AUGUSTA, Ga.
A Richmond County deputy was arrested after investigators say he sold marijuana to an inmate. Investigators arrested Deputy Michael Arrington on Thursday and placed him inside the same jail where he worked.
Richmond County Sheriff Ronnie Strength says Arrington’s arrest comes after a month long investigation.
Investigators say an inmate tipped them off about contraband being sold inside the Law Enforcement Center on Walton Way.
Strength tells 26 News officers caught Arrington selling some marijuana to an inmate. Arrington is also accused of selling cigarettes to other inmates.
"We in law enforcement are no different that anyone else. We have to stay in the guidelines of the law. And we have no problem taking what ever actions are warranted," said Strength.
Arrington is on administrative leave without pay, until the end of the investigation. He's worked at the sheriff's office for a year and a half. Investigators say has no prior disciplinary history.
Arrington is charged with selling marijuana and crossing a guard line with drugs. Both are felonies.
http://www.nbcaugusta.com/news/crime/38602117.html
2 comments:
I was attacked in my own home by an officer KEVIN LINK, this happened on 12-9-2008 there were two other officers there at the time. I defended myself by restraining him and not letting him hit me in my face, you see I had just had my left eye removed. There was no reason for the officer to enter my home, this is a very long story involving DFCS. That is just another nightmare in itself. I did every thing the officers asked me to, then they told me to go back in my home which I did. This person, KEVIN LINK charged in as I was slamming my front door. It was dark outside and being blind in one eye, I did not know he was running in behind me. He never said a word like stop, put your hands up, lay on the ground to let me know that he was coming in. Once in, he slammed me into the wall and drew back to hit me, but to his surprise and mine I was able to restrain him . I did not give any of the officers there any reason to be upset with me. After restraining him I said I am not trying to fight you but I can’t let you hit me. I said this more than once at that point he yelled gun, I did not have a gun on me at all so then he yelled that I was taking his weapon and I yelled that I was not, and when I felt another officer around my neck I put my right hand up still holding the other hand that MR. LINK was trying to hit me with, that’s when he said you have fucked up now boy and pulled his oc spray and sprayed me in the face trying very hard to get the eye that had just been removed. I have been charged with taking his weapon and obstruction. I spent three days in jail and that also is another story in itself, I believe there were more drugs in there than in East Boundary. After I got out, I went and got a copy of the police report. In it he wrote that I hit him and said fuck you and ran into my home. We have seven eye witnesses and some video to prove our story. I cannot understand why the news media won’t even check this out. We called 12 ,6 , and 26. I do want you to know all this is because we would not let DFCS black mail us into putting our signature on blank financial paperwork for them to fill in later so they took our grand kids out of our home. We had gotten the kids from DFCS. When they came to us they both where sick and had bad diaper rashes. They where in foster care and had not seen a doctor. MY WIFE AND I HAD DONE NOTHING WRONG. DFCS has more power than the KGB, CIA, and the FBI. This is truly scary. This is the short version of the story.
Sincerely,
V. Ray Widener Jr.
p.s. I did ask for a breathalyzer and for the officer’s weapon to be fingerprinted to prove that he was lying. They also arrested my 18 year old son saying he tried to provoke a fight another lie..
3/27/2009
DFCS “The Baby Snatchers”
I will do whatever it takes and will not stop until the Department of Family and Children Services of Richmond County, Augusta, Ga., is put under investigation. I will not stop until the staff that’s responsible for the injustice concerning this case are held accountable for their actions.
My name is M. Teresa Widener; my husband’s name is V. Ray Widener. Our grandbabies are in DFCS custody. My son, Shaun P. Cunningham, is the father of the babies. His girlfriend Donna L. Frazier is the mother.
Donna and Shaun have never really officially lived together, due to the fact that Donna lives in the system, section 8 housing. The housing authority put this 20 year old single, white, blond with three babies in a place called River Glenn on E. Telfair St, one of the worst parts of town you could imagine. Shaun had lived with me in Augusta on Cabana Court until Ray and I got married in March 2006. After that he bounced around from friend to friend until he finally hooked up a job working in Atlanta. As a matter of fact, Shaun had just gotten back from Atlanta when all this went down. He said he quit the job because Donna was freaking out and needed help with the boys.
