An explanation of why the overpaid Fairfax County Police want more money

Sharon Bulova: Sharon: We're willing to show you the money just l...

Sharon Bulova: Sharon: We're willing to show you the money just l...: So the Fairfax County Police, 90% live outside the county, want a raise to spend away from Fairfax County We believe you should all...

US Inquiry May Order Albuquerque Police Oversight

The U.S. Department of Justice is set to release its report Thursday on the troubled Albuquerque Police Department and could mandate federal oversight and reforms costing the city millions of dollars, steps it's required of other law enforcement agencies it's scrutinized.

The announcement will follow a more than yearlong investigation into possible civil rights violations and excessive use of force by Albuquerque officers. Complaints from local advocacy groups helped launch the inquiry.

If a monitor is appointed, Albuquerque would join cities including Detroit, Los Angeles, New Orleans and Seattle that are subject to federal oversight.

The Albuquerque Police Department has faced intense criticism for 37 shootings by officers since 2010 — more than 20 of them deadly.

Federal officials have released few details of the Albuquerque investigation but conducted hundreds of interviews with officials and residents.

Albuquerque Mayor Richard Berry has asked the federal agency to expedite its review and aid in reforms. His request followed a violent protest last month of the fatal shooting of a homeless man who had threatened to kill officers. He was gathering his belongings and turning away when officers opened fire, helmet camera video showed.

Scrutiny of the Albuquerque force is one of 15 investigations of police departments launched during President Barack Obama's first term.

In 2010, New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu asked the Justice Department to conduct an investigation into allegations of constitutional violations, corruption and discriminatory policies in the city's police department. The federal agency proposed a consent decree — a legally binding document in which a city promises to adhere to and maintain whatever reforms the Justice Department orders.

The cost of instituting the city's consent decree was estimated at about $55 million over five years.

In 2012, federal officials found Portland, Ore., police engaged in a pattern of excessive force against people with mental illnesses. Federal investigators and the city reached a settlement calling for changes to police policies on use of force, stun guns, training, discipline and oversight. It also called for restructuring police crisis intervention training and faster internal inquiries into cases of police misconduct.

The Portland reforms were estimated to cost $3 million to $5 million a year.

In Albuquerque, officials said this week that they welcomed the Justice Department announcement and were prepared to negotiate with federal officials over a possible monitor.

"As the Albuquerque Police Department has done for the past several years, we will continue to work cooperatively with the DOJ in order to implement the best practices for our community," Albuquerque Police Chief Gorden Eden said in a statement.

Fairfax County Police Push for Pay Raises in Next Budget

By David Culver

Almost a third of Fairfax County's police force, more than 300, filled the auditorium in the Fairfax County Government Center Thursday to fight for pay raises.

The crowd was so large, it allowed for standing room only and overflowed into the halls outside the auditorium, where officers crowded around small monitors to watch representatives testify in front of the County Board of Supervisors.

"All these police officers that you see here, a lot of them haven't had raises in years," Sgt. Gregory Fried said.

Many of his classmates from the academy have moved on to other jobs, he added, "knowing that they would be able to raise and support their families and have a decent living."

Fairfax Fraternal Order of Police President Mike Scanlon told supervisors the stagnant salaries are hurting efforts to recruit new officers. There are 54 vacancies in the department, he said.

"We can't fill those seats because we don't have the competitive pay scales or competitive benefits package that other agencies can offer," Scanlon said.

Among those budgeted for a raise this year are county firefighters. They're getting a 3 percent bump in pay.

"The bottom line is that the firefighters are out of the competitive corridor, so that's being dealt with in this budget," Board Chairman Sharon Bulova explained.

She added that there's still money available to give some police positions a raise.

But Scanlon said that only helps the higher ranks, not the officers on the streets.

Scanlon said that should worry Fairfax County residents.

"The response times for calls for service in the county are going to increase, and we're not going to be able to provide the services that their constituents are asking for," he said.

As for Sgt. Fried, after 10 years with the department, he's looking at other options.

"I've actually tried to leave the agency and relocate, but I'm still here," he said.

Since Tuesday, many other county employees have made their case for higher pay in front of the supervisors.

The board will adopt their final budget in about two weeks.

Plum police officer charged with unlawful use of computer

PLUM, Pa. —A Plum Borough police officer surrendered for arraignment on a felony charge Thursday morning, the Allegheny County District Attorney's Office said.

