr. Vance said
one of the defendants, Louis Hurtado, had retired from the Police Department
with a disability pension after sustaining a neck injury and then opened and
taught at a martial arts studio. Yet he still applied for disability from the
Social Security Administration, saying he had post-traumatic stress disorder.
During the bail
hearing, Christopher Santora, an assistant district attorney, outlined how the
scheme worked. The defendants generally first contacted Mr. Esposito, who was
known in law enforcement circles for helping people secure disability benefits.
Mr. Esposito would take applicants to Mr. Hale and Mr. Minerva, who referred
them to one of two psychiatrists.
With Mr.
Esposito’s coaching, the applicants would go to the psychiatrists for a year to
build a false record of mental instability before applying for benefits.
Mr. Hale then
filled out the applications in cookie-cutter fashion, using the same phrases,
like, “I don’t have interest in anything,” and “I am up and down all night
long.”
The bail letter
traced the scheme’s origins to 1988 and estimated that the retirees collected
fraudulent disability awards, over time ranging from approximately $50,000 to
$500,000. All told, $21.4 million in disability benefits was paid to people
charged in the indictment. Among the others charged were correction officers, Nassau
and Suffolk County police officers and civilians.
Lawyers for the
men accused of organizing the scheme predicted they would prevail in court. Mr.
Lavallee’s lawyer, Raymond Perini, said “a decorated Korean War vet, F.B.I.
agent and prosecutor lost his 60-year reputation today and we are going to win
that back in the courtroom.”
Mr. Hale’s
lawyer, Joseph Conway, said that his client’s consulting business would prove
to be legitimate. Mr. Esposito’s lawyer, Brian Griffin, said his client denied
the accusations.
Mr. Griffin said
most of the people named in the indictment did have a disability of some kind,
noting prosecutors appear to be alleging that only the mental disabilities
underlying the federal Social Security applications were exaggerated.
Mr. Minerva’s
lawyer, Glenn Hardy, said his client had a legitimate job helping officers
obtain benefits and denied that Mr. Minerva had told applicants what to say.
Mr. Lavallee and
Mr. Hale were each released on $1 million bail, while Mr. Esposito posted $500,000
and Mr. Minerva put up $250,000.
The inquiry
started in 2008 when Social Security investigators noticed that two retired
police officers who had gun permits were also receiving payments for a mental
disability. That discovery led to a review of other applications handled by Mr.
Lavallee and a multiagency investigation.
Patrick P.
O’Carroll Jr., the inspector general for the Social Security Administration,
said more arrests were expected.