3 Officers to Face Discipline for Detaining City Officials at Parade
The New York Times by Joseph Goldstein - November 10, 2011
The Police Department will discipline three officers for an episode in which a city councilman and another city official were detained and handcuffed after the West Indian American Day Parade in September, according to the New York Civil Liberties Union. The department’s Internal Affairs Bureau found that there was “sufficient evidence to partially substantiate” the complaints by the councilman, Jumaane D. Williams, and the city official, Kirsten John Foy, according to letters that the two men received from the bureau’s chief, Charles V. Campisi. Mr. Williams said he believed racial bias fueled the episode, in which he and Mr. Foy, an aide to the public advocate, were stopped by police officers after walking down a sidewalk that had been closed because of the parade. Despite identifying himself as a councilman, Mr. Williams said, he was handcuffed. Mr. Foy was pushed to the ground by a police officer and also arrested, a video of the episode showed. Mr. Williams and Mr. Foy are black. The men said they were originally granted permission by a high-ranking officer to walk down the closed sidewalk. Chief Campisi indicated that Internal Affairs investigators had determined that excessive force had been used when Mr. Foy was pushed to the ground by a police officer, according to a spokeswoman for the civil liberties union, Jennifer Carnig. The investigators also found that a supervisor had failed to provide adequate supervision. The officer and the supervisor will receive command disciplines, the civil liberties union said, which typically involve a loss of vacation days and a notice entered into the officer’s personnel file. A third officer was reprimanded for not informing other officers that the two men had been earlier granted permission to pass through a barricade into a closed zone, according to the civil liberties union, which has filed complaints on behalf of Mr. Williams and Mr. Foy. The names of the officers have not been released. A spokesman for the Police Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Thursday, but police officials have previously described a chaotic scene after the parade, which was linked to three shootings involving five victims. Mr. Williams has said that the Police Department’s “stop, question and frisk” practices — which he said were part of a larger police culture of racial profiling that had led to the police action against him and Mr. Foy — needed changing. “This issue is bigger than Kirsten and I,” Mr. Williams said in a statement. “This needs to be a teachable moment for the N.Y.P.D. as to its unjust encounters with the hundreds of thousands of black and Latino New Yorkers that are subject to a discriminatory police culture every day.” But Deputy Inspector Roy T. Richter, the president of the Captain’s Endowment Association, a police union that represents the upper echelons of city officers, said the episode involving Mr. Williams was emblematic only of public officials’ seeking preferential treatment. “This is about an elected official who was in a rush,” Inspector Richter said, “and decided to use his position to get through a police barricade. “It is wrong that all these officers will now face discipline to appease some political purpose. Again, they were only doing their job.” David W. Chen contributed reporting.
Saturday, November 12, 2011
Ex-Sheriff's Deputy Sentenced To Probation
Ex-Denver Sheriff's Deputy Sentenced To Probation
KJCT8.com - November 8, 2011
DENVER, CO -- A judge says that an ex-Denver sheriff's deputy's former job played no role in her sentencing him to probation for a sex offense. The Denver Post reports that Denver District Court Judge Anne Mansfield sentenced 36-year-old Brennon Lonergan Monday to 10 years of sex offender probation. Lonergan pleaded guilty in August to attempted sex assault on a child involving a teenage relative. Lonergan's public defender Julie Stancil argued that Lonergan would be killed in prison and explained the offense as prescription drug abuse that exacerbated a mental condition. Lonergan apologized in court. Longergan is also serving probation for a case out of Jefferson County after he pleaded guilty to misdemeanor harassment and menacing. Felony stalking charges were dropped.
KJCT8.com - November 8, 2011
DENVER, CO -- A judge says that an ex-Denver sheriff's deputy's former job played no role in her sentencing him to probation for a sex offense. The Denver Post reports that Denver District Court Judge Anne Mansfield sentenced 36-year-old Brennon Lonergan Monday to 10 years of sex offender probation. Lonergan pleaded guilty in August to attempted sex assault on a child involving a teenage relative. Lonergan's public defender Julie Stancil argued that Lonergan would be killed in prison and explained the offense as prescription drug abuse that exacerbated a mental condition. Lonergan apologized in court. Longergan is also serving probation for a case out of Jefferson County after he pleaded guilty to misdemeanor harassment and menacing. Felony stalking charges were dropped.
Friday, November 11, 2011
Woman Who Claimed Improper Strip Search Gets $90k
Woman who claims cop forced her to strip during improper search gets $90K
The New Daily News by John Marzulli - November 11, 2011
Detective allegedly photographed below-the-navel tattoo with cellphone
NYPD Det.Charles Derosalis, accused of improperly searching a 25-year-old woman. A Brooklyn woman who says an NYPD detective forced her to strip so he could photograph her below-the-navel tattoo will receive $90,000 to settle a federal lawsuit, the Daily News has learned. Claudia Bova, 25, was subjected to what she says was an improper body search by Det. Charles Derosalia after she was arrested in a Coney Island drug sweep in 2007. Derosalia told her there were no female cops available and that he had to photograph the tattoo with his cellphone camera for “identification purposes,” according to court papers. The photos were not recovered. After Bova filed a complaint, NYPD Internal Affairs Bureau investigators found 17 women who also claimed they had been strip-searched by Derosalia, who was assigned to the Narcotics Borough Brooklyn South. Bova's lawyer, Nicole Bellina, said that two other women besides her client testified about the improper searches at Derosalia's department hearing. NYPD regulations prohibit male cops from performing strip searches of female prisoners. Derosalia was found guilty and the recommended penalty is dismissal from the force, Bellina said. “Detective Derosalia victimized women who were in his custody and control,” Bellina said. “He victimized them in police precincts, right under the noses of his supervisors.” Under the settlement, the city will pay Bova $75,000 and Derosalia must fork over $15,000. “We feel that Det. Derosalia is appropriately contributing personally to this settlement and that it is in the best interest of all the parties,” city lawyer Brian Farrar said Thursday. Last year, the city paid $27,000 and Derosalia $1,000 to Quantalis Legrand, who claimed she was forced to disrobe in front of him so he could check for contraband. Detectives Endowment Association lawyer James Moschella did not return a call for comment. jmarzulli@nydailynews.com
The New Daily News by John Marzulli - November 11, 2011
Detective allegedly photographed below-the-navel tattoo with cellphone
NYPD Det.Charles Derosalis, accused of improperly searching a 25-year-old woman. A Brooklyn woman who says an NYPD detective forced her to strip so he could photograph her below-the-navel tattoo will receive $90,000 to settle a federal lawsuit, the Daily News has learned. Claudia Bova, 25, was subjected to what she says was an improper body search by Det. Charles Derosalia after she was arrested in a Coney Island drug sweep in 2007. Derosalia told her there were no female cops available and that he had to photograph the tattoo with his cellphone camera for “identification purposes,” according to court papers. The photos were not recovered. After Bova filed a complaint, NYPD Internal Affairs Bureau investigators found 17 women who also claimed they had been strip-searched by Derosalia, who was assigned to the Narcotics Borough Brooklyn South. Bova's lawyer, Nicole Bellina, said that two other women besides her client testified about the improper searches at Derosalia's department hearing. NYPD regulations prohibit male cops from performing strip searches of female prisoners. Derosalia was found guilty and the recommended penalty is dismissal from the force, Bellina said. “Detective Derosalia victimized women who were in his custody and control,” Bellina said. “He victimized them in police precincts, right under the noses of his supervisors.” Under the settlement, the city will pay Bova $75,000 and Derosalia must fork over $15,000. “We feel that Det. Derosalia is appropriately contributing personally to this settlement and that it is in the best interest of all the parties,” city lawyer Brian Farrar said Thursday. Last year, the city paid $27,000 and Derosalia $1,000 to Quantalis Legrand, who claimed she was forced to disrobe in front of him so he could check for contraband. Detectives Endowment Association lawyer James Moschella did not return a call for comment. jmarzulli@nydailynews.com
Ever Fix a Ticket?
Fix a Ticket? Kelly Says Never, but How About Selleck?
The New York Times by Al Baker - November 10, 2011
Tony Bennett solicits a ticket fix from the police chief, played by Tom Selleck, at 2:22 of this clip of a recent episode of “Blue Bloods.” As television moments go, it was prescient. It was weeks before the unsealing of indictments in the Bronx against more than two dozen police officers, 11 of them on charges related to fixing traffic and parking tickets. But there, on the CBS crime show “Blue Bloods” broadcast Sept. 23, the fictional chief of the city police force, Frank Reagan (played by Tom Selleck), sat in a lounge watching Tony Bennett and Carrie Underwood sing. After crooning his way through “It Had to Be You,” Mr. Bennett gestured to the audience and said, “I see my old friend Frank Reagan over there. By the way, my driver got a speeding ticket — could you take care of that for me?” A round of laughter followed, and the chief bowed his head and waved. “Thank you,” said Mr. Bennett, apparently taking the wave as recognition of a favor granted. Then he, too, giggled. It was no light matter, though, when the city’s real-life commissioner, Raymond W. Kelly, was asked whether he had ever fixed a ticket at a news conference after the Bronx district attorney, Robert T. Johnson, unsealed those ticket-fixing indictments Oct. 28. Mr. Kelly said he had never fixed a ticket in his career with the department, nor had he ever been asked to. “If I was approached, I’d say no,” Mr. Kelly said. He pointed out that the long investigation, which involved wiretaps of officers’ phones, unveiled some evidence of officers’ declining to fix tickets. “The notion that everybody does it simply is not supported by what we heard on the tapes,” Mr. Kelly said. In truth, the question of whether Mr. Kelly had ever fixed a ticket came up well before the indictments were unsealed, because he has spent much of his adult life within the department, serving twice as commissioner. Some months ago, at the top of his regular e-mail list of press clippings, sent to 10,000 current and former officers, and others, Michael E. J. Bosak, a retired sergeant and police historian, focused on that question: “Where is Raymond Kelly in this mess?” he wrote. “He came up through the ranks — all the way up from a white shield patrolman in the 20 Precinct; sergeant in the 23 Pct.; lieutenant in the 10th Precinct, and captain in the 88 Precinct to police commissioner today. He’s knows how the system works; he is the system!” At that time, in the spring, Mr. Kelly declined an interview request, through a spokesman, citing the grand jury inquiry. “Whenever an allegation of ticket fixing came to the commissioner’s attention, it was pursued I.A.B.,” said the spokesman, Paul J. Browne, referring to the Internal Affairs Bureau. “And no, he never fixed a ticket or was party to fixing one.”
No Interdepartmental Subpoenas, Please
Commissioner Kelly makes plain his view on whether the Commission to Combat Police Corruption — a small city agency charged with monitoring the Police Department’s Internal Affairs Bureau — deserves subpoena power: They do not, the commissioner believes. The question has come up repeatedly over the years as those who have tried to squeeze data from the department face roadblocks. In 2005, Mark F. Pomerantz, then chairman of the mayoral commission, told the City Council’s public safety committee that the commission had sought to review fraudulent claims for police overtime and sexual misconduct and domestic violence by officers, but was stymied by the department’s failure to provide information. The department insisted that the reviews were not within the panel’s mandate of examining corruption. Mr. Pomerantz said the panel would be more effective if it had subpoena power. In an interview that year, he told The New York Times that the panel also wanted to examine the integrity of the department’s crime statistics reporting following allegations that police commanders were downgrading some crimes to lesser offenses. On Nov. 2, Mr. Kelly said of that debate: “The argument we had was, ‘Hey, we all report to the same boss; if you want these documents we’ll give it to you.’ In other words, this is the mayor’s committee. You work for the mayor and we work for the mayor, so there was no need for subpoena power.” The following day, when several politicians called on Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg to create an independent commission to investigate what they contend is systemic corruption, a mayoral spokesman first referred the question back to the Police Department. After the police answered, however, the mayor’s office gave a similar answer of its own. The bottom line, the spokesman said: “There is absolutely no need to creating another layer of government here.” Al Baker, police bureau chief for The New York Times — and the son of a police lieutenant — brings you inside the nation’s largest police force every Thursday. Mr. Baker can be reached at OnePolicePlaza@nytimes.com.
The New York Times by Al Baker - November 10, 2011
Tony Bennett solicits a ticket fix from the police chief, played by Tom Selleck, at 2:22 of this clip of a recent episode of “Blue Bloods.” As television moments go, it was prescient. It was weeks before the unsealing of indictments in the Bronx against more than two dozen police officers, 11 of them on charges related to fixing traffic and parking tickets. But there, on the CBS crime show “Blue Bloods” broadcast Sept. 23, the fictional chief of the city police force, Frank Reagan (played by Tom Selleck), sat in a lounge watching Tony Bennett and Carrie Underwood sing. After crooning his way through “It Had to Be You,” Mr. Bennett gestured to the audience and said, “I see my old friend Frank Reagan over there. By the way, my driver got a speeding ticket — could you take care of that for me?” A round of laughter followed, and the chief bowed his head and waved. “Thank you,” said Mr. Bennett, apparently taking the wave as recognition of a favor granted. Then he, too, giggled. It was no light matter, though, when the city’s real-life commissioner, Raymond W. Kelly, was asked whether he had ever fixed a ticket at a news conference after the Bronx district attorney, Robert T. Johnson, unsealed those ticket-fixing indictments Oct. 28. Mr. Kelly said he had never fixed a ticket in his career with the department, nor had he ever been asked to. “If I was approached, I’d say no,” Mr. Kelly said. He pointed out that the long investigation, which involved wiretaps of officers’ phones, unveiled some evidence of officers’ declining to fix tickets. “The notion that everybody does it simply is not supported by what we heard on the tapes,” Mr. Kelly said. In truth, the question of whether Mr. Kelly had ever fixed a ticket came up well before the indictments were unsealed, because he has spent much of his adult life within the department, serving twice as commissioner. Some months ago, at the top of his regular e-mail list of press clippings, sent to 10,000 current and former officers, and others, Michael E. J. Bosak, a retired sergeant and police historian, focused on that question: “Where is Raymond Kelly in this mess?” he wrote. “He came up through the ranks — all the way up from a white shield patrolman in the 20 Precinct; sergeant in the 23 Pct.; lieutenant in the 10th Precinct, and captain in the 88 Precinct to police commissioner today. He’s knows how the system works; he is the system!” At that time, in the spring, Mr. Kelly declined an interview request, through a spokesman, citing the grand jury inquiry. “Whenever an allegation of ticket fixing came to the commissioner’s attention, it was pursued I.A.B.,” said the spokesman, Paul J. Browne, referring to the Internal Affairs Bureau. “And no, he never fixed a ticket or was party to fixing one.”
No Interdepartmental Subpoenas, Please
Commissioner Kelly makes plain his view on whether the Commission to Combat Police Corruption — a small city agency charged with monitoring the Police Department’s Internal Affairs Bureau — deserves subpoena power: They do not, the commissioner believes. The question has come up repeatedly over the years as those who have tried to squeeze data from the department face roadblocks. In 2005, Mark F. Pomerantz, then chairman of the mayoral commission, told the City Council’s public safety committee that the commission had sought to review fraudulent claims for police overtime and sexual misconduct and domestic violence by officers, but was stymied by the department’s failure to provide information. The department insisted that the reviews were not within the panel’s mandate of examining corruption. Mr. Pomerantz said the panel would be more effective if it had subpoena power. In an interview that year, he told The New York Times that the panel also wanted to examine the integrity of the department’s crime statistics reporting following allegations that police commanders were downgrading some crimes to lesser offenses. On Nov. 2, Mr. Kelly said of that debate: “The argument we had was, ‘Hey, we all report to the same boss; if you want these documents we’ll give it to you.’ In other words, this is the mayor’s committee. You work for the mayor and we work for the mayor, so there was no need for subpoena power.” The following day, when several politicians called on Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg to create an independent commission to investigate what they contend is systemic corruption, a mayoral spokesman first referred the question back to the Police Department. After the police answered, however, the mayor’s office gave a similar answer of its own. The bottom line, the spokesman said: “There is absolutely no need to creating another layer of government here.” Al Baker, police bureau chief for The New York Times — and the son of a police lieutenant — brings you inside the nation’s largest police force every Thursday. Mr. Baker can be reached at OnePolicePlaza@nytimes.com.
Ex-Deputy Admits To Smuggling Contraband
Ex-deputy admits to smuggling contraband into Fulton County jail
The Atlanta Crime Examiner by Kinathi Lewis - November 9, 2011
Dressed in a uniform and sporting a badge, Mr. Marvie Trevino Dingle was more of an undercover drug smuggler than a Fulton County Sheriff’s deputy. On Tuesday Mr. Dingle admitted to accepting bribes of more than $2,000 to smuggle drugs into and outside the Fulton County jail, according to the U.S. Attorney’s office. And the cost of that payoff could mean up to 70 years for the ex-deputy who had been in the department for barely two years when he was caught. “Instead of protecting the public, this former deputy sheriff chose to sell his badge to protect drug deals,” U.S. Attorney Mrs. Sally Quillian Yates said. “We will continue to aggressively prosecute those who tarnish the badge of honest, hard-working law enforcement officers.” Mr. Dingle was the second former Fulton County law enforcement officer to plead guilty in federal court recently. On Oct. 24, Mr. Derick Deshun Frazier, 32, of Stockbridge, pleaded guilty to extortion under color of official right for accepting $300 to smuggle mobile telephones into the county jail, according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s office. Mr. Dingle and Mr. Frazier were among eight people charged in June after the sheriff launched a contraband sting operation at the jail. Jailers, sheriff’s deputies and others were implicated in various smuggling plots, including attempts to bring marijuana, cocaine, cell phones and cigarettes into the jail to distribute inmates. They were also accused of selling drugs outside the jail. Federal investigators said on March 21, deputy Dingle accepted $700 from an undercover agent to deliver seven grams of a substance he believed to be cocaine to an inmate inside the jail. On April 22, deputy Dingle accepted $1,500 from an undercover agent to assist in delivering a kilogram of a substance he believed to be cocaine to a man in the Dunwoody area, the press release said. Mr. Dingle, 34, had only been a deputy with the department for one year and seven months, the Fulton County Sheriff’s spokeswoman Ms. Tracy Flanagan said. The former deputy was indicted in June on two counts of attempted possession with intent to distribute cocaine and two counts of extortion under color of official right, the press release said. He pleaded guilty to all counts and could receive up to 70 years in prison and a fine of up to $6,000,000 for the drug offenses and up to 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000 for the extortion offenses. Mr. Dingle is scheduled to be sentenced on Jan. 24 at 11:00 a.m.
