Deputy Clerk William Montgomery Sentenced to JUST 18 months for Molesting Child

William Tyrone Montgomery was sentenced Monday to 1½ years in prison for molesting a young girl in the 1980s, beginning when she was 8 years old.

Montgomery, 52, resigned from his longtime job as a deputy clerk for Lorain County Clerk of Courts Ron Nabakowski earlier this month under public pressure after pleading guilty to gross sexual imposition charges in March. His plea was part of a deal that saw prosecutors drop additional charges of rape and sexual battery.

Montgomery also was labeled a sexually oriented offender and will have to register for 10 years after his release from prison.

Although the victim, who now is an adult, wasn’t in court Monday, Assistant County Prosecutor Chris Pierre read a letter she wrote urging county Common Pleas Judge Mark Betleski to impose a prison sentence.

The victim wrote that Montgomery had molested her for a decade and she endured it because she was afraid she was going to get in trouble herself or suffer other consequences if she told anyone.

“I locked all the bad stuff away in a separate little box in my brain,” the letter said.

She wrote that the abuse made her feel terrible and that “rotten became my normal.”

The victim said that in her mind justice for Montgomery would see him serving time in prison, where he could feel some of what she felt while he was sexually abusing her.

“I want him to live locked away in a little box,” the letter said. “I want him to live in fear.”

Montgomery apologized in court for his actions.

“I’m truly sorry for what I have done,” he said. “Through the course of my life I have never wanted to hurt anybody.”

Defense attorney Jack Bradley said Montgomery also had apologized to the girl’s family about four years ago. Montgomery was indicted in August 2013, shortly before the statute of limitations in the case would have run out.

He said his client still has the backing of his church and several co-workers and supporters who wrote letters to Betleski urging leniency.

But Pierre countered that those supporting Montgomery weren’t around when he was molesting the victim and couldn’t attest to who he truly was.

“Character is who you are and what you do when no one else is around, and the state would submit that (the victim) knows what the defendant is like when no one else is around,” he said.

Betleski said he was imposing the sentence based on the charges Montgomery had pleaded guilty to, not the allegations that had been leveled.

He also was critical of the direction the public discourse surrounding Montgomery’s employment took.

Although Nabakowski had said he would wait until after sentencing to decide what to do with Mongtomery, he also said that he was unlikely to fire him if he received probation. That brought complaints from the public and county Commissioner Tom Williams, who pushed for Montgomery to be barred from county property if he wasn’t fired.

Betleski said the debate failed to take into account the low recidivism rates of sex offenders and that those who had called for Montgomery to be fired didn’t appear to know that. He also said that those who believe felons shouldn’t be allowed to have jobs should avoid most of the restaurants in the county.

Williams, who didn’t attend the hearing, said he was disappointed to learn of Betleski’s comments.

“If that’s the way the judge feels, he’s out of touch with the way the majority of people feel,” he said.

Officer Desmond Pleads Guilty to Sex Charges

New Orleans police Officer Desmond Pratt, a former homicide detective who investigated a 2009 murder pinned on accused Central City crime boss Telly Hankton, stood up in orange jail scrubs Friday and lightly fist-bumped a courtroom bailiff.

He crossed his chest with a shackled hand, heaved a nervous breath and gestured to a pair of relatives sitting in the gallery. Pratt then turned to the judge and pleaded guilty to three felony sex charges stemming from separate allegations spanning 15 years, back to his days as a rookie cop.

Criminal District Court Judge Franz Zibilich recited the rights Pratt already knew and was giving up with his plea, then handed him a three-year prison sentence.

Pratt pleaded guilty to two counts of sexual battery and one count of carnal knowledge of a juvenile. He shook his head and frequently glanced back at his weeping family, who sat alongside the dry-eyed mother of the most recent victim.

The deal culminated weeks of plea negotiations between prosecutors and Pratt’s attorney, Robert Jenkins, before a trial scheduled for Tuesday.

Indicted in August, Pratt, 43, faced as much as two decades behind bars if convicted in an aggravated sex crime involving the most recent victim, whose allegation dates from last spring.

