Sunday, December 21, 2008

Former Deputy Russell Burton Accused of Engaging in Sexual Acts with Daughter

A former Kentucky sheriff's deputy accused of engaging in sexual acts with his daughter pleads not guilty to the charges.

Forty-four-year-old Russell Burton appeared in Pulaski Circuit Court Thursday.

In October, Burton was indicted on ten counts of first-degree sexual abuse and one count of sodomy, and turned himself in.

The Commonwealth Journal reports the complaint also alleges the girl was under 12 years old when the incidents took place.

Burton retired from the Pulaski County Sheriff's Department three years ago.

Sheriff Robert Chavez Charged with Aggravated DWI

Santa Rosa

State Police arrested Robert G. Chavez Sheriff of Guadalupe County for charges of Aggravated DWI.

Early Friday morning Officers from the New Mexico State Police were advised of a 911 report of a possible drunk driver in a blue Chevy pick-up in the Santa Rosa area, Officer White while patrolling Old Route 66 just after 2:00 AM observed the reported vehicle with New Mexico license plate GGD460.

After the officer made contact with the reported vehicle the driver was observed violating a couple traffic infractions. The officer initiated a traffic stop and the driver was positively identified as Robert G. Chavez.

Officer White had Mr. Chavez perform a few standardized field sobriety tests and subsequently arrested Mr. Chavez for the following;

- Aggravated driving while under the influence of an intoxicating liquor or drug 1st offense.

- Failure to stop at a posted stop sign

- Open containers

- Failure to wear a seatbelt.

Mr. Chavez was transported to the De Baca County jail in Fort Sumner, NM where he was booked into jail.

Officer Johnny Baltazar Investigated for Smuggling Handguns

A department veteran allegedly bought guns at the Police Academy and sent them to Belize, where he runs a security firm.

A veteran Los Angeles police officer who operates a security company in Belize is under federal investigation for allegedly smuggling handguns into the Central American nation, according to law enforcement sources and internal LAPD documents.

Officer Johnny Baltazar is accused of purchasing eight .40-caliber Glocks from the LAPD Academy store and secretly shipping them, along with two other guns and 1,530 rounds of ammunition, to Belize where he runs a company called Elite Security, according to documents obtained by The Times.

Baltazar, 49, who was assigned to the West Los Angeles Division, has been accused administratively by the LAPD with exporting firearms without a license, failing to declare firearms he exported and failing to notify his LAPD superiors that he was under federal investigation, documents show. He has been suspended with pay pending a disciplinary hearing that could result in his firing.

Such hearings, which were open to the public for decades, have been conducted in secret since a 2006 state Supreme Court ruling that limited access to police personnel information.

Baltazar, who serves on the board of directors of the Oscar Joel Bryant Foundation, an association of African American employees of the Los Angeles Police Department, could not be reached for comment.

Beyond the current charges, LAPD officials are also seeking additional information about his security company and specifically what it does.

"The question is what was he doing in Belize?" said one police official, who asked to remain anonymous because of the confidential nature of the investigation. The official said Baltazar did not have a department-issued off-duty work permit, which is required for officers who work second jobs.

The official added that Baltazar had been working a compressed work schedule in which officers work either 10 or 12 hours a day, three or four days a week, and that he told fellow officers he had been traveling to Belize.

Michael Gennaco, head of the Office of Independent Review at the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, said most major law enforcement agencies have strict policies regarding outside work by officers "because they don't want their people engaged in illegal activity or activity that's detrimental to the reputation of the department."

When officers working second jobs don't obtain permits, it makes it difficult for department officials to assess whether the work they are doing is consistent with the principles of their law enforcement day jobs, Gennaco said.

Federal authorities are continuing to investigate the allegations against Baltazar and are expected to present their findings to a grand jury, according to documents.

The documents state that Baltazar bought the handguns from the academy store in February 2007. In July 2007, he placed them in a safe, along with a pair of 9-millimeter handguns and the ammunition, and arranged to ship them to Belize with a company called Amerijet.

The officer did not declare the guns or ammunition in paperwork associated with the shipment and allegedly told Amerijet employees the safe was empty. Baltazar declared the value of the safe at $231.84, the documents show, but insured the shipment for $6,000 -- the approximate value of the guns and ammunition.

Importing handguns larger than 9 millimeters is banned in Belize under a 2002 law, according to the police documents.

Law enforcement sources said officials in Belize somehow discovered the guns were inside the safe and determined they were not legal. The safe was returned to the U.S.

The safe and guns were seized by customs officials on their arrival in the U.S., according to documents.

Virginia Kice, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, would not confirm or deny that Baltazar was under investigation and declined to comment for this article.

Former Officer Mark Standen Arrested for Drug Conspiracy Says he's going Insane

FORMER top cop Mark Standen, arrested over a $120 million drug conspiracy, is being driven to the edge of mental illness by his life in prison, a court heard yesterday.

Spending almost every day of his remand isolated in a maximum security cell, the one-time NSW Crime Commission assistant director has been verbally abused by other inmates.

As he asked for bail at Central Local Court yesterday, Standen's defence barrister Greg Farmer said Standen was subjected to "an onerous type of custody brought about merely by the fact that he is who he is. There is a risk that if it continues he will suffer a psychiatric illness."

Court documents reveal how the former crime fighter has been spending his time at Long Bay Jail since he was arrested in June, charged with conspiring to import enough pseudoephedrine to make $120 million worth of the drug ice.

He spends most days alone in his cell. When he uses a larger yard or the gym, he is locked in alone.

"His activities in the yard are limited to throwing a basketball and chasing it, hitting a tennis ball against a wall and jogging around," according to an affidavit sworn by his solicitor Gordon Elliot.

Standen, 47, is due to sit his final law exams in March, but has no access to computers, educational activities or the library.

But magistrate Allan Moore refused his bail application, saying it was "a substantial case" and Standen's knowledge of police methodology made him a flight risk. He will face court again in February.

*****

Deal with it bitch!!!...isn't that what he's told other 'prisoners' before? You can do the crime, you can do the time?...remember those words.

More information: http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/let-me-out-top-policemans-jail-hell/2008/12/22/1229794326853.html