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Lax Security And Construction At Scott City Missouri Jail Allowed Male And Female Inmates To Visit

SCOTT CITY, MISSOURI – Police said inmates used pancake batter and toothpaste to cover a hole they made to allow a female inmate to slide into the next cell and join a male inmate. Now steel plates are being added to the Missouri jail’s interior walls.

The hole at the Scott City Jail was discovered this weekend, said police Chief Don Cobb. He said inmates removed a block from the wall, after making a digging tool with a nail, a wire from a light fixture and a toothbrush.

The mixture of pancake batter and toothpaste looked like mortar, he said.

Prisoners will stay in a county jail until a security check is completed at the city building.

The city jail’s exterior walls already are reinforced with steel to prevent inmates from escaping, Cobb said.

“Unless they can smuggle in an arc welder, they aren’t getting through that,” he said.

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More Department Of Homeland Security/TSA Security Breaches Found At Chicago Illinois O’Hare Airport, 3,807 Missing Badges…

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS - “Fly At Your Own Risk” is a CBS 2 continuing undercover investigation at O’Hare Airport, and it just got even more alarming. 2 Investigator Dave Savini reports on exclusive details.

Officials at O’Hare International Airport are refusing to interview with CBS 2 about our latest findings. The 2 Investigators have found more security breaches and a failure by authorities to investigate.

O’Hare is one of the busiest airports in the nation, and may be one of the most vulnerable.

The 2 Investigators have learned that 47 more employee access badges are missing, bringing the total we’ve discovered to 3,807 – the biggest security failure involving access badges ever to be exposed.

“Doesn’t surprise me,” said Marcia Pinkston. “I am surprised you didn’t find more.”

Airport employees are allowed to go through a back gate. All they have to do is show their access badge. They are not searched.

“It’s really scary just thinking that anyone can go into secure areas of O’Hare,” Pinkston said.

The latest missing badges belong to employees of Mesa Airlines, which operates flights for United Express. One of them belonged to Pinkston, who worked as a flight attendant.

She says she was fired for complaining about security. She says the airline never asked her to return her access badge and for months she could have used it to gain access to airplanes.

“Just anybody can go in there,” she said.

Last month, Pinkston told CBS 2 about other security failures, including employees sharing security codes or “piggybacking” by following someone through open doors to gain access to secure areas.

At the time, The Transportation Security Administration vowed to investigate.

But Pinkston tells CBS 2 that no one from TSA has contacted her even after she made allegations about piggybacking and code sharing.

She said it makes her feel “that they’re just not doing their job.”

Paul Maniscalco was New York City’s chief paramedic in charge of EMS response to the 1993 attack on the World Trade Center. He’s now a terrorism expert at George Washington University.

“You would think by 2007 we would have our arms around this issue,” he said. “When your investigation indicated that we had cards missing, unaccountability for the cards, people piggybacking, it was alarming.”

Mansicalco says the threat of airport employees is real and points to numerous incidents including one in March at Orlando’s airport when two employees smuggled drugs and guns on to a plane, and earlier this month in New York at JFK Airport a former cargo worker was charged with plotting to blow up fuel tanks

“There is no security,” Pinkston said. “As long as you work there you can do whatever you want.”

Thanks to the CBS 2 investigation, the Department of Aviation fined Mesa Airlines $47,000 because of the missing badges. That’s the first time any airline has been fined for this issue. The TSA has refused to say why they have not interviewed our whistleblower, Marcia Pinkston.

Mesa Airlines said the fine is just a proposal and did not want to comment.

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Elderly Woman Faced $1200 In Charges For Virginia Tolls She Already Paid

LOUDOUN COUNTY, VIRGINIA – The 85-year-old accused of running tolls without paying for them was relieved of the threat of fines last week after Loudoun County General District Court Judge Julia Taylor Cannon dismissed the case. The woman, Dorothy Neumann, had run four tolls on the Dulles Greenway last September, for which the Greenway administration sought to pursue criminal charges and a $1,000 fine.

Representing his mother in court, Ric Neumann said his mother had a Smart Tag transponder mounted on the inside of the windshield of her car, but the automated toll payment system had not properly replenished her account, leaving a zero balance.

“She would try to go through the toll and [the light] would turn red,” Ric Neumann said Monday. “Someone would come out from another toll, walk across a couple lanes, and she would pay them cash and then go ahead. She called the Smart Tag folks and they said, ‘Don’t worry about it if you’ve been paying it.’”

The problem, he said, is that if the driver goes through one lane of travel and the money is taken by a booth worker in a different lane, the Greenway’s enforcement system still records the vehicle as not paying. “They’re saying the transponder went through without paying, because someone at another toll booth took the money, and could have pocketed it for all I know. They said they had straightened everything out and then months go by and she gets a [summons to court],” he said.

Dorothy Neumann learned about the problem May 31 when informed by a county deputy that she owed the Greenway more than $1,000 for the four tolls she ran last year, and that she was required to appear in less than two weeks.

Greenway Public Relations Manager Ann Huggins-Lawler said toll runners can either pre-pay the fines through the court system or have their attorneys contact the Commonwealth Attorney’s Office to settle the matter out of court, but Ric Neumann said the law enforcement officer allegedly told his mother the Greenway would agree to settle the case out of court if she paid $618 for what it had cost the Greenway in administrative fees.

Neumann said his mother owed a total of $12.80 for the tolls she had allegedly run last year, for which she was being charged with a class two misdemeanor, a criminal offense that carries with it a possible punishment of six months jail time and a fine of up to $1,000, according to Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Kraig Troxell.

“They just started heaping on all kinds of fees and charges… They just said, ‘Pay $618 and it’ll all go away,’ but if [she appeared in court and] was found guilty, she would have to pay $1,200″ including court fees, Ric Neumann said. “My guess is that they get a lot of money from getting people to just settle it and get it to go away, that a lot of people just curse and swear, write a check, curse and swear some more and then just go about their business. That’s my sense of what’s going on. I think the Greenway has just found that this is easy money.”

But, Huggins-Lawler refuted Neumann’s comment, saying, “This is not a business for us.” She did say, however, that the Greenway collects the administrative fees and fines from toll runners’ cases. She also said the Greenway doesn’t keep track of how much money it makes off penalty fees toll runners pay every year.

According to Huggins-Lawler, the Greenway has no access to Smart Tag records, but that the electronic collection system sends out a message on a periodic basis to inform the Greenway administration of the status of Smart Tag accounts. If the account is without funds, and the tag holder runs through a toll without paying, Huggins-Lawler said the Greenway sends a letter to the account holder and charges them a $25 administration fee plus all the tolls they missed. If the balance isn’t paid within 30 days, a second letter is sent, saying that the Greenway administration is now charging the account holder $25 for each toll violation. Fifteen days later, if the fines still haven’t been paid, the Greeenway sends the account holder an e-mail message. They wait five to seven days after that before issuing a summons to court, Huggins-Lawler said.

“When you go to court, the penalties start at $50 for the first violation, then go to $100 for the second violation, $250 for the third violation and $500 for every subsequent violation,” Huggins-Lawler said. “This is according to Code 46.2-819.1. The penalties are established by the court, not by the Greenway.”

Huggins-Lawler said the state-owned Dulles Toll Road follows the same guidelines.

Ric Neumann said his 85-year-old mother told him she had never received any letters or e-mails from the Greenway, but Neumann said Wednesday it is possible that she received them and either didn’t recognize what they were or doesn’t remember receiving them in September or October of last year.

“At 85, your memory’s not that great, but all her faculties seem to be there,” he said.

According to Ric Neumann, the Loudoun County General District Court has one day set aside every month, the third Friday of the month, which is specifically designated for handling cases that deal with failure to pay tolls. A representative from General District Court-who didn’t want her name published in the paper-confirmed what Neumann said and added that the fourth Friday of the month also is dedicated to the same type of cases.

“We do deal with a lot of them. We may only have six people on any given day, but they could have from two to 10 charges per person,” the representative said, adding that she didn’t have a specific number of how many toll runners were summoned to court each month.

“But, we do deal with a lot of them for the Greenway,” she said.

Huggins-Lawler said Tuesday, “If I have a patron who’s traveling on the Greenway and who doesn’t pay the toll 32 times, they would receive 32 different summons. Each toll violation is a violation and has to have its own summons.”

Huggins-Lawler also added that while two days of the month have been set aside in the Loudoun County Courthouse for toll violations cases, the cases don’t begin until 1 p.m. in the afternoon, which amounts to eight hours or one business day.

“That means five percent of the court’s time per month is complaints from the Greenway charging people with criminal offenses,” Ric Neumann said. “The Greenway is just looking at everyone as if they’re trying to steal from them, without exception.”

Ric Neumann explained to Cannon Friday that Smart Tag had not tapped into his mother’s credit card to replenish her tag holder account and had let it run out of money. Additionally, the electronic collection system had reported to the Greenway that his mother’s credit card company had declined further purchases on her account.

Ric Neumann said he contacted the credit card company for confirmation and received a letter from the company stating it had never declined any credit card charges and that his mother’s account remained in good standing. Ric Neumann presented the letter to Cannon in the courtroom, after which the judge dismissed the case.

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Riverside County California Deputy Sheriff George Graves Arrested, Charged After Firing Gun Outside Bar, Ounce Of Marijuana Found In His Department

MURRIETA, CALIFORNIA – Sheriff’s deputy arrested in Murrieta

A Riverside County Sheriff’s deputy was arrested on suspicion of recklessly firing a gun outside a Murrieta bar last weekend, authorities said.

George Graves, a 39-year-old Murrieta resident, bailed out of the Southwest Detention Center in French Valley after he was arrested Sunday, jail records show. Graves and his attorney, John Pozza, declined to comment this morning.

During a search of his apartment on Sunday, Murrieta police found an ounce of marijuana, according to Riverside County Superior Court records.

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Jersey City New Jersey Police Officer Eric Petersen’s K-9 Jailed After Killing Chihuahua Walking By It’s House

JERSEY CITY, NEW JERSEY – An off-duty Jersey City police dog has been accused of murdering a Chihuahua and is now caged pending further investigation, officials said today.

At 9 p.m. Saturday, Police Officer Eric Petersen’s K-9 partner, Rommel, was at the officer’s Ridgefield home when his sister-in-law let him and two other dogs out into a side yard to do their business, reports said. A 27-year-old woman was walking by with her Chihuahua as Rommel and the other dogs ran out of the house, reports said, adding that Rommel grabbed the small dog in its mouth and shook it fatally, reports said. When Ridgefield police arrived, it was already too late for the dog, JJ, reports said.

Rommel is now at the Emergency Services Unit facility on Route 440 and he is scheduled to undergo a re-evaluation to determine if he has lost his discipline, said Internal Affairs Capt. Brian O’Callahan.

O’Callahan’s office is investigating the incident, which he called “unusual and unexpected.”

Rommel, who is 4 years old, is trained only as a bomb-sniffing dog and he has been assigned to the ESU Bomb Squad since coming on the job about 2 years ago, O’Callahan said. Most police dogs are trained to bite and hold, but Rommel has had no aggression training, O’Callahan said.

Peterson rushed home after the incident and he is quite traumatized, O’Callahan said.

“The K-9 officers are all dog lovers and it’s always a difficult thing to see a dog hurt like that,” O’Callahan said.

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Cocoa Beach Florida Police Officer Darren Michael Connors, Accused Of Drunken Beating

COCOA BEACH, FLORIDA – A Cocoa Beach police officer was released on bail early Sunday after being accused of beating a friend, then threatening him and a witness not to disclose the attack early Friday, according to the Brevard County Sheriff’s Office.

Darren Michael Connors, 22, of Melbourne was arrested after being charged with beating a friend with a musical-instrument stand during a round of heavy drinking with the two the night before. Connors later hired a carpet-cleaning company to help sanitize the bloody mess at the home of the victim’s parents in Malabar, sheriff’s agent Brad Lewis said.

Connors was released after posting $11,000 bail early Sunday. The two-year veteran was placed on administrative leave pending an internal investigation.

Lewis said the bloodied victim, 21, had two black eyes, gashes on his face and upper body and bite marks. But he did not remember the attack and slept for several hours before going to a local hospital.

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Niagara Region Canada Police Officer Ken Redford, Who Took Hostages, Quits Amid 6 Year Prison Sentence

NIAGRA REGION, CANADA – The Niagara Regional Police Service has accepted the resignation of Ken Redford, a former constable currently serving a six-year penitentiary sentence after being convicted of hostage taking and weapon-related offences following a lengthy trial that ended in March.

By accepting the resignation, which took effect June 11, the service is no longer required to hold a hearing under the Police Services Act before it can dismiss Redford, said Supt. Joe Matthews of the Executive Services Unit.

When a member resigns, the matter simply ends, he said, because the discipline provisions under the act only apply to police officers.

Redford, 42, a 12-year member of the Niagara service, became involved in a hostage-taking Oct.
7, 2002, at the Bridge Street landfill in Fort Erie.

He took hostages in the incident, but they were later released unharmed.

Redford ended up being shot in the leg by a member of the NRP who had been sent to the scene to assist other officers.

Redford was suspended with pay from the time of his arrest in October, 2002 until he was sentenced in March this year. He was paid approximately $300,000 in wages during that time, though he didn’t work.

Without releasing specific details regarding the Redford case because of privacy concerns, Matthews spoke about general police policy and what normally takes place in these types of cases.

Matthews said there are three ways to end a policing career: An officer can resign, retire or be dismissed as a result of a discipline matter once there has been a hearing under the Police Services Act.

When a member leaves the police service, they may be entitled to some financial payout or benefits because of provisions contained in the police collective agreement.

Payouts might be for such things as eligible sick leave. Those payouts vary, depending on whether an officer was hired before 1990 or after 1990 because the service has two sick-leave plans.

Matthews said if a Police Services Act hearing is conducted and an officer is dismissed, that decision can be appealed within 30 days. A hearing is then conducted in front of the Ontario Civilian Commission on Police Services which hands down a decision.

That process can take a year or more and comes with a cost to defend the action, both for the officer and the police service, said Matthews.

Once Redford was sentenced in March, his status went from being suspended with pay to being suspended without pay. Though he technically continued to be a member of the service until his resignation went into effect, he was not paid for that three-month period ending June 11.

Redford was sentenced to six years in jail, but received credit for 30 months of pretrial custody which left another 42 months in custody.

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D’oh! Second Wilton Connecticut Police Officer Hit By Car At Construction Site In Less Than One Week, Third In A Year…

WILTON, CONNECTICUT – Less than one week after the Police Commission agreed to ask the Department of Transportation to reduce a stretch of Danbury Road to 30 mph, an officer was struck by a passing vehicle while at a construction site.

On Friday, June 15, Officer Timothy Fridinger was working at the construction site in front of Our Lady of Fatima School.

Reports said Officer Fridinger exited the police cruiser with its lights on and walked between that vehicle and a vehicle on the construction site when his left elbow was struck by a side mirror of an oncoming vehicle. The mirror bent back toward the car, police reported.

Martin Sweibach, 62, of Weston was the driver of the vehicle and was charged with striking an officer engaged in traffic control regulations.

Police said Officer Fridinger was treated and released at Wilton Walk-in Medical Clinic on Danbury Road. He did not lose any time at work, police said.

On Monday, June 11, the Police Commission agreed with the Wilton Police Department to request the DOT lower the speed limit between Olmstead Hill Road and Wolfpit Road to 30 mph while the Route 7 widening project is going on. After the project is completed, the commissioners said they would request the speed limit to be increased.

Officer Fridinger is the third police officer to be struck by a vehicle since construction began more than one year ago.

“That section is going to be constantly changing,” said Lt. John Lynch at the commission meeting. He said with all of the construction going on, the road “is now designed for a 20 to 25, possibly 30” for the speed limit.

DOT officials said in a previous interview with The Bulletin a reduced speed limit could be possible, but only after the area is examined.

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Melbourne Florida Police Officer Jennifer Hall, Accused Of In Sex Case With Police Explorer, Remains On The Job As Sex Offender Tracker

MELBOURNE, FLORIDA – A 32-year-old Melbourne police officer is being investigated for having a sexual relationship with an 18-year-old male student in the department’s Explorers program, police said.

Jennifer Hall served as adviser for the Explorers, a group of students interested in law enforcement. After the teen’s parents reported the relationship, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement opened an investigation.

The FDLE found that no criminal conduct took place, said Jill Frederiksen, a spokeswoman for the Melbourne Police Department.

Frederiksen said the police department is conducting its own investigation to see whether Hall violated any department policies. That investigation should wrap up this week, she said.

Hall has been with the department for about 7 years and has not had any prior disciplinary problems, Frederiksen said. Hall has resigned from her position as Explorer adviser, Frederiksen said. She is still working in her full-time job as a sex-offender tracker.

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Coopersburg Pennsylvania Police Officer Matthew J. Hinkel Receives A Tiny Slap On The Wrist For On-Duty Wreck Which Killed Senior Citizen

LEHIGH COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA – A former Coopersburg police officer was sentenced to a work release program at Lehigh County Prison for at least three months for his role in a 2005 crash that killed a 70-year-old Upper Saucon woman.

Matthew J. Hinkel, who had pleaded no contest to involuntary manslaughter in the death of Shirley M. Tuomela, told a judge today that “… nothing I can do or say will change what happened… I can only hope there is forgiveness in [the Tuomela's family's] hearts.”

Hinkel was placed on administrative leave after the Dec. 22, 2005, accident that killed Shirley Tuomela of Upper Saucon Township and was terminated in August 2006.

Prosecutors said Hinkel was driving far too fast while responding to a nonemergency call in Lower Milford when he collided with Tuomela’s vehicle, speeding west on W. State Street in Upper Saucon Township.

The patrol vehicle crossed the line, striking Tuomela’s eastbound car.

Tuomela’s vehicle was knocked back 65 feet. Tuomela died of blunt force trauma hours later, and her 48-year-old son, Darrell, a passenger in her car, was injured but recovered.

Patrolman Jeffrey Kipp, who was in Hinkel’s vehicle, suffered broken bones and other injuries and was out of work for nine months.

“This is not an accident, this is a criminal act,” said Lehigh County Judge William Platt. “I don’t believe you were properly responding to that situation.”

Platt sentenced Hinkel to 3-23 months in prison, with immediate work release.

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Former Tippecanoe Deputy Sheriff Geoffrey B. Mitton Sentenced For Domestic Battery

TIPPECANOE COUNTY, INDIANA – A former Tippecanoe County sheriff’s deputy was sentenced Monday to 90 days on community corrections and 275 days on probation for domestic battery.

Geoffrey B. Mitton, 30, of Lafayette pleaded guilty in Tippecanoe Superior Court 5 to the misdemeanor in connection with a February battery in which his estranged wife, Tricia Mitton, suffered a bruised back.

With maximum time off for good behavior, Mitton likely will serve about 45 days on some combination of work release, house arrest and day reporting to be determined by Tippecanoe County Community Corrections.

As terms of probation, Mitton must be evaluated and participate in any education or counseling recommended by a Batterers Intervention Program. Mitton also may not harass his wife and must comply with a protective ordered issued in her favor by another court.

Mitton had been a deputy with the sheriff’s department for six years before resigning in November.

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Wilmington Delaware Police Officer Paul Ciber Charged in Domestic Dispute

MIDDLETOWN, DELAWARE - State Police have charged an Wilmington police officer after he fought with his wife while he was off-duty.

Police say Paul Ciber threatened to ram his car into his garage — and nearly did — during an argument with his wife early yesterday.

The couple and their children, ages 6 and 8, went into their house, where Ciber and his wife started arguing again. Police say Ciber’s wife tried to leave, but he grabbed her arm.

Police say when his wife tried to call 9-1-1, Ciber knocked a cell phone from her hand. Only when one of the children distracted Ciber, was she able to complete the call.

Ciber is charged with reckless endangering, offensive touching, endangering the welfare of a child and malicious interference with emergency communications. He was released on 55-hundred dollars bail.

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Hero In Scotland Charged With Setting Fire To Police Speed Camera

SCOTLAND, UK – A man has appeared in private in court on a charge of setting fire to a £50,000 speed camera in the Borders.

Neil Waldock, 45, of Cockfield, near Bishop Auckland, is charged on petition with wilful fire raising on the A1 near the village of Reston on 29 March.

He was also accused of attempting to pervert the course of justice.

Mr Waldock made no plea or declaration and was released on bail. The case was continued for further examination at Selkirk Sheriff Court.

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Retired Omaha Nebraska Police Officer Lt. Dennis Tostenson Sentenced To Just 2 to 4 Years In Prison For Fatal Drunken Wreck

OMAHA, NEBRASKA – A retired Omaha police lieutenant was ordered Monday to go where he once sent criminals during his long career: To prison.

Douglas County District Judge Gerald Moran sentenced Dennis Tostenson to two to four years in prison for driving drunk in November 2006, causing a wreck that killed a 35-year-old woman.

Upon his release from prison, Tostenson, 60, will have his driver’s license revoked for 15 years.

He faced up to 20 years in prison after pleading guilty to felony motor-vehicle homicide.

Under state sentencing guidelines, defendants must serve half of the lower term of a sentence before they are eligible for parole. Nearly all prisoners are released after they’ve served half of the upper term.

On Nov. 27, Tostenson’s 2000 Ford Expedition collided with a 1998 Dodge Caravan driven by Juanita Maes on Industrial Road near 140th Street.

His blood-alcohol content registered at .24 percent, three times the legal limit. He lost control of his vehicle about 4 p.m., and it crossed the median and hit Maes.

She was an account supervisor at ServiceMaster. She was the mother of a 16-year-old girl and planned to marry an Omaha man in the spring.

In a brief statement to the judge, Tostenson said he prays for Maes every day.

“I just want to say how heartily sorry I am for what I’ve done,” he said.

Tostenson retired from the Police Department in 1998.

His attorney, Jim Schaefer, said he met Tostenson 30 years ago when Tostenson was a young officer and Schaefer was getting started in law as a prosecutor.

“He saved lives,” Schaefer said, “and this is tearing him up.”

Tostenson already has completed an alcohol treatment program, Schaefer said.

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Two Former Police Officers Robert Santarelli And Angela Novack Facing Drug Charges In Lackawanna County Pennsylvania

LACKAWANNA COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA – A former police officer in Lackawanna County is on the other side of the law again.

Former Jessup patrolman Robert Santarelli has already pleaded guilty to a number of theft charges. Monday he was back in court to face even more charges and this time he wasn’t alone.

According to arrest papers Santarelli never asked his ex-girlfriend, Angela Novack of Dickson City, to get him pain pills while she worked as a pharmacy technician. Her story is the same.

Even so, both former police officers face felony charges they illegally obtained prescription painkillers.

Santarelli, 37, was allowed to leave his home Monday but only to be arraigned on additional drug charges at the Lackawanna County courthouse.

He is currently on house arrest, accused of impersonating a state trooper to get prescription drugs at a hospital in Columbia County. Last year he was booked for stealing drugs, needles, and guns from an evidence locker in Jessup. He later pleaded guilty.

In these latest charges the state attorney general’s office alleges Santarelli got prescriptions for Percoset from several area emergency room doctors, then got them filled at local pharmacies.

Novack, 23, was also at the courthouse to hear the charges against her. She’s accused of stealing close to 6,000 pain pills the past two years while working at a pharmacy in Olyphant.

Managers there said she paid back the money.

Novack is also a former police officer in the Mid Valley. She worked two different stints in Dickson City, leaving her part-time patrol job in January. Her former chief talked about her years on the force.

“She did all sorts of work, from accident investigation, criminal investigation, traffic, and she did a good job while she was here,” said Dickson City Chief William Stadnitski, adding there was no reason to suspect an issue with drugs. “No, no issue at all with me. Again, what she did apparently was in her off duty time. You know, I can’t control what people do off duty.”

Novack was cited on theft and drug possession charges and released Monday morning.

Santarelli is awaiting sentencing on burglary and drug convictions.

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Fired Omaha Nebraska Police Officer Scott Antoniak Settles With Prostitute He Forced To Preform Blowjob In Crusier

OMAHA, NEBRASKA – A former Omaha police officer has settled a civil case with a woman he was convicted of sexually assaulting.

Scott Antoniak reached an agreement with LaVon Inman last week, her attorney, Clarence Mock, said today. Details of the settlement are confidential, he said. The case was dismissed and cannot be refiled.

Inman, a former crack addict and prostitute, has continued drug treatment and counseling, Mock said. She was pleased that Antoniak had stepped up to settle the case.

Inman filed the civil case against Antoniak last month, seeking compensation for mental anguish, humiliation and extreme emotional distress she said she had suffered since the assault.

Antoniak was convicted of forcing her to perform oral sex on him in his police cruiser in July 2005 after he picked her up during a prostitution sting. He was sentenced to five years’ probation. He was fired after he was charged.

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Schenectady New York Police Officer Jeffrey Curtis Pleads Guilty To Stealing Drugs From Police Evidence Locker

SCHENECTADY, NEW YORK – A former Schenectady police officer admits to taking drugs out of an evidence locker.

Jeffrey Curtis pleaded guilty Monday morning to drug possession and tampering with evidence.

The case has been under investigation since January, when police discovered that the drugs were missing from an evidence locker at the Schenectady City Police Department.

Curtis was arrested in March after he failed a drug test and crack cocaine was found in his car.

Under the plea deal, he won’t have to spend more than four years behind bars.

Schenectady County District Attorney Robert Carney said, “It’s obviously a sad day when we have to prosecute a police officer who’s transgressed the oath of office to this extent, possessing drugs and then in turn providing drugs to other people.”

Monday’s plea makes Curtis the seventh Schenectady police officer to be convicted of a crime in the past ten years.

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Clinton Connecticut Police Officer Daniel E. Foito Arraigned For Reckless Driving And Police Chase

MIDDLETOWN, CONNECTICUT – A Clinton police officer was arraigned this morning on charges of reckless driving and engaging police in pursuit.

Old Saybrook police said Officer Daniel E. Foito’s arrest stemmed from a June 16 traffic incident on Route 1 in Old Saybrook, according to court documents.

Foito, 39, of 6 Deer Run, Old Saybrook, was reportedly driving 90 miles an hour in a 35-mile-an-hour zone, court documents state.

Foito is due back in Superior Court in Middletown on Aug. 3.

Foito is one of two Clinton police officers named in a federal lawsuit filed last month by a local property ower, who claims she was assaulted by officers responding to a dispute.

A decorated patrol officer, Foito in November 1999 shot and killed a knife-wielding ex-convict who had slashed the throat of his pregnant girlfriend and who ignored orders from police to drop his weapon.

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Former U.S Border Patrol Agent Jay Gillilland Sentenced To Just 6,242 Years In Prison For Child Molestation – Exploited His Daughter For Two Years

NOGALES, ARIZONA – Jay Gillilland, a former U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officer, has been sentenced to 6,242 years in jail for sexually exploiting his young daughter over the course of two years.

Gillilland was arrested on drug charges in 2004 when police officers discovered child pornography on his home computer while executing a search warrant. During a subsequent search of a storage locker Gillilland had rented in Nogales, officers discovered more than two hours of videotape depicting him sexually abusing his daughter, who was between six and eight years old at the time.

Agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) were brought in to consult on the case by the Office of the Inspector General because of their expertise in child pornography. Nogales agents coordinated with the Santa Cruz County Criminal Investigative Division to set up the computer forensic examination, retrieved evidence of molestation and certified the videos through the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

“I am glad that my agents were able to help make sure this monster will be imprisoned for the rest of his life,” said Special Agent in Charge Alonzo Peña, head of the ICE Office of Investigation in Arizona. “Nothing makes me prouder than protecting children from these predators.”

In March, a jury found Gillilland guilty of 317 counts of molestation of a child, sexual conduct with a minor, sexual exploitation of a minor and child abuse. Santa Cruz County Superior Court Judge James Soto sentenced Gillilland to 174 consecutive sentences of 35 years to life on the sexual conduct charges.

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Albany New York Police Officer William Bonanni Files Lawsuit Against News Media After Columnist Call For His Firing After Series Of Incidents Which Included Shooting Innocent Bystander, Student’s Beating, Showing Up For Work Intoxicated

ALBANY, NEW YORK – A Times Union column written in December is back in the spotlight today. The piece, written by columnist Fred Lebrun, calls for the firing of police officer William Bonanni, insisting he was a sore eye for the city.

“It seems to be the opinion of Mr. Lebrun based on a public opinion that does not exist,” said Bonanni’s attorney, David Brickman.

The opinion stems from a series of incidents where Bonanni’s character was called into question. In 2003, Bonanni was involved with the shooting of an innocent bystander while pursuing a suspect on Lark Street, although Bonanni didn’t fire the fatal shot.

He came under fire again in relation to the off-duty beating of a St. Rose student. He was cleared of charges on both incidents, but last December, he reportedly arrived to work intoxicated, violating a department policy that bans alcohol eight hours before a shift. He was promptly placed on administrative duty. All that information and more was detailed in Lebrun’s column.