Jeremy Cumberledge, 31, was released on his own recognizance after being charged with unlawful use of a computer. His preliminary hearing is scheduled for April 23.

The complaint alleges that Cumberledge intentionally viewed and opened files in areas of the borough's computer network to which he had no authorization, including those assigned to former police chief Frank Monaco, then-lieutenant and current chief Jeffrey Armstrong, other police officers in the department and members of borough administration including the prior and current manager, the assistant manager and council members.

Cumberledge "was not given permission by those borough employees whose profiles were accessed by Cumberledge (or through Cumberledge's login) to access the contents of their user profiles, nor were those employees aware that such accesses had occurred," according to the complaint filed by Lyle Graber, a detective with the DA's office.

The complaint also says that Cumberledge, in his capacity as a police officer, did not have a reason or need to access areas of Plum's computer network outside his own profile and the commonly shared areas that are used by the police department.

Cumberledge's alleged computer activities happened from 2010 through January of this year, according to the complaint.

The NYPD Goes After Another Cop Who Secretly Recorded His Boss

The Village Voice

s since New York Police Department Officer Adrian Schoolcraft emerged with secretly recorded evidence of misconduct in a Brooklyn precinct, other cops have been inspired to follow in his footsteps, capturing their commanders pressuring them to hit illegal quotas.

The NYPD has long denied that it's compelled officers to reach certain figures for arrests, stop-and-frisks, and summonses. But the recordings proved that officers faced the threat of bad assignments, transfers, or other punishment if they didn't make their numbers.

Schoolcraft's tapes played in dramatic fashion in the recent landmark stop-and-frisk trial, which could lead to a federal monitor overseeing the NYPD. Two Bronx officers also made similar recordings, as did an unnamed supervisor, who caught his bosses profanely complaining about cops who didn't make their quotas.

Now comes patrolman Clifford Rigaud, an 11-year veteran who secretly taped his commander in South Jamaica's 103rd Precinct pressuring him to write 15 summonses a month.

Like Schoolcraft, Rigaud claims he was a hard-working officer. He once ran into a burning building on Hillside Avenue to make sure the tenants were out, and earned a commendation for intervening in an armed robbery.

Rigaud claims that when he resisted quota pressure, his bosses began to squeeze him, using a series of administrative rules and unwritten tactics. He was fired last week after he filed a lawsuit and a series of complaints charging supervisors with discrimination. To Rigaud, it looked like the ultimate retaliation.

"I tried to go through the chain of command instead of talking to the media, because I have five children to support, but that did not work out at all," he says. "This department will come after you for everything they got. Schoolcraft's fear of the NYPD is correct, and even worse than he thinks."

Rigaud's lawyer, Stephen Drummond, says the department offered paper-thin justification to get rid of a veteran officer. Rigaud was fired for not showing up for psychiatric evaluation during his suspension—though officers are routinely allowed to tend to such issues after they return to work.

The speed of his removal seemed suspect, since Police Commissioner Ray Kelly habitually takes months, even years, to decide the fate of cops accused of much greater offenses like fraud, drug trafficking, or the beating of suspects. "Here again we see Rigaud being treated differently," Drummond says.

Police spokesman Paul Browne did not respond to repeated interview requests.

Reason-Rupe Poll: Half of Americans Think Cops Not Held Accountable

Paul Detrick|

The April 2014 Reason-Rupe poll found that half of Americans think law enforcement officers are not held accountable for misconduct. That number rises to 64 percent for Hispanics and 66 percent for African Americans.

Do you think police officers are generally held accountable for misconduct, or not?

• Yes: 46 percent

• No: 50 percent

• Don't know: 4 percent

Police misconduct is reviewed through internal affairs investigations, a process that has officers investigating other officers. In February 2013, Los Angeles Police Department officer Sunil Dutta wrote in the Washington Post about his time working as an internal affairs investigator. Dutta criticized the process, saying that it didn't help a community's perception of the police and didn't help officers either:

[When] I interviewed community members who had filed complaints against officers, I was disappointed to learn that, despite my reassurances and best efforts to conduct impartial inquiries, many complainants believed that a fair investigation was simply not possible. Nor do misconduct investigations satisfy a skeptical public. If an officer is exonerated, the community often believes that malfeasance is being covered up.

