Tuesday, February 09, 2010

Officer Leslie Brown Sentenced for Stalking Former Lover

A Cumberland County judge this afternoon imposed an 8- to 23-month prison term, plus 10 years of probation, on a former Harrisburg police officer who pleaded guilty to repeatedly stalking a former lover.

Judge Albert H. Masland sentenced Leslie Brown, 40, of Hampden Township, after Brown also admitted to violating a protection from abuse order the man had secured barring her from contacting him. While admitting to the stalking and protection order violations, Brown, who quit the city force in 2008 after 13 years of service, insisted she is a victim of lies and "legal blackmail."

Brown spent three months in prison last year for violating the protection order.

Deputy Sgt. John Michael Keane II Arrested for Robbing Bank

On Tuesday afternoon, police in Chesapeake, VA, arrested Sgt. John Michael Keane II, 32, he is accused of robbing a bank in the same city where he works as a deputy sheriff.

According to a statement released by the police, at 2:10 p.m., Sgt. Keane entered the BB&T bank on Volvo Parkway and handed a bag to a teller “implying that he was conducting a bank robbery.”

The teller complied, stuffing the bag with money and handed it back. The robber then fled the scene in a red car.

Shortly thereafter, a Chesapeake K-9 officer spotted a car matching the description of the getaway vehicle. Another officer pulled over the Mercury Sable driven by Keane.

Police claim to have found evidence in Keane’s car, linking him to the robbery.

Keane has been a deputy with the Chesapeake Sheriff’s Office since 1998. He was promoted to the rank of Sergeant in July 2008, and supervised intake operations at the Chesapeake Correctional Center.

According to Sheriff’s Office spokesman, Sgt. David Rosado, Keane has been suspended with pay pending the outcome of the robbery investigation.

Memphis Officer Accused of Raping 17-year-old

A Memphis police officer has been accused of raping a 17-year-old high school student.

According to Memphis police spokesperson Alyssa Moore, MPD officers who were assigned to Fairley High School reported the rape of a 17-year-old student, February 5, 2010.

Investigators say the rape was reported to have happened sometime before Feb. 5, away from the school and a Memphis police officer is said to be the suspect.

Moore says the investigation is ongoing and the identities of the victim and suspect cannot be released at this time.

The Memphis Police Department’s Sex Crimes Bureau and Inspectional Services Bureau are conducting the investigation.

Officer On Leave After Shooting At Woman

A police officer who fired his gun at a woman as she drove by him in her SUV has been placed on administrative leave.

Barbara E. Henry, 59, of Sunrise, suffered cuts and bruises from the shattering glass of her vehicle’s window, but the bullet did not strike her.

“I was on my way to work and drove slowly past all the police, who had their lights flashing,” said Henry, a nursing assistant. “I heard a loud bang, and glass flew all over me. I was bleeding, and thought I was shot. The police dragged me out of the car, threw me on the ground, and handcuffed me.”

Henry has not been charged with a crime.

Plantation police officer Miguel Lopez has been placed on paid administrative leave pending the outcome of an investigation into the Monday, Feb. 8 incident.

Sunrise Police spokesman Lt. Brian Gerity said Henry refused the officer’s command to stop, then hit him with her vehicle as she tried to avoid a check point, according to published reports. That’s when Lopez responded by firing one shot at her through the driver’s side window.

Here’s what happened, according to police:

Plantation police had chased two alleged purse snatching suspects into neighboring Sunrise, and set up a network of officers to catch the suspects in the area of the 6100 block of West Sunrise Boulevard. Sunrise police joined the effort to locate the suspects. Lopez was manning a perimeter point on Sunset Strip, near West Sunrise Boulevard. Henry was driving south on Sunset Strip on her way to work at around 10:30 p.m. when she came upon the operation.

“I was driving slow, because I thought there was an accident. The next thing I know, I heard this loud bang,” Henry explained.

Plantation police referred all calls about the incident to the Sunrise Police Department.

“I’ve been directed to forward all inquiries to the city of Sunrise, which is unusual, but they are handling the investigation,” Plantation police spokesman Robert Rettig said.

Sunrise police did not immediately respond to calls and emails from the South Florida Times.

Henry disputes the police version. She said she has no criminal record, and has never been arrested. She said she did not hit or try to avoid anyone at the scene.

