Thursday, December 11, 2008

Retired Officer Janine Gebhardt Arrested for Stealing from Kohls

CONCORD, N.C.

A retired Concord police officer is accused of stealing $900 worth of clothing and jewelry from a Kohl's department store.

She said she is disgraced by what she did and doesn't expect any special treatment from the justice system.

Remorseful Janine Gebhardt said, "In a million years I would never have thought I'd have done something like this."

Police say Gebhardt walked into Kohl's with an empty handbag. But when she paid for a few items and left the store, that handbag was then bulging.

"I’m willing to admit that I did something wrong," Gebhardt said.

When she got back to her car, she explains that a loss prevention officer asked to see her handbag.

"I said, 'No, you have no right. Why do you want to see my pocket book?' And we started fighting over it," she said.

After a short scuffle, Gebhardt says she pulled out her retired Concord Police Department badge.

"I said, 'No, don't. I'm a retired police officer. I'm not going to cause you any more problems, I promise,'" Gebhardt said.

In her handbag, police found $900 worth of stolen watches, clothing, and earrings. She was arrested and charged with larceny and assault.

She says she has prayed for forgiveness ever since.

"I've just disgraced myself ... my family, the police department, the whole police profession," Gebhardt said.

Officers with the Concord Police Department say Gebhardt was allowed to keep her badge when she retired several years ago. They say that is a fairly common practice among departments.

Gebhardt says she wishes she never showed the badge that day.

Trooper Derek Snavely Resigns After Being Accused of Rape

The West Virginia State Police officer accused of rape by a Charleston woman has resigned.

Trooper Derek S. Snavely resigned from the department Friday, said Lt. Col. Steve Tucker.

Col. David Lemmon confirmed that the personnel investigation into Snavely was complete but that the criminal investigation is ongoing.

The woman alleges she was drunk and was forced to have sex with Snavely last month after he followed her to a friend's house where she was staying.

She and her lawyer, Mike Clifford, showed a Gazette reporter part of a videotape that apparently shows the woman and a man wearing a State Police uniform inside the woman's residence.

"I think it's appropriate," Clifford said of Snavely's resignation. "I also surmise that the officer was given the choice between resigning and being fired."

Snavely had been on restrictive duty pending the outcome of the investigations.

Clifford said he has been in contact with the State Police about civil remedies to the case and is waiting to see the result of the criminal investigation.

The woman, who is not being identified because she is an alleged rape victim, said she left The Vault, a bar in downtown Charleston, about 4:30 a.m. on Sunday, Nov. 16. She and a bar employee were driving to a restaurant when she was stopped by Snavely near the parking lot of Smiley's Restaurant and Lounge in Jefferson.

The woman said Snavely told her she was driving in the middle of the road, then performed a field sobriety test on her. She asked him if she was going to get a DUI, and he told her he didn't think she was that drunk.

Eventually they drove in separate cars to another spot, where Snavely, who is in his early 20s, began kissing and fondling her, she said. Then they drove in separate cars to her house, she said. "I went in survival mode," she said last week. "I couldn't call anybody because he was the police."

The surveillance video allegedly shows the scene inside the house where the woman was staying with a friend and her friend's husband. It was not clear why the surveillance video was set up.

The video segment begins at about 5:30 a.m. A man is lying on a couch smoking a cigarette when a woman and another man, apparently in a State Police uniform, enter the picture. The woman and trooper greet the man, then go off-screen.

The woman said she and Snavely went into the guest bedroom of the house, where she was forced to perform oral sex on him, then have sex with him.

More Information: http://www.wvmetronews.com/index.cfm?func=displayfullstory&storyid=27876

Correction Officer Dana Williams Arrested for Grand Larceny

A New York City correction officer from Huntington Station was arrested yesterday on charges that she submitted false doctor's reports and illegally collected about $50,000 in sick pay, officials said.

The charges against Dana Williams, 36, include third-degree grand larceny, 14 counts of second-degree criminal possession of a forged instrument, and 14 counts of falsifying business records, officials said.

The Department of Investigation said Williams submitted documents that contained false doctor's reports.

Williams, who makes $68,475 a year, was suspended without pay pending resolution of the charges, officials said.