“These are confidential records. This isn’t supposed to be released,” said Brickman.

Bonanni alleges the police leaked his private records to the reporter, who, according to Bonanni, misreported the facts.

“He’s never actually been disciplined for anything in his 15 years as a police officer. His record is clean. He’s a good cop, and he loves his job,” insisted Brickman.

“The press has painted Officer Bonanni in a very poor light. In fact, they’ve…with regards to Mr. Lebrun, he’s reported irresponsibly,” said Albany PBA President Chris Mesley.

The Times Union says they haven’t been served with the lawsuit yet, so they can’t comment. The police department also declined to comment on the pending litigation. As for the PBA, Chris Mesley questioned Chief Tuffey’s decision to put Bonanni on administrative leave, and he says he’ll stand behind the embattled policeman in the face of controversy.

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City of Easton Pennsylvania Files Appeal Of Former Police Officer Matthew Renninger Disability Pension – Shot And Killed Another Officer In Police HQ

EASTON, PENNSYLVANIA – Easton is asking the police pension board to stop ex-cop Matthew Renninger from getting his disability pension. Renninger accidentally shot and killed Officer Jesse Sollman inside police headquarters in March of 2005.

Renninger said the trauma of the incident left him “permanently disabled.” Last month, a pension board voted 6-to-1 to pay Renninger more than $10,000 a year. Mitman was the only dissenting vote. The Mayor tells 69 News he doesn’t believe Renninger deserves the pension and medical insurance.

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Suspended And Indicted Hunterdon County New Jersey Deputy Sheriff, Frenchtown Police Officer Jeremiah Hupka To Face Trial For Ex-Girlfriend’s Rape

HUNTERDON COUNTY, NEW JERSEY – A Hunterdon County sheriff’s officer charged with raping his ex-girlfriend while she was unconscious last year will likely face trial after a Superior Court judge in Somerville last week denied a motion to dismiss the indictment.

Jeremiah Hupka, 29, of High Bridge, was suspended without pay from his $35,800-a-year sheriff’s officer job after the indictment was handed up on Jan. 9. He also resigned from a position as a part-time police officer in Frenchtown, where the alleged incident occurred, his attorney said.

Hupka, a sheriff’s officer for nearly four years, is charged with first-degree aggravated sexual assault and second-degree sexual assault for allegedly taking advantage of his ex-girlfriend, then 19, while she was passed out on her couch after a night of drinking.

According to court papers, the victim invited Hupka and a friend over in the early morning hours of Jan. 14, 2006 but soon felt extremely tired and sleepy. She awoke the next morning and remembered nothing from the night before but realized she had been engaged in sexual activity, court papers said.

When the victim realized she was pregnant, she decided to terminate the pregnancy, court papers said. Because she had reported the alleged rape to police, investigators from the Hunterdon County Prosecutor’s Office performed a DNA test on the fetus and compared it with samples taken from Hupka, the friend and the victim’s boyfriend, court papers said.

The test indicated the fetus was “consistent” with an offspring between Hupka and the victim, court papers said.

On June 18, Superior Court Judge Edward M. Coleman denied a motion to dismiss the indictment against Hupka. Hupka is due back in court Aug. 13.

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Paris Hilton’s Prosecutor, Los Angeles City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo, Under Scrutiny As California Bar And City Ethics Commission Open Investigations

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – When Paris Hilton was sprung from jail early, few were as outraged – and as outspoken – as the prosecutor who put her there.

But City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo’s complaints of a two-tiered jail system where “the rich and powerful receive special treatment” have come to back to haunt him.

Soon after Hilton was sent back to jail earlier this month, he acknowledged his wife had committed a similar infraction – driving with a suspended license. Among other things, he also admitted sticking the taxpayers with the bill after his wife crashed his city-issued car in 2004, and acknowledged that staffers have occasionally run personal errands and baby-sat his children.

“He was living in somewhat of a glass house,” said Raphael Sonenshein, a political scientist at California State University, Fullerton.

The disclosures have led the California bar and the city Ethics Commission to open investigations of one of Los Angeles’ highest-ranking law enforcement officers.

The furor has sent the normally publicity-friendly politician into virtual hiding. Delgadillo’s office declined to comment.

Delgadillo is a 46-year-old up-and-coming Democrat whose close advisers are said to refer to themselves as “Team 1600,” a reference to the Pennsylvania Avenue address of the White House.

The son of an engineer at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Rockard Delgadillo grew up in East Los Angeles and won a scholarship to Harvard, where he played football. He earned his law degree from Columbia University.

He was a deputy mayor to Richard Riordan and an entertainment attorney for powerhouse legal firm O’Melveny & Myers, where former Secretary of State Warren Christopher practices.

In 2001, he was elected to the first of two terms as city attorney, becoming the first Mexican-American to hold citywide office in three decades. He ran unsuccessfully for California attorney general last fall.

Apart for some questions about his claims of gridiron glory, including a boast he played pro football (he tried out for New York Giants but didn’t make the team), he had had little trouble in office up until two weeks ago.

That was when Delgadillo decried Hilton’s release from jail by the sheriff. He argued that Hilton should serve more time behind bars for driving with a suspended license and violating her probation on alcohol-related reckless driving charges.

On the same day, he acknowledged that his wife, Michelle, got a ticket for driving with a suspended license in 2005.

Just like the hotel heiress, his wife claimed to be unaware of the suspension, he said. The difference, however, was that her license had been suspended for failing to show proof of insurance after a fender bender. She had not been drinking and driving, Delgadillo said.

More than a week later, amid mounting pressure from the Los Angeles Times and other local news media, he disclosed that his wife banged up his city-issued GMC Yukon in 2004 while driving with a suspended license and that he left the taxpayers to foot the $1,222 repair bill. He reimbursed the city last week.

“I realized that I should have spoken up earlier. That was a mistake,” he said. “I mishandled the situation and I apologize.”

Then it emerged that his wife had an outstanding arrest warrant for failing to appear in court on charges of driving without insurance and other offenses dating to 1998. She resolved the case Wednesday by pleading no contest to a misdemeanor.

“I was disorganized,” Michelle Delgadillo told a TV station on Thursday. “There’s no excuse for it. I’m not going to make excuses for myself. I have to be an organized person, there’s no doubt about it. I made a mistake.”

It turned out she wasn’t the only one in the family who drove without insurance: Her husband later acknowledged he had gone a year without coverage.

The Times, which followed Delgadillo’s troubles in an editorial page fixture it called “Rocky Watch,” also reported that the city attorney had used members of his staff to run personal errands and baby-sit his two young sons. A spokesman for Delgadillo confirmed that staff members have tended to some family and personal needs, but on their own time or during lunch breaks.

Finally, it was discovered that a consulting and business development company operated by his wife failed to file state tax returns for several years and did not have a city business license. On Friday, she paid an undisclosed amount in fees and penalties for not registering her company with the city, but said she reported the consulting income on her personal tax returns.

“Here’s a sobering observation,” the Times editorial page wrote. “Any police officer who committed Delgadillo’s offenses would be fired, and appropriately so. Why does the city’s top law enforcement official get a better deal than its rank and file?”

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Man Dies Penniless, Far From Home – Fled Home After Crazed Harris County Texas Probate Court Judge Mike Wood Arbitrarily Seizes His Property And Money, Most Of Which (Of Course) Went To Lawyers

HOUSTON, TEXAS – Perry ”Bit” Whatley, 84, a former Baytown refinery worker and lifelong Texan, spent his final days in self-imposed exile, a fugitive from a more than two-year-old fight with the state probate courts.

Whatley was living in Arizona when he died, but it was not where he wanted to be, away from his home, cut off from his family and his $2 million fortune.

It was an unlikely, but perhaps unavoidable, end for the retired machinist, a frugal man who had wisely invested his savings in Humble Oil, which became Exxon, then Exxon Mobil. The investment made him a millionaire nearly twice over, and yet for 20 years after his retirement he lived a simple life in a simple Baytown bungalow until last summer, when he fled the jurisdiction of Harris County Probate Court.

Whatley died Feb. 14 in a rental home in Tempe in the company of his longtime caregiver, Dawn Johnson Whatley, 63, whom he married in a bedside ceremony in January 2005. His wife was his sole heir.

The Whatleys, both seniors with serious health problems, abandoned their own home and went into hiding together last summer. They left to avoid a hearing and, later, orders issued by Probate Judge Mike Wood that declared Whatley incapacitated, took away control of his assets and could have forced him into a nursing home.

Perry Whatley’s sad saga started out as a dispute between his niece and his new wife, two people who professed devotion to him and who also sought control over his fortune, his health care and his basic life decisions.

But the fight, taken to court in April 2005 by Whatley’s niece, morphed quickly into a twisted legal free-for-all and a near-infamous example for critics who claim Texas probate courts have run amok. It also underscores how worries over a loved one — seemingly simple at first — can escalate into a costly and chaotic legal conflict.

It took decades for Whatley to make his money.

In less than two years, nearly $1.5 million has been spent on legal bills and court-authorized expenses for his probate case and related litigation, based on case documents.

And though Whatley is gone, the fight over what remains of his money is far from over.

To understand how the drama unfolded is to understand the fragile will of one old man and the determination of two women who loved him.

One is Jeannie Anderson, his niece from Baytown, his only brother’s daughter, the person he turned to after his first wife died, the one he gave power of attorney over his complex financial portfolio. Whatley had no children of his own.

The other is Dawn Johnson, Perry Whatley’s longtime housekeeper and caregiver, a twice-divorced grandmother who also helped his first wife and his mother-in-law, both now deceased. A few months after suffering a stroke in 2004, Whatley revoked his niece’s power of attorney and turned increasingly to Johnson for advice.

In January 2005, the two married in a home ceremony presided over by an ordained Baptist minister. At the time, Whatley was bedbound by a hip injury, though later he graduated to a wheelchair.

Anderson wasn’t invited.

When she heard about the wedding weeks later, it alarmed her. Anderson told the Houston Chronicle she didn’t trust Johnson, who she believed had been trying to influence her uncle to give her gifts, including his own home.

In an interview last year, Whatley said he married because Dawn Johnson Whatley already was living with him as his caretaker and he ”was just used to being married.” The two had known each other for a decade.

”She’s always helped us,” he said. ”She figured I needed help, and she helped.”

Whatley said his niece, though well-meaning, was trying to control too much and wanted to move him to a nursing home.

Anderson said she worried her uncle was being manipulated and his money was being spent too quickly — more than $100,000 had been spent in a few months.

Dawn Johnson Whatley said she was simply paying for 24-hour care and for renovations that would make Perry Whatley more comfortable.

Whatley’s niece decided to seek legal protection for her uncle. In April 2005, she asked the Harris County Probate Court to declare her uncle incapacitated and grant her legal guardianship. Such a declaration would strip her uncle of his basic rights and give a guardian control over his money.

Whatley’s wife countered by saying no guardianship was necessary, but, if one should be imposed, she should be named.

That’s when the once-simple life of Perry Whatley started to careen out of control, when his future and his fate became an official court case.

”It just goes down in the annals of probate history as one of those cases that just dumbfounded everyone,” Anderson told the Chronicle.

Soon after the filing of the guardianship case, the Whatleys withdrew $500,000 from an annuity, incurring an early withdrawal penalty. They gave most of the money to their own newly hired attorneys to fight the guardianship. Those attorneys now say the costs for the fight have grown to nearly $1 million.

In Harris County Probate Court, Wood, who also claimed he was trying to protect Whatley as a disabled Harris County resident, eventually authorized payments of $360,000 from Whatley’s money to four lawyers, three he appointed and one hired on behalf of Whatley’s niece. They have not yet provided final accounting of how much of Whatley’s money was spent.

The judge openly attacked opposing attorneys as unorthodox renegades who abused the system and instigated Whatley’s disappearance. In one court appearance last summer, he said he might have to order Whatley into court “in chains” and that it would be the fault of Whatley’s legal team.

However, Whatley’s hired attorneys remain adamant in their claims that Wood prejudged their client — without ever meeting Perry Whatley — and demonstrated his bias in a series of comments and rulings that threatened Whatley’s savings, his independence and his marriage.

Anderson has another view. She believes those hired attorneys ”raped my uncle of his estate.”

Just a few months after the guardianship case began, Whatley’s privately hired lawyers say they began to suspect that the court had already made up its mind — even before hearing Whatley’s side.

The Whatleys left Texas for the first time on Sept. 13, 2005 — days before their originally scheduled hearing date. They apparently knew they were dodging the hearing but went to Boston anyway to seek special medical care for Whatley’s diabetes.

Harris County officials alerted Massachusetts authorities; the Whatleys asked Massachusetts courts for help.

With the Whatleys still out of state, Wood, the probate judge, imposed a temporary guardianship on Sept. 29, 2005. He ruled that Whatley was incapacitated based mostly on a court-appointed physician’s examination that concluded Whatley was impaired by dementia, diabetes, a broken hip and strokes.

Wood chose neither Whatley’s niece nor his wife and instead appointed attorney Mylus J. ”Jimmy” Walker Jr. as guardian. Walker is a partner at Dinkins Kelly Lenox Lamb & Walker, one of the top-earning probate firms in Harris County probate court.

In court that day, Wood discussed the telephone conversation he’d had with a Massachusetts judge simultaneously reviewing the case.

According to transcripts, the Massachusetts judge told Wood that she had ”been advised she has no jurisdiction at all. But she said that it would be appropriate, she thought, for me to order the temporary guardian to take possession and custody of Mr. Whatley and bring him back to Harris County.”

Still, neither judge had actually met Whatley.

Wood ordered Walker, the newly appointed guardian, to physically bring Whatley back to Texas.

With the Texas court order signed by Wood, Walker personally flew to Boston to retrieve Whatley and placed him in a Bellaire nursing home nearly 40 miles from Baytown.

At Walker’s request, Wood ordered payment of nursing home bills of $5,000 a month and, at first, $10,000 a month for ”extra supervision,” court records show. His wife initially was not told of his whereabouts, though Wood later approved monitored visits.

Anderson, his niece, moved him back to a Baytown nursing home, where she felt he thrived. Walker, though, continued to control her uncle’s money as guardian of his estate.

In the meantime, Whatley’s personal lawyers continued to do everything they could to stall or reverse Wood’s decisions.

They appealed to federal court.

They repeatedly tried to get Wood recused for bias. They also challenged other judges assigned to hear the recusal motions against Wood. Most of those efforts were unsuccessful.

They even filed a complaint against Wood to the state judicial conduct commission in March 2006. ”The bottom line is that Mike Wood had no jurisdiction to bring this horror into this couple’s life in their golden years,” Susan Norman, one of Whatley’s hired attorneys, wrote.

Norman herself was given a year’s probation by the State Bar for professional misconduct in September after she used a client’s credit card with permission but failed to promptly repay the debt.

In June 2006, the Whatley legal team had its first big victory. The 14th Court of Appeals issued an order in Whatley’s favor, saying Wood’s guardianship appointments were void because of the mishandling of one recusal petition, largely a paperwork error.

The decision stripped Whatley’s niece and Walker of their authority. It also put hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal payments in limbo.

The same day, Dawn Johnson Whatley drove her blue handicapped van to a Baytown nursing home to bring Perry ”Bit” Whatley back home.

Just after he was wheeled inside, Whatley declared he had no complaints about the nursing home but that he was grateful to be back in his own living room. He could eat home-cooked meals. Pet his cat. His brother could regularly visit.

The reprieve would not last.

Citing his own duty to protect Harris County’s elderly and disabled, Wood scheduled another guardianship hearing. As the trial date approached, Wood insisted that the Whatleys be brought to court for him to question.

Whatley’s lawyers resisted.

In an interview with the Chronicle held at a church last summer, Dawn Johnson Whatley said she had been deeply troubled by the judge’s actions and words. Perry Whatley seemed confused but said he, too, was upset about the probate court.

Whatley said he preferred to be in Baytown. ”I’d rather live here. I’ve lived in the same neighborhood for years.”

For a second time, the Whatleys left home. Neither process servers, nor appointees nor other family members could find them. For months, their lawyers refused to say where the Whatleys had gone.

”I have never in 35 years had lawyers say, ‘I don’t know where my clients are,’ ” Wood said in one courtroom confrontation.

Whatley’s attorneys decided to personally sue the judge, his appointees and others in an attempt to freeze spending of Whatley’s assets. The lawsuit accused the judge and others of fraud, conspiracy and breach of fiduciary duties and asked for $15 million in damages.

Wood has called the suit frivolous and insisted he should be granted judicial immunity.

On Oct. 16, back in a Texas probate court, Wood again declared Whatley incapacitated. The judge relied on evidence from a four-hour trial that included a doctor who had examined Whatley twice, a nurse, Whatley’s niece and the guardian Wood had appointed, all of whom described Whatley as mentally and physically impaired.

For the first time, Wood also heard from Whatley himself.

In a written affidavit, the ex-Marine and Pearl Harbor survivor complained that the court’s appointee had deprived him of access to his bank accounts, his annuities, his cash and even his Social Security and retirement checks.

”He has left me destitute,” Whatley said.

Afterward, Wood reappointed Walker.

But Walker was unable to find Whatley. And because another judge froze most of Whatley’s remaining assets as part of the civil suit, Walker lacked control over Whatley’s money, though he did visit his empty home and change the locks.

Walker was among 11 attorneys present at a February hearing in the civil case in which one of Whatley’s attorneys unexpectedly announced that the vortex of contention — Perry ”Bit” Whatley — had died.

And though the guardianship matter ends, legal challenges continue.

His niece just wishes it would stop. To her, it all seems meaningless with her uncle dead.

She fears ”Bit” Whatley spent his last days in confusion, likely wishing to go home to Texas. She’s troubled that his wife did not call when Whatley lay dying. ”She gave no one in my family the opportunity to say goodbye to my uncle.”

After two years of costly conflict, no one has won.

And an old man has died in Arizona more than 1,000 miles from home.

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Canton Ohio Police Officer Bobby Cutts Jr. Held On 5 Million Bail For Murder Of White Girlfriend And Unborn Child

CANTON, OHIO — Policeman Bobby Lee Cutts Jr.’s bond was set at $5 million Monday after he was charged with killing his pregnant ex-girlfriend Jessie Marie Davis at her home about 11 days ago.

Cutts faces two counts of murder, court documents show.

Davis’ mother, Patricia Porter, and other family members were in the courtroom.

“I wanted him [Cutts] to see me,” said Porter, her voice quaking with emotion. “I can’t really verbalize what was going on in my mind. I wanted to make sure he knew I was there.” Video Watch Davis’ mother talk about her daughter »

Davis’ sister, Whitney, told reporters, “I wanted him to see us for him to know what he has done to our family. I am disgusted with him.”

A woman arrested in the case, Myisha Lynee Ferrell, 29, faces an obstruction of justice charge for giving false information to police, documents say. A judge set her bond at $500,000, also on Monday.

On Sunday, a source close to the investigation told CNN that Cutts, who fathered a child with Davis, helped police find her body in Cuyahoga Valley National Park, although authorities declined to confirm that information.

Reporter Eric Mansfield of CNN affiliate WKYC said Cutts had shared details about the case Saturday with his family and a few off-duty police officers who were supporting him.

According to Mansfield about two hours after Cutts provided information to police, authorities found Davis’ remains after shifting their search from an area near her home to the park, located about 30 miles north in Summit County.

Police would disclose no details of what led investigators to Ferrell or how they believe she is connected to the case.

But a neighbor said FBI agents searched Ferrell’s home Saturday and retrieved several bags of items. Mansfield reported that the items included empty bleach bottles and duct tape. Ferrell and Cutts attended high school together, according to Mansfield.
Davis’ toddler son pretends to “talk” to her

Cutts, 30, is the father of Davis’ 2-year-old son, Blake, and authorities say they believe he also was the father of Davis’ unborn child.

Porter said Blake has an old cell phone that he uses as a toy and had been “calling” his mother, pretending to talk to her.

Porter said she has tried to explain to the boy that his mother “is in heaven with Jesus.”

Cutts is married and has two children with other women. He has professed his innocence.

On Sunday, the county medical examiner’s office announced it had “positively identified the remains found,” as Davis’ adding “fetal remains were also recovered.”

The cause of Davis’ death was pending, the office said.

Officials have been tight-lipped about exactly where the body was found and how it was discovered.

The identification of Davis’ body ended a search by thousands of volunteers which was launched after family members and police could not contact Davis.

During the initial search for Davis at her home, her mother found her son wandering alone in a dirty diaper and the house in disarray. Furniture was broken, a lamp was toppled over and bleach had been spilled on the floor, police said.

There were no signs of forced entry, and Davis’ car keys and purse were in the home. But her cell phone and a comforter were missing, police said.

Home searched FBI agents used a battering ram Saturday to enter and search Ferrell’s home in Canton. Authorities confiscated multiple bags of items, said Justin Lindstrom, a neighbor.

Ferrell was not present during the search, said Lindstrom, who added that agents asked him to call them if he heard from or saw his neighbor.

Lindstrom added that, during the week prior to Saturday, investigators had visited the home multiple times.

He said that, at one point during their searches, they asked him about a bed comforter they found in the building’s laundry room.
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Lindstrom said he told them it was his. Investigators have been on the lookout for a comforter belonging to Davis since discovering it was missing during a search of her home.

An FBI official told CNN Sunday that agents were continuing to search “multiple locations in the disappearance of Jessie Davis” and that they “continue to talk to people involved in the case that may have information that can help the investigation.”

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Man’s Guilty Plea Overturned By Appeals Court Due To Threats By Newport Beach California Police Officer Steve Burdette

NEWPORT BEACH, CALIFORNIA – The Fourth District Court of Appeal overturned a man’s guilty plea today because a Newport Beach police officer threatened the man during a traffic stop.

Charles Reginald Alp pleaded guilty to possessing methamphetamine even though he said he didn’t voluntarily agree to a search. A three-justice panel from the appeals court agreed, and reversed Alp’s plea, arguing police officers shouldn’t have seized the drugs because it was an illegal search.

Alp was pulled over on October 19, 2005 by Newport Beach police officers Jamie Lopez and Steve Burdette.

Burdette asked Alp if he had drugs on him. Alp replied ‘no.’

Burdette said, “Listen to me. Okay? …. Start jacking me around, I’m going to own you …” Alp then confessed to having meth in his pocket.

The court ruled the officer’s “own you” statement was intimidating.

“Burdette’s threat, ‘I’m going to own you,’ did not merely encourage Alp to tell the truth; rather it powerfully and unequivocally conveyed the message that if Alp failed to provide the answers the officer expected to hear, dire consequences would follow,” according to the ruling.

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Free Speech Takes Another Hit From U.S. Supreme Court In ‘Bong Hits 4 Jesus’ Decision

WASHINGTON, DC - The Supreme Court ruled against a former high school student Monday in the “Bong Hits 4 Jesus” banner case — a split decision that limits students’ free speech rights.

Joseph Frederick was 18 when he unveiled the 14-foot paper sign on a public sidewalk outside his Juneau, Alaska, high school in 2002.

Principal Deborah Morse confiscated it and suspended Frederick. He sued, taking his case all the way to the nation’s highest court.

The justices ruled 6-3 that Frederick’s free speech rights were not violated by his suspension over what the majority’s written opinion called a “sophomoric” banner.

“It was reasonable for (the principal) to conclude that the banner promoted illegal drug use– and that failing to act would send a powerful message to the students in her charge,” Chief Justice John Roberts wrote for the court’s majority. (Opinionexternal link)

Roberts added that while the court has limited student free speech rights in the past, young people do not give up all their First Amendment rights when they enter a school.

Roberts was supported by Justices Antonin Scalia, Anthony Kennedy, Clarence Thomas, Stephen Breyer, and Samuel Alito. Breyer noted separately he would give Morse qualified immunity from the lawsuit, but did not sign onto the majority’s broader free speech limits on students.

In dissent, Justice John Paul Stevens said, “This case began with a silly nonsensical banner, (and) ends with the court inventing out of whole cloth a special First Amendment rule permitting the censorship of any student speech that mentions drugs, so long as someone could perceive that speech to contain a latent pro-drug message.”

He was backed by Justices David Souter and Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

At issue was the discretion schools should be allowed to limit messages that appear to advocate illegal drug use. “Bong,” as noted in the appeal filed with the justices, “is a slang term for drug paraphernalia.”

The incident occurred in January 2002 just outside school grounds when the Olympic torch relay was moving through the Alaska capital on its way to the Salt Lake City, Utah, Winter Games.

Though he was standing on a public sidewalk, the school argued Frederick was part of a school-sanctioned event, because students were let out of classes and accompanied by their teachers.

Morse ordered the senior to take down the sign, but he refused. That led to a 10-day suspension for violating a school policy on promoting illegal drug use.

Frederick filed suit, saying his First Amendment rights were infringed. A federal appeals court in San Francisco agreed, concluding the school could not show Frederick had disrupted the school’s educational mission by showing a banner off campus.

Former independent counsel Kenneth Starr argued for the principal that a school “must be able to fashion its educational mission” without undue hindsight from the courts.

Morse, who attended arguments in March, told CNN at the time: “I was empowered to enforce the school board’s written policies at that time aimed at keeping illegal substances out of the school environment.”

As for Frederick, he is halfway across the globe, teaching English to students in China.

Now 24, he told reporters in March that he displayed the banner in a deliberate attempt to provoke a response from principal Morse, by whom he had been disciplined previously. But Frederick claimed his message of free speech is very important to him, even if the wording of the infamous banner itself was not.

“I find it absurdly funny,” he said. “I was not promoting drugs. … I assumed most people would take it as a joke.”

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Judge Throws Out Crazed Washington DC Judge Roy L. Pearson’s B.S. $54 Million Lawsuit For Missing Pants, Awards Costs To Plaintiff

WASHINGTON, DC - A judge in the District of Columbia has dismissed a case against a dry cleaner who was sued for $54 million in damages over a pair of missing pants.

Roy L. Pearson, an administrative law judge, originally sought $67 million from the Chung family, owners of Custom Cleaners. He claimed they lost a favorite pair of his suit trousers and later tried to give him a pair that he said was not his.

Custom Cleaners did not violate the city’s Consumer Protection Act by failing to live up to Pearson’s expectations of the “Satisfaction Guaranteed” sign displayed in the store window, Superior Court Judge Judith Bartnoff ruled.

Pearson claimed that a sign was an unconditional warranty that required the defendants to honor any claim by any customer without limitation.

He calculated the amount of damages by estimating years of violations, then adding almost $2 million in common-law claims for fraud.

The Chungs denied Pearson’s allegations and insisted that the pants were the same pair he brought in to be altered in May 2005.

Pearson represented himself during a two-day trial earlier this month and claimed millions of dollars in attorney fees and millions more in punitive damages for what he claimed was fraudulent advertising.

The Chungs’ attorney argued that no reasonable person would interpret the sign to mean an unconditional promise of satisfaction, and Bartnoff agreed.

In a 23-page finding of fact, Bartnoff wrote: “A reasonable consumer would not interpret ‘Satisfaction Guaranteed’ to mean that a merchant is required to satisfy a customer’s unreasonable demands or accede to demands that the merchant has reasonable grounds to dispute.”

Pearson had “not met his burden of proving that the pants the defendants attempted to return to him were not the pants he brought in for alteration,” the judge concluded.

Bartnoff awarded court costs to the Chungs, who have spent tens of thousands of dollars on the case. They are attempting to have their attorney’s fees paid by Pearson.

“Judge Bartnoff has spoken loudly in suggesting that, while consumers should be protected, abusive lawsuits like this will not be tolerated,” the Chungs’ attorney, Christ Matting, said. “Judge Bartnoff has chosen common sense and reasonableness over irrationality and unbridled venom.”

Soo Chung said during the trial that “economically, emotionally and healthwise as well, it has been extremely hard for us.” She started the business with her husband after they moved to the United States in 1992.

It’s not known whether Pearson will appeal the ruling.

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Hillsborough County Fire Rescue Paramedic Dawn Richelle Mewborn Arrested, Charged After Beating Her Boyfriend

HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, FLORIDA – A Hillsborough County Fire Rescue paramedic was arrested on a charge of domestic battery Friday night, authorities say, accused of repeatedly kicking and punching her boyfriend and father of her 1-year-old son.

Dawn Richelle Mewborn, 33, of 3408 Vorden St. in New Port Richey, was in the Pasco County jail in Land O’Lakes on Saturday, held without bond.

The victim was shoved to the ground and kicked in the head at one point, according to a Pasco sheriff’s report, left unable to see out of his left eye. He was not identified by the Sheriff’s Office.

The incident took place about 10:05 p.m., the report said. The victim said his girlfriend battered him at Bourbon Street Night Club at 4331 U.S. 19, where she knocked him down and kicked him in the head.

She continued to assault him at a Taco Bell across the street, the report said, and three witnesses said the victim did not attempt to defend himself.

The victim tried to get Mewborn into a car to leave before deputies arrived, the report said, but witnesses said she just kept hitting him.