The allegation in that case was reduced to sexual battery. Pratt also faced charges of aggravated sexual assault and carnal knowledge of a juvenile from earlier incidents in 1998 and 2001. He pleaded guilty as charged to those counts. All three victims were from 13 to 15 years old at the time of the incidents.

The two older allegations stemmed from complaints made after Pratt was arrested last April.

First, a Texas woman came forward to say Pratt had abused her while she was a student at a New Orleans public school. Police then unearthed an old complaint against Pratt from 2001, when another victim accused him of abuse; NOPD detectives at the time of that complaint determined the evidence to be “inconclusive.”

Prosecutor Jason Napoli acknowledged that the two earlier victims refused to testify in the case and rebuffed prosecutors’ attempts to gain their cooperation. Most recently, Napoli said, the victim from the 1998 incident last week “informed us she was not willing to get on that flight.”

Also, the victim in the most recent incident “does not wish a severe penalty on him,” Napoli told Zibilich.

The girl’s desire, and the lack of cooperation from the others, weighed on the sentence, said Zibilich, who also noted that none of the victims wanted to make a statement in court following Pratt’s plea, as the law allows.

Still, “one can only assume at least some activity occurred,” the judge said of the allegations.

“Whether these victims have actually forgiven you is something I don’t really know,” Zibilich told Pratt. The judge urged Pratt to “address this issue” while in prison and said he would recommend that the state assign him to a special facility for security reasons.

At an earlier hearing, Zibilich had urged Pratt to consider a plea deal, noting that the most serious of the charges in the indictment could have landed him in prison for 20 years if he was convicted. “You’re at risk here,” he said at the March 13 hearing.

Just how Pratt’s conviction could affect pending criminal cases in which he has played a role remains uncertain.

Hankton, who is serving a life prison sentence for a 2008 murder, is among 13 family members and alleged associates charged in a federal racketeering case that wraps together other murders, violent crimes and an alleged drug ring dating back decades.

Among the murders was the slaying of Hankton rival Jessie “TuTu” Reed in 2009. A witness in that case, Hasan “Hockie” Williams, identified Hankton as one of the shooters, according to police, and was gunned down a few weeks later. Pratt played a lead role in the investigation of Reed’s murder, and he requested witness protection for Williams shortly before his killing, according to police documents.

In the meantime, Pratt’s involvement in another case already has caused trouble for District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro’s office. Last year, Pratt refused to testify about a murder investigation. Through his testimony, prosecutors were trying to introduce witness statements that he took, but they were stymied by his silence on the witness stand.

That prosecution, accusing Terrance Nobles, 22, and Demond Taylor, 29, of gunning down 18-year-old Roderick Sheppard in October 2010, remains pending.

Christopher Bowman, a spokesman for Cannizzaro’s office, said he didn’t know how many pending cases may still involve Pratt as a potential witness or what will become of them.

“We’re going to deal with those on a case-by-case basis,” Bowman said.

He also said he didn’t know whether any criminal cases had been scuttled because of the sex allegations against Pratt.

Although Napoli offered no opinion in court Friday about what sentence Zibilich should impose — sexual battery carries a possible sentence of zero to 10 years — Cannizzaro agreed to the plea deal because it locked in prison time for the officer, Bowman said.

“What we got out of the deal was a guarantee for years in prison,” Bowman said. “Also, for the crimes he was convicted of, he will have to register for the rest of his life as a sex offender. We were able to satisfy our public safety objectives as well as the desires of the victims, so this was a good day.”

Pratt will get credit for the 11 months he has spent behind bars, mostly in St. Charles Parish. As he left the courtroom accompanied by an Orleans Parish sheriff’s deputy, Pratt mouthed, “I didn’t do it.” Ambling down the hallway in chains, he stopped to chat with family members and the mother of the most recent victim.

Prosecutors said she had been uncooperative in their investigation — a claim she hotly disputed to the judge.

Officer Michelle Turner Charged with Sexual Battery

A veteran North Port police officer was arrested Thursday night on charges of sexual battery and false imprisonment, while a fellow officer took his own life before a warrant for his arrest was served.

