A motion to dismiss the remaining criminal charges against a Rochester police officer accused of misconduct has been denied.
Judge Joseph Chase issued his findings in an order dated Tuesday in the case of Vanessa Mason. She now returns to court Feb. 4 for a plea hearing.
Mason was put on administrative leave in April and charged with three felonies and two gross misdemeanors. She was accused of tipping off drug dealers about narcotics investigations and taking money to help pick up and deliver drugs.
Paul Beaumaster, Rice County attorney, is serving as special prosecutor for Olmsted County to avoid a conflict of interest because Mason, 32, is a city employee. At a hearing in October, Beaumaster dismissed the two felony bribery charges against Mason. A key witness had recanted his testimony, but Beaumaster would not say if that was behind the dismissal.
The remaining felony alleges Mason gave a warning about an impending narcotics search warrant. The two gross misdemeanor charges allege misconduct by a public employee. She denies all the allegations.
Her attorney, Fred Bruno of Minneapolis, said prosecutors can't prove the charges and asked that the charges be dismissed.
Chase heard the attorneys' arguments in October and gave them time to submit written briefs.
In his opinion issued Tuesday, Chase called it an interesting case involving unique circumstances and questions of law.
The remaining felony count alleges that Mason called an acquaintance, Terrance Burkhalter, a drug dealer, about a planned drug raid at the home of Bryan Piens.
Bruno contends there's no proof she warned the people at Piens' house. He said they were still in the house when the search was conducted. He said the alleged tip-off was to Burkhalter's phone and no connection has been shown or suggested between Burkhalter and Piens.
Burkhalter has recanted a statement he allegedly gave police about letting someone know the police were coming. Chase said Burkhalter's credibility is a question for jurors.
The gross misdemeanor counts allege misconduct on Mason's part, such as providing restricted information and doing warrant checks for Burkhalter and another drug dealer, Jerell Moore, who now is in federal prison.
Chase denied the motions to dismiss those charges.
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Showing posts with label unauthorized access to criminal history. Show all posts
Showing posts with label unauthorized access to criminal history. Show all posts
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Officer Troy Giovengo Charged with Stalking Ex-Girlfriend
ST. LUCIE COUNTY
A Fort Pierce police officer charged with stalking his ex-girlfriend last week is facing additional charges for allegedly barging into a birthday party for one of the woman’s sons.
Officer Troy Giovengo stormed into his ex-girlfriend’s home on Dec. 12, according to a St. Lucie County Sheriff’s Office report. Witnesses said Giovengo, 42, was in his Fort Pierce Police Department uniform during the incident and told a man at the party he needed to leave the home and never return.
After Giovengo left the party, he used his police laptop computer to run the man’s license plate number, sheriff’s officials said. Upon learning the man’s address, Giovengo drove there and again threatened the man, telling him to stay away from the woman, according to the report. The incident report did not specify a relationship between the man and Giovengo’s ex-girlfriend.
Giovengo was charged Thursday with armed trespassing of a structure and for using a police data base for personal gain.
The ex-girlfriend told authorities this week she did not report the party incident because Giovengo threatened her. But Feb. 6, an argument between the officer and the woman prompted her 15-year-old son to call 911, Port St. Lucie police said.
Officers went to the woman’s home because the son said Giovengo was threatening his mother, police said. While in the woman’s driveway, Giovengo told her she “belonged to him” and threatened to burn down her house, police said.
Officers charged Giovengo with aggravated stalking. The 51-year-old-woman and the officer had dated for nine years before their relationship ended in October, the arrest affidavit said.
Giovengo was being held Thursday at the St. Lucie County Jail in lieu of $7,500 bail for the trespassing and using the database charges. Fort Pierce Police has Giovengo on leave without pay, spokeswoman Audria Moore said.
Previous Post: http://whathappenedtoprotectandserve.blogspot.com/2009/02/officer-troy-giovengo-charged-with.html
A Fort Pierce police officer charged with stalking his ex-girlfriend last week is facing additional charges for allegedly barging into a birthday party for one of the woman’s sons.