Police serve the community—any concerns about their integrity must be transparently, expeditiously and judiciously resolved. Relying on cops to police cops is neither efficient nor confidence-inspiring.

Dutta argued that video may be one way to change the perception of police departments.

There's just no excuse for not recording police contacts with the public. Technology has made cameras effective and affordable. Some officers already record their arrests to protect themselves against false allegations of misconduct. This should be standard operating procedure.

LAPD audio-recording saga provides another argument for the ‘Missing Video Presumption’

By Radley Balko

A couple of weeks ago, I put up a post looking at the main problem with relying on video from video cameras mounted to police officers and to the dashboards of their squad cars — there have been a number of police misconduct cases in which video has gone missing, or in which cameras have malfunctioned at critical times.

It doesn’t matter how potentially beneficial the technology is if the cops using it are going to undermine its transparency value, and if police agencies and courts don’t subsequently hold those cops accountable.

Currently, the Los Angeles Police Department is experimenting with body cameras for its police officers. It’s a good step toward more transparency. But it’s critical that the department has and maintains the public trust. The citizens of L.A. need to know that the video from these cameras will be there not only to exonerate good cops accused of wrongdoing, but also to implicate bad cops. If cops can simply turn off their cameras at will, or if incriminating video can be destroyed without consequence, the cameras become tools of corruption, not of transparency.

To that end, this is a troubling sign:

Los Angeles police officers tampered with voice recording equipment in dozens of patrol cars in an effort to avoid being monitored while on duty, according to records and interviews.

An inspection by Los Angeles Police Department investigators found about half of the estimated 80 cars in one South L.A. patrol division were missing antennas, which help capture what officers say in the field. The antennas in at least 10 more cars in nearby divisions had also been removed . . .

A federal judge last year formally ended more than a decade of close monitoring of the LAPD by the U.S. Department of Justice. The judge agreed to lift the oversight, in part, after city and police leaders made assurances that the LAPD had adequate safeguards, such as the cameras, in place to monitor itself . . .

The cameras, which turn on automatically whenever an officer activates the car’s emergency lights and sirens or can be activated manually, are used to record traffic stops and other encounters that occur in front of the vehicle. Officers also wear small transmitters on their belts that relay their voices back to the antennas in the patrol car. Regardless of whether they are in front of the camera, officers’ voices can be recorded hundreds of yards away from the car, said Sgt. Dan Gomez, a department expert on the recording devices . . .

False arrest suit ends with $75K plaintiff’s verdict at Phila. Common Pleas Court

By JON CAMPISI

A man who says he was falsely arrested during an encounter at the Eagle’s

football stadium in South Philadelphia three years ago has won a $75,000 jury verdict at Philadelphia’s Common Pleas Court.

Harry Mims, a former resident of Silver Springs, Md. who now lives in Philadelphia, filed suit in July 2012 against Eagles Stadium Operator LLC, various security officials and a number of Philadelphia police officers over his arrest during the Eagles home opener back in 2011 at Lincoln Financial Field.

Mims, who is in his early 30s, contended that he was arrested by cops working a plainclothes detail at the sports venue during an incident in which he inadvertently came into contact with one of the lawmen.

The officers had apparently been walking by with a handcuffed suspect at the time in an effort to eject the spectator from the stadium.

Officers alleged that Mims first interfered with one of the cops, identified as Mark Alston, also a defendant in the suit, and then resisted attempts to arrest him, the complaint stated.

Mims claimed he went on to spend two days in a jail cell before he was released on bail.

The criminal charges were ultimately dismissed against Mims by a Philadelphia Municipal Court judge.

Mims sued for false arrest, assault and battery, and malicious prosecution, records show.

The $75,000 jury award consists of only compensatory damages; no punitive damages were awarded.

Mims was represented by attorneys Jonathan James and Michael Schwartz of James, Schwartz & Associates.

The trial was presided over by Common Pleas Court Judge Shelley Robins-New.

WPB Officer Charged With Selling Controlled Substances On Duty

WEST PALM BEACH (CBSMiami) – A West Palm Beach police officer is charged with selling controlled substances while in uniform and on duty.

The State Attorney’s Office, FBI, FDA, and West Palm Beach Police Department made the announcement Friday that they filed charges against 45-year-old Dewitt McDonald.

McDonald was charged with one count of knowingly carrying a firearm during and in relation to a drug trafficking crime.