----- FBI PRESS RELEASE:
ATLANTA, GA—Former Fulton County Deputy Sheriff MARVIE TREVINO DINGLE, JR ., 34, of Lithonia, Georgia, pleaded guilty today in federal district court to attempted possession with intent to distribute cocaine and to accepting bribes of more than $2,000 to facilitate the distribution of cocaine inside and outside the Fulton County Jail. United States Attorney Sally Quillian Yates said, “Instead of protecting the public, this former deputy sheriff chose to sell his badge to protect drug deals. We will continue to aggressively prosecute those who tarnish the badge of honest, hard-working law enforcement officers.” Brian D Lamkin, Special Agent in Charge, FBI Atlanta Field Office, said, “Public corruption investigations such as this continue to be a priority for the FBI due to the immense harm that can be caused from those that choose to disregard their sworn oaths. The FBI continues to work with its various law enforcement partners in such matters to further ensure that the public’s trust in its law enforcement community is not eroded by such individuals as Mr Dingle.” Fulton County Sheriff Theodore “Ted” Jackson said, “This sends a strong message that corrupt activity will not be tolerated at the Fulton County Jail. The Fulton County Sheriff’s Office is giving full cooperation to the FBI as agents continue their work. This investigation is vital to ensuring the safety and security of inmates and employees.” According to United States Attorney Yates, the charges and other information presented in court: On March 21, 2011, DINGLE, while employed as a deputy sheriff at the Fulton County Jail, accepted $700 from an undercover agent to deliver seven grams of a substance he believed to be cocaine to an inmate inside the jail. On April 22, 2011, DINGLE accepted $1,500 from an undercover agent to assist in delivering a kilogram of a substance he believed to be cocaine to a man in the Dunwoody area. DINGLE was indicted in June, 2011 on two counts of attempted possession with intent to distribute cocaine and two counts of extortion under color of official right. He pleaded guilty to all counts of his indictment. He could receive a maximum sentence of 70 years in prison and a fine of up to $6,000,000 for the drug offenses and a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000 for the extortion offenses. In determining the actual sentence, the court will consider the United States Sentencing Guidelines, which are not binding but provide appropriate sentencing ranges for most offenders. DINGLE is the second former Fulton County law enforcement officer to recently plead guilty in federal court. On October 24, 2011, former Detention Officer DERICK DESHUN FRAZIER, 32, of Stockbridge, Georgia, pleaded guilty to one count of extortion under color of official right for accepting $300 to smuggle mobile telephones into the county jail. Sentencing for DINGLE is scheduled for January 24, 2012, at 11:00 AM, before United States District Judge Amy Totenberg. This case is being investigated by special agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Assistant United States Attorney Brent Alan Gray is prosecuting the case. For further information please contact Sally Q Yates, United States Attorney, or Charysse L Alexander, Executive Assistant United States Attorney, through Patrick Crosby, Public Affairs Officer, United States Attorney’s Office, at (404) 581-6016. The Internet address for the HomePage for the United States Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia is www.justice.gov/usao/gan.
The Atlanta Crime Examiner by Kinathi Lewis - November 9, 2011
Dressed in a uniform and sporting a badge, Mr. Marvie Trevino Dingle was more of an undercover drug smuggler than a Fulton County Sheriff’s deputy. On Tuesday Mr. Dingle admitted to accepting bribes of more than $2,000 to smuggle drugs into and outside the Fulton County jail, according to the U.S. Attorney’s office. And the cost of that payoff could mean up to 70 years for the ex-deputy who had been in the department for barely two years when he was caught. “Instead of protecting the public, this former deputy sheriff chose to sell his badge to protect drug deals,” U.S. Attorney Mrs. Sally Quillian Yates said. “We will continue to aggressively prosecute those who tarnish the badge of honest, hard-working law enforcement officers.” Mr. Dingle was the second former Fulton County law enforcement officer to plead guilty in federal court recently. On Oct. 24, Mr. Derick Deshun Frazier, 32, of Stockbridge, pleaded guilty to extortion under color of official right for accepting $300 to smuggle mobile telephones into the county jail, according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s office. Mr. Dingle and Mr. Frazier were among eight people charged in June after the sheriff launched a contraband sting operation at the jail. Jailers, sheriff’s deputies and others were implicated in various smuggling plots, including attempts to bring marijuana, cocaine, cell phones and cigarettes into the jail to distribute inmates. They were also accused of selling drugs outside the jail. Federal investigators said on March 21, deputy Dingle accepted $700 from an undercover agent to deliver seven grams of a substance he believed to be cocaine to an inmate inside the jail. On April 22, deputy Dingle accepted $1,500 from an undercover agent to assist in delivering a kilogram of a substance he believed to be cocaine to a man in the Dunwoody area, the press release said. Mr. Dingle, 34, had only been a deputy with the department for one year and seven months, the Fulton County Sheriff’s spokeswoman Ms. Tracy Flanagan said. The former deputy was indicted in June on two counts of attempted possession with intent to distribute cocaine and two counts of extortion under color of official right, the press release said. He pleaded guilty to all counts and could receive up to 70 years in prison and a fine of up to $6,000,000 for the drug offenses and up to 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000 for the extortion offenses. Mr. Dingle is scheduled to be sentenced on Jan. 24 at 11:00 a.m.
----- FBI PRESS RELEASE:
ATLANTA, GA—Former Fulton County Deputy Sheriff MARVIE TREVINO DINGLE, JR ., 34, of Lithonia, Georgia, pleaded guilty today in federal district court to attempted possession with intent to distribute cocaine and to accepting bribes of more than $2,000 to facilitate the distribution of cocaine inside and outside the Fulton County Jail. United States Attorney Sally Quillian Yates said, “Instead of protecting the public, this former deputy sheriff chose to sell his badge to protect drug deals. We will continue to aggressively prosecute those who tarnish the badge of honest, hard-working law enforcement officers.” Brian D Lamkin, Special Agent in Charge, FBI Atlanta Field Office, said, “Public corruption investigations such as this continue to be a priority for the FBI due to the immense harm that can be caused from those that choose to disregard their sworn oaths. The FBI continues to work with its various law enforcement partners in such matters to further ensure that the public’s trust in its law enforcement community is not eroded by such individuals as Mr Dingle.” Fulton County Sheriff Theodore “Ted” Jackson said, “This sends a strong message that corrupt activity will not be tolerated at the Fulton County Jail. The Fulton County Sheriff’s Office is giving full cooperation to the FBI as agents continue their work. This investigation is vital to ensuring the safety and security of inmates and employees.” According to United States Attorney Yates, the charges and other information presented in court: On March 21, 2011, DINGLE, while employed as a deputy sheriff at the Fulton County Jail, accepted $700 from an undercover agent to deliver seven grams of a substance he believed to be cocaine to an inmate inside the jail. On April 22, 2011, DINGLE accepted $1,500 from an undercover agent to assist in delivering a kilogram of a substance he believed to be cocaine to a man in the Dunwoody area. DINGLE was indicted in June, 2011 on two counts of attempted possession with intent to distribute cocaine and two counts of extortion under color of official right. He pleaded guilty to all counts of his indictment. He could receive a maximum sentence of 70 years in prison and a fine of up to $6,000,000 for the drug offenses and a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000 for the extortion offenses. In determining the actual sentence, the court will consider the United States Sentencing Guidelines, which are not binding but provide appropriate sentencing ranges for most offenders. DINGLE is the second former Fulton County law enforcement officer to recently plead guilty in federal court. On October 24, 2011, former Detention Officer DERICK DESHUN FRAZIER, 32, of Stockbridge, Georgia, pleaded guilty to one count of extortion under color of official right for accepting $300 to smuggle mobile telephones into the county jail. Sentencing for DINGLE is scheduled for January 24, 2012, at 11:00 AM, before United States District Judge Amy Totenberg. This case is being investigated by special agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Assistant United States Attorney Brent Alan Gray is prosecuting the case. For further information please contact Sally Q Yates, United States Attorney, or Charysse L Alexander, Executive Assistant United States Attorney, through Patrick Crosby, Public Affairs Officer, United States Attorney’s Office, at (404) 581-6016. The Internet address for the HomePage for the United States Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia is www.justice.gov/usao/gan.
Thursday, November 10, 2011
Editorial: Cop Betrayed Public Trust
Faux traffic tickets written by New Orleans police officer were real corruption: An editorial
EDITORIAL - The Times-Picayune - November 9, 2011
NEW ORLEANS, LA - Glenn Gross betrayed the public trust and ripped off taxpayers as a New Orleans police officer when he wrote hundreds of phony tickets while working federally financed overtime shifts. The grant, which the New Orleans Police Department received in June, was meant to help enforce seatbelt laws. But investigators haven't been able to find a single legitimate ticket in the 215 that the 22-year veteran wrote over several months. While it isn't clear how much overtime money Mr. Gross pocketed, because of his scheme at least some grant money intended to promote public safety instead enriched a corrupt cop. Such dishonesty is repugnant, and it's a relief that Mr. Gross won't be writing any more tickets, real or fake. As part of a deal with the Orleans Parish District Attorney's office, he left the force and pleaded guilty Monday to four counts of malfeasance. Orleans Parish Criminal District Judge Camille Buras also sentenced him to five years probation -- something that the DA's office said was not part of the deal they made with him. But it's fitting that Mr. Gross faced stiffer consequences than just losing his job. He abused the public trust by lying and taking overtime pay he did not earn. When he was initially arrested, he was booked with 215 counts of injuring public records and a single count of malfeasance in office. The NOPD isn't alone in having problems with officers misusing federal grant money. William S. Marciante Jr., a St. Charles Parish Sheriff's deputy, was arrested last week after an investigation alleged that he had been filing false seat belt citations to motorists he had never stopped and claiming overtime pay. In that case, the deputy is accused of citing real motorists -- which is even more damaging to public trust since it subjected citizens to false accusations. In August, Carol Ney, a former Harahan police officer, was sentenced in federal court to two years probation and ordered to pay restitution for padding her time sheets to take advantage of a federal policing grant. The fact that police agencies in three different jurisdictions experienced problems with federal overtime grants is worrisome and points to the need for careful oversight of such programs. In the case of Mr. Gross and the New Orleans Police Department, there's an even more troubling pattern -- he joins a long list of New Orleans Police officers who are no longer on the force because they have been accused of breaking rules or the law. In the past 18 months, nearly 50 officers have been fired or have resigned or retired while under investigation. Those include high-profile cases, like the officers involved in the shooting of innocent civilians on the Danziger Bridge and the subsequent cover-up, and more prosaic wrongdoing, like Mr. Gross' phony ticket scam. All instances of police wrongdoing and corruption -- large and small -- damage public confidence in law enforcement and by extension, hurt efforts to make the community safer. It's a sign of progress that Mr. Gross was discovered quickly by an alert supervisor who saw a curious pattern and, as Police Superintendent Ronal Serpas put it, "did not turn his head'' but instead notified the Public Integrity Bureau. The NOPD needs to continue to root out the bad apples, and that requires continued vigilance. www.NOLA.com
EDITORIAL - The Times-Picayune - November 9, 2011
NEW ORLEANS, LA - Glenn Gross betrayed the public trust and ripped off taxpayers as a New Orleans police officer when he wrote hundreds of phony tickets while working federally financed overtime shifts. The grant, which the New Orleans Police Department received in June, was meant to help enforce seatbelt laws. But investigators haven't been able to find a single legitimate ticket in the 215 that the 22-year veteran wrote over several months. While it isn't clear how much overtime money Mr. Gross pocketed, because of his scheme at least some grant money intended to promote public safety instead enriched a corrupt cop. Such dishonesty is repugnant, and it's a relief that Mr. Gross won't be writing any more tickets, real or fake. As part of a deal with the Orleans Parish District Attorney's office, he left the force and pleaded guilty Monday to four counts of malfeasance. Orleans Parish Criminal District Judge Camille Buras also sentenced him to five years probation -- something that the DA's office said was not part of the deal they made with him. But it's fitting that Mr. Gross faced stiffer consequences than just losing his job. He abused the public trust by lying and taking overtime pay he did not earn. When he was initially arrested, he was booked with 215 counts of injuring public records and a single count of malfeasance in office. The NOPD isn't alone in having problems with officers misusing federal grant money. William S. Marciante Jr., a St. Charles Parish Sheriff's deputy, was arrested last week after an investigation alleged that he had been filing false seat belt citations to motorists he had never stopped and claiming overtime pay. In that case, the deputy is accused of citing real motorists -- which is even more damaging to public trust since it subjected citizens to false accusations. In August, Carol Ney, a former Harahan police officer, was sentenced in federal court to two years probation and ordered to pay restitution for padding her time sheets to take advantage of a federal policing grant. The fact that police agencies in three different jurisdictions experienced problems with federal overtime grants is worrisome and points to the need for careful oversight of such programs. In the case of Mr. Gross and the New Orleans Police Department, there's an even more troubling pattern -- he joins a long list of New Orleans Police officers who are no longer on the force because they have been accused of breaking rules or the law. In the past 18 months, nearly 50 officers have been fired or have resigned or retired while under investigation. Those include high-profile cases, like the officers involved in the shooting of innocent civilians on the Danziger Bridge and the subsequent cover-up, and more prosaic wrongdoing, like Mr. Gross' phony ticket scam. All instances of police wrongdoing and corruption -- large and small -- damage public confidence in law enforcement and by extension, hurt efforts to make the community safer. It's a sign of progress that Mr. Gross was discovered quickly by an alert supervisor who saw a curious pattern and, as Police Superintendent Ronal Serpas put it, "did not turn his head'' but instead notified the Public Integrity Bureau. The NOPD needs to continue to root out the bad apples, and that requires continued vigilance. www.NOLA.com
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Congratulations New York! Corruption Everywhere!
NYPD copes with spate of corruption allegations; lawmakers calling for investigation
The Associated Press by Colleen Long - November 9, 2011
The Associated Press by Colleen Long - November 9, 2011
The Republic - Columbus, Indiana
NEW YORK, NY — Police officers accused of making traffic tickets disappear for friends. Cops arrested in a gun-running sting. An officer convicted of planting drugs on innocent people. The unusual spate of corruption and misconduct allegations at the New York Police Department is prompting cries for an investigation into whether there is an endemic problem or a few bad apples, drawing comparisons to past scandals and renewing questions about whether the Police department can effectively Police itself. "It's a lot of scandal hitting in a short period of time," said Fordham Law School professor James Cohen, who studies Police activity. "One could draw the inference that there's more out there. I think no one would think we've cleaned all that up." The biggest blow in terms of numbers came late last month when 16 officers were accused of corruption and other charges in the Bronx ticket-fixing scandal. The officers include an Internal Affairs Bureau lieutenant who is accused of tipping off the targets of the investigation, and union delegates charged with helping friends and family avoid paying tickets. Bronx District Attorney Robert Johnson said the actions cost the city up to $2 million in revenue. The day of their arraignments where they all pleaded not guilty, hundreds of Police officers stood outside, calling Commissioner Raymond Kelly a hypocrite, heckling residents and blocking journalists from getting inside. The cops held signs that read: "It's a courtesy, not a crime," and union officials said the longtime practice was not criminal. Just days before the scandal broke, five officers were arrested in a gun-running sting. And later, Brooklyn South Narcotics officer Jason Arbeeny was found guilty of misconduct for planting drugs on two innocent people.
Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Gustin Reichbach bashed the department after the Arbeeny trial exposed corruption and talk of downgrading crime at Police precincts. "I thought I was not naive regarding the reality of narcotics enforcement, but even this court was shocked, not only by the seeming pervasive scope of misconduct, but even more distressingly by the seeming casualness by which such conduct is deployed," Reichbach said. Separately, the cases could be dismissed as examples of a few rogue cops, or in the ticket-fixing case, minor infractions blown out of proportion. But taken together, lawmakers say, the accusations seem to indicate an alarming trend. They urged Mayor Michael Bloomberg to form a commission to investigate the NYPD, pointing to past investigations decades ago that inspired some change.
"The outbreak of corruption is staggering," said State Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries, a Democrat from Brooklyn. "The mayor can no longer ignore it." Part of the issue, though, is that politicians and citizens have short memories — and the problems of the past have never been fully addressed, experts say. "As we pointed out ..., unfortunately history has shown about every 20 years a new Police scandal erupts," said Justice Milton Mollen, a former deputy mayor and longtime judge who explored Police corruption two decades ago. "It's almost exactly 20 years from our report." And almost exactly 20 years before Mollen's commission was the Knapp Commission, which unearthed how plainclothes officers systematically collected protection money from gamblers and prostitutes. It was formed to look into the allegations of Frank Serpico, New York City's most famous cop whistleblower. Mollen's 1994 report covered the so-called "Dirty 30" scandal at the NYPD, where cops were accused of stealing cash from drug dealers, taking bribes, beating suspects and lying under oath to cover their tracks. The commission detailed a series of changes within the department that included an increased command responsibility, training and supervision. Many of the internal changes were implemented, but it also recommended the creation of an independent commission that would investigate corruption and have subpoena power. The Commission to Combat Police Corruption was created and still exists, but it lacks any power — and investigations are done only when the department asks for them. Mollen said he didn't know enough about the current-day cases and couldn't comment on them. But he said he believes Kelly has worked hard to combat corruption.