On June 26, 2008, Shaun came over to our house with Damian. He said Donna took Gavin to the emergency room because he wouldn’t stop crying. He stayed with us most of the day. Later on that evening, he called me in a panic saying that there were social workers there and said they were going to have to take Damian because Donna could not explain to the doctor why Gavin had a fracture at the base of his skull. Shaun said he knew nothing of Gavin falling or any of the other children hurting him in any way. Shaun told me Donnas’ apartment was filthy and there was no food in the refrigerator. They also claimed that Damian had severe diaper rash. Shaun asked if they could bring Damian to us, we said yes of course. The social worker told me on the phone that they had to clear that with the mom first. Well, Donna said no, she wanted them to go to her aunts, which turned out to be her x-step mother. My son was upset at her choice but it was not up to him, the babies were and always have been in Donnas’ custody.
They took the babies to South Carolina to her so called aunt. That lasted for a few weeks. I guess when they realized DFCS was not offering any assistance, they changed their mind. In mid July, DFCS case manager at the time, Michelle Pappas, called and stated that the placement family the babies were with said she could no longer take care of them and they needed to be taken out of her home immediately. She asked if my husband and I would be willing to take them in on such short notice. We were led to believe that DFCS would take care of daycare. She was aware that my husband and I both work full time and are dedicated to our jobs. I received this phone call at work. She informed me that the babies would be brought to us that same day. We had absolutely no time to make plans for daycare or a babysitter. DFCS had the mother and her friend bring the babies to my home late that afternoon with nothing but their car seats, diapers, and formula. We had no crib, bed, or even a playpen, absolutely nothing for them to sleep on or in. We made a pallet on the floor next to our bed, I slept on the floor with Gavin, 7 month old, he seemed quite content but also with pillows bordered all around, he tended to wiggle his tiny hiny under the bed which simply called for a few more pillows. Damian, almost 2 years old and every bit as mischievous as a normal 2 year old should be, slept in the bed with Ray with a border of pillows all around him. I must admit it was a heart warming sight seeing Damian cuddled up so close to Ray he could hardly move, so of course we had quite a few sleepless nights.
The first issue was to set up a babysitter fir the next 2 days as we both work full time. If you’ve ever dealt or know anyone that has dealt with DFCS in Richmond County then you probably know that they could care less about any issues that we may have. With that being said, it didn’t take me long to realize that we were being discriminated against. My husband Ray has been with Medical College of Georgia for 13 years, I have been with the Medical College/MCG Health Inc. for 17 years. We both work full time and are very dedicated to our jobs.
I had no idea DFCS was going to leave us hanging. As far as DFCS was concerned, Damian and Gavin are my blood and it was my responsibility. So, needless to say, this did not work out for long. DFCS had been told from the very beginning the only way that we could do this is for the babies to be able to go to daycare immediately. DFCS led us to believe that childcare would be taken care of immediately; however, I was told to try to get to their office as soon as I could to fill out some paperwork. I made it there by the end of the next week, which I was told would be okay. I was never told that only pay a certain amount and that I would be responsible for anything over that amount. I had picked MCG Childcare because it was convenient and assumed their rates were competitive with other daycares. Much later I found out they only paid a portion of the fee and I would start paying as of the date I came into the office. We got help from a neighbor at a cost of course for a few of the days, then my daughter Brigitte helped out for a few days, then we took them to the babysitter as planned one day and she didn’t answer the door. That was the last straw. I had to call into work for the first time in years. My husband went to work, while I stayed home calling every social service organization I could think of to see if we could get some help. We make descent enough money but like most folks, it’s all spent. My baby is 18 years old and Ray’s baby is 15 years old, we had no idea how much daycare cost these days. We had to tell DFCS that until they could take care of childcare as promised, we were unable to keep the babies in our home. It broke my heart to have to tell my son that I just could not afford to take care of his babies without some kind of help. So Ms. Pappas came over that night and took them to a foster home. It was so hard putting them in the car seat and saying good bye. It just wasn’t fair. What really upset me is after many, many, phone calls; someone finally mentioned the idea of Ray and I becoming foster care givers. In that case daycare would be taken care of and we would receive financial assistance for necessities such as food, diapers, etc… My husband and I quickly tried to get the very long process started on qualifying. We went through background checks, fingerprinting, drug testing, keep in mind we had to take off work to get all this done. Oh and then of course, there is the home evaluation. We had to put up a door alarm on the back door because we have a pool, smoke detectors in the dining room right next to the kitchen. On top of all that, they demanded that we put up a fence going out the back door to keep the babies away from the pool. They put us through HELL. We had to make it past the first so called psychologist and then a second psychologist. Dr. Joe Holt took all the pictures and was suppose to get them to the case manager Latonya Brantley right away. That didn’t happen, talk about two people dragging their feet and to top it off, they kept blaming it on each other. I just have to tell you this, I got the biggest kick out of a call I got from Latonya Brantley. She called me and asked me if I had a way to get in touch with Donna, I said yes, just go by her apartment. She said well is there a time I can go by there that all those people aren’t hanging around on the streets, I laughed, and said Latonya I’d like to tell you to go during the day when most folks are working but guess what, it’s the projects, most of the folks hanging out don’t work. She said she was not going over there because they made her nervous so she would just tell Donna she would have to walk to the office to see her. Ok Latonya let me get this straight, you’re black and scared to get out of your car during the day no less, but you want Donna, 110 pounds, 20 years old, and blond to walk at least a mile to the DFCS office because she’s required to keep in contact with you. She has no job, no phone, and no transportation. She’s required by DFCS to take parenting classes, drug test when ordered and then drug classes three times a week.