Police crews were at the North Port home of the late officer Ricky Urbina well into the night, investigating his death.

The veteran police officer was about to be arrested on the same charges as his fellow officer, Michelle Turner.

The investigation into their misconduct, started in early March.

"I had a feeling he was involved. Only because his police car hadn't been here for the past couple weeks. Crazy anything like this goes on in such a small town," a neighbor on Urbina's street told 10 News.

"He was a nice guy."

In the heavily redacted affidavit, the victim, (who, in accordance to our 10 News Crime Guidelines, will not be named), claims she was handcuffed by Officer Turner and taken into a bedroom at a birthday party.

That's where the alleged sexual assault involving both officers took place. The details are so graphic, 10 News has chosen not to reveal them.

Urbina was on duty at the time of the party, and Turner was not.

In a press conference today, the Sarasota Sheriff's Office explained there was an agreement in place: If either officer would be arrested, they'd be notified ahead of time. Turner complied and was taken into custody.

Urbina had one request. To be arrested at a location separate from his home, but as detectives were en route to the location, there was a shooting at his home. Urbina was found dead.

The North Port Police Chief is scheduled to hold a press conference at 11:00 a.m. on Friday. 10 News will have more information as it becomes available.

Former Officer Patrick Earwood Charged with Molesting Girls Due in Court

A former Cave Spring police officer accused of molesting girls and forcing women into sexual acts is scheduled for an arraignment next month.

Patrick Edward Earwood, 31, remained in jail Friday without bond. Earwood is scheduled to appear April 11 before a Floyd County Superior Court judge.

Earwood has the option of having his charges read to him at the arraignment.

Prosecutors allege Ear wood coerced girls and women to perform sex acts or expose themselves.

Authorities first learned of the allegations when a girl alleged she rode in Earwood’s patrol car, and that he asked her for sex, police reported.

An investigation began, which led detectives to two different women.

According to an order by Superior Court Judge Tami Colston:

The first woman said Earwood arrested her and took her to City Hall. Earwood then told her he’d free her if she gave him oral sex. When she said nothing, Earwood returned her to his patrol car and began driving to the Floyd County Jail.

“On the way to the jail, Defendant Earwood said ‘are you going to do this or not?’” the order states. “She responded, ‘You know, I’m going to have to do this?’ He said yes and pulled off the road.”

The woman performed oral sex on Earwood, and he then took the woman to meet her mother. She did not go to jail.

The second woman said she encountered Earwood when he arrested her for DUI. Earwood said they could “work something out” if her boyfriend wasn’t in the car. She thought little of the comment, and Earwood took her to the police station for a breath test. When she failed the test, Earwood put her in his patrol car and began driving to jail.

“On the way to the jail, Earwood offered to lower one of the traffic charges if she would let him touch her breasts,” the order states. “She moved up closer to him and he fondled her breasts on the way to the jail.”

Earwood faces two counts each of aggravated sodomy, second-degree child cruelty, sexual battery and sexual assault against a person in custody. He also faces charges of aggravated child molestation, child molestation, giving false statements and violation of his oath by a public officer.

Deputy Bobby Joe Chandler Arrested for Sexual Battery on Juvenile

A Harrison County deputy who once served as deputy warden at the county jail has been accused of sexual battery.

Bobby Joe Chandler, 64, of Gulfport, was arrested Saturday on a charge that alleges sexual involvement with a girl who is a juvenile.

Sheriff Melvin Brisolara confirmed the arrest Monday.

"He was terminated today," Brisolara said.

Chandler was booked at the Hancock County jail and held on a $100,000.

Booking him at a neighboring jail is standard procedure to ensure his safety, the sheriff said.

Chandler had been promoted to deputy warden at the Harrison County jail Feb. 1, 2008.

Brisolara said Chandler served in that capacity less than a year and was named maintenance manager of buildings used by the sheriff's office, including the jail and work center.

"He didn't work in the enforcement part," Brisolara said, "but under the state Constitution, he was still considered a deputy."

The attorney general's office is investigating the case.