Under Kelly's watch, the department has probed allegations of downgraded crimes, changed its system for logging parking tickets, and beefed up the internal affairs bureau. Kelly said it was "difficult" to announce so many misconduct charges. "These misdeeds tarnish the good name and reputation of the vast majority of Police officers who perform their duties honestly," he said. Despite all the bad news, the commissioner remains popular. He's consistently considered the top candidate to succeed Bloomberg in 2013, though he has said he has no plans to run for office. But some of Kelly's policies are also under fire, and that threatens to shift his image, Cohen said. "He's Teflon, but I do think this is tarnishing him," he said. "There are too many incidents and criticisms coming from different areas." Renewed calls by lawmakers to curb the city's stop, question and frisk tactics came in recent weeks after the arrest of Officer Michael Daragjati on federal civil rights charges accusing him of casually using a racial slur in recounting the false stop and arrest of a black man. The 31-year-old man who was stopped is among hundreds of thousands of people who have been stopped, questioned and frisked by Police. In the past three years, more than 1 million have been stopped in New York — and only about 10 percent of those stops have resulted in Arrests. Daragjati has pleaded not guilty, but critics say the case is proof of what they have been arguing for years: The policy unfairly singles out black and Hispanic men. Department officials say the policy is essential for taking guns off the street and preventing crime in neighborhoods where men of color make up the vast majority of murder and shooting victims. Some city council members are seeking more oversight over the department because they felt left in the dark about intelligence programs that subjected Muslim neighborhoods to surveillance and scrutiny — revealed by an Associated Press investigation showing the Police monitored Muslim communities for reasons of ethnicity. The department says it only follows leads about allegations of potential wrongdoing. The cases brought against a couple dozen officers need to be put in perspective, experts said. Mollen added he did not want to pass judgment on any of the officers in the current cases, because they are presumed innocent until proven guilty. "These are isolated individuals. The vast majority of Police are not corrupt," he said. "If you have 35,000 Police officers ... think 35,000 clergymen, 35,000 lawyers, 35,000 ditch-diggers, you're going to find X percent are going to be corrupt." Associated Press writer Tom Hays contributed to this report.
NEW YORK, NY — Police officers accused of making traffic tickets disappear for friends. Cops arrested in a gun-running sting. An officer convicted of planting drugs on innocent people. The unusual spate of corruption and misconduct allegations at the New York Police Department is prompting cries for an investigation into whether there is an endemic problem or a few bad apples, drawing comparisons to past scandals and renewing questions about whether the Police department can effectively Police itself. "It's a lot of scandal hitting in a short period of time," said Fordham Law School professor James Cohen, who studies Police activity. "One could draw the inference that there's more out there. I think no one would think we've cleaned all that up." The biggest blow in terms of numbers came late last month when 16 officers were accused of corruption and other charges in the Bronx ticket-fixing scandal. The officers include an Internal Affairs Bureau lieutenant who is accused of tipping off the targets of the investigation, and union delegates charged with helping friends and family avoid paying tickets. Bronx District Attorney Robert Johnson said the actions cost the city up to $2 million in revenue. The day of their arraignments where they all pleaded not guilty, hundreds of Police officers stood outside, calling Commissioner Raymond Kelly a hypocrite, heckling residents and blocking journalists from getting inside. The cops held signs that read: "It's a courtesy, not a crime," and union officials said the longtime practice was not criminal. Just days before the scandal broke, five officers were arrested in a gun-running sting. And later, Brooklyn South Narcotics officer Jason Arbeeny was found guilty of misconduct for planting drugs on two innocent people.
Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Gustin Reichbach bashed the department after the Arbeeny trial exposed corruption and talk of downgrading crime at Police precincts. "I thought I was not naive regarding the reality of narcotics enforcement, but even this court was shocked, not only by the seeming pervasive scope of misconduct, but even more distressingly by the seeming casualness by which such conduct is deployed," Reichbach said. Separately, the cases could be dismissed as examples of a few rogue cops, or in the ticket-fixing case, minor infractions blown out of proportion. But taken together, lawmakers say, the accusations seem to indicate an alarming trend. They urged Mayor Michael Bloomberg to form a commission to investigate the NYPD, pointing to past investigations decades ago that inspired some change.
"The outbreak of corruption is staggering," said State Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries, a Democrat from Brooklyn. "The mayor can no longer ignore it." Part of the issue, though, is that politicians and citizens have short memories — and the problems of the past have never been fully addressed, experts say. "As we pointed out ..., unfortunately history has shown about every 20 years a new Police scandal erupts," said Justice Milton Mollen, a former deputy mayor and longtime judge who explored Police corruption two decades ago. "It's almost exactly 20 years from our report." And almost exactly 20 years before Mollen's commission was the Knapp Commission, which unearthed how plainclothes officers systematically collected protection money from gamblers and prostitutes. It was formed to look into the allegations of Frank Serpico, New York City's most famous cop whistleblower. Mollen's 1994 report covered the so-called "Dirty 30" scandal at the NYPD, where cops were accused of stealing cash from drug dealers, taking bribes, beating suspects and lying under oath to cover their tracks. The commission detailed a series of changes within the department that included an increased command responsibility, training and supervision. Many of the internal changes were implemented, but it also recommended the creation of an independent commission that would investigate corruption and have subpoena power. The Commission to Combat Police Corruption was created and still exists, but it lacks any power — and investigations are done only when the department asks for them. Mollen said he didn't know enough about the current-day cases and couldn't comment on them. But he said he believes Kelly has worked hard to combat corruption.
Under Kelly's watch, the department has probed allegations of downgraded crimes, changed its system for logging parking tickets, and beefed up the internal affairs bureau. Kelly said it was "difficult" to announce so many misconduct charges. "These misdeeds tarnish the good name and reputation of the vast majority of Police officers who perform their duties honestly," he said. Despite all the bad news, the commissioner remains popular. He's consistently considered the top candidate to succeed Bloomberg in 2013, though he has said he has no plans to run for office. But some of Kelly's policies are also under fire, and that threatens to shift his image, Cohen said. "He's Teflon, but I do think this is tarnishing him," he said. "There are too many incidents and criticisms coming from different areas." Renewed calls by lawmakers to curb the city's stop, question and frisk tactics came in recent weeks after the arrest of Officer Michael Daragjati on federal civil rights charges accusing him of casually using a racial slur in recounting the false stop and arrest of a black man. The 31-year-old man who was stopped is among hundreds of thousands of people who have been stopped, questioned and frisked by Police. In the past three years, more than 1 million have been stopped in New York — and only about 10 percent of those stops have resulted in Arrests. Daragjati has pleaded not guilty, but critics say the case is proof of what they have been arguing for years: The policy unfairly singles out black and Hispanic men. Department officials say the policy is essential for taking guns off the street and preventing crime in neighborhoods where men of color make up the vast majority of murder and shooting victims. Some city council members are seeking more oversight over the department because they felt left in the dark about intelligence programs that subjected Muslim neighborhoods to surveillance and scrutiny — revealed by an Associated Press investigation showing the Police monitored Muslim communities for reasons of ethnicity. The department says it only follows leads about allegations of potential wrongdoing. The cases brought against a couple dozen officers need to be put in perspective, experts said. Mollen added he did not want to pass judgment on any of the officers in the current cases, because they are presumed innocent until proven guilty. "These are isolated individuals. The vast majority of Police are not corrupt," he said. "If you have 35,000 Police officers ... think 35,000 clergymen, 35,000 lawyers, 35,000 ditch-diggers, you're going to find X percent are going to be corrupt." Associated Press writer Tom Hays contributed to this report.
Department of Justice Mum on Police Corruption Probe
DOJ Doesn’t Update Police Probe During Meeting
KOAT.COM - November 8, 2011
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. -- Community members said they left a Monday evening meeting disappointed after U.S. Department of Justice officials failed to update the status of a possible probe into the Albuquerque Police Department. Community members said they showed up Monday to get news about a possible investigation into APD after a rash of officer-involved shootings during the past year and a half. However, Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Hoses didn’t offer much information about what’s happening in Washington. “Right now, they're in the process of gathering information to determine whether or not there will be a full blown investigation, but I can't comment on that now, and I don't have any answers for you with respects to that question,” Hoses said. City leaders said they’ll cooperate with the DOJ if it decides to launch an investigation.
KOAT.COM - November 8, 2011
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. -- Community members said they left a Monday evening meeting disappointed after U.S. Department of Justice officials failed to update the status of a possible probe into the Albuquerque Police Department. Community members said they showed up Monday to get news about a possible investigation into APD after a rash of officer-involved shootings during the past year and a half. However, Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Hoses didn’t offer much information about what’s happening in Washington. “Right now, they're in the process of gathering information to determine whether or not there will be a full blown investigation, but I can't comment on that now, and I don't have any answers for you with respects to that question,” Hoses said. City leaders said they’ll cooperate with the DOJ if it decides to launch an investigation.
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
Two Cops Suspended In Handling of Another Cop's Crash
Tuckahoe cops suspended for handling of NYPD officer's crash
The Journal News by Jonathan Bandler - November 8, 2011
The Journal News by Jonathan Bandler - November 8, 2011
TUCKAHOE, NY — Two village cops were suspended without pay for their handling of an accident last year involving a New York City police officer who may have been drunk, police Chief John Costanzo said Monday night. Costanzo issued a press release indicating that the department's investigation into the April 18, 2010, accident concluded with Sergeant John Cuccinello and police Officer Vincent Pinto accepting the suspension as "command discipline." The chief could not be reached for comment and the press release did not reveal the duration of the suspension or whether it was ongoing. Last week, Costanzo and the Westchester District Attorney's Office indicated there would be no criminal charges in the case. The investigations began in May of this year after www.DNAinfo.com posted a wiretap recording of a phone conversation in which one New York Police Department union delegate told another about the aftermath of the Tuckahoe accident and the effort to cover-up the fact that the officer in the accident had been drunk. The caller, officer Chris Letizia, discussed how Cuccinello, a friend of his, went to his Tuckahoe home just after the accident to solicit his help in convincing the "bombed" driver to accept summonses for property damage. The NYPD officer Letizia called was Joseph Anthony, one of the PBA's top-ranking delegates in the Bronx. The call was taped as part of a lengthy investigation by the Bronx District Attorney's Office into ticket-fixing by police. Anthony was among 16 NYPD cops indicted two weeks ago in the case. The driver in the accident, Michael Lazarou, had smashed his SUV into a decorative light pole and parking meter on Sagamore Road around the corner from his home. When Cuccinello and Pinto got to the scene, the car was gone. But Pinto followed a fluid trail and found the car, with Lazarou nearby, on Dante Avenue half a mile away. Lazarou's property damage summonses were dismissed last fall after his insurance company paid the village $17,600. Neither Tuckahoe officer agreed to be interviewed by the public integrity bureau of the District Attorney's Office, protecting their right against self-incrimination. But they were required to answer questions as part of the police department's internal probe and Costanzo said both men were interviewed. Costanzo's press release did not reveal what departmental rules the two officers violated. "The integrity and reputation of the Tuckahoe Police Department is paramount to every member of the department," Costanzo wrote in the press release. "I am proud of the service that each member provides and their involvement in addressing the needs of our community. Every day our members strive to earn the public's trust while providing first rate police services."
Monday, November 7, 2011
DOJ Views Albuquerque Police Department Wrongdoings
APD shootings still under investigation
KRQE by Hawa Konte - November 6, 2011
DOJ to meet with activists regarding APD shootings
ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) - A meeting is expected to happen Monday between local activists and U.S. Department of Justice officials, this regarding the long list of recent APD officer-involved shootings. Twenty people have been shot by Albuquerque police since last January. Of those 14 were killed. Community activists, and family members of some of the people killed, have been calling for a federal investigation of APD. Latino and black activists say they will meet Monday evening with two justice department attorneys to review allegations of civil rights abuses. Earlier this year, Mayor R.J. Berry vetoed a city council resolution that requested a formal justice department review of the police shootings. The mayor pointed to a separate independent review that resulted in a long list of recommendations for the police department. APD and city officials are now in the process of implementing suggested changes, like requiring more training for officers and changing hiring criteria. Justice department officials have still not said if a full-scale investigation is necessary.
Albuquerque City Council invites DOJ to investigate controversy-ridden police department
The New Mexico Independent by Mikhail Zinshteyn - September 20, 2011
The conviction and sentencing of officer Brad Ahrensfield for tampering with a federal investigation put the spotlight back on Albuquerque’s law enforcement agency as the city council battles with the mayor in permitting the U.S. Justice Department to investigate the city’s police department for its high rate of shootings. While the two incidents were unrelated, Ahrensfield’s crimes and APD’s ongoing struggles with its officers brandishing guns compound the frustrations city officials and residents have with the police force. Last night, the city council voted unanimously to invite the Justice Department to look into 20 police-involved shooting incidents in 20 months, a symbolic gesture that nonetheless gave elected officials a platform to express that not enough is being done to reform ADP and preclude Mayor Richard J. Berry from vetoing the council’s second attempt to move the resolution forward. “We need change. We need the council to come forth and do what’s right for the people. We the people are talking to you, listen,” pleaded Mike Gomez, the father of Alan Gomez who was shot and killed by APD. Still though, the vote is purely symbolic. “We don’t really have the ability to ask the Department of Justice, come in, this is what you need to do. That is a decision the Department of Justice makes on its own,” said Councilman Rey Garduño. The bill they passed back in August essentially pushed for the DOJ to investigate. That bill narrowly passed, but was vetoed by Mayor Berry. Not all councilors agreed with it. “I just don’t support the DOJ coming in. I think the administration is taking care of all the issues and I think it’ll happen sooner than later,” said Councilman Brad Winter. The new resolution basically says if the DOJ decides to investigate APD, council and the mayor will support it. So is it a waste of time to debate something council has no power to enforce? Councilors on both sides say no. “That’s what government is about. It’s to have public comment, listen to people voice their concerns, so it’s never a waste of time for that,” said Winter. “There’s never a time where we can’t listen to the community. I think the community has asked for this, they’ve pleaded for this. If anything, we’ve wasted their time by not acting a little sooner,” said Garduño. Meanwhile, Ahrensfield was ordered to serve six months in jail, and one day in federal prison, for tipping off a friend who owned a car dealership that federal investigators were monitoring his business for possible contraband and drug activity. Ahrensfield faced a possible sentence of 20 years, though the judge looked favorably at his clean record and military service.
DOJ to meet with activists regarding APD shootings
ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) - A meeting is expected to happen Monday between local activists and U.S. Department of Justice officials, this regarding the long list of recent APD officer-involved shootings. Twenty people have been shot by Albuquerque police since last January. Of those 14 were killed. Community activists, and family members of some of the people killed, have been calling for a federal investigation of APD. Latino and black activists say they will meet Monday evening with two justice department attorneys to review allegations of civil rights abuses. Earlier this year, Mayor R.J. Berry vetoed a city council resolution that requested a formal justice department review of the police shootings. The mayor pointed to a separate independent review that resulted in a long list of recommendations for the police department. APD and city officials are now in the process of implementing suggested changes, like requiring more training for officers and changing hiring criteria. Justice department officials have still not said if a full-scale investigation is necessary.
----- RELATED/BACKGROUND STORY:
The New Mexico Independent by Mikhail Zinshteyn - September 20, 2011
The conviction and sentencing of officer Brad Ahrensfield for tampering with a federal investigation put the spotlight back on Albuquerque’s law enforcement agency as the city council battles with the mayor in permitting the U.S. Justice Department to investigate the city’s police department for its high rate of shootings. While the two incidents were unrelated, Ahrensfield’s crimes and APD’s ongoing struggles with its officers brandishing guns compound the frustrations city officials and residents have with the police force. Last night, the city council voted unanimously to invite the Justice Department to look into 20 police-involved shooting incidents in 20 months, a symbolic gesture that nonetheless gave elected officials a platform to express that not enough is being done to reform ADP and preclude Mayor Richard J. Berry from vetoing the council’s second attempt to move the resolution forward. “We need change. We need the council to come forth and do what’s right for the people. We the people are talking to you, listen,” pleaded Mike Gomez, the father of Alan Gomez who was shot and killed by APD. Still though, the vote is purely symbolic. “We don’t really have the ability to ask the Department of Justice, come in, this is what you need to do. That is a decision the Department of Justice makes on its own,” said Councilman Rey Garduño. The bill they passed back in August essentially pushed for the DOJ to investigate. That bill narrowly passed, but was vetoed by Mayor Berry. Not all councilors agreed with it. “I just don’t support the DOJ coming in. I think the administration is taking care of all the issues and I think it’ll happen sooner than later,” said Councilman Brad Winter. The new resolution basically says if the DOJ decides to investigate APD, council and the mayor will support it. So is it a waste of time to debate something council has no power to enforce? Councilors on both sides say no. “That’s what government is about. It’s to have public comment, listen to people voice their concerns, so it’s never a waste of time for that,” said Winter. “There’s never a time where we can’t listen to the community. I think the community has asked for this, they’ve pleaded for this. If anything, we’ve wasted their time by not acting a little sooner,” said Garduño. Meanwhile, Ahrensfield was ordered to serve six months in jail, and one day in federal prison, for tipping off a friend who owned a car dealership that federal investigators were monitoring his business for possible contraband and drug activity. Ahrensfield faced a possible sentence of 20 years, though the judge looked favorably at his clean record and military service.
