Wednesday, April 08, 2009

Sgt. Glenn Alan Criswell Arrested for Battery


A Butler University police officer has been assigned to administrative duties after his arrest on battery charges.

Sgt. Glenn Alan Criswell was arrested by Henry County Sheriff's Department deputies on Saturday.

Criswell's ex-girlfriend told police that he had restrained her and that he took her cell phone when she tried to call 911. She said Criswell had been stalking her and had stolen her dog.

Criswell was preliminarily charged with two misdemeanor counts of battery and one count of interfering with reporting a crime.

Butler police officials said the department is conducting its own investigation into the incident.

Medina Officer Accused of Sexually Assaulting Woman Asks to Dismiss Case

A Medina police officer accused of sexually assaulting a woman he arrested on a traffic stop sent three e-mails to city prosecutors asking them to dismiss the case against her, according to court documents.

Issaquah police are investigating whether the officer raped the woman after asking her on a date and taking her to his home a few weeks after the traffic stop on State Route 520. She was cited for a suspended license and small amount of marijuana.

The investigation is ongoing and the case had not been referred to the prosecutor's office, spokesman Dan Donohoe said Wednesday.

The officer is a 4-year veteran of the suburban police department, Police Chief Jeff Chen said. He has been placed on administrative leave.

The woman was pulled over Nov. 23. The officer handcuffed her and placed her in his patrol car while he searched her vehicle, where he found the marijuana, according to a search warrant affidavit.

He mentioned that she was attractive and told her not to worry about the charges. The next morning, the officer called her and asked her out. They agreed to meet the following Friday, court documents say.

The officer also sent three e-mails to the prosecutor, requesting the case be dismissed for evidence reasons.

"In almost 4 years, I don't think I've ever asked you guys to dismiss charges, and I don't plan on making a habit of it, but can we dismiss the charges in this case? I wouldn't even feel right going to court and testifying in this case," court documents say the officer wrote.

The case was dismissed on Feb. 9. The officer sent another e-mail to Medina's evidence custodian instructing her not to send the marijuana to the state crime lab because the case had been dropped, court documents say.

In March, a sheriff's detective was investigating a separate allegation that the woman's boyfriend had sexually assaulted her. The detective overheard on the phone as her boyfriend said "she didn't report that cop for raping her," according to court documents.

The detective questioned the woman, who named the Medina officer. The woman said she met him at Joker Pub and Grill in Issaquah, where he said he would provide her with a letter to give the court. The officer told her again that he was attracted to her and invited her back to his home in the Issaquah Highlands.

She said that she told him she wouldn't have sex on the first date, but that during a "tour" of his home, he pushed her onto his bed, held her hands above her head and raped her, according to court documents.

"She didn't know what to do because was a cop," an Issaquah police detective wrote in an affidavit.

During the date, he poured her a drink and told her people feared police officers because "they have power and authority, and a gun and a badge." He put his gun on the table, which she felt was intended to intimidate her, court documents say.

Police found nine phone calls from the officer's cell phone to the woman's phone between November and February, court documents say.

Medina, a wealthy Eastside suburb along Lake Washington, has seven officers, according to the city's Web site.

Chen, the police chief, fired a rookie officer in November 2007 after learning the officer had a sexual relationship with a 16-year-old girl whom he met online. She had e-mailed him naked photos of herself. Sexually-explicit photos of anyone under 18 are illegal under child pornography laws.
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http://www.seattlepi.com/local/404984_Medina9.html

Chief Oly Ivy Arrested for Tasering His Wife

Just as soon as a small Leon County town hired its first police chief, the job was once again open. Chief Oly Ivy was placed behind bars on Monday.

It took some adjusting when Oakwood started its own police force; just ask around the Midway Service Station.

"The speed limit's 40 mph,” said Pat Brown. “Sit here and watch. Whoom! They drive like it's a freeway through here."

Chief Ivy, Oakwood's one-man police force, patrolled Highway 79.

The Buffalo Press photographed his swearing-in in February. Only one month later, the sheriff's office snapped his mug shot. They arrested the 30-year-old policeman on Monday for domestic violence.

The Leon County Sheriff's Office said Ivy allegedly Tasered his wife multiple times using his city-issued weapon on Sunday.

When the mayor and City Council found out about it Monday, they met in emergency session and voted unanimously to fire the chief — essentially the city's entire paid police force.

For Councilman David Neel, it was a no-brainer. "I know you're innocent until you're proven guilty, but with the circumstances that they are and the fact he was still under his 90-day probation, we felt like this was the best thing to do with the mitigating circumstances we've got here." he said.

A $100,000 bond was set for Ivy's felony charge of aggravated assault.

Besides sitting on city council and owning the local Chevrolet dealership, Neel now plans to patrol the town of 471 until a new chief is hired.

Two reserve officers have been asked to volunteer more.

But speeds on Highway 79 will likely go unchecked; Oakwood's only squad car is now locked up behind City Hall.
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More Information: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/tx/6364297.html
http://www.wfaa.com/sharedcontent/dws/wfaa/latestnews/stories/wfaa090407_mo_chiefarrest.b28c3ad4.html

Veteran Officer Files Lawsuit Against Police Chief

A veteran Henrico County police officer has filed a lawsuit alleging that the county's police chief, top prosecutor and other law-enforcement officials conspired to ruin his reputation and intentionally damage his career and emotional well-being.