Officer Troy Giovengo stormed into his ex-girlfriend’s home on Dec. 12, according to a St. Lucie County Sheriff’s Office report. Witnesses said Giovengo, 42, was in his Fort Pierce Police Department uniform during the incident and told a man at the party he needed to leave the home and never return.
After Giovengo left the party, he used his police laptop computer to run the man’s license plate number, sheriff’s officials said. Upon learning the man’s address, Giovengo drove there and again threatened the man, telling him to stay away from the woman, according to the report. The incident report did not specify a relationship between the man and Giovengo’s ex-girlfriend.
Giovengo was charged Thursday with armed trespassing of a structure and for using a police data base for personal gain.
The ex-girlfriend told authorities this week she did not report the party incident because Giovengo threatened her. But Feb. 6, an argument between the officer and the woman prompted her 15-year-old son to call 911, Port St. Lucie police said.
Officers went to the woman’s home because the son said Giovengo was threatening his mother, police said. While in the woman’s driveway, Giovengo told her she “belonged to him” and threatened to burn down her house, police said.
Officers charged Giovengo with aggravated stalking. The 51-year-old-woman and the officer had dated for nine years before their relationship ended in October, the arrest affidavit said.
Giovengo was being held Thursday at the St. Lucie County Jail in lieu of $7,500 bail for the trespassing and using the database charges. Fort Pierce Police has Giovengo on leave without pay, spokeswoman Audria Moore said.
Previous Post: http://whathappenedtoprotectandserve.blogspot.com/2009/02/officer-troy-giovengo-charged-with.html
Friday, November 21, 2008
Sergeant Haytham Khalil Charged with Illegally Accessing Computer
NEW YORK
A sergeant with the New York Police Department (NYPD) has been charged with accessing a computer without authorization and as a result obtaining information from the FBI’s National Crime Information Center (NCIC) in December 2007.
Haytham Khalil, 34, of Brooklyn, surrendered to federal authorities Friday morning. According to the criminal complaint filed in Manhattan federal court, the FBI, which is the federal agency authorized to acquire, collect, classify and preserve identification, criminal identification, crime, and other records and to exchange such information with authorized entities, maintains some of that information in NCIC.
NCIC also contains information derived from the FBI’s “Terrorist Screening Center” regarding individuals listed on a terrorist watch list. The information is then shared for authorized use by state and local law enforcement authorities throughout the United States.
New York State maintains an electronic database system (”E-Justice”) that is designed to give users from qualified law enforcement agencies a single point of access to computerized law enforcement information within and beyond New York State.
Qualified state and local law enforcement personnel in New York have access to various forms of information maintained in E-Justice including watch list files, such as the terrorist watch list maintained by the FBI and available in NCIC.
On April 23, the FBI legal attaché in Ottawa, Canada, was informed by an officer of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police that the RCMP had come across a Canadian citizen who was in possession of a document containing FBI NCIC information.
Specifically, the NCIC document identified an individual as being on a terrorist watch list. Moreover, the NCIC document showed that the information was accessed on Dec. 6, 2007, from an NYPD-based computer.
The RCMP was able to determine that Individual-1 received the NCIC document in December 2007 from an NYPD officer. The NYPD’s Internal Affairs Bureau, through a review of NYPD files and an audit of the NYPD E-Justice account, was later able to identify that officer as Khalil.
After being interviewed by the FBI, Individual-1 stated that he/she was acquainted with Khalil. When Khalil discovered that Individual-1 was involved in a child custody proceeding against Individual-2, Khalil informed Individual-1 that he had information pertaining to Individual-2. Khalil sent the NCIC document to Individual-1, who received it in December 2007.
Individual-1 then provided the NCIC document to his/her attorney to be used in relation to the child custody proceeding. Khalil was charged with one count of accessing a computer without authorization and as a result obtaining information belonging to a department and agency of the United States.
If convicted, Khalil faces a maximum sentence of one year in prison and a fine of the greater of $100,000, or twice the gross gain or loss from the offense. 11-21-08
A sergeant with the New York Police Department (NYPD) has been charged with accessing a computer without authorization and as a result obtaining information from the FBI’s National Crime Information Center (NCIC) in December 2007.