The report said Mewborn was taken to Community Hospital for stitches before being taken to jail.

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Oakwood Hills Illinois Police Officer Donald Rager Pleads Guilty To Child Molestation Charges

DES MOINES, IOWA – An Illinois police officer pleaded guilty Friday in Cedar Rapids to having sex with a 13-year-old boy in Dubuque.

Donald Rager, 40, of Grayslake, faces up to 80 years in prison and a $750,000 fine, Assistant U.S. Attorney Bob Teig said. Rager spent 20 years in law enforcement. Until 2005, he provided security to Grayslake Central High School District 127, Grayslake Police Chief Larry Herzog told the Chicago Tribune. He most recently was a part-time officer in Oakwood Hills.

Rager met the boy through an Internet chat room, according to court records. Rager took him to a Dubuque hotel on Feb. 12, 2006, and had sex while Rager video-recorded them, prosecutors said.

The boy reported the incident in April.

Rager pleaded guilty to two counts of crossing state lines to engage in sexual conduct with a minor, one count of producing child pornography, and one count of transporting child pornography across a state line, Teig said.

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Crazed UK Police Officers Charge Man With Having Sex With A Bicycle In His Bedroom

UK – A man has been charged with having sex with his bike.

Robert Stewart was allegedly caught in the act by two terrified cleaners who walked into his bedroom in a hostel.

Stewart has denied the accusation, claiming it was caused by a misunderstanding after he had too much to drink.

The 51-year-old bachelor was charged with the bizarre sexual offence after he was disturbed by the cleaner and her colleague in a private hostel in Ayr.

The charge alleges he conducted himself in a disorderly manner, simulated sex with a bicycle and continued to do so while naked from the waist down in the presence of two female employees.

Stewart had been living in the Aberley House hostel from October 2006 after moving from his council house in Girvan, Ayrshire.

He moved after a separate sex complaint to which he has pleaded not guilty at Ayr Sheriff Court.

Unemployed Stewart has now left Aberley House and is living in a flat in the centre of Ayr.

Asked about the claim he was simulating sex with the bike, he said: “You’ll need to ask the cleaners why they would say that.

“It’s a lot of rubbish, a lot of rubbish.”

His solicitor Gerry Tierney said last night: “My client denies the allegations and intends to defend the charge vigorously.”

A spokeswoman for the Aberley House hostel for the homeless said: “We cannot comment because of client confidentiality.”

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Recall Effort Launched Against Long Beach California Superior Court Judge Gibson W. Lee After Savage Negro Beasts Receive A Slap On The Wrist For Halloween Night Black On White Beatings Of Three Women

LONG BEACH, CALIFORNIA – Signature gathering began on Saturday June 23 in Bixby Knolls in a recall launched against Superior Court Judge Gibson W. Lee, who adjudicated the cases of ten juveniles accused in the Halloween night beating of three women.

Setting up a small table with red, white and blue decorations and signs saying “Recall Judge Lee,” Assembly candidate Michael A. Jackson offered petitions on clipboards to shoppers outside the Ralphs market on LB Blvd. at San Antonio Rd.

The recall petition, recently certified for circulation, alleges in part that “Judge Lee is well known in the Long Beach Court system for a pattern of weak sentencing of criminals, including allowing nine juveniles convicted of a brutal black-on-white hate crime, where three women were beaten within inches of their lives, to go home the day of sentencing with the most lenient sentence possible; ignoring District Attorney and Probation Department recommendations for harsher punishment.”

The petition alleges in part that “Judge Lee threatens our public safety…sending the wrong message to gangs and potential criminals. Judge Lee’s job is to rehabilitate the criminals while protecting the public safety. He has failed.”

In his formal answer to the Notice of Intention to circulate the recall petition, Judge Lee responded, “The stated reasons for the recall petition are untrue. All of the court’s decisions have been based upon evidence and arguments officially presented to the court, and upon the court’s understanding of the law. I have consistently upheld and enforced the law. I am fair and impartial to all who appear before me. I’m over 21 years on the bench, and I have never been accused of a pattern of weak sentencing of criminals. Quite the contrary, I enjoy a reputation of being a fair, impartial, and even tempered judge of this court.”

Recall supporters say they’ll be present at the Sunday June 24 Bixby Knolls Street Fair…and are using the internet to expand their signature gathering 24/7, on-demand. A website — www.recalljudgelee.com — has webposted the petitions in downloadable, printable form…which can be completed by voters whose lawful voter registration residence address is within L.A. County (anywhere from Long Beach to Lancaster, Pomona to Malibu).

“We also have [radio] talk show appearances planned which should help us spread the word,” said Mr. Jackson. The 42-yr old ELB homeowner made Republican runs for the State Senate in 2004 and Assembly in 2006…and plans a 2008 Assembly run in which his Democrat opponent could be LB Vice Mayor/Councilwoman Bonnie Lowenthal or Councilwoman Tonia Reyes Uranga.

During his 2004 State Senate run, Mr. Jackson says he heard voters complain that they didn’t know which judges/judicial candidates and ballot measures to support or oppose…which led him to launch www.governmentforthepeople.us. His website offers information on judges and Mr. Jackson’s assessments…and is adding a link to the recall petitions…and Mr. Jackson told LBReport.com that he has a large database of email addresses to which he’ll send an advisory on the recall drive.

In January 2007, Judge Lee ruled true D.A.-petitions that charged felony assaults by nine of ten teens (including hate crime and/or great bodily injury sentencing enhancements for some of the teens). Prior to disposition (juvenile sentencing) he heard emotionally wrenching victim impact statements from the three women who were beaten. These were followed by statements from the nine youths Judge Lee adjudicated responsible but who didn’t acknowledge guilt; the teens’ families and supporters maintain that the youths were misidentified and wrongly convicted.

Judge Lee then issuing identical dispositions (juvenile sentences) for eight of the nine teens, giving them home probation with conditions, community service, restitution, anger management/racial tolerance classes, not juvenile camp recommended by the D.A.’s office and the L.A. County Probation Dept. for some of the teens.

From the bench, Judge Lee referred to the juvenile legal principle of applying the least restrictive sentence consistent with rehabilitation. Outside the courthouse, Deputy D.A. Brian Schirn told reporters, “[E]veryone’s getting the exact same thing and that’s not what the juvenile justice system is about.” [Note: The D.A.'s office and Mr. Schirn aren't part of the recall drive.]

The mother of the woman hit in the head with a skateboard was more blunt: she urged Judge Lee’s recall on the courthouse steps…and she was present with her daughter in Bixby Knolls for the Saturday signature gathering kick-off.

The ten then-minors, held in custody for nearly three months prior to and during the trial, are appealing their juvenile convictions. All ten of the then-minors have submitted legal claims alleging civil rights violations by the City of LB, L.A. County and the state.

A subsequent adjudication of two other male juveniles (arrested after the ten-minors) was heard by an Inglewood Superior Court judge after Judge Lee recused himself (having heard evidence related to the Halloween night events). In a plea bargain avoiding trial, the D.A. dropped hate crime allegations and the two youths (who were not incarcerated pending trial) are now serving 90 days in a youth camp, will attend anger management/racial tolerance classes…and have acknowledged their role in what took place.

According to the L.A. County Registrar/Recorder’s office, Judge Lee was reelected to the bench without opposition in 2002 and is up for reelection in 2008 (his current six year term of office will end on Jan. 5, 2009). He served on the Superior Court of L.A. County from 1989 to the present, elevated to the post in August 1989 by Governor George Deukmejian after serving on the LB Municipal Court (1985-1989), also appointed by Gov. Deukmejian.

Among recall supporters assisting in the June 23 kick off was VerNon Van, a Republican candidate for the 37th district Congressional seat in 2000 and 2004.

Using the internet to amplify their signature gathering avoids a pitfall proponents encountered within minutes of their kick-off.

Store management directed them (and another individual seeking donations for a charity) to move their tables further away from the store’s front door, claiming they were obstructing an ADA required passage-way. Management then called LBPD; the officer agreed with store management; and parties moved their tables.

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Philadelphia Teen Dies At Hands Of Staff Of Tennessee Facility For Troubled Youth

PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA - A teenager sent to a Tennessee facility for troubled youth by the city’s social services agency died after a confrontation with the center’s staff, prompting Philadelphia officials to consider relocating dozens of teens who were sent there.

Omega Leach, described by city officials as a 17-year-old whose many troubles included racing a stolen car, was sent last month to the Chad Youth Enhancement Center outside Nashville. The mental health facility for troubled teens was approved by the Philadelphia Department of Human Services.

But Leach got into a physical confrontation with the staff on June 3 and died the next day at a Nashville hospital. He tried to choke one counselor, and another staffer pushed Leach facedown to the floor and pulled his arms behind his back, police said.

Investigators are trying to find out whether Leach was restrained improperly, preventing him from breathing.

“There’s no doubt that the kid had an attitude and probably needed to be locked up somewhere,” Sgt. Brian Prentice, of the Montgomery County, Tenn., Sheriff’s Office told The Philadelphia Inquirer for a story Sunday. “It doesn’t mean he has to be dead.”

Leach’s care was the responsibility of Philadelphia’s Department of Human Services. The department has come under harsh criticism , and seen an administrative shake-up , after reports in The Inquirer detailing the number of children who have died under its watch.

The agency was paying Chad $285 a day for Leach’s treatment, even though questions had been raised about the center in the past. In 2005, a 14-year-old Long Island girl died there of heart failure as she was being escorted by a counselor.

Now, the Philadelphia agency has frozen admissions to Chad and says it is putting into place “a contingency plan” for relocating 45 city children still there, pending further investigation.

A Philadelphia judge criticized the agency for failing to inform the courts of the 2005 death. Judges had been sending children to Chad on the agency’s recommendation.

“It’s disturbing to the point that it’s unacceptable,” said Kevin Dougherty, administrative judge of Philadelphia Family Court.

Arthur C. Evans Jr., the city’s acting human services commissioner, originally told The Inquirer that the agency had not been informed of the 2005 death. But officials reversed themselves after learning that a former Chad executive disputed their account, The Inquirer reported.

Evans acknowledged failures in agency oversight, but said a new system would provide “a much more accurate picture” of the quality of outside contractors such as Chad.

Chad and its corporate owner, Universal Health Services Inc. of King of Prussia, declined to respond to detailed questions. They instead issued a statement to the newspaper, defending their record.

“We have a reputation and history of being a high-quality provider of behavioral health and substance-abuse services to troubled youth and their families,” Duwayne Glaser, Chad’s chief executive officer, said in the statement.

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Cocoa Beach Florida Police Officer Darren Connors Arrested, Suspended, Charged With Beating Man And Cover-Up

COCOA BEACH, FLORIDA – A Cocoa Beach police officer is out on bail after being arrested for beating up one of his friends and then tried to cover it all up.

According to Florida Today, 22-year-old Darren Connors was taken into custody Saturday night.

Investigators say he beat his friend with a music stand, threatened him not to press charges and then hired a company to clean up the victim’s blood from a carpet.

Connors has been with the Cocoa Beach Police Department for two years.

He was off duty at the time of the alleged assault. For now, he’s been placed on paid leave.

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Civil Rights Attorney Describes Incident In Which He And His Wife Were Beaten By New York City Police Sgt. James Talvy At Scene Where Police Were Beating Handcuffed Teen

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - A civil rights attorney and his wife claim they were both punched in the face by a police sergeant after they tried to stop cops from beating a handcuffed teen. They demanded an investigation into the incident yesterday.

Michael Warren, 63, and his wife, Evelyn, claim they were driving near Atlantic and Vanderbilt avenues in Prospect Heights last week when they saw several cops assaulting a young man at about 6 p.m. Thursday.

“What occurred here was appalling,” Michael Warren said during a news conference yesterday.

Warren said he saw Sgt. James Talvy repeatedly kick the suspect in the head as up to seven other cops subdued him. Warren exited his car and approached the officers to protest. One of the officers told Warren, he claimed, “Get the f-ck back in your vehicle!”

Warren complied, but refused to exit minutes later when cops ordered him out. Talvy allegedly punched Warren in the face and dragged him out of the car. Warren’s wife, who also refused to exit, claimed she too was punched in the face by Talvy.

“[Warren] did not get anywhere near these officers,” said Warren’s attorney Susan Tipograph. “He did or said nothing to interfere with them. We appreciate that policing is a hard job, but this is not how you win the respect and trust of the community.”

Tipograph said Warren faces up to a year in jail if convicted of obstructing governmental administration, resisting arrest and disorderly conduct.

“The individual interfered with a separate arrest in progress Thursday and he resisted when officers attempted to place him under arrest,” NYPD spokesman Paul Browne said in an e-mail yesterday. “The interference occurred as police attempted to arrest a separate suspect for possession of a controlled substance and for grand larceny auto, after the suspect ran from a stolen car.”

Browne said the allegations against Talvy were referred to the Civilian Complaint Review Board, an independent agency that probes allegations against officers.

But Warren and nearly a dozen elected officials demanded Talvy be fired and that Kings County District Attorney Charles Hynes prosecute him.

“We have reached a point where we’re addicted to incarceration of people of color,” said state Sen. Eric Adams, a retired NYPD captain. “[Warren’s arrest] is a strike against a black man’s manhood.”

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Pompano Florida Residents Say Police May Have Fired Too Quickly In Latest Deadly Shooting

POMPANO BEACH, FLORIDA – A day after the clap of gunshots left a deputy injured and a man dead, residents of the low-income neighborhood where the confrontation occurred said police may have reached for their guns too quickly.

Broward Sheriff’s Office Deputy Edwin Gomez, 30, was shot in the shoulder during the Saturday incident and was operated on the same evening. On Sunday afternoon Jenny Mackie, a spokeswoman for the North Broward Medical Center, described his condition as good but had no word on when he might be released.

Meanwhile, on the 200 block of Northwest 11th Street in Pompano Beach, residents built a small shrine to the dead man, Raymond Lawson, 23. A vase of pink roses drooped in the sun and a letter on the ground read: “The Lord will fight your battle now.” A few broken-down cars sat in tall grass.

Neighbors said Lawson did not live in the place described by police as a “known drug-dealing area,” but came to visit his girlfriend here, at her mother’s house. Lawson lived in Fort Lauderdale with his mother.

The Sheriff’s Office said three deputies riding in an unmarked police vehicle stopped to investigate “a suspicious incident” on the corner Saturday afternoon, according to a press release. They approached Lawson in an older model, silver Ford Crown Victoria and at least one deputy opened fire.

It wasn’t clear how Gomez, the hospitalized deputy, was injured, or whether Lawson fired a handgun he was carrying. The Sheriff’s Office did not specify who shot Lawson, if more than one deputy opened fire or the nature of the suspicious incident that brought the deputies to 11th Street.

Neighbors did not contest police assertions that Lawson, who was on probation, was armed, but they said they doubted he drew his gun.

“Some people said he was trying to put [the gun] in the glove compartment,” speculated Conrad Constantine Trenchfield, 35, who lives nearby and arrived at the scene shortly after the shooting. “He probably tried to pull the gun out and hide it.”

Two profiles of Lawson emerged as the dust settled around the shooting. The Broward Sheriff’s Office described Lawson as a parolee with a violent criminal past and noted he had been arrested for armed robbery, carrying a concealed weapon and resisting arrest. At the time of the shooting, the agency said, Lawson was on probation for armed robbery.

For their part, family members acknowledged he had been in prison until three years ago, but they insisted he had steered clear of criminal activity after his release. His girlfriend’s mother, Jacquelyn Poitier, 48, said he had been taking a nap at her house just before the shooting, not getting into trouble.

“My daughter had him on the straight and narrow,” Poitier said in a small kitchen as friends came and went. “He was seeing his parole officer all the time.”

Expressing a strain of suspicion that ran thick through the neighborhood, she said of the police: “I thought these people could be trusted. … We need to be protected from the police.”

Lawson’s cousin, Eddie Givens, 30, said he hadn’t seen Lawson for more than a year, but suspected police were stressing his criminal past to divert attention from the circumstances of the shooting.

“They are just trying to place him in the bad guys’ shoes,” said Givens. “When I got to the scene, you have the police saying one thing and you have the witnesses there saying he never pulled a gun out, and that the police came and started shooting.”

Sheriff’s Office spokesman Hugh Graf did not have further details on what prompted at least one deputy to fire at Lawson. He emphasized, though, that “our deputies would not have drawn their weapons unless they felt their lives were in imminent danger.”

The Sheriff’s Office continues to investigate.

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Cyclist Says Minneapolice-St. Paul Airport Police Went Too Far After Police Taser Weapon Attack And Arrest For Riding Bicycle

MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA – Stephan Orsak rides to and from some of the world’s busiest airports on his bicycle, but the professional violinist has never run into a roadblock like the one he found in the Twin Cities.

While trying to ride his bike out of the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport early one evening in September, he was stopped by airport police. By the time the encounter was over, Orsak, 50, had been stunned with a Taser, arrested and jailed.

The saga of Orsak’s arrest, as detailed on his blog at greencycles.blogspot.com, has sparked hundreds of comments, some of them decrying what they call police brutality and others admonishing Orsak to get some common sense.

Orsak said he’d broken no laws and that the officers’ actions were unwarranted. He intends to take the case to trial.

“I’m fine with the mistaken stop,” said Orsak, of Mahtomedi. “But when it’s done in a rude way, in a belligerent way, then that, to me, speaks volumes about some kind of intent.”

He was, he believes, “profiled for being a cyclist.”

Airport officials said they could not comment on the case, as the charges are pending.

The criminal complaint filed in Hennepin County District Court said Orsak refused police instructions to stop riding, used an obscenity and “forcefully” shrugged his shoulder in an attempt to evade an officer’s grasp.

Orsak, a slight man with boyish John Denver looks, plays violin for the Minnesota Opera and has
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performed under Leonard Bernstein, Kurt Masur and Seiji Ozawa, he said. His Mahtomedi home doubles as a studio, where he gives lessons to young musicians.

He was returning home after a Sept. 7 flight from California when the bike incident occurred.

After the plane landed, Orsak unpacked his green, foldable Brompton bicycle and headed out of the Lindbergh terminal on Glumack Drive, also known as Outbound Roadway. He had planned to pedal to St. Paul to visit his daughter and granddaughter, a trek the committed cyclist has taken before.

But he had barely set off when he was pulled over by two officers who were headed toward the Humphrey Terminal.

The commanding officer told him he was not allowed to ride his bike there. Orsak said he responded politely that there were no signs prohibiting bicycling. The officer said, “I’m telling you, you can’t ride here,” according to Orsak.

Police evidence assembled by Orsak includes photos of a “No pedestrians” sign, and several months later, he said, other signs were put up prohibiting bicyclists on Glumack Drive. But no such signs existed at the time of the incident, he said.

The officer offered to let Orsak cross over to the parallel Northwest Drive and ride to Post Road from there, even though Northwest Drive was a one-way road going in the opposite direction, Orsak says.

“OK,” Orsak recalls saying. But – perhaps pushing his luck with the officer – he asked what he would do the next time he wanted to ride out of the airport.

“This turned on his anger again,” Orsak said.

The police changed their instructions: First, that he walk his bike along Northwest Drive; then, that he walk his bike back up to the terminal and catch public transportation, according to Orsak’s account. Neither would have been safe, he said.

That’s when he “took the initiative” to end the conversation, was knocked off his bike and hit with the Taser stun gun, Orsak said.

He was charged with obstructing legal process with force, a gross misdemeanor, and four misdemeanor counts, including failure to comply with a lawful order, riding a bicycle opposite adjacent traffic and failure to obey an official traffic control signal.

The police account of the dust-up said the officers told Orsak he could not ride on Glumack because there was heavy traffic and it was dangerous. The officers were in a hurry to the other call and hoped Orsak would simply cooperate, the police account stated.

Orsak used an obscenity to describe them, was argumentative and ignored their repeated orders and warnings, the complaint said.

Orsak laughs at the suggestion that he swore at the officers. “That’s just not me,” he said.

He said he feels saddened about some of the blog entries, the ones that vilify all police in broad strokes.

“It’s easy to come to the conclusion that they’re all rotten, and I think that would be a great mistake,” he said.

On the other hand, “If we start to say in our society that we cannot respectfully disagree with a peace officer, then we’re in a very serious place. I truly believe that.”

His trial is scheduled to begin July 16.

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Former Denver Colorado Judge And City Attorney Larry Manzanares, Facing Charges And Disbarrment Relating To Stole City Laptop, Commits Suicide

DENVER, COLORADO – An ex-judge and former Denver city attorney, charged with three felony counts last week, apparently committed suicide Friday night.

Denver Police Department says it received the call Friday at about 4:55 p.m. that a man appeared to have been shot at Dartmouth and Colorado, in Eisenhower Park under the walk bridge in the Highline Canal area.

Officers later identified the victim as former judge and ex-city attorney, Larry Manzanares. They say he had apparently committed suicide.

“There are no words capable of conveying the depth of this tragedy,” said Mayor John Hickenlooper in a prepared statement. “The loss of this devoted father, beloved husband, and longtime civic leader is difficult to understand or accept. The hearts and prayers of our community are with Larry’s family and friends as we all struggle to process this devastating news.”

The Manzanares family released the following statement on Saturday:

“Larry Manzanares, a beloved husband, father, son, brother, son-in-law, and loyal friend tragically took his life on Friday, June 22, 2007. Those who knew him well will remember him as a highly respected lawyer, judge, law professor, mentor for minority youth, supporter of Hispanic organizations, board member of many women’s public interest groups, author, and significant contributor to various facets of his community through his lengthy dedication to public service.

“The Manzanares family extends its gratitude to the multitude of people who supported Larry despite unfair and one-sided attempts to publicly try him in the press by attacking his character.”

The Manzanares family did not comment further, asking the media to respect their privacy during this time.

“I’m just, along with his family and others, devastated by what happened,” friend and former State Supreme Court Justice Luis Rovira said.

At the time of his death, Manzanares, who graduated from Harvard’s law school, was facing possible disbarment after being accused of stealing a computer worth about $1,500.

Three felony charges were filed against Manzanares on Wednesday, June 14, alleging that the former city attorney stole the laptop from his former employer and used it to download “sexually explicit” images and movies.

Manzanares had told our partners at the Denver Post he purchased the laptop from a man in a parking lot for $300 and didn’t know it was stolen.

Manzanares resigned as city attorney in February after serving less than two months in office.

Manzanares’ official cause of death will be released by the coroner’s office.

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Damascus Virginia Police Chief Anthony Stephen Richardson Arrested, Charged With Distributing Methamphetamine

ABINGDON, VIRGINIA – The Damascus police chief was arrested Saturday and charged with distributing methamphetamine.

Anthony Stephen Richardson, 40, was arrested without incident at the city police department, Virginia State Police Sgt. M.T. Conroy said.

The arrest was the result of an undercover investigation in which a confidential informant bought methamphetamine from Richardson on June 12, according to court documents. The seized drugs were sent to the state forensic lab, which confirmed it was meth, according to a news release issued by the Washington County Sheriff’s Office, who joined state and Abingdon police in the investigation.

Washington County Sheriff Fred Newman confirmed a federal investigation into Richardson also is ongoing.

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Hopefully There’s A Lawsuit Filed After Portsmouth Virgina Sheriff’s Department Jail Goon Squad, Wearing Masks, Carrying Electrict Shock Shields And A Gun, Strap Man To Chair And Hack His Hair Off – Ordered And Witnessed By Sheriff Bill Watson

PORTSMOUTH, VIRGINIA – It took Bernard Montoria Garris 13 years to grow dreadlocks down to his waist.

It took just a few minutes last month for a Portsmouth City Jail employee to cut them off.

The jail’s emergency response team, wearing masks and carrying electric shock shields and a gun, forcibly strapped Garris into a chair and hacked away at his hair with clippers, according to the inmate.

Garris said recently that he is a Rastafarian who wore long dreadlocks as a symbol of his religion and to cover gunshot wounds on the back of his head. He had been in the jail for 13 months on a probation violation.

His haircut was ordered and witnessed by Portsmouth Sheriff Bill Watson, who oversees and sets policy for the city’s jail.

“When you come in here, you have two choices: You can cut your hair, or we’ll cut it for you,” Watson said. “You have to understand. This is the Portsmouth City Jail, not the Hotel Hilton.”

Watson said this week that he started enforcing a long-standing hair policy last month as part of an investigation into contraband in the jail.

The policy requires prisoners to keep hair short, Watson said, because they can hide illegal substances and items in long hair. Short haircuts also promote good hygiene, he said.

Watson said he doesn’t know how many inmates have been required to get haircuts. Garris is the only inmate who has refused to comply, Watson said.

Portsmouth’s hair policy is unusual among local jails in Hampton Roads.

“We do not make inmates shave or cut their hair when they come in as long as they keep it clean,” said Bonita Harris, a spokeswoman for Norfolk Sheriff Bob McCabe’s office.

Hampton Roads Regional Jail’s haircut policy states that “inmates will have freedom in their personal grooming except when a valid interest justifies otherwise.” It also states that “no unusual or exotic hair styles will be permitted.”

Portsmouth defense attorneys Trey Piersall and Lee Ann Bierowicz said they see a variety of hairstyles when visiting clients in local jails: pony-tails, dreadlocks, plats and pom poms – natural hair that is sectioned off and placed in two rubber bands near the center of the head.

“It’s pretty much what you see on the street,” Bierowicz said.

Federal prisons have no restrictions on inmates’ hair. However, Virginia’s state prison system does.

In 1999, Virginia Department of Correction officials banned long hair on men, including dreadlocks. Long hair can conceal contraband, spokesman Larry Traylor said.

The policy allows women to grow hair to their shoulders, but they, too, are banned from wearing dreadlocks. Men must have a 1-inch hair length or shorter.

The policy encourages hygiene and makes it difficult for inmates to alter their appearance to avoid recognition, Traylor said.

As of June 1, about 35 of the roughly 31,500 inmates in state prisons have refused to comply, he said. Inmates can then be placed in segregation, he said.

In 2003, the American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia challenged the state’s policy in federal court on behalf of a handful of Virginia inmates.

Federal law prohibits jails that receive federal money from regulating how inmates practice their religion, except when there is a compelling interest for restrictions, said Rebecca Glenberg, legal director of the ACLU of Virginia.

The law also states that institutions should exercise the least restrictive ways of maintaining security.

A federal judge in Richmond ruled last summer for the Department of Corrections. The ACLU of Virginia has appealed the ruling.

“It’s one thing to put a prisoner in segregation but another thing to forcibly cut their hair,” said Kent Willis, executive director of the ACLU of Virginia.

Garris, 45, has been a practicing Rastafarian since 1994.

In an inmate grievance form, Garris wrote that “I feel that my life is in danger and or I may receive bodily harm from Portsmouth City Jail. Sheriff Bill Watson and I have had words and I was punched by one deputy.”

The Portsmouth native was transferred to the regional jail on May 29.

Over the years, Garris has served time in Portsmouth and Chesapeake jails on convictions that include bribery of a witness, grand larceny and possession of cocaine.

He said he has seen lots of inmates with long hair and dreadlocks.

In 2002, when he began serving 20 months in the Portsmouth jail, his hair extended halfway down his back.

“I’ve been going there for a while, and I never had problems with nobody,” Garris said earlier this month.

Garris first learned of the jail’s policy on May 10.

A captain from the sheriff’s department visited Garris’ unit and told him and other inmates that the jail had a new policy and that inmates would need to get their hair cut by a barber that week, Garris recalled.

He refused.

Later that day, Garris was placed in segregation for 30 days for disobeying a direct order, according to an incident report.

The next day, Garris said Watson came to his cell and asked the inmate through the bars if he was going to cut his hair.

Again, Garris refused.

Garris was placed in handcuffs and then strapped into a chair.

Garris said his dreadlocks were cut with clippers.

He was left with patches of hair all over his head, he said. The next day, he asked a prison barber to shave his head bald.

Watson verified Garris’ account, saying that Garris was “very belligerent” and refused to cut his hair, so the jailers cut it for him.

“You’re not going to be a street thug in our jail,” Watson said.

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Litchfield New Hampshire Police Officer Russell Hartley III Charged With Brutal Beating Of Man With Police Nightstick, Pepper Spraying And Assulting Man After He Was Handcuffed

NASHUA, NEW HAMPSHIRE – One of the two Litchfield police officers suspended for his role in a controversial fire station prank is now being accused of assaulting a local man during a domestic disturbance arrest, according to court records.

“I’m not ashamed to say that I was scared for my life,” said Timothy Keddie, who alleges Litchfield police officer Russell Hartley III clubbed him at least a dozen times on the head with his nightstick, punched him repeatedly in the face and blasted pepper spray in an eye during a domestic dispute in his home.

“He was an absolute maniac, a lunatic,” Keddie said Friday.

Hartley, citing department regulations that prevent him from discussing ongoing criminal matters, declined to comment, referring all questions to police Chief Joseph O’Brion.

