Monday, January 12, 2009

Retired Officer Jose Arroyo Charged with Kidnapping & Rape

GREENBURGH, N.Y.

A retired New York City policeman has been accused of drugging a woman in a Bronx bar and then raping her in a Westchester County motel.

Police in Greenburgh say 46-year-old Jose Arroyo is charged with second-degree kidnapping and first-degree rape and has been sent to the Westchester County Jail.

A call to Arroyo's lawyer, Todd Lamond, was not immediately returned Monday.

Police say Arroyo, a property manager and nightclub bouncer from the Bronx, met the 31-year-old woman Nov. 14 in the bar and drugged her drink. The police account says that while the woman was helpless, Arroyo took her to the Alexander Motel in White Plains and raped her. She awoke and fled the next morning.

Arroyo was arrested Friday. Bail was set at $200,000.

Officer James Post Arrested for Drunk Driving


A Myrtle Beach Police officer is no longer on the force after being pulled on suspicion of drinking and driving.

James Post, 38, of Myrtle Beach resigned and now faces a driving under the influence charge.

Highway Patrol says just after midnight on Friday, a trooper spotted Post weaving in and out of traffic on River Oaks Drive in Myrtle Beach.

The trooper did a field sobriety test and then arrested Post, and took him to jail.

He was released Saturday morning.


More information:

http://www.scnow.com/scp/news/local/grand_strand/article/mb_officer_charged_with_driving_under_the_influence/27475/

Deputy Standric Choice & Two Others Charged with Stealing Cocaine

DALLAS

Standric Choice, a Dallas Sheriff's Deputy, Terry Kemone Anderson and Charlie Lee Hill were arrested Friday afternoon on federal drug charges outlined in a criminal complaint that was filed late Friday evening, announced James T. Jacks, acting U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas. The three defendants will make their initial appearance this afternoon at 3:00 p.m. before U.S. Magistrate Judge Paul D. Stickney in U.S. District Court in Dallas. The government plans to ask the Court to detain all three defendants.

The complaint charges Anderson, 29, Hill, 31, and Choice, 36, with knowingly and intentionally possessing with the intent to distribute cocaine, and knowingly and intentionally conspiring to possess with the intent to distribute in excess of five hundred grams of cocaine, in violation of Title 21, United States Code, Section(s) 846, 841(a)(1) and (b)(1)B). The maximum statutory penalty for this offense is 80 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

According to the complaint, on January 7, 2009, agents of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) High Intensity Drug Trafficking Task Force (HIDTA) group received information from a reliable Confidential Informant (CI) that a Dallas County Sheriff's Officer, DSO Standric Choice, was involved with an individual, Charles Lee Hill, believed to be his brother-in-law, in distributing narcotics. A meeting was held with the CI in which the CI described a narcotics transaction he referred to as "trading licks" (stealing narcotics from the drug supplier). After meeting with the CI, agents advised the CI to arrange a meeting with Hill and the DSO to finalize plans for a drug deal.

The CI and Hill finalized details of the proposed drug deal at a meeting the following day. At that meeting, the CI told Hill that he was a narcotics distributor. The CI and his cocaine source planned to meet at the TA Truck Stop/Burger King on I-20 and Bonnie View Road in Dallas to complete a four kilogram cocaine transaction. Hill agreed that after he saw the CI and his supplier (an undercover agent) meet, he would call DSO Choice. They planned that Choice would drive into the parking lot to investigate the car, and that upon finding the four kilograms of cocaine, DSO Choice would arrest the CI and release the undercover agent. Choice would then take the four kilograms and the CI to a second predetermined location where Hill would be waiting and release the CI. The CI would meet with Hill and the two (the CI and Hill) would split the drugs stolen from the drug supplier (the undercover agent).

On January 9, 2009, surveillance revealed that a single DSO squad car, identification number SE 419, pulled into TA Truck Stop/Burger King at 7751 Bonnie View Road at I-20 and Bonnie View Road and pulled in behind the undercover agent's and CI's vehicle and turned on the overhead emergency lights. Deputy Choice exited the squad car and approached the CI and undercover agent. Deputy Choice asked the undercover agent a few questions and told him to leave and then placed the CI into custody. After securing the CI in the backseat, Deputy Choice retrieved a duffle bag containing four kilograms of cocaine from the vehicle and placed it in the trunk of his squad car.