On 9/25/08, we received the oddest phone call of all. The case manager Latonya Brantley called Ray at home, informing him that Judge Flanagan had awarded us custody and for me to call her when I got home. Ray told me about the conversation with Latonya, however neither one of us knew what all the different terminology meant. Latonya seemed very surprised by the judge’s decision, she knew we had not asked for custody and we were not even in court when this took place. At this point we still did not know what this really meant. The case manager, Latonya Brantley, Todd Hughes, Attorney, both were in the court room, but said nothing, knowing that was not at all what was suppose to be going on. Shaun & Donna were also both in the court room that day and when Donna was asked if that was what she wanted, she said yes. All she knew was that her babies were going to be with me, she had no idea we were not going to be compensated with childcare, etc.. Donna & Shaun were both aware of what Ray and I had been through just to qualify for the children to stay in our home. At this point Latonya Brantley said she was ordered to have the babies to me that day. We didn’t know what to do; it was already late in the day. Latonya asked me if she could have the foster parent call me directly so she could bring the babies to me. Confused with everything that was going on we agreed and I would start with more phone calls the next day. Anyway, the babies were not brought to me; I had to go meet the foster parent in the parking lot of the YMCA on Tobacco Road at 7:00 PM. Both the babies had diaper rash and both had bad colds and nasty, runny noses. We got about ½ case of formula for the 7 month old and about ½ pack of diapers for each baby. We were totally unprepared for this. That was the second time DFCS had put us in this position. Once again having no clue as to when the DFCS childcare would start or financial assistance for their needs. It didn’t take us long to realize was the most disorganized organization we have ever come in contact with. We were right back where we started, only this time the situation had gotten even more serious. My husband was scheduled to have surgery the next morning which would be around the twentieth surgery he has had on his left eye and the third surgery within a three week period due to complications with the removal of the eye two weeks earlier, 9/12/08. I had already scheduled the next off to be with him. Also, we had spoken to the childcare at our place of employment and told them of our situation, I let them know that I may not be able to give much notice as to when the babies would start and that we were completely depending on DFCS to take care of the expenses. Thank goodness, they were willing to work with us. I called them at 6AM the next morning, Friday, 9/26/08. MCG Childcare said bring um on!!! I was relieved, for awhile anyway. I had to drop my husband off at the door for him to go get started on Pre-Op, then I rushed the babies over to daycare, then of course rushed back to be with Ray. Relieved that maybe I would be able to pull this off, I relaxed. Well, that didn’t last too long, at 11AM I got the call from the operating room to let me know that Ray was done and doing fine. As soon as I hung up from that call, I got a page from the daycare. Gavin the 7 month old had a fever and Damian had three loose stools, this meant they both had to be picked up ASAP. It was time to panic again so I rushed to pick up the boys, find a sitter and get back to my husband in recovery. What a day!