Filed in August, and volatile enough to prompt the recusal of eight circuit judges, the suit by demoted narcotics investigator William G. "Trip" Hueston III seeks $1.06 million in damages.

Hueston, a 13-year-veteran officer, could see a quick end to a case with a long history.

A specially appointed judge is scheduled to hear defense arguments next month that Hueston's lawyers waited too long to file the case and that it should be dismissed.

Hueston, 37, claims that Henrico Police Chief Henry W. Stanley Jr., Commonwealth's Attorney Wade A. Kizer and others falsely accused him of jury tampering and arranged to demote him after Hueston was reinstated after a grievance proceeding. He had been fired.

He has been assigned to the police department's property room since returning to work in August 2006 but has been stripped of his law-enforcement duties, including arrest powers and off-duty police work, the suit alleges.

Forbidden from wearing his police uniform in public, Hueston alleges that Kizer declined to prosecute any case in which Hueston was the chief complainant and arresting officer.

Hueston is described in the suit as a veteran officer decorated for bravery who had no prior history of disciplinary actions against him.

In defense motions scheduled for a hearing May 5, lawyers for Stanley, Kizer, two Henrico police captains and a sergeant argue that time set by law for Hueston to seek damages in the case had expired when the suit was filed in August. And Kizer's lawyer argues additionally that he is immune from civil actions that arise from his official acts as commonwealth's attorney.

Kizer said in a written statement that the role of the commonwealth's attorney "is to decide which cases are prosecuted and which are not.

"I believe the citizens of Henrico County expect the commonwealth's attorney to make decisions independently based upon all of the facts," he continued. "The pleadings filed to date in this lawsuit contain only the plaintiff's allegations. There are many important facts that are not mentioned in the plaintiff's pleadings."

Kizer would not elaborate or provide further detail.

Stanley and the three other defendants, either individually or through a police department spokesman, have referred questions about the case to their attorneys, who have declined to comment or did not return phone calls.

Even the Henrico Fraternal Order of Police declined to comment. "I may be called as a witness," explained Sgt. Shawn Maxwell.

The suit is being heard in Hanover County because Hueston lives there.

The Virginia Supreme Court's chief justice, Leroy R. Hassell Sr., in December ordered retired Judge Jay T. Swett of Albemarle County Circuit Court to hear the case because all eight circuit judges in the 15th Judicial Circuit, which includes Hanover, recused themselves without explanation. The circuit does not include Henrico courts.

Hueston, according to the suit, is being falsely accused of and improperly punished for attempting to influence a grand jury in a drug-related case four years ago. Hueston allegedly sought to interfere in efforts to have a defendant charged with a felony, preferring a misdemeanor charge.

Henrico court records and Hueston's suit identify the defendant as Curtis Armstead Sr. of the Fredericksburg area. He was convicted of carrying a concealed weapon, a felony, and sentenced in April 2007 to five years in prison, according to court records. All but two months were suspended.

Armstead was arrested May 6, 2006, on a misdemeanor concealed weapon charge and a felony weapons possession charge.

The suit contains no explanation for why Hueston allegedly wanted to reduce the charge: He did not make the arrest, did not appear before a grand jury, and apparently did not testify in court.

Joseph P. Smith III, one of Hueston's lawyers, declined to answer questions about specifics in the case except to say, "The pleadings speak for themselves."

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Allegations in the 14-page lawsuit lay out actions that Hueston says were aimed at him -- from what he claimed were "sham" polygraph examinations he was directed to take, to a failure to recognize internal investigations that found no wrongdoing by Hueston, and finally to Hueston's demotion to a clerk in the police property room.

A central allegation is that Kizer, in May 2006, sent Stanley a letter "maliciously and falsely accusing Hueston of improperly trying to influence the grand jury" in the Armstead case and accusing Hueston of "attempting to have [another police officer] lie under oath."

Kizer, according to the suit, has declined to withdraw the letter in the face of findings exonerating Hueston and has refused to prosecute any crime in which Hueston was the complaining witness.

Hueston alleges in the suit that after his conduct was cleared by an internal investigation, a criminal investigation began, prompted by Kizer and Stanley.

The criminal investigation was carried out by an officer known to have a long-standing acrimonious relationship with Hueston, according to the suit.

Two fellow officers close to Hueston secretly recorded their interviews with the criminal investigator, defendant Sgt. George S. Russell Jr., and can show through the recordings that Russell falsified his report about Hueston, according to the suit. Russell's negative findings, although known to be false, were forwarded to Kizer in March 2006, the suit alleges.

Hueston was terminated from his job in June 2006 but contested it through the county's grievance procedure. On July 31, 2006, County Manager Virgil R. Hazelett ordered Hueston returned to duty.

Stanley, though, "arbitrarily and maliciously assigned him to a low-level clerical job," according to the lawsuit. Hazelett, in a subsequent grievance action, upheld the police chief regarding the job shift.

Hueston is alleging a long list of emotional and physical problems and says he has lost income and opportunities for advancement.