Officials said the McDonald operated two businesses while employed as an officer through which he distributed anabolic steroids and prescription drugs.

The businesses are Prime Performance Wellness Centers, Inc., located in Lake Worth, and Prime Health and Rejuvenation Clinic, located in Wellington.

On March 5, 2013, police said McDonald delivered he drugs to a person in Palm Beach County. At the time of the exchange, he was allegedly on duty and carrying his Smith & Wesson MP40 pistol.

If convicted, McDonald faces a minimum sentence of five years in prison and a maximum statutory sentence of up to life in prison.

Ex-officer charged with stealing $26,000

Douglas Walker

MUNCIE — A former Muncie police officer on Friday formally became an accused thief.

George Edward Hopper, 40, is accused of embezzling $26,576 when he was treasurer of the local Fraternal Order of Police between 2010 and 2013.

Hopper resigned from his job with the Muncie Police Department in March 2013, after FOP officials launched an investigation into missing lodge funds.

“About four months ago, we started noticing things,” then-FOP President Jay Turner told The Star Press last year. “Bills were not being paid.”

An affidavit accompanying the theft charge — filed Friday in Delaware Circuit Court 1 by Prosecutor Jeffrey Arnold — alleges that FOP members became aware of the lodge’s financial problems in January 2013.

A few weeks later, Hopper did not attend a lodge meeting to discuss the situation. Eight days later, he was officially removed as FOP treasurer.

On April 4, 2013, Indiana State Police were asked to investigate “a possible theft of funds from the FOP by treasurer George Hopper,” the affidavit said.

Court documents reflect that Hopper previously repaid $12,000, and Arnold said the former officer paid an additional $14,000 in restitution on Friday.

Arnold said Hopper was “very cooperative” with the ISP probe that led to the filing of Friday’s charge.

“He helped determine the total loss (to the FOP), which we would have been unable to do,” he said.

According to the affidavit, the former officer met with ISP officers in March, reviewed a recently completed audit conducted by an accounting firm, and “admitted that he had taken money from the FOP without lodge permission, and had lost track of how much he had actually taken.”

Hopper surrendered at the Delaware County jail on Friday afternoon, was processed, then released after posting a $5,000 bond.

“He was treated like anyone else,” Arnold said.

Hopper joined the Muncie Police Department in May 1998 and was a city officer for two months short of 15 years.

Timberlake police chief, cop arrested

Kim Wendel,

LAKE COUNTY -- The Lake County Sheriff's Department arrested Timberlake Police Chief David Phillips, 38, and Timberlake Police Officer Carrie Ann Murray, 36, Friday afternoon in Parma.

They charged Phillips with two counts of theft in office and tampering with records and Murray with two counts of theft in office, all felonies.

Both are being held at the Lake County Adult Detention facility in Painesville.

In October, the Bureau of Criminal Investigation started an investigation. Both Phillips and Murray were suspended without pay Oct. 17 and Geoffrey Esser has been serving as acting police chief.

A Lake County grand jury found that, according to the indictment, between October 2012 and November 2013, Phillips and Murray stole "property or services" valued at $7,500 or more. They used their status as public officials "in aid of committing the offense or permitted or assented to its use in aid of committing the offense."

Lake County Prosecutor Charles Coulson said the two could be arraigned as soon as Monday in Lake County Common Pleas Court.

Former Medford officer charged with computer crime

MEDFORD — A former police lieutenant who led the Southern Oregon High-Tech Crimes Task Force has been charged with official misconduct and computer crime.

Josh Moulin was arraigned Friday in Jackson County Circuit Court. A felony charge outlined in the indictment alleges Moulin altered, damaged or destroyed a computer or software, while the misdemeanor charge alleges that he knowingly used, accessed or attempted to access a computer, software or data on a system.

The official misconduct charge alleges Moulin illegally used his position as a public servant while committing the crimes, according to the indictment.

Moulin said he’s innocent. He told the Mail Tribune newspaper that he believes the charges stem from way he returned a Central Point Police Department-issued laptop computer after he was placed on paid administrative leave two years ago.

He declined to be more specific, saying his legal team must first review state evidence.

“We were surprised to see the case still moving forward,” Moulin said.

A grand jury secretly indicted Moulin in February after an Oregon Department of Justice review of the Oregon State Police investigation.