Haytham Khalil, 34, of Brooklyn, surrendered to federal authorities Friday morning. According to the criminal complaint filed in Manhattan federal court, the FBI, which is the federal agency authorized to acquire, collect, classify and preserve identification, criminal identification, crime, and other records and to exchange such information with authorized entities, maintains some of that information in NCIC.
NCIC also contains information derived from the FBI’s “Terrorist Screening Center” regarding individuals listed on a terrorist watch list. The information is then shared for authorized use by state and local law enforcement authorities throughout the United States.
New York State maintains an electronic database system (”E-Justice”) that is designed to give users from qualified law enforcement agencies a single point of access to computerized law enforcement information within and beyond New York State.
Qualified state and local law enforcement personnel in New York have access to various forms of information maintained in E-Justice including watch list files, such as the terrorist watch list maintained by the FBI and available in NCIC.
On April 23, the FBI legal attaché in Ottawa, Canada, was informed by an officer of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police that the RCMP had come across a Canadian citizen who was in possession of a document containing FBI NCIC information.
Specifically, the NCIC document identified an individual as being on a terrorist watch list. Moreover, the NCIC document showed that the information was accessed on Dec. 6, 2007, from an NYPD-based computer.
The RCMP was able to determine that Individual-1 received the NCIC document in December 2007 from an NYPD officer. The NYPD’s Internal Affairs Bureau, through a review of NYPD files and an audit of the NYPD E-Justice account, was later able to identify that officer as Khalil.
After being interviewed by the FBI, Individual-1 stated that he/she was acquainted with Khalil. When Khalil discovered that Individual-1 was involved in a child custody proceeding against Individual-2, Khalil informed Individual-1 that he had information pertaining to Individual-2. Khalil sent the NCIC document to Individual-1, who received it in December 2007.
Individual-1 then provided the NCIC document to his/her attorney to be used in relation to the child custody proceeding. Khalil was charged with one count of accessing a computer without authorization and as a result obtaining information belonging to a department and agency of the United States.
If convicted, Khalil faces a maximum sentence of one year in prison and a fine of the greater of $100,000, or twice the gross gain or loss from the offense. 11-21-08
Friday, September 19, 2008
Officer Daniel Coronado Charged with Illegally checking Backgrounds
A Mesa police officer has been charged in connection with illegally checking backgrounds on 10 people over the course of more than three years.
Officer Daniel Albert Coronado, 37, of Gilbert, was indicted Tuesday on four counts of computer tampering and four counts of unauthorized access to criminal history.
The case was first investigated internally by Mesa police after it was uncovered during a separate criminal investigation. It has since been turned over to the Arizona Department of Public Safety. Coronado has been suspended with pay, police said.
"I don't know his motives," said Mesa police spokesman Sgt. Ed Wessing.
According to the indictment, Coronado is accused of using police computer terminals to access the Arizona Criminal Justice Information System and computerized criminal history records between January 2005 and June 2008. The indictment accuses Coronado of illegally logging onto the computer terminals 149 times and accessing the criminal records of about 10 people, police said.
Since officers are assigned a login ID number, it's easy for investigators to see every time someone logs in and who they search.
Wessing said the people whom Coronado allegedly looked up were those he associated with in some manner.
"This (issue) is grilled into officers from Day One," Wessing said. "This is something we expect every officer understands clearly."
Officer Daniel Albert Coronado, 37, of Gilbert, was indicted Tuesday on four counts of computer tampering and four counts of unauthorized access to criminal history.
The case was first investigated internally by Mesa police after it was uncovered during a separate criminal investigation. It has since been turned over to the Arizona Department of Public Safety. Coronado has been suspended with pay, police said.
"I don't know his motives," said Mesa police spokesman Sgt. Ed Wessing.
According to the indictment, Coronado is accused of using police computer terminals to access the Arizona Criminal Justice Information System and computerized criminal history records between January 2005 and June 2008. The indictment accuses Coronado of illegally logging onto the computer terminals 149 times and accessing the criminal records of about 10 people, police said.
Since officers are assigned a login ID number, it's easy for investigators to see every time someone logs in and who they search.
Wessing said the people whom Coronado allegedly looked up were those he associated with in some manner.
"This (issue) is grilled into officers from Day One," Wessing said. "This is something we expect every officer understands clearly."
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