So with all of my own personal business going on, I didn’t have much time to try to find out why in this world the Judge gave us custody. At this point we were stunned, same as Donna and Shaun, we didn’t have a clue what the different terminology being used meant. Custody, Foster Caregiver, and Relative Placement. All we knew is that we had jumped through hoops to qualify for some terminology called Foster Caregiver for our grandbabies to stay with us and now DFCS was claiming we have custody so everything is on us. I had to wait till Monday to start trying to figure out what DFCS had done. Well Monday, we called and called, and complained and begged and pleaded with DFCS to fix this mistake. I decided to call Dr. Joe Holt; he was equally as surprised but suggested that I try calling the Judge myself. So, the next day I called the Judge, explained to him the issue, he was very polite and said well we’ll just have to fix that. He instructed me to call Gary Glover, I did, and same as the Judge, he was surprised but informed me that none of the paper work had been signed yet and he would take care of the misunderstanding. Well, I came home from work that Monday, my husband was at home recuperating and he gets a call from this rude woman named Crystal Jones, whom identifies herself saying “I AM THE SUPERVISOR”, what is your problem. She was loud and forceful, Ray could tell she had him on her speaker phone claiming that we had asked for custody and none of her staff had made any mistake. She then stated that your daughter told the Judge in court that she wanted custody to go to Teresa and Ray Widener. Well, Ms. Jones certainly should have checked the facts before she inserted her foot in her big mouth. But not to worry, Ray quickly put her in her place, telling her she didn’t even know what she was talking about and that his daughter had nothing to do with any of this and certainly wasn’t in court that day. Donna Frazier, is whom she was apparently referring to, which is the mother of the babies and my son Shaun Cunningham’s girl friend, and just like most of us has no idea what the terminology used in court that day really meant, except that her babies were going to be cared for by the babies fathers mom and step dad until she could get them back. So as you could imagine, the conversation between Ray and Crystal did not go well. He basically told her she was crazy and hung up the phone. I walked in the house, after work and picking up the babies just as my husband had hung up the phone. What a sight, his face was bright red with anger.
The next day, I started calling DFCS again, however, they kept claiming that they had not received any information from Mr. Glover so in their eyes, I still had custody and DFCS was no longer involved. It took awhile but apparently the paperwork finally reached DFCS and they started taking care of part of the childcare something else they neglected to tell us. By then I had searched around for a more reasonable rate and found Amandables Angels. Amanda was great and worked with me as far as understanding that DFCS may very well drag their feet on starting the payments. We had many more conversations with many different DFCS workers through the next couple of months. I spoke to Latonya Brantley many times in reference to the home evaluation. She kept claiming everything was done and she was simply waiting on the final pictures from Dr. Holt. Finally one day Latonya Brantley told me that when she turned the case over to Tanya Smalley, the home evaluation was complete. One day I received some forms in the mail to do with Relative Placement; it had blank spaces in a few different places and a place for my signature and a date. A yellow sticky was placed on the outside of the folded papers saying “Please sign and return” Tanya. When I finally got Tanya on the phone, she was very short with me when I questioned her about this form and what was going on with the completion of the home evaluation. It should have been completed at least a month or more ago. That would be when the financial assistance payments would start. She quickly informed me that I needed to sign the papers that she sent and send them back to her, then she would send me even more papers for me to sign and I would need to fill them out then send them back also. By then I was getting angry with her and told her I was not signing any papers with blank spaces. So she again changed the subject to say that she would come out to see the boys on Tuesday, 12/9/08. I told her that was not a good day for me and that I would have to get back to her later to schedule a better day, and we could discuss those forms on that visit. Well, I ended up calling her back the next day but I didn’t get her on the phone so I called Latonya Brantley to discuss what was going on. Well, Tanya was right there with her so I told her to tell Tanya that my plans (Christmas party at work) had changed so she could go ahead and come out on 12/9/08 at 6:00 pm and please not before so we could at least have time to get home after getting off work and picking up the babies. Tanya claims that I was being uncooperative and that I needed to work with her cause if she was in the area before that time, I should not have a problem with her coming early. DFCS employees must have to pass some kind of arrogant test to qualify as an appropriate candidate for employment. After all this tension in our conversations, I guess I should have known that something was going seriously wrong. We were surprised when Tanya showed up at my home with an extra person, but I never would have guessed what was going to be said next. She said I needed to sign the papers so once again, I rebelled and questioned why!! I felt like she was trying to black mail me when I said no, not without the proper information being filled in. She then said I’m just going to be frank with you. I have a court order to have the babies put back into foster care tomorrow 12/10/08. I could hardly believe what I was hearing. I said what are you talking about. She said that Mr. Widener, keep in mind, we’re both standing right there had told Gary Glover that he wanted the babies out of the house. We said that’s ridiculous and she just stood firm that she had a court order. I got very angry and told her to get out of my house. Then she said okay then we’ll just take them tonight. I told her again to get out of my house now. She went out to her automobile and called whoever which would also include what I refer to as “Richmond Counties Finest”. At the same time my husband and I were calling everyone we could think of. Didn’t matter, we lost and everything went straight to hell from there.
