I-80 drug stops: Sheriff fleeces motorists out of big bucks claims lawsuit

March 13, 2014

The I-80 drug stops orchestrated by a sheriff in rural Nevada appear to be quite the racket if what the sheriff and his officers are being accused of is factual. Humbolt County Sheriff Ed Kilgore’s department is accused of running an I-80 drug stop sting and taking tens of thousands of dollars from motorists and this is all legally done, according to The Inquisitr on March 12.

The I-80 drug stop racket came to light when two men, one from Colorado and another from California filed federal lawsuits claiming deputies seized thousands of dollars in each separate case from motorists for no reason at all. There were no drugs involved and these men were not arrested, the deputies took their cash and sent them on their way.

One man said he was carrying a briefcase containing $50,000 in cash and the other man reported he was out $13,800 in cash and a handgun. Both these incidents started with a traffic stop and the sheriff claims this is perfectly legal if the officer involved suspects the money was from illegal sources or to be used illegally in some way. There is no proof needed and they do not need to be accused of wrong doing when the money is taken away.

These two traffic stops resulted in the officers finding no evidence of drugs in the car and there was no arrest made. The officers impounded both of the men’s vehicles and the men were told if they forfeited the cash they had with them their cars would be released.

The sheriff argues that both men had the right to go to court to prove that the money was legal, but they opted not to. This is a case of guilty until proven innocent say critics and it sounds like the sheriff and his merry-men have figured out a way to use the law to fleece unsuspecting motorist.

If you were either one of these men would you go to court after witnessing what looks like a legal scam? The men were most likely just happy to get out of there at the time. With the way the sheriff’s department had misconstrued the law to their advantage, the men who lost their cash probably worried that the court proceeding would run pretty much the same in this out-of-the-way municipal.

If this is what is going on with the I-80 drug stops, people should fear traveling through this area. Apparently if an officer just “suspects” that you are doing something illegal, it could be very costly.

http://www.examiner.com/article/i-80-drug-stops-sheriff-fleeces-motorists-out-of-big-bucks-claims-lawsuit

Personal trainer busted breaking into client’s truck during workouts at Texas gym

Reginald Wilson, a City of Whitehouse police officer who works as a personal trainer, was arrested after a client, David Spivey, allegedly caught him breaking into his truck by placing a hidden camera in the backseat.

BY JOE KEMP / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

THURSDAY, MARCH 6, 2014, 9:31 AM
Reginald Wilson, a police officer who worked as a personal trainer, was arrested for breaking into a client’s car while at the gym and stealing money.

Reginald Wilson, a police officer who worked as a personal trainer, was arrested for breaking into a client’s pickup while he was busy working out at the gym.
What a dumbbell!

A Texas cop who works as a personal trainer was arrested after a client used a hidden camera to find the man allegedly breaking into his truck during workouts at the gym.

Footage from the hidden camera shows the bandit, identified by police as Reginald Wilson, breaking into Spivey’s truck and stealing money from the middle console.
Reginald Wilson — a police officer with the city of Whitehouse, about 100 miles southeast of Dallas — was busted after the victim, David Spivey, showed video of the burglary to local cops, KLTV reported.

“Who would have thought that somebody would go into my locker, get a key out and go in my truck?” Spivey told the news station. “Especially my trainer.”

David Spivey said he was wondering why items kept disappearing from inside his pickup, so he placed a camera in the backseat — and discovered his personal trainer was the culprit.
Spivey said he was suspicious that someone close to him was stealing items from his pickup, because the bandit never left any signs of forced entry.

He eventually set up a camera in the backseat of the cab while it was parked at the Woodcreek Athletic Club in Tyler to catch the crook red handed.

A friend parked next to Spivey’s truck also recorded Wilson breaking into the vehicle, which was parked at the gym.
“It took me a bunch of money to figure out it wasn’t a family member,” he told the news station. “A bunch of time, a bunch of patience and a bunch of good friends.”

Spivey also had a friend park next to the truck to keep watch.

David Spivey was working out at the Woodcreek Athletic Club in Tyler, Tex., when his personal trainer allegedly stole his truck keys from his locker and broke in.
As the camera inside Spivey’s truck recorded Wilson rummaging through the cab and pulling cash from the middle console, the friend recorded the break-in from outside.

Spivey brought the footage to cops, who arrested Wilson a short time later.

