Saturday, June 07, 2008

NYPD Officer Fahad Chaudhry Arrested for Menacing

A New York City police officer was arrested on a menacing charge Friday, several hours after he barreled through a security checkpoint at Hofstra University while off duty and pointed his service pistol at a man who had accompanied his former girlfriend to a Manhattan nightclub, Nassau police said.

Officer Fahad R. Chaudhry, 25, of the Bronx, faces a menacing charge in connection with an incident that began about 3:30 a.m. Friday at Sounds of Brazil and ended in a Hofstra dorm parking lot, where Chaudhry pointed the 9-mm Glock at a 23-year-old man with Chaudhry's ex-girlfriend, a Hofstra student, said Nassau police spokesman Anthony Repalone.

Hofstra police responded to the scene and defused the crisis, Repalone said. No one was hurt.Nassau police charged Officer Chaudhry with second-degree menacing, Repalone said.

Chaudhry, a three-year veteran assigned to the 40th Precinct in the Bronx, was suspended without pay for 30 days. His attorney, Jeff Groder, of Mineola, declined to comment Friday.

Repalone said the incident began when Chaudhry bumped into his ex-girlfriend and the alleged victim at the nightclub.

Soon after the alleged victim arrived on the Hofstra campus, Chaudhry drove past the security booth and headed for his former girlfriend's dormitory, prompting campus security to respond, Repalone said. Chaudhry got out of the car and pointed his gun at the 23-year-old, who pushed it away, Repalone said.

A spokesman for Nassau District Attorney Kathleen Rice said Chaudhry was arraigned before District Court Judge David Goodselland released on his own recognizance. Spokesman Eric Phillips said Goodsell granted orders of protection for the man and Chaudhry's ex-girlfriend. He is due in court June 15.

Dallas Officer Arrested for Drunk Driving

A 24-year veteran of the Dallas Police Department has been placed on administrative leave after he was arrested early Saturday morning.

Wylie police arrested Sgt. Robert J. Crider II around 12:20 a.m. on suspicion of driving while intoxicated, according to a statement released by Dallas police.

Sgt. Crider will remain on leave pending an investigation by the internal affairs division.

Lake Crystal Police Officer Charged with Theft

A former Lake Crystal police officer, who resigned in December after 14 years of service, is facing a felony charge for allegedly selling a van without a clean title.

James Walter Johnson Jr., 36, is scheduled to appear in court June 12 for a felony charge of selling a vehicle without revealing a creditor’s security interest and a misdemeanor theft charge. He’s accused of selling a 1997 Ford Windstar van for $200 without telling the buyer AmeriCredit Financial had a $2,027 lien on the vehicle.

Alan White and his sister, Marnee White, attempted to transfer the van’s title in December 2006. They had purchased the van from Johnson and his wife, Pamela, then. Johnson told Alan White the lien card for the title was lost and he would send it to him later.

When Alan White asked Pamela Johnson about the lien card in January 2007, she told him she had applied for a duplicate card and it would be delivered in six to eight weeks. When Pamela Johnson was contacted again in July about the title, she allegedly left a phone message saying, “Do you think I care.”

When the Whites contacted AmeriCredit that same day, they learned the Johnsons still owed more than $2,000 for the vehicle. They are not able to drive the van because they can’t get registration tabs for it, the criminal complaint said. The case is being investigated by the State Patrol.

Lake Crystal Police Chief Tony Cornish said Johnson started working for the Police Department on Nov. 1, 1993, and resigned on Dec. 20, 2007. Cornish said he could not say why Johnson resigned because it is not public information.

Gurnee Officer Accused of Sexually Abusing 2 Children

Bond was set at $1.5 million Friday for a decorated Gurnee Police Department officer who was arrested and charged with three counts of sexually abusing and assaulting two children.

Lake County Sheriff's deputies arrested Officer Jay Simon, 36, of Round Lake Park, at 12:25 p.m. Friday at the Gurnee Police station.

According to the arrest warrant, Simon, the father of three, is charged with predatory criminal sexual assault of a child, a Class X felony; aggravated criminal sexual abuse, a Class 2 felony, and misdemeanor aggravated assault.

Simon faces six to 30 years in prison if convicted of the Class X felony; three to seven years if convicted of the Class 2 felony, and jail for up to a year with a $2,500 fine if convicted of the misdemeanor.

Lake County State's Attorney Michael Waller said the sexual assaults involved a girl under age 13 that began between March and September 2007. Another girl under 13 was allegedly sexually abused in November 2006.

Waller said a 35-year-old adult male was assaulted by Simon in March 2007. That case was not related to the sexual assault cases.

Gurnee authorities said they were informed of the investigation of Simon in April. He was immediately placed on administrative leave, and remains on leave.

Simon was praised at a Village Board meeting last month for making 47 driving-under-the-influence arrests in 2007, giving him a career total of 397 DUI arrests. He was honored in 2005, 2006 and 2007 as the village's "top cop" and cited by the Illinois Department of Transportation for his number of DUI arrests.

Former Officer Alfred Porro Accused of stealing Cocaine & Cannabis

Gibraltar,UK


A former Police Officer, employed as storeman at Police headquarters, has been charged with the theft of 10 kilos of cocaine and 50 kilos of cannabis resin. This follows events last year, with the storeman being arrested on 1st January this year.

The RGP has named the storeman as Alfred Porro, 42 years of age, of Governor's Street.

The arrest took place after it was discovered that cocaine had gone missing from the exhibits storeroom at New Mole House police headquarters. He was on police bail.

Subsequenly, it was reported that cannabis had gone missing from the Irish Town sub-station.

