Mark Miles & James Balelo Arrested for Filing False Reports

Two North Las Vegas police officers were arrested Thursday, both accused of filing a false report stemming from an December incident in which a man was tossed from a casino.

Mark Alan Miles and James F. Balelo, both 27, were arrested Thursday by North Las Vegas police detectives, police Sgt. Tim Bedwell said.

Miles, who has been with the department for a year, was booked for filing a false report by a public officer, a gross misdemeanor, and for a felony charge of oppression under color of office. Balelo was booked on one count of false report by a public officer.

The criminal complaint alleges that Miles and Balelo responded at 11:45 p.m. on Dec. 6 to a report of an uncooperative person detained by security at the Cannery Casino, 2121 E. Craig Road. When Miles and Balelo arrived at the casino, they found a 31-year-old California man secured and handcuffed in a security holding cell.

The man was under citizen arrest by security guards at the time for causing a disturbance in a casino bar, refusing to leave and waving a beer bottle that was alleged to be a potential weapon, Bedwell said.

Miles and Balelo took the man into custody and booked him into the North Las Vegas Detention Center for assault with a deadly weapon and resisting arrest, Bedwell said.

The criminal complaint alleges that during the arrest, Miles committed oppression under color of office by using physical force and threat of physical force by arresting a person and holding him against his will -- and injuring the person during the process.

The criminal complaint also alleges that Miles and Balelo committed false reporting by a public officer in written reports that contained an inaccurate account of their actions and the actions of the suspect while in a holding cell.

The officers were arrested on warrants obtained after a criminal investigation by the North Las Vegas Police Department.

An internal complaint initiated by a North Las Vegas police supervisor on Dec. 7 led to the arrest, Bedwell said. Both men have been booked into the Clark County Detention Center.

The investigation included interviews of people involved and examination of evidence, including a surveillance recording the incident, which resulted in warrants of arrest being issued.

Police officers are held to a higher standard because they are entrusted with powers exceeding that of the average citizen, Bedwell said. Miles and Balelo are on paid administrative leave during the investigation, Bedwell said.

Other Information: http://www.kvbc.com/Global/story.asp?S=9686077&nav=15MV

Animal Control Officer Accused of Sexual Assault

Lawton, Oklahoma

Twenty-seven-year-old Christopher Mayer already had been fired from his job as a City of Lawton Animal Control officer, and now he's being accused of using his former position to attempt to sexually assault a woman. Police say Mayer showed up on the woman's doorstep claiming to be an animal control officer. She says that when she let him in her home, he tried to sexually assault her - not once, but twice. She said he returned three days later and tried to get in again, but a friend helped her keep him away.

Mayer had only been fired from the city days before arriving at the woman's house. She says she recognized him because less than one month earlier, he had worked on a dog bite case involving her dog, and claimed to be checking on the case. Lawton Police Chief Ronnie Smith says that an animal control officer is like any other officer when it comes to credentials - they carry a badge, wear a uniform and a nameplate that proves who they are or the department they represent.

Police say if there is no proof of their position, they probably are not who they claim to be - which is what happened in this incident. "He went back out there and used his former position to take advantage of this young lady - and he was in civilian clothes," said Smith.

The former animal control officer was wearing civilian clothes because he no longer had a uniform. "The uniform is supposed to be turned in, it's like the police department when you retire or leave, or if you're terminated, you turn in all your stuff, and you don't get a final paycheck until it's all turned in," said Smith.

The woman says that against her better judgment she let him in her house. "She opened the door, let him in, and in the process of letting him in, he checked the dog, and he committed sexual battery on her," said Smith.

Smith says the woman asked Mayer to leave - and, he did. However, soon after the incident, another animal control officer saw his car outside the woman's home, and asked what he was doing there. Mayer told the animal control officer that he was visiting a friend, and after the officer left, Smith says Mayer forced the woman's front door open, and attacked her again. "She told him to get away from her, and finally he left," said Smith. "After he left, she was afraid to report it for a couple of days."

Three days later the woman says it happened again. "Monday afternoon he came back again, knocked on the door," said Smith. "This time her friend answered the door and told him to leave and not come back." Police say the woman was afraid to press charges because she mistakenly thought the man was a city employee, although he had been terminated ten days prior to the first incident, and was with the city for only three months.

Smith says the city hasn't had a problem like this with one of its employees. He says that if you ever question whether someone is a city employee, call dispatch or the organization they claim to be associated with, and request information.

Deputy James Spates Faces 2 Counts of Sexual Battery

A Grand Jury has indicted a law officer on charges of Sexual misconduct.

Hamilton County Deputy James Spates faces two counts of Sexual Battery by an authority figure and a count of official misconduct.

Sheriff Jim Hammond today said the alleged victim was an underage female the deputy was escorting to the juvenile detention center.

Sheriff Jim Hammond:

"Anytime you transport a juvenile, especially a female, in particluar female juveniles as well as female adults, that you do give your time date and mileage, so we make sure you proceed directly to where you are supposed to. He deviated from this policy by pulling off to a different location, conducted a search of her body in an inappropriate manner. He subsequent to that did give her some information where she could reach him and based on the complaint made and filed with us, and us making an investigation, the charges were filed."

The Sheriff fired Spate Tuesday and he was taken into custody today.

Archie Stallworth Said he was Undercover

The feds say Archie Stallworth is a crooked suburban cop who sold out his badge to provide muscle for a drug dealer -- who actually was an undercover FBI agent.

But Stallworth, 36, insists he was simply playing a bad guy, too.

"If he's going to get an Oscar, I should get an Oscar because we were doing the same thing," Stallworth said of the FBI agent.

Stallworth -- who also worked as a Metra train conductor -- says he was also undercover, gathering intelligence on a narcotics ring. He provided the Chicago Sun-Times with police reports that he says prove his innocence by showing that he and a partner were documenting their own investigation months before the FBI arrested Stallworth on Nov. 19.

But a federal grand jury last month indicted Stallworth on charges of drug conspiracy as well as filing fake police reports. He provided the Sun-Times with those same reports but insisted they weren't fake.

Stallworth is among four Harvey officers, 10 Cook County sheriff's corrections officers and a Chicago Police officer who have been charged with drug conspiracy. He says that after his arrest, the FBI asked him to wear a hidden microphone in an attempt to capture remarks by Harvey Mayor Eric Kellogg, but he refused.

On May 27, the undercover FBI agent told Stallworth's partner at the Harvey Police Department that he needed protection for a shipment of up to a kilogram of cocaine, Stallworth said. Stallworth provided the Sun-Times with a document entitled "Harvey Police Persons Incident Report" dated May 28. The report, supposedly written by Stallworth's partner, details the May 27 conversation.

Stallworth says his partner faxed the report to the federal High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area program, which coordinates narcotics investigations.

The Harvey Police Department refused to vouch for the authenticity of the police reports, referring questions to the U.S. attorney's office, which declined to comment. Stallworth's partner could not be reached for comment. Stallworth said he was forced to resign from the department but now wants his job back.

According to the charges against Stallworth, he met the undercover FBI agent at a south suburban fast-food restaurant July 26 to provide security for a meeting. Afterward, the agent paid Stallworth $300 and said he needed someone to provide security for drug deals.

Stallworth provided the Sun-Times with a July 27 police report he said he filed after the meeting at the restaurant. The report says he met with a man who "began to speak in detail about his interaction in trafficking narcotics." Stallworth wrote that he planned to contact federal authorities when he received more information on the drug operation.

Prosecutors say Stallworth met with the undercover agent Aug. 11 at DuPage Airport, where he agreed to help make a drug pickup for $1,000. He is accused of moving several duffel bags from a plane to the undercover agent's car. Prosecutors said Stallworth, who was armed with a pistol, thought the bags contained 30 kilograms of cocaine, but it was actually fake.

Stallworth gave the Sun-Times a purported Harvey police report dated Aug. 12 in which he detailed the drug exchange at the airport and said he would store his $1,000 payment in a safe until he could turn it over to federal authorities. Stallworth said he did not make an arrest at the airport because he was worried it might lead to a shoot-out.

http://www.suntimes.com

Corrections Officer Maurice Bush Accused of Giving Porn Magazines and Lube to Inmate

GENESEE COUNTY, Michigan

A corrections officer for the Genesee Valley Regional Detention Center is accused of giving pornographic magazines and a lubricant to a 16-year-old inmate.

Genesee County Sheriff Robert Pickell said an investigation revealed that Maurice Bush, 47, of Genesee County told the youth that he wanted to watch the teen masturbate after Bush gave him the materials in October.

"Maurice Bush was placed in a very sensitive position with children, and he violated that trust," Pickell said during a news conference today.

"This kind of guy is a dangerous person."

Bush has been charged with furnishing obscenity to children and willful neglect of duty. He faces 90 days in jail and/or a $500 fine on the first charge and up to 1 year in jail and/or a $1,000 fine on he second charge.

The six-year employee with the Genesee Valley Regional Detention Center was suspended after officials were notified of the alleged incident.

Officer Derek Dayoub Charged with Assaulting McDonald's Employee

A municipal police officer in Washington County was arrested Tuesday on charges that he assaulted an employee at a McDonald's restaurant in October in Burgettstown.