An attempt to reach O’Brion for comment was unsuccessful.

Hartley arrested Keddie last year after responding to a report of a domestic disturbance between Keddie and his estranged wife at their Charles Bancroft Highway home.

Keddie, a 49-year-old Litchfield home-improvement contractor, was later convicted in Merrimack District Court of simple assault and resisting arrest. Domestic assault charges were dismissed.

But Keddie, who was sentenced to 10 days jail, has appealed that verdict in superior court, alleging in court papers he was only defending himself against Hartley’s unprovoked attack.

“There was zero, zero, zero resistance on my part, and there was zero struggle,” Keddie said.Lowell, Mass., says in papers filed in Hillsborough County Superior Court in Nashua that his client was “assaulted by (Hartley), and that any resistance on the part of (Keddie) occurred as he attempted to protect his person.”

According to Litchfield police, Hartley responded to Keddie’s home at 416 Charles Bancroft Highway around 11:45 p.m. Oct. 26, after a report of a domestic incident between Keddie and his wife.

Keddie allegedly kept interrupting Hartley while the officer was trying to talk with Keddie’s wife in the breezeway of the house. Hartley told Keddie he had one more chance to stand back, and Keddie allegedly took a step toward him, according to a Litchfield police report.

Hartley told Keddie he was under arrest. When the officer grabbed Keddie’s shoulder to turn him around, Keddie allegedly struck Hartley in the chest with his elbow, according to the report.

Hartley restrained Keddie and used pepper spray to subdue him, according to the report.

Keddie claims the Litchfield police report is “100 percent not true. It’s a complete lie.”

Keddie says he never resisted Hartley, that he was following Hartley’s command to get on his knees and put his hands behind his head when the officer “lunged” at him.

Keddie alleges Hartley clubbed him “12 to 15 times” with his nightstick on the right side of his head, and that the only contact he made with the officer was when he brushed his knee while raising his right hand to protect himself.

Keddie claims Hartley pinned his knee on his back, and, pulling his hair back by his ponytail, struck him repeatedly in his face, switching between his right and left hands.

Keddie also alleges Hartley blasted pepper spray in his left eye after he’d already been handcuffed and kicked his legs while forcing him into the cruiser.

A motion hearing in the case, which isn’t expected to go to trial until October, is scheduled for Tuesday in Hillsborough County Superior Court in front of Judge Bernard J. Hampsey Jr.

Al-Marayati, claiming in court papers that Hartley’s credibility “will be a central issue in the trial,” filed a discovery motion seeking all official investigation reports into an early morning fire station prank involving Hartley and another Litchfield police officer.

The motion also seeks Hartley’s personnel files with the Litchfield Police Department and the Hillsborough County House of Corrections, where he worked prior to joining the police force.

Al-Marayati is also seeking Litchfield police reports concerning previous Litchfield arrests of Keddie’s wife and any internal investigations regarding alleged comments made by Hartley about the wife.

The Hillsborough County Attorney’s office has opposed the motion, which Assistant County Attorney Michele Battaglia called in court papers “a fishing expedition.”

Hartley made news earlier this year when he and officer Gary Gott were suspended for their role in an early morning prank inside the Litchfield fire station.

The state attorney general’s office investigated the incident and determined that the officers’ actions, while “entirely inappropriate,” weren’t criminal.

Hartley and Gott told the attorney general’s office they pulled a prank on the fire department around 4 a.m. Feb. 18, after discovering the door was unlocked during a routine check of the building.

They staged a “party” by moving opened bags of chips to the table, putting cups on the table, turning pictures upside down, turning the television to the Oxygen channel and leaving “uncomplimentary comments” on a note and a message board, according to the AG’s office.

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Former Brazoria Texas Deputy Sheriff Robert Donald Ullom Indicted On Multiple Burglary Charges

BRAZORIA COUNTY, TEXAS – A former Brazoria County lawman and his son have been indicted on multiple charges of burglary.

The indictments allege that Robert Donald Ullom, 43, of Jones Creek, and Robert Day Ullom, 22, of Anahuac, committed several burglaries in the Brazoria and Sweeny areas in May. Both men are being held in the Brazoria County Detention Center.

Robert Donald Ullom is being held on $412,500 bail. His son’s bail was set at $260,000, but he is being held without bail on a parole violation.

Robert Donald Ullom worked for 12 years as a patrol deputy for the Brazoria Sheriff’s Department before working for the Freeport and Jones Creek police departments in 2004.

Brazoria County Sheriff Charles Wagner said the older Ullom blamed his problems on an addiction to methamphetamine.

He was charged with 11 counts of burglary of a building and one each of burglary of a habitation, unauthorized use of a vehicle and criminal mischief. Investigators said he burned a van stolen from a home.

Items stolen ranged from tools to a mattress and box springs set, the sheriff said.

The younger man was indicted on two charges of burglary of a building.

Both also are charged with burglary of a building in Dickinson.

The older Ullom was arrested May 30 when a patrol officer saw he had no front license plate on his vehicle.

The officer who stopped him noticed items in the vehicle that might be tied to the burglaries, Wagner said.

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Media Whore/Race Pimp Jesse Jackson Busted In Chicago Illinois Gun Protest :)

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS – Rev. Jesse Jackson was arrested yesterday at a demonstration outside a gun shop and charged with one count of criminal trespass.

Jackson was arrested when he refused to move away from the entrance to Chuck’s Gun Shop in Riverdale, police said.

He has protested with other community activists outside the shop in recent weeks after a 16-year-old honour student was gunned down on a city bus.

Police said the shooting was gang-related but the teen was not the target.

Jackson, who says the gun shop’s proximity to Chicago provides gang members and criminals easy access to firearms, has used the protests to call for stricter gun laws.

Rev. Michael Pfleger, a Catholic priest who oversees a South Side congregation, also was arrested and charged with Jackson.

A message seeking comment from the gun shop was not immediately returned.

Two teens have been charged as adults with taking part in the May shooting of Blair Holt, an honour student at Julian high school.

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Washtenaw County Michigan Deputies Jennifer Reynolds And Christopher Campbell Face Charges Of Falsifying Accident Report

WASHTENAW COUNTY, MICHIGAN – A Washtenaw County Sheriff’s deputy was arraigned Friday on three felony charges accusing her of conspiring with another deputy to falsify a traffic crash report.

Jennifer Reynolds, who is on unpaid suspension, was arraigned at the Washtenaw County Jail on charges of insurance fraud, attempted insurance fraud and misconduct in office.

The other deputy, Christopher Campbell, was charged earlier this month with one felony count of insurance fraud. He waived his right to a preliminary hearing last week and was ordered to stand trial.

Sheriff’s Cmdr. Dave Egeler said Saturday that Reynolds’ personal vehicle was struck by Campbell’s personal vehicle several months ago. According to the charges, they falsified a traffic crash report of the incident for insurance purposes.

Egeler said he could not discuss how the case came to light or any other details while criminal and internal investigations are pending. Both deputies were placed on paid administrative leave when the internal investigation began, and their status was changed to unpaid leave several weeks ago.

Following her arraignment, Reynolds was released on personal bond. She could not be reached Saturday, and no information on her attorney was available.

Reynolds has a preliminary hearing July 3. Campbell will appear for a pretrial hearing Aug. 1.

Egeler said Reynolds was hired as a dispatcher at the Sheriff’s Department and was promoted to deputy in 2003 or 2004. She and Campbell were both assigned to Ypsilanti Township.

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King County Washington Prosecutors Compile List Of Area Police Officers And Deputies With Credibility Problems: What Police Officers Did To Earn A Spot On The List

KING COUNTY, WASHINGTON – The King County Prosecutor’s Office has compiled this list of local law-enforcement officers it says have credibility problems.

The accounts below are based on court documents and public records obtained by The Seattle Times. The Times tried to contact each of the 11 officers. Each declined comment or did not return calls.

The active officers on the list:

• King County sheriff’s Deputy Joseph Abreu III: The Sheriff’s Office disciplined Abreu for “committing acts of dishonesty” in 2006 for filing false time sheets saying he was at work when he really was working private security at several concerts. A judge also questioned Abreu’s honesty in a criminal court case against a woman charged with obstructing justice. Abreu had asked prosecutors to file charges against the woman after she had complained that Abreu and other deputies had beaten a shackled suspect. The woman was acquitted at trial.

• King County sheriff’s Deputy Denny Gulla: Supervisors questioned Gulla’s judgment after they determined he had encouraged a gang beating so he could videotape it for training, according to internal investigation records. The sheriff has sustained findings of conduct unbecoming an officer against Gulla, concluding he assaulted a suspect in a drunken-driving case; twice lied to internal investigators; and took a teenage girl he had arrested for drunken driving to breakfast. Internal investigation files also show that Gulla admitted he pulled over the husband of a woman he was having an affair with and threatened to kill him.

• King County sheriff’s Deputy Keith Martin: The Sheriff’s Office gave him a written reprimand after witnesses said he called a 13-year-old African-American suspect a “monkey boy” or “monkey butt” while investigating vandalism at Highline High School. The previous year, the Sheriff’s Office had sustained a finding of conduct unbecoming an officer against Martin for reporting his car stolen when in fact he had let his ex-girlfriend take it.

• Seattle police Officer Christopher Garrett: He admitted under cross-examination in court that he had lied to a prosecutor, saying he was out of town when he wasn’t. Garrett didn’t want to interrupt his vacation to testify as the arresting officer in a 2004 drug-possession case, court records show. When the case resumed after his vacation, Garrett told the prosecutor that he actually had been in town. The prosecutor told the judge, who told the suspect, who was defending himself. The suspect confronted Garrett on the witness stand and won an acquittal.

• Seattle police Detective Donna Stangeland and Sgt. Richard Welch: In a 2005 child-rape case, she intentionally read privileged letters between a suspect and his attorney that were stored on the suspect’s computer, a judge found. Court documents show the detective also printed out some of the letters. At some point, court documents say, Stangeland said she got nervous and shredded the printouts.

Stangeland shared the information with her supervisor, Welch, the court records show. Neither of them initially reported their intrusion to prosecutors, who learned of it from a forensic computer expert, according to the court documents.

Charges against the 46-year-old man — accused of having sex with a 13-year-old girl from his church — were thrown out by a judge, who ruled the officers had violated the suspect’s constitutional rights. The Police Department investigated and determined the problem was a training issue. The officers were not disciplined.
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• Seattle police Officer Rusty Leslie: The department suspended Leslie for one day for embracing and kissing a stripper in the parking lot of Rick’s nightclub while in uniform.

Four retired, resigned or fired King County sheriff’s deputies or employees make up the remainder of the prosecutor’s list:

• Retired Deputy Dan Ring, a former intelligence and vice detective, who the Sheriff’s Office determined was sexually involved with prostitutes and strippers he was supposed to be arresting.

• Former Deputy Ferenc Zana, who resigned in late 2005, avoiding disciplinary action in an internal investigation by the Sheriff’s Office. The investigation stemmed from a shooting in which his mentally disturbed roommate used Zana’s service weapon to kill a grocer during an armed robbery.

• Retired Deputy Pat Covey, convicted of criminal trespass in a domestic-violence case in 2004.

• Sheriff’s Office fingerprint expert Michael French, who was fired in 2006 for undisclosed reasons.

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Former Hendersonville Tennessee Police Officer Mathew Jason Carfi Awaits Resentencing In Assault/Burglary Case

HENDERSONVILLE, TENNESSEE – Then: Former Hendersonville police officer Mathew Jason Carfi received a jail sentence for his role in the 2002 assault of a Hendersonville resident.

Carfi was sentenced to a year in the Sumner County jail and six years of probation for his part in the burglary and assault of Daniel Watts, 19.

Authorities said Carfi, then 25, acted as a lookout while two other men beat up Watts, whom they accused of stealing a purse belonging to another police officer’s wife. Watts suffered a broken nose and a cut on his head. Carfi used his police-issue radio to make sure other officers weren’t on the way to the scene as the beating took place, investigators said.

Carfi resigned from the force less than two weeks after the assault, just days before a department disciplinary hearing. In July 2004, he was convicted of criminal responsibility for aggravated burglary, criminal responsibility for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and official misconduct.

Now: Carfi appealed his sentence. The appeals court judge ordered the Sumner County court to clarify some of the wording in the written sentence, said Assistant District Attorney Thomas Dean.

As a result, Carfi will get a new sentencing hearing. Dean said the hearing has been delayed several times, most recently because the judge who will hear it needed surgery. As of Tuesday, a court date had not been set.

Carfi remains free on an appeal bond, pending the outcome of the new hearing.

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CNN And Larry King Stoop To All-Time Low With Skank Paris Hilton Non-News Interview

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - Paris Hilton will likely make her last “X” on the jailhouse calendar tomorrow.

The overhyped hotel heiress is expected to be freed after midnight tomorrow to head back to the comfort of her $2.1 million West Hollywood home – and back into the spotlight.

Hilton will reportedly make her first postpen appearance Wednesday night on CNN’s “Larry King Live.”

NBC and ABC earlier gave up on snagging an interview with the heiress amid reports she was seeking up to $1 million. “Paris will not be paid a dime for the interview,” Us Weekly magazine quoted a CNN source as saying.

Blah, Blah Blah… Who Cares…

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Disbarred And Disgraced Durham County North Carolina District Attorney Mike Nifong Faces Contempt Hearing In Wake Of Bogus Duke Lacrosse Rape Prosecution

DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA – Three former Duke University lacrosse players are seeking criminal contempt of court charges against Mike Nifong, the disbarred prosecutor who pursued a flawed rape case against them.

In legal papers filed Friday, the exonerated players also asked a judge to order Nifong to pay their legal bills.

The motion, filed in Superior Court in Durham County, North Carolina, lays out what the legal papers call an extensive pattern of misconduct. “The sheer scope of it shocks the conscience and defies any notion of accident or negligence,” the motion states.

“This keeps going, and the story gets worse and worse for Nifong,” said CNN senior legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin. “So I’m tempted to say he’s suffered enough. He’s lost his job, he’s lost his law license. But every time another thing comes up in this case, Nifong seems to lose again.”

Reade Seligmann, David Evans and Collin Finnerty were charged with first-degree kidnapping and first-degree sexual offense after a team party in March 2006.

An initial charge of first-degree forcible rape was dropped in December after the players’ accuser told prosecutors she could no longer say for certain that she had been penetrated — one of the defining factors of rape under North Carolina law. In addition, two DNA tests found no match between any of the three men and the accuser.

In April, North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper dismissed all charges, claiming the case was a result of Nifong’s “rush to accuse.” Nifong had asked Cooper to assign a special prosecutor after the North Carolina State Bar filed a complaint against him.

The allegations against the players forced the cancellation of the Duke lacrosse team’s season and cost coach Mike Pressler his job. The case also inflamed tensions in Durham. The three players are white, while the alleged victim is black.

Nifong was disbarred last week by the state bar’s disciplinary committee. The panel found he had violated at least 19 ethics offenses in his handling of the case.

Testifying before that committee the day before its decision was rendered, a tearful Nifong said he planned to resign as district attorney regardless of the outcome of the ethics hearing.

The state bar accused Nifong of improperly withholding DNA evidence from the defense that could clear the players, and of giving the court false information, among other offenses.

Nifong testified that the Duke case will follow him “to my grave … and that’s OK. I don’t have a problem with that. I took the responsibility on myself, and I don’t intend to pass it off on anybody else. Whatever mistakes I made in this case are my mistakes. They’re not all the ones that the bar says I made, but they are my mistakes.”

But, the motion filed Friday says, “As the only person who knew about both the exculpatory results and the defendants’ unquestionable entitlement to those results … Mr. Nifong knowingly took steps, over and over again, that would conceal them — steps that did, in fact, conceal them.”

According to the legal papers, Nifong was made aware of the DNA test results in April 2006, but collaborated with the lab’s director to produce a report that did not include all of the test results, then “engaged in a pattern of official misconduct” to cover it up.

The misconduct ranged from “multiple material misrepresentations to multiple counts on multiple occasions,” the motion says.

When defense attorneys discovered the test results, the motion says, “Mr. Nifong then told multiple different stories about what he knew, when he knew it and why the evidence was withheld.”

The documents further allege, “In short, Mr. Nifong knowingly played a game of hide and seek and seek and seek and seek with the defendants and the court regarding unquestionably exculpatory evidence.”

The motion demands that Nifong “should be made to pay for the absolutely unnecessary and extensive effort put forth by the defendants to obtain and finally identify that information throughout May, June, July, August, September, October, November and December of 2006.”

Besides asking that Nifong be held in criminal contempt and forced to pay costs associated with the players’ defenses, the motion asks the court for any other disciplinary action it deems appropriate.

Possible penalties for criminal contempt include jail time or a fine.

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Tribunal Panelist Comes Forward, Details Kangaroo Court Proceedings And Weak Evidence At Guantanamo Hearings

WASHINGTON, DC - An Army officer who played a key role in the “enemy combatant” hearings at Guantanamo Bay says tribunal members relied on vague and incomplete intelligence while being pressured to rule against detainees, often without any specific evidence.

His affidavit, submitted to the U.S. Supreme Court and released Friday, is the first criticism by a member of the military panels that determine whether detainees will continue to be held.

Lt. Col. Stephen Abraham, a 26-year veteran of military intelligence who is an Army reserve officer and a California lawyer, said military prosecutors were provided with only “generic” material that didn’t hold up to the most basic legal challenges.

Despite repeated requests, intelligence agencies arbitrarily refused to provide specific information that could have helped either side in the tribunals, said Abraham, who said he served as a main liaison between the Combat Status Review Tribunals and the intelligence agencies.

“What were purported to be specific statements of fact lacked even the most fundamental earmarks of objectively credible evidence,” Abraham said in the affidavit submitted on behalf of a Kuwaiti detainee, Fawzi al-Odah, who is challenging his classification as an “enemy combatant.”

Abraham’s affidavit “proves what we all suspected, which is that the CSRTs were a complete sham,” said a lawyer for al-Odah, David Cynamon.
Pentagon: Nothing wrong with proceedings

A Pentagon spokesman, Navy Lt. Cmdr. Chito Peppler, defended the process of determining which detainees should be held, saying the “procedures afford greater protection for wartime status determinations than any nation has ever before provided.”

“Lt. Col. Abraham provides his opinion and perspective on the CSRT process. We disagree with his characterizations,” Peppler said. “Lt. Col. Abraham was not in a position to have a complete view of the CSRT process.”

Abraham said he first raised his concerns when he was on active duty with the Defense Department agency in charge of the tribunal process from September 2004 to March 2005 and felt the issues were not adequately addressed. He said he decided his only recourse was to submit the affidavit.

“I pointed out nothing less than facts, facts that can and should be fixed,” he told The Associated Press in a telephone interview from his office in Newport Beach, California.

The 46-year-old lawyer, who remains in the reserves, said he believed he had a responsibility to point out that officers “did not have the proper tools” to determine whether a detainee was in fact an enemy combatant.

“I take very seriously my responsibility, my duties as a citizen,” he said.

Cynamon said he fears the officer’s military future could be in jeopardy. “For him to do this was a courageous thing but it’s probably an assurance of career suicide,” he said.

Abraham said he had no intention of leaving the service. “I have no reason to doubt that the actions I have taken or will take uphold the finest traditions of the military,” he said.

The military held Combatant Status Review Tribunals for 558 detainees at the U.S. Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay in 2004 and 2005, with handcuffed detainees appearing before panels made up of three officers. Detainees had a military “personal representative” instead of a defense attorney, and all but 38 were determined to be “enemy combatants.”

Abraham was asked to serve on one of the panels, and he said its members felt strong pressure to find against the detainee, saying there was “intensive scrutiny” when they declared a prisoner not to be an enemy combatant. When his panel decided the detainee wasn’t an “enemy combatant,” they were ordered to reconvene to hear more evidence, he said.

Ultimately, his panel held its ground, and he was never asked to participate in another tribunal, he said.

Matthew J. MacLean, another al-Odah lawyer, said Abraham is the first member of the CSRT panels who has been identified, let alone been willing to criticize the tribunals in the public record. His affidavit was submitted to a Washington, D.C., appellate court on al-Odah’s behalf as well as to the Supreme Court.

“It wouldn’t be quite right to say this is the most important piece of evidence that has come out of the CSRT process, because this is the only piece of evidence ever to come out of the CSRT process,” MacLean said. “It’s our only view into the CSRT.”

In April, the Supreme Court declined to review whether Guantanamo Bay detainees may go to federal court to challenge their indefinite confinement. Lawyers for the detainees have asked the justices to reconsider. The Bush administration opposes the request.

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Body Found, Canton Ohio Police Officer Bobby Cutts Jr. Charged With Murdering Jessie Davis And His Unborn Child

CANTON, OHIO – Authorities believe they recovered the body of Jessie Marie Davis, a pregnant Ohio woman missing for 10 days, Saturday, and a police officer with whom Davis had a relationship was arrested in connection with her disappearance, police said.

Canton police patrolman Bobby Cutts Jr., 30, was facing two murder counts in the deaths of Davis, 26, and her unborn child, said Rick Perez, chief deputy of the Stark County sheriff’s department.

Cutts fathered Davis’ 2-year-old son, Blake, and was also the likely father of her unborn child, a girl she planned to call Chloe. Davis was nearly nine months pregnant when she was last heard from June 13. She was due July 3. (Watch police announce they’d found a body Video)

[ NOTE: 06/19/07: A federal law enforcement officer has indicated to BCN that suspended Canton Ohio Police Officer Bobby Cutts Jr. is suspected to be involved/responsible for his wife’s disappearance – and that ongoing efforts are to eliminate all other individuals before he is taken into custody. See prior posts HERE, HERE. and HERE ]

The body was recovered in adjacent Summit County about 3:30 p.m. Saturday, Perez said, but he would not provide further details. A police statement acknowledged the assistance of the National Park Service, but police would not say what assistance was provided.

The FBI said the body was was in the area of Cuyahoga Valley National Park in northern Summit County. A park spokesperson told CNN affiliate WKYC and the Akron Beacon Journal that it was recovered in Hampton Hills Metro Park, part of the county park system that is adjacent to the national park.

Video footage from CNN affiliate WKYC showed aerials of a wooded area and what appeared to be a body in a bag placed onto a stretcher and loaded into an ambulance. Evidence technicians appeared to be working in a field.

Cutts was arrested Saturday afternoon, Perez said. Cutts is scheduled to appear Monday for arraignment in Canton Municipal Court.

Stark County Prosecutor John Ferrero told reporters it was too early to say whether the case warrants the death penalty. “The charges could get elevated to a higher degree down the road.”

Citing an ongoing investigation, police would divulge little regarding the case. They would not comment on whether additional arrests are expected, but said they continue to solicit tips by telephone and through the sheriff’s department Web site.

Davis’ family did not appear at an afternoon news conference where police announced the developments.

“They’re grieving in private,” said family attorney Rick Pitinii.

Asked their thoughts on the arrest, he said, “I think this whole process for them has been more about finding her — instead of who is or is not at fault or at blame.”

Detectives had searched the home of Cutts at least twice earlier this week.

The investigation started last week when Davis’ mother, Patricia Porter, alerted police after she was unable to contact her daughter. When the mother went to the home, she found Davis’ 2-year-old son, Blake, wandering in an empty house.

Police said furniture was broken, a lamp was toppled and bleach had been spilled on the floor, although there were no signs of forced entry. Davis’ car keys and purse were in the home, but her cell phone and a comforter were missing.

Police said earlier that Blake told authorities that his mother was crying, she had broken a table and was “in the rug.”

In an earlier interview with the local Canton Repository newspaper, Cutts denied any involvement in Davis’ disappearance. He acknowledged that he was married, but said he was separated from his wife and that she was aware of his relationship with Davis.

Canton Police Chief Dean McKimm said Saturday that because Cutts is a police officer, he has given his department a “black eye” in the eyes of the local community as well as the nation. He urged people not to be too quick to judge the “isolated acts” of one “rogue officer.”

Authorities earlier said Cutts had been placed on paid administrative leave pending the outcome of the search for Davis.

Thousands of volunteers had shown up to help search for Davis’ body, an effort organized by EquuSearch, a Texas-based nonprofit organization.

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Body Found, Canton Ohio Police Officer Bobby Cutts Jr. Charged With Two Counts Of Murder

CANTON, OHIO – Investigators recovered a body that they believe to be Jessie Marie Davis at 3:30 p.m. today, Chief Deputy Rick Perez of the Stark County Sheriff’s Office said at a 6 p.m news conference.

The sheriff’s office, FBI, Metro Parks police and the National Park Service are on the scene, Perez said.

Bobby Cutts Jr., Davis’ boyfriend, has been arrested and is at the Stark County Sheriff’s Office. He will be arraigned in Canton Municipal Court Monday on two counts of murder, covering Davis and her unborn child, Perez said.

Davis, 26, who was nine months’ pregnant with a daughter she planned to named Chloe, hadn’t been heard from since June 13, when her mother talked to her.

Her body was found in the Hampton Hills area of Metro Parks, Serving Summit County.

Thousands of community volunteers had been searching for her body since Thursday, combing the area around her Lake Township duplex.

Cutts is a Canton police officer.

John Debo, superintendent of the Cuyahoga Valley National Park, said he was told by the FBI and other law-enforcement agents, not to comment.

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Body Found, Canton Ohio Police Officer Bobby Cutts Jr. Charged With Two Counts Of Murder

CANTON, OHIO – Authorities on Saturday arrested the boyfriend of a missing nine-month pregnant woman on murder charges and said they recovered a body believed to be hers.

Jessie Davis has been missing for a week from her home, where her 2-year-old son was found alone, his diaper dirty, bedroom furniture toppled and bleach spilled on the floor.

The Stark County Sheriff’s Department said a body was recovered in neighboring Summit County at 3:30 p.m. Saturday. Authorities did not give a location but said they believed it to be Davis.

Davis’ boyfriend, Bobby Cutts Jr., 30, is to be arraigned Monday in Canton Municipal Court on two counts of murder, including the unborn child, the sheriff’s department said. Davis was due to deliver a baby girl on July 3.

Davis, 26, was reported missing June 15 after her mother, Patricia Porter, found her bedroom in disarray, the furniture overturned and her son, Blake, home alone.

Investigators said the toddler told them “Mommy was crying. Mommy broke the table. Mommy’s in rug.”

A bed comforter and Davis’ cell phone were missing. Items from her purse were scattered on the kitchen floor of her home in nearby Lake Township.

Chief Deputy Rick Perez said the case was still being investigated. He would not comment on whether there were any other suspects.

Cutts, a Canton police officer, is the father of Davis’ son, and her family says he also is the father of the unborn child. Authorities had questioned him and searched his home during the investigation.

Cutts has said he and his wife are separated and that she knew about the affair with Davis.

Cutts has been on paid administrative leave from his job.

“There is no denying that this has resulted in giving a black eye in the opinion of the local community as well as the opinion of the rest of the nation,” Police Chief Dean McKimm said of the arrest of a police officer.

Rick Pitinii, Porter’s attorney, said Davis’ family had no comment.

“They have gone through an absolute roller coaster of emotions,” he said. “I’ve seen them laugh, cry, be angry – everything you can imagine. … It’s tough.”

“They need to be together, and they need to be alone, and they need to grieve.”

Thousands of volunteers had searched for Davis over several days. Cutts joined volunteers in an earlier search.

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Accused officer had blemishes on record

CANTON, OHIO – Before Bobby Cutts Junior became a Canton, Ohio, police officer, he pleaded no contest to disorderly conduct in an incident an ex-girlfriend said left her worried about her safety.

Later, he nearly lost his badge when his higher-ups alleged he had given his gun to a drug-dealing cousin.

Now, he’s accused of killing girlfriend Jessie Davis, nearly nine months pregnant, and the unborn child, who Davis’ family says was his. He and Davis have a 2-year-old son who was found alone at her home after she vanished.

Police had said repeatedly that Cutts was not a suspect, but he’d told a local newspaper that he’d be “dumb and naive” to believe that. His home had been searched numerous times. And as suspicion fell on him, he stopped joining the searches.

The president of the Canton patrolman’s union says Cutts, a night-shift officer, got along well with people and coached youth sports.

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Santa Clarita California Pastor Testifies Against Retired Sheriff’s Sgt. John Racz Charged With Wife’s 1991 Murder

SAN FERNANDO, CALIFORNIA - Ann Racz was a faithful, loving mother who felt suffocated in her marriage but felt threatened by her husband, a pastor testified Friday during day two of the trial of John Racz, the retired sheriff’s sergeant accused of murder in the 1991 disappearance of his wife.

“Basically she said that he had said, ‘If you ever leave me, I’ll find you, no matter where you go, I’m (going to) stop you,” said Glen Thorp, the Santa Clarita Presbyterian Church pastor who began providing marriage counseling to Ann in early 1990.

When asked by Deputy District Attorney Beth Silverman if Ann had ever confided in him that her husband had threatened to kill her, Thorp answered, “Yes.”