Porro has also been charged with theft of a rucksack, a portable play station and games.

Police say that following the discovery of the missing cocaine, investigations led detectives to carry out further checksof drugs stored at both police HQ and Irish Town station. Fifty kilos of cannabis resin were found missing, of which 15 kilos have been recovered.

Porro retired early from the RGP and was later employed as a civilian storeman.

A police statement says he was yesterday released from police bail and charged. "He is currently interdicted," said a spokesman. Porro is appearing in court this morning.

FULL TEXT

The full text of the Press release from the RGP yesterday reads as follows:"The storeman employed at New Mole House Police Headquarters who was arrested on 1st of January 2008, after it was disovered that 10 kilos of Cocaine was missing from the exhibits storeroom has been recalled from police bail. Alfred Porro dob 16 10 65 of 51/5 Governor’s Street has been charged with the following offences:

1. Theft of 10 Kilos of Cocaine

2. Theft of 50 Kilos of Cannabis Resin

3. Theft of a rucksack, a portable play station (PSP) and games.

"He will be appearing in court at 1000hrs 6th June 2008. The protracted investigation led detectives to carry out further checks of drugs stored at both New Mole House and Central Police Station, the latter is where the Cannabis Resin was found to have been stolen from. Of the 50 kilos of Cannabis Resin stolen from Central Police Station, 15kg were recovered during the course of the investigation. Porro is currently interdicted."

Officer Charged in Insurance Scheme

A Chicago police officer, Joseph Grillo, is linked to a scheme that allegedly defrauded a car insurance company.

Grillo and an accomplice allegedly submitted false claims for stolen vehicles.
The Chicago Police Department's Internal Affairs Division worked with the FBI on the investigation of Grillo.

James Athans runs a tow company on the city's Northwest Side. His nickname is "Meatball." And he's accused of helping at least two Chicago police officers commit insurance fraud. He's charged with coordinating a chop shop operation at the behest of Grillo.

Here's how the feds say it worked: Officer Grillo allegedly helped another unnamed 25th District officer get rid of his car so he could claim insurance money.

The car in question is a 1996 Volkswagen Passat. FBI wiretaps reveal conversations between Grillo and co-defendant Athans in which they plotted for the Passat to appear to have been stolen from a parking area near the back of the police station.

Grillo is allegedly heard on recorded phone conversations telling the tow truck man that his fellow officer would "park some place and you'll just take it."

Athans responded: "Yeah, I'm thinking about just taking it by, ah, and put it behind my lot and just burn it behind my lot."

"Yeah, alright." Grillo answered.

"He's got a 13-year outstanding record of service. He's unblemished and he's an outstanding law and abiding citizen and individual," said Barry Sheppard, Grillo's attorney.

Grillo was in court Wednesday and the orange jump suit of a federal inmate.
"It's emotional, it's stressful but he'll be fine," said Sheppard.

A police spokesperson is hinting more officers may be caught up in this car insurance scam.

In a statement, police say, "The joint investigation was launched in 2006 and remains on going with additional charged expected to be filed."

Officer Andrew Baker Convicted of Obstruction of Justice


James City, VA


A former police officer who lied about getting shot was ordered into counseling and must pay $41,115 restitution to the county and Williamsburg police departments.

That amount covered the cost of the investigation and hospital care for Officer Andrew Baker.

“There’s a lot I could say, but this is a mental health issue,” said defense attorney Rich Rizk, saying it was a family issue that snowballed.

Last December, Baker said he was breaking up a fight behind a church on Pocahontas Trail when he was hit by a bullet.

Investigators say the bullet that hit Baker's Kevlar vest matched a gun he had.

Baker was originallly charged with filing a false police report, but the judge Friday amended that to obstruction of justice. He also found Baker guilty of firing a gun within 300 feet of a business or home.

For those charges, Baker was given a two-year suspended sentence on condition he fulfills the other orders.

“There is no amount of restitution that can fix the black eye he gave to the Windy Hill Community,” said Commonwealth Attorney Nathan Green.

Baker resigned from the force on February 26, 2008.

Officer Aaron York Accused of Lying about Arrest

Austin, TX

Austin Police Officer Aaron York was suspended indefinitely Friday, in connection with an arrest Officer York made in December 2007. Austin Police Chief Art Acevedo said York made untrue statements about an arrest in in official government documents.

Officer York responded to a report of a man screaming in the alley off East Cesar Chavez Street on December 14. York says the man was intoxicated. York said when he tried to make the arrest, the man tried to kick him. For that, he filed a charge of resisting arrest.

In the probable cause affidavit and offense report, York stated that the suspect was violent and resisted arrest. But according to the dashboard video recorded in York's patrol car, Chief Acevedo states that there was no struggle and the suspect did not kick York as he claimed.

"One of the officer's supervisors reviewed the tape in this case and read the offense report and saw a discrepancy. What was in the report wasn't on the video," said Assistant Chief David Carter.

York told integrity officers that he did not lie in his report and wrote what he remembered. The officer is quoted in the memo saying the kick must have happened out of view of the camera. His superiors did not find the story credible. York was fired.

"When police can't be trusted and they swear to something that simply didn't happen, that violates everybody's sense of justice," Carter said.

"The officer will have to explain his actions. I don't think it was his intention at all to misrepresent anything, but we're just going to support his appeal process.

Police have asked the county court to decide whether to charge the man with resisting arrest. Officers say while the man did not show resistance during the arrest, he did during transportation to jail.

Officer York is the ninth officer to be fired under Chief Acevedo.

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Good job Chief Acevedo!!