Former Officer Michael Setiawan Arrested for Vandalism

A former New York City police officer was arrested over the weekend for allegedly spray-painting anti-Semitic messages on buildings and cars in an Orthodox Jewish neighborhood in Brooklyn.

A school building and 20 private homes and vehicles were splattered with red paint and messages of hate Saturday in what the Jewish Forward dubbed a “vandalism spree.”

Michael Setiawan, 36, a former police officer for New York City’s 69th precinct, was reportedly arrested Sunday and accused of posting the graffiti.

An individual alleged to be Setiawan was caught on a surveillance camera painting the door of the Bnos Zion Bobov School. See footage below:

http://youtu.be/Pk4KbugH410

The messages left on the buildings reportedly included swastikas and terms including “F*** you Jew” and “Jew cheap s***.”

The community was rattled over the incident, with locals and officials decrying the acts.

“Hate is not a Brooklyn value, and I repudiate any lowlife individual who would spread their prejudiced invective,” Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams said.

Setiawan, who was reportedly sent for a mental evaluation following his arrest, is being charged with hate crimes, including 19 counts of criminal mischief and aggravated harassment, according to the New York Daily News.

A young boy reported the suspect after he said he saw him spray-painting a car and took down his license plate as he drove away.

Setiawan’s father, Thomas, told media that his son suffered from depression and suicidal thoughts after leaving the NYPD in 2007, though he said the family is unsure why he left the force

Officer Timothy Merrill Arrested for Assault, Vandalism

An Arizona police officer was arrested on multiple charges in downtown Nashville on Wednesday night.

Timothy Reed Merrill, age 32, was charged with assault, vandalism and public intoxication.

A police affidavit said Merrill, who was in town for training, had caused issues at Dixieland Delights on Broadway and then allegedly punched the front window of the store. The employee told officers that Merrill had been asked to leave the store because he was harassing a cashier and became disorderly.

He was detained outside a bar along Broadway after security there came to help. The affidavit said Merrill tried to run from a security officer and fell down. While the security officer tried to handcuff him, Merrill allegedly kicked the man in the head.

Once police took him into custody, they smelled alcohol and noticed he had bloodshot eyes and slurred speech.

Merrill’s bond was set at $8,000.

Officer John Lewis Arrested for the Sixth Time

Schenectady Police Officer John Lewis was arrested on Saturday night for what is at least the sixth time in two years.

Department officials tell us that they received a call at approximately 6:00 p.m. that a drunk man had left the emergency department at Ellis Hospital, hit a car, and took off.

Investigators say that that man was Lewis - a 15-year veteran of the force who has spent much of the past two years off the job.

Lewis's troubles with the department date back to 1998 when he was fired for allegedly using a racial slur; an arbitrator later reinstated him.

Since the spring of 2008, Lewis has been arrested numerous times on charges that include drunk driving, stalking, harassment, and vandalism.

In December, a Schenectady County grand jury indicted Lewis for allegedly hacking into his ex-wife's e-mail account and threatening her.

Days later, he was apparently stabbed in Berkshire County.

Schenectady Police say Lewis's termination hearing has been completed and the department brass is waiting for a final decision by an arbitrator.

City residents say that Lewis has already had too many chances.

"Police are supposed to be models for the rest of the society and, certainly, this is not the kind of model that we want to have our kids and the rest of everybody else in the city to portray so, yeah, he definitely needs to go," says Don Ackerman of Schenectady.

City resident Chuck Tillman says, "He should be thrown off the force in my opinion."

Lewis is being held at Schenectady County Jail without bail.

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Drunk Driving arrest

Stalking Arrest

Former Deputy Jack Allen Roberts Sentenced for Stalking

A former Tehama County sheriff’s deputy was sentenced today to more than three years in prison for relentlessly stalking and physically assaulting a Redding woman.

Jack Allen Roberts, 34, of Redding was sentenced by Superior Court Judge James Ruggiero to three years, eight months in prison. He must serve 50 percent of his sentence before being eligible for parole.

Roberts was arrested in April after Redding police placed a tracker on his vehicle to follow his movements in the weeks before his arrest, prosecutors said.

That tracker placed Roberts in the parking lot of the woman’s workplace at the time when gasoline was poured on her vehicle, prosecutors said.

He was later arrested by police outside the woman’s home around 4 a.m., dressed all in black, prosecutors said.

At the time of his April arrest, he had with him a black face mask, binoculars, paint stripper, weed and root killer, a container filled with BBs, sling shot, glass cutter and other items that police and prosecutors believe may have been used in previous vandalism.

Roberts pleaded guilty in July to stalking, battery and related charges.

Prosecutors said that Roberts stalked the woman for about a year, sending anonymous letters to her, making threats and harassing telephone calls, followed her and vandalized her home and vehicle.

He resigned from the Tehama County Sheriff’s Office last year after he had fired a handgun inside his then Cottonwood residence, a law enforcement investigative report says.

According to the criminal complaint, the stalking began around April 2008 and, despite restraining orders issued against him, continued for about a year.

Although Shasta County probation officials recommended that Roberts be granted probation, Deputy District Attorney Stephanie Bridgett, who prosecuted Roberts, has said that officials with the state Department of Corrections evaluated him after he pleaded guilty to the charges and determined that he was not a good candidate for probation.

He faced a maximum of five years, four months in prison.

Roberts was charged with 13 felony counts, including stalking, first-degree residential burglary, vandalism, possession of flammable material for malicious use, corporal injury and battery.

In the police report, Robert was described by some witnesses as a “loose cannon,” and had a long relationship with the Redding woman.

But, it said, she learned about three years ago that he was having an affair with a co-worker while he was working as a Tehama County sheriff’s deputy.

Attempts to save the relationship failed and she eventually met another man, the report noted.

She told Redding police investigators in March that she was reluctant to move forward with the case because Roberts had been trying to get a job with a private contracting company to go to work in Iraq and work as an independent contractor.

“Victim stated if she went forward with this case, it may hinder his ability to get that job and he would remain here in Shasta County and continue to be a problem to her,” the Redding Police Department report says.

She said that she was also afraid of him, noting that he can have a violent temper, and feared what he might do to her and her boyfriend, it said.

She later changed her mind, it said, when she found one of her vehicles vandalized and believed he was the one responsible for it.

According to the report, which described a number of instances of physical and emotional abuse, the woman said that he once pushed her against a wall, placed his hands around her neck and began to choke her until her son intervened.

She said that he also, among other things, once pushed her down and slammed her head against the ground, the police report said.

Officer James Roberts III Charged with Numerous Felonies

James Roberts III is to be charged with numerous felonies in the physical abuse of his wife and girlfriend, the Orange County district attorney's office says.

A Huntington Beach police officer was arrested on suspicion of physically abusing his wife and girlfriend, the Orange County district attorney's office said Wednesday.

According to the district attorney's office, James Roberts III, 33, will be charged with eight counts of false imprisonment by violence or deceit, three counts of criminal threats, two counts of domestic battery with corporal injury, two counts of aggravated assault, one count of dissuading a witness by force or threat and one count of vandalism causing $400 or more in damage, all felony charges. Roberts is expected to be arraigned Friday.