“She said that when she talked about leaving that her husband would threaten her and say, ‘I’ll come find you wherever you are,’ and ‘I’ll stop you from leaving,’” Thorp said.

He went on to characterize Ann Racz as a “lovely, caring woman who really loved life, loved her children, loved her faith and was a giving person” before also providing testimony about their counseling sessions. He said that Ann had long felt “controlled by her husband, that she was being forced to do things she did not want to do. She felt suffocated.”

Ann told him those control issues extended into the couple’s sex life, Thorp said.

“She felt that as an Asian woman she was a very giving person and sometimes felt that was being abused,” he said.

Ann Minkeo Racz disappeared April 22, 1991, when she failed to return home from a trip to a local McDonald’s. Her disappearance coincided with the recent separation and subsequent filing of divorce papers she had initiated. Three days later, her minivan was discovered at the Flyaway airport shuttle service terminal in Van Nuys.

On May 1, she was reported missing by Thorp, which conflicts with another expected witness’ statement that John Racz claimed to have filed the missing persons report himself.

Racz’s attorneys are suggesting that Ann Racz was not murdered but had grown unhappy in her marriage and may have chosen to disappear.

Earlier in the day, a number of character witnesses spoke to Ann Racz’s reputation as a loving and dedicated mother, who volunteered in her children’s classes at Wiley Canyon Elementary School and was highly involved in all their after-school activities.

Prosecution witness Cynthia Alarcon – whose daughter was in the same Brownie troop and also participated in soccer and gymnastics with the Racz’s daughter, Katelin Racz, then 7 – recounted having seen Ann at several such activities over the years.

“She would be at all the games. She was very involved with that. She was the team mom,” Alarcon said.

When asked for her opinion on whether Ann Racz would have chosen to abandon her children to venture off to an extended, nonspecific vacation destination, as defense attorneys had alleged earlier in the week, Alarcon said that “in my opinion, I don’t see a mother abandoning her kids. To me she was just too into Katelin.”

Additional statements from Lois Becker, her son Glenn Racz’s sixth-grade teacher at Wiley Canyon, focused on the fact that Ann Racz was absent for both the school’s open house nights on April 23, 1991 – the day after her disappearance – and Glenn’s sixth-grade graduation in June of that year.

“I never knew her to miss anything like that,” Becker said. “I couldn’t imagine her missing Glen’s graduation.”

In subsequent testimony from Dorrie Dean, Katelin’s second-grade teacher at Wiley Canyon, it was revealed that Ann Racz had alerted the teacher weeks in advance about her impending plans to move the family from the couple’s Valencia home to a nearby condominium complex – even confiding her fears about what John Racz’s reaction might be.

“She was concerned that he wouldn’t let them go if she told him first,” Dean said.

Trial proceedings are set to resume Monday and continue throughout the week.

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Minneapolis Minnesota Police Chief Appears To Be Cracking Down On Bad Police Officers

MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA – Minneapolis Police Chief Tim Dolan is cracking down on his own officers. An analysis of firings and resignations prior to termination from Minneapolis Police Officers under investigation showed an increase over last year by at least 33 percent. And the year is only half over.

But Chief Dolan is telling his officers that it’s not necessarily such a bad thing. In a memo obtained by WCCO News, Dolan wrote, “When I took this job, I stated that my number one goal was to make our shoulder patch the most respected in the business. This means we honor our successes and firmly confront our shortcomings. Wear that patch proudly.”

Chief Dolan has put a new policy into place. When an officer loses his or her drivers’ license or ability to carry a gun for more than 90 days, that officer will be terminated.

“I think the public expects that when they’re paying an officer, that that officer be able to work the street and be productive,” Dolan said.

Officers convicted of driving while intoxicated for a second time or domestic abuse would fall under the new policy. Officers injured on the job would be exempt.

“The officer’s violated the trust that’s been … given to the officer by society to wear that badge. And they need to move on and try something else,” Dolan explained.

Minneapolis Police Federation Vice President Lt. Bob Kroll is cautiously supportive off the new plan.

“I think that’s an easy policy to support as far as that goes,” said Lt. Kroll.

He said his concern is that some good officers will be fired rather than getting treatment or counseling.

“I don’t think you can flush a person for a problem. If the case is alcohol, let’s get that person the treatment they need,” Kroll said.

But in general, Lt. Kroll said he supports the Chief setting a high standard.

“We don’t want to be riding around with people convicted of crimes,” he said. “I don’t think that sets a good example.”

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Crazed West Memphis Arkansas Police Shoot And Kill 12 Year Old With Toy Gun

WEST MEMPHIS, ARKANSAS – A 12-year-old boy who was carrying a toy gun was shot to death Friday evening by a West Memphis police officer, who apparently thought the gun was real.

Police Chief Bob Paudert said officers were on surveillance at an apartment building near a hotel about 10 p.m. when the boy appeared.

“The child had a toy pistol that looked identical to a real weapon. He did have a toy pistol with him and the officer saw it and fired shots. Two shots, I think,” Paudert told the Memphis (Tenn.) Commercial Appeal. “It’s a very tragic and unfortunate incident that happened.”

The child, whose name was not released, died at the scene, Paudert said. The officer, who was not identified, was placed on suspension with pay, pending an investigation.

Arkansas State Police spokesman Bill Sadler confirmed Saturday that the state police were investigating the fatal shooting of a boy by a West Memphis police officer. He did not provide further details, but said once the “use of force investigation” was completed the findings would be turned over to the local prosecutor to determine if charges are warranted.

Paudert did not immediately return a call Saturday.

According to a local television station, there were two boys and two police officers involved in the incident. Police were in the area because of a rash of armed robberies, the station reported. West Memphis Police Assistant Chief Mike Allen said when two police officers approached the boys, the officers saw a gun.

“When the police confronted the 12-year-old and told him to drop the weapon, he made a gesture toward the officers and (they) fired,” Allen said.

The other boy, a 14-year-old, was not injured.

The police chief said the officer who shot the boy has been with the department for more than 10 years. “He is taking it very hard right now,” Paudert said.

Since the incident involved an officer, Paudert asked the Arkansas State Police to investigate.

“We’re all saddened by the fact that this happened. But it will be thoroughly investigated by the state police,” Paudert said.

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White Nationalist Hal Turner’s Web Site Promising Busloads Of Wetbacks To Senator’s Homes On July 4th If They Vote For Amnesty Bill :)

NORTH BERGEN, NEW JERSEY -

FOR EVERY U.S. SENATOR WHO VOTES IN FAVOR OF “IMMIGRATION REFORM”

WE WILL SPONSOR TEN TO FIFTY CHARTER BUSLOADS OF “IMMIGRANTS” TO BE TRANSPORTED TO THE HOME ADDRESS OF EACH OF THOSE SENATORS!

Thanks to the spirit of cooperation between Hal Turner and other more well-known (and very wealthy) conservative media personalities, this Fourth of July means a big “gift” for pro-immigration-reform U.S. Senators, their wives, children and neighbors. They will get to enjoy – up close and personal – all the benefits of the “immigrants” they’re pushing down our throats! After all, why should we average Americans be the only ones to enjoy multi-culturalism and diversity? I think the high and mighty Senate could use a good dose of it too.

Naturally, those Senators who worked hardest for the new Immigration reform bill will get more busloads. For instance, we think that fifty busloads (about 2500 immigrants total) ought to go to Hyannisport, MA to the Kennedy family home. Another 2500 for John McCain’s house, and 2500 for Trent Lott’s house! Whereas those Senators who merely vote for reform (rather than really push it) may only get ten busloads (500 immigrants) to their homes. Fair is fair, those who work the hardest for the immigrants ought to get the most of them! Sadly, those Senators who vote AGAINST the immigration Bill will not get any immigrants because those Senators oppose diversity and are real meanies.

It ought to be a real hoot when Senators and their families get to hear the blaring mariachi music; encounter drunken and drugged immigrants walking across their property, shitting in the bushes, peeing on their homes, vomiting and passing out on the sidewalks. And lets not forget how many of these poor immigrants may be tempted to “enter” the Senator’s homes in the dark of night to . . . . . help themselves . . . . . to the better things in life. A big screen TV; fine stereo system; cash, jewelry? That is why they come here, “to better their lives” right?

Who knows, maybe one of these poor souls may develop a sudden, irresistable “love interest” with a Senator’s wife or daughter! So what if a brown squat monster bends them over the kitchen table and slips them the bone? All those so-called “conservatives” who are voting for this immigration bill certainly wouldn’t have the baby aborted, so they can enjoy little brown babies running around their house! After all, we’re “all equal” aren’t we?

Let’s not forget that since it’s a fourth of July celebration, there could be the sound of fireworks – or perhaps it’s gunshots from immigrants shooting in the air to celebrate like they do in their home countries? Yes, the possibilities are endless – just like the rest of us have found out!

Delivery tenatively scheduled for July 4. A gift from Hal Turner and my friends. Happy Fourth of July!

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Tacoma Washington Police Officer Gets His Ass Kicked By Graffiti Artists

TACOMA, WASHINGTON – A Tacoma police officer was hospitalized Saturday after three men and one woman assaulted him during a routine vandalism call on the east side of Tacoma.

The attack happened at 52nd and Asotin, but was interrupted when a good Samaritan stepped in to help.

Around 6 a.m. Saturday, the Tacoma police officer was responding to reports of people spray painting graffiti on a neighborhood wall.

About a block away, he saw some young men with spray paint cans. The officer was in the process of arresting them when they attacked.

“They assaulted him. The first two were joined by others. One actually left and returned and they continued kicking and beating the officer until help arrived,” said Mark Fulghum, of the Tacoma Police Department.

Help arrived first from Don Heinkle, who lives in the neighborhood. He was getting ready to walk his dog when he heard the commotion. He ran over from his house and jumped in to protect the officer.

“These four people – one was sitting on him and the others were hitting and kicking him,” Heinkle said.

Heinkle – an ex-marine – says the four suspects did a lot of damage to the officer.

“I mean he had a welt on his head, on his chin,” Heinkle said. “His nose was bleeding, his mouth was bleeding, then I realized this was not just kids — they were trying to hurt him.”

The four suspects — a 19-year-old man, his 16-year-old brother, a 17-year-old cousin and a 21-year-old woman — were all arrested.

The young men who were arrested live in the neighborhood.

Residents who live in the area say graffiti and signs of gang activity have been increasing over the past few years.

Heinkle knows he would help again no matter what the danger.

“You know to be honest with you, I didn’t think about it,” he said. “I just knew that he needed help.”

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Talk Shows Influence Immigration Debate, Complicate Prospects Of Criminal President’s Desired Great-American-Giveaway

WASHINGTON, DC – Immigration has supplanted Iraq as the leading issue on television and radio talk shows, complicating the prospects of a Senate bill desperately wanted by President Bush.

Conservative talk radio’s impact on the immigration debate reached new heights last week, with one host effectively writing an amendment for when the Senate returns to the imperiled bill this week.

National talk show hosts have spent months denouncing the bill as providing amnesty for illegal immigrants. Some top Republicans who support the legislation have defied the broadcast pundits. Others GOP lawmakers have tried to placate them, even to the point of accepting their ideas for amendments.

Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., the key conservative negotiator behind the compromise bill, told reporters Friday that California-based radio host Hugh Hewitt “had several ideas” that “we are trying to include” in amendments to be offered in an upcoming series of crucial votes.

Hewitt, a conservative who has criticized many aspects of the bill, had Kyl as a guest on Thursday and asked: “Does the bill provide for any separate treatment of aliens, illegal aliens from countries of special concern?”

Kyl replied: “It’s going to, as a result of your lobbying efforts to me.”

People seeking entry the U.S. from countries that the U.S. has designated as state sponsors of terrorism will get a higher level of scrutiny, Kyl said Friday.

Other Bush allies have tried more confrontational approaches to the talk hosts, sometimes with bruising results.

Sen. Trent Lott, R-Miss., told reporters last week, “Talk radio is running America. We have to deal with that problem.” Some hosts, he added, do not know what is in the lengthy bill.

The comments incensed conservative talk show hosts who generally had supported Lott over the years.

Lott is “upset that the American people got right into the middle of the conversation over the problem with illegal aliens and it didn’t turn out all that well for the pro-amnesty forces,” Atlanta-based talk show host Neal Boortz wrote on his Web site.

“If Trent Lott and his other buddies up on the Hill aren’t listening to ‘talk,’ then what are they listening to? The answer is either their wallet or their legacy.”

Radio host Rush Limbaugh asked his audience: “What are we going to do about Mississippi Senator Trent Lott?”

Lott’s treatment contrasted sharply with that given to Kyl. In a column posted on his Web site, Hewitt called Kyl “perhaps the single most effective and principled conservative in the United States Senate.”

The immigration bill would tighten borders and workplace enforcement, create a guest worker program and provide ways to legal status for many of the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants in the U.S.

The legislation faces showdown votes this coming week that lawmakers on all sides agree will be close.

If the measure fails, talk radio and TV – where CNN’s Lou Dobbs has been especially critical – will deserve substantial credit, academics and politicians say.

“Talk radio and talk TV are most effective when there’s an immediate action pending,” said Kathleen Hall Jamieson of the University of Pennsylvania, who is an authority on media and politics. “It’s a classic instance of mobilization with all the pieces in place and it’s sure to have an effect.”

Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., a leading opponent of the bill, said in an interview that “talk radio has had a significant impact on this issue.”

A frequent guest of Dobbs, Hewitt and other conservative hosts discussing immigration, Sessions said, “I think people have learned more from talk radio than from reading the newspapers.”

As for Lott, Sessions said: “I can’t imagine what Trent was thinking. Maybe his mouth was moving and his brain was in neutral.”

Michael Harrison, editor of the talk show industry magazine Talkers, said immigration has replaced the Iraq war as the most discussed topic and has led many conservative hosts to show more loyalty to the anti-amnesty issue than to the Republican Party.

“I think talk radio should be credited with possibly saving the American people from George Bush’s immigration bill,” Harrison said, adding that he and his magazine are nonpartisan.

Some Republicans who recently announced their opposition to the bill said constituent concerns were their main reason. But they acknowledged the intensity of talk radio hostility in their states.

“Neal Boortz, he popped us pretty good,” said Lindsay Mabry, a spokeswoman for Sen. Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., who shifted from qualified support to opposition to the bill in recent days. She said Chambliss consulted with Boortz on immigration even though the senator was not an on-air guest during the debate.

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Washington Federal Judge Royce Lamberth Criticizes Bush Administration’s Warrantless Wiretaps

WASHINGTON, DC - A federal judge who used to authorize wiretaps in terrorist and espionage cases criticized President Bush’s decision to order warrantless surveillance after the Sept. 11 attacks.

Royce Lamberth, a district court judge in Washington, said Saturday it was proper for executive branch agencies to conduct such surveillance. “But what we have found in the history of our country is that you can’t trust the executive,” he said at the American Library Association’s convention.

“We have to understand you can fight the war (on terrorism) and lose everything if you have no civil liberties left when you get through fighting the war,” said Lamberth, who was appointed by President Reagan.

The judge disagreed with letting the executive branch alone decide which people to spy on in national security cases.

“The executive has to fight and win the war at all costs. But judges understand the war has to be fought, but it can’t be at all costs,” Lamberth said. “We still have to preserve our civil liberties. Judges are the kinds of people you want to entrust that kind of judgment to more than the executive.”

Lamberth was named chief of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court in 1995 by then-Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist. Lamberth held that post until 2002.

The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 established the court after domestic spying scandals in the 1970s.

The court meets in secret to review applications from the FBI, the National Security Agency and other agencies for warrants to wiretap or search the homes of people in the United States in terrorist or espionage cases. Each application is signed by the attorney general. The court has approved more than 99 percent of them.

Shortly after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, Bush authorized the NSA to spy on calls between people in the U.S. and suspected terrorists abroad without FISA court warrants. The administration said it needed to act more quickly than the court could and that the president had inherent authority under the Constitution to order warrantless domestic spying.

After the program became public and was challenged in court, Bush put it under FISA court supervision this year. The president still claims the power to order warrantless spying.

White House spokesman Tony Fratto said Bush believes in the program, which is classified because its purpose is to stop terrorists’ planning.

The program “is lawful, limited, safeguarded and – most importantly – effective in protecting American citizens from terrorist attacks,” Fratto said. “It’s specifically designed to be effective without infringing Americans’ civil liberties.”

Lamberth took issue with Bush’s approach.

“I haven’t seen a proposal for a better way than presenting an application to the FISA court and having an independent judge decide if it’s really the kind of thing that we ought to be doing, recognizing that how we view civil liberties is different in time of war,” he said.

“I have seen a proposal for a worse way and that’s what the president did with the NSA program.”

Lamberth said the FISA court met the challenge of acting quickly after Sept. 11. Lamberth was stuck in a car pool lane near the Pentagon when a hijacked jet slammed into it that day. With his car enveloped in smoke, he called marshals to help him get into the District of Columbia.

By the time officers reached him, “I had approved five FISA coverages (warrants) on my cell phone,” Lamberth said. He also approved other warrants at his home at 3 a.m. and on Saturdays.

“In a time of national emergency like that, changes have to be made in procedures. We changed a number of FISA procedures,” Lamberth said.

Normal FISA warrant applications run 40 to 50 pages, but he said he issued orders in the days after Sept. 11 “based on the oral briefing by the director of the FBI to the chief judge of the FISA court.”

Lamberth would not say whether he thought Bush’s warrantless surveillance was constitutional. “Judges shouldn’t give advisory opinions and I was never asked to give an opinion in court,” he said.

But he said when the NSA briefed him about the program, he advised them to keep good records so that if any applications came to the FISA court based on information obtained from warrantless surveillance, the court could rule on the legality.

He said he never got such an application before leaving the court in 2002.

Lamberth defended the court against those who say it is rubber stamp and said if the government is working properly, most applications should be approved.

“We’re making sure there’s not some political shenanigan going on or some improper motive for the surveillance,” Lamberth said. “The fact that they have to submit it to us keeps them honest.”

Lambert also criticized FBI Director Robert Mueller for allowing the agents in charge of all 56 FBI field offices to approve National Security Letters. These allow agents to demand information from phone companies, Internet service providers and corporations without court warrants in national security cases.

The Justice Department’s inspector general recently estimated there were 3,000 violations of law between 2002 and 2005 in the FBI’s use of the letters.

“Once they saw how the field offices had screwed this all up, I thought that would be a good time to centralize the approvals” in one Washington office that could enforce the rules uniformly, Lamberth said. “Unfortunately, Mueller and (Attorney General Alberto) Gonzales did not do that.”

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After Botched Investigation, Man Arrested, Cleared, And Prepared To Sue The Pasco Florida Sheriff’s Department For Dumb-In-Public

PASCO COUNTY, FLORIDA – Tallie Gainer III was charged last year with check fraud after a botched investigation. Five months later, he was exonerated by a fingerprint that had been in the case file since the beginning. Now he plans to sue for wrongful arrest.

Gainer, a 29-year-old Tampa resident, filed a notice of intent to sue this week with the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office and the Pinellas-Pasco State Attorney’s Office.

His attorney, John Trevena, said he hopes for a judgment – perhaps in the millions – that will send authorities a message: “This type of incompetence, this type of gross negligence, will not be tolerated.”

Last Aug. 1, Gainer was eating dinner with his children at the Denny’s on E Hillsborough Avenue when he left his wallet, which contained credit cards and his driver’s license, at the cash register. Someone stole it.

Nine days later, a man brought the ID to a bank in Port Richey and, posing as Gainer, tried to pass a fraudulent check.

Before he fled the bank, the con man left a well-defined fingerprint on the front of the check. But because of a series of investigative miscues, no one compared the print to Gainer’s until late in April, more than five months after his arrest.

By then the ordeal had cost him perhaps $60, 000 and the chance to bid for a Jackson Heights coin laundry that he hoped would become a family business.

The notice of intent to sue triggers a six-month time window in which the authorities can decide whether or not to offer a settlement. It was unclear Friday how they would respond.

Kevin Doll, a spokesman for Sheriff Bob White, said the agency would have no comment.

But Doll did address another document filed by Gainer’s lawyer this week: a request for administrative expunction – or the purging of Gainer’s arrest record. Before last November, his record was clean. Doll said the agency filed the paperwork weeks ago, just after Gainer’s story appeared on the front page of the St. Petersburg Times, and now the wheels are in motion.

“Although the arrest, on its surface, was a good arrest, ” Doll said, “we did arrest the wrong person.”

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Family Harassed For 4 Months By Cellphone Stalkers, Fircrest Washington Police Prove Useless

FIRCREST, WASHINGTON – Maybe it’s just a long-running prank, but the reign of terror endured by three Fircrest families buries the needle on the creepy meter.

For four months, the Kuykendalls, the Prices and the McKays say, they’ve been harassed and threatened by mysterious cell phone stalkers who track their every move and occasionally lurk by their homes late at night, screaming and banging on walls.

Police can’t seem to stop them. The late-night visitors vanish before officers arrive. The families say investigators have a hard time believing the stalkers can control cell phones without touching them and suspect an elaborate hoax. Complaints to their phone companies do no good – the families say they’ve been told what the stalkers are doing is impossible.

It doesn’t feel impossible to Heather Kuykendall and her sister, Darci Price, who’ve saved and recorded scores of threatening voice mails, uttered in throaty, juvenile rasps stolen from bad horror films.

Price and Kuykendall have given the callers a name: “Restricted.” That’s the word that shows up on their caller ID windows: on the land lines at home, and on every one of their cell phones.

Their messages, left at all hours, threaten death – to the families, their children and their pets.

“They tell us that they see us,” Kuykendall said Tuesday. “They tell us that they know everything we’re doing.”

It’s gotten so bad the sisters’ parents have offered a $1,000 reward to anyone who identifies the culprits.

The stalkers know what the family is eating, when adults leave the house, when they go to baseball games. They know the color of shirt Courtney Kuykendall, 16, is wearing. When Heather Kuykendall recently installed a new lock on the door of the house, she got a voice mail. During an interview with The News Tribune on Tuesday, she played the recording.

The stalkers taunted her, telling her they knew the code. In another message, they threatened shootings at the schools Kuykendall’s children attend.

“I’m warning you,” one guttural message says. “Don’t send them to school. If you do, say goodbye.”

Somehow, the callers have gained control of the family cell phones, Price and Kuykendall say. Messages received by the sisters include snatches of conversation overheard on cell-phone mikes, replayed and transmitted via voice mail. Phone records show many of the messages coming from Courtney’s phone, even when she’s not using it – even when it’s turned off.

Price and Kuykendall say the stalkers knew when they visited Fircrest police and sent a voice-mail message that included a portion of their conversation with a detective.

The harassment seems to center on Courtney, but it extends to her parents, her aunt Darcy and Courtney’s friends, including Taylor McKay, who lives across the street in Fircrest. Her mother, Andrea McKay, has received messages similar to those left at the Kuykendall household and cell phone bills approaching $1,000 for one month. She described one recent call: She was slicing limes in the kitchen. The stalkers left a message, saying they preferred lemons.

“Taylor and Courtney seem to be the hub of the harassment, and different people have branched off from there,” Andrea McKay said. “I don’t know how they’re doing it. They were able to get Taylor’s phone number through Courtney’s phone, and every contact was exposed.”

McKay, a teacher in the Peninsula School District, said she and Taylor recently explained the threats to the principal at Gig Harbor High School, which Taylor attends. A Gig Harbor police officer sat in on the conversation, she said.

While the four people talked, Taylor’s and Andrea’s phones, which were switched off, sat on a table. While mother and daughter spoke, Taylor’s phone switched on and sent a text message to her mother’s phone, Andrea said.

The Kuykendalls and Prices report similar experiences. Richard Price, Darcy’s husband, is a 26-year military officer, assigned to McChord Air Force Base. On a recent trip to the base, the stalkers sent him a message.

“McChord needs us,” the voice said.

Mari Manley, 16, one of Courtney’s close friends, is another victim of the harassment. She tried to avoid the calls by ignoring her phone. Late one night, she heard the phone making an unfamiliar noise. Her ringtone had changed.

“Answer your phone,” a guttural voice said. Manley saved the ringtone, and played it during an interview Tuesday.

The families and their friends have adopted a new routine: They block the cameras on their phones with tape. They take out the batteries to stop the calls. The Prices and Kuykendalls returned all their corrupted phones to their wireless company and replaced them with new ones. The threatening messages kept coming.

Fircrest Police Chief John Cheesman is familiar with the case and knows the families. His department is working the case with the Tacoma Police Department and the Pierce County Sheriff’s Office, he said. The agencies filed a search warrant for the phone records, but they didn’t reveal much. Many of the calls and text messages trace back to Courtney’s phone, which the family believes has been electronically hijacked.

Cell phone technology allows remote monitoring of calls, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce. Known as a “roving bug,” it works whether a phone is on or off. FBI agents tracking organized crime have used it to monitor meetings among mobsters. Global positioning systems, installed in many cell phones, also make it possible to pinpoint a phone’s location within a few feet.

According to James M. Atkinson, a Massachusetts-based expert in counterintelligence who has advised the U.S. Congress on security issues, it’s not that hard to take remote control of a wireless phone. “You do not have to have a strong technical background for someone to do this,” he said Tuesday. “They probably have a technically gifted kid who probably is in their neighborhood.”

Courtney Kuykendall says she has no idea who the stalkers are, though she knows police are suspicious. She believes someone followed her at school – a man in a hooded sweatshirt with a beard.

“They’re accusing my daughter of threatening her own family,” Heather Kuykendall said.

“Why would I do that?” Courtney said. “Why would I do that to people I care about? Why would I harass my own family?”

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Fired Hillsborough County Florida Deputy Sheriff Says Vendetta Forced Him Out – Not All His Bogus DUI Arrests

TAMPA, FLORIDA - For nearly 15 years Deputy Daniel Brock racked up awards and made his bosses at the Hillsborough Sheriff”s office very happy.

“They love the numbers. The fatalities down south go down, DUI crashes go down, stats are down,” said Brock.

Recently, Brock was fired after an internal affairs investigation showed dozens of people arrested for DUI’s weren’t even drunk.

“The arrest is based on the totality of the circumstances. It’s based on your observations,” Brock said.

The State Attorney’s office ended up dropping dozens of Brocks cases, claiming the videotape evidence didn’t match his reports.

“The videos aren’t reflective of what we see as investigators, because of how the videos are used, as a fixed point,” argued Brock.

In an interview with FOX 13’s Gloria Gomez, Gomez asked: “Do you see the problem here? Because you’re saying ‘the video isn’t capturing everything I’m seeing,’ are we suppose to take your word for it? Or should we have evidence to prosecute people?”

“I think you should take our word for it. We’re trained,” Brock responded.

Brock blames his troubles on a vindictive internal affairs investigator at the sheriff’s office who he says launched a bogus bribery investigation against him.

He says that tainted his credibility, and the prosecutors office gave in.

”Honestly the state attorneys office just doesn’t try. They just flat out don’t try”, he explained.

Aside from bogus arrests, Investigators say in 40 percent of his cases, Brock didn’t turn on his video camera and failed to take urine samples, which is violation of department policy

“Never was told, never was trained, when I asked was I told by other investigators,” Brock said.

“So you’re pleading ignorance?” Gomez asked.

“Correct,” Brock responded, “although the sheriff’s office says you got to know it all,” he said.

While he fights to get his job back, Daniel Brock maintains he’s not a dirty cop.

“Dedicated to the job, dedicated to the county,” Brock said of himself.

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No Discipline For Philadelphia Pennsylvania Police Officer Vincent Maroney After Leaving Gun On New Jersey Amusement Park Ride, Which Was Found, Fired, And Taken Home By Teen Girl

OCEAN CITY, NEW JERSEY — An off-duty police Philadelphia officer who inadvertently left a loaded gun on an amusement-park ride will not be disciplined, a spokesman for the Philadel-phia police department said Friday.

Vincent Maroney visited Gillian’s Wonderland Pier on the Boardwalk on Wednesday. During a ride on the Slingshot, which carries riders up a tower before plunging them back to Earth, a loaded .22-caliber revolver slipped out of his pocket onto the seat.

Later, a 17-year-old Pennsyl-vania girl accidentally sat on the loaded weapon while climbing onto the ride. Because of its tiny size, she thought it was a toy and put it in her pocket, Ocean City police said. Later, she fired the gun at a dune on the Sixth Street beach.

She and her mother turned the gun over to Ocean City police the next day upon hearing news reports of the missing weapon.

Philadelphia Chief Inspector William Colarulo said Maroney will not face departmental sanctions. Maroney exhibited no negligence and reported the missing weapon immediately in keeping with department procedures, Colarulo said. Colarulo said federal law permits off-duty police to carry concealed weapons across state lines. The only departmental stipulation is that the weapon be properly registered.

Colarulo said Philadelphia does not require its off-duty officers to carry concealed weapons but does not forbid them from doing so [ BCN: In New Jersey??? ].