Derek A. Dayoub, 26, of Scott, was arrested and arraigned, three months after the reported incident, on charges of simple assault, official oppression and harassment. He has been suspended from the job since his arrest, police said.

The charges stem from an incident Oct. 11 at a McDonald's restaurant where he confronted an employee, Brandon Lancaster, 19. The officer accused the teen of having talked about him, according to the affidavit that supports Mr. Dayoub's arrest.

When Mr. Lancaster denied talking about the officer, Mr. Dayoub grabbed him, squeezing a pressure point that caused the victim to collapse, the affidavit said.

Officer North also has since been suspended from the Smith Township police force, pending his prosecution on charges that he illegally obtained oxycodone pills from a police informant. He was charged last week with possession.

More Information: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09015/941969-100.stm

Sergeant Haytham Khalil Pleads Guilty Illegally Using Database

A New York City police sergeant pleaded guilty on Wednesday to illegally entering a federal database and giving information from a terrorist watch list to an acquaintance to use in a child-custody case in Canada.

The sergeant, Haytham Khalil, 34, was charged in November with using a computer without authorization and obtaining information belonging to a federal agency.

According to his guilty plea, Sergeant Khalil, who lives in Brooklyn, borrowed a fellow police officer’s account on Dec. 6, 2007, to obtain access, using a Police Department computer, to a state database called e-Justice. The database permits qualified state and local law enforcement authorities to get access to the terrorist watch list maintained by the F.B.I. and available through the bureau’s National Crime Information Center.

Sergeant Khalil obtained a document from the database that identified a person as being on a terrorist watch list and forwarded it to an acquaintance involved in a custody dispute in Canada, according to the guilty plea.

Sergeant Khalil pleaded guilty before Magistrate Judge Michael H. Dolinger to a misdemeanor, “accessing a computer and as a result exceeding his authority by obtaining information belonging to a department and agency of the United States.” Sentencing was scheduled for April 14.

The maximum sentence is one year in prison; a fine of the greater of $100,000 or twice the gross gain or loss from the offense; and a year of supervised release.

The guilty plea was announced by Lev L. Dassin, the acting United States attorney in Manhattan. The case was prosecuted by the public corruption unit in the United States attorney’s office and was handled by an assistant United States attorney, Loyaan A. Egal.

Rage in Law Enforcement Officers Out of Control

Is it just me, or does the police force in the US seem to be getting increasingly violent everywhere you look?

Last week, 17-year old Virginian was tasered in his own home by police after neighbors phoned in a domestic dispute.

I find it hard to believe that police cadets aren’t taught multiple ways to subdue a possible suspect. Aren’t weapons that can kill you meant to be a last response?

On New Year’s Eve, a twenty-three year old African-American was pulled from his vehicle in his family’s drive way in Texas. After his mother, who came outside to see what was going on, got shoved by an officer, the young man questioned the treatment of his mother. He was promptly shot by the officer.

Family members had difficulty believing a shooting at the home of the only black family on their Bellaire block was completely random. . .

Speculation aside, investigators and the family are trying to figure out why the officer stopped the men in the first place.

‘The vehicle turned out not to be stolen. Why they thought it was stolen and how they got a stolen report is something that is not clear yet. All that will be determined in the investigation,’ said Holloway.

The most heinous though took place on New Year’s Day. The recent shooting of a compliant Oscar Grant in Oakland has caused an uproar and a very public demand for justice.

A BART police officer shot the man at point blank range who was laying on the station platform, restrained by officers. Despite the confiscation of a number of cell phones of witnesses, several managed to make their way into the hands of local reporters covering the story. The officer in question refused to testify before Internal Affairs, resigning so that he could not be compelled to do so. The city’s citizenry await word of what charges, if any, will be filed.

Has police work become more treacherous in recent years that the police are running scared and shooting unarmed civilians? Does law enforcement seem more enticing to certain personalities? Have 8 years of shivving the Constitution left officers thinking they to can act with impunity?

I’m certainly not alone in being concerned.

A new study published this month in the Emergency Medicine Journal reports that roughly 98% of ER docs believe some of the patients delivered by police are victims of police brutality. But since there aren’t any laws requiring this sort of abuse to be reported, unlike parents assaulting their children, doctors look the other way.

That data was collected in 2002, so the nearly 2/3 of physicians that felt they saw at least 2 instance of police brutality a year. . . how many do you think they’re not reporting now?

Police Brutality Lawsuits Settled for $245,000

Two police brutality lawsuits were settled for a total of $245,000, according to agreements recently unearthed by open public records advocate John Paff.

Mr. Paff is a Somerset resident who runs the state Libertarian Party's Open Government Advocacy Project. He has also pressed the High Bridge and Franklin Township school boards for more openness. Mr. Paff said he came across the Readington documents during a routine investigation into civil cases involving a government agency, which he posts on his blog: njcivilsettlements.blogspot.com. Mr. Paff said he thought people might be interested in the payouts because that's information municipalities don't like to advertise.

According to one of the agreements, Readington's insurer paid $200,000 to township residents Christopher Strobel and Valerie Luckstone in January 2008. Mr. Strobel had sued the township and several of its police officers four years earlier, alleging "intentional beating, verbal abuse and threats" during a March 2002 incident.

A second police abuse suit was settled by paying $45,000 to resident Thomas Wachendorf in January 2007. He said township police exercised "unlawful use of force" in arresting him in May 2004. Although the agreement contained a confidentiality clause, it's still subject to the state's Open Public Records Act, a law that ensures a citizen's access to government records.

"I do not think you can draw a straight-line comparison between the merits of the case and the dollar amount," Mayor Julia Allen said of the settlements. She added that such claims are handled in a routine fashion by the township's insurance company. "In the majority of cases, the settlement has nothing to do with the merits of the case -- it's strictly a financial decision made by the insurance company."

The township paid a $5,000 deductible for the Strobel settlement, and there was no deductible for the Wachendorf settlement, according to Township Administrator Vita Mekovetz.
Readington is part of a joint insurance fund, and the settlements didn't seem to have a significant effect on the township's rates, she said.

Police Chief James Paganessi declined comment on the settlements but previously called the suits "baseless."

Christopher Strobel's lawsuit stemmed from an incident when Mr. Strobel was stopped by then-Patrolman Joseph Greco (since made sergeant) while he was walking home on the shoulder of Route 22. According to his complaint, he began telling the officer "about the recent death of his infant daughter" when Cpl. Scott Crater (now lieutenant) and Sgt. Sebastian Donaruma (now lieutenant) arrived. The suit says Mr. Strobel turned to leave because Sgt. Greco had returned his driver's license, and then-Cpl. Crater grabbed him and "threw him face first into one of the police cars."

Mr. Strobel claimed that then-Cpl. Crater, with the help of the two other police officers, again "slammed (his face) into the rear window of the patrol car with sufficient force to shatter it and send Strobel's shoulder through the broken window."

After that, he alleged, the men punched him several times and he fell to the ground. He said he told then-Sgt. Donaruma that the officer was hurting his arm and in return "was kicked in the head and his face was ground into the pavement by the officer's boot." Mr. Strobel claimed that later then-Patrolman Greco told him: "You have no rights here; this is our town and don't you forget it."

The suit contends that Sgt. John Insabella later went to Mr. Strobel's home and coerced his wife, Valerie Luckstone, into signing a false domestic violence complaint against her husband. According to the court papers, she was told to sign "if she wanted her husband released from jail." The couple said they continued to be harassed by township police after the incident.

Charges of obstruction of justice and resisting arrest against Mr. Strobel were dismissed by Lambertville Municipal Court Judge Richard Cushing because the police affidavit failed to show probable cause.

In the other suit settled by Readington, Mr. Wachendorf accused then-Cpl. Crater and then-Cpl. Christopher DeWire (now sergeant) of assaulting him after a traffic stop in his Holland Brook Road driveway. He said they followed him into his driveway and exited their patrol cars "with their handguns partially drawn." Mr. Wachendorf alleges that they ordered him out of his car and, seconds later, pulled him out then "threw him onto the gravel driveway at the edge of the brick patio, and slapped a handcuff onto (his) left wrist." He said his wrist was broken and the fall made him strike his head, breaking his glasses and causing him to lose consciousness.

According to the police department, officers tried to stop Mr. Wachendorf because he was driving an unregistered vehicle, and followed him for 2 miles before he turned into his driveway. In this case, a police video of the stop showed Mr. Wachendorf and the officers tussling. He was charged with resisting arrest, obstruction of justice and eluding police. Mr. Wachendorf entered and completed a pre-trial intervention program, and charges against him were later dropped.

Meanwhile, the incident cost him his teaching job at Mountainview state prison. A tenured teacher who helped inmates prepare for General Educational Development (GED) tests, he was fired for "conduct unbecoming a public employee." Mr. Wachendorf's appeal made it to the Superior Court Appellate Division, where the judges agreed with the administrative law judge's decision that evidence against him, including the police video, supported the charges. That judge also found Mr. Wachendorf's testimony to be inconsistent and not believable.

