Cpl. David Turner Arrested for Prostitution Near School

A Tulsa police officer was arrested for soliciting a prostitute within 1,000 feet of a school Thursday afternoon. Cpl. David Turner also faces a charge of possession of a firearm in commission of a felony.

A source close to the situation said Turner was taken into custody at the Executive Inn at 11th and Garnett just after 3 p.m. following an undercover operation performed by TPD and the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics. "The Tulsa Police Department received information regarding alleged criminal activity involving Turner and in return launched an investigation which included the Tulsa Police Departments Special Investigations Division and agents with the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs," Chief of Police Chuck Jordan said in a release.

Turner was released on bond less than two hours after being booked in the Tulsa jail. He was placed on paid administrative leave pending further investigation.

Deputy Paul Wagner Charged with Soliciting Prostitution

A rookie Marion County Jail guard was arrested and accused of soliciting sex from a customer at a gas station where he moonlights on security duty.

Deputy Paul Wagner, 25, was charged preliminarily with soliciting prostitution and official misconduct while working at the Speedway station in the 5100 block of East Washington Street, said Col. John Layton of the Marion County Sheriff's Department.

Wagner was under surveillance by the Sheriff's Department when he offered a female customer a candy bar and Coke or a pack of cigarettes for oral sex, authorities said. Layton said the woman, who was not a prostitute but a regular customer at the gas station, had complained that Wagner had harassed her before.

The Sheriff's Department set up the sting and arrested Wagner early Saturday.

Wagner was charged with official misconduct because he was wearing his sheriff's uniform at the time.

Wagner has been with the department for 10 months and was suspended without pay.

Moonlighting by Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department officers, more than half of whom work second jobs, has come under close scrutiny over concerns the system in place now leaves the city open to safety and liability issues, as well as embarrassing or even potentially criminal instances of corruption.

Officer James Bryant Charged with Contributing to Delinquency of Minor

COOS BAY, Ore.

Coos Bay police have arrested a Coquille police officer on charges of attempted contributing to the sexual delinquency of a minor and furnishing alcohol to a minor.

A citizen complaint alleged that officer James Bryant gave alcohol to a teenage girl and solicited sex from another. Police say the teenagers are 17 and 18.

Coquille asked Coos Bay to investigate. Bryant was jailed and released.

Coquille Police Chief Mark Dannels says Bryant is on administrative leave.

Bryant is the second Coquille police officer arrested in six months. Randy Ulmer pleaded guilty to stealing at least $8,500 from the evidence locker at Coquille Police Department and is serving a 20-day sentence.


Information from: The World, http://www.theworldlink.com

Charges Dismissed Against Officer Robert Schmidt Arrested for Soliciting Sex from Undercover Officer

A D.C. police officer was arrested in a downtown hotel last month after he allegedly solicited sex from an undercover officer in an Internet sting run by the department's anti-prostitution unit, authorities said yesterday.

The misdemeanor charge against Officer Robert A. Schmidt was routinely dismissed last week after he completed a day-long education program called "john school," in which first-time offenders are instructed in the risks of prostitution, according to his lawyer, Harold D. Martin. He said neither he nor Schmidt would comment on the sting.

Authorities alleged that Schmidt arranged to meet a woman he thought was a prostitute after responding to an advertisement investigators placed on Craigslist, an online classified service.

His meeting with Officer Madeline Collado, who was posing as a prostitute, took place Feb. 20, just after 5 p.m., in a fifth-floor room at the Embassy Suites hotel near 10th and K streets NW, according to an affidavit filed by police in D.C. Superior Court. The document quotes their conversation in a room wired for sound and video.

"So, what do you do for a living?" Collado asked him, after the two had exchanged pleasantries.

"I work with the government," Schmidt said, to which Collado replied, "How cool is that!"

After they set an $80 price for a half-hour of sex, other officers entered the room and arrested Schmidt. He was released with a court summons, a standard procedure in such cases. Because he completed the john school, sponsored by the U.S. attorney's office, the charge of soliciting for prostitution was dismissed March 10 at his first court appearance.

Asked whether Schmidt faces departmental disciplinary action, police spokeswoman Traci Hughes would only say, "There's an administrative investigation underway."

Schmidt, an officer since 1994, worked for several years in a drug enforcement unit in the Narcotics and Special Investigations Division before leaving the division in 2007, said Inspector Brian Bray, head of the NSID. The sting that led to Schmidt's arrest was run by the division's prostitution enforcement unit, Bray said.

He said Schmidt was among eight men arrested in the sting that night.

"He was really one of the better officers in the department when he was working for me, a real hardworking guy," said Bray, who called Schmidt's arrest "sad."

At the time of the sting, Bray said, Schmidt was a youth crimes investigator, a job that often is a path to a promotion to detective. Yesterday, though, Schmidt was working in the 4th District, in the northern part of the city, assigned to a program in which officers walk foot beats to stay in close touch with residents, officials said.

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Other Information:
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2008879655_apofficerprostitutionsting.html

Two Officers Fired For Soliciting Sex from Prostitutes

GAINESVILLE, FL

Internal investigations by the Gainesville Police, announced Thursday, have shown that two former officers were having sex with prostitutes while on duty.

The investigation, which began after accusations were made against Cpl. William Billings, who resigned in August, also incriminated officer Dave Reveille, who was fired Wednesday.

The investigation was based on a tip from a former prostitute, said Capt. Lynne Benck, who led the investigation.

“On June 4, a woman in jail called Internal Affairs asking us if we were trying to clear out bad cops,” Benck said at a press conference Thursday. “She told us that she knew Cpl. Billings was one of them.”

A GPD Internal Affairs report stated that 14 women said they had sex with Billings for money while he was in uniform and driving a marked GPD car. Two of the 14 women said they were 13 and 14 years old when they first had sex with Billings for money, the report stated.

After a GPS tracking device was placed on Billings’ car, the investigation also found that he was not reporting to overtime assignments he was being paid for. That pay added up to more than $6,000, Benck said.

During Billings’ investigation, detectives received a tip that Reveille was also having sex with prostitutes while on duty, he said.

One witness reported that Reveille had taken her into custody in his car and told her she would go to jail if she didn’t perform oral sex on him, the report stated.

She also said Reveille had sex with her while she stood over the back of his GPD patrol car, the report stated.

Benck said similar reports against Reveille had been dropped during an investigation in 2005.

The State Attorney’s Office will review the cases before charges are made, GPD spokesman Keith Kameg said.

“The charges can range anywhere from grand theft, to prostitute issues, to sexual battery,” Kameg said.

Benck said at Thursday’s press conference that she wanted to take on the investigation because she didn’t believe the accusation against Billings could be true. After meeting Billings in police academy more than 21 years ago, she said she considered herself friends with both him and his wife.

“I wanted to vindicate him,” she said. “I wanted to prove it wasn’t him.”

http://www.firstcoastnews.com/news/florida/news-article.aspx?storyid=123775&catid=4

Chief West Resigns and Capt. Stewart Arrested

HAINES CITY

Indicted on two perjury counts, Haines City police Capt. Mervin Stewart, left, is escorted by Polk County sheriff's Deputy Bryan Mixon to central booking at the Polk County Sheriff's Office in Bartow late this afternoon.

Haines City Police Chief Morris West resigned Wednesday and Capt. Mervin Stewart, the department’s second in command, was indicted Thursday as a lengthy investigation into the department came to a close.

Stewart was indicted and arrested Thursday afternoon on perjury charges stemming from statements he made denying claims of sexual harassment by a female officer as well as not admitting to having had a sexual relationship with a different female officer.

West, who was indicted Oct. 24 on two misdemeanor counts of soliciting prostitution, was given an offer by the State Attorney’s Office to avoid prosecution if he resigned and gave up his police standards. That means he will not be able to serve as a certified law enforcement officer, said Chip Thullbery, a spokesman for the State Attorney’s Office in Bartow.

West’s charges were unrelated to those of Stewart.

Under the agreement, West must notify the State Attorney’s Office of any address change and not violate any federal, state or local law.

The Haines City Police Department has been under the direction of Maj. Mike Pruitt of the Polk County Sheriff’s Office, who was appointed by City Manager Ann Toney-Deal after West’s indictment two weeks ago.

Stewart, 43, was arrested around 4 p.m. Thursday after receiving a grand jury indictment on two counts of perjury related to testimony made Nov. 6 before the grand jury. He had been suspended with pay on Nov. 7.

According to the indictment, the first count refers to false statements Stewart made before the grand jury about a sexual harassment complaint filed by Haines City police Officer Nicole Gusaeff. Stewart told the grand jury that he did not, during the evening of April 12, put his arm around Gusaeff at a local bar following the Policeman’s Ball.

In the second count, Stewart is accused of lying under oath about an alleged sexual relationship with Officer Emelynda Hernandez, the indictment states. Hernandez also was suspended with pay on Nov. 7 but she resigned Monday.

Stewart had been with the Haines City Police Department since 1991. Hernandez joined the department in 2003.

Though the indictments for West and Stewart are unrelated, they stemmed from the same investigation the State Attorney’s Office began in August, Thullbery said.

West’s indictment alleges that he solicited 31-year old Kimberly Latrice Willis Ambrose to commit prostitution three times in 2007 between Nov. 22 and Dec. 25. He was not arrested because the charges were misdemeanors.

West had been with the Haines City Police Department since 1985 when he was hired as a patrolman. He served as detective, sergeant and lieutenant before being appointed interim police chief when former Police Chief Tom Wheeler retired. West, a Haines City native, became police chief in August 2003. At the time of his resignation, he was paid an annual salary of $72,519.07.

More Information: http://www.newschief.com/article/20081115/NEWS/811150295/1021/NEWS01?Title=Interim_Haines_City_chief_staying_as_long_as_needed

Officer Russell Mecano Arrested for Sexual Assault

LOS ANGELES

A Los Angeles police officer faces felony charges for allegedly sexually assaulting a woman and soliciting sex from another while he was on duty.

Russell Mecano was arrested last month but the grand jury indictment remained sealed until Thursday. He faces up to 12 years in prison if convicted of three felony sex charges and one misdemeanor.

Prosecutors allege Mecano told an 18-year-old woman in May that he would not arrest her for having a marijuana pipe if she had sex with him. Mecano then allegedly sexually assaulted the woman near a library.

Mecano is also accused in October 2007 of seeking sex from a 20-year-old transient following her arrest for battery. Prosecutors say he gave her $200 and told her to meet him at a motel, but she instead reported Mecano to police.

Mecano has been placed on paid administrative leave.