Former Cop Indicted On Felony Forgery Charges, Illegally Requested Phone Records
Former Frankfort officer indicted on felony forgery charges
The Utica Observer-Dispatch by Amanda Fries and Rocco LaDuca - November 4, 2011
HERKIMER, NY — The former Frankfort village police officer accused of illegally requesting phone records in March 2010 was indicted on felony forgery charges Friday afternoon, according to Herkimer County Assistant District Attorney Jeff Carpenter. Daniel Herrman, 39, was charged with two counts of felony second-degree forgery and two counts of misdemeanor official misconduct, Carpenter said and could face up to seven years in prison if convicted. In August 2010, Samuel Ameduri III alleged that his constitutional rights to privacy were violated when Herrman — one of his colleagues — falsified an emergency information request form and sent it to Verizon Wireless with the intent to obtain Ameduri's personal records, according to O-D archives. According to the emergency request form presented to an O-D reporter, the records request was around the same time as Ameduri said the former village police Chief Steven Conley had choked him in an attempt to get him to change his sworn statement about a civil case in which village resident Harold Griffin claimed Conley wrongfully arrested him. Carpenter wouldn’t comment Friday on whether Herrman’s current charges are related to the allegations made by Ameduri. It was unclear whose records Herrman was obtaining. When asked whether anyone else could face a possible arrest in this case, Carpenter said “It’s still an open investigation.” Herrman pleaded not guilty in front of Judge Patrick Kirk, after being arrested on a warrant somewhere in Utica, Carpenter said. After his appearance, Herrman was committed to Herkimer County jail on $10,000 cash, $20,000 bail bond. He is due back in court at 9:30 a.m. on Nov. 10. The Village Board in July 2010 voted to remove Herrman from the police force, which also is when Conley announced his retirement. With his retirement came a swarm of allegations in regards to Conley’s leadership centered on Herrman. Aside from the fact that Herrman’s signature allegedly was found on the emergency request form, he also was never certified during his 15 months with the village police.
The Utica Observer-Dispatch by Amanda Fries and Rocco LaDuca - November 4, 2011
HERKIMER, NY — The former Frankfort village police officer accused of illegally requesting phone records in March 2010 was indicted on felony forgery charges Friday afternoon, according to Herkimer County Assistant District Attorney Jeff Carpenter. Daniel Herrman, 39, was charged with two counts of felony second-degree forgery and two counts of misdemeanor official misconduct, Carpenter said and could face up to seven years in prison if convicted. In August 2010, Samuel Ameduri III alleged that his constitutional rights to privacy were violated when Herrman — one of his colleagues — falsified an emergency information request form and sent it to Verizon Wireless with the intent to obtain Ameduri's personal records, according to O-D archives. According to the emergency request form presented to an O-D reporter, the records request was around the same time as Ameduri said the former village police Chief Steven Conley had choked him in an attempt to get him to change his sworn statement about a civil case in which village resident Harold Griffin claimed Conley wrongfully arrested him. Carpenter wouldn’t comment Friday on whether Herrman’s current charges are related to the allegations made by Ameduri. It was unclear whose records Herrman was obtaining. When asked whether anyone else could face a possible arrest in this case, Carpenter said “It’s still an open investigation.” Herrman pleaded not guilty in front of Judge Patrick Kirk, after being arrested on a warrant somewhere in Utica, Carpenter said. After his appearance, Herrman was committed to Herkimer County jail on $10,000 cash, $20,000 bail bond. He is due back in court at 9:30 a.m. on Nov. 10. The Village Board in July 2010 voted to remove Herrman from the police force, which also is when Conley announced his retirement. With his retirement came a swarm of allegations in regards to Conley’s leadership centered on Herrman. Aside from the fact that Herrman’s signature allegedly was found on the emergency request form, he also was never certified during his 15 months with the village police.
Former Cop Gets 20 Years for Molesting 12-year-old Girl
Former Atlanta cop sentenced to 20 years for molesting 12-year-old girl
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution by Christian Boone - November 4, 2011
A veteran Atlanta police investigator was sentenced to 20 years in prison Friday after a jury convicted him on two counts each of child molestation and sexual battery. Wilson Carstaffin, 46, met his 12-year-old victim in November 2007 while working a side job as a resource officer at a middle school. According to prosecutors, Carstaffin summoned the girl, who has a slight developmental disability, from class and instructed her to meet him after school at a nearby church. The Fulton County District Attorney's office said Carstaffin picked the girl up in his car and began fondling her, at one point asking his victim if he could be her boyfriend. Carstaffin kept the girl for hours save for one 15-minute stretch when he went to meet his wife. Prosecutors say he dropped the girl off, unattended, at a nearby gas station and returned to pick her up. He resumed fondling the 12-year-old before finally taking her home. The girl's father tried to contact the officer for an explanation, but Carstaffin never responded. Eventually the girl told one of her teachers what had happened inside the officer's car. An APD investigation followed, resulting in Carstaffin's arrest, indictment and dismissal from the force. Carstaffin was also sentenced to 20 years probation, which he'll serve following his prison sentence.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution by Christian Boone - November 4, 2011
A veteran Atlanta police investigator was sentenced to 20 years in prison Friday after a jury convicted him on two counts each of child molestation and sexual battery. Wilson Carstaffin, 46, met his 12-year-old victim in November 2007 while working a side job as a resource officer at a middle school. According to prosecutors, Carstaffin summoned the girl, who has a slight developmental disability, from class and instructed her to meet him after school at a nearby church. The Fulton County District Attorney's office said Carstaffin picked the girl up in his car and began fondling her, at one point asking his victim if he could be her boyfriend. Carstaffin kept the girl for hours save for one 15-minute stretch when he went to meet his wife. Prosecutors say he dropped the girl off, unattended, at a nearby gas station and returned to pick her up. He resumed fondling the 12-year-old before finally taking her home. The girl's father tried to contact the officer for an explanation, but Carstaffin never responded. Eventually the girl told one of her teachers what had happened inside the officer's car. An APD investigation followed, resulting in Carstaffin's arrest, indictment and dismissal from the force. Carstaffin was also sentenced to 20 years probation, which he'll serve following his prison sentence.
Police Department Management Debacle
Boynton Beach fires police officer, its sixth to face legal troubles this year
The Palm Beach Post by Julius Whigham II - November 4, 2011
The Palm Beach Post by Julius Whigham II - November 4, 2011
BOYNTON BEACH, FL — A city police officer accused of using unnecessary force has been fired from the department for the second time in the past four years. Officer David Coffey was dismissed Oct. 24 after an internal affairs investigation determined he slammed a restaurant patron into a video-game console without ever trying to handcuff him while making an arrest Jan. 16 . Coffey's latest dismissal comes while the 160-member department is under scrutiny after the arrests of five other officers this year. On Tuesday, with Police Chief Matthew Immler in attendance, city commissioners said they will review how Boynton Beach hires and supervises its police officers. According to the internal affairs report, Coffey responded to a disturbance at the Carolina Ale House on North Congress Avenue and arrested a patron, Floyd Selleck, on charges of obstruction of justice and resisting arrest without violence. Coffey, who will turn 31 Saturday, wrote that Selleck was "highly intoxicated" and approached a fellow officer while the officer was escorting another patron out of the bar. Selleck, however, filed a complaint Feb. 1, alleging that Coffey used unnecessary force. Selleck alleged that he had been talking with another officer after an altercation at the restaurant when Coffey grabbed him, threw him to the ground and slammed him into the machine . Witnesses, including three off-duty West Palm Beach Police officers, indicated that Coffey used excessive force. It was unclear this evening whether Coffey would fight the city's decision. It is the second time that the department has fired Coffey. The first was in 2007 after an investigation found that he had improperly used a Taser on a suspected drunk driver who was being kept in a holding cell. An arbitrator later determined that Coffey could regain his job, and he was rehired in December 2008. Of the five officers who have been arrested this year, one other was fired. Former officer David Britto was terminated after he fled to Brazil while awaiting trial for charges of trafficking methamphetamine. Three others - Michael Mulcahy, Alex Lindsey and Kenneth Magielski - have been placed on administrative duty after their arrests on charges ranging from DUI to official misconduct. Former officer Michael Arco resigned after being charged with official misconduct and giving false information. Coffey is also facing charges stemming from an incident involving a fellow police officer in April. He was charged with improper exhibition of a dangerous weapon and culpable negligence. Boynton police officer Rachel Loy accused Coffey of sneaking up behind her and activating his department-issued Taser after placing inches behind her ear. Coffey is scheduled to face a case disposition hearing for those charges on Friday morning. Staff Writer Cynthia Roldan contributed to this report
Sunday, November 6, 2011
Former School Security Officer Arrested on Child Porn
Former Birmingham City Schools Security Officer Arrested on Child Pornography Charges
The Herald News - November 5, 2011
BIRMINGHAM, AL— FBI agents today arrested a former Birmingham City Schools security officer and substitute bus driver for Shelby County Schools on child pornography charges, announced U.S. Attorney Joyce White Vance and FBI Special Agent in Charge Patrick J. Maley. A joint investigation by Birmingham Police and the FBI led to this morning’s arrest of MICHAEL WAYNE WOOTEN, 60, of Alabaster. Wooten was arrested in Bessemer. He is charged in a criminal complaint with receiving child pornography and with possessing a computer, computer disk, and other material containing child pornography. U.S. Magistrate Judge Robert R. Armstrong Jr. detained Wooten following an initial court appearance this morning. Armstrong scheduled a detention hearing for Wooten at 1:30 p.m. Monday. “Birmingham Police and the FBI worked diligently in this case to take someone who preys on children off the streets,” Vance said. “This investigation uncovered sexually explicit photographs we believe were taken in a studio Wooten set up in a closed Birmingham school building,” Vance said. “Not all victims shown in the photographs have been identified, and the investigation continues. We ask that anyone who believes they may have any information related to this case please call the FBI, toll free, at 1-866-372-0209. The call will be returned,” Vance said. According to an FBI affidavit supporting the arrest complaint, results of a forensic examination of Wooten’s computer were received by investigators in October and showed graphic pornographic images of at least five girls who appear to be under age 12. The pictures show the children involved in sexually explicit conduct, including images that depict Wooten engaging in actual or simulated sexual intercourse, according to the affidavit. The pictures appear to have been taken in the office of Dupuy Elementary, a closed school building in the Birmingham City School System, according to the affidavit. Wooten worked as a security officer for Birmingham City Schools from July 1997 until May 2011. In that capacity, he did not have unsupervised access to students, according to Birmingham Schools spokeswoman Michaelle Chapman. A Shelby County Schools official said Wooten qualified for a bus-driving license with the system this year after passing all pre-employment requirements, including a criminal background review. Wooten has substituted on 21 days since school started Aug. 11, the official said. Wooten told investigators in April 2010 that he shared the office at Dupuy Elementary School with another security guard. Wooten said he set up a studio at the office to photograph children in order to build his art portfolio. A Birmingham Police officer and an FBI agent searched the office in April 2010 after law enforcement was alerted that Wooten had taken a 9-year-old girl to the empty school and photographed her in several outfits, including sexually explicit costumes, the affidavit states. In the search, the officers found five plastic bins containing girls’ clothing, including dresses, bathing suits, and thong underwear. Only the 9-year-old girl has been identified and interviewed by law enforcement. Investigators hope to identify the other children in the photographs, and any other children who might be victims in the case. Birmingham Police and the FBI investigated the case, with assistance from Birmingham City Schools’ security. Hoover and Alabaster police assisted in today’s arrest. The matter is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel J. Fortune.
Two Elite Crime-Fighting Cops Arrested
Fort Lauderdale Police 'NW Raiders'
The South Florida Times by Elgin Jones - November 4, 2011
FORT LAUDERDALE, FL – Two members of the Fort Lauderdale Police Department’s elite "NW Raiders" crime-fighting unit have been arrested on numerous counts of corruption. They surrendered Thursday night. Detectives Brian Dodge and Billy Koepke are charged with multiple counts; including kidnapping, extortion, theft, making threats, and false arrest. They are being held in the Broward Main Jail pending bail and will be placed on house arrest. Dogde and Koepke, along with Fort Lauderdale detective Matthew Moceri and their sergeant, Michael Florenco, were under investigation by the Broward State Attorney’s Office and the FBI over a suspicious drug arrest. Its details were first reported in a June 15 South Florida Times article. The officers are accused of robbing drug dealers of cash and contraband and kidnapping them at gunpoint to participate in drug operations. Both Dodge and Koepke are accused of committing the following crimes: Racketeering, kidnapping, extortion, five counts of false imprisonment, five counts of grand theft and two counts of falsifying records. In addition, Dodge was charged with forgery and perjury.
Broward Circuit Judge Martin J. Bidwell signed the arrest warrants Thursday afternoon. Prosecutors decided not to bring charges against Florenco and Moceri, but it has not been explained why. Sources say that even though they will not face criminal charges, they will be terminated from their jobs. All four officers were placed on paid administrative leave on April 18 after the department was informed of the investigation. The investigation initially centered on the Aug. 24 arrest of Junior Jerome, 25, of Oakland Park and Dieudson Nore, 22, of Lauderdale Lakes. They were charged with cocaine possession and delivery. The alleged informant, it turned out, is reported to have been an unwilling participant who was forced to take part in the operation. Out of safety considerations, South Florida Times is not identifying the informant. The arranged drug deal was scheduled to take place at the Red Roof Inn, 4800 N. Powerline Road, Oakland Park. According to the police report, the Northwest Raiders received a tip from the person identified as the informant that Jerome and Nore would deliver crack cocaine at the hotel. “As we approached, I responded to the driver’s side and Det. Dodge to the passenger side. I then observed Junior drop from his right hand an open M&M container to the floor on the driver’s side and several pieces of the suspected crack cocaine came out,” said the police report compiled by Koepke and Dodge. Video from the hotel’s surveillance cameras confirmed those accounts were fabricated. Charges were dropped against the two men and the investigation of the officer began. The arrests are the first for the FBI's anti-public corruption task force that is quietly operating in Broward County.
Trooper vs. Cop
Trooper vs. Miami cop: police, public see clash differently
The Miami Herald by Diana Moskovitz and David Ovalle - November 5, 2011
A dashboard video cam that captured the image of Florida state trooper Donna Jane Watts marching a uniformed, handcuffed Miami police officer to her squad car, all the while berating him for speeding, has sparked a figurative slugfest in the blogosphere that seems to be intensifying by the hour. The core issue that has transfixed Miami’s law enforcement community in the past few days appears to be this: whether Watts, a trooper with a no-nonsense attitude, crossed the line when she sped south on Florida’s Turnpike behind the police car of Miami officer Fausto Lopez, as he broke speed limits to get to an early-morning off-duty assignment. When Lopez finally stopped — and there is considerable debate over whether he was traveling the previously reported 120 miles per hour — Watts approached him like any other suspect and not a brother officer on the side of the dark road. She pulled her sidearm — highly unusual for a speeding stop — aimed and shouted at him as she approached. Then she cuffed him and escorted him back to her vehicle. Therein lies the firestorm. Watts violated one of the unwritten rules of the profession: It holds that an officer should try at all costs to avoid pulling over a fellow officer for minor infractions. Kick it to the higher ups and let them hash it out. “This is not police corruption,’’ said retired North Miami Police Maj. Bob Lynch, a police instructor. “These are not criminal offenses, but traffic violations.” He says he warns his classes: “Don’t ever put yourself, on-duty, in a position where you’re asking for a confrontation.” Many outside law enforcement are also upset, but for an entirely different reason. They want to know why any officer would feel he or she has carte blanche to break laws they have been sworn to uphold. Or, as Herald reader Joe Canas of Kendall said in response to an online query, echoing many: “I can’t remember a single time where a police car was ever following posted speed limits. All of them — and I mean all of them save for FHP — get on the left-most side of the highway and speed with impunity.” Lynch and other trainers say both law officers are to blame — Lopez for speeding enough to warrant FHP attention, and Watts for agitatedly handcuffing a uniformed officer, despite his polite protests. “I felt the gun should have been put away and I don’t think she should have made the physical arrest,” said Francis “Bucky” Greene, a former Miami-Dade sergeant and retired police trainer. “If she called a supervisor to come to the scene, I think the guy would have his [city-owned] car taken away on the spot.”
VIRAL VIDEO
Fueled by anger from both law enforcement and citizens, the video of the traffic stop has gone viral. Officers have mocked Watts in online postings, doctoring photos. Conversely, Watts supporters have started a Facebook page. Here is what is known about the early morning incident from Oct. 11: Watts, while on patrol, spotted a police cruiser whiz past her in the southbound lanes of Florida’s Turnpike in Broward. In her report, Watts would write that Lopez was weaving in and out of traffic at speeds of more than 120 miles per hour. With lights and sirens blazing, she began following the sedan. A recording later released by FHP at the request of the news media showed that superiors tried unsuccessfully by radio to get Watts to stand down and “back off.” But she did not. Ultimately, Watts released Lopez after issuing him a ticket charging reckless driving, a second-degree misdemeanor. And then there are the unknowns: Since she pulled her firearm, Watts must have thought she was in danger, so why didn’t she wait for backup? Once she realized it was a fellow law enforcement officer, why didn’t she request a supervisor? Did the chaotic back-and-forth over the radio prevent Watts from hearing the admonition to “back off?” Lopez would later say he hadn’t realized the flashing lights of the FHP squad car were for him and he moved to another lane to get out of the way. He has hired a lawyer. Miami’s police union had harsh words for the trooper. “The law enforcement community is not upset with her because for her traffic summons,’’ Miami Fraternal Order of Police Vice President Javier Ortiz told The Herald. “We’re upset with her because of her reckless behavior in pulling a firearm on a uniformed patrolman in a marked patrol unit.” In the aftermath, an online law enforcement message board, LeoAffairs.com, exploded with opinions, many threatening toward Watts. His photo has been plastered across the Internet, sometimes digitally altered to include a bottle of vodka.