In both settlements, the agreements state that payments aren't an admission of wrongdoing. But Mr. Paff thinks this kind of information is valuable because it enables local governing bodies to look for patterns in lawsuits.

A third lawsuit alleging township police abuse was dismissed in December 2006.

Six Officer Being Sued for Police Brutality

PEORIA

The City of Peoria and six police officers are being sued because of what lawyers call "police brutality." Attorney Daniel Cusack says his client, Bryce Scott, was beaten, tased and doused with pepper-spray by police after a high speed chase back in May. Cusack says Scott was sitting in his car outside a former girlfriend’s house when police arrived. Cusack tells us his client feared he would be beaten by police, and drove off at a high speed.

Someone anonymously dropped off this squad car surveillance tape to Cusack, showing what he says is unnecessary force. Attorneys are seeking damages in excess of $50-thousand.

Cusack says his client is currently in jail pending drug charges. Peoria Police spokesperson Doug Burgess says the department has not yet seen the lawsuit, and until they do, they have no comment. The case will be heard in court on June 19th in Peoria County.


Information and Video: http://www.week.com/news/local/37611029.html

Investigator Michael Pray Charged with Shooting Vehicle in His Driveway

A 25-year New York State Police veteran was arraigned Tuesday on two misdemeanor charges in City Court.

Investigator Michael Pray, 61, of Rochester was charged with prohibited use of a weapon and reckless endangerment of property, both misdemeanors, after a Dec. 13 incident.

According to court documents, Pray discharged four rounds from a .45 Glock handgun into a vehicle in his driveway.

Pray is suspended with pay until the investigation is complete, according to State Police. Pray, who is out on his own recognizance, is due back in court Feb. 4 for a pretrial hearing.

Information: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28652607/

Trial Begins for Dwight Toombs Accused of Sexually Molesting Teen

FORT PIERCE

A prosecutor said Wednesday afternoon that evidence will show that Dwight L. Toombs, “while on duty as a Fort Pierce cop, sexually molested and battered (a) 15-year-old girl.”

A defense attorney countered that DNA evidence, or lack of it, “completely clears Mr. Toombs of these charges.”

After 2½ days of jury selection, a panel of six men and two women — six jurors and two alternates — began hearing testimony in the trial of the seven-year veteran of the Fort Pierce Police Department who is charged with three counts of sexual battery, two counts of lewd or lascivious molestation and one count of lewd or lascivious conduct.

Authorities allege that on Dec. 18, 2007, while on foot patrol on Hutchinson Island, Toombs found the girl naked from the waist down in a parked car at Kimberly Bergalis Park with a 20-year-old man.

Assistant State Attorney Victoria Winfield told jurors in an opening statement that Toombs, 33 at the time of the alleged incident, handcuffed the man and girl and then fondled the girl using a glove.

In his opening statement, defense attorney Jack A. Fleischman of West Palm Beach told jurors that none of the tests on items recovered from the site showed a mixture of DNA from both the girl and Toombs.

“It’s easy for the alleged victim to make these allegations,” Fleischman said, “but it’s very difficult for the state to prove it. In fact, they can’t prove it beyond a reasonable doubt.”

The trial in the St. Lucie County Courthouse before Circuit Judge Larry Schack is expected to last into next week. 

Officer James Ingalls Accused of Having Sex with Prostitute in Front of School

INDIANAPOLIS

Charges were filed Tuesday against an Indianapolis police officer accused of paying a prostitute for sex at an elementary school while on duty.

James Ingalls (pictured) was charged with one count of felony official misconduct and one count of misdemeanor patronizing a prostitute.

According to a probable cause affidavit, Kristen Harbaugh was approached by Ingalls several times last summer about performing sex for money while Ingalls was in full uniform and driving a department-issued vehicle.

Police said Ingalls took the woman to Garden City Elementary School on Rockville Road near South Lynhurst Drive, where the transactions took place.

As a part-time employee of the Metropolitan School District of Wayne Township, Ingalls had the alarm codes and keys to enter the building.

"The woman said, 'He told me he was a man and he had needs,'" said Helen Marchal with the Marion County Prosecutor's Office. "We were able to verify that he was in the building at the time that individual stated they had been there."

Harbaugh said Ingalls would also warn her to stay off the streets when officers conducted prostitution sweeps in that neighborhood.

Police said Harbaugh correctly described tattoos and piercings on Ingalls' chest and detailed alleged encounters in the school nurse's office

In August, Ingalls was suspended from the department without pay and recommended for termination following an internal investigation.

Ingalls had been on the force since 1998. He was turned himself in on Wednesday and was held on $10,000 bond.

Former Officer Wilbert Jamison Jr Charged with Abusing His Son

GAFFNEY, S.C.

A former Gaffney police officer who served as a resource officer at a middle school was arrested and charged with criminal domestic violence after an earlier indictment of abusing his son.

Wilbert Jamison Jr. was charged with criminal domestic violence. According to a warrant issued earlier Tuesday, Jamison shoved his wife, causing her to fall to the ground and hit her head. Earlier Tuesday morning, he was indicted and accused of handcuffing his 11-year-old son while beating him.

A Cherokee County grand jury indicted Jamison Tuesday on three counts of unlawful conduct towards a child.

Jamison was a Gaffney police officer starting in the late 90s, and he served as both a patrol officer and a school resource officer at Gaffney Middle School.

Jamison resigned about a month ago, citing personal reasons. The alleged abuse took place while Jamison was an active duty officer.

The indictment says that between April 1 and Aug. 30, 2007, Jamison handcuffed his son and forced him to run back and forth in the yard while Jamison beat him with a belt, causing him severe physical and mental injury.

In the second count, the indictment alleges that between Jan. 1 and April 30, 2007, Jamison handcuffed the boy, and locked him faced own in a closet.

The third count of the indictment says that between Dec. 6 and Dec. 8, 2006, Jamison beat the child with a belt, and the belt and buckle caused severe injury to the boy's ankle and foot.

Current Gaffney Police Chief Rick Turner said that he cannot comment on why Jamison continued to work for the department during the investigation because he was not chief at the time.

Turner said he was not made aware of an official investigation by the S.C. Attorney General's Office.

Turner said that in the future, accusations against officers will be handled on a case-by-case basis, and if the accusation bleeds over into the officer's official responsibilities -- such as a child abuse charge against an officer who works with children -- the officer could be reassigned until the investigation is completed.

Tuesday, the State Law Enforcement Division filed a warrant against Jamison for criminal domestic violence, first offense. The warrant said that on April 25, 2008, Jamison shoved his wife, Teresa Jamison, causing her to fall to the floor.

As of Tuesday afternoon, Jamison was not in custody.

His wife said she is still married to him, but she is seeking a divorce so she and her son can move on.

Teresa Jamison said, "We've formed … a new family without the abuse. And any time you get rid of abuse, it can only go up from there.

"We're doing much better. I feel a sense of relief that finally justice will be served."

Other Information: http://www.myrtlebeachonline.com/575/story/742254.html

Mozambican Police Arrest Officer for Burning Man Alive

Maputo

The spokesperson for the General Command of the Mozambican police, Pedro Cossa, confirmed on Tuesday that the Attorney-General's Office has arrested a senior officer in the Criminal Investigation Police (PIC) for the brutal murder in 2007 of a suspected criminal named Abranches Penicela.

Relatives of Penicela, and human rights organisations have been fighting for justice in this case for over a year. Cossa said that Alexandre Balate, the heard of search and arrest operations in the Maputo branch of PIC, had been under investigation by prosecutors since last year. He was formally detained last Friday.

Penicela was arrested in 2007 on suspicion of participation in a bank robbery. He was held for a period in the Maputo top security prison, but an investigating magistrate ordered his release on the grounds of lack of evidence.

According to the charge sheet against Balate, cited in Tuesday's issue of the independent weekly "Escorpiao", he had earlier, in February 2007, raided Penicela's house, without any search warrant. During this police raid, Penicela was beaten up and called "a thief, a robber and a dangerous criminal".

After the bank robbery, it was Balate who arrested Penicela (again, without a warrant). He was angered by Penicela's release and with two other PIC agents, named as Moise Matusse and Samuel Bila, plotted to kidnap him.

On 14 August, a trap was set for Penicela. According to the charge sheet, he received a phone call from a certain Octavio who wanted to meet him on the road to Swaziland to discuss a truck being imported from South Africa. But when he arrived at the meeting place, he found himself surrounded by police officers, led by Balate.

The police seized Penicela, tied him up and injected him with a drug that rendered him unconscious. He was then taken to Xinavane, where he was blindfolded, thrown onto the floor and shot. Balate then took a container of petrol purchased by his colleagues, poured it over Penicela (who was still alive) and set it on fire.

The autopsy on Penicela said he had second and third degree burns on 90 per cent of his body, and that the burns were the cause of death, although he had also been shot in the head.

Balate was a careless executioner. For when he set fire to Penicela he also burnt his own arm. He invented a story to explain this injury, claiming that he had burnt his arm while tampering with the radiator of his car.