“I was screaming and telling them, ‘I am a nurse and I’m on my way to work,’ but they told me I was shot by mistaken identity,” she said.

Henry said paramedics were called, and they rushed her to the hospital, where police seized her cell phone. The 1999 Ford Explorer SUV she was driving was impounded, but was released on Wednesday.

Henry’s attorney said he is filing records requests, and will begin an effort to obtain surveillance video footage from nearby businesses.

“My client was shot at, and for no apparent reason,” said attorney Johnny McCray Jr. “She did not hit anyone, and the shot was fired through the driver’s side window, which raises a lot of other questions why shots were fired in the first place.”

Henry was treated for cuts and bruises at Plantation General Hospital and released.

She said she is having nightmares about the shooting.

“I’m traumatized,” she said. “I can’t sleep, and it’s all I think about.”

Officer Maynard Richardson Arrested for Attempted Sexual Assault

A Des Moines police officer's attempted sexual assault of a woman last week occurred in an industrial area about two miles from where the officer initially met the woman when responding to a call, police said on Monday.

Police said the officer removed none of his clothing, nor was any clothing removed from the woman during the incident.

Officer Maynard Richardson, 35, was arrested Friday on a charge of assault with intent to commit sexual abuse without causing injury and nonfelonious misconduct.

He is accused of attacking a 22-year-old woman in his patrol car while on duty and in uniform.

Police on Monday responded to requests for more information about the alleged assault and the officer's conduct:

• A recording of the woman's 911 call to police that was placed about 6:40 a.m. Friday was made public. In that call, the woman tearfully reported that she had been assaulted by a police officer. She identified Richardson by name. She said that she had not been injured.

The woman asked to have a female officer sent to her location to file the report and said that she feared her name would be disclosed.

The Des Moines Register does not identify sexual assault victims without their consent.

• Richardson initially responded to a call about a fight at an apartment complex at 1414 E. Ninth St. at 3:10 a.m. Friday, police said. Richardson did not file a police report on the fight, however.

• Through the course of that call, Richardson came in contact with the woman. Police said the woman entered the officer's patrol car, but was not under arrest or placed in handcuffs. Police said that Richardson did not know the victim.

• The alleged assault came between 3:10 and 5 a.m. Friday near 1800 E. Euclid Ave. The area is warehouse district, west of the Interstate Highway 235 and Euclid interchange.

Criminal charges were filed Monday in Polk County District Court accusing Richardson, a patrolman since December 2008, of the two charges. His initial court appearance was set for 1 p.m. on Feb. 15.

The attempted sexual abuse charge is an aggravated misdemeanor punishable by up to two years in prison.

The misconduct charge is a serious misdemeanor punishable by up to one year in jail.

On Monday, Police Capt. Randy Dawson and Sgt. Lori Lavorato, the department's spokeswoman, declined to provide much more detail, saying that an internal investigation was continuing.

Police declined Monday to release a supplemental report to the initial report filed last week by police, even though police commonly provide a narrative outlining the circumstances of alleged crimes.

That narrative, among other things, could answer more specifically why the woman got in the patrol car, why police were called to the East Ninth Street location and what other people were involved in the initial incident.

"We are not going to get into what actions he took and what actions she took," Dawson said.

But Lavorato said that police investigators believe that what happened "was not consensual."

"We believe he forced himself on her," Lavorato said.

Asked for specifics about what Richardson is accused of doing, the officers said only that his verbal and physical actions brought investigators to the charge of assault with intent to commit sexual abuse.

Robert Rigg, director of the Drake University Criminal Defense Clinic, said the elements necessary for proving assault with intent to commit sexual abuse do not require a physical act, though that can be the case.

"This kind of charge is valid when there is an act that is taken to cause pain or injury or which is intended to result in physical contact that would be insulting or offensive coupled with the ability to do so," Rigg said.

As a result, Rigg said that any person who would touch a person or intended to touch a person in an insulting or offensive manner would be considered to have committed an assault.

Richardson, who is paid $52,166 a year, was placed on paid administrative leave pending the completion of the department's internal investigation.

Police on Friday announced Richardson's arrest. Police Chief Judy Bradshaw said the charges against Richardson should not be considered to tarnish the department's reputation in the community.