“In 26 years, I’ve made numerous off-duty arrests,” Colarulo said.

Park owner Jay Gillian closed the amusement pier for two hours Wednesday so police and search dogs could look for the weapon.

Ocean City suffered a tragic shooting in 1990 when an 8-year-old boy found a revolver under a porch and accidentally shot and killed 6-year-old Allison Dattilo.

“That was the first thing that came to my mind. It hits home a little deeper in Ocean City,” Gillian said.

Gillian said he respects the work that police do in the region, but he said he does not think guns belong on the city’s Boardwalk or his amusement park.

“It frightens me that off-duty officers would be riding rides with all the forces; why they would even take a chance?” he said. “All I can think of is if it went the other way. The liability he brought on this amusement park. The jeopardy he put all these people in.”

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Report Blames ‘Excited Delirium’, Unrecognized By Competent Medical Authorities, That Seemingly Only Accompanies Police Taser Weapon Shots, For Woman’s Death In Oklahoma City

OKLAHOMA CITY, OKLAHOMA – Milisha Thompson did not die from the toxic level of cocaine in her system.

The struggle she had with Oklahoma City police and the Taser shocks they delivered didn’t kill her, either.

Instead, Thompson, 35 — a schizophrenic homeless woman who passed away in the back of an ambulance May 19 — died of all of the above. And then some.

Friday, the state medical examiner’s office ruled Thompson’s death accidental, saying she died of “excited delirium due to cocaine toxicity,” a catchall term for a variety of symptoms known to lead to in-custody deaths.

“A good definition,” said Kevin Rowland, chief investigator for the medical examiner, “is a person who is usually under the influence of a stimulant type drug such as cocaine, amphetamines or PCP that can cause them to experience delirium, psychosis (and) violent behavior toward self and others.”

“They usually experience extraordinary strength, which is usually followed by a period of calm and quiet, then a sudden cardiac arrest. They do not respond to resuscitative efforts.

In an earlier interview, Thompson’s husband, Marvell Thompson, blamed police for her death. He said officers used excessive force and killed “an innocent woman.”

He could not be reached for comment Friday.

About 5:30 p.m. on May 19, police received word of illegal drug sales taking place outside the City Rescue Mission at 800 W California Ave.

Video evidence
In a surveillance video released last month by police:

•Milisha Thompson can be seen standing along the wall of the mission fidgeting with her wig while two officers talk to the alleged drug dealers. She appears to behave erratically — entering the mission, then emerging to sprint across the street toward the officers before turning away, knocking a man down and running at the officers again.

•She grabs one by his body armor, breaking his necklace, and both officers take her to the ground and handcuff her. During the struggle, the officers zap her at least twice with the Taser, a device that disrupts muscular function by means of electrical current.

According to witnesses, Milisha Thompson lost consciousness a short time later. Attempts to revive her were unsuccessful, and she died en route to a hospital.

Controversial diagnosis
In other cases, Amnesty International and the American Civil Liberties Union have taken issue with the “excited delirium” diagnosis, saying the term is not used by medical or psychological professionals and implying it is a made-up condition designed to protect police and the Taser industry.

The American Medical Association hasn’t taken a side. Officials there say they don’t know if it’s real or not; they haven’t formed a policy on it.

But police and medical examiners across the country have taken to the term. Last year, a nationally recognized forensic pathologist, Vincent DiMaio, co-authored a book on the condition. And Oklahoma City police Sgt. Rob High, who teaches uses of force at the police academy, said he’s heard medical doctors lecture on the subject.

Much of the controversy centers on how dangerous Tasers are and what role they play in in-custody deaths.

Taser use defended
Steve Tuttle, spokesman for Taser International, insists the devices are safe, especially compared with other use-of-force options available to police.

“The day that I want my kid to have a baton smashed over his head compared to a 5-second Taser application is a cold day in hell,” he said.

Tuttle said Tasers have been found to be a “possible contributing factor” in several deaths, but have never been named a cause of death. The company has never lost a lawsuit, he said.

“We don’t have a Taser problem,” Tuttle said. “We have a serious drug problem in the U.S., given the number of people who are overdosing.”

In this case, at least, drugs likely played a significant role.

Drug use cited
In a document filed in Oklahoma County District Court, police said “Milisha Thompson was using drugs for approximately three days prior to this incident occurring. We were also advised Milisha was a resident at the City Rescue Mission and during her two-year stay, she has been kicked out of the mission several times for drug use and behavior problems.”

Rowland said she had so much cocaine in her system that if she had simply been found dead, her death would have been attributed to an overdose.

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Disgraced And Disbarred Durham County North Carolina Mike Nifong’s Past Three Decades Of Cases Could Receive A 2nd Look, Most Certainly By Defense Attorneys

DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA — The official assessment of Mike Nifong’s handling of the Duke lacrosse case – “intentional prosecutorial misconduct” – clearly could not have been more harsh.

What’s not yet clear: Will Nifong’s misdeeds in his last case as a prosecutor give defense attorneys an easy path to overturn his nearly three decades of work in the Durham County district attorney’s office?

“I don’t think the fact that he was shown to be so unethical in the Duke lacrosse case will mean that other cases he’s prosecuted will automatically be reversed or appealed,” said Steve Cron, a defense lawyer from Santa Monica, California, who has practiced for 33 years.

“But his behavior in this case was so outrageous and so beyond what’s required of an ethical prosecutor that everyone’s going to start going back and looking.”

Nifong handed in his resignation last week after a disciplinary committee of the North Carolina State Bar determined he should be stripped of his law license. The panel found that Nifong broke more than two dozen rules of professional conduct while investigating a woman’s allegations she was raped at a March 2006 lacrosse team party where she was hired to perform as a stripper.

He won indictments against three players, even though he knew DNA testing had identified genetic material from several men – but no member of the lacrosse team – in the accuser’s underwear and body. He did not disclose that information to defense attorneys for more than six months, and state prosecutors went on to declare the three players innocent after taking over his case.

Nifong initially planned to remain in office through mid-July, but that schedule wasn’t quick enough for both Gov. Mike Easley and senior resident Superior Court Judge Orlando Hudson. By Thursday, they had installed his predecessor – Superior Court Judge Jim Hardin – to take over the office on an interim basis.

And on Friday, attorneys for the three players asked a judge to hold Nifong in criminal contempt of court. Nifong could face up to 30 days in jail and a fine of up to $500 if convicted.

“I grew up here,” Hardin said. “I have a vested interest in this community and how this community is perceived and how well at least the little corner of the government system that is in the DA’s office functions.”

While Hardin plans to be in place for no more than few months, both he and the permanent district attorney Easley appoints later could soon find themselves in a courtroom defending Nifong’s work in other cases.

“There will be people who might challenge some other cases,” Hudson said. “I don’t know how many cases are out there potentially. I would expect that based on these hearings there will be inmates who challenge their convictions.”

Nifong has a long history in Durham to sort through. He joined the county prosecutor’s office as a volunteer in 1978 after graduating from law school at the nearby University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He eventually worked his way up to be Hardin’s chief assistant before being diagnosed with prostate cancer in 1999.

Nifong stopped trying cases to undergo surgery, radiation and hormone therapy before returning and handling traffic court at Hardin’s request. That limited the number of criminal cases he tried in recent years, which means any review of that work would be close to a decade old. Without question, the biggest case of his career involved the Duke lacrosse team.

“I personally doubt (a review) will find anything at this stage because the cases are too old and that’s not the reputation he had before,” said Stan Goldman, who teaches criminal law and procedure at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles. “But I think lawyers are going to file motions. It’ll clog the courts for a while. Maybe they’ll find something. I tend to think it’s unlikely, but who knows?”

Longtime Durham lawyer Butch Williams, who represented an unindicted lacrosse player last year, said he had never before questioned Nifong’s judgment. He predicted only a handful of attorneys will feel the need to go back and review their old cases files.

“I’ve known Mike for 28 years and I think this case is an aberration more so than the norm,” Williams said. “I don’t think there’s going to be any mass rush to the courthouse to go back and review because that was not the norm. … To come back now and say, ‘I didn’t know this or that,’ it would be mighty hard to get a review unless there are substantive issues.”

The recently created North Carolina Innocence Inquiry Commission, which is designed to investigate claims of actual innocence in past cases, does not expect an avalanche of filings involving Nifong’s past work. But commission chairman Superior Court Judge Quentin T. Sumner said through a spokesman the panel will look at inquiries from Durham on a case-by-case basis.

Carl Tobias, a professor at the University of Richmond law school, said any review of Nifong’s past work might serve another purpose. Nifong’s actions, which the disciplinary committee concluded were designed to help him win his first election as district attorney, hurt the reputation of the Durham’s criminal justice system – something a review could help remedy, even if nothing comes out of it.

“People are within their rights and it’s legitimate to inquire,” Tobias said. “For a lot of people, there’s a sense that on one big case he made a lot of mistakes. That doesn’t mean he did before, but I think people need to find out so it does satisfy them.”

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Crazed Cops: Ogden Utah’s ‘Most Violent Police Chase’ Ever Began With Stolen Dog, Ends With Injuries, Thousands In Damages To Innocent Residents Vehicles And Home – Our Tax Dollars At Work

OGDEN, UTAH – It was a wild and dangerous night in Ogden Friday. Police chased a big RV careening down the street. It ended badly at 4752 South 300 West. Cops say the speeding Winnebago rammed several cars and injured an officer before it crashed into a house. Police also say it was all because of a dog.

Police said they were chasing the RV driver after they say he stole a dog on Thursday. “The suspect was confronted. That’s when he got in the motor home and took off,” said Lt. Tarran of the Odgen Police Department. He said the driver of the RV was a picture of desperation behind the wheel, as he drove against traffic on Washington Boulevard.

Travis Reed said he encountered the RV early in the chase. “Next thing I know this guy comes out of nowhere out in the middle of the lane towards me, about runs me over. I almost died,” he said.

Kelly Ingram claims she was inside the house when the RV crashed up against it. “We’ve had people go through our backyard before, but never into our house,” she said. “The motor home flew down, then all of sudden we hear ten cops coming,” said Tiffany Taylor who witnessed the chase from her apartment.

The suspect was arrested after the crash. Lt. Tarran says this was the most violent police chase hes ever seen.

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Oakwood Hills Illinois Police Officer Donald W. Rager Pleads Guilty In Iowa To Child Molestation

CEDAR RAPIDS, IOWA – A longtime law-enforcement officer from Grayslake pleaded guilty Friday in Iowa to sexually assaulting a 13-year-old boy.

Donald W. Rager, 40, a part-time police officer in Oakwood Hills, near Crystal Lake, faces a mandatory minimum of 15 years and up to 80 years in prison and a $750,000 fine, said Assistant U.S. Atty. Bob Teig in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

Rager was arrested May 18 in Dubuque, Iowa, when he showed up for a planned meeting with the boy, who authorities say had a sexual encounter with Rager after they met in an online chat room.

Authorities say Rager took the boy in February 2006 to a Dubuque hotel room, where they had sex while Rager videotaped it. Rager showed the teen video images of adult men, including himself, having sex with underage boys, a criminal complaint said.

The boy reported the incident to his parents in April, and authorities had the youth set up a second meeting with Rager in Dubuque. Police took Rager into custody.

Rager pleaded guilty Friday to two counts of crossing state lines to engage in sexual conduct with a minor, one count of producing child pornography and one count of transporting child pornography across a state line.

Rager spent 20 years in law enforcement. Until 2005, he provided security to Grayslake Central High School District 127, said Grayslake Police Chief Larry Herzog.

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Do-Nothing Bastrop County Texas Animal Control Officer Kevin Johnson Fired

BASTROP COUNTY, TEXAS – Bastrop County animal control officials have fired Kevin Johnson, the animal control agent who failed to take action in a dog-abuse case. Two people have been arrested on charges of animal cruelty in the case.

Several weeks ago, Johnson responded to neighbors’ complaints that dogs were being abused at a house on highway 95. Despite deplorable conditions, Johnson did not seize the dogs. A few days later, seven dogs were found dead at the residence.

Erin Schmitz and Milton Evans were arrested Thursday on charges of animal cruelty. If convicted, both face up to two years in jail

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Judge Grants Class-Action Status Against Oklahoma City For Charging Fees And Hiding Public Records

OKLAHOMA CITY - An Oklahoma County judge today approves a request by an attorney to grant class-action status to a lawsuit filed concerning Oklahoma City’s rules for people who want copies of public records.

Mike Gassaway, the attorney for Elisa LeFlore, who filed the suit against the city in April 2006, says the ruling by District Judge Bryan Dixon means that the suit can go forward.

The suit alleges the city violated the Oklahoma Open Records Act by charging search fees to people who wanted copies of law enforcement records.

The law allows such fees to be charged only if the request is, quote, “solely for commercial purpose” or if it would cause, quote, “excessive disruption” of essential functions of the public body.

Diane Lewis, a deputy city attorney, says it has not yet been determined who the “class” in the case is or how many years back the case might go.

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Michael Moore’s ‘Sicko’ Leaves Top Democrats (And Others) Ill At Ease Over Epic Failure Of U.S. Health Care System – U.S. Government Left With Egg On Face, So They Begin Investigation Of Trip To Cuba For (Free) Medical Care

WASHINGTON, DC – With the release of Michael Moore’s “Sicko,” a movie once again is adding sizzle to an issue that’s a high priority for liberal politicians — this time comprehensive health insurance for all. But unlike Al Gore’s film on global warming, which helped rally support on an equally controversial problem, “Sicko” is creating an awkward situation for the leading Democratic presidential candidates.

Rejecting Moore’s prescription on healthcare could alienate liberal activists, who will play a big role in choosing the party’s next standard-bearer. However, his proposal — wiping out private health insurance and replacing it with a massive federal program — could be political poison with the larger electorate.

At a special screening in Washington this week, politicians, lobbyists, media pooh-bahs and policy junkies flocked to see Moore’s film. And its slashing demand for action on an issue that voters care deeply about, and Democrats hope to capitalize on, generated plenty of buzz. Moore hopes that, after its general release June 29, “Sicko” will exert significant influence on the presidential campaign.

Instead of greeting the film with hosannas or challenging it head-on, however, the leading Democratic presidential candidates have sidestepped direct comment on Moore’s proposals.

Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York and Barack Obama of Illinois and former Sen. John Edwards of South Carolina all have staked out positions sharply at odds with Moore’s approach. But none of them is eager to have that fact dragged into the spotlight.

If Moore’s fire-breathing proposal catches on among party activists, who tend to be suspicious of the private sector and supportive of direct government action, the candidates’ pragmatic, consensus-seeking ideas could look like weak-kneed temporizing — much the way their rejection of an immediate pullout from Iraq has drawn heated criticism from antiwar activists.

In “Sicko,” the filmmaker calls for abolishing the insurance industry, putting a tight regulatory collar on pharmaceutical companies and embracing a Canadian-style government-run system.

Advocacy groups are already planning to use the film to pressure the Democratic hopefuls.

“The candidates haven’t sensed the political fever in this country that fundamental change is called for in the healthcare system,” said Rose Ann DeMoro, executive director of the California Nurses Assn. “What we are going to do is call on the candidates to reconsider their positions.”

Stoking the passions of rank-and-file Democrats for a government takeover of the healthcare system amounts to political folly, respond some liberal veterans of Washington’s healthcare battles.

“To presume that the private sector is going to sit idly by to see the destruction of private coverage I think is a misreading of reality,” said Ron Pollack of the advocacy group Families USA. “I think the presidential candidates understand that if healthcare reform is going to have a chance of success, it will require bipartisanship and a balance of public and private coverage. It cannot be the triumph of one ideology over the other.”

Such a blending increasingly seems to be taking place in major federal and state programs, including Medicaid, the State Children’s Health Insurance Program and Medicare. As employer-sponsored health insurance shrinks, insurance companies have reinvented themselves as managers and middlemen for government programs, said UC Berkeley health economist James Robinson.

For example, more than 60% of Americans enrolled in Medicaid, the federal-state program for the poor, are now in some form of managed care, compared with fewer than 25% in the mid-1990s. In California, Medicaid is known as Medi-Cal.

“Whatever mix of private and public sources will increase the number of people with coverage, the insurance companies would like it to be managed by them,” Robinson said in a recent interview. “They can work with Medicare, they can work with Medicaid, they can work with employers, they can work with whomever.”

There’s little room for such nuanced partnerships in “Sicko.” If there’s a villain in the movie, “the villain is called the health insurance industry of America,” Moore told a Capitol Hill rally Wednesday. To laughter and applause, Moore said he hoped the film would turn into a “going-away present” for industry lobbyists.

“Sicko” uses the wrenching stories of individual Americans to compare some of the worst failings of this country’s system with a rosy perspective on healthcare in Canada, Britain, France and even Cuba — a country that offers healthcare for all but also imprisoned a doctor in the late 1990s for speaking out against government failure to respond to an epidemic of a mosquito-borne virus.

Moore investigates the dumping of hospital patients on skid row in Los Angeles. He tells the story of a middle-class couple from Colorado who lost their home and had to move in with their adult children because of medical bills, even though they had insurance. A particularly sobering episode involves a Missouri family in which the father is denied a medical procedure that might have saved him from cancer.

Filmgoers also meet an uninsured American who accidentally sawed off two of his fingertips and had to choose which one to have reattached, because he couldn’t afford to do both. Moore juxtaposes that story with that of a young man in Canada who lost five fingers in an accident and had them all reattached — without having to pay.

“It’s quite effective, [but] it’s not a documentary,” Robert D. Reischauer, one of Washington’s leading health policy experts and a supporter of coverage for all, said after viewing the movie.

“Policy propaganda,” he called it.

For most Democratic presidential candidates (Rep. Dennis J. Kucinich of Ohio advocates a government single-payer program), it’s more like a headache.

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Veteran Houston Texas Police Officer Eric M. Dargin Suspended, Charged With Sexual Assault And Improper Sexual Activity With A Person In Custody

HOUSTON, TEXAS - A veteran Houston police officer faces charges of sexual assault and improper sexual activity with a person in custody.

Authorities say the charges against Officer EM Dargin stem from an incident that began May 17, 2007.

Dargin has been a Houston police officer since June 1983. He has been relieved of duty with pay pending the outcome of an investigation by the department’s Internal Affairs Division.

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Houston Texas Police Officer Eric M. Dargin Accused Of Sexual Assault Is Taken Off Duty

HOUSTON, TEXAS – A veteran police officer — accused of sexually assaulting a woman during a traffic stop —has been relieved of duty pending the outcome of an internal investigation by Houston Police Department.

Officer Eric M. Dargin, 47, was charged Wednesday with sexual assault and improper sexual activity with a person in custody.

Dargin, a 24-year veteran, has been suspended with pay since the May 17 incident. That’s when a 25-year-old woman alleged the officer pulled her over about 2:30 a.m. in the 900 block of Laurel Springs Lane and sexually assaulted her, said Harris County Assistant District Attorney Joe Owmby.

Owmby said Dargin, who is assigned to the Kingwood Patrol Division, was on duty and dressed in uniform at the time.

In addition to the woman identifying the officer as her attacker, DNA evidence also links Dargin to the alleged assault, court documents show.

The charges against Dargin resulted from an ongoing criminal investigation conducted by the Houston Police Department’s Internal Affairs Division, Assistant Chief Michael Dirden said.

Dirden acknowledged that such allegations against a police officer could erode the public’s trust in Houston’s law enforcement community, but he said charges against one person should not affect people’s perception of the department as a whole. “This is an unusual event,” he said.

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Cuyahoga Falls Ohio Police Officer Ralph E. Flynn III, Charged After Beating His 2 Children, Previously Charged With Domestic Violence, Requests Leave After His Latest Arrest

CUYAHOGA FALLS, OHIO - A Cuyahoga Falls police officer facing disciplinary action for a domestic violence arrest is now on an unpaid leave of absence from his job.

Patrolman Ralph E. Flynn III, 36, had been on vacation since his arrest June 8. He asked for the leave Thursday and waived the time the city has to decide what disciplinary action, if any, will be taken against him.

Three days earlier, Flynn waived a pre-disciplinary hearing with Falls Police Chief John Conley.

Flynn was arrested by Norton police after the mother of his two children, ages 10 and 12, took them to Akron Children’s Hospital.

The girls were treated for injuries they said were inflicted by their father during a visit to his home, according to a police report of the incident.

Flynn’s lawyer, Michael T. Callahan, could not be reached for comment.

Flynn’s supervisor, Falls Capt. Tom Pozza, has recommended Flynn be terminated from the job he has held since 1997.

Flynn may not carry or possess a firearm as a condition of a temporary protection order issued by Judge Michael Weigand. Because of that, he cannot perform his duties as a police officer, Conley said.

Without the time waiver, Falls Mayor Don Robart would have had 30 days after receiving Pozza’s recommendation in which to decide what, if any, discipline Flynn would receive.

Conley said Flynn’s decision to waive that deadline means Robart can wait until the conclusion of the criminal case to act on the recommendation.

This is the second time in two years that Flynn is facing a judge as a defendant instead of an arresting officer.

In 2005, a domestic violence charge brought against Flynn by a girlfriend was dismissed, and Flynn pleaded no contest to a charge of disorderly conduct, according to Barberton court records.

Faced with accepting a last-chance probation deal, a 10-day suspension for the incident and attending anger-management classes, or losing his job, Flynn chose the latter. But he returned to work six months later when the police union won a grievance in his favor.

Robart will again have to decide whether to accept the recommendation of Flynn’s superiors, impose some other form of discipline, or do nothing once the criminal case is concluded.

With Flynn voluntarily off the job, Robart is comfortable waiting several months to make that decision. “We’ll see what happens with his charges and make a decision after that,” Robart said. “In the meantime, he’s not going to be working.”

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Former Hamilton New Jersey Police Officer Sgt. Jeffrey Nemes Sentenced To 8 Years In Prison For Bribery And Conspiracy

HAMILTON, NEW JERSEY – Jeffrey Nemes, the former Hamilton police sergeant who was found guilty of bribery and conspiracy for asking fire chiefs to allow fires to burn longer, was sentenced yesterday to eight years in prison.

Nemes, 41, was convicted by a jury in March in the scheme that also involved convicted arsonist and former Mercer County Detective Marc Rossi. Rossi, 44, testified that he and Nemes approached the fire chiefs and offered them money and other rewards to do more damage to homes, delay response to fires and allow Rossi through the fire lines to benefit their business interests. Rossi ran a public adjuster service and Nemes had a construction business.

Rossi would get a contract to handle insurance claims for fire victims and would refer business to Nemes, according to testimony.

Former Hamilton fire chiefs David Sabo of Rusling Hose and William Kiernan of Enterprise Fire Co. testified that Nemes and Rossi tried to bribe them but they did not accept the offers. Nemes had served as deputy chief of the White Horse Fire Co. in Hamilton.

Rossi, 44, served 18 months of his eight-year prison sentence for conspiracy and arson for hire be fore he was released to the Intensive Supervision Program.

Deputy Attorney General Lew Korngut said he takes “no joy” in sending a “fellow law enforcement officer to prison.” But he urged Superior Court Judge Charles A. Delehey to sentence Nemes to 11 years in prison, noting Nemes took ad vantage of his position of public trust “just to line his pockets with money.”

Nemes told Delehey that he does not agree with the verdict and said of those who testified against him, “There was quite a bit of lying.”

“From the time I was a little boy, I wanted to be a policeman, a husband and a father,” Nemes said. That remark prompted Korngut to ask Delehey to forbid Nemes from ever holding public office again. Delehey complied.

Delehey said that Nemes held a “position of special trust” and had “intentionally set aside his oath to protect” and “acted the role of a villain in a scheme to defraud oth ers while enriching himself.”

The judge said Nemes’ conduct “unfairly tarnishes the badges of other police officers” and is a “breach of the public trust.”

 Delehey also denied a defense motion for a new trial based on al legations from Rossi’s estranged wife, Maria Rossi. Maria Rossi gave a statement to the defense saying her husband bragged to her about lying about Nemes to get even with him for reporting Rossi to authorities, defense lawyer Harold Ruvoldt said.

Delehey said the jury already knew that Rossi was a convicted arsonist, a thief and a liar so Maria Rossi’s testimony would have been unlikely to change the outcome of the trial.

After the sentencing, Korngut said he was satisfied that justice “had been meted out fairly and honorably.”

Ruvoldt said he planned to file an immediate appeal but Delehey denied a motion to allow Nemes to remain free pending appeal.

Meanwhile, Nemes pleaded guilty to improper behavior in April before a Hunterdon County judge for flashing his police badge when stopped for speeding on Route 29, although he was no longer a Hamil ton cop, Korngut said.

In separate cases, Nemes also faces charges of inflating the price of work performed for the East Windsor Police Athletic league and theft charges for allegedly failing to perform repairs on the buildings of fire victims while accepting payment from insurers. Nemes had previously been convicted of theft in that case but the conviction was overturned on appeal.

Ruvoldt believes this latest conviction also will be overturned. The primary issue, Ruvoldt said, is “whether or not a part-time volunteer (firefighter) becomes a public servant.”

Nemes could be paroled in about 20 months, according to Dierdre Fedkenheuer, a spokeswoman for the Department of Cor rections.

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Former Surfside Beach Police Officer Sgt. Hector Gonzales Charged With Offical Oppression For Showing Naked Pictures Of Himself To Female Store Clerk

FREEPORT, TEXAS — A former Surfside Beach police sergeant is charged with official oppression after allegations he showed a female store clerk photos of himself nude.

Hector Gonzales, 41, of Lake Jackson was arrested and charged with the Class A misdemeanor Friday morning, Freeport Police Lt. Steve Ricks said. He turned himself in to Freeport police at 6:30 a.m. Friday, posted $2,500 bond and was released. Gonzales was a Surfside reserve officer for five years and worked as a full-time officer for five years, reaching the rank of sergeant, Ricks said.

While in uniform in the evening hours of April 22, Gonzales is accused of entering a store on Highway 332 between Freeport and Surfside and showing a female clerk photographs of himself in various stages of dress, and nude, Ricks said.

“Being an officer as long as he had been, you get to know people. They knew each other on a professional level, but there was no social contact,” Ricks said. “He went in and showed her some photos supposed to be a representation of himself scantily clad to nude. He made some inappropriate comments and other actions that led to this arrest.”

If convicted, Gonzales faces up to one year in jail and a $4,000 fine. He would not likely be labeled a sex offender since there was no contact alleged, Ricks said.

Surfside Beach Police Chief Randy Smith could not be reached for comment.

Freeport handled the case when Surfside asked for assistance, Freeport Police Chief Jeff Pynes said.

Gonzales resigned his post about two weeks after the allegations were made, while both internal and criminal investigations were ongoing. Since he no longer was employed as an officer, the internal process was dropped, but the criminal case continued, Pynes said.

Some allegations have Gonzales on duty during the incident and others not, Pynes said.

“His law enforcement career is over,” he said. “He won’t work as a police officer again.”

All police officers should be held accountable for their actions, he said.

“Officers must understand rules are rules. We’re there to enforce them, and we’re also to follow them,” Pynes said. “We have to hold ourselves to a higher standard.”

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Edgewater Police Officer Efren Vazquez, Subject Of Sex For Freedom $2.5 Million Federal Lawsuit, Under Investigation By State

EDGEWATER, FLORIDA – An Edgewater police officer who is the target of a federal lawsuit is also the suspect in a state criminal investigation, the police chief confirmed Friday.

Officer Efren Vazquez was suspended from duty, with pay, for 30 days, according to a June 15 memo. The memo came one day after Police Chief John Taves put the officer on unpaid leave in response to notification the Florida Department of Law Enforcement was “conducting a criminal investigation involving (Vazquez) as the named suspect.”

Taves declined to discuss the nature of the investigation or what prompted it. When asked why he changed the officer’s status from unpaid to paid, Taves said, “Everyone is innocent until proven guilty.”

Vazquez is a defendant in a civil lawsuit in federal court in Orlando. He is accused of coercing an unidentified woman into committing a sex act on the officer while on duty in exchange for not taking her to jail on misdemeanor drug charges.

Taves acknowledged his department is conducting an internal investigation into that allegation. Vazquez was removed from his patrol duties and given an administrative assignment when the lawsuit came to light in March.

Susie Murphy, a spokeswoman for the FDLE, said she had no details about its investigation or whether it was related to the civil case.

“All I can say is we are conducting a criminal investigation,” she said.

Efforts to contact Vazquez were unsuccessful Friday.

Taves said the city is taking all necessary steps to protect both the officer and its citizens until it knows what direction the FDLE investigation takes.

“We are going to look into it and re-evaluate it when everything comes forward,” the chief said.

The nine-count civil complaint seeks $2.5 million in damages from the city and Vazquez for violation of the unidentified woman’s civil rights, sexual battery, negligence and intentional infliction of emotional distress.