Department of Justice spokeswoman Kristin Edmunson declined comment.

Moulin founded the task force in 2005. When other agencies heard about the work the Central Point was doing, they asked for assistance and training. For the next two years, Moulin worked with the other agencies by himself.

By 2011, the task force had grown to nine members from multiple agencies, including the Grants Pass, Medford, Ashland, Klamath Falls and Central Point police departments, the FBI, U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the Jackson County District Attorney’s Office.

Moulin said he was placed on leave while Central Point police conducted an internal investigation into the management of the unit. He later resigned after accepting a job with a federal defense contractor in Nevada.

Prosecutors on Friday filed a motion seeking to prohibit Moulin from discussing the case with journalists. Jackson County Circuit Judge Kelly Ravassipour denied the motion.

Moulin’s next court date is May 12.

Witness: State police detective paid me to lie about Romulus police corruption

Shawn Ley

ROMULUS, Mich. -

Sex, lies and an audiotape.

A Local 4 investigation broke the story Thursday night at 6 p.m. about a witness used by Wayne County prosecutors against former members of the Romulus Police Department accused of staggering corruption while on duty.

That witness now says he was paid $12,000 by a Michigan State Police detective for his testimony, and he says he was paid to lie on the witness stand.

Here’s the background: the witness is named Milton DeSilva.

DeSilva was a confidential informant for Romulus police detectives.

In March of 2011, Michigan State Police conducted several raids of the Romulus Police Department -- as well as a raiding the home of former Romulus Police Chief Michael St. Andre and a tanning salon owned by St. Andre’s wife, Sandra Vlaz-St. Andre.

St. Andre and five defendants, who were Romulus police detectives, at the time are accused of padding their overtime, using drug forfeiture money to engage in drug and sex parties at strip clubs and for allegedly pocking department money set aside to pay confidential informants.

During a preliminary hearing, DeSilva testified for Wayne County prosecutors, testimony that helped bound the case over to circuit court and towards a trial.

Later, DeSilva called the office of one of the attorneys defending one of the Romulus detectives.

An investigator for attorney Mike Rataj taped a phone call with DeSilva.

A recording of that call was sent anonymously to Local 4.

DeSilva is heard telling the investigator, “I was told to lie and I was paid cash for it.”

"Who paid you to lie?”

DeSilva: “The state police. They gave me $12,000 cash.”

Thursday, attorney for former Romulus detective Richard Balzer, Mike Rataj, told Local 4, “It raises some serious questions about the integrity of the investigation.”

Friday, a spokesperson for Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy told Local 4, “It is not true about the witness being paid by MSP.” Spokesperson Maria Miller added that DeSilva is not a witness in the upcoming trial against the former Romulus chief and detectives.

Also Friday, Rataj is questioning how prosecutors could use DeSilva’s testimony to help them in a preliminary hearing only now to say he is no longer a witness for them.

“You people (Wayne Co. prosecutors) put him up on the witness stand to have our clients, in part, to be bound over," Rataj said. “You think there should be some sort of investigation conducted. These are serious allegations."

The state attorney general’s office will not confirm if they are investigating allegations being made about how Michigan State Police conducted its probe of the Romulus officers.

The investigation has already claimed its first conviction.

Sandra Vlaz-St. Andre was found guilty of taking part in a criminal enterprise for her role in the corruption case. She is serving 7 to 20 years in prison.

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Miami-Dade cop accused of smuggling cocaine gets $500,000 bond

BY JAY WEAVER

In a rare concession, a veteran Miami-Dade police officer charged with smuggling loads of cocaine, buying weapons for traffickers and directing a murder plot against rival drug dealers was granted a bond Monday as he awaits a federal trial in New Jersey.

Lt. Ralph Mata, 45, was allowed to post a $500,000 bond under an agreement struck between the U.S. attorney’s office in Newark and the officer’s defense attorney — but with heavy strings attached. Mata must make a nonrefundable down payment of $37,500 on one half of the bond, and a refundable payment of $25,000 on a second half to ensure his appearance at trial.

Mata, as part of the terms, must prove that both down payments are clean — not from drug proceeds. He could be released later Monday or Tuesday.

His arrest last Wednesday shocked the law enforcement community because he was known as a strait-laced police officer, who most recently worked in Miami-Dade’s internal affairs unit investigating cops suspected of wrongdoing.