And, despite his terrible injuries, Penicela did not die in Xinavane. He was rescued and taken to Maputo Central Hospital where he was able, the following day, to make a statement, accusing Balate and other police officers. Shortly afterwards, Penicela died of his injuries, but the CD of his dying statements is attached to the prosecutors' charge sheet.

The charge sheet cited by "Escorpiao" declared that there was "no doubt" that the death of Penicela was "a summary execution". Balate and his companions had thus committed first degree murder, with the aggravating circumstances of premeditation, and the use of torture and acts of cruelty to increase the victim's suffering.

Phoenix Detention Officer Arrested for Molesting Teen

Phoenix police arrested a Maricopa County Sheriff's detention officer Monday on suspicion of molesting a now-teenage family member.

Police said the girl told her mother, who also is a detention officer, that the relative molested her about five years ago.

The Republic is withholding the officer's name to protect the girl.

According to police reports, the officer admitted the crime after submitting to and failing a polygraph examination.

He was then arrested on suspicion of sexual conduct with a minor.

Police said the officer was placed on administrative leave for the job he held since November 2005. Further determination of his employment was still pending.

Two NYPD Officers Agree to Plea Agreement

YONKERS

Two New York City police officers charged in connection with a fight two years ago outside two McLean Avenue bars have struck a plea agreement to avoid a trial.

The officers had faced charges of official misconduct and were scheduled to go on trial in Yonkers City Court next month.

Instead, New York City Police Officers Jeffrey Alicea and Stella Ibanez pleaded guilty Wednesday to disorderly conduct, a violation, and the misdemeanor official misconduct charges were dropped, their attorneys, John D. Pappalardo of Scarsdale and John D. Patten of New York City, said yesterday.

The officers were accused of trying to cover up the involvement of a New York City police officer in a September 2007 fight in which a Yonkers man was seriously injured.

Ibanez and Alicea entered their pleas in Yonkers City Court before Judge Michael Martinelli, who fined both $75 and sentenced them to a conditional discharge.

Lucian Chalfen, a spokesman for the Westchester County District Attorney's Office, said he could not comment on the cases against Alicea and Ibanez because they had been sealed.

Both officers are currently being paid by the department, but are on modified duty. Their lawyers said they hoped to return to regular work.

"We are hoping that she can keep her job," Pappalardo said of Ibanez. "She maintained her innocence all along."

The pleas leave three defendants with pending cases in the bar incident. NYPD Officer Michael McGhee, former NYPD Officer Thomas Wimmer and their friend Patrick Tully of the Bronx are scheduled to go to trial Jan. 26, said attorney Richard Murray, who represents Wimmer.

McGhee, Wimmer and Tully are accused of assaulting 26-year-old Peter Cummins in front of Fagan's Ale House and Rockin' Robins Bar and Night Club in a fight that allegedly started when Tully said something to the victim's girlfriend that she deemed derogatory. Cummins suffered severe facial injuries, authorities said.

The three defendants are each charged with third-degree assault, a misdemeanor.

The case is being prosecuted by the Westchester County District Attorney's Public Integrity Bureau.

Detective Michael Spilman Charged with Sexually Abusing Teen Girl

State prosecutors filed several sex abuse charges against a former Murray police detective in 3rd District Court on Tuesday.

West Valley police arrested and booked Michael Spilman, 35, into the Davis County Jail on Jan. 9. Spilman resigned from the department Monday.

The Salt Lake County Attorney's Office filed an affidavit that included a first-degree felony charge of aggravated sexual abuse of a child, because the offence was allegedly "committed by a person who occupied a position of special trust," according to the affidavit. If convicted, the mandatory sentence is five years to life in prison.

He also faces charges of second-degree felony forcible sexual abuse and sexual battery, a class A misdemeanor.

Spilman is alleged to have sexually abused a teenage girl "on several different occasions" over nearly five years, according to the affidavit.

Although he lived in West Valley City where the alleged abuse occurred, Spilman was booked into the Davis County Jail according to police protocol aimed to protect officers from reprisal by inmates they investigated or arrested. He remained in jail Tuesday on $150,000 bail.

Information:

http://www.abc4.com/content/news/slc/story/MURRAY-Utah-ABC-4-News-He-served-as-a-police/90-5ABqjGky3_nutwGC0Cw.cspx

Family of Tasered Victim Furious that Officer is Promoted

The family of a mentally disturbed man who died after being Tasered is furious that the NYPD cop who zapped him has been promoted.

"They should tell us about this," said Olga Negron, whose son, Iman Morales, fell 10 feet to his death after being Tasered Sept. 24. Morales was on a ledge and cops werre setting up an airbag when he fell.

Emergency Services Unit Lt. Michael Pigott, who ordered Police Officer Nicholas Marchesona to fire the electroshock gun at Morales, committed suicide days later.

Marchesona was promoted to detective five weeks later, NYPD officials confirmed. His promotion was scheduled before Morales' death, an NYPD spokesman said Monday.

Morales' family members called for the Brooklyn district attorney to bring criminal charges against Marchesona, and said the NYPD should fire the officer, not reward him.

Morales' brother, Jesse, said the move compounds the family's grief.

NYPD and city officials called Morales' death a tragedy, which only deepened when Pigott killed himself at ESU headquarters Oct.2.

Pigott left behind a suicide note saying he shot himself to spare his three children from seeing him in handcuffs or behind bars, police sources said.

Pigott's note also asked Marchesona not be punished for following a superior's order.

Morales' death was ruled a homicide by the city medical examiner's office.

A spokesman for the Brooklyn district attorney said the office accepted the NYPD's assessment that the incident was a tragic accident with no criminality.

Morales was struck with a Taser as he balanced on an awning ledge and, naked and raving, flailed at cops with a fluorescent light bulb.

Lt Francis Cole Kills Wife then Himself

N.Y.

An NYPD lieutenant gunned down his wife and blew himself away Monday in an explosion of rage at their Long Island home, cops said.

Lt. Francis Cole, 48, who worked out of Brooklyn's 68th Precinct, stabbed his wife, Elana, 46, in the chest with a kitchen knife before shooting her in the head at their home in Centereach, police said.

He then shot himself in the head.

Cole's 18-year-old daughter tried to intervene before her parents' fight turned deadly, but was struck in the face, said Detective Lt. Jack Fitzpatrick of the Suffolk County Police.

The daughter called 911 at 12:35 p.m. to report her father had shot her mother, Fitzpatrick said.

"The Coles had been going through a divorce and apparently this is related," Fitzpatrick said.

He said there had been no prior calls to the couple's Savoy Court home.

Cole and his wife were found in the upstairs bedroom of their two-story house. He was still alive when cops found him and rushed him to Stony Brook University Medical Center, where he died.

Neighbors said they were stunned.

"There was no sign, never an argument, nothing," said Mike Arrigo. "They were an ideal family."

Besides the couple's teenage daughter, Elana Coles's 81-year-old mother was in the house at the time, Fitzpatrick said.

The couple is also survived by three sons, all in their 20s.

In 2005, Francis Cole was named in a racial discrimination suit filed by a black female officer in the 68th Precinct. The officer accused Cole of running an "old-boys club" within the NYPD that prevented her from being promoted.

Martinsville Teen Dies From Being Tasered

The Bureau of Criminal Investigations office of the Virginia State Police in Salem is awaiting autopsy results and continuing its investigation into the death of a teenager who was struck by a police Taser in Martinsville last week.

An autopsy was to be conducted to determine the cause of death for the 17-year-old, who died Thursday night. He became unresponsive after Martinsville police officer R.L. Wray deployed a Taser in an effort to subdue the teen inside a duplex apartment at 307 Rives Road.

Tasers are electronic control devices used to subdue people. They are considered nonlethal, Martinsville Police Chief Mike Rogers has said.

Rogers has declined to identify the youth because of his age, but friends have identified him as Derrick Jones.

Lt. Tim Lyon of the Bureau of Criminal Investigations said he had no new information to release Monday.

“We’re waiting for official autopsy results as well as toxicology,” Lyon said, adding that he does not anticipate anything before next week. “Right now we’re not releasing anything,” due to the ongoing investigation.

Sgt. Robert Carpentieri of the state police said he did not know how often incidents of death or injury from Tasers are reported, but to his knowledge, “they’re few and far between,” he said.

Carpentieri said this is the first case he has heard about in which a person died after a Taser was deployed.

According to a report released last month by Amnesty International, a human rights organization, medical examiners and coroners have concluded that Taser shocks “caused or contributed to at least 50 deaths” in the United States between June 2001 and August 2008.

Those 50 people were among 334 who died after police deployed Tasers during the same period, according to Amnesty’s report. In most of those cases, coroners attributed the deaths to other causes, such as drug intoxication or “excited delirium,” the report said. It defined “excited delirium” as “a term often used to describe someone who is in an agitated or highly disturbed state.”

The Amnesty report cites a June 2008 study by the National Institute of Justice on deaths following the use of conducted energy devices (CEDs), the class of weapon that includes Tasers. According to Amnesty, that report “found ‘no conclusive medical evidence’ of a high risk of death or injury from the direct effects of Tasers or similar devices,” but “it stated that ‘Many aspects of the safety of CED technology are not well-known, especially with respect to its effects when used on populations other than normal healthy adults.’”

