Wednesday, March 19, 2014

Officer Danson Cappo Charged with Domestic Violence

A Honolulu police officer is facing charges in conneciton with a domestic violence case.

Officals say 27 year old Danson Cappo was arrested for alleged family abuse on Sunday.

He was released on  a $1000 bail.

Police records show Cappo has been with the force for two years.

A Honolulu police officer is facing charges in connection with a domestic violence case. Officials say 27-year-old Danson Cappo was arrested for alleged family abuse on Sunday. He was released on one-thousand-dollars bail. Police records show Cappo has been with the force for two years. - See more at: http://www.khnr.com/news/articles/honolulu-officer-arrested-on-suspicion-of-domestic-violence#sthash.OauDv9SE.dpuf
A Honolulu police officer is facing charges in connection with a domestic violence case. Officials say 27-year-old Danson Cappo was arrested for alleged family abuse on Sunday. He was released on one-thousand-dollars bail. Police records show Cappo has been with the force for two years. - See more at: http://www.khnr.com/news/articles/honolulu-officer-arrested-on-suspicion-of-domestic-violence#sthash.OauDv9SE.dpuf
A Honolulu police officer is facing charges in connection with a domestic violence case. Officials say 27-year-old Danson Cappo was arrested for alleged family abuse on Sunday. He was released on one-thousand-dollars bail. Police records show Cappo has been with the force for two years. - See more at: http://www.khnr.com/news/articles/honolulu-officer-arrested-on-suspicion-of-domestic-violence#sthash.OauDv9SE.dpuf

Officer Salvador Becerra Arrested for Groping Woman he Arrested

As many as six women have come forward saying that an Odessa police officer detained them and then groped their breasts. The allegations began to surface after a woman who was arrested for having a joint in her pocket reported the groping.

Obtained affidavits state officer Salvador Becerra allegedly brought at least three and likely more women back to his patrol car where he talked to them and then proceeded to put his hands under their bras and felt their breasts. During this time, he turned off audio on his unit’s recording equipment, but cameras corroborated the women’s stories.

On March 9 of this year, Becerra detained a woman who admitted to having a joint in her pocket. The affidavit on the case states that Officer Becerra told her that “if she made an exception then they would not go to jail.” It was then that the woman reluctantly allowed him to touch her breasts. She reported the incident soon after.

This resulted in investigators looking into the allegation and finding that it held merit after reviewing camera footage. Soon after more women began to make complaints about the officer.

While reviewing footage, investigators found a similar issue on February 21 in which another woman had made a similar complaint.

A third incident was then found and the affidavit states a third victim was contacted by Becerra on March 2, just a week before the incident which uncovered these abuses of power, in the parking lot of Floyd Gwenn Park in Odessa. It states that while on duty and in uniform, Becerra detained the third victim, asked her breast size, and “inserted his hand under [her] bra and shirt and fondled one of her breasts.”

So far, these three incidents have resulted in charges and three other women have come forward as well.

Becerra has since bonded out of Ector County Jail and is wearing an ankle monitor. He is charged with Improper Sexual Activity with a Person in Custody and Violations of the Civil Rights of a Person in Custody.

Odessa Police asks anyone with any information concerning such incidents to call their 24 hour number at 333-3641 or 335-4961 to speak to the acting Lt. Commander.

Officer Christopher Russo Arrested After Lying About Being Stabbed

“Blame a black guy” excuse never gets old for some people. A former “Officer of the Year” who claimed that he was ambushed and stabbed by two black men during a robbery finally admitted that he totally made up the whole story and is now facing charges…as he should!

A police officer was arrested after making up a story about being ambushed and stabbed by two black males. According to reports by WSB-TV, Clayton County Police Officer Christopher Russo filed a false report with police in McDonough, Ga.

Russo told officers he walked into a burglary in progress at an apartment complex while off duty. He said two men ambushed, punched and peppered sprayed him then cut him with a knife. In the police report, he said the two men sounded like black males.

McDonough police investigated the scene and realized that it was highly unlikely that a burglary took place. After Georgia Bureau of Investigators questioned Russo, he confessed and told them he made the story up and stabbed himself.

Without proper police work, two innocent black males could have been arrested and charged with the assault and stabbing of a police officer.

Russo was arrested on charges of false report of a crime, a misdemeanor and making false statements. He has since been released on bond.

Detective Derik Carson Kumagia Arrested on Federal Charges


A Fresno police detective was arrested Tuesday on federal charges that accuse him of taking a $20,000 bribe from a suspected drug dealer.

Vice intelligence squad detective Derik Carson Kumagai, 40, and alleged co-conspirator Saykham Somphoune, 40, of Clovis, were booked into the Fresno County Jail on charges of conspiracy, bribery and extortion, Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark Cullers said at a news conference in U.S. District Court in Fresno.

A criminal complaint says Somphoune, who is not a law enforcement officer, also took or agreed to accept a bribe from the suspected drug dealer.

They will be arraigned today in federal court.

"It's a sad day for the Fresno Police Department," said a solemn Police Chief Jerry Dyer, who joined Cullers and other federal law enforcement officials at the news conference.