Mata, who was relieved of duty with pay, was charged with conspiring to smuggle more than five kilos of cocaine into the United States. If convicted, the offense carries up to life in prison. Normally, defendants charged with that crime receive no bond before trial.

Mata’s defense attorney, Bruce Fleisher, said after the hearing that federal prosecutors in New Jersey agreed to the bond while “taking into consideration his 22 years of service as a police officer and his good family.” Mata’s wife and other family members attended the bond hearing.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Barry Garber accepted the terms and required Mata to be confined to his Pembroke Pines home with an electronic monitor 24 hours a day. He will be allowed to leave his home only for medical, religious or court appearances. He also must surrender his passport and firearms.

Mata, who was cuffed at the wrists, waists and ankles during Monday’s hearing, will make his first appearance in Newark federal court the week of April 21, Fleisher said. An indictment is pending.

Mata's arrest on a criminal complaint stunned the police department, where he has worked since 1992. Among his duties: stints as a canine officer and a lieutenant in Miami Gardens, where he worked on busting drug and prostitution rings.

He has been with internal affairs, known officially as the Professional Compliance Bureau, since March 2010. The unit is dedicated to rooting out misconduct and crimes of fellow officers.

Federal prosecutors say Mata — who went by the nickname “The Milk Man” — helped plan the execution of two rival drug dealers, even proposing that his “contacts” could dress up like cops and pull over the men before killing them. But the plan was eventually scrapped.

He purchased firearms and flew them to the Dominican Republic for the group, according to the FBI, accompanied a suitcase full of drug money to the island, used his position as a cop to give secret intelligence to the group, and suggested ways to smuggle in dope through Miami.

After his arrest, more details emerged about the drug smugglers who apparently worked with the feds in building the case against Mata as their associate in Miami-Dade.

According to federal court records, Juan C. Arias, Martin Nuñez-Lora and Persio Nuñez were arrested in April 2013.

All have since pleaded guilty to conspiring to distribute cocaine, although none has yet been sentenced, according to court records.

The extent of any cooperation with the government against Mata is unclear, although it could help persuade a judge to give the trio lighter sentences.

For years, agents say, the smugglers had been importing drugs in shipping containers containing bananas from Ecuador and the Dominican Republic.

In January 2012, investigators seized $400,000 from the Bergen County, N.J., home of Arias. It was that seizure, according to federal court documents, that led the smugglers to suspect one of their own had robbed them.

But Mata, according to police, checked with his fellow law enforcement officers and confirmed that it was indeed a Drug Enforcement Administration bust, even confirming the name of the agent on the case.

Then, in April 2013, investigators tracked a shipment of bananas and drugs arriving at a “port in Florida” that was later driven by truck to a rented warehouse in Passaic County, N.J.

Investigators covertly listened to phone calls in which the group discussed the shipment.

When the truck arrived in New Jersey three days later, agents swooped in, arresting Nuñez, Nuñez-Lora and Arias at a nearby hotel.

Another shipment bound for New Jersey — 87 kilograms of cocaine alongside the bananas — was seized in Florida the same day.

As word spread about the arrests, the smugglers' associates reached out to Mata, who immediately began checking with local sources within law enforcement to find out what had happened, according to a criminal complaint.

Lawyers for Arias and Nuñez-Lora could not be reached for comment. A lawyer for Nuñez declined to comment.

As part of the federal plea deal, Arias has to give up a condo at the posh Icon Brickell building, land in Opa-locka, a 40-foot yacht and a Bentley luxury car. Nuñez must also give up a unit at Icon.

Miami Herald staff writer David Ovalle contributed to this report.