RE-ENACTMENT
Uniformed Hialeah officers posed for a photo comically re-enacting the episode. The make-believe Watts is a male wearing a blonde, curly wig to mimic the real trooper. “It’s the classic thin blue line,” Lynch said, explaining the backlash and not his own feelings toward the incident. “One of my buddies gets shafted, and we all think it’s wrong. We’re all going to defend him and sometimes it gets out of hand. It’s childish and it needs to stop.” This wasn’t the first time the decision of an officer to ticket another officer has been questioned. In 1997, a confrontation between two officers that began with a traffic stop vaulted into prime time news across the country after it was caught on camera. The Orange County Sheriff’s Office pulled over Metro-Dade police Maj. Aaron Campbell because he changed lanes without signaling. Campbell, who is black, believed he was pulled over because of racial profiling and because he was driving a new car with Miami-Dade license tags. Deputies denied the accusation. The confrontation resulted in a full-blown trial, a lawsuit that was later dropped and a lot of bad feelings. In 2006, the issue arose again when Miami police Lt. Armando Bello got news that his son, a Miami-Dade officer, had been critically injured in an off-duty crash. Bello, in the Florida Keys when he got word of the accident, jumped in his Mercedes and raced north. FHP trooper Jose Burgos ticketed him for going 91 in a 55-mph zone. In later reviewing the ticket amid an outpouring of criticism, FHP said the trooper didn’t know about the crash, which resulted in the death of Bello’s son. This isn’t the first time Watts has ticketed a fellow cop. Broward court records show she cited Miami Beach officer Philip Elmore in June for going 82 in a 55 mph zone. The case went to trial and Elmore was convicted but adjudication was withheld, according to records. The records did not indicate if Elmore was on or off duty or what kind of vehicle he was driving. Watts became a deputy with the Indian River County Sheriff’s Office in 2003. Before coming to South Florida, she patrolled the western Panhandle for FHP. In 2008, she was among a dozen or more troopers honored for making more than 100 drunk-driving arrests the prior year.
COMMENDATIONS
Lopez , a Miami cop for five years, has received several commendations for good work, according to his personnel jacket. Earlier for this year, he was written up for failing to immediately report damage to the driver’s side fender of his cruiser. And his record shows a driving complaint reported to internal affairs in 2009, but it doesn’t show how it was resolved. His lawyer, Bill Matthewman, said he understood that it was dismissed. “You know, for being on the street that long and having no complaints of any merit at all, it shows that he is a very level-headed and reasonable officer who treats people fairly,” Mattewman said. Outside the law enforcement community, the response to the incident has little to do with Lopez’s record. Many are nursing a grudge, saying they’ve spent a lifetime watching police cars bob and weave through traffic at reckless speeds, and switch their lights and sirens on and off at intersections, solely to avoid obeying traffic lights. “Many times I see Dade-based police speeding north in Broward County,” said Sean Schwinghammer of Miami Lakes. “I have called police departments about it regularly and reported the numbers on the back of the cruisers. Only once was I called back, and they told me they would deal with it.” Dennis Chang of Miami concurred that police drive as if the laws apply to others and not them, adding: “If we are observing the speed limit, why aren’t they?” On the LEO website used by law officers, one person posted: “Please know tonight that citizens across this country are reading your posts….I support law enforcement but am telling you now that you are and will lose in the COURT of PUBLIC OPINION on this issue if you continue to debate this in open forums.’’ Ultimately, the stop and the furor it has generated underscores a characteristic of many professions, not just law enforcement, said professor Dennis Kenney, a former Polk County law officer who teaches at John Jay College of Criminal Justice. Each profession has its courtesies, fair or not — and citizens can feel slighted when officers catch a break from a fellow cop. “They are right,’’ Kenney said. “The law should apply evenly to everyone. To the citizen who is getting the ticket, it’s expensive. To the officer writing the ticket, it’s work product,’’ something they do all day, every day. El Nuevo Herald staff writer Alfonso Chardy contributed to this report. dovalle@MiamiHerald.com
The Miami Herald by Diana Moskovitz and David Ovalle - November 5, 2011
A dashboard video cam that captured the image of Florida state trooper Donna Jane Watts marching a uniformed, handcuffed Miami police officer to her squad car, all the while berating him for speeding, has sparked a figurative slugfest in the blogosphere that seems to be intensifying by the hour. The core issue that has transfixed Miami’s law enforcement community in the past few days appears to be this: whether Watts, a trooper with a no-nonsense attitude, crossed the line when she sped south on Florida’s Turnpike behind the police car of Miami officer Fausto Lopez, as he broke speed limits to get to an early-morning off-duty assignment. When Lopez finally stopped — and there is considerable debate over whether he was traveling the previously reported 120 miles per hour — Watts approached him like any other suspect and not a brother officer on the side of the dark road. She pulled her sidearm — highly unusual for a speeding stop — aimed and shouted at him as she approached. Then she cuffed him and escorted him back to her vehicle. Therein lies the firestorm. Watts violated one of the unwritten rules of the profession: It holds that an officer should try at all costs to avoid pulling over a fellow officer for minor infractions. Kick it to the higher ups and let them hash it out. “This is not police corruption,’’ said retired North Miami Police Maj. Bob Lynch, a police instructor. “These are not criminal offenses, but traffic violations.” He says he warns his classes: “Don’t ever put yourself, on-duty, in a position where you’re asking for a confrontation.” Many outside law enforcement are also upset, but for an entirely different reason. They want to know why any officer would feel he or she has carte blanche to break laws they have been sworn to uphold. Or, as Herald reader Joe Canas of Kendall said in response to an online query, echoing many: “I can’t remember a single time where a police car was ever following posted speed limits. All of them — and I mean all of them save for FHP — get on the left-most side of the highway and speed with impunity.” Lynch and other trainers say both law officers are to blame — Lopez for speeding enough to warrant FHP attention, and Watts for agitatedly handcuffing a uniformed officer, despite his polite protests. “I felt the gun should have been put away and I don’t think she should have made the physical arrest,” said Francis “Bucky” Greene, a former Miami-Dade sergeant and retired police trainer. “If she called a supervisor to come to the scene, I think the guy would have his [city-owned] car taken away on the spot.”
VIRAL VIDEO
Fueled by anger from both law enforcement and citizens, the video of the traffic stop has gone viral. Officers have mocked Watts in online postings, doctoring photos. Conversely, Watts supporters have started a Facebook page. Here is what is known about the early morning incident from Oct. 11: Watts, while on patrol, spotted a police cruiser whiz past her in the southbound lanes of Florida’s Turnpike in Broward. In her report, Watts would write that Lopez was weaving in and out of traffic at speeds of more than 120 miles per hour. With lights and sirens blazing, she began following the sedan. A recording later released by FHP at the request of the news media showed that superiors tried unsuccessfully by radio to get Watts to stand down and “back off.” But she did not. Ultimately, Watts released Lopez after issuing him a ticket charging reckless driving, a second-degree misdemeanor. And then there are the unknowns: Since she pulled her firearm, Watts must have thought she was in danger, so why didn’t she wait for backup? Once she realized it was a fellow law enforcement officer, why didn’t she request a supervisor? Did the chaotic back-and-forth over the radio prevent Watts from hearing the admonition to “back off?” Lopez would later say he hadn’t realized the flashing lights of the FHP squad car were for him and he moved to another lane to get out of the way. He has hired a lawyer. Miami’s police union had harsh words for the trooper. “The law enforcement community is not upset with her because for her traffic summons,’’ Miami Fraternal Order of Police Vice President Javier Ortiz told The Herald. “We’re upset with her because of her reckless behavior in pulling a firearm on a uniformed patrolman in a marked patrol unit.” In the aftermath, an online law enforcement message board, LeoAffairs.com, exploded with opinions, many threatening toward Watts. His photo has been plastered across the Internet, sometimes digitally altered to include a bottle of vodka.
RE-ENACTMENT
Uniformed Hialeah officers posed for a photo comically re-enacting the episode. The make-believe Watts is a male wearing a blonde, curly wig to mimic the real trooper. “It’s the classic thin blue line,” Lynch said, explaining the backlash and not his own feelings toward the incident. “One of my buddies gets shafted, and we all think it’s wrong. We’re all going to defend him and sometimes it gets out of hand. It’s childish and it needs to stop.” This wasn’t the first time the decision of an officer to ticket another officer has been questioned. In 1997, a confrontation between two officers that began with a traffic stop vaulted into prime time news across the country after it was caught on camera. The Orange County Sheriff’s Office pulled over Metro-Dade police Maj. Aaron Campbell because he changed lanes without signaling. Campbell, who is black, believed he was pulled over because of racial profiling and because he was driving a new car with Miami-Dade license tags. Deputies denied the accusation. The confrontation resulted in a full-blown trial, a lawsuit that was later dropped and a lot of bad feelings. In 2006, the issue arose again when Miami police Lt. Armando Bello got news that his son, a Miami-Dade officer, had been critically injured in an off-duty crash. Bello, in the Florida Keys when he got word of the accident, jumped in his Mercedes and raced north. FHP trooper Jose Burgos ticketed him for going 91 in a 55-mph zone. In later reviewing the ticket amid an outpouring of criticism, FHP said the trooper didn’t know about the crash, which resulted in the death of Bello’s son. This isn’t the first time Watts has ticketed a fellow cop. Broward court records show she cited Miami Beach officer Philip Elmore in June for going 82 in a 55 mph zone. The case went to trial and Elmore was convicted but adjudication was withheld, according to records. The records did not indicate if Elmore was on or off duty or what kind of vehicle he was driving. Watts became a deputy with the Indian River County Sheriff’s Office in 2003. Before coming to South Florida, she patrolled the western Panhandle for FHP. In 2008, she was among a dozen or more troopers honored for making more than 100 drunk-driving arrests the prior year.
COMMENDATIONS
Lopez , a Miami cop for five years, has received several commendations for good work, according to his personnel jacket. Earlier for this year, he was written up for failing to immediately report damage to the driver’s side fender of his cruiser. And his record shows a driving complaint reported to internal affairs in 2009, but it doesn’t show how it was resolved. His lawyer, Bill Matthewman, said he understood that it was dismissed. “You know, for being on the street that long and having no complaints of any merit at all, it shows that he is a very level-headed and reasonable officer who treats people fairly,” Mattewman said. Outside the law enforcement community, the response to the incident has little to do with Lopez’s record. Many are nursing a grudge, saying they’ve spent a lifetime watching police cars bob and weave through traffic at reckless speeds, and switch their lights and sirens on and off at intersections, solely to avoid obeying traffic lights. “Many times I see Dade-based police speeding north in Broward County,” said Sean Schwinghammer of Miami Lakes. “I have called police departments about it regularly and reported the numbers on the back of the cruisers. Only once was I called back, and they told me they would deal with it.” Dennis Chang of Miami concurred that police drive as if the laws apply to others and not them, adding: “If we are observing the speed limit, why aren’t they?” On the LEO website used by law officers, one person posted: “Please know tonight that citizens across this country are reading your posts….I support law enforcement but am telling you now that you are and will lose in the COURT of PUBLIC OPINION on this issue if you continue to debate this in open forums.’’ Ultimately, the stop and the furor it has generated underscores a characteristic of many professions, not just law enforcement, said professor Dennis Kenney, a former Polk County law officer who teaches at John Jay College of Criminal Justice. Each profession has its courtesies, fair or not — and citizens can feel slighted when officers catch a break from a fellow cop. “They are right,’’ Kenney said. “The law should apply evenly to everyone. To the citizen who is getting the ticket, it’s expensive. To the officer writing the ticket, it’s work product,’’ something they do all day, every day. El Nuevo Herald staff writer Alfonso Chardy contributed to this report. dovalle@MiamiHerald.com
Saturday, November 5, 2011
Police Chief Arrested By FBI
East Washington police chief, protection offer linked
The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review by Brian Bowling - November 1, 2011
A Washington County police chief agreed to buy Tasers and act as protection for people he thought were drug dealers, an FBI agent testified on Monday. Three days after the FBI arrested East Washington police Chief Donald Solomon, 55, authorities explained how he violated the Hobbs Act, which prohibits government officials from using their positions to extort money. Solomon pleaded not guilty. U.S. Magistrate Judge Robert C. Mitchell ordered him held without bail, saying the chief presented himself to undercover agents as "the best cop that money could buy" and bragged about killing people or having others kill for him. Assistant Federal Public Defender Marketa Sims argued for Solomon's release because he has no history of violence or crime before the charges. She said agents coaxed him into bragging about killing people or having others hurt or kill people, but there is no evidence he's done any of that. "He's suddenly blossomed into this violent, Tony Soprano figure? That's not what we know about people," she said. East Washington Solicitor Cary Jones said borough officials did not expect the charges because the council never received a complaint about Solomon during his two years as chief or the previous two decades as a part-time police officer. "I just think it was a shock to people on borough council and borough residents because it seems out of character," Jones said. Solomon has always been "polite, professional, friendly, hard working, intelligent -- he just did his job." FBI Special Agent Joseph Bieshelt testified that police were investigating a drive-by shooting that damaged a car and the house where Solomon's ex-girlfriend lived this year. The car belonged to her current boyfriend, Bieshelt said.
The investigation led them to Solomon, who agreed to supply Tasers, restricted to law enforcement use, for an undercover FBI agent posing as a drug dealer, the agent said. Solomon also agreed to provide protection for two fake drug deals conducted by undercover agents, the indictment states. The agents paid Solomon $500 "per kilogram" for the protection, according to the indictment. Sims said there would be little argument about the facts in the case, but considerable debate over how they should be interpreted. The FBI coaxed Solomon into making threats against his ex-girlfriend and an unnamed borough councilman, and he went along with them because he was desperate for the money they offered, Sims said. Assistant U.S. Attorney Bob Cessar argued that Solomon is a danger to himself and the community because he was recorded repeatedly threatening his ex-girlfriend, the councilman and others, as well as telling a friend that he'd shoot himself rather than go to jail. He said the drive-by shooting happened before the FBI got involved. Authorities did not elaborate in court about Solomon's alleged boasts of killing people. Solomon appeared in court unshaven and wearing red jail garb. Other than responding to questions from Mitchell, he remained silent. Solomon's arrest took borough officials by surprise. On Friday, Mayor Mark Pacilla, who oversees the police department, said that Solomon was suspended with pay. A community of 2,234 people, East Washington neighbors the county seat. Part of Washington & Jefferson College sits within its limits. Timothy D. Johnson, 40, of Washington also was arraigned yesterday. During Solomon's hearing, authorities identified Johnson as the man who shot the car and house. He is charged only with illegal possession and transfer of a silencer. Mitchell ordered Johnson held without bail. Johnson's lawyer, Lee Markovitz, said after the hearing that Johnson is a truck driver who has been steadily employed with no criminal record since he got out of the Army in 1992. Johnson made a "somewhat inculpatory" statement to investigators when he thought that he wouldn't be charged in the case, Markovitz said. Brian Bowling can be reached at bbowling@tribweb.com or 412-325-4301.
The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review by Brian Bowling - November 1, 2011
A Washington County police chief agreed to buy Tasers and act as protection for people he thought were drug dealers, an FBI agent testified on Monday. Three days after the FBI arrested East Washington police Chief Donald Solomon, 55, authorities explained how he violated the Hobbs Act, which prohibits government officials from using their positions to extort money. Solomon pleaded not guilty. U.S. Magistrate Judge Robert C. Mitchell ordered him held without bail, saying the chief presented himself to undercover agents as "the best cop that money could buy" and bragged about killing people or having others kill for him. Assistant Federal Public Defender Marketa Sims argued for Solomon's release because he has no history of violence or crime before the charges. She said agents coaxed him into bragging about killing people or having others hurt or kill people, but there is no evidence he's done any of that. "He's suddenly blossomed into this violent, Tony Soprano figure? That's not what we know about people," she said. East Washington Solicitor Cary Jones said borough officials did not expect the charges because the council never received a complaint about Solomon during his two years as chief or the previous two decades as a part-time police officer. "I just think it was a shock to people on borough council and borough residents because it seems out of character," Jones said. Solomon has always been "polite, professional, friendly, hard working, intelligent -- he just did his job." FBI Special Agent Joseph Bieshelt testified that police were investigating a drive-by shooting that damaged a car and the house where Solomon's ex-girlfriend lived this year. The car belonged to her current boyfriend, Bieshelt said.
The investigation led them to Solomon, who agreed to supply Tasers, restricted to law enforcement use, for an undercover FBI agent posing as a drug dealer, the agent said. Solomon also agreed to provide protection for two fake drug deals conducted by undercover agents, the indictment states. The agents paid Solomon $500 "per kilogram" for the protection, according to the indictment. Sims said there would be little argument about the facts in the case, but considerable debate over how they should be interpreted. The FBI coaxed Solomon into making threats against his ex-girlfriend and an unnamed borough councilman, and he went along with them because he was desperate for the money they offered, Sims said. Assistant U.S. Attorney Bob Cessar argued that Solomon is a danger to himself and the community because he was recorded repeatedly threatening his ex-girlfriend, the councilman and others, as well as telling a friend that he'd shoot himself rather than go to jail. He said the drive-by shooting happened before the FBI got involved. Authorities did not elaborate in court about Solomon's alleged boasts of killing people. Solomon appeared in court unshaven and wearing red jail garb. Other than responding to questions from Mitchell, he remained silent. Solomon's arrest took borough officials by surprise. On Friday, Mayor Mark Pacilla, who oversees the police department, said that Solomon was suspended with pay. A community of 2,234 people, East Washington neighbors the county seat. Part of Washington & Jefferson College sits within its limits. Timothy D. Johnson, 40, of Washington also was arraigned yesterday. During Solomon's hearing, authorities identified Johnson as the man who shot the car and house. He is charged only with illegal possession and transfer of a silencer. Mitchell ordered Johnson held without bail. Johnson's lawyer, Lee Markovitz, said after the hearing that Johnson is a truck driver who has been steadily employed with no criminal record since he got out of the Army in 1992. Johnson made a "somewhat inculpatory" statement to investigators when he thought that he wouldn't be charged in the case, Markovitz said. Brian Bowling can be reached at bbowling@tribweb.com or 412-325-4301.