Dyer said Kumagai has been with the Fresno Police Department since June 2000. For the past 14 months, he has been assigned to the vice intelligence unit, the chief said. The unit investigates things like prostitution and outlaw biker gangs and assists narcotics officers with major drug investigations.

Dyer said there was nothing in Kumagai's background to alert his supervisors to any potential wrongdoing. Kumagai is now on paid administrative leave pending the outcome of an internal police investigation. Dyer said the officer has given up his badge and service weapon for the time being.

"I'm disappointed," Dyer said. "It's cases like this that erode the trust that our citizens have in the police department."

Cullers declined to discuss the relationship between Kumagai and Somphoune, but he and the criminal complaint outlined the allegations against the pair:

According to Cullers, federal agents had been investigating a marijuana operation for about two years when they learned Kumagai and Somphoune had met with a suspected drug trafficker several times last fall.

In late October, Somphoune first told the suspected drug dealer that "Kumagai and others were asking for $60,000 in return for closing the purported investigation," the complaint says. Then on Oct. 22, Somphoune and Kumagai met with the suspected drug dealer, the complaint says, and told him the federal investigation "could be dropped in return for a bribe payment."

On Nov. 6, 2013, the suspected drug dealer paid Kumagai $20,000 cash, the complaint says.

After the bribe was paid, the suspected drug dealer completed documents to become a confidential police informant.

Cullers said the suspected drug trafficker had a motive to become an informant: "He could fly under the radar" and not be suspected in investigations.

Dyer said Kumagai didn't have the authority to sign up an informant. According to department policy, Dyer said, the Fresno County District Attorney's Office must sign off on anyone who wants to become an informant for police.

The case was the result of an investigation by the federal Drug Enforcement Administration, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Homeland Security Investigations.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Grant Rabenn and Kevin Rooney are prosecuting the case.

If convicted of conspiracy, the two defendants face a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine, Cullers said. A conviction on the bribery charge carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

Officer Kenneth Bielik Charged with Disorderly Conduct

A Youngstown police officer is due in court this evening on charges of disorderly conduct and failure to desist after being arrested late Monday for allegedly interfering in the investigation of a fight at a gas station.

Kenneth Bielik, 29, of Austintown, was issued a summons on the charges following an incident at Sheetz gas sation at the corner of Mahoning Avenue and Route 46.

Youngstown Police Chief Robin Lees said Bielik is not on suspension because the investigation into the officer’s behavior just began and he wants to wait to see what happens in court.

According to a police report, Austintown officers were called to the gas station just after 11:30 p.m. Monday for a large fight. When they arrived, they saw a man, later identified as James Bielik, 31, shoving another man, Andrew Irwin, against a brick wall outside the gas station.

After seeing James Bielik shove Irwin a second time, officers ordered them to separate, and they complied. Irwin told officers he was confronted by James Bielik inside the store and was pushed out the double doors into the parking lot by James Bielik, who is the YPD officer’s brother.

Officers said James Bielik was very drunk and he told officers he thought Irwin was bothering his sister, which prompted the confrontation.

While Austintown officers were trying to interview James Bielik, Kenneth Bielik kept trying to interrupt despite repeated warnings to step away, the report states.

The report states that at one point, Kenneth Bielik yelled “I work for YPD. I am a police officer. What are you going to arrest me for?” Austintown officers noted in the report that Kenneth Bielik appeared very intoxicated, smelled strongly of alcohol and had glassy and bloodshot eyes.

After being told he would be arrested for disorderly conduct and obstructing official business if he did not walk away, Bielik had to be restrained by a friend, the report states.

As officers were trying to question a woman at the scene about what happened, Bielik continued to walk over and interject his comments. After being given several warnings and continuing his aggressive behavior, Austintown officers arrested Bielik for disorderly conduct and failure to desist.

At first, Bielik refused to be handcuffed, but he later complied, the report states. Once at the Austintown police station, Bielik calmed down and said he was upset because of a comment made toward his sister and he was defending her, the report states.

James Bielik was issued a summons for disorderly conduct after Irwin refused to press charges for assault, the report states.

Corrections Officer Mark Pronovost Arrested for Child Porn

Officials say a man surrendered peacefully after barricading himself inside an Orange City home around 11 a.m. Tuesday morning.

State and federal Internet crimes agents showed up to serve a search warrant at Mark Pronovost's home.  Pronovost, 32, happens to be a corrections officer at the Volusia County Jail. Investigators said they recently learned child porn was being sent to, or from, Pronovost's computer. As they were trying to serve the search warrant, they said Pronovost was initially very cooperative.

"He became uncooperative at some point, grabbed one of the children -- the smallest one -- and barricaded himself in a room and armed himself with a firearm, said Tony Rodriguez with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.

Hostage crisis negotiators talked with Pronovost, convincing him to let the child go.  After awhile they say Pronovost handed over his gun and surrendered.

"He made no threats toward law enforcement.  He said he did not wish to hurt law enforcement, and we do not believe he would have hurt any of his children either," Rodriguez said.

Pronovost was arrested and taken to Seminole County Jail, because of his ties to the Volusia County Jail.