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Rutherford County Tennessee Jail Finally Gets Around To Screening Inmates For Wetbacks Subject To Deportation Efforts

RUTHERFORD COUNTY, TENNESSEE – Rutherford County will become the second county in Tennessee to screen for illegal immigrants booked into the county’s jails, officials there said Friday.

In November, 10 Rutherford County Sheriff’s deputies will undergo federal training to learn how to identify illegal immigrants and transfer them to Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers, who can process them for deportation.

Criminals are targets

Rutherford would join Davidson County, which has been participating in the program since mid-April.

“The aim of this thing is to get criminal aliens off the street,” said Dan Goodwin, spokesman for the Rutherford County Sheriff’s Department.

Davidson County Sheriff Daron Hall applied for the program last year after a rash of high-profile crimes in which illegal immigrants were implicated.

Some of the undocumented immigrants had been arrested and released multiple times without being deported.

The new program allows deputies to check the immigration status of every foreign-born person booked into the jail.

During the first six weeks of the program, 476 Metro Jail prisoners were identified as illegal immigrants and 213 were kept in custody on immigration holds.

That marks a sharp increase over the 151 Metro prisoners detained by immigration in all of 2006.

Of 13,210 booked into Rutherford County jail last year, 986 said they were non-citizens, said Goodwin, the Sheriff’s spokesman.

No one knows how many were in the country illegally, he said.

Critics have said the program discourages whole communities from cooperating with police and could lead to racial profiling against Hispanics, said Tommy Vallejos, director of Hispanic Organization for Progress and Education, a Midstate advocacy group.

“Tell me who else you have deported lately and who else’s citizenship are you questioning,” he said.

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New York City Police Sergeant Alan Eskenazi Arrested After Offering Undercover Police Officer $20 For Blowjob

NEW YORK, NEW YORK – An off-duty NYPD sergeant was busted in the East Village for trying to pick up an undercover cop he thought was a hooker, authorities said.

Sgt. Alan Eskenazi, 48, a 15-year veteran, allegedly offered a cop $20 for oral sex at 11 p.m. Thursday, according to a Criminal Court compliant.

Eskenazi, assigned to the 19th Precinct on the Upper East Side, was charged with patronizing a prostitute.

Eskenazi was arraigned yesterday and released on his own recognizance.

It was not the first time Eskenazi has made news.

He was one of the cops who responded to a wacky 2002 incident when a Yonkers man sucker- punched then-Yankee hurler David Wells.

Eskenazi was the final witness to testify at the trial of Rocco Graziosa.

He said Wells appeared to be intoxicated when he interviewed him shortly after Graziosa punched the pitcher. Graziosa was eventually convicted of assault.

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Fired Bedminster Township Pennsylvania Police Chief Robert Glosson Loses Round In Court Fight To Regain Job

BEDMINSTER TOWNSHIP, NEW JERSEY – Bedminster Township’s former police chief has lost another battle in his fight to regain the job he was fired from three years ago.

A Bucks County judge ruled this week there was ‘’substantial evidence” to support Robert Glosson’s removal as head of the police department.

Glosson was accused of falsifying firearms records and other misconduct.

Judge Mitchell S. Goldberg’s ruling is a win for the township, but it might not mean the end of a dispute that’s already cost Bedminster tens of thousands of dollars in legal expenses. Glosson could decide to appeal the case to Commonwealth Court.

Efforts Friday to reach Glosson or his attorney, Sean Welby, were unsuccessful.

John Rice, the township’s lawyer, said he was pleased with Goldberg’s ruling. ”The facts, we think, were very compelling in this case,” he said. ”Mr. Glosson engaged in substantial misconduct, the type of misconduct you wouldn’t expect from a police officer.”

Rice also said he ”wouldn’t be surprised” if the former chief files an appeal.

Glosson, 64, was a police officer for 35 years. He served more than 20 years with the state police, and was appointed Bedminster’s police chief in 1996.

He came under fire in November 2003, when township leaders said they were considering disciplinary action against him.

Glosson insisted that Dublin police officer Dan Gol signed off on his weapons qualifications test, but Gol and Bedminster officers testified they never saw Glosson shoot during two days spent at a shooting range.

Officers are required to successfully complete the weapons test annually to maintain gun certification and continue working.

Glosson also was accused of failing to schedule Bedminster’s officers to make sure all shifts were adequately covered. Court papers say that ”not only affected the efficiency of the Police Department, but … also placed the community at risk.”

Township leaders also claim Glosson disobeyed orders to remain off duty while recovering from an injury, and falsified time sheets by indicating he worked on days when he did not.

Glosson made about $62,000 a year at the time he was fired.

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Veteran Paterson New Jersey Police Officer Manuel Avila May Face More Charges After Jailhouse Blowjob From Female Inmate

PATERSON, NEW JERSEY – At the time she allegedly had oral sex with a veteran city police officer, the female inmate was in jail for the first time in her adult life, a senior attorney with the Passaic County Prosecutor’s Office said Friday.

Her alleged sex partner, Officer Manuel Avila, had been policing the cell block for less than a year. The officer, a 45-year-old former narcotics detective, had been assigned to the Paterson municipal jail after he recovered from an unknown illness, police said.

The woman, whose name and age were not released, is from Paterson, younger than 30 but not a minor, Chief Assistant Prosecutor Paul DiLella said. She was being held on an unknown charge over one weekend in June, he said. The officer appears to have made no promises to her, nor did he ply her with drugs or alcohol, DiLella said. They allegedly had oral sex more than once.

The woman’s bail has since been posted, DiLella said.

On Wednesday, Avila, a 19-year veteran of the Paterson Police Department, turned himself in to the Passaic County Prosecutor’s Office to face a second-degree charge of official misconduct, prosecutors said. He was arraigned that afternoon before state Superior Court Judge Ralph L. DeLuccia Jr., and posted the $50,000 bail, which came with no 10 percent option, DiLella said. He was immediately suspended without pay, police said.

He could face additional charges for “sexually related crimes,” DiLella said. DiLella’s division — the government corruption and white collar crime unit — is investigating the case along with the Paterson Police Department’s Internal Affairs unit. The city Police Department drafted the initial complaint, he said.

A pre-indictment hearing is scheduled to be held on July 18.

No one answered the door to Avila’s home in Hawthorne on Friday afternoon.

DiLella would not say what evidence investigators have gathered against the officer, citing the ongoing investigation. It is not semen, he said, but “it is rather strong evidence.”

The officer and the inmate did not have oral sex in her cell, DiLella said, but somewhere in the cell block area, which includes the pantry, the fingerprint room or the control room.

Paterson police officials said on Friday they were shocked by the charges against Avila.

Detective Steve Olimpio, president of the Paterson chapter of the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association, said he has known Avila for two decades and described him as a mild-mannered professional.

“Real clean-cut type,” Olimpio said. “Never talks too much. He’s a great chef. Cuban, Colombian, Mexican. You name it.”

Olimpio said Avila was assigned to the cell block beat after he recovered from an unspecified illness. Prior to that, Avila spent years as a patrol officer and a narcotics detective.

Avila has faced complaints and lawsuits from civilians before, Olimpio said, which he said is typical for police officers.

“If you’re on this job, you’re going to get sued,” he said. “Because you’re going to get someone mad when you lock them up.”

As for his thoughts on the current case, Olimpio said, “I believe in my guys 150 percent, until I’m proven wrong.”

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Long Beach California Police Officer Miguel Rosales Arrested, Suspended, Charged After Beating His Wife

LONG BEACH, CALIFORNIA - A Long Beach police officer has been arrested on suspicion of abusing his wife during a dispute at the couple’s Corona home, authorities said Friday.

Officer Miguel Rosales, 37, a nine-year veteran of the Long Beach Police Department, was taken into custody June 10 after his daughter called 911 to report a fight between her parents, Corona Police Sgt. Jerry Pawluczenko said.

According to a Corona police report, officers responded to the 900 block of La Palma Circle shortly before midnight and found both parents with visible injuries to their bodies.

Rosales’ lips were swollen and bloody, Pawluczenko said, and his neck, head and chest had been scratched. His wife had a bloody nose and a three-inch scratch on her right calf, he said.

Because police believed Rosales to be the “dominant aggressor,” he was booked on suspicion of domestic battery and then later released in lieu of $2,500 bail, Pawluczenko said.

On Thursday, police submitted the case to the Riverside County district attorney’s office, but no charges had been filed by Friday.

In the meantime, Rosales’ wife was arrested on suspicion of public intoxication at the hospital, where she had been treated for her
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injuries. She was later released.

“There was alcohol involved,” Pawluczenko said, “so obviously this was kind of an ugly (situation.)”

Rosales’ arrest sparked an internal investigation by the LBPD, and he has been placed on administrative duty pending the outcome, said Officer Juan Gomez, a department spokesman.

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Phoenix Arizona Police Back Officer Kurt Arnoldussen’s Decision To Release Buglary Suspect, Wanted In California, Before Young Woman’s Workplace Slaying

PHOENIX, ARIZONA – Phoenix police are backing an officer’s decision to release a suspect in a burglary attempt a week before the ex-convict allegedly killed a young woman at a workplace.

A police inquiry found that Officer Kurt Arnoldussen followed policies and procedures, authorities said Friday.

“Our officer did everything right,” said Sgt. Joel Tranter, a Phoenix police spokesman. “He acted properly and within protocol.”

Stephen Reeves, a 53-year-old California drifter, was stopped at Phoenix College last month by security guards who reported that he was trying to break into a building.

The college safety director said that when Arnoldussen arrived after a two-hour delay, he did not examine the crime scene.

The director said at least one of two college security officers had seen Reeves attempt to break a window with a potted plant and the college office wanted Reeves arrested.

Tranter says there was not enough probable cause to arrest Reeves for attempted burglary. Instead, Arnoldussen took the suspect to an alcohol -recovery center.

Seven days later, Reeves allegedly beat and killed 18-year-old Norma Gabriella Contreras, slitting her throat with a box cutter as she worked alone in an insurance office in Phoenix.

Although Reeves was wanted in California for violating probation on a drunk-driving conviction, Tranter said the warrant was not published in police computer systems in Arizona, so the officer had no way of knowing about it.

Even if Arnoldussen had found the warrant, he would not have arrested Reeves on it because California does not extradite out of state on such warrants, Tranter added.

Arnoldussen has declined comment on the incident.

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Kerrville Texas Police Officer John Knoulton Seeks Delay/Appeal In Excessive Force Case Resulting From His Shooting Motorist In The Face

KERRVILLE, TEXAS – A San Antonio federal judge agreed Friday to postpone a trial and all other legal proceedings in a lawsuit against a local police officer. The time will allow an appeals court to decide whether the officer can claim “qualified immunity” as a defense for shooting a Kerrville man in the face following a low-speed chase.

Alfredo Ramirez Jr., 24, filed a lawsuit last year against the city of Kerrville and John Knoulton, a 38-year-old patrol sergeant with the Kerrville Police Department. Ramirez claimed Knoulton had violated his constitutional rights and used excessive force.

Under “qualified immunity,” government officials have the right to appeal the reasonableness of their actions to an appeals court before the case goes to trial, said Frank Onion, attorney for the city of Kerrville and Knoulton.

“‘Qualified immunity’ is an important right,” said Onion of the Law Offices of William M. McKamie. “There’s very little fact issues, because the incident was filmed on videotape. We believe it would benefit officer Knoulton to have a panel of judges review the videotape.”

The case had been scheduled for trial on July 2.

In January 2005, Ramirez reportedly called KPD and told an officer he had a “.22” and “would take care of the problem,” which was interpreted as a threat to commit suicide. When police officers arrived at Ramirez’s home, he fled in his car.

Knoulton, who has served more than 12 years with KPD, and other police officers followed Ramirez and signaled for him to stop. Ramirez pulled his car onto the road’s shoulder and stepped out holding a gun.

Ramirez reportedly did not raise his hands or drop his gun as police officers directed.

Earlier this week, U.S. Magistrate Judge John Primomo dismissed the case against the city of Kerrville. However, he ordered the case against Knoulton to stand, because Ramirez didn’t appear in a videotape of the incident to have made any threatening gestures, but was shot within 10 seconds of stepping out of his car.

“Bearing upon the objective reasonableness of Knoulton’s actions is the fact that he summoned a crisis negotiator to the scene, yet shot Ramirez before she had an opportunity to speak to Ramirez and convince him to peacefully surrender,” Primomo wrote. “Also, there is no indication that use of non-lethal force was even considered.”

Ramirez’s attorney, Richard Ellison said he agreed to postpone the case so he and his client can have “a firm ruling on whether there is sufficient evidence to try the case against Knoulton.”

“I am confident that we will prevail on the appeal, and the Fifth Circuit will affirm the judge’s decision to deny his motion for summary judgment,” Ellison said in an e-mail. “I am still evaluating whether to appeal the decision in favor of the city.”

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NAACP Complains About Atlantic City New Jersey Police Excessive Force, Insufficient Training, And Race-Based Hiring Practices

ATLANTIC CITY, NEW JERSEY — The city NAACP is criticizing the resort’s Police Department for problems it said include excessive force used by some officers, insufficient police training and hiring practices based on race.

Steven Young, who chairs the branch’s Prison Project, said the organization has brought repeated complaints to the city police. Branch President John Lyles-Belton echoed the complaints, saying the NAACP is very worried about the problems.

Young also said he has been repeatedly rebuffed seeking a meeting with Police Chief John J. Mooney III.

“I’m concerned about the complaints,” Mooney said. “However, I’m also concerned about the motives of Steven Young due to his personal involvement with a family member who was arrested by our Police Department.”

Mooney referred to Atlantic City resident Almeen Palmer, one of 46 people indicted June 8 for their alleged involvement in the Nine-trey gang.

Young said he knew Palmer, like he knows other Atlantic City residents, but Palmer is not related. He said he was disappointed Mooney took a personal tack.

Young and others have discussed the conduct of police officers in minority communities at several recent City Council meetings.

Separate people complained that officers were frequently disrespectful, would make rude comments about people living in low-income neighborhoods and are quick to anger and needlessly use force.

Young said it is just a handful of officers who are the most offensive. Many, he said, are younger officers who are not familiar with the community and who took the place of seasoned veterans after last year’s retirement of 79 officers.

He called for an open hearing with representatives from the U.S. Department of Justice to ensure whistleblower protections and an ongoing civilian review board. He is also seeking change in state law that allows officers to live outside the community they patrol.

But first, he said, the officers need sensitivity training.

Mooney defended his officers, saying they do a superlative job protecting resort visitors and residents despite being significantly understaffed.

He said he discussed sensitivity training and area complaints with Business Administrator Domenic Cappella and Council President William Marsh on Wednesday. He said it was a “very positive” meeting and that it was decided all city officers will undergo future sensitivity training.

“What we would like to do is build the officer’s verbal skills so they can increase their level of proper interaction with members of the community,” Mooney said.

Mooney said city police, like others in the state, follow the state attorney general’s guidelines when they receive internal affairs complaints.

The complaints are forwarded to him, the solicitor’s office and the Atlantic County Prosecutor’s Office. If the Prosecutor’s Office determines it can be handled administratively, internal affairs investigates. He said Lt. Barbara Black-Taylor heads that office.

Complaints can end in several ways. They can be unsustained or not founded, or officers can be exonerated. A complaint can also be administratively closed if it is dropped or the officer leaves the department.

A complaint can be sustained for a variety of reasons and can lead up to an officer being fired.

In 2006, Mooney said, internal affairs received 199 complaints. Of them, 79 led to exoneration, 58 were not sustained, 23 were unfounded, five were administratively closed and seven are still pending.

Mooney said 27 were sustained. Of those, four were for excessive force and 23 were found to be rule violations. Those could be for improper behavior with a member of the public or neglecting police duties.

Mooney declined to say what punishments were handed down, saying that information is part of protected personnel records.

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Greenwich Township New Jersey Police Officer Kevin Villanova Suspended For 6 Months After Conviction For Drunken Wreck Across Lawns And Into Home

GREENWICH COUNTY, NEW JERSEY – A township police officer charged with drunken driving in March will begin a six-month unpaid suspension on July 1.

Patrolman Kevin Villanova, 34, of Greenwich, also had his driver’s license suspended for six months and will not return to work until his license is reinstated, Police Chief Jeff Godfrey said.

Godfrey said the drunken driving charge was handled at the municipal court level because there were no injuries in the crash.

On May 16, a municipal court judge in Fairfield, Cumberland County, ruled that Villanova pay a fine of $664 and suspended his license for six months. The case was heard out of county since it involved a police officer in Gloucester County.

Godfrey said Villanova waived his rights to an administrative disciplinary hearing within the department.

“We came to an agreement to not go to a hearing,” said Godfrey. “He will be on unpaid suspension (from the department) until he has served his driver’s license suspension. He will return to work during the second week of December.”

Villanova was off duty and traveling west on East Broad Street in his dark gray 2000 Jeep Wrangler about 12:45 a.m. on March 25 when he drove off the road, struck a parked car and then hit George and Polly Huff’s home at 146 E. Broad St.

The Jeep crashed into the couple’s garage, which had been converted into an apartment for their 32-year-old son, Christopher, upturning the bed and destroying the room, police said.

Polly Huff said Friday that insurance covered the damages and the house has been fixed. She said her son, who was not in the room at the time of the incident, has moved back in.

“I’m just glad no one was hurt,” she said.

Godfrey said Villanova is an 11-year veteran of the department and a “good police officer.”

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Former Mobile Alabama Police Officer Tirell Derann Bowie Pleads Guilty To Post-Katrina FEMA Fraud

MOBILE, ALABAMA – A former Mobile police officer pleaded guilty Friday to federal fraud charges, admitting that he lied on his application for disaster assistance following Hurricane Katrina.

Tirell Derann Bowie’s plea comes days after his wife, Monique McCall, entered her own guilty plea in U.S. District Court, and two weeks before his trial was to start.

Bowie, who resigned March 27 and now works as a private security guard, admitted that he filed a fraudulent application in September 2005 to the Federal Emergency Management Agency for damage to his home on Innsbruck Drive. He received more than $3,700 from the agency.

Bowie, according to his written plea agreement, stated that he had no dependents, that he lived alone at the time and that his total gross yearly income was $16,000 from work as a part-time contractor. He also stated that he had no insurance.

None of that was true, according to authorities.

As part of the plea agreement, prosecutors have agreed to recommend probation for Bowie, 37, at his sentencing in October. His lawyer, Dom Soto, said the loss of Bowie’s career represents a far more severe punishment.

“The big sticking point for him is he’s a police officer and didn’t want a felony conviction on him,” Soto said after Friday’s hearing “He’s a career police officer and now he’s not going to be one. We couldn’t get them to come off the felony.”

According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Mobile, Bowie is one of 22 people indicted in the Southern District of Alabama on charges of defrauding FEMA out of more than $400,000 after Hurricane Katrina.

“This is just one more case that we’re pursuing out of an effort to bring justice,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Sean Costello said.

Initially, Bowie asked FEMA to deposit his disaster assistance into a joint checking account he had with his wife. The plea document, though, acknowledges that he called the agency the next day to say that account belonged to a friend and asked that his money be mailed to his home instead.

In a Sept. 23, 2005, follow-up letter that he faxed from the Mobile Police Department Internal Affairs office, according to the plea agreement, Bowie told FEMA that electrical outlets were damaged, that his children were sick as a result of mildew, that his toilets did not work, and that he was living with relatives. He stated that his only other option was to relocate to a shelter.

Authorities have said Bowie’s home on Innsbruck Drive did sustain damage during the hurricane. But Bowie admitted that private insurance paid to repair the damage. Contrary to the $16,000 Bowie claimed, the Police Department paid him between $29,000 and $41,000 a year. The former corporal worked as a recruiter for the department, officials have said.

The aid Bowie received from FEMA consisted of $705.22 for home repair, $2,208 for rental assistance and $796.45 in other expenses. Soto said his client was entitled to part of that money. He and prosecutors will argue during Bowie’s sentencing hearing over the exact amount of loss the government incurred.

McCall has admitted that she lied on applications for assistance following Katrina for the Innsbruck Drive home and a house in Coden. She also lied on applications for aid she received for the Innsbruck Drive house following Hurricanes Ivan and Dennis, according to court records.

McCall, 37, is scheduled to be sentenced in September.

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Answers Needed As Prince George’s County Maryland Police Chasing Motorcycle Are Suspected In 7 Car Pile-Up Which Killed 2 And Injured 15

PRINCE GEORGE’S COUNTY, MARYLAND – On May 30, Kevin McCarter of Fort Washington and his friend Sidney Clanton Jr. of Buffalo were killed, and 15 people were injured, in a seven-vehicle pileup on the Beltway in Prince George’s County.

Almost a month after the collision, details remain sketchy, but it has been reported that this fatal crash was touched off by a county police officer chasing a motorcycle on the always-busy eight-lane highway.

In the June 2 Post, I was quoted as saying: “We need some answers.”

We still do — not from unnamed sources in news reports but from the police department itself.

In fact, we have long needed some answers regarding actions by some of the police officers who serve us.

I am a member of the People’s Coalition for Police Accountability, which was organized more than six years ago in response to misconduct by members of the Prince George’s County police department. The founding members of the coalition included a mother whose son was shot multiple times and killed while handcuffed in the front seat of a police cruiser; a mother whose son was shot more than 40 times while trying to flee the scene of a burglary in an automobile; and a mother whose son was shot to death while leaving a dance at a fire station. Not one of these men was armed, and all of them were black. Since 1990, Prince George’s police officers have shot and killed at least 50 people.

Around the county, people often complain privately about police misconduct, but there has been no rush of alarmed residents to confront the issue head-on. Public silence is the modus operandi on this matter for too many of us. The People’s Coalition for Police Accountability has tried to change that.

And over the years the coalition has tried to persuade Maryland legislators to change the state’s Law Enforcement Bill of Rights. We believe that law prevents courts and the county police department from properly disciplining or removing officers for misconduct. We believe the law also helps keep whatever level of accountability there might be in the department out of public view.

Basically, we Prince George’s residents seem satisfied to live with rules under which some officers feel so protected that, in essence, we have two police departments. One is made up of officers who have self-discipline and are conscientious because they understand the importance of their job; the other consists of officers who are impulsive and reckless because they can get away with it.

The end result is that the reputation of the good officers is sullied by the bad, that taxpayers pay millions of dollars in civil judgment awards, and that residents endure the psychological pain of distrusting and fearing the very people who are supposed to be protecting them.

The facts of the May 30 collision are not yet known. It is possible that any officers involved will be exonerated. Still, if the police department wants to begin to regain the trust of the public, it should come clean with detailed information about the circumstances that led to the fatal pileup.

And, in the long term, the department must acknowledge and change its reputation for being violent and disrespectful toward county residents; establish better ways of communicating with the public; and implement effective training programs appropriate for the various difficult and complex situations encountered by police officers.

I do not believe that the Prince George’s police department can solve its problems alone. The County Council, the county executive and the larger community all must participate in this effort.

 
– Redmond Barnes

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Update: Honolulu Hawaii Police Officer James Leslie Corn Jr. Found Guilty Of Terroristic Threatening

HONOLULU, HAWAII – A former Honolulu police officer was convicted yesterday of a misdemeanor charge of terroristic threatening over a confrontation at a Waipahu tire shop two years ago.

James Leslie Corn Jr., 28, was initially charged with felony terroristic threatening because he had been accused of making repeated threats to kill the owner of Larry’s Discount Muffler Wheel and Tire and to blow or burn down his shop over a damaged tire.

Deputy Public Defender Edward Aquino said Corn, who has maintained from the beginning that he threatened no one, said the misdemeanor verdict shows that jurors didn’t believe there were repeated threats.

A former Honolulu police officer was convicted yesterday of a misdemeanor charge of terroristic threatening in a confrontation at a Waipahu tire shop two years ago.

James Leslie Corn Jr., 28, initially charged with felony terroristic threatening, was accused of making repeated threats to kill the owner of Larry’s Discount Muffler Wheel and Tire and to blow up or burn down his shop over a damaged tire.

A Circuit Court jury deliberated all day yesterday before finding Corn guilty of the lesser charge of second-degree terroristic threatening.

Corn faces a maximum year in jail but his attorney said he will ask that he serve his sentence concurrent with a federal prison sentence and that he be given credit for time already served.

Corn is serving a 28-month sentence for a federal firearm case. In 2005, he was arrested for accepting $1,000 to provide protection in a drug deal. He pleaded guilty to a lesser firearms charge after admitting he was addicted to cocaine.

Corn was with the police department for 4 1/2 years and left in August 2006.

Deputy public defender Edward Aquino said Corn, who has maintained from the beginning that he threatened no one, was disappointed in the outcome, but respects the jury’s verdict.

That jurors convicted him of a reduced charge shows that they didn’t believe there were repeated threats, Aquino said.

The state had charged Corn under a recently passed law that viewed more than one threat related in purpose as a felony punishable by five years in prison.

Corn testified at trial that he never threatened tire shop owner Larry Woodward. At most, he is guilty only of “sticking (a) finger” and swearing at Woodward, the defense argued.

Former police officer James Corn Jr., left, was convicted yesterday of misdemeanor terroristic threatening for an incident involving a Waipahu tire shop owner. He appeared in court Wednesday with Deputy Public Defender Edward Aquino.

Woodward testified Corn became upset when he was denied a replacement for a damaged tire.

During the confrontation, Corn said he was a police officer and could do anything he wanted, Woodward said. When pressed to show proof he was a cop, Woodward said Corn grabbed his crotch and indicated that was his badge. Corn eventually left but before he did, he said something to the effect of “This ain’t over, I’m going to get you,” Woodward said.

Another employee also testified she heard Corn threaten to burn down the building and that he could kill everyone inside.

Later a male caller said he knew that Woodward had called police and that he would be “dead by that evening,” Woodward said.

The defense focused on the discrepancies between the statements Woodward and his two employees gave to police the day of and a few days after the incident. Aquino repeatedly questioned why they only mentioned the threats in detail on the stand but not when they gave statements to police the day of the incidents.

The defense provided Corn’s cell phone records that showed he made only one call early that morning to the tire shop to say he wanted his tire checked.

Deputy Prosecutor Darrell Wong said just because the witnesses did not detail the threats in their earlier statements doesn’t mean they lied in court.

While their details were not all perfectly consistent, the gist of their statements corroborating that threats had been made were, Wong said.

Circuit Judge Steven Alm allowed Corn to be returned to federal custody while awaiting sentencing on Aug. 27.

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Eight London UK Police Officers Suspended After Six Of Them Kill Man In Haringey Hospital

LONDON, ENGLAND – Eight Metropolitan Police officers have been suspended after an inquest jury ruled that six of them unlawfully killed a man who died after being restrained at a psychiatric hospital.

The suspension follows a decision by the Crown Prosecution Service to reconsider whether criminal charges should brought over the case of Roger Sylvester, from Tottenham, north London.

The police association that represents the eight menis seeking a judicial review of the case, arguing that the jury at St Pancras coroner’s court was misdirected.

Family and supporters spent more than four years campaigning on behalf of Mr Sylvester, who died in January 1999 after being taken in a police van to an emergency psychiatric unit in Haringey.

The council worker, who had a history of mental health problems, was held after being police received reports of a naked man banging on people’s doors.

He stopped breathing and fell into a coma at St Anne’s Hospital after six policemen held him on the floor for about 20 minutes, the inquest heard.

The jury decided that the six policemen held Mr Sylvester in a restraint position for too long and that an unreasonable amount of force was used.

On Saturday all eight officers – two of whom have been promoted to sergeants since Mr Sylvester’s death – were suspended from duty.

They are expected to remain suspended until the CPS has reconsidered whether criminal charges should be brought against them. An earlier reviewconcluded that no charges were necessary.

Mr Sylvester’s supporters are considering taking a private prosecution and his relatives are expected to sue the Met for damages.

The police officersall deny using excessive force and the Metropolitan Police Federation condemned the decision to suspend them.

Glen Smyth, chairman of the federation said it was launching a legal challenge against the unlawful killing verdict. He said: “Our lawyers are going to apply for a judicial review of the coroner’s inquest verdict on the basis that the coroner misdirected the jury.”

On the suspensions he said: “We are disappointed that the Met has taken that step on the basis that there is no new ongoing inquiry as all the investigative work has been done.”

Mr Smyth said the decision could lead to police officers refusing to restrain suspects for fear of legal action.

Mr Sylvester’s brother, Bernard Renwick, said: “I am heartened by the decision [to suspend the eight officers] and that the Metropolitan Police are distancing themselves from the individual officers.

“We have been asking for four and half years that the officers be suspended and investigated properly.”

Deborah Cole, co-director of the campaign group Inquest, which has supported the Sylvester family, said: “The decision to suspend is welcome but it is four and a half years too late.

“The Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police must also take responsibility for the other factors that have emerged from the inquest. In particular, the systematic failings in terms of training and guidance for police officers which should be addressed as a matter of urgency.

“I would have hoped that alongside the suspensions there would have been an announcement of urgent action regarding these issues.”