The NIJ study said the risk of death or injury associated with Tasers could be higher among children, the elderly, pregnant women, people with heart disease and other “at-risk” individuals, Amnesty reported.

When it issued its report, Amnesty International called on federal, state and local authorities to suspend the use of CEDs or, “at a minimum, limit their deployment to life-threatening situations.”

The Amnesty report acknowledges that other studies, some funded by the CED industry, have found the risk of these weapons to be “generally low” in healthy adults.

According to police accounts, the Martinsville teen was struck after Wray responded to the scene and saw evidence of what he believed was a home invasion. The officer entered the duplex and heard someone in its kitchen. He asked the person to come out so he could speak to him, police have said.

The teenager came out of the kitchen “and moved rapidly toward” Wray “in an offensive stance,” according to a city news release. The teenager also made comments that were “not too kind” to the officer, Rogers has said.

Wray deployed his Taser on the teenager, who then was subdued on the floor and handcuffed, police have said. Wray then dealt with another male teenager on the porch, whom he took into custody. When Wray returned to the 17-year-old who had been Tasered, he found him unresponsive, Rogers has said.

The officer called for rescue and administered CPR, but the teenager was pronounced dead at Memorial Hospital, Rogers has said.

Witnesses later said no home invasion took place.

Contrary to previous reports, the other teenager taken into custody that night, a 15-year-old, has not been charged in the incident, Rogers said Monday.

Rogers has said Wray was within the police department’s procedures for using Tasers when he deployed his. The officer has been placed on paid administrative leave.

Retired Officer Jose Arroyo Charged with Kidnapping & Rape

GREENBURGH, N.Y.

A retired New York City policeman has been accused of drugging a woman in a Bronx bar and then raping her in a Westchester County motel.

Police in Greenburgh say 46-year-old Jose Arroyo is charged with second-degree kidnapping and first-degree rape and has been sent to the Westchester County Jail.

A call to Arroyo's lawyer, Todd Lamond, was not immediately returned Monday.

Police say Arroyo, a property manager and nightclub bouncer from the Bronx, met the 31-year-old woman Nov. 14 in the bar and drugged her drink. The police account says that while the woman was helpless, Arroyo took her to the Alexander Motel in White Plains and raped her. She awoke and fled the next morning.

Arroyo was arrested Friday. Bail was set at $200,000.

Officer James Post Arrested for Drunk Driving

A Myrtle Beach Police officer is no longer on the force after being pulled on suspicion of drinking and driving.

James Post, 38, of Myrtle Beach resigned and now faces a driving under the influence charge.

Highway Patrol says just after midnight on Friday, a trooper spotted Post weaving in and out of traffic on River Oaks Drive in Myrtle Beach.

The trooper did a field sobriety test and then arrested Post, and took him to jail.

He was released Saturday morning.


More information:

http://www.scnow.com/scp/news/local/grand_strand/article/mb_officer_charged_with_driving_under_the_influence/27475/

Deputy Standric Choice & Two Others Charged with Stealing Cocaine

DALLAS

Standric Choice, a Dallas Sheriff's Deputy, Terry Kemone Anderson and Charlie Lee Hill were arrested Friday afternoon on federal drug charges outlined in a criminal complaint that was filed late Friday evening, announced James T. Jacks, acting U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas. The three defendants will make their initial appearance this afternoon at 3:00 p.m. before U.S. Magistrate Judge Paul D. Stickney in U.S. District Court in Dallas. The government plans to ask the Court to detain all three defendants.

The complaint charges Anderson, 29, Hill, 31, and Choice, 36, with knowingly and intentionally possessing with the intent to distribute cocaine, and knowingly and intentionally conspiring to possess with the intent to distribute in excess of five hundred grams of cocaine, in violation of Title 21, United States Code, Section(s) 846, 841(a)(1) and (b)(1)B). The maximum statutory penalty for this offense is 80 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

According to the complaint, on January 7, 2009, agents of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) High Intensity Drug Trafficking Task Force (HIDTA) group received information from a reliable Confidential Informant (CI) that a Dallas County Sheriff's Officer, DSO Standric Choice, was involved with an individual, Charles Lee Hill, believed to be his brother-in-law, in distributing narcotics. A meeting was held with the CI in which the CI described a narcotics transaction he referred to as "trading licks" (stealing narcotics from the drug supplier). After meeting with the CI, agents advised the CI to arrange a meeting with Hill and the DSO to finalize plans for a drug deal.

The CI and Hill finalized details of the proposed drug deal at a meeting the following day. At that meeting, the CI told Hill that he was a narcotics distributor. The CI and his cocaine source planned to meet at the TA Truck Stop/Burger King on I-20 and Bonnie View Road in Dallas to complete a four kilogram cocaine transaction. Hill agreed that after he saw the CI and his supplier (an undercover agent) meet, he would call DSO Choice. They planned that Choice would drive into the parking lot to investigate the car, and that upon finding the four kilograms of cocaine, DSO Choice would arrest the CI and release the undercover agent. Choice would then take the four kilograms and the CI to a second predetermined location where Hill would be waiting and release the CI. The CI would meet with Hill and the two (the CI and Hill) would split the drugs stolen from the drug supplier (the undercover agent).

On January 9, 2009, surveillance revealed that a single DSO squad car, identification number SE 419, pulled into TA Truck Stop/Burger King at 7751 Bonnie View Road at I-20 and Bonnie View Road and pulled in behind the undercover agent's and CI's vehicle and turned on the overhead emergency lights. Deputy Choice exited the squad car and approached the CI and undercover agent. Deputy Choice asked the undercover agent a few questions and told him to leave and then placed the CI into custody. After securing the CI in the backseat, Deputy Choice retrieved a duffle bag containing four kilograms of cocaine from the vehicle and placed it in the trunk of his squad car.

Deputy Choice then left the truck stop and drove southbound on Bonnie View Road. Through surveillance, a gray Nissan Pathfinder, occupied by Charlie Lee Hill and Terry Kemone Anderson, and the DSO squad car were seen together in a deserted area on Cleveland Road just west of Bonnie View Road. The vehicles were then observed traveling northbound on Bonnie View Road. The DSO vehicle was then followed until it arrived at the Dallas Sheriff's Department, 133 North Industrial, in Dallas. Choice was then taken into custody.

The Nissan Pathfinder was observed re-entering the TA Truck stop where the vehicle stopped briefly, and the CI exited the vehicle. Two kilograms of cocaine were then retrieved from the CI. The Nissan Pathfinder left the TA Truck Stop and traveled northbound on Bonnie View Road where Desoto Police Department tactical operators conducted a felony car stop, and Hill and Anderson were arrested. Two kilograms of cocaine were retrieved by the Irving Police Department from the front passenger seat floor board.

While stating that the investigation is ongoing, acting U.S. Attorney Jacks praised the cooperative investigative efforts of the North Texas HIDTA, FBI, IRS-CI, the Irving Police Department and the Desoto Police Department.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Suzanna Etessam is prosecuting the case.

More information: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/tx/6207395.html

Former Officer Ryan Warme Was Getting into Trouble Long Before He Became a Cop

A federal prosecutor has called him “the poster boy for detention.”

An ever-lengthening list of witnesses has appeared before a federal grand jury in Buffalo to detail their complaints against him.

Now, an investigation has revealed that suspend Niagara Falls Police Officer Ryan Warme was getting into trouble long before he became a cop.

Warme, 27, already faces charges on a federal criminal complaint that include cocaine trafficking, violating the civil rights of two women and using his police-issued firearm while committing those crimes. Prosecutors have hinted that when the grand jury finishes its work, the list of felony charges will be even longer.

While the three-and-a-half-year veteran of the Falls police force had admitted to having sex with at least two women while he was on duty, he has pleaded not guilty to the charges he currently faces and is being held without bail by the U.S. Marshals.

Warme’s arrest by his fellow officers and federal agents on Dec. 2 was not the first time he’d felt handcuffs on his wrists. In the falls of 2000, while he was attending Western New England College and playing on the school’s football team, Warme was arrested on an assault charge.

Law enforcement sources say the charge stemmed from a fight following a football game. Warme was suspended from the team for four games and was given an adjournment in contemplation of dismissal on the assault charge.

That disposition meant that if Warme “stayed out of trouble,” the charge would be dismissed and removed as a criminal record.

When Falls police detectives investigated Warme’s background prior to his appointment to the Niagara County Law Enforcement Academy in August 2005, they were aware of the arrest but did not disqualify him for it.

“He was given an ACD, if you translate the charge to New York state law, (it’s relatively minor),” Niagara Falls police Superintendent John Chella said. “At that time, it didn’t alert us to the point where he was disqualified.”

Chella also said Warme’s father’s former position as a captain and chief of detectives in the Falls Police Department played no role in the determination not to disqualify his son from a police appointment.

“We would have handled it the same way for any candidate at that point,” Chella said. “We did with him what we’ve done with others.”

The investigation has also shown that a post football game fight wasn’t the only trouble Warme got into during his college days. During the course of a federal court hearing, prosecutors revealed that Warme had been expelled from his college ROTC program “for cheating on an exam.”