Friday, November 4, 2011
Cop Charged With Obstruction and Civil Rights Violations
Dolton cop charged with civil rights violations, obstruction
The Chicago Tribune - WGN Radio by Steve Schmadeke - November 1, 2011
DOLTON, ILLINOIS - A Dolton police officer was arrested Tuesday and charged with “unlawfully” striking two people in the head and later threatening to hurt the town’s police chief for cooperating with a federal investigation into the assaults. Patrol officer Kevin Fletcher, 34, of South Holland, has been on desk duty since 2009 after allegations of a civil-rights violation, said Dolton spokeswoman TaQuoya Kennedy. He was not arrested at work, she said. Fletcher pleaded not guilty Tuesday to two counts of violating civil rights by using excessive force and one count of obstruction of justice. He was released on a $15,000 secured bond, according to the U.S. attorney’s office. On May 17, 2009, Fletcher was allegedly acting as a police officer when he struck two Calumet City residents in the head with a law-enforcement-style baton, according to an indictment made public Tuesday. Less than a year later, he allegedly “threatened to cause bodily injury” to then-Chief Robert Fox for turning over records to a grand jury investigating the civil-rights violations and providing information to the FBI, the indictment says. The south suburb has “fully cooperated” during the investigation, Kennedy said. “We recognize that the misfortune falls upon the officer, but it also falls upon the community and the entire police force,” Kennedy said in an email. “We will continue to do all that we can to help resolve this matter.” The department has had issues with officers using excessive force. During the same month Fletcher allegedly struck two people, another Dolton police officer, Christopher Lloyd, was caught on camera allegedly breaking a special-needs student’s nose because the 15-year-old boy hadn’t tucked in his shirt. Lloyd was fired after the incident, officials said at the time. sschmadeke@tribune.com
The Chicago Tribune - WGN Radio by Steve Schmadeke - November 1, 2011
DOLTON, ILLINOIS - A Dolton police officer was arrested Tuesday and charged with “unlawfully” striking two people in the head and later threatening to hurt the town’s police chief for cooperating with a federal investigation into the assaults. Patrol officer Kevin Fletcher, 34, of South Holland, has been on desk duty since 2009 after allegations of a civil-rights violation, said Dolton spokeswoman TaQuoya Kennedy. He was not arrested at work, she said. Fletcher pleaded not guilty Tuesday to two counts of violating civil rights by using excessive force and one count of obstruction of justice. He was released on a $15,000 secured bond, according to the U.S. attorney’s office. On May 17, 2009, Fletcher was allegedly acting as a police officer when he struck two Calumet City residents in the head with a law-enforcement-style baton, according to an indictment made public Tuesday. Less than a year later, he allegedly “threatened to cause bodily injury” to then-Chief Robert Fox for turning over records to a grand jury investigating the civil-rights violations and providing information to the FBI, the indictment says. The south suburb has “fully cooperated” during the investigation, Kennedy said. “We recognize that the misfortune falls upon the officer, but it also falls upon the community and the entire police force,” Kennedy said in an email. “We will continue to do all that we can to help resolve this matter.” The department has had issues with officers using excessive force. During the same month Fletcher allegedly struck two people, another Dolton police officer, Christopher Lloyd, was caught on camera allegedly breaking a special-needs student’s nose because the 15-year-old boy hadn’t tucked in his shirt. Lloyd was fired after the incident, officials said at the time. sschmadeke@tribune.com
Cop Pleads Guilty, Resigns After Coercion Incident
Cop Pleads Guilty, Resigns After Coercion Incident in East Meadow
Officer pleads guilty to misconduct after sexually inappropriate behavior during traffic stop.
A Nassau County police officer from the Third Precinct pled guilty and resigned Wednesday after being charged with official misconduct in relation to a traffic stop in East Meadow during which he reportedly coerced a woman into touching him sexually. The former officer, Garrett Mannerz, had served as a Nassau County police officer since November 2005. He resigned at 12:25 p.m. on Wednesday and is ineligible for a NCPD pension. Mannerz, 34, was arrested on June 15 following an investigation by the Nassau District Attorney’s Office Public Corruption Bureau in conjunction with the Nassau County Police Department Internal Affairs Unit (IAU). According to Nassau DA Kathleen Rice, Mannerz stopped a vehicle that was travelling in the vicinity of Hempstead Turnpike and Newbridge Road in East Meadow on Feb. 27, 2011. Three women in their early 20s were inside the car. After performing field sobriety tests on the driver, Mannerz ordered one of the passengers out of the car, asked for her phone number and had the woman walk over to his patrol car where he told her that if she “did something for him,” then he would allow the driver to leave the location without receiving a summons or being charged criminally, Rice said. According to Rice, after allowing the women to leave, Mannerz then began to place sexually suggestive calls to the woman. He was arrested after the victim recorded one of the phone calls and brought it to police. Hon. John Kase sentenced Mannerz to 80 hours of community service and issued orders of protection prohibiting Mannerz from contacting the three women who were in the car and granted a conditional discharge. Mannerz had been facing up to seven years in prison on multiple charges, including felony bribe receiving, but a plea deal knocked the case down to a single misdemeanor official misconduct charge. “Garrett Mannerz abused his authority by taking advantage of a woman while on duty, and his conduct was a disgrace to the Nassau County Police Department,” Nassau District Attorney Kathleen Rice said in a statement. “Nassau County is a safer place with Garrett Mannerz off the police force.”
The East Meadow Patch by Geoffrey Walter - November 2, 2011
Officer pleads guilty to misconduct after sexually inappropriate behavior during traffic stop.
A Nassau County police officer from the Third Precinct pled guilty and resigned Wednesday after being charged with official misconduct in relation to a traffic stop in East Meadow during which he reportedly coerced a woman into touching him sexually. The former officer, Garrett Mannerz, had served as a Nassau County police officer since November 2005. He resigned at 12:25 p.m. on Wednesday and is ineligible for a NCPD pension. Mannerz, 34, was arrested on June 15 following an investigation by the Nassau District Attorney’s Office Public Corruption Bureau in conjunction with the Nassau County Police Department Internal Affairs Unit (IAU). According to Nassau DA Kathleen Rice, Mannerz stopped a vehicle that was travelling in the vicinity of Hempstead Turnpike and Newbridge Road in East Meadow on Feb. 27, 2011. Three women in their early 20s were inside the car. After performing field sobriety tests on the driver, Mannerz ordered one of the passengers out of the car, asked for her phone number and had the woman walk over to his patrol car where he told her that if she “did something for him,” then he would allow the driver to leave the location without receiving a summons or being charged criminally, Rice said. According to Rice, after allowing the women to leave, Mannerz then began to place sexually suggestive calls to the woman. He was arrested after the victim recorded one of the phone calls and brought it to police. Hon. John Kase sentenced Mannerz to 80 hours of community service and issued orders of protection prohibiting Mannerz from contacting the three women who were in the car and granted a conditional discharge. Mannerz had been facing up to seven years in prison on multiple charges, including felony bribe receiving, but a plea deal knocked the case down to a single misdemeanor official misconduct charge. “Garrett Mannerz abused his authority by taking advantage of a woman while on duty, and his conduct was a disgrace to the Nassau County Police Department,” Nassau District Attorney Kathleen Rice said in a statement. “Nassau County is a safer place with Garrett Mannerz off the police force.”
Thursday, November 3, 2011
Experts Say NYPD Isn’t Policing Itself
Experts Say N.Y. Police Dept. Isn’t Policing Itself
The New York Times by William K. Rashbaum, Joseph Goldstein and Al Baker - November 2, 2011
Seven narcotics investigators are convicted of planting drugs on people to meet arrest quotas. Eight current and former patrol officers are charged with smuggling guns into the state. Another is charged with making a false arrest, apparently as a favor for his cousin. Three more are convicted of robbing a perfume warehouse. All these cases involved New York City police officers and unfolded or were resolved in recent months. But beyond the fact of criminal charges against those sworn to protect the public, they all had another thing in common: Each case was uncovered by an outside agency, not the Internal Affairs Bureau of the New York Police Department, the unit responsible for unearthing and investigating officers’ wrongdoing. This spate of unrelated corruption prosecutions, and what some see as the Internal Affairs Bureau’s spotty record of uncovering major cases involving crooked officers, raise questions about the department’s ability to police itself, said nearly a dozen current and former prosecutors who have handled corruption cases, as well as some current and former Internal Affairs supervisors and investigators. Several of them blamed a lack of effective outside oversight of the department’s anticorruption program, characterizing the monitoring as weak at best in recent years, with monitors having neither the political will to press the department nor support from City Hall. They also cited low starting salaries for new officers, poor morale, recruits drawn from a smaller pool of qualified candidates and a hidebound Internal Affairs Bureau bureaucracy. For his part, Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly disputed any weaknesses in Internal Affairs, saying it was as aggressive as ever, if not more so, and noting that its ranks and budget had swelled even as the department’s manpower and budget had been cut back. He said Internal Affairs officers were front and center in making several of the recent cases. The case of the corrupt narcotics investigators — seven have been convicted, one on Wednesday at a trial where testimony suggested that such conduct was pervasive — was initially uncovered by the office of the Queens district attorney, Richard A. Brown. The Federal Bureau of Investigation, with federal prosecutors in Brooklyn and Manhattan, have uncovered other cases, and the case of the officers convicted in September of the armed robbery of the perfume warehouse was uncovered by the Carlstadt, N.J., police and the F.B.I.
Another sensational case that became public with the indictments of 16 officers last week — a long-running investigation of ticket-fixing in the Bronx — was indeed uncovered by Internal Affairs. But that was hardly a clean-cut coup. Several people involved in the matter said the bureau initially did not want to pursue the ticket case, directing investigators instead to focus more narrowly on a drug case against one officer that had prompted it. Police officials vehemently disputed that version of events. With the ticket-fixing indictments on Friday, and the announcement three days earlier of the charges accusing eight current and former officers of smuggling M-16 assault rifles, Commissioner Kelly twice found himself standing at news conferences talking about the arrests of officers. In an interview on Wednesday, Mr. Kelly, joined by Chief Charles V. Campisi, the head of the Internal Affairs Bureau, said the budget for the bureau had risen to $66 million, from about $41 million in 2001. “We have increased the staffing in I.A.B., core I.A.B., we have increased it by over 100 from 2001 to the present,” Mr. Kelly said. He added, “The vast majority of cases I.A.B. does are initiated by I.A.B.” Mr. Kelly said previously that as a result of the ticket-fixing investigation, in which some officers were accused of altering their testimony in traffic court, he had assigned additional officers from other commands to monitor traffic court testimony. Chief Campisi said the officer who had been charged with making a false arrest for his cousin was already being investigated by Internal Affairs, though for a different matter, when the F.B.I. began investigating him. He said the case of the narcotics officers was, for the most part, an Internal Affairs case, even if the original arrests of falsely accused civilians first came under scrutiny by the Queens district attorney’s office. And Mr. Kelly and Mr. Campisi said that the Carlstadt department was first involved in investigating the perfume warehouse robbery only because the crime occurred there, and that as soon as the role of New York officers was revealed, Internal Affairs joined in. There is a tiny city agency responsible for monitoring the Internal Affairs Bureau: the Mayor’s Commission to Combat Police Corruption. But it has no subpoena power — it must rely on the department’s good will, and its modest budget and staff of five are spread thin.
A new study by the Citizens Crime Commission in New York, provided by Richard Aborn, its president, shows that other major municipal police departments are overseen by agencies that do have subpoena power and can focus more broadly on misconduct. The chairman of the mayor’s commission, Michael F. Armstrong, served in the 1970s as the counsel to the Knapp Commission, which grew out of one of the Police Department’s worst scandals. Mr. Armstrong said he felt his current panel was doing an effective job and praised the department’s anticorruption efforts. But he acknowledged that the commission was significantly limited in what it could do. One former Internal Affairs Bureau investigator who was involved in scores of cases in recent years said the number of corruption complaints — “logs” in police parlance — had been on the rise, climbing to about 65,000 a year from about 45,000 a year in a little under a decade. The bureau’s top management classifies those complaints into three categories: “corruption,” the most serious; “misconduct,” which includes off-duty and less serious wrongdoing; and “outside guidelines” cases, the least serious. They are known as C, M and OG cases. While the number of C cases has hovered at about 1,000 a year for that entire period, the former Internal Affairs investigator said, many in Internal Affairs believe that number is kept artificially constant. “They hold steady miraculously,” said the former Internal Affairs investigator, who insisted on anonymity for fear of retaliation. A number of current and former prosecutors said that the Internal Affairs Bureau, when it is brought in on a case, often provided invaluable assistance. Most added that they had never seen bureau supervisors or Chief Campisi, who starts work between 4 and 5 a.m., seek to cover up misconduct. Several praised his work and commitment. But others, and current and former Internal Affairs Bureau supervisors and investigators, said the crushing weight of its bureaucratic approach to investigations — put in place, they say, because officials feared criticism by the Mayor’s Commission to Combat Police Corruption — kept it focused on small-bore cases and did more to generate paperwork than productive investigations. Current and former Internal Affairs investigators said very little of the bureau’s day-to-day effort was spent trying to identify corruption or spot worrisome trends and practices among the police. “We don’t have anything proactive where we can sit there and think like cops and track corruption,” the former Internal Affairs investigator said. “There is no real detective work going on.” The person added, “Everything in I.A.B. is all reactive.” The former Internal Affairs investigator said that nearly all investigative work was spent looking into the thousands of complaints it received each year, many of which were brought anonymously, often with the complainant unable to identify the suspect officers. While some logs look promising, others seem like dead-ends. But such cases are never closed after a cursory review, and even the least promising require months of intermittent investigation before they may be closed out. “No matter how outlandish it is,” the person said, “they’ll do a 60 or 70 page file on it.”
Seven narcotics investigators are convicted of planting drugs on people to meet arrest quotas. Eight current and former patrol officers are charged with smuggling guns into the state. Another is charged with making a false arrest, apparently as a favor for his cousin. Three more are convicted of robbing a perfume warehouse. All these cases involved New York City police officers and unfolded or were resolved in recent months. But beyond the fact of criminal charges against those sworn to protect the public, they all had another thing in common: Each case was uncovered by an outside agency, not the Internal Affairs Bureau of the New York Police Department, the unit responsible for unearthing and investigating officers’ wrongdoing. This spate of unrelated corruption prosecutions, and what some see as the Internal Affairs Bureau’s spotty record of uncovering major cases involving crooked officers, raise questions about the department’s ability to police itself, said nearly a dozen current and former prosecutors who have handled corruption cases, as well as some current and former Internal Affairs supervisors and investigators. Several of them blamed a lack of effective outside oversight of the department’s anticorruption program, characterizing the monitoring as weak at best in recent years, with monitors having neither the political will to press the department nor support from City Hall. They also cited low starting salaries for new officers, poor morale, recruits drawn from a smaller pool of qualified candidates and a hidebound Internal Affairs Bureau bureaucracy. For his part, Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly disputed any weaknesses in Internal Affairs, saying it was as aggressive as ever, if not more so, and noting that its ranks and budget had swelled even as the department’s manpower and budget had been cut back. He said Internal Affairs officers were front and center in making several of the recent cases. The case of the corrupt narcotics investigators — seven have been convicted, one on Wednesday at a trial where testimony suggested that such conduct was pervasive — was initially uncovered by the office of the Queens district attorney, Richard A. Brown. The Federal Bureau of Investigation, with federal prosecutors in Brooklyn and Manhattan, have uncovered other cases, and the case of the officers convicted in September of the armed robbery of the perfume warehouse was uncovered by the Carlstadt, N.J., police and the F.B.I.
Another sensational case that became public with the indictments of 16 officers last week — a long-running investigation of ticket-fixing in the Bronx — was indeed uncovered by Internal Affairs. But that was hardly a clean-cut coup. Several people involved in the matter said the bureau initially did not want to pursue the ticket case, directing investigators instead to focus more narrowly on a drug case against one officer that had prompted it. Police officials vehemently disputed that version of events. With the ticket-fixing indictments on Friday, and the announcement three days earlier of the charges accusing eight current and former officers of smuggling M-16 assault rifles, Commissioner Kelly twice found himself standing at news conferences talking about the arrests of officers. In an interview on Wednesday, Mr. Kelly, joined by Chief Charles V. Campisi, the head of the Internal Affairs Bureau, said the budget for the bureau had risen to $66 million, from about $41 million in 2001. “We have increased the staffing in I.A.B., core I.A.B., we have increased it by over 100 from 2001 to the present,” Mr. Kelly said. He added, “The vast majority of cases I.A.B. does are initiated by I.A.B.” Mr. Kelly said previously that as a result of the ticket-fixing investigation, in which some officers were accused of altering their testimony in traffic court, he had assigned additional officers from other commands to monitor traffic court testimony. Chief Campisi said the officer who had been charged with making a false arrest for his cousin was already being investigated by Internal Affairs, though for a different matter, when the F.B.I. began investigating him. He said the case of the narcotics officers was, for the most part, an Internal Affairs case, even if the original arrests of falsely accused civilians first came under scrutiny by the Queens district attorney’s office. And Mr. Kelly and Mr. Campisi said that the Carlstadt department was first involved in investigating the perfume warehouse robbery only because the crime occurred there, and that as soon as the role of New York officers was revealed, Internal Affairs joined in. There is a tiny city agency responsible for monitoring the Internal Affairs Bureau: the Mayor’s Commission to Combat Police Corruption. But it has no subpoena power — it must rely on the department’s good will, and its modest budget and staff of five are spread thin.