Two Deputies came to the door. My husband invited them in and started explaining the DFCS horror story that we had been through for the past months. He also told them all about the recent surgery on his left eye. Apparently all the officers needed to see is that DFCS has custody of the babies. We really don’t know exactly what they showed to the officers. The officer stated that we had to give the babies to DFCS tonight and asked my husband to go get the 1 year old from his crib and carry him out to the DFCS case manager. The 2 year old went out with the officer. My husband handed the baby over to Tanya Smalley; he was saying how sorry they are to yank these babies out of a secure home for no legitimate reason. Deputy Ricky Martin then instructed Ray to go back inside the house. Ray walked away and opened the front door. He was upset so as he opened the door and stepped inside the house, he said “I can’t believe this fucking shit”. As my husband was closing the door, Deputy Link charged straight at the door forcing it open with his foot, slamming Ray into the wall. Ray was yelling what are you doing, I was right there screaming and yelling with my camera. Link drew back attempting to punch Ray. That’s when Ray used his right hand to grab Links left hand, and his left hand held onto Links right hand/fist as he yelled; I’m not going to let you hit me in the eye. All hands were in the air when the Deputy yelled out GUN, Ray yelled I don’t have a GUN. Ray then let go of one of Links hands, put his hand back in the air to show he didn’t have a gun then Link said “you fucked up now boy” as he went for his C2 spray by then another officer had come up behind Ray and put his arm around Ray’s neck. Link pointed right into Rays face, directing it to the left eye he had just had surgery on. Then Link yelled he’s going for my weapon. Ray’s hands were both in the air. Link sprayed so heavy, it got all over my arms and Deputy Lewis. After being sprayed in his left eye, the officer’s pulled Ray out to the front yard, putting him face down on the ground and cuffing him. When Ray’s son Justin saw Link charge into our home going at his dad, he started towards them but he was quickly detained, sprayed, put on the ground and cuffed. I had my camera on Ray, Justin and the deputies on the ground. I was telling my husband “it’s okay, Ray, you’re allowed to go into your house if you want to”, Deputy Martin, said “quiet Teresa or you’ll be taking a ride with him”. Then you hear Deputy Link say, “you slammed my foot in the god damn door”, and Ray said back to him, “I didn’t know you were coming in behind me”. Then I start yelling “why did you go in the house behind him, you had no reason to go into our home”.
DFCS never did give us the copy of the court order stating that the babies were to be removed from our home and placed back into foster care the next day on 12/10/08. It was suppose to be left with us that night. To this day, DFCS still has not provided us with a copy of that court order. I made many attempts to get a copy of that so called court order, assuming it would also state the reason for the removal. Tanya’s supervisor Crystal Jones left a message on my home phone in an amazingly friendly and some what sarcastic voice stating where I could go get a copy, as usual, she was wrong again. The only paper I received was dated 12/17/08, and was mailed out toward the end of December, which I am including a copy of for your viewing. That letter signed by Tanya Smalley is a fine example of the kind of explanations that you get from DFCS. I called the court, records department, including juvenile and was continuously told they had no such record and would refer me to a different area. I believe the last place that I was told to call was to Gary Glover’s office. He was no longer allowed to speak with us and his staff had told me that I would not be able to get such paperwork and that only the mother could request that.
It’s truly sad that in this society, we allow such a disorganized organization have this much control, no questions asked. DFCS depends on here say and non-confirmed allegations.
I understand rather early on in this investigation, I’m talking the first case manager, Michelle Pappas , stated that she had learned that the physician confirmed the injury did not appear to be intentional. The child is a normal 7 month old that could have very simply fallen and hit his head while trying to stand. The fact that there were two other older children in the home that could have caused the injury was not mentioned.
Our argument was not with the police department, we knew they were just doing their job. We had spoken with Deputy Martin on numerous occasions, my husband thought highly of him. We never would have thought that we couldn’t trust him. Link stepped over the line, the other officers know this. Are they going to take a chance on losing their jobs and respect because of one arrogant cop?? Will they back their fellow officer?? Will they tell what really happened??
Just think Link is still on the street, what will he do next? Let’s get this dirty cop of the streets before he makes another stupid decision. Would you feel safe knowing someone like Link is out there with a gun.
Sincerely,
Margaret (Teresa) Widener
3805 NICOLL dr AUGUSTA GA 30906
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