Federal investigators learned of the ROTC incident from U.S. Air Force criminal investigators who had handled a probe into Warme’s application to attend Officer Candidate School while he was a member of the Air Force Reserves. On his application for the officer’s school, Warme “checked the (no) box that asked if he had ever been rejected for military service for any reason.”

“The Air Force determined he had lied,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Anthony Bruce said in court. “That is a flat out lie.”

Yet that lie was never uncovered by Falls police during Warme’s background investigation.

“There was no evidence of the ROTC issue in his (police) application,” Chella said. “We only verified that he had 60 hours of college credit to come on the job.”

Warme’s father, testifying in federal court, admitted that his son had been kicked out of ROTC “for violating the honor code.” However, he said his son never told him he had cheated on an exam.

Warme had another run-in with the law, roughly a year before his appointment to the Falls police force.

“We have had contact with (Warme) in the past,” Cheektowaga Police Captain John Glascott said. “It was in early August 2004 and it had to do with a domestic situation.”

Glascott declined to comment any further on Warme’s case. Other law enforcement sources indicted that Warme was arrested, though the exact charges were not known.

Like the college assault charge, the Cheektowaga incident apparently resulted in another adjournment in contemplation of dismissal and the case was ultimately sealed. It’s unclear if Falls police were aware of the Cheektowaga incident before Warme’s appointment to the force.

Chella said Warme passed both a psychological evaluation and a polygraph test prior to joining the force.

“We put a lot of weight in those,” he said. “He passed the psych evaluation and he was given a lie detector test to determine if everything on his application was truthful and he passed that.”

Federal prosecutors have suggested that Warme is proficient at lying. Even after his arrest, they say he lied to federal probation officers about why he left the Air Force Reserve in the spring of 2008.

Warme told federal pre-trial services investigators he left the reserves “based on the fact he could make more money working part-time jobs.” However, Warme’s resignation letter indicts that he left the military prior to the start of discharge proceedings against him.

The discharge proceedings followed an incident at a Texas Air Force base where Warme had reported for training in December 2007. Warme was scheduled to be in training until May or June 2008, but in April went AWOL for a period of roughly seven hours.

According to sources with knowledge of the incident, Warme was scheduled to report for drills at 8 a.m., but failed to show up at the base until 3 p.m. Warme told a superior officer that he had “been out drinking the night before, passed out and missed the drill.”

He also told the officer that he “had been afraid to report after waking up, because he knew he would be in trouble.”

By the time of the military incident, Falls police had already begun their investigation into Warme.

There was still another warning sign, prior to Warme’s working on the street, that the young officer might not be qualified. While Warme was attending the police academy, he was the subject of a criminal complaint filed with Amherst police.

In a November 2005 incident in the parking lot of the Marriott hotel, Warme was accused of stealing a woman’s cell phone after a domestic dispute. Chella said Falls police became aware of the incident but had trouble investigating it because the victim was uncooperative.

“She didn’t want to get (Warme) in trouble,” Chella said. “She said she was mad, but didn’t want to get him kicked out of the academy.”

Officer Michael Spilman Arrested for Sexual Assault

Allegations of sexual assault have prompted the resignation and arrest of Murray police officer Michael Spilman.

A complaint led West Valley City police to book Spilman for aggravated sexual assault and forcible sexual abuse.

Spilman, a 10-year veteran of Murray's police force, is sitting in the Davis County Jail for his own protection. Police fear possible reprisals from Salt Lake County Jail inmates recently arrested by Spilman.

Police say they're releasing very little information about the case to protect the victim.

Officer Ken Hammond Resigns After Allegations of Sexual Misconduct

The Ogden police officer many called a hero for helping to stop the Trolley Square shooter has resigned his post after allegations of sexual misconduct.

Officer Ken Hammond resigned on Friday, but we didn't learn about that resignation until today when the Ogden Police Department sent us a one-sentence statement.

The statement didn't say much, simply that Hammond resigned effective Jan. 9. We asked Ogden police for further comment and were told that's "the only thing the police department has to say."

Hammond had been placed on paid leave since October, when police began investigating allegations of sexual misconduct. Two months later, charges were filed against Hammond alleging he had an improper relationship with a teenager back in 2005.

"It appears he has a long history of inappropriate behavior," said attorney Alyson Carter.

Carter represents Natasha Child, the woman who filed a civil suit last month against Hammond after she says he used excessive force and assaulted her during her husband's arrest last year. At that time, Ogden police defended Hammond.

Natasha Child speaking with an attorney. "Keep in mind, this is a constant thing with law enforcement officers. You can go to any police department and find numerous allegations against officers by people. Some of these allegations occasionally have found true; most do not," Ogden Assistant Police Chief Randy Watt said in a Dec. 10 interview.

Now the police department isn't saying much, and neither is Hammond's attorney, Brenda Beaton. Beaton did, however, say Hammond left the department after it became clear he would not be paid on leave or he'd be outright fired.

Beaton also said Hammond felt like he'd given a "lot of dedicated years" to the Ogden Police Department and that the department was not extending that same courtesy to him, which is why he submitted his resignation.

Hammond has reportedly been offered another job, but Beaton won't say where. Some speculate it will not be in law enforcement.

"I'd be surprised if another police department would hire him, just because they would be exposing themselves to so much liability with his history," Carter said.

Hammond faces a third-degree felony count of unlawful sexual conduct. His first court appearance is scheduled for Jan. 27.


Previous Story: http://www.ksl.com/index.php?nid=148&sid=5185711

Officer John Lewis Facing New Charges of Fighting With His Brother

SCHENECTADY, N.Y.

A Schenectady police officer already facing charges is in even more trouble with the law.

John Lewis, 38, of Schenectady was arrested early Sunday morning after his mother called police saying that he was destroying the house and physically fighting with his brother, who is a police officer in Albany.

Lewis was charged with fourth-degree criminal mischief and released on his own recognizance.

Schenectady police said Lewis is currently suspended for 30 days without pay related to his arrest on Dec. 27 for DWI. Police said Lewis will face administrative consequences related to the most recent incident once the current 30-day suspension expires.

Lewis was also arrested in November on stalking and aggravated harassment charges stemming from an incident with his wife. He was also charged with harassment earlier this year in a separate incident with his wife.

Lewis was also fired 10 years ago after using a racial slur but was later reinstated.

Previous Post:

http://whathappenedtoprotectandserve.blogspot.com/2008/12/officer-john-lewis-arrested-againthis.html

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WTF??? This ASSHOLE needs to be off the streets before he kills someone.

Detective George McNally Charged with Drunk Driving Accident

ALBANY

A veteran detective who helped crack the case of a burglar who killed his partners was charged with drunken driving in an off-duty hit-and-run accident.

Detective George McNally, 54, was suspended for 30 days without pay after his arrest Sunday night, police said.

Police said McNally hit a parked car near the intersection of New Scotland Avenue and Sycamore Street and then drove off. Witnesses provided police with information that led to McNally's arrest. The detective also received a traffic ticket for leaving the scene of a property-damage accident.

Officials from the Office of Professional Standards went to McNally's Delmar home where police say he refused to submit to an alcohol breath test.

McNally was arraigned Monday morning in City Court. He was released without bail and is scheduled to return to court Jan. 22.

"I am extremely disappointed with the arrest of one of our members for allegedly being involved in a alcohol-related accident," Police Chief James Tuffey said in a prepared statement. The chief said he expected city police officers to act professionally "at all times, and they will be held accountable for their actions,"

McNally is the second member of the department in recent weeks to face charges after allegedly leaving the scene of an accident.

Officer Max Etienne was charged with striking three parked cars with his personal vehicle on Dec. 28. He ticketed on charges of failing to keep right and leaving the scene of a property damage accident.

McNally, an Albany police officer for 28 years, has been involved in some high-profile cases.

In 1998, McNally's work was credited with helping identify Gary Evans as the killer of one of his associates, Timothy Rysedorph, 39. At the time, McNally routinely collected forms from antiques shops to help identify cases where stolen merchandise was being sold. When Rysedorph disappeared, McNally visited a shop and was told the victim and Evans often sold merchandise to an antiques dealer.

That led McNally to a pair of stolen cuff links that Evans and Rysedorph had fenced, a critical piece of information that led to a nationwide manhunt, Evans' confession to killing three men he'd known since childhood and his fatal leap off the Menands Bridge after escaping from police custody.

McNally also investigated the 1992 killing of a woman whose boyfriend strangled her and then hung her body out a Washington Avenue window. He also handled the 1997 investigation of the death of an 11-year-old boy in the Albany YMCA wave pool.

Officer Karen Dula Arrested for DWI

A Charlotte-Mecklenburg police officer was arrested this morning for driving while impaired, the department said this afternoon.

Officer Karen Dula, 27, was arrested after a traffic stop around 1:30 a.m. by a trooper with the N.C. Highway Patrol near the intersection of Seventh and McDowell streets, police said in a news release. Dula was off-duty at the time.

The department said Dula, who was hired by CMPD in September 2003, will be placed on administrative duties pending an internal investigation.