Detective Oldy Ochoa Jr Arrested for Sexual Battery on Minor

Oldy Ochoa Jr. allegedly met the girl while working on a case. The two flirted on Facebook and e-mail, and -- according to the girl -- the Miami Beach Police detective photographed his young muse as she posed suggestively.

According to a search warrant, the girl had a troubled past and spent a lot of time in the police department with officers.

Now the 17-year-old is saying that Ochoa sexually battered her on two occasions in his police car. The first incident allegedly occurred behind a strip mall in Pembroke Pines, which is where Ochoa lives. The girl told police that a second incident occurred in a wooded part of Northwest Miami-Dade.

Ochoa has been suspended with pay as police look into the accusations. His police car has been mined for DNA samples, and the investigation is ongoing.

"We take these allegations very seriously," Miami Beach Chief Raymond Martinez says. "We are cooperating with the Pembroke Pines Police Department to make sure there is a thorough investigation."

Ochoa joined the beach police force in 1991 and started off small. In 1993, the Miami Herald reported that he was deployed to a city commission meeting in case an angry man in crutches came by to disturb the peace. But as he became a veteran officer, he graduated to homicide, where he apparently worked on some high profile murder cases, including the probe into the murder of transexual woman Rene "Rosita" Hidalgo a year-and-a-half ago.

Officer Christopher Hays Arrested for Sexual Battery

San Diego police Officer Christopher Hays was arrested Sunday afternoon on suspicion of false imprisonment and misdemeanor sexual battery with four women, police officials said.

The District Attorney’s Office is also investigating claims by two more women.

Most of the cases involve claims that Hays inappropriately touched women — all in their 20s or 30s — during pat-down searches of their bodies. However, at a news conference Sunday afternoon, San Diego Police Chief Bill Lansdowne said that at least one of the two new cases involves more serious claims involving sexual contact that could involve felony charges.

 

Hays, 30, surrendered at 1 p.m. Sunday at the sheriff’s substation in Rancho Bernardo and was booked into the downtown jail at 1:30 p.m. He was booked on two counts of false imprisonment and three counts of misdemeanor sexual battery. He was later released on $130,000 bond.

“This officer, if the allegations prove to be true, will go to prison,” Lansdowne said.

If the district attorney charges Hays with the counts that he was arrested on, police said he could face up to 7½ years in prison.

Lansdowne said that four cases were uncovered through an internal investigation after a woman came forward in December to report that she had been inappropriately frisked by an officer. Police detectives checked every case Hays had been involved in since he was hired four years ago, and three more women were found with similar claims involving incidents with Hays that occurred between Nov. 12, 2012, and Dec. 23, 2013. After those four cases were turned over to the District Attorney’s Office, a fifth woman was found through the police investigation.

Following publicity about the Hays investigation, a sixth woman came forward through her attorney on Friday, saying she was contacted by Hays in October 2012 for an unspecified reason and pressured to perform a sex act with him.

Hays has been placed on unpaid administrative leave. No arraignment date has been announced.

Officer Julio Pagan Arrested for Sexual Battery

Another sex scandal at the Lakeland Police Department, and this time, the officer involved faces criminal charges.

Officer Julio Pagan, 31, was arrested today on two counts of sexual battery and one count of stalking.

"There are simply no words to describe my shock, my outrage, my disgust about this," said Chief Lisa Womack.

Chief Womack says the investigation dates back to a time right in the middle of the department's highly publicized sex scandal.

Investigators say Officer Pagan responded to a July 4th call near a trailer park and that's where he first met the alleged victim.

Six weeks later, during another call, the woman says Pagan coerced her to have sex with him in her bathroom while he was still armed, in uniform, and on duty.

Asked if this will only promote talk of persistent culture problems now under her command as well at Lakeland P.D., Chief Womack was clearly frustrated.

"This is not a departmental issue," she said pausing for moment, "You want to know how I feel about it? Fed up," she said.

The alleged victim says three weeks later, Pagan, again on-duty, was back, asking her for a "quickie" according to the police report.

Surveillance video shows Pagan's cruiser pulling up to a nearby Circle K store, where images, say detectives, show the woman buys alcohol before both return to her house.