A new study by the Citizens Crime Commission in New York, provided by Richard Aborn, its president, shows that other major municipal police departments are overseen by agencies that do have subpoena power and can focus more broadly on misconduct. The chairman of the mayor’s commission, Michael F. Armstrong, served in the 1970s as the counsel to the Knapp Commission, which grew out of one of the Police Department’s worst scandals. Mr. Armstrong said he felt his current panel was doing an effective job and praised the department’s anticorruption efforts. But he acknowledged that the commission was significantly limited in what it could do. One former Internal Affairs Bureau investigator who was involved in scores of cases in recent years said the number of corruption complaints — “logs” in police parlance — had been on the rise, climbing to about 65,000 a year from about 45,000 a year in a little under a decade. The bureau’s top management classifies those complaints into three categories: “corruption,” the most serious; “misconduct,” which includes off-duty and less serious wrongdoing; and “outside guidelines” cases, the least serious. They are known as C, M and OG cases. While the number of C cases has hovered at about 1,000 a year for that entire period, the former Internal Affairs investigator said, many in Internal Affairs believe that number is kept artificially constant. “They hold steady miraculously,” said the former Internal Affairs investigator, who insisted on anonymity for fear of retaliation. A number of current and former prosecutors said that the Internal Affairs Bureau, when it is brought in on a case, often provided invaluable assistance. Most added that they had never seen bureau supervisors or Chief Campisi, who starts work between 4 and 5 a.m., seek to cover up misconduct. Several praised his work and commitment. But others, and current and former Internal Affairs Bureau supervisors and investigators, said the crushing weight of its bureaucratic approach to investigations — put in place, they say, because officials feared criticism by the Mayor’s Commission to Combat Police Corruption — kept it focused on small-bore cases and did more to generate paperwork than productive investigations. Current and former Internal Affairs investigators said very little of the bureau’s day-to-day effort was spent trying to identify corruption or spot worrisome trends and practices among the police. “We don’t have anything proactive where we can sit there and think like cops and track corruption,” the former Internal Affairs investigator said. “There is no real detective work going on.” The person added, “Everything in I.A.B. is all reactive.” The former Internal Affairs investigator said that nearly all investigative work was spent looking into the thousands of complaints it received each year, many of which were brought anonymously, often with the complainant unable to identify the suspect officers. While some logs look promising, others seem like dead-ends. But such cases are never closed after a cursory review, and even the least promising require months of intermittent investigation before they may be closed out. “No matter how outlandish it is,” the person said, “they’ll do a 60 or 70 page file on it.”
The Blue Wall Cracks, Cops Approve Corruption
The Blue Wall Cracks: NYPD Officers Approve Corruption
The Epoch Times by John Christopher Fine - November 2, 2011
The Epoch Times by John Christopher Fine - November 2, 2011
"Corruption of the most evil sort, proved by taped recordings, with the worst motives and language, is condoned."
NEW YORK—They are sworn to uphold the law. When they go wrong there is nobody to stop them. That there are corrupt cops is not surprising. That their criminal conduct is condoned, even applauded, by other police officers is appalling. A continuing scandal in the New York Police Department under Commissioner Ray Kelly, has sparked protests by tough looking cops rallying around the courthouse to support Officer Joe Ramos, a 17-year veteran of the NYPD. Ramos was indicted for making a heroin buy and delivering it while on duty in his patrol car. Ramos is also charged with stealing $50,000 from a police undercover operative that posed as a drug dealer and for revealing an informant’s identity. Corruption of the most evil sort, proved by taped recordings, with the worst motives and language, is condoned. Sixteen NYPD officers were indicted on charges that they used the law they were sworn to uphold for their own purposes. Police Lieutenant Jennara Everleth-Cobb was reported to have leaked information about the investigation to a Police Benevolent Association (PBA) official and other cops. Wiretaps issued by the court, revealed in the indictments in Bronx Supreme Court, quoted Lt. Jennara Everleth-Cobb saying “Be careful when you’re on the phone. They’re listening.” Jose Ramos is quoted on the wires saying “I stopped caring about the law a long time ago…I could drive a dead body in the trunk of my car where I want to and nobody would stop me.” Officer Christopher Scott was recorded saying to other cops in an assault cover-up fix, “We don’t know who did this, ok? We’re going to make this go away for him.” Another NYPD officer, Jamie Pagan, fixed a relative’s ticket and was recorded saying, “Whatever you need, you tell me and I’ll take care of it. You won’t get no f… hassle. It will be like it never happened.” Pagan is a PBA Delegate. That these NYPD officers were caught is a wonder in and of itself. That many of them were involved as officers with the PBA is a disgrace to police officers everywhere.
John Christopher Fine served as senior Assistant District Attorney in New York County’s Rackets Bureau where he investigated and prosecuted matters involving official corruption and organized crime. He served as head of the Organized Crime Task Force and was Special Counsel to a U.S. Senate investigating committee. He continues as a consultant to government for matters involving official corruption and organized crime. THE EPOCH TIMES
NEW YORK—They are sworn to uphold the law. When they go wrong there is nobody to stop them. That there are corrupt cops is not surprising. That their criminal conduct is condoned, even applauded, by other police officers is appalling. A continuing scandal in the New York Police Department under Commissioner Ray Kelly, has sparked protests by tough looking cops rallying around the courthouse to support Officer Joe Ramos, a 17-year veteran of the NYPD. Ramos was indicted for making a heroin buy and delivering it while on duty in his patrol car. Ramos is also charged with stealing $50,000 from a police undercover operative that posed as a drug dealer and for revealing an informant’s identity. Corruption of the most evil sort, proved by taped recordings, with the worst motives and language, is condoned. Sixteen NYPD officers were indicted on charges that they used the law they were sworn to uphold for their own purposes. Police Lieutenant Jennara Everleth-Cobb was reported to have leaked information about the investigation to a Police Benevolent Association (PBA) official and other cops. Wiretaps issued by the court, revealed in the indictments in Bronx Supreme Court, quoted Lt. Jennara Everleth-Cobb saying “Be careful when you’re on the phone. They’re listening.” Jose Ramos is quoted on the wires saying “I stopped caring about the law a long time ago…I could drive a dead body in the trunk of my car where I want to and nobody would stop me.” Officer Christopher Scott was recorded saying to other cops in an assault cover-up fix, “We don’t know who did this, ok? We’re going to make this go away for him.” Another NYPD officer, Jamie Pagan, fixed a relative’s ticket and was recorded saying, “Whatever you need, you tell me and I’ll take care of it. You won’t get no f… hassle. It will be like it never happened.” Pagan is a PBA Delegate. That these NYPD officers were caught is a wonder in and of itself. That many of them were involved as officers with the PBA is a disgrace to police officers everywhere.
- PBA Trustee Brian McGuckin was charged with 2 counts of forgery, 2 counts criminal possession of a forged instrument, 62 counts of official misconduct and more.
- PBA Trustee Joseph Anthony was charged with 1 count tampering with a public record, 10 counts of grand larceny, 44 counts of official misconduct and more.
- PBA Trustee Michael Hernandez was charged with 1 count tampering with public records, 22 counts of grand larceny, 48 counts of official misconduct and more.
- PBA Delegate Luis Rodriguez was charged with 17 counts of grand larceny, 40 counts official misconduct, 19 counts of conspiracy and more.
John Christopher Fine served as senior Assistant District Attorney in New York County’s Rackets Bureau where he investigated and prosecuted matters involving official corruption and organized crime. He served as head of the Organized Crime Task Force and was Special Counsel to a U.S. Senate investigating committee. He continues as a consultant to government for matters involving official corruption and organized crime. THE EPOCH TIMES
More on Tulsa Police Department Corruption
Judge grants more time for prosecutors to file response to Tulsa officer's acquittal motion
The Republic - The Associated Press - November 2, 2011
Tulsa, Okla. — A federal judge has granted a 10-day extension for prosecutors to reply to a motion for acquittal by a Tulsa Police officer convicted of perjury and Civil rights violations. U.S. District Judge Bruce Black approved the extension Tuesday for U.S. attorneys to prepare their response to Officer Jeff Henderson's request for a new trial and acquittal. Attorneys for Henderson suggest in their motion that jurors could have been confused when entering some of the verdicts against him, among other allegations. In August, jurors found Henderson guilty on eight of the 53 counts against him, including six counts of perjury and Civil rights violations. They cleared fellow officer William Yelton on all eight charges he faced. Five officers were indicted last year on more than 80 charges in a widespread corruption probe that roiled the department and the city.
********** BACKGROUND:
Corruption Investigation of the Tulsa Police Department
The Republic - The Associated Press - November 2, 2011
Tulsa, Okla. — A federal judge has granted a 10-day extension for prosecutors to reply to a motion for acquittal by a Tulsa Police officer convicted of perjury and Civil rights violations. U.S. District Judge Bruce Black approved the extension Tuesday for U.S. attorneys to prepare their response to Officer Jeff Henderson's request for a new trial and acquittal. Attorneys for Henderson suggest in their motion that jurors could have been confused when entering some of the verdicts against him, among other allegations. In August, jurors found Henderson guilty on eight of the 53 counts against him, including six counts of perjury and Civil rights violations. They cleared fellow officer William Yelton on all eight charges he faced. Five officers were indicted last year on more than 80 charges in a widespread corruption probe that roiled the department and the city.
********** BACKGROUND:
Corruption Investigation of the Tulsa Police Department
The Tulsa World - www.TulsaWorld.com
First police trial: May 31 to June 10
Defendants: Tulsa police officers Nick DeBruin, Bruce Bonham and retired Cpl. Harold R. Wells. DeBruin and Bonham are assigned to patrol; Wells was also a patrol corporal.
Indictments: Unsealed July 20, 2010, alleging the officers stole money during an FBI sting May 18, 2009 and planted drugs on individuals to gain convictions. Wells indicted on 10 counts, DeBruin on six and Bonham on five.
Prosecutor: First Assistant U.S. Attorney Jane Duke, Eastern District of Arkansas
Judge: U.S. District Judge Bruce Black, of New Mexico
Outcome: Wells convicted of five counts; DeBruin and Bonham acquitted on all counts. Sentencing for Wells, who is being held in the Tulsa Jail, has not been set. DeBruin and Bonham are on administrative leave with pay pending the outcome of an internal affairs investigation.
Second police trial: Aug. 1 to Aug. 24
Defendants: Tulsa police officers Jeff Henderson and Bill Yelton, assigned to the Special Investigations Division
Indictments: Unsealed July 20, 2010. Henderson is charged with 53 counts related to perjury, civil rights violations, drugs, witness tampering and one firearms count. Yelton is charged with eight counts: four related to civil rights violations, two related to witness tampering, one related to suborning perjury and one count of attempted retaliation against a witness, which was added in September 2010.
Prosecutor: First Assistant U.S. Attorney Jane Duke, Eastern District of Arkansas
Judge: U.S. District Judge Bruce Black, of New Mexico
Outcome: Officer Jeff Henderson was found guilty on eight counts; officer Bill Yelton was acquitted. Henderson was found not guilty on 45 other counts. Jurors deliberated for 23 hours over four days. Henderson was found guilty on count 39, which relates to a charge of deprivation of civil rights stemming from the search of Carah Bartel and William Kinnard. His other guilty counts relate to perjury in testimony Henderson gave during a suppression hearing in the federal case of Ronald Crawford. Each perjury count carries not more than five years. Deprivation of civil rights is a misdemeanor that carries a maximum of one year. The judge has discretion to run them consecutively or concurrently.
Officers indicted or named in grand jury probe
Tulsa Police Officer Jeff Henderson
- Hired June 5, 1995. Placed on paid leave in March; suspended without pay July 23.
- Current assignment: Special Investigations Division.
- Indicted July 20 on 58 counts: 22 counts related to perjury, 20 related to civil rights violations, 12 related to drugs, two witness tampering counts, one firearms count and one attempted bribery count. Ordered held without bail July 23.
- Henderson was convicted Aug. 24 on two counts of civil rights violations and six counts of perjury. He was acquitted on 45 counts of perjury, civil rights violations, drug conspiracy and witness tampering. He could be sentenced to one year for each civil rights violations and five years for each perjury count.
Former ATF Agent Brandon McFadden
- Hired by U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives on July 15, 2002.
- Resigned from ATF on Sept. 25, 2009.
- Pleaded guilty to drug conspiracy May 6, 2010 in federal court
- Cooperating with prosecutors and released to home in Lubbock, Texas, pending trial.
Former Tulsa Police Officer Harold R. Wells
- Hired Oct. 1, 1975.
- Retired in May
- Assignment before retiring: Gilcrease Division.
- Indicted July 20, 2010 on 10 counts: three related to civil rights violations, three related to drugs, two related to theft of U.S. funds, one firearms count and one count of using a telephone to commit a felony. Released on bond.
- Convicted June 10, 2011 of five counts: knowingly carrying and possessing a firearm during and in relation to drug trafficking crime, conspiracy to distribute and to possess with intent to distribute controlled substance (methamphetamine), Conspiracy to steal U.S. funds, stealing U.S. funds and use of a telephone to commit a felony.
- Being held in the Tulsa Jail pending sentencing, which has not been set. Faces 15 years in prison.
- On Aug. 22, U.S. District Judge Bruce Black acquitted Wells of a single count of carrying a firearm during a drug-trafficking crime. While Black threw out the gun charge, he rejected a motion by Wells' attorneys to dismiss all the counts against him. Wells remains convicted on four counts.
Tulsa Police Officer Nick DeBruin
- Hired July 6, 1999.
- Assigned to Special Investigations Division, 2002-05, later assigned to patrol.
- Placed on paid leave July 21; suspended without pay July 23.
- Indicted July 20, 2010 on six counts: two counts related to theft of U.S. funds, two related to civil rights violations, one drug count and one firearm count. Released on bond.
- Acquitted of all counts June 10, 2011
- Pay was reinstated on June 13
Tulsa Police Officer Bruce Bonham
- Hired Aug. 13, 1990.
- Placed on paid leave July 21; suspended without pay July 23.
- Indicted July 20, 2010 on five counts: two counts related to theft of U.S. funds, one count related to civil rights violations, one drug count and one firearm count. Released on bond.
- Acquitted of all counts June 10, 2011
- Pay was reinstated on June 13
Tulsa Police Officer Bill Yelton
- Hired April 16, 1985.
- Current assignment: Special Investigations Division.
- Placed on administrative duty June 18 and paid leave July 21; suspended without pay July 23.
- Indicted July 20 on seven counts: four related to civil rights violations, two related to witness tampering and one related to perjury.
- Ordered held without bail July 23.
- Acquitted on all counts Aug. 24. Released from jail the same day. He is suspended with pay pending an Internal Affairs investigation.
Former Tulsa Police Officer John K. Gray
- Hired March 1, 1990.
- Retired in May.
- Assignment before retiring: Mingo Valley Division.
- Pleaded guilty June 14 in federal court to stealing money during an FBI sting.
- Cooperating with prosecutors and released on bond.
Tulsa Police Officer Eric Hill
- Hired July 5, 2005.
- Former assignment: Gilcrease Division.
- Placed on paid leave June 22.
- Court records say he admitted stealing drug money during a bust.
- Arrested July 19 on unrelated complaint of domestic assault and battery.
- Fired Aug. 18, 2010 for admitting that he planted drugs during drug arrests.
- On Sept. 14, 2010, Hill was charged with misdemeanor assault and battery. The case was dismissed Jan. 28, 2011.
Former Tulsa Police Officer Callison Kaiser
- Hired Oct. 8, 2004.
- Resigned August 2008 to work for U.S. Secret Service.
- Resigned from Secret Service in early June.
- Assignment before resigning from TPD: Gilcrease Division.
- Court records say he admitted stealing drug money during a bust.
- Cooperating with federal prosecutors.
Unindicted co-conspirators
Officer Sean Larkin
- Hired: Jan. 6, 1997
- Previous assignment -- UDE
- Transferred to Special Investigations Division -- April 8, 2007
Officer Frank Khalil
- Hired: Jan. 3, 2000
- Previous assignment -- detective
- Transferred to Special Investigations Division -- Aug. 29, 2004
Officer Shawn Hickey
- Hired: March 20, 1989
- Previous assignment -- UDN
- Transferred to Special Investigations Division -- Aug. 26, 2001
First police trial: May 31 to June 10
Defendants: Tulsa police officers Nick DeBruin, Bruce Bonham and retired Cpl. Harold R. Wells. DeBruin and Bonham are assigned to patrol; Wells was also a patrol corporal.
Indictments: Unsealed July 20, 2010, alleging the officers stole money during an FBI sting May 18, 2009 and planted drugs on individuals to gain convictions. Wells indicted on 10 counts, DeBruin on six and Bonham on five.
Prosecutor: First Assistant U.S. Attorney Jane Duke, Eastern District of Arkansas
Judge: U.S. District Judge Bruce Black, of New Mexico
Outcome: Wells convicted of five counts; DeBruin and Bonham acquitted on all counts. Sentencing for Wells, who is being held in the Tulsa Jail, has not been set. DeBruin and Bonham are on administrative leave with pay pending the outcome of an internal affairs investigation.
Second police trial: Aug. 1 to Aug. 24
Defendants: Tulsa police officers Jeff Henderson and Bill Yelton, assigned to the Special Investigations Division
Indictments: Unsealed July 20, 2010. Henderson is charged with 53 counts related to perjury, civil rights violations, drugs, witness tampering and one firearms count. Yelton is charged with eight counts: four related to civil rights violations, two related to witness tampering, one related to suborning perjury and one count of attempted retaliation against a witness, which was added in September 2010.
Prosecutor: First Assistant U.S. Attorney Jane Duke, Eastern District of Arkansas
Judge: U.S. District Judge Bruce Black, of New Mexico
Outcome: Officer Jeff Henderson was found guilty on eight counts; officer Bill Yelton was acquitted. Henderson was found not guilty on 45 other counts. Jurors deliberated for 23 hours over four days. Henderson was found guilty on count 39, which relates to a charge of deprivation of civil rights stemming from the search of Carah Bartel and William Kinnard. His other guilty counts relate to perjury in testimony Henderson gave during a suppression hearing in the federal case of Ronald Crawford. Each perjury count carries not more than five years. Deprivation of civil rights is a misdemeanor that carries a maximum of one year. The judge has discretion to run them consecutively or concurrently.