Deputy Choice then left the truck stop and drove southbound on Bonnie View Road. Through surveillance, a gray Nissan Pathfinder, occupied by Charlie Lee Hill and Terry Kemone Anderson, and the DSO squad car were seen together in a deserted area on Cleveland Road just west of Bonnie View Road. The vehicles were then observed traveling northbound on Bonnie View Road. The DSO vehicle was then followed until it arrived at the Dallas Sheriff's Department, 133 North Industrial, in Dallas. Choice was then taken into custody.

The Nissan Pathfinder was observed re-entering the TA Truck stop where the vehicle stopped briefly, and the CI exited the vehicle. Two kilograms of cocaine were then retrieved from the CI. The Nissan Pathfinder left the TA Truck Stop and traveled northbound on Bonnie View Road where Desoto Police Department tactical operators conducted a felony car stop, and Hill and Anderson were arrested. Two kilograms of cocaine were retrieved by the Irving Police Department from the front passenger seat floor board.

While stating that the investigation is ongoing, acting U.S. Attorney Jacks praised the cooperative investigative efforts of the North Texas HIDTA, FBI, IRS-CI, the Irving Police Department and the Desoto Police Department.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Suzanna Etessam is prosecuting the case.

More information: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/tx/6207395.html

Former Officer Ryan Warme Was Getting into Trouble Long Before He Became a Cop

A federal prosecutor has called him “the poster boy for detention.”

An ever-lengthening list of witnesses has appeared before a federal grand jury in Buffalo to detail their complaints against him.

Now, an investigation has revealed that suspend Niagara Falls Police Officer Ryan Warme was getting into trouble long before he became a cop.

Warme, 27, already faces charges on a federal criminal complaint that include cocaine trafficking, violating the civil rights of two women and using his police-issued firearm while committing those crimes. Prosecutors have hinted that when the grand jury finishes its work, the list of felony charges will be even longer.

While the three-and-a-half-year veteran of the Falls police force had admitted to having sex with at least two women while he was on duty, he has pleaded not guilty to the charges he currently faces and is being held without bail by the U.S. Marshals.

Warme’s arrest by his fellow officers and federal agents on Dec. 2 was not the first time he’d felt handcuffs on his wrists. In the falls of 2000, while he was attending Western New England College and playing on the school’s football team, Warme was arrested on an assault charge.

Law enforcement sources say the charge stemmed from a fight following a football game. Warme was suspended from the team for four games and was given an adjournment in contemplation of dismissal on the assault charge.

That disposition meant that if Warme “stayed out of trouble,” the charge would be dismissed and removed as a criminal record.

When Falls police detectives investigated Warme’s background prior to his appointment to the Niagara County Law Enforcement Academy in August 2005, they were aware of the arrest but did not disqualify him for it.

“He was given an ACD, if you translate the charge to New York state law, (it’s relatively minor),” Niagara Falls police Superintendent John Chella said. “At that time, it didn’t alert us to the point where he was disqualified.”

Chella also said Warme’s father’s former position as a captain and chief of detectives in the Falls Police Department played no role in the determination not to disqualify his son from a police appointment.

“We would have handled it the same way for any candidate at that point,” Chella said. “We did with him what we’ve done with others.”

The investigation has also shown that a post football game fight wasn’t the only trouble Warme got into during his college days. During the course of a federal court hearing, prosecutors revealed that Warme had been expelled from his college ROTC program “for cheating on an exam.”

Federal investigators learned of the ROTC incident from U.S. Air Force criminal investigators who had handled a probe into Warme’s application to attend Officer Candidate School while he was a member of the Air Force Reserves. On his application for the officer’s school, Warme “checked the (no) box that asked if he had ever been rejected for military service for any reason.”

“The Air Force determined he had lied,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Anthony Bruce said in court. “That is a flat out lie.”

Yet that lie was never uncovered by Falls police during Warme’s background investigation.