Investigators say Pagan then came back a second time on that same date,August 29th, but that the woman made an excuse to fend off his advances and called police to complain about Pagan's visits.

However the dispatcher, identified as Christinia Jordan, now on administrative leave, never sent an officer.

"I have no valid explanation as to at this point why that that did not occur," said Chief Womack. An investigation into the matter was "about 90%" complete, she said.

The victim, who never had a police officer respond, got another uninvited visit from Pagan about three weeks later.

Relatives called to complain yet again, and this time Lakeland sent an investigator.

Austin Garcia, a neighbor, says a short time later, the trailer park area was visited by multiple officers.

"I did see a couple of squad cars go over there and stuff, like about 5 or 6 of them," he said, "They stayed there about an hour or two and left."

Chief Womack says she knows the public is already commenting about how this may yet again be an example of the "culture" within Lakeland P.D., but she took issue with that assertion.

This was not a departmental culture issue, she said -it's a crime.

Pagan, she said,will likely be formally fire dover the next couple of days.

He faces life in prison if convicted.

Former Officer Bennie Hand Charged with Sexually Abusing Vulnerable Adult

A former Wellford police officer was arrested Tuesday by state agents after they said he sexually and physically abused a vulnerable adult.

The State Law Enforcement Division said between July 1, 2012 and Jan. 1, 2013, 32-year-old Bennie Hand sexually battered and physically abused the victim, who suffers from a mental condition impairing her from providing her own care or protecting herself.

During the abuse, SLED said Hand worked as a Wellford police officer.

Wellford Mayor Thomas Watson said the city received a complaint about the allegations made against Hand and called in SLED to investigate. He was placed on administrative leave when the investigation began and was fired following his arrest, Watson said.

Hand was arrested on charges of misconduct in office, criminal sexual conduct third degree and abuse of a vulnerable adult.

State agents were called in to investigate at the request of Wellford police and the 13th Circuit Solicitor's Office will prosecute the case.

Hand is being held at the Spartanburg County Detention Center.

Former Deputy Carl Graves Accused of Raping 13-year-old

Jurors heard opening statements Wednesday afternoon in the trial of a former Brevard County sheriff's deputy accused of raping a 13-year-old girl.

An attorney for Carl E. Graves, 47, said he maintains that he is innocent of six counts of sexual battery and three counts of molestation. Each charge is a second-degree felony, punishable by up to 15 years in prison.

A two-day jury selection process wrapped up Tuesday in Circuit Judge George Maxwell’s courtroom at the Moore Justice Center in Viera.

Legal wrangling between Graves and his attorneys over their possible withdrawal from the case halted proceedings until this afternoon. Attorneys resumed about 2 p.m. to go forward with opening statements.

Sheriff's deputies arrested Graves in May 2007, a month after his former girlfriend went to police with allegations that she caught the Cocoa man holding her daughter against a wall and trying to kiss her, according to an arrest affidavit.

Police said the teen told them that the sexual contact progressed from inappropriately touching her during trips to buy the girl candy, soda and cigarettes to forcing her to have sex several times in summer 2006.

Officials said Graves was fired in February 2007 before the rape allegations.

Former Officer Jonathan Bleiweiss Giving Bail

A judge has decided that a suspended Broward County deputy accused of intimidating eight undocumented male immigrants into performing sex acts with him will be allowed to go to Oregon until his trial.

The judge ruled Friday that 29-year-old Jonathan Bleiweiss, who has been jailed since his August arrest, can stay with his father in Oregon. Bleiweiss' bail was set at $250,000.

Bleiweiss has been charged with 73 counts ranging from sexual battery to false imprisonment. Authorities say Bleiweiss of used his position as a deputy to intimidate the immigrants into performing sex acts during traffic stops.

Bleiweiss' attorney says the state's case is based entirely on hearsay.

Former Officer Maurice Morris Sentenced to Seven Years in Prison

A former Riviera Beach police officer who attempted to rape a woman after writing her a traffic ticket was sentenced to more than seven years in prison, according to the State Attorney's Office Friday.