“It is unfortunate that a member of the CMPD has been arrested for driving while impaired, but we will continue to hold our officers responsible for their actions on and off-duty,” Police Chief Rodney Monroe said in the news release.

Officer Christopher Miner Accused of Aducting Woman

NEWPORT NEWS, Va.

The first time Newport News Police Officer Christopher Miner, 37, appeared on WAVY News 10 nearly four years ago, he had been given the "Award of Valor."

Officer Miner is in the news again, but this time he's been arrested and charged with abducting a woman.

According to court documents, the woman says she was having a "social evening" with the officer at his house in Newport News.

She claims she laid down in his bed and then he tied her to his headboard using leather restraints and took pictures of her. The woman says the officer threatened to post the pictures on the internet if she did not spend the night.

She went on to allege Miner blocked the door and would not let her leave. Finally, she says, he let her go and that's when she called the police.

Newport News Police Chief James Fox sat down for an exclusive interview with WAVY.com.

"It hurts. We talk about the badge and tarnishing the badge," said Chief Fox. "We teach ethical behavior. We teach character and that's what the public expects from us."

Chief Fox said he must wait for the completion of the investigation and judicial process, but he understands, this case has already hurt the public's trust in the department.

"Officer Miner might have made a mistake. He'll have to deal with the mistake. We will deal with the mistake and we will move on," said Fox.

Officer Miner's attorney told WAVY.com, "Once the evidence is thoroughly investigated by the police department and reviewed by the commonwealth's attorney Chris Miner will be completely exonerated."

Officer Miner is the second Newport News officer in the last two weeks to be arrested.

Lt. Ronald Hendrickson was arrested on Christmas night for allegedly sexually assaulting a woman.

"You worry about your image and you know that the last couple of weeks have not been good weeks for our image," said Fox.

Image is not the Chief's only worry right now. He says city leaders have instructed him to start preparing for budget cuts and the possibility of laying off police officers.

"That's a possibility, depending on how deep the budget cuts go. We are prepared to have to deal with that."

The chief says despite the looming budget woes and the recent arrests of two of his officers, he has a good department, with dedicated officers.

"We will continue to serve with our heads up. We've got great people here and they are truly committed to making the city safe," said Chief Fox.

Both Officer Miner and Lt. Hendrickson are on administrative leave.

Video and More Information:
http://www.wavy.com/dpp/news/local_wavy_newport_news_officer_arrested_20090112

New Orleans Officers shoot Man in Back 12 Times

A man's death from gunshot wounds fired by New Orleans police officers has prompted outraged protests for what family members are calling a "murder."

The man, 22-year-old Adolph Grimes III, traveled to his grandmother's home near the French Quarter in order to celebrate New Year's Eve with his fiance and their 17-month-old son.

Three hours after arrival, at about 3 a.m., he was found dead a block from the front door.

The Orleans Parish coroner said Grimes was shot 14 times, including 12 times in the back.

"This violence has to stop. My child's death will not be meaningless. He did not die in vain," said Grimes' mother, Patricia Grimes.

An editorial in The Times-Picayune said the shooting "demands answers."

Despite the fact that the seven officers involved in the incident have been reassigned, Superintendent Warren Riley has refused to answer "fundamental questions" about the shooting and maintains that Grimes fired upon his men first.

Several dozen people protested the New Orleans Police Department on Thursday morning to demand justice for Grimes' death.

A mix of people walked paced in front of a police station carrying signs with slogans like "Down with the government" and shouting to passers-by "You could be next!"

A group of black ministers and advocates has called for the department to be purged of "trigger-happy" officers and the Grimes family's attorney, Richard Jenkins is certain an investigation will show rogue cops and sloppy police work.

"I just think it was some bad officers who were out there and imposing their will on the community," Jenkins said.

Deputy Standric Choice Arrested by FBI

Federal authorities arrested a Dallas County sheriff's deputy while he was on patrol duty Friday afternoon. Neither the FBI nor the U.S. attorney's office would say why Standric Choice, 36, was arrested, citing an ongoing investigation. He was being held at the Mansfield Law Enforcement Center, which also houses federal prisoners, but officials there would not release details on his case.

Kim Leach, spokeswoman for the Dallas sheriff, would not talk about the case in detail but released a statement: "The sheriff's department will not tolerate any misconduct or illegal activity from anyone in our department. If an employee is found to be engaged in any criminal activity, or violation of departmental code of conduct policies they will be dealt with accordingly. We take any violation seriously and will act swiftly to take action."

Choice began working for the Dallas County sheriff's office as a jailer in the 1990s and became a deputy in 2000, county officials said.


More Information:
http://crimeblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2009/01/dallas-county-hush-hush-about.html

Law Enforcement Agencies Trying to Clean Up Their Act?

When the news broke last month that Niagara Falls Police Officer Ryan Warme had been arrested, reactions across the community were mixed.

Some were surprised that a police officer — a man charged with protecting residents — would find himself on the other side of the law.

Other more jaded residents pointed to the arrest as just another example of someone on the force abusing their power.

For local law enforcement officials, the prevailing mood was one of disappointment.

“You’re let down,” Sheriff James Voutour said. “You take an oath of office, and you trust the people you’re working with respect that oath. When someone lets you down like that, it does give a black eye to law enforcement.”

Warme, 27, was arrested Dec. 2 by his fellow Falls police, along with federal agents. Warme was charged with raping and tormenting women and buying cocaine on duty.

Warme has now been suspended from the Falls police, and he remains in custody.

He will return to court Jan. 23.

Lockport Police Chief Larry Eggert said when a law enforcement official goes corrupt, officers throughout the area feel the effects.

“Generally, what the repercussions are, of course, are the eroding of the public trust,” he said. “I like to think we have a pretty clean department here, and I wouldn’t tolerate anything else, but the perception the public sometimes gets is that, ‘Well, gee, if he’s dirty, then everybody else is.’ ”

Court records accuse Warme of providing information about undercover Falls police to cocaine dealers. He allegedly gave a crack cocaine dealer a heads-up about police investigation.

That charge, in particular, was upsetting to Voutour.

“It was very difficult to swallow, because of the danger he put his fellow officers in,” Voutour said. “(Telling the criminals) who the undercover drug officers are, what cars they’re driving, that even goes beyond criminal.”

Repercussions

Far away from Niagara Falls, in the small village of Barker, the reverberations of incidents like the one in Niagara Falls are still felt.

“Anytime a police officer does an act like that, it does put a black mark on officers,” Barker Police Chief Ross Annable said. “I think everybody takes a hard look at police officers because of the job, and you get singled out a little more than the average job.”

According to a 2006 Harris Interactive poll, 76 percent of Americans trust police officers to tell the truth. The profession was ranked fourth in trustworthiness, behind doctors, teachers and scientists.

Even with such a high ranking, the Internet abounds with Web sites keeping track of police activities, with addresses such as www.PoliceCrimes.com and www.PoliceAbuse.com.

If a police officer is arrested or suspected of a crime, it can erode the community’s trust to the point where that officer is no longer effective, Annable said.

“If you work at some manufacturing company, and you get arrested for something, you go back to work on Monday,” Annable said. “At a law enforcement agency, you get arrested for something and Monday’s a whole new ballgame. It’s going to change your life.”

Background checks

The Lockport Police Department hired two new officers — Ryan Adams and Tricia Denny — on Wednesday.

Earlier in the week, four binders full of stacks of paper sat on a chair in Eggert’s office, each one containing background check information for all eight candidates for the two positions.

“Each candidate’s got a quarter-inch stack of paper,” Eggert said.

The background checks include interviews with people in all aspects of the candidate’s lives: Parents, spouses, former and current bosses, teachers, neighbors and others.

Interviewers go back as far as high school transcripts, looking at how many times the candidate was marked late or how many absences they had.

“People generally don’t change the way they are,” Eggert said. “If you go back far enough, you can kind of determine what kind of person they are.”

He said the department is also considering running psychological exams on potential officers before they are hired.

In the past year, City of Tonawanda Police Chief Cindy Young has instituted a separate, psychological evaluation for her department's potential officers. The evaluations are conducted by Dr. Jay Supnick of Law Enforcement Psychological Associates in Rochester.

At the sheriff’s department, Voutour said they also do extensive background checks, checking financial histories for any sign the candidate has problems with money.

“(If they do), they have more tendency to maybe be corrupt,” Voutour said. “It’s difficult to predict the future character of a person, and the only way you can predict the future is to look at the past.”

In smaller communities like Barker, the application process also includes a background check, but the applicants are usually locals who are already known by the agency, Annable said.

No matter how much preparation is done, things can change. Eggert said there’s always an “unknown quantity” that can make otherwise good people go bad.

“Sometimes things happen in people’s lives. Bankruptcy, bad marriage, a hundred different things that could trigger an unintended problem,” he said.

Taking complaints

So far, the background checks and intense interview process have proven successful, Eggert said.

Still, complaints from the public are a common instance, and Eggert said each complaint that comes into the LPD is treated equally.

“No matter who comes in, or for what reason, or what condition they’re in, we take the information from them,” he said. “They get attention. There’s no, ‘Come back and see the guy tomorrow,’ or ‘We don’t do those.’ If someone comes in to file a complaint, we are bound by the rules to do it.”