“There was no evidence of the ROTC issue in his (police) application,” Chella said. “We only verified that he had 60 hours of college credit to come on the job.”

Warme’s father, testifying in federal court, admitted that his son had been kicked out of ROTC “for violating the honor code.” However, he said his son never told him he had cheated on an exam.

Warme had another run-in with the law, roughly a year before his appointment to the Falls police force.

“We have had contact with (Warme) in the past,” Cheektowaga Police Captain John Glascott said. “It was in early August 2004 and it had to do with a domestic situation.”

Glascott declined to comment any further on Warme’s case. Other law enforcement sources indicted that Warme was arrested, though the exact charges were not known.

Like the college assault charge, the Cheektowaga incident apparently resulted in another adjournment in contemplation of dismissal and the case was ultimately sealed. It’s unclear if Falls police were aware of the Cheektowaga incident before Warme’s appointment to the force.

Chella said Warme passed both a psychological evaluation and a polygraph test prior to joining the force.

“We put a lot of weight in those,” he said. “He passed the psych evaluation and he was given a lie detector test to determine if everything on his application was truthful and he passed that.”

Federal prosecutors have suggested that Warme is proficient at lying. Even after his arrest, they say he lied to federal probation officers about why he left the Air Force Reserve in the spring of 2008.

Warme told federal pre-trial services investigators he left the reserves “based on the fact he could make more money working part-time jobs.” However, Warme’s resignation letter indicts that he left the military prior to the start of discharge proceedings against him.

The discharge proceedings followed an incident at a Texas Air Force base where Warme had reported for training in December 2007. Warme was scheduled to be in training until May or June 2008, but in April went AWOL for a period of roughly seven hours.

According to sources with knowledge of the incident, Warme was scheduled to report for drills at 8 a.m., but failed to show up at the base until 3 p.m. Warme told a superior officer that he had “been out drinking the night before, passed out and missed the drill.”

He also told the officer that he “had been afraid to report after waking up, because he knew he would be in trouble.”

By the time of the military incident, Falls police had already begun their investigation into Warme.

There was still another warning sign, prior to Warme’s working on the street, that the young officer might not be qualified. While Warme was attending the police academy, he was the subject of a criminal complaint filed with Amherst police.

In a November 2005 incident in the parking lot of the Marriott hotel, Warme was accused of stealing a woman’s cell phone after a domestic dispute. Chella said Falls police became aware of the incident but had trouble investigating it because the victim was uncooperative.

“She didn’t want to get (Warme) in trouble,” Chella said. “She said she was mad, but didn’t want to get him kicked out of the academy.”

Officer Michael Spilman Arrested for Sexual Assault


Allegations of sexual assault have prompted the resignation and arrest of Murray police officer Michael Spilman.

A complaint led West Valley City police to book Spilman for aggravated sexual assault and forcible sexual abuse.

Spilman, a 10-year veteran of Murray's police force, is sitting in the Davis County Jail for his own protection. Police fear possible reprisals from Salt Lake County Jail inmates recently arrested by Spilman.

Police say they're releasing very little information about the case to protect the victim.

Officer Ken Hammond Resigns After Allegations of Sexual Misconduct

The Ogden police officer many called a hero for helping to stop the Trolley Square shooter has resigned his post after allegations of sexual misconduct.

Officer Ken Hammond resigned on Friday, but we didn't learn about that resignation until today when the Ogden Police Department sent us a one-sentence statement.

The statement didn't say much, simply that Hammond resigned effective Jan. 9. We asked Ogden police for further comment and were told that's "the only thing the police department has to say."

Hammond had been placed on paid leave since October, when police began investigating allegations of sexual misconduct. Two months later, charges were filed against Hammond alleging he had an improper relationship with a teenager back in 2005.

"It appears he has a long history of inappropriate behavior," said attorney Alyson Carter.

Carter represents Natasha Child, the woman who filed a civil suit last month against Hammond after she says he used excessive force and assaulted her during her husband's arrest last year. At that time, Ogden police defended Hammond.