Officers indicted or named in grand jury probe
Tulsa Police Officer Jeff Henderson
- Hired June 5, 1995. Placed on paid leave in March; suspended without pay July 23.
- Current assignment: Special Investigations Division.
- Indicted July 20 on 58 counts: 22 counts related to perjury, 20 related to civil rights violations, 12 related to drugs, two witness tampering counts, one firearms count and one attempted bribery count. Ordered held without bail July 23.
- Henderson was convicted Aug. 24 on two counts of civil rights violations and six counts of perjury. He was acquitted on 45 counts of perjury, civil rights violations, drug conspiracy and witness tampering. He could be sentenced to one year for each civil rights violations and five years for each perjury count.
Former ATF Agent Brandon McFadden
- Hired by U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives on July 15, 2002.
- Resigned from ATF on Sept. 25, 2009.
- Pleaded guilty to drug conspiracy May 6, 2010 in federal court
- Cooperating with prosecutors and released to home in Lubbock, Texas, pending trial.
Former Tulsa Police Officer Harold R. Wells
- Hired Oct. 1, 1975.
- Retired in May
- Assignment before retiring: Gilcrease Division.
- Indicted July 20, 2010 on 10 counts: three related to civil rights violations, three related to drugs, two related to theft of U.S. funds, one firearms count and one count of using a telephone to commit a felony. Released on bond.
- Convicted June 10, 2011 of five counts: knowingly carrying and possessing a firearm during and in relation to drug trafficking crime, conspiracy to distribute and to possess with intent to distribute controlled substance (methamphetamine), Conspiracy to steal U.S. funds, stealing U.S. funds and use of a telephone to commit a felony.
- Being held in the Tulsa Jail pending sentencing, which has not been set. Faces 15 years in prison.
- On Aug. 22, U.S. District Judge Bruce Black acquitted Wells of a single count of carrying a firearm during a drug-trafficking crime. While Black threw out the gun charge, he rejected a motion by Wells' attorneys to dismiss all the counts against him. Wells remains convicted on four counts.
Tulsa Police Officer Nick DeBruin
- Hired July 6, 1999.
- Assigned to Special Investigations Division, 2002-05, later assigned to patrol.
- Placed on paid leave July 21; suspended without pay July 23.
- Indicted July 20, 2010 on six counts: two counts related to theft of U.S. funds, two related to civil rights violations, one drug count and one firearm count. Released on bond.
- Acquitted of all counts June 10, 2011
- Pay was reinstated on June 13
Tulsa Police Officer Bruce Bonham
- Hired Aug. 13, 1990.
- Placed on paid leave July 21; suspended without pay July 23.
- Indicted July 20, 2010 on five counts: two counts related to theft of U.S. funds, one count related to civil rights violations, one drug count and one firearm count. Released on bond.
- Acquitted of all counts June 10, 2011
- Pay was reinstated on June 13
Tulsa Police Officer Bill Yelton
- Hired April 16, 1985.
- Current assignment: Special Investigations Division.
- Placed on administrative duty June 18 and paid leave July 21; suspended without pay July 23.
- Indicted July 20 on seven counts: four related to civil rights violations, two related to witness tampering and one related to perjury.
- Ordered held without bail July 23.
- Acquitted on all counts Aug. 24. Released from jail the same day. He is suspended with pay pending an Internal Affairs investigation.
Former Tulsa Police Officer John K. Gray
- Hired March 1, 1990.
- Retired in May.
- Assignment before retiring: Mingo Valley Division.
- Pleaded guilty June 14 in federal court to stealing money during an FBI sting.
- Cooperating with prosecutors and released on bond.
Tulsa Police Officer Eric Hill
- Hired July 5, 2005.
- Former assignment: Gilcrease Division.
- Placed on paid leave June 22.
- Court records say he admitted stealing drug money during a bust.
- Arrested July 19 on unrelated complaint of domestic assault and battery.
- Fired Aug. 18, 2010 for admitting that he planted drugs during drug arrests.
- On Sept. 14, 2010, Hill was charged with misdemeanor assault and battery. The case was dismissed Jan. 28, 2011.
Former Tulsa Police Officer Callison Kaiser
- Hired Oct. 8, 2004.
- Resigned August 2008 to work for U.S. Secret Service.
- Resigned from Secret Service in early June.
- Assignment before resigning from TPD: Gilcrease Division.
- Court records say he admitted stealing drug money during a bust.
- Cooperating with federal prosecutors.
Unindicted co-conspirators
Officer Sean Larkin
- Hired: Jan. 6, 1997
- Previous assignment -- UDE
- Transferred to Special Investigations Division -- April 8, 2007
Officer Frank Khalil
- Hired: Jan. 3, 2000
- Previous assignment -- detective
- Transferred to Special Investigations Division -- Aug. 29, 2004
Officer Shawn Hickey
- Hired: March 20, 1989
- Previous assignment -- UDN
- Transferred to Special Investigations Division -- Aug. 26, 2001
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
Cop in Ticket-Fix Scandal Covered-Up Brutal Beating
NYPD cop in ticket-fix scandal covered up 'near deadly beating' for friend: sources
The New York Daily News by Kevin Deutsch - November 1, 2011
Allegedly enlisted other officers to make charges go away after receiving phone call from assailant
A Bronx man severely beaten by a paint store manager whose NYPD pals then allegedly covered up his crime is now suing his attackers, the Daily News has learned. The hobbled victim, Jose Ayala, will likely testify against the cops who tried to squash the case — including one officer who is accused of being one of the most egregious offenders in the NYPD ticket-fixing scandal, sources said. Ayala, 51, suffered numerous broken ribs and debilitating muscle injuries during the alleged Oct. 2010 beatdown at the hands of paint-store manager Michael Loturco. Ayala had snitched after seeing Loturco and another store manager slash a rival’s tires, prosecutors said, leading the men to seek a bloody vengeance with their fists. “He just kept beating me,” Ayala said of Loturco, who was indicted Friday along with 16 cops in the ticket-fixing scandal. “I’m still hurting.” As Ayala lay bleeding and hurt outside the New Palace Paint and Supply Shop on E. 180th St., Loturco called his longtime pal, Officer Christopher Scott. Scott, who fixed hundreds of tickets in the months before and after Loturco’s call, agreed to quash the assault case that his friend would have faced for the beating of Ayala, prosecutors said. To ensure Loturco beat the rap, Scott allegedly enlisted the help of Police Officers Marc Manara, Ruben Peralta, Jeffrey Regan and Lisa Marsh. The cops knew Loturco beat Ayala but turned a blind eye as a favor to Scott, prosecutors said. They falsified paperwork for Ayala's complaint, listing the perpetrator as unknown, court papers show. All the cops but Marsh were indicted and charged with multiple counts of conspiracy, falsifying records, hindering prosecution and official misconduct. Marsh may be called to testify against her comrades at trial, sources said. Loturco was connected and used that connection to avoid going to jail, said a source with knowledge of the case. Ayala was a completely innocent victim who had his assault complaint swept under the rug. He was just being a good Samaritan. It was vile. A bodega worker who knows Ayala said they were within a couple blows of killing him. It was ugly, he added. But they were like ... untouchable. The cover-up was sniffed out by NYPD Internal Affairs Bureau investigators, who listened to the plot unfold because Scott's phone was wiretapped. Scott, who works in the 48th Precinct, was once lauded as a hero for helping to save 12 people from a burning building in 2007. But prosecutors say he tarnished his badge by turning into one of the most prolific ticket-fixers in the NYPD. He faces nearly 200 criminal counts in connection with the ticket-fixing indictments, and 20 more counts for the assault cover-up. Loturco was released on $10,000 bail Saturday. Neither he nor his lawyer could be reached for comment. At the paint store where Loturco worked, an employee threatened a Daily News reporter who quizzed him about the assault. Get the f--k out of here! yelled the worker, who would not give his name. Ayala, meanwhile, still gets physical therapy every day for his injuries. He said he s glad the cops and Loturco have been brought to justice. Police should be better than that, he said. kdeutsch@nydailynews.com
The New York Daily News by Kevin Deutsch - November 1, 2011
Allegedly enlisted other officers to make charges go away after receiving phone call from assailant
A Bronx man severely beaten by a paint store manager whose NYPD pals then allegedly covered up his crime is now suing his attackers, the Daily News has learned. The hobbled victim, Jose Ayala, will likely testify against the cops who tried to squash the case — including one officer who is accused of being one of the most egregious offenders in the NYPD ticket-fixing scandal, sources said. Ayala, 51, suffered numerous broken ribs and debilitating muscle injuries during the alleged Oct. 2010 beatdown at the hands of paint-store manager Michael Loturco. Ayala had snitched after seeing Loturco and another store manager slash a rival’s tires, prosecutors said, leading the men to seek a bloody vengeance with their fists. “He just kept beating me,” Ayala said of Loturco, who was indicted Friday along with 16 cops in the ticket-fixing scandal. “I’m still hurting.” As Ayala lay bleeding and hurt outside the New Palace Paint and Supply Shop on E. 180th St., Loturco called his longtime pal, Officer Christopher Scott. Scott, who fixed hundreds of tickets in the months before and after Loturco’s call, agreed to quash the assault case that his friend would have faced for the beating of Ayala, prosecutors said. To ensure Loturco beat the rap, Scott allegedly enlisted the help of Police Officers Marc Manara, Ruben Peralta, Jeffrey Regan and Lisa Marsh. The cops knew Loturco beat Ayala but turned a blind eye as a favor to Scott, prosecutors said. They falsified paperwork for Ayala's complaint, listing the perpetrator as unknown, court papers show. All the cops but Marsh were indicted and charged with multiple counts of conspiracy, falsifying records, hindering prosecution and official misconduct. Marsh may be called to testify against her comrades at trial, sources said. Loturco was connected and used that connection to avoid going to jail, said a source with knowledge of the case. Ayala was a completely innocent victim who had his assault complaint swept under the rug. He was just being a good Samaritan. It was vile. A bodega worker who knows Ayala said they were within a couple blows of killing him. It was ugly, he added. But they were like ... untouchable. The cover-up was sniffed out by NYPD Internal Affairs Bureau investigators, who listened to the plot unfold because Scott's phone was wiretapped. Scott, who works in the 48th Precinct, was once lauded as a hero for helping to save 12 people from a burning building in 2007. But prosecutors say he tarnished his badge by turning into one of the most prolific ticket-fixers in the NYPD. He faces nearly 200 criminal counts in connection with the ticket-fixing indictments, and 20 more counts for the assault cover-up. Loturco was released on $10,000 bail Saturday. Neither he nor his lawyer could be reached for comment. At the paint store where Loturco worked, an employee threatened a Daily News reporter who quizzed him about the assault. Get the f--k out of here! yelled the worker, who would not give his name. Ayala, meanwhile, still gets physical therapy every day for his injuries. He said he s glad the cops and Loturco have been brought to justice. Police should be better than that, he said. kdeutsch@nydailynews.com
Judge 'Shocked' by 'Cowboy Culture' of Narcotics Cops
Brooklyn judge 'shocked' by 'cowboy culture' of narcotics cops
The New York Daily News by Oren Yaniv - November 1, 2011
Officer Jason Arbeeny planted drugs on innocent people he arrested, judge finds
Police officer Jason Arbeeny at State Supreme Court in Brooklyn where he was found guilty of 8 counts of official misconduct and filing false records by a judge following a bench trial. He faces up to 4 years in prison. A Brooklyn judge declared himself shocked by the "cowboy culture" of narcotics cops Tuesday when he convicted a detective of planting crack on an innocent couple. "Having been a judge for 20 years, I thought I was not naïve regarding the reality of narcotics enforcement," said Supreme Court Justice Gustin Reichbach. "But even the Court was shocked, not only by the seeming pervasive scope of the misconduct, but even more distressingly by the seeming casualness by which such conduct is employed." He found Detective Jason Arbeeny guilty of eight counts of falsifying records and official misconduct in an explosive bench trial that revealed the police practice of "flaking" - nabbing blameless people to pad arrest quotas and earn overtime. The judge noted that several witnesses said narcotics officers were expected to make 60% of their arrests for felonies and that cops would spread collars around so they could all meet the quotas. The judge even said that paled in comparison to the "mindset in Narcotics that seemingly embraces a cowboy culture where anything goes in the never-ending war on drugs." Arbeeny, one of eight cops to be charged in the scandal, was found guilty of planting a twist of crack under a car seat during a Coney Island bust in January 2007 and for doctoring paperwork to make the arrest stick. He was cleared of 43 other counts, mostly related to two separate incidents that same year. The 14-year veteran faces up to four years in prison when he's sentenced early next year. He left court without comment. "It's a sad day when a police officer abuses his authority to plant drugs," prosecutor Charles Guria said after the verdict. "It's a very disturbing charge." Most troubling, Judge Reichbach said, was the "casualness" of arresting innocents, which emerged at trial. The attitude was made worse by officers' rationalizing that charges would likely be dismissed anyway - "a rationale that is transparently pharisaical," the judge said. Alluding to movies about police corruption, he said some of the testimony painted the Brooklyn South Narcotics squad "as a cross between 'Training Day' and 'Prince of the City.'" oyaniv@nydailynews.com
The New York Daily News by Oren Yaniv - November 1, 2011
Officer Jason Arbeeny planted drugs on innocent people he arrested, judge finds
Police officer Jason Arbeeny at State Supreme Court in Brooklyn where he was found guilty of 8 counts of official misconduct and filing false records by a judge following a bench trial. He faces up to 4 years in prison. A Brooklyn judge declared himself shocked by the "cowboy culture" of narcotics cops Tuesday when he convicted a detective of planting crack on an innocent couple. "Having been a judge for 20 years, I thought I was not naïve regarding the reality of narcotics enforcement," said Supreme Court Justice Gustin Reichbach. "But even the Court was shocked, not only by the seeming pervasive scope of the misconduct, but even more distressingly by the seeming casualness by which such conduct is employed." He found Detective Jason Arbeeny guilty of eight counts of falsifying records and official misconduct in an explosive bench trial that revealed the police practice of "flaking" - nabbing blameless people to pad arrest quotas and earn overtime. The judge noted that several witnesses said narcotics officers were expected to make 60% of their arrests for felonies and that cops would spread collars around so they could all meet the quotas. The judge even said that paled in comparison to the "mindset in Narcotics that seemingly embraces a cowboy culture where anything goes in the never-ending war on drugs." Arbeeny, one of eight cops to be charged in the scandal, was found guilty of planting a twist of crack under a car seat during a Coney Island bust in January 2007 and for doctoring paperwork to make the arrest stick. He was cleared of 43 other counts, mostly related to two separate incidents that same year. The 14-year veteran faces up to four years in prison when he's sentenced early next year. He left court without comment. "It's a sad day when a police officer abuses his authority to plant drugs," prosecutor Charles Guria said after the verdict. "It's a very disturbing charge." Most troubling, Judge Reichbach said, was the "casualness" of arresting innocents, which emerged at trial. The attitude was made worse by officers' rationalizing that charges would likely be dismissed anyway - "a rationale that is transparently pharisaical," the judge said. Alluding to movies about police corruption, he said some of the testimony painted the Brooklyn South Narcotics squad "as a cross between 'Training Day' and 'Prince of the City.'" oyaniv@nydailynews.com
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
Federal Court Orders City to Turn Over Police Records
Federal Court Orders City to Turn Over Police Records
The New York Law Journal by John Caher - November 1, 2011
Noting that federal courts do not recognize the confidentiality privilege in New York Civil Rights Law §50-a, a Western District magistrate judge has ordered the city of Buffalo to turn over the personnel and disciplinary records of a police officer for in camera review. Magistrate Judge Hugh B. Scott gave the city 30 days to deliver the records, shielded from disclosure by state law, on Officer Raymond Harrington. Justin L. Levy, the plaintiff in Levy v. Harrington, 09-cv-720A, accuses the officer of false arrest and imprisonment, and excessive force. After the defendants removed the case to federal court, Mr. Levy sought records that are not obtainable in state court due to the privilege delineated in Civil Rights Law §50-a. Magistrate Judge Scott noted that no federal rule precludes discovery of police disciplinary or personnel files and, after concluding that Mr. Levy met his initial burden of showing materiality and relevance, said he would review the records in camera to determine if they should be revealed to the plaintiff. The magistrate judge said the same issue has been raised in another case pending in his court, Paulding v. City of Buffalo, 10-cv-712. Steven M. Cohen of HoganWillig in Amherst represents the plaintiffs in both cases.
The New York Law Journal by John Caher - November 1, 2011
Noting that federal courts do not recognize the confidentiality privilege in New York Civil Rights Law §50-a, a Western District magistrate judge has ordered the city of Buffalo to turn over the personnel and disciplinary records of a police officer for in camera review. Magistrate Judge Hugh B. Scott gave the city 30 days to deliver the records, shielded from disclosure by state law, on Officer Raymond Harrington. Justin L. Levy, the plaintiff in Levy v. Harrington, 09-cv-720A, accuses the officer of false arrest and imprisonment, and excessive force. After the defendants removed the case to federal court, Mr. Levy sought records that are not obtainable in state court due to the privilege delineated in Civil Rights Law §50-a. Magistrate Judge Scott noted that no federal rule precludes discovery of police disciplinary or personnel files and, after concluding that Mr. Levy met his initial burden of showing materiality and relevance, said he would review the records in camera to determine if they should be revealed to the plaintiff. The magistrate judge said the same issue has been raised in another case pending in his court, Paulding v. City of Buffalo, 10-cv-712. Steven M. Cohen of HoganWillig in Amherst represents the plaintiffs in both cases.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