Maurice Morris was convicted of attempted sexual battery by a law enforcement officer, bribery by a public servant and official misconduct.

Morris made a traffic stop October 2008 on a woman in Riviera Beach and wrote her up two traffic citations before following her home to West Palm Beach, the State Attorney's Office said.

The GPS on his police car showed that he was at her home for almost an hour and a half. The victim said that Morris tried to rape her on her couch.

Morris never turned in the victim's tickets and a jury last month convicted Morris.

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Officer Jesus Sanchez in Court for Sexual Assault

A Salinas police officer charged arrested in July on suspicion of three counts of sexual assault was in court Tuesday. Prosecutors opted to charge Jesus Sanchez with two counts of sexual battery instead.

Tuesday Sanchez waived his right to a preliminary hearing and will go directly to trial.

The alleged assualt dates back to May of 2002 through May of 2005.
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Correctional Deputy Steven Crews Charged with Sexual Battery on Child

Bradford County authorities on Sunday arrested a Baker County correctional deputy on allegations that he had sexually abused a girl. Investigators said the abuse might have started when the girl was about 10 years old and continued for as long as six years.

Steven Kyle Crews, 35, was charged with sexual battery on a child age 12 or younger and possession of a photograph or recording of a sex performance by a child. Crews was being held at the Bradford County Jail late Monday awaiting his first court appearance. Baker County Sheriff Joey Dobson on Monday morning fired Crews from his job at the Baker County Jail.

Bradford County Sheriff's Maj. Brad Smith said the case against Crews began Sunday when someone related to him and to the girl through marriages delivered a DVD to the Sheriff's Office. Smith said the DVD contained images of the child performing a sex act. The person who delivered the DVD helped identify Crews as the person who made it, probably a few years earlier, the Bradford County Sheriff's Office reported.

Deputies picked up Crews at his home, found other pornographic material there and took him to the Sheriff's Office in Starke, where he was questioned.

"He gave several admissions to performing various sexual acts with the juvenile," Smith said. "He also divulged information that some incidents may have occurred in Baker County, where he used to live, and in Virginia, so we anticipate that there may be additional charges."

Investigators also are trying to determine whether Crews might have been involved with other children. Concerns were raised that there might have been other victims because investigators were not able to determine if the child pornography alleged to have been in his possession was produced using children he knew or if he downloaded it from the Internet.

"He told us he knew what he was doing was wrong and that he considered suicide but that he never took any action in that regard," Smith said.

During a joint Baker County and Bradford County sheriff's news conference Monday afternoon, Dobson said Crews had begun working for his agency in May.

According to Florida Department of Corrections records, Crews resigned as a sergeant at New River Correctional Institution a few days before taking the similar job at the Baker County Jail.

He also previously had worked at Baker Correctional Institution.

The victim is with family members and has left the area, officials said.

Deputy Daniel Ward Arrested for Sexual Battery on Child

The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation has arrested a former Campbell County deputy after he was indicted by a grand jury on multiple charges of the sexual battery of a minor.

Daniel Ward, 36 and of Jacksboro, was indicted on 16 counts overall. The indictment includes 10 counts of aggravated sexual battery of a minor under the age of 13, two counts of attempted aggravated sexual battery of a minor under the age of 13, two counts sexual battery by an authority figure, and two counts of sexual battery.

A Campbell County grand jury handed down the indictment on Monday.

The TBI began investigating the allegations against Ward in December, after a request by the district attorney.

Ward is accused of sexually molesting one victim numerous times between October 2003 and March 2009.

He's been booked into the Campbell County jail on $25,000 bond.

While employed with the sheriff's office, he worked as a corrections officer and a patrol deputy.

Former Officer David Reveille Beaten by Another Inmate at Jail

A fired Gainesville police officer will have to wait until at least the end of the week before he is sentenced in a felony sex case after being injured following a dispute over the television show "Law and Order."

David John Reveille, 47, appeared in court Monday afternoon with a bandage over his nose. He was scheduled to be sentenced as part of a plea deal after being charged with using his official position to obtain sexual favors. Specifically, Reveille was charged in February with eight counts of sexual battery, two counts of battery and one count each of false imprisonment and official misconduct.