Natasha Child speaking with an attorney. "Keep in mind, this is a constant thing with law enforcement officers. You can go to any police department and find numerous allegations against officers by people. Some of these allegations occasionally have found true; most do not," Ogden Assistant Police Chief Randy Watt said in a Dec. 10 interview.

Now the police department isn't saying much, and neither is Hammond's attorney, Brenda Beaton. Beaton did, however, say Hammond left the department after it became clear he would not be paid on leave or he'd be outright fired.

Beaton also said Hammond felt like he'd given a "lot of dedicated years" to the Ogden Police Department and that the department was not extending that same courtesy to him, which is why he submitted his resignation.

Hammond has reportedly been offered another job, but Beaton won't say where. Some speculate it will not be in law enforcement.

"I'd be surprised if another police department would hire him, just because they would be exposing themselves to so much liability with his history," Carter said.

Hammond faces a third-degree felony count of unlawful sexual conduct. His first court appearance is scheduled for Jan. 27.


Previous Story: http://www.ksl.com/index.php?nid=148&sid=5185711

Officer John Lewis Facing New Charges of Fighting With His Brother

SCHENECTADY, N.Y.

A Schenectady police officer already facing charges is in even more trouble with the law.

John Lewis, 38, of Schenectady was arrested early Sunday morning after his mother called police saying that he was destroying the house and physically fighting with his brother, who is a police officer in Albany.

Lewis was charged with fourth-degree criminal mischief and released on his own recognizance.

Schenectady police said Lewis is currently suspended for 30 days without pay related to his arrest on Dec. 27 for DWI. Police said Lewis will face administrative consequences related to the most recent incident once the current 30-day suspension expires.

Lewis was also arrested in November on stalking and aggravated harassment charges stemming from an incident with his wife. He was also charged with harassment earlier this year in a separate incident with his wife.

Lewis was also fired 10 years ago after using a racial slur but was later reinstated.


Previous Post:

http://whathappenedtoprotectandserve.blogspot.com/2008/12/officer-john-lewis-arrested-againthis.html



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WTF??? This ASSHOLE needs to be off the streets before he kills someone.

Detective George McNally Charged with Drunk Driving Accident


ALBANY

A veteran detective who helped crack the case of a burglar who killed his partners was charged with drunken driving in an off-duty hit-and-run accident.

Detective George McNally, 54, was suspended for 30 days without pay after his arrest Sunday night, police said.

Police said McNally hit a parked car near the intersection of New Scotland Avenue and Sycamore Street and then drove off. Witnesses provided police with information that led to McNally's arrest. The detective also received a traffic ticket for leaving the scene of a property-damage accident.

Officials from the Office of Professional Standards went to McNally's Delmar home where police say he refused to submit to an alcohol breath test.

McNally was arraigned Monday morning in City Court. He was released without bail and is scheduled to return to court Jan. 22.

"I am extremely disappointed with the arrest of one of our members for allegedly being involved in a alcohol-related accident," Police Chief James Tuffey said in a prepared statement. The chief said he expected city police officers to act professionally "at all times, and they will be held accountable for their actions,"

McNally is the second member of the department in recent weeks to face charges after allegedly leaving the scene of an accident.

Officer Max Etienne was charged with striking three parked cars with his personal vehicle on Dec. 28. He ticketed on charges of failing to keep right and leaving the scene of a property damage accident.

McNally, an Albany police officer for 28 years, has been involved in some high-profile cases.

In 1998, McNally's work was credited with helping identify Gary Evans as the killer of one of his associates, Timothy Rysedorph, 39. At the time, McNally routinely collected forms from antiques shops to help identify cases where stolen merchandise was being sold. When Rysedorph disappeared, McNally visited a shop and was told the victim and Evans often sold merchandise to an antiques dealer.

That led McNally to a pair of stolen cuff links that Evans and Rysedorph had fenced, a critical piece of information that led to a nationwide manhunt, Evans' confession to killing three men he'd known since childhood and his fatal leap off the Menands Bridge after escaping from police custody.

McNally also investigated the 1992 killing of a woman whose boyfriend strangled her and then hung her body out a Washington Avenue window. He also handled the 1997 investigation of the death of an 11-year-old boy in the Albany YMCA wave pool.