Sunday, June 14, 2009

Judge Tom Bartheld Sentences Man to only 1 year in Jail for Raping 4-year-old

A District Judge Tom Bartheld may be forced to step down from his position as an officer of the court, after he sentences a man who admitted to raping and sodomizing a four year old girl over several months to only one year in jail.

The one year sentence (which includes time served, which will bump it down to three months), was a show of gross negligence in the case. While Oklahoma attorney general Drew Edmondson is still gathering facts to the chagrin of many, two state legislators Mike Ritze and Mike Reynolds have filed a bill that, if passed by the House of Representatives, would ask a state court to remove the judge from office, and have his sentence turned for a harsher punishment. By the way, not sure why the district attorney who agreed to the plea bargain is also not under fire.

64-year-old David Earls admitted to raping the four year old girl over the course of four months, including sodomy. It is also suspected that he may have raped and abused her five year old brother. He was arrested after the children told their grandmother, the Pryor Daily Times reports. Bartheld dismissed the charge against the five year old brother, during Earls’ May 13 sentencing, “based upon the recommendation of the district attorney,” according to court records. Though Earls gave a full confession, and there was overwhelming evidence to the charges, District Judge Tom Bartheld and District Attorney Jim Bob Miller felt that a year served of a 2o month sentence was enough, and sent him on his way.

“What I know about the case at this point in time is that I was very disturbed by reports of the sentence in that case,” Attorney General Drew Edmondson who is making a run at govenor was quoted as saying by the Pryor Daily Times. Edmondson said said he will receive a report from the lawyers in his office “in due course,” before deciding if he will take action. Truthfully as an outsider looking in it appears like the two state reps. have raised the heat on Edmonson who is now trying to save face without ruining his political ambitions. Let’s hope politics doesn’t get in the way of punishing vile criminals and judges and district attorney’s that for whatever reason have failed to protect our children.

Officer Brian Lynk Accused of Punching Man in Face outside Nightclub

A Beaver County police officer turned himself in to face aggravated assault charges.

Brian Lynk, 30, of Aliquippa, is an officer in Midland.

He is accused of punching Matthew Molish 21, of Industry, in the face outside the Kamikaze Nightclub near Chester, W.Va., on June 7.

Lynk was off-duty and attending a bachelor party at the time of the incident.

"The mayor placed him on suspension," said Midland Police Solicitor Myron Sainovich. "At the next regualar council meeting, that's when council has to take action to decide whether or not they're going to continue that suspension."

Lynk turned himself in and is free on bond pending his court date.
____________________________

http://www.statejournal.com/story.cfm?func=viewstory&storyid=60944

Brothers Vindicated .... Officers Arrested

When undercover detectives busted Jose and Maximo Colon last year for selling cocaine at a seedy club in Queens, there was a glaring problem: The brothers hadn't done anything wrong.

But proclaiming innocence wasn't going to be good enough. The Dominican immigrants needed proof.

"I sat in the jail and thought ... how could I prove this? What could I do?" Jose, 24, recalled in Spanish during a recent interview.

As he glanced around a holding cell, the answer came to him: Security cameras. Since then, a vindicating video from the club's cameras has spared the brothers a possible prison term, resulted in two officers' arrest and become the basis for a multimillion-dollar lawsuit.

The officers, who are due back in court June 26, have pleaded not guilty, and New York Police Department officials have downplayed their case.

But the drug corruption case isn't alone.

On May 13, another NYPD officer was arrested for plotting to invade a Manhattan apartment where he hoped to steal $900,000 in drug money. In another pending case, prosecutors in Brooklyn say officers were caught in a 2007 sting using seized drugs to reward a snitch for information. And in the Bronx, prosecutors have charged a detective with lying about a drug bust captured on a surveillance tape that contradicts her story.

Elsewhere, Philadelphia prosecutors dismissed more than a dozen drug and gun charges against a man last month when a narcotics officer was accused of making up information on search warrants.

The revelations in New York have triggered internal affairs inquiries, transfers of commanders and reviews of dozens of other arrests involving the accused officers. Many drug defendants' cases have been tossed out. Others have won favorable plea deals.

The misconduct "strikes at the very heart of our system of justice and erodes public confidence in our courts," said Bronx District Attorney Robert Johnson.

Despite the fallout, authorities describe the corruption allegations as aberrations in a city where officers daily make hundreds of drugs arrests that routinely hold up in court. They also note none of the cases involved accusations of organized crews of officers using their badges to steal or extort drugs or money for personal gain — the story line of full-blown corruption scandals from bygone eras.

Peter Moskos, a professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, agrees the majority of narcotics officers probably are clean. But he also believes the city's unending war on drugs will always invite corruption by some who don't think twice about framing suspects they're convinced are guilty anyway.

"Drugs are a dirty game," Moskos said. "Once you realize it's a game, then you start playing with the rules to win the game."

Just ask the Colon brothers.
_______________________________
More of the story: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hmJ1Jq2YZ3d4GR0r1Ll7pTBuyonQD98PSUIG1

Deputy Jeffrey Scott Hoover Charged with Sexual Battery on Child

A Sumter County sheriff's deputy is being held without bond this morning facing child sex charges.

Deputy Jeffrey Scott Hoover is charged with sexual battery on a child under the age of 12.

The child told authorities that Hoover committed sex acts on her between June of last year and June of this year.

He has been employed by the Sumter County Sheriff's Office since 2005. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement is conducting the investigation at this time.
___________________

http://www.myfoxorlando.com/dpp/news/state_news/061209_Deputy_arrested_for_sexual_battery_of_minor