According to the Alachua County Sheriff's Office, Reveille was beaten by another inmate, Willis Jamard Robinson, 19, after a dispute over a television show.

Reveille told investigators he had been watching the hour-long program "Law and Order" the night before the incident, the Sheriff's Office reported. According to Reveille, Robinson changed the channel with only a few minutes left in the show and refused to turn the channel back to the program for Reveille.

The next day, shortly before 11 a.m. on Dec. 29, according to the Sheriff's Office, Reveille had been let out of his cell while a nurse was distributing medications. Reveille was being held in protective custody because he was a former law enforcement officer. Inmate witnesses told investigators that Reveille was at the water fountain getting a drink when Robinson ran out of his cell and punched the former officer once in the face with a closed fist. Witnesses said Reveille fell to the floor motionless.

Sheriff's spokesman Lt. Steve Maynard said Reveille was taken to Shands at the University of Florida for treatment. Maynard said federal privacy laws prohibit releasing medical details, but he was able to characterize the injuries to Reveille as serious but not life-threatening. Reveille later told investigators he did not remember anything after being punched until he woke up in the hospital.

Following a nearly 15-minute long conference with attorneys in the case Monday, Judge Ysleta McDonald delayed sentencing until at least Friday. During the judge's conference with the attorneys, Reveille sat at a table with his head slightly tilted down and most of the time holding what appeared to be a white tissue or bandage over his mouth.

Robinson, who had been housed at the jail since late November on an attempted murder charge, was charged with battery in connection with the incident involving Reveille.

Officer Vernon Wolford Pleads Guilty to Sexual Battery

An Obetz police officer accused of engaging in sexual activity with a woman he had just arrested has agreed to plead guilty to sexual battery next month.

Franklin County Prosecuting Attorney Ron O’Brien said officer Vernon Wolford still faces up to five years in prison for the sexual battery charge - a third-degree felony.

Last month, Vernon arrested a woman wanted in Florida for probation violation. According to a search warrant, she told investigators that Vernon asked her “you want to go home,“ as she sat in the back of the police cruiser in handcuffs. The woman said she then performed the sex act and later reported the incident after arriving at the Franklin County Corrections Center.

A state crime lab later tested a substance on the woman’s tennis shoe and determined it was Wolford’s semen.

“Even while someone may claim that conduct was consensual the law pre-supposes that people cannot under that kind of circumstance give consent. And that’s what would be the basis for the charge in this case,“ O’Brien said

Wolford’s plea hearing in front of Franklin County Common Pleas Court Judge Julie Lynch is scheduled for January 25. O’Brien said Wolford has been placed on administrative leave by the Obetz Police Department.

Officer Vernon Wolford Charged with Sexual Battery on Woman Prisoner

A police officer has been charged with a felony after he was accused of sexually assaulting a prisoner in handcuffs.

Officer Vernon Wolford was charged with sexual battery, after investigators said he offered a woman freedom in exchange for sex.

A woman was arrested, handcuffed, and put in an Obetz police cruiser on Nov. 10, and then driven to a private drive off Groveport Road.

A search warrant revealed investigators believe Wolford stopped the cruiser, walked around the car, and asked the female prisoner "You want to go home?"

Investigators said the woman asked to be un-handcuffed but the officer refused - and that is when they said she performed a sex act on the officer.

The warrant revealed that investigators found DNA evidence on the prisoner's tennis shoes, Kocot reported.

Franklin County Prosecutor Ron O'Brien said by law a prisoner cannot give consent to have sex with an arresting officer.

"Some instances, such as statutory rape, teachers have sex with students it may be so called consensual - again, that's all sexual battery because of the nature of the relationship," O'Brien said.

Prosecutors said Wolford did not take the prisoner home, but instead he took her to the Franklin County Jail, where the woman told her story to deputies.

Wolford has been working as a full time officer for a year. He was placed on administrative leave during the investigation.

The charge of sexual battery is punishable by up to five years in prison.

Wolford is scheduled to be in court in January for a plea hearing.