Depending on the complaint, there are different avenues it may take. Some complaints are simple — for instance, a driver complaining an officer was rude during a traffic stop — while others may be more complex or serious.

The complaints go up the chain of command. Depending on the seriousness, they may result in a verbal warning, or they could potentially result in an investigation by an outside agency.

People who are uncomfortable going to the LPD to complain about an officer can go to the Niagara County District Attorney’s Office. Some law enforcement agencies, including the New York State Police, have internal affairs units that deal specifically with complaints and allegations of misconduct within that department.

“There’s a lot of different options that people have,” Eggert sad. “The DA’s office, they have investigators, and they’ll entertain the complaint the same as we will.”

District Attorney Michael Violante could not be reached to comment on how his office handles complaints and allegations of police misconduct.

At the sheriff’s department, anyone with a complaint should call dispatch and ask to speak to a shift supervisor, Voutour said.

He said they entertain a variety of complaints.

“We’ll look at it and get both sides of the story,” he said. “Obviously, if it’s just, ‘The officer was short with me,’ that may be handled at the shift supervisor level. Anything (at a) criminal level will come to me quickly.”

In Barker, Annable said, anyone who has a complaint is welcome to file it in person and sign a statement — but most of the time, people who call just want to blow off some steam.

“I’ve found 90 percent of the people will call and complain, and you invite them to come down and they never show up,” he said. “We do take complaints seriously.”

Bank Teller Who Helped Former Officer Christian Torres to Rob Bank Sentenced to Jail

A bank teller who helped a rookie cop pull off two downtown Manhattan bank heists that netted $118,000 was sentenced Friday to 2-1/2 years in jail.

Christina Dasrath burst into tears as she told Manhattan Federal Judge Laura Taylor Swain that ex-NYPD cop Christian Torres walked into a Sovereign bank branch in June 2007 and gave her a note threatening to "start shooting."

"I was duped by my first love," Dasrath said, as her parents, who had opposed her relationship with Torres, wept. "I am 21 years old....They need me at home."

Dasrath met Torres when they were classmates at John Jay College of Criminal Justice. She's been working as an emergency medical technician since her arrest. "Every day I help people," she said. "I try my best to make it up in that manner."

Two former co-workers who were forced into a bank vault and tied up told Swain they're still traumatized.

Isabel Sanchez said Torres repeatedly threatened her, leaving her fearing for her life. She said Dasrath watched as she walked into the vault, her legs trembling uncontrollably. "Everything goes through your mind, everything," Sanchez said.

For five months - until after Torres pulled the second robbery in November 2007 - Dasrath never let on that she knew Torres. "She looked at us in the face like nothing happened," Sanchez said.

Swain said Dasrath should have gone to the authorities after the first robbery, but instead took some of the money. "She continued to cover up and deceive people she had put at risk over several months," Swain said.

Deputy Mark Martin Accused of Sexually Assaulting Woman

A former Poweshiek County deputy is in trouble with the law. Thirty-seven-year-old Mark Martin is accused of assaulting and trying to sexually assault a woman in Grinnell last fall.

Investigators say it happened October 3 at Midwest Ambulance Service in Grinnell. The woman said Martin confronted her and then tackled her after she refused his advances.

The sheriff would not comment on the case, except to say Martin resigned on December 31. He said Martin planned to pursue other career opportunities.

While officials declined to talk, some others in the community have plenty to say.

"If you can't trust your policeman or sheriff department, who can you trust? That's the sad part of it. Because you believe in these people," said Gary Gibson of Grinnell.

The Mahaska County attorney is handling the case. Martin is scheduled to be arraigned on January 23.

Former Jailer Accused of Sexually Assaulting Inmate

Durant, Oklahma

A former Bryan County jailer has been accused of sexually assaulting a female prisoner at the auxiliary jail in 2007.

Twenty-year-old Andrew Duane Sloan was charged Wednesday with sexual battery. Court papers say Sloan, while serving as a jailer, groped a 25-year-old inmate in August 2007.

Sloan was fired that month, but no charges were filed at that time.

He was later charged with unrelated sex crimes. In July 2008, he was charged with raping a woman and in August he was charged with sexually assaulting a girl under the age of 14.

Picture and Other Information: http://www.kxii.com/home/headlines/37349204.html

Another Taser Death-- No Charges Filed Against Officer J.J. Baird

MOBERLY, Mo.

A Howard County prosecutor says no criminal charges will be filed in the death of a suspected drunken driver killed after a police officer fired a Taser at him.

Prosecutor Mason Gebhardt says Moberly police officer J.J. Baird was justified in using a Taser to try to arrest 23-year-old Stanley Harlan of Moberly during a traffic stop in August.

Gebhardt says he reviewed reports and a video of the incident to determine Harlan was resisting arrest.

Baird made the stop, suspecting Harlan was driving drunk and placed him under arrest. Police say when Harlan resisted, the officer deployed his Taser twice to subdue him.

The first Taser shock lasted five seconds and the subsequent shock was only one second. Harlan became unresponsive soon thereafter.

Officers started CPR until an ambulance arrived.

Harlan was pronounced dead at a hospital.

Officer James Crespo III Arrested for DWI

An off-duty New Orleans police officer was arrested this week and charged with driving while intoxicated on the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway.

James Crespo III, 52, was headed northbound Monday around 2:30 a.m. when a Causeway police officer spotted him speeding on the bridge a few miles from the north shore, said Causeway Police Chief Nick Congemi.

The officer, who was using radar equipment, pulled Crespo over at the north toll plaza in Mandeville, Congemi said.

He asked for Crespo's information and that he step out of his vehicle, he said. It is unclear whether Crespo, who lives in New Orleans, was driving an unmarked squad car or his own personal vehicle.

Crespo, an administrative sergeant who has been with the NOPD since 1978, appeared unsteady as he walked to the rear of his vehicle, then upon reaching the rear of the vehicle, leaned against the rear for balance, Congemi said.

He removed his wallet, which contained his New Orleans police commission, and handed the officer his driver's license, he said. However, Crespo refused the officer's request that he submit to a field sobriety test, Congemi said.

The officer asked whether Crespo was carrying a weapon, and Crespo said that he had a gun and that it was in the vehicle, he said.

He then retrieved Crespo's gun, which apparently was his personal weapon, as opposed to his service revolver, Congemi said.

The officer then handcuffed Crespo and arrested him before taking him to Louisiana State Police Troop L, he said. Crespo refused to take a breathalyzer test at Troop L.

In addition to DWI, Crespo is charged with driving 77 mph in a 65-mph zone, Congemi said.

Crespo's age and address were not immediately available from Causeway police.

Congemi said he expects the charges to be filed Monday with the St. Tammany Parish district attorney's office.

Officer Bobby Hoese Charged with Aggravated Battery

EDWARDSVILLE

A Pontoon Beach police officer was charged with two felonies -- aggravated battery and mob action -- on Friday in Madison County Circuit Court.

Sheriff's deputies took police Officer Bobby D. Hoese, 29, of Granite City, into custody on Wednesday after a fight outside the Inn Between Tavern in Granite City that left one man with facial fractures, according to Capt. Brad Wells, chief of detectives.

The argument between the off-duty officer and the victim, stemmed from a previous confrontation over a woman.

"We had understood that there was a problem in the past between Hoese and the victim over a female," Wells said.

After the argument inside the bar, Hoese called Dennis M. Barbee, 60, of Highland, from the bar and told him about the argument.

Barbee arrived at the bar on 5200 Maryville Road and he and Hoese followed the victim to the parking lot.

The victim was treated at a hospital and released.

Barbee was also charged with aggravated battery and mob action.

A bar patron told investigators that Hoese grabbed him by the throat and threw him to the ground when he tried to go outside and check on the victim.

Hoese also was charged with battery, which is a misdemeanor.

Both men surrendered at the Madison County Jail on Friday. Each man had bail set at $50,000, and both men posted bond by late Friday afternoon.

A news release issued by Pontoon Beach Police Chief Charles Luehmann stated Hoese was placed on administrative leave.

"Depending on the outcome of our internal investigation, we will establish the level of disciplinary action commensurate with the charges that are found to be true," stated the press release.

Information on whether Hoese would be paid while on leave was not available Friday evening.

Former Officer James Anthony Rodriguez Charged with Aggravated Sexual Assault

HOUSTON

A former Houston police officer is charged with aggravated sexual assault after a woman accused him of raping her while he was on patrol.

The Houston Chronicle reports 27-year-old James Anthony Rodriguez also is accused of brandishing a firearm during the Sept. 6 rape.

The incident allegedly occurred during a traffic stop while he worked as a patrol officer.

Police spokesman John Cannon says the victim reported the incident that day and the Houston Police Department immediately began an investigation.

The Harris County District Attorney's Office filed the charge against Rodriguez Dec. 15.

It wasn't immediately clear tonight whether Rodriguez had an attorney and a telephone number for him could not be found.

Rodriguez, who resigned from the police department on Nov. 22, was released on a $40,000 bond.

More Information:
http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=news/local&id=6594211