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Genesee County Michigan Sheriff Robert J. Pickell Defends Program After Special Deputy Alan E. Trimue Jr. Posed As Police Officer To Rape Two Children

GENESEE COUNTY, MICHIGAN - Sheriff Robert J. Pickell said it is despicable that a Genesee County special deputy allegedly posed as a police officer so that he could rape two girls, but that is not reason enough to scrap the special deputy program.

Pickell’s comments came as he spoke of charges against Alan E. Trimue Jr., 28, of Flint, who was arraigned on 17 counts, including 11 of first-degree criminal sexual conduct and two each of kidnapping, posing as a police officer, and using a firearm in the commission of a felony.

“Overall, special deputies are good hard-working people who volunteer,” Pickell said. He said special deputies help with crowd control at the Crim road race and other community events.

Pickell said Trimue, one of his special deputies, duped a Flint woman and mother of two girls, ages 14 and 13, into believing he was a police officer.

Trimue is charged with taking the girls to a Burton motel and having sex with them beginning in December 2006 and continuing through June 30.

“The mom told us that Trimue had told her that he was a police officer,” Pickell said. “… She trusted him.”

The sheriff said that Trimue, as a special deputy, had held a position of trust.

“This infuriates me,” Pickell said.

Special deputies are not certified police officers and have no real police authority. Some who are issued special deputy badges are used as process servers, but the issuance of the badges is generally viewed as a perk county sheriffs in Michigan can hand out to curry political favor.

Pickell defended his special deputy program as one in which about 90 volunteers help out with basic crowd control at community events, and that other special deputies perform security and ministry functions at local churches and the county jail.

He said special deputies have done good work in the community for years and that the actions of “a sleaze” wouldn’t cause him to end the program. He said people who volunteer to be special deputies undergo background checks.

Trimue’s alleged crimes came to the attention of the sheriff’s department when they were called by state Child Protective Services workers Wednesday, Pickell said. The 14-year-old victim had run away from home and the 13-year-old told their mother they’d been having sex with Trimue, the sheriff said.

Pickell said that when Trimue allegedly took the girls to the motel, he put a 9mm semiautomatic pistol on the table or nightstand, underscoring that his power over them.

He described Trimue, a special deputy since 2005, as a friend of the girls’ mother.

Pickell said that the girls apparently believed they had a serious romantic relationship with Trimue and wrote him letters. Those were taken as evidence by Sgt. Angela Latesky, the investigator in charge of the case.

Latesky swore out a warrant against Trimue late Thursday and told Central District Judge Richard L. Hughes that the special deputy used that ruse to get the girls from their mother.

Latesky told Hughes that Trimue allegedly had sex with the girls 11 times over the period as he held them captive for three days at the Burton motel.

The mother allegedly told officials Trimue had a badge, police identification and a gun, and was wearing a police uniform.

Hughes set a $690,000 cash bond.Trimue has a pretrial hearing scheduled for June 29 and a preliminary hearing tentatively set for July 3.

In May 2006, John J.A. Debono, of Swartz Creek, a former special deputy for the Genesee County Sheriff’s Department, was sentenced to 2 years on probation and 60 days on a tether for using his cellphone camera to capture a sexual episode between his friend’s wife and a 13-year-old girl.

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Bradenton Florida Police Officers Larry Pritchett And William Anderson Quit Amid Misconduct Investigation – Had Previously Faced Other Allegations

BRADENTON, FLORIDA – Two former police officers who recently resigned amid an ongoing misconduct investigation were previously accused of breaking department policies, according to records released Friday.

The allegations include beating a man on his bicycle, stealing $200 from a drug suspect and making sexually charged comments to the girlfriend of a man in jail.

Officers Larry Pritchett and William Anderson were eventually cleared of those earlier allegations. They are currently being investigated on unrelated charges, which police have not disclosed.

Pritchett and Anderson, who worked for the Bradenton Police Department’s Safe Streets Unit — targeting drug pushers and prostitutes on 14th Street West — recently resigned within days of each other. Police refuse to discuss the case, saying the investigation is still open.

But the men were previously investigated for serious offenses, including excessive force and theft, that occurred in 2006. In each case, supervisors say they did not have enough evidence to prove or disprove the allegations.

Last June, for example, Pritchett and Anderson were both targets of an excessive force complaint after a Palmetto woman, Tia Jenkins, said the officers choked and kicked her brother during an arrest.

Jenkins said there were several witnesses who saw the alleged attack. But she did not provide their names to investigators, authorities said.

Her brother, Terry E. Brown, had a warrant for battery on a police officer.

Brown, riding a bike, fell and hurt himself, then struggled with officers who tried to arrest him.

Anderson said he grabbed Brown when he tried to escape over a fence. Brown, 36, was bruised and eventually hospitalized because he complained of asthma.

Jenkins did not buy the police version of events.

“No matter what the situation, no officer has the right to ever mistreat a criminal, suspect or victim, and these officers were way out of line,” Jenkins wrote in a statement.

Anderson and Pritchett said they were cut on their arms during the scuffle that night. The officers said they did not rough up Brown, known on the streets as “Peter Rabbit.”

Investigators said they had no evidence to prove an allegation of excessive force. Brown was not prosecuted on the battery charge. The state dropped the case.

In another incident, a Sarasota man says Anderson arrested him in September, stole $200 and made sexual overtures to his girlfriend.

Clint Gilliam ran when he was approached by Anderson on 17th Street West, and police reportedly found cash and marijuana in his pocket.

According to Gilliam, Anderson said: “You know I get to keep this money.” When he was booked into the Manatee County jail, Gilliam claims he had about $700 in his pocket. But when he got out, there was only $497 left.

Meanwhile, while her boyfriend was in jail, Demetria Middleton says the officer used Gilliam’s cell phone to call her. Anderson told Middleton that he looked at her nude picture on the phone, the woman said, and asked if he could come visit since “Clint wasn’t going to make it.”

About a month after Gilliam’s arrest, he and Middleton filed a formal complaint. Phone records from the night of the arrest indicate that someone called Middleton from her boyfriend’s cell phone — at the same time Gilliam was in jail.

But internal affairs investigators say Anderson used the phone to get in touch with Gilliam’s relatives, so that they knew he was in jail. Anderson denied trying to meet the woman or stealing Gilliam’s money.

“There is no measure of evidence, physical or testimonial, to indicate which person is telling the truth,” Lt. Russell Tibbetts wrote in an internal report.

Pritchett and Anderson have been disciplined in the past, including a one-day suspension after Anderson fell asleep in his patrol car. For Pritchett, a Bradenton woman’s complaint in August landed him in hot water with his bosses.

When he responded to a call one night, the woman, Teacompsey Gillis, says Pritchett yelled obscenities at her and told her to leave a neighborhood. Gillis’ grandmother overheard the conversation, and the women complained to the internal affairs department.

“And I told the officer you have no right to talk to me that way,” Gillis wrote in a statement to police.

For his language, Pritchett got written up for violating the department’s “human relations” policy that forbids profanity.

“This conduct is unacceptable and discredits you and the Bradenton Police Department,” Sgt. Troy D. Ball wrote in a memo.

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Santa Rita County California Deputy Sheriff Beaten In Retaliation For San Leandro Police Shooting

HAYWARD, CALIFORNIA — The fatal shooting of Hayward resident Lotu Elika by an off-duty San Leandro police officer on Wednesday led to a retaliatory attack against a prison guard later that night, investigators revealed Friday.

Two inmates at Santa Rita county jail, at least one of whom was acquainted with

Elika tricked a sheriff’s deputy into opening their cell door and then assaulted him, said sheriff’s Sgt. J.D. Nelson.

The deputy fought with the inmates on the second floor of a two-tiered maximum-security unit at the Dublin jail, fending the two men off long enough for help to arrive, Nelson said.

“The deputy felt the inmates were trying to lift his legs and throw him over the rail,” Nelson said. “A whole posse of deputies came running into the house to quell the situation.”

The jailhouse brawl happened just six hours after a San Leandro police officer shot and killed the 24-year-old Elika at a north Hayward home Wednesday afternoon.

Hayward investigators say Elika first knocked on the door of and later forced his way into the Fuller Avenue house, which the off-duty San Leandro officer was visiting that afternoon with his 7-month-old son.

Police say the officer fatally shot Elika with a handgun after Elika violently attacked him and gained control of the baby, refusing to release the infant despite the officer’s pleas.

News of the violent incident quickly made its way to Santa Rita jail, and Nelson said inmate Wendell Laupati, 21, of Newark, spearheaded
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the 10:40 p.m. attack on the guard, with the help of his cellmate William Delgadillo, 33, of Castro Valley.

“This attack on the deputy in the jail was done for no other reason than he was a law enforcement person that these two inmates had access to,” Nelson said. He called the jail incident a “direct result” of the officer-involved shooting that happened about 4:30 p.m. Wednesday.

“(Investigators) have made a connection between the suspects in this case and the victim,” said Nelson. “There’s some sort of friendship. They’re acquaintances, let’s put it that way.”

Laupati and Delgadillo were both awaiting trials on drug charges and parole violations. Delgadillo also faced a charge of evading a police officer.

They now face additional assault-related charges and likely will be placed into units with “even higher security,” Nelson said. Asked if the suspects had any gang ties, Nelson said detectives are still investigating any connections they had with Elika.

Meanwhile, the Hayward Police Department and the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office continue to investigate the circumstances surrounding the officer-involved shooting. Police won’t reveal the name of the officer but say he is on paid administrative leave, which is standard practice for such incidents.

Roughly 15 minutes before the shooting, police officers in south Hayward say they spotted Elika while he was a passenger in a car being driven “recklessly” on Tennyson Road.

The officers thought Elika was someone they knew, who had outstanding warrants.

They attempted to catch up to the vehicle. The driver, a female who had an outstanding warrant, got onto northbound Interstate 880 and began “driving recklessly down the shoulder of the freeway,” according to a police statement. Police officers ended their pursuit.

They later discovered Elika was not the person they thought he was.

Elika and the woman, who was arrested but whom police have not identified, showed up soon afterward outside a home near the West A Street exit of I-880. Elika knocked on the door of “an apparent random residence,” asking to use the phone because of a traffic collision, police said.

The off-duty officer, cradling his baby, answered the door and said Elika could use the home’s portable phone outside the residence.

Hayward police spokesman Sgt. James Denholm said what happened next remains under investigation, but he said Elika, who weighed roughly 330 pounds, forcibly entered the home, and began violently attacking the officer and gained control of the baby.

The officer took out a handgun and fired at Elika after he “failed to comply with (the officer’s) pleas to release the infant,” according to the police statement. Elika died after being taken by ambulance to a nearby hospital.

Elika’s family members could not be reached for comment.

Denholm said Elika had a criminal record dating back to 1996, when he was still in his early teens, and was out on parole for one of two auto theft convictions he received in 2004.

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Senior State Of Alabama ABC Officer Anthony Isbell Arrested On Child Molestation Releated Charges

MILLBROOK, ALABAMA – A state alcoholic beverage control agent is jailed on a sex abuse charge.

Agent Anthony Isbell is accused of abusing a young girl. Isbell is a 17 year veteran with the A.B.C. Board. After receiving a complaint on Tuesday, Millbrook police arrested Isbell on Thursday. Investigators say Isbell’s charged in connection with an incident that allegedly took place last October. They released no other details.

Isbell was taken to the Elmore County Jail, and held on a $100-thousand bond.

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Department Of Homeland Security Chief Information Officer Scott Charbo Is Qualified – To Inspect Meat

WASHINGTON, DC – The Department of Homeland Security has had a large number of security breaches over the last recorded period. Chief Information Officer Scott Charbo comes from a background in…. agriculture. Why is someone with a degree in biology running the DHS IT department?

I’m a geek. Always have been. In the interest of full disclosure, I work in the IT industry doing web development for the LAMP platform (Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP). Being the curious type, I was tooling around the DHS Website this morning seeing how terrified I should be (Orange, so I’m mildly hysterical, as is my patriotic duty).

I came across the biography and qualifications of Mr. Scott Charbo, Chief Information Officer of DHS. I read this first, which seems the default for any CIO:

Charbo is focused on integrating new and existing sources of essential homeland security information in full compliance with our broader values of privacy, civil liberties, and openness. Additionally, cyber security, infrastructure improvements, and IT management are his emphasis.

Which, while grammatically incorrect, seems excellent. He’s interested in our civil liberties as an afterthought to essential homeland security information. Then I read this:

Charbo was the Chief Information Officer for the U.S. Department of Agriculture from August 2002, until coming to DHS in June 2005. Charbo was responsible for the overall management of USDA’s information resources and IT assets, overseeing more than 4,000 IT professionals and $1.7 billion in physical assets. He was also responsible for the Department’s overhaul of eGovernment initiatives and results in alpha security improvements.

And I thought, “Could this be it? Have I found the only qualified Bush appointee in the entire Federal Government?” This would have been a major story, finding someone qualified for an important position in the government. If he came from a three-year history as a CIO, then he’s probably qualified, I thought.

Right. Next paragraph:

Charbo served as the USDA’s Farm Service Agency director of the Office of Business and Program Integration from July until August 2002. He was responsible for planning, developing and administering the agency’s programs and policies and provided direction in the areas of economic and policy analysis, appeals and litigation, strategic management and corporate operations, outreach programs and strategic planning, and leadership in the Agency’s citizen-centered eGovernment initiatives.

Wait, Farm Agency Director? What the hell? How do you go from being the Farm Agency Director to CIO? There must be something in his history or work experience that qualifies him for a jump like that, right? There has to be something this guy has done that would make his appointment as a CIO a little less farcical.

And then it comes:

Before joining USDA, Charbo was the president of mPower3, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of ConAgra Foods Company from 1998 to 2002. From 1993 to 1997, he was Director of the Environmental and Regulatory Services for Tri-State Delta Chemicals in Memphis, Tenn., which provided access to services and communications relating to crop production, fertilizer and seed, farm credit/loans and farm-related environmental concerns. As an extension agent for the University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences from 1989 to 1993, Charbo had regulatory responsibilities for the Agriculture Department in Palm Beach County.

Of course! He worked for a giant business that massively covered up and redistributed blame for killing people! This, as we all have seen, is really a sign of high-levels of skill in government work, and as such is compensable. If he could help cover up killing people with meat, he is more than qualified to cover up a few security failures.

In the end, just another mistake by the beaurocracy, just another example of putting people at risk for no good reason, just another example of placing wholly unqualified people in positions of power that affect hundreds of millions of people.

Par for the course in our lobbyist-ocracy.

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Douche-Bag New Jersey State Police Trooper Robert Higbee, Unable To Accept Criminal Responsibility For Killing Teen Sisters When He Ran Stopsign At 69 MPH, Contesting Every Detail Of Proceedings Against Him

CAPE MAY COURT HOUSE, NEW JERSEY — The indictment against State Police Trooper Robert Higbee charging him with vehicular homicide in the deaths of two Upper Township sisters will stand, Superior Court Judge Carmen Alvarez ruled Friday.

In a six-page decision, Alvarez found the grand jury proceedings that led to the indictment were conducted properly, that there was no evidence of prosecutorial misconduct and no cause to dismiss the indictment.

Alvarez, however, did grant the defense’s request to conduct a hearing on the admissibility of data obtained from the black box — the device that records speed, braking and other data — in Higbee’s police car.

Higbee was indicted in February on two counts of vehicular homicide in the Sept. 27 deaths of Jacqueline and Christina Becker.

The sisters were traveling west on Old Tuckahoe Road in Marmora when Higbee ran a stop sign at the intersection of Stagecoach Road and crashed into the minivan in which they were riding.

Jacqueline G. Becker, 17, who was driving, and Christina M. Becker, 19, were pronounced dead at the scene.

Defense attorney D. William Subin received the judge’s ruling late Friday afternoon and said he had informed Higbee of the decision.

The defense had argued that First Assistant Prosecutor J. David Meyer did not instruct the grand jury correctly regarding what constitutes vehicular homicide and that the jury was told to hold Higbee to a higher standard.

Alvarez disagreed.

“The instructions given by the prosecutor were clearly adequate,” Alvarez wrote.

Instead, Alvarez found “the prosecutor presented the circumstances of the crash in detailed fashion including that one of the victims was not wearing her seat belt.”

Alvarez found it was appropriate for the grand jurors to consider the individual situation “whether Higbee was operating his motor vehicle in a reckless manner given his duties and responsibilities including exemption from rules of the road applicable to other drivers.”

The judge ruled that Higbee’s Fourth and Fifth Amendment rights were not violated and that “no expectation of privacy attaches to the data recorded in a vehicle’s black box. The speed of travel of a trooper’s patrol car is ‘held out to the public’ as the vehicle is operated on public roadways.”

Alvarez also called a statement made during the grand jury proceeding, that Higbee never went below 70 mph, a minor mistake. The report from the black box found the speed at the point of impact may have been 68.89 mph.

In addition, the judge found the dismissal of two grand jurors who had information about the case was handled appropriately.

Subin said he would review the judge’s decision to determine if he would pursue an appeal.

As for the black box, Alvarez said it was reasonable to hold a hearing on the device’s scientific reliability given that while other jurisdictions have found the data admissible, there is no New Jersey opinion on the issue.

Meyer, who said Friday he was pleased with the judge’s decision on the indictment, previously argued before the judge that the information taken from the black box is not novel scientific evidence given its wide acceptance throughout the country.

Higbee is slated to return to court Friday afternoon for a status conference, and a date for an expert hearing on the black box evidence will be set sometime after that.

He faces as many as 20 years in prison if convicted on both counts.

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Newark Newkersey East Side High School Teachers With Magic Marker Employed To Deface For-Profit Picture Of Minorty Queers Kissing In Yearbook Photo

NEWARK, NEW JERSEY – A photograph of an East Side High School student kissing his boyfriend was blacked out of every copy of the school’s yearbook by Newark school officials who decided it was inappropriate.

Andre Jackson said he never thought he would offend anyone when he bought a page in the yearbook and filled it with several photographs, including one of him kissing his boyfriend.

But Newark Superintendent of Schools Marion Bolden called the photograph “illicit” and ordered it blacked out of the $85 yearbook before it was distributed to students at a banquet for graduating seniors Thursday.

“It looked provocative,” she said. “If it was either heterosexual or gay, it should have been blacked out. It’s how they posed for the picture.”

Russell Garris, the assistant superintendent who oversees the city’s high schools, brought the photograph to Bolden’s attention Thursday afternoon. He was concerned the picture would be controversial and upsetting to parents, Bolden said.

There are several photos of heterosexual couples kissing in the yearbook, but the superintendent said she didn’t review the entire yearbook and was presented only with Jackson’s page.

Ripping the page out entirely was considered but, Bolden said, it was decided blacking it out with a marker would lessen the damage to the yearbooks.

Jackson said he showed up at the banquet, excited to collect his yearbook. He’d paid an additional $150 for the special tribute page filled with shots of boyfriend David Escobales, 19, of Allentown, Pa., and others. Jackson learned what happened to his page moments before the books were distributed.

While the students waited, staff members in another room blacked out the 4½-by-5-inch picture from approximately 230 books.

“I don’t understand,” said Jackson, 18. “There is no rule about no gay pictures, no guys kissing. Guys and girls kissing made it in.”

East Side’s is like most high school yearbooks. About 80 pages in the roughly 100-page tome is dedicated to class photos, formal shots of seniors, candids and spreads dedicated to a variety of sports teams and academic clubs.

The back of the book is a collection of tributes where students designed pages filled with pictures depicting them with their families, girlfriends and boyfriends, and friends.

Rules for publication of the pages prohibited shots of gang signs, rude gestures and graphic photos, said Benilde Barroqueiro, an East Side senior graduating with Jackson.

“You know, it couldn’t be too provocative. No making out, no tongue,” she said.

Students were surprised when they opened their books and found Jackson’s picture had been covered with marker, Barroqueiro said.

“He purchased the page and fell under the rules,” she said. “If they want to kiss, that’s their page. If you don’t like it, don’t look at it.”

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Revenge: Woman’s Head Shaved, Face Branded With ‘Snitch’, After Telling On Couple – Payback’s A Bitch :)

MESA, ARIZONA – Police arrested four people Thursday, a week after a woman reported she was kidnapped, her head shaved and her face branded with the word “snitch.”

Police said the woman, 38, was marked with a homemade branding iron as a form of retaliation after she turned in two of the people arrested to Child Protective Services in February 2006.

The woman said she was kidnapped near Main Street and Dobson Road in Mesa on June 13 and taken to an apartment. The kidnappers shaved part of her head and branded her face with the word “snitch,” according to police.

She was then blindfolded and dropped off near Standage and Pepper Place, police said.

Witnesses found the woman burned, bleeding and stumbling down the street.

A police investigation led to the arrest of four Mesa residents: James H. Standridge, 34, Jackie L. Getz, 26, and Kibbol A. Avila, 33, on suspicion of kidnapping, aggravated assault and unlawful imprisonment; and Preston L. Valdez, 21, on suspicion of aggravated assault and unlawful imprisonment.

Police said Valdez, who they said did the branding, and Avila were recruited by Standridge and Getz to help.

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Aberdeenshire UK Lawyer Charged With Damaging Cars In Drunken Rage

ABERDEENSHIRE, UK – A senior Aberdeenshire lawyer has appeared in court charged with damaging 11 cars following a party at a golf club in Perthshire.

Paul Hutcheson tore windscreen wipers from parked cars, causing nearly £1,000 of damage on his way home from his mother’s 80th birthday celebrations.

He claimed he had been drinking and had little memory of the incident.

The 43-year-old from Bieldside, Aberdeen, admitted the charges and sentence was deferred for four months.

The court heard that Hutcheson had gone to a house party after his mother’s birthday celebrations and had been drinking until 0245GMT on the night of 20 May 2007.

‘Out of character’

He then walked home through an upmarket housing estate and ripped windscreen wipers from a number of cars including one belonging to Montrose FC manager and ex-St Johnstone player Jim Weir.

When apprehended by one resident, Hutcheson, a senior partner at legal firm Aberdein Considine’s Inverurie office, apologised and offered him his bank card by way of payment. The police were then called.

Solicitor Iain Smith, defending, said: “This matter is totally out of character. He is very remorseful.

A spokesman for Hutcheson’s employers said the incident was a result of momentary madness and insisted the company would continue to support Mr Hutcheson as a valued partner.

He added: “Paul has an unblemished record in his 20 years with this firm and is highly thought of by us and by his many clients.”

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$36,000,000+ In FEMA Trailers Headed To Indian Reservations Because They Can’t Be Used In Flood Areas

WASHINGTON, DC - American Indian tribes are getting 2,000 unused FEMA trailers.

The trailers are among those that were intended for victims of Hurricane Katrina but have been sitting empty in Arkansas and Texas. Officials of the Federal Emergency Management Agency say regulations against placing the homes in flood plains prevented their use on the Gulf Coast.

South Dakota Senator Tim Johnson pushed legislation allowing some of them to go to the tribes. He says he saw pictures of tens of thousands of empty mobile homes sitting unused while South Dakota’s Indians were struggling through a tough winter with inadequate housing.

Indian housing has been a problem for decades. According to a 2003 survey, about 90,000 American Indian families are homeless or “under-housed.”

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Crazed Vice President Dick Cheney’s Ludicrous Actions Regarding Classified Information, Claim That His Office Is Not Part Of Executive Branch

WASHINGTON, DC – Vice President Dick Cheney’s refusal to comply with a presidential order regulating the handling of classified information might be scary were it not so ludicrous.

Cheney’s rejection of mandatory inspections required of all federal offices to make sure they are properly protecting top secret documents defies basic standards of good government and common sense. And his argument that he needn’t comply because his office isn’t part of the executive branch is specious. Moreover, after clashing with the National Archives’ Information Security Oversight Office, which conducts the routine inspections, Cheney’s vindictive staff reportedly tried to abolish the unit. That’s like trying to disband the Internal Revenue Service for demanding a tax audit. Has the veep taken leave of his senses?

Unfortunately, Cheney’s behavior is entirely in keeping with his long-standing views on executive powers, executive privilege and the divine rights of vice presidents. He also has championed policies that have shredded American privacy rights in the name of national security, with methods that have included warrantless wiretaps, e-mail and postal-mail snooping, monitoring library withdrawals, mining data on the telephone and buying habits of millions of citizens and the expanded use of national security letters. But Cheney has been vigilant in defending his own privacy rights. The vice president’s office has been operating in stunning secrecy for six years.

For example, according to Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Los Angeles), Cheney refuses to follow an executive branch ethics rule requiring him and his employees to disclose travel paid for by special interests. In fact, he won’t even disclose who some of his employees are — though the salaries of these political appointees are paid for by public funds. Contrary to White House practice, the vice president’s residence won’t release the names of those who come to visit. Cheney has even succeeded in getting President Bush to give him the power to prevent the release of vice presidential papers after Cheney leaves office.

Cheney’s inventive argument is that because the vice president also serves as president of the Senate, his is “a unique office” that is not part of but rather “attached to” the legislative branch. Yet the vice president is funded and housed by the executive branch, travels on Air Force Two, enjoys Secret Service protection and seldom appears in his (mostly symbolic) Senate office. And he has never subjected his staff to the even more restrictive Senate rules on handling classified material. Apparently, Cheney sees himself as a fourth branch of government that enjoys all the authority of the presidency but is bound by none of its rules.

On Friday, the White House defended Cheney yet again, saying the president never intended the veep to have to comply with the presidential order. Bush should stop enabling his errant No. 2 and enforce the rule of law.

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Wetbacks, Some Previously Deported, Causing Headache For Sheriff’s Departments

TENNESSEE – A man, deported once from the region, is back behind bars in the Tri-Cities on similar charges. Authorities deported the man to Mexico two years ago after he served time on drug charges. Last night, police say he led them on a three county police chase.

Unicoi County deputies attempted to arrest Abel Cigarroa on drug charges last night when he drove off. After chasing him through Unicoi, Washington, and Carter counties. He flipped his car on a curve on Old Milligan Highway.

Cigarroa is in the Unicoi County jail today charged with several crimes including felony evading arrest. He is the fourth illegal alien in two days to end up behind bars in the Tri-Cities region. Federal grand jurors in Greeneville indicted three others on drug charges. The arrests may be a sign of a growing problem.

Unicoi County Sheriff Kent Harris says he arrests illegals weekly, most on drug charges, but even after the government deports the suspects, they find their way back. He has a cabinet full of illegal alien files. It grows every week and many faces are all too familiar.

“It’s groups that you can almost pick out because we’ve dealt with them before,” Harris said. “It’s just a revolving door.”

Harris blames lax deportation rules and border security for the problem. He says if Cigarroa came here legally he’d be in prison.

“From looking at his history, he’s come out pretty well by being an illegal, by being sent back to Mexico and easily assuming names and coming back,” Harris said.

Although Unicoi County is arresting most of the illegal aliens, Carter County Sheriff Chris Mathes says they are slowly becoming a problem in his county too.

In Washington County, deputies have arrested illegals from as far away as India, but Sheriff Ed Graybeal says immigrant crime is not a significant problem for his department.

Juan Chiu is a legal citizen who moved to the United States from Guatemala.

“We now hear nothing good when we talk about (illegal aliens),” Chiu said.

He thinks people have a misconception about undocumented workers. Chiu says on a whole their contributions to society are overlooked because of a few criminals.

“In a bunch of apples, there has to be bad apples,” Chiu said. “It does happen, but the majority of the people are good.”

Sheriff Harris agrees the immigrants who work in the fields and as landscapers are law-abiding citizens. However, for the others, he hopes a change in law will keep them behind bars. He says soon, when deported illegals re-offend, they will face jail time in the United States, instead of deportation.

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FBI Cessna Collides With Lamborghini In Aurora Oregon

AURORA, OREGON - An Oregon man has sued over a traffic accident that involved an unlikely pair of vehicles — his Lamborghini and a small plane piloted by FBI agents.

The propeller from the Cessna airplane mangled the driver’s side of the black Lamborghini that Marlowe Treit had given himself as a 60th birthday present in 1998.

Filed earlier this month, Treit’s lawsuit against the U.S. government accuses the pilots of negligence in the May 2006 collision, and seeks $105,500 in damages.

According to federal court filings, the accident happened on a road that goes through the Aurora Airport — about 25 miles south of downtown Portland.

Two FBI agents, John Jeffries and Robert Brockmeyer, were co-piloting the plane, according to the National Transportation Safety Board’s report on the incident.

One of the agents wrote in a report filed with the transportation safety board that the plane was “moving down the taxiway about to enter our hangar area, moving at about a fast walk and crossing a narrow inner taxiway perpendicular to us when the aircraft crunched to a sudden stop.

“Out the left side window of the aircraft I saw a small black sports car dart from under the prop moving to my left, gushing fluid,” the unidentified agent wrote.

Treit, a licensed pilot who lives in Aurora and owns a business at the airport, claims he had the right of way and that the pilot should have seen him.

But the transportation safety board determined that Treit and the agents shared blame f