Former Officer Maurice Morris Convicted of Attempted Sexual Battery

A former Riviera Beach K-9 officer was convicted today of attempted sexual battery, bribery and official misconduct and now faces an absolute maximum of 35 years in prison when sentenced in January.

Jurors convicted Maurice Morris following a trial last week featuring dueling stories: A prosecutor alleging he had sex with a female driver following a traffic stop, then disposed of two traffic tickets he had written her.

The defense argued that in an attempt to help her, Morris simply visited the woman's home to check her claim that she had a letter proving she didn't know her license was suspended. And that now she is inventing a story that he raped her.

Charged with sexual battery, punishable by up to 30 years in prison, jurors appeared to compromise with a lesser charge, finding him guilty of attempted sexual battery.

Morris' defense attorney, Nicole Sauvola, who could not immediately be reached following the verdict, has said she firmly believes in her client.

"He is not just not guilty. He is innocent. No good deed goes unpunished."

Assistant State Attorney Daliah Weiss argued at trial that Morris' brazen arrogance led him to have sex with the woman, an unsophisticated, vulnerable lady already in trouble with the law.

The woman was driving with a suspended license and on felony probation when she was stopped by Morris that morning in October 2008.

"She was ripe for the picking," said Weiss.

Weiss emphasized the missing traffic tickets — shown in the police dashboard video as last being handed to Morris — and his DNA being found in the woman's underwear.

It was not semen found there, though, but rather skin cells or another source that a DNA expert concluded Morris could not be excluded as a contributor to.

"Missing tickets. Rape. There you have it," Weiss argued before jurors. "And his DNA in her underwear."

According to Morris's story, and he did testify at trial, after he let the woman drive off after the traffic stop that morning, he happened to run into her again, her frantically waving him down as he drove home.

The GPS system in the patrol car he was driving showed he was at her home one hour and 23 minutes.

Too long to just read a letter, argued Weiss before jurors.

Too long for how the victim testified the sex act happened, said defense attorney Sauvola outside court. "She made it sound like two seconds," Sauvola said.

Weiss argued it is unbelievable that Morris would just happen to run into the woman once again, and let her drive off a second time with a suspended license, never calling for any kind of back-up or assistance.

Sauvola, Morris' attorney, emphasized irregularities in the DNA evidence in the case. For one thing, the woman turned in a different pair of underwear to police — a silver G-string, not the black undies, the wide band of which was visible in the video, she wore during the traffic stop.

On the first forensic testing of the silver G-string, no DNA was detected. But six months later in re-testing, some was then found, Sauvola said.

The woman was unable to identify Morris in either a photo lineup or in court — evidence, argued Weiss, that she had no motive to just make up a story of rape to get back at him. "And what was she angry about? Not getting a ticket?" Weiss said.

Under Florida law, it is considered a sexual battery without consent when a law enforcement or corrections officers "in a position of control or authority" or convincing the victim of their control, have sexual relations with someone.

Morris took an early retirement from the Riviera Police Department following his arrest. His alleged victim was recently jailed on unrelated attempted murder charge.

Officer Jesus Sanchez Charged with Sexual Battery

A Salinas police officer and former Alisal High School soccer coach waived his right to a preliminary hearing Tuesday and was ordered to proceed to trial, his defense lawyer said today.

Officer Jesus Manuel Sanchez, a 10-year veteran of the police department, was arrested in July on suspicion of three counts of sexual assault with intent to rape. Prosecutors opted to charge Sanchez with two counts of sexual battery instead.

If convicted of those two counts, he faces a maximum prison term of five years.

Andrew Liu, his private Salinas attorney, said today that Sanchez is expected to appear in court Jan. 12.

Sanchez is charged with committing the crime against the same woman twice over a three-year span between May 1, 2002 and May 31, 2005.

He is accused of committing the crime both near Sherwood Hall and at El Sausal Middle School, part of the Salinas Union High School District.

Sanchez was the coach of the Alisal High School boys varsity soccer team for five years before leaving the position in 2008. During his coaching years, Sanchez was named The Salinas Californian's All-County Boys Coach of the Year four times.