Chief of Bull Shoals Police Department Arrested for Use of Excessive Force

U.S. Department of Justice April 08, 2014

Office of Public Affairs (202) 514-2007/TDD (202) 514-1888

WASHINGTON—The Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Arkansas, and the FBI announced today that Daniel Sutterfield, 35, chief of the Bull Shoals Police Department, was arrested yesterday on charges related to his use of excessive force in the arrest of a Bull Shoals resident and a related false report. The complaint and complaint affidavit were unsealed today after Sutterfield’s initial appearance in court this morning before Magistrate Judge James R. Marshewski at the U.S. District Court in Harrison, Arkansas.
In the two-count complaint, Sutterfield was charged with one count of deprivation of rights and one count of falsifying a report. The complaint charges that on July 9, 2013, Sutterfield used excessive force in the arrest of a Bull Shoals resident and then directed an officer to write a false and misleading report regarding the incident in order to cover up and justify the use of excessive force.
If convicted, Sutterfield faces a statutory maximum punishment of 10 years in prison for the civil rights charge involving excessive force and a statutory maximum punishment of 20 years in prison for the falsification charge. If convicted, the defendant’s sentence will be determined by the court after review of factors unique to this case, including the defendant’s prior criminal record (if any), the defedant’s role in the offense, and the characteristics of the violations. The sentence will not exceed the statutory maximum and in most cases will be less than the maximum.
This case is being investigated by the FBI. It is being prosecuted by Trial Attorney Cindy Chung from the Civil Rights Division and Assistant U.S. Attorney Kyra Jenner from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Arkansas.
A federal complaint is a written statement of the essential facts of the offenses charged and must be made under oath before a magistrate judge. The charges set forth in a complaint are merely accusations, and the defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty.

Miami-Dade Police Officer Charged in Cocaine Trafficking Conspiracy

U.S. Attorney’s Office April 08, 2014

District of New Jersey (973) 645-2888

NEWARK—An internal affairs officer of the Miami-Dade Police Department was arrested this morning in Miami Gardens, Florida, and charged with allegedly aiding a narcotics trafficking organization—distributing cocaine from the Dominican Republic in New Jersey and elsewhere—by orchestrating a murder-for-hire plot; providing firearms and sensitive law enforcement information; and facilitating the transport of drug proceeds, New Jersey U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced.
Ralph Mata, 45, a/k/a “the Milk Man,” of Broward County, Florida—a lieutenant with the Miami-Dade Police Department, Internal Affairs—is charged by federal criminal complaint with one count each of aiding and abetting a conspiracy to distribute cocaine; conspiring to distribute cocaine; and engaging in monetary transactions in property derived from specified unlawful activity—specifically, drug proceeds.
Mata is scheduled to appear tomorrow, April 9, 2014, before U.S. Magistrate Judge Alicia M. Otazo-Reyes in federal court in the Southern District of Florida.
According to the complaint unsealed today:
After rival drug dealers threatened to kill members of the drug trafficking organization, or DTO, with which Mata conspired, Mata and members of the DTO discussed a murder plot. Mata stated that his contacts—assassins—would wear uniforms and badges to make it appear as though the two targets of the plot were being pulled over by law enforcement before shooting them. Mata arranged to pay two assassins $150,000 per target. Ultimately, the DTO decided not to move forward with the murder plot, but Mata still received a payment for setting up the meetings.
Mata purchased several firearms to provide protection and security to the DTO members located in the Dominican Republic, which he transported on two separate trips from Miami to the Dominican Republic between October 5, 2012 and January 17, 2013. A number of these firearms have been recovered by law enforcement.
Mata also helped to transport narcotics proceeds for the DTO in exchange for thousands of dollars in cash and a Rolex watch valued at approximately $10,000.
Mata also used sources of information available to him as a law enforcement officer to find out information about the seizure of $419,000 in narcotics proceeds from a Bergen County, New Jersey residence, which members of the DTO suspected had been stolen by another member but were in fact seized by law enforcement.
The narcotics charges each carry a statutory mandatory minimum penalty of 10 years in prison and a maximum potential penalty of life in prison and a $10 million fine. The transaction involving drug proceeds charge carries a maximum potential penalty of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
U.S. Attorney Fishman credited special agents of the FBI’s Garret Mountain Resident Office, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Aaron T. Ford in Newark; the DEA’s Paterson Post of Duty under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Carl J. Kotowski; IRS-Criminal Investigation, Newark Field Office, under the Acting Special Agent in Charge Jonathan D. Larsen; and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations, New York, under the direction of James T. Hayes Jr. He also thanked the Miami FBI, Miami-Dade Police Department, and Miami-Area Corruption Task Force for their assistance with the arrest. The investigation is ongoing.
The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Mary Toscano of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Special Prosecutions Division, José Almonte of the Criminal Division, and Barbara Ward and Marion Percell, Chief of the office’s Asset Forfeiture Unit.
The charges and allegations contained in the complaint are merely accusations, and the defendant is considered innocent unless and until proven guilty.