Wilson was jailed on two counts of burglary of a vehicle. He was suspended without pay from the Whitehouse Police Department.

Spivey said he was just happy to put the ordeal behind him.

“It is what it is,” Spivey said. “I can’t do anything about it. I’m just glad that it’s not happening anymore.”

jkemp@nydailynews.com

@joekemp

6 current, former San Francisco officers Indicted

KCRA.com

updated 2/27/2014 9:48:51 PM ET
Federal grand juries have indicted six current and former San Francisco police officers, charging three with stealing money, drugs, electronics and gift cards seized during investigations, federalprosecutors announced Thursday.

According to the indictment, the three took items they seized during an arrest in 2009, including a $500 Apple gift card. Two days later, one of them used the gift card to buy an iPhone and iPod Nano, prosecutors said.

They were identified as Sgt. Ian Furminger, 47, of Pleasant Hill; Officer Edmond Robles, 46, of
Danville; and former officer Reynaldo Vargas, 45, of Palm Desert. The officers were suspended without pay and had their guns taken away, Police Chief Greg Suhr said shortly after the indictments were announced.

"Our department is shaken. This is as serious as an issue as I can recall in my time in the department," said an emotional Suhr, who has been with the San Francisco Police Department since 1981.

Suhr said federal authorities assured him the arrests did not reflect a systemic problem in the department. Furminger, Robles and Vargas each face two drug-related counts carrying a maximum possible sentence of 20 years in prison and a $1 million fine. They also face a charge of civil rights conspiracy that carries a sentence of up to 10 years and a $250,000 fine. In another incident the same month, the indictment says, the officers took marijuana. Vargas is accused of delivering the pot to two informants and asking them to sell it and split the proceeds with him, Furminger and Robles.

In a separate indictment, three officers were charged with civil rights violations. Prosecutors say the officers entered hotel rooms illegally and intimidated occupants.

The charges were based on surveillance footage from a hotel in the city's Tenderloin neighborhood that was released by the city's public defender, Jeff Adachi, in 2011. Adachi claimed the videos of plainclothes officers contradicted police reports and sworn police testimony.

Those three defendants were identified as Officer Arshad Razzak, 41, and Officer Richard Yick, 37, both of San Francisco; and Officer Raul Eric Elias, 44, of San Mateo. All face three civil rights charges that carry possible penalties of up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
The indictment did not provide additional detail about the alleged illegal searches. But a civil lawsuit filed by three occupants of the Hotel Henry in 2012 said Razzak, Elias, and three other officers got the hotel's master key and forced their way into rooms without a search warrant or the occupants' consent on two separate occasions. They allegedly searched the occupants and the room and then made drug arrests.

According to the lawsuit, a judge concluded that video evidence contradicted the officers' testimony and dismissed criminal charges against the
defendants.

The defendants in turn filed a lawsuit against the arresting officers and police departments. The Board of Supervisors approved a $150,000
settlement in December.

Razzak and Yick have also been charged with falsifying police reports. None of the defendants in either indictment could be reached for comment. Martin Halloran, president of the San Francisco Police Officers Association, said in a statement that the indictments were apparently based on the questionable testimony of unreliable informant witnesses.

"However, we do understand that these are nonetheless serious charges," Halloran said. "It is important to remember that the accused officers will have their day in court since federal grand juries only hear one side of the story."

Adachi said his clients had for years reported that their rights were being violated.

"I commend the U.S. attorney for taking seriously the reports from ordinary citizens who had been humiliated, stolen from and hurt by police officers sworn to protect them," he said in a statement. One of the videos Adachi released in 2011 shows two officers walking into a residential hotel empty-handed and leaving with bags that Adachi said weren't booked into evidence.

Allegations stemming from the released videos led to the dismissal of dozens of criminal cases.
The charges came after San Francisco District Attorney George Gascon referred the investigation to federal authorities, citing a conflict of interest, federal prosecutors said. Gascon was the police chief at the time the alleged conduct occurred.

"I am relieved to know that the officers have been indicted, after I referred the matter to federal authorities," Gascon said in a statement Thursday. "It is extremely disappointing that the officers violated the trust of the community and tarnished the reputation of all the hard working men and women in uniform."

Vargas was expected to appear before a judge Thursday, prosecutors said. The other five defendants were scheduled to appear in court Friday. FBI Director James Comey, who was in San Francisco speaking at a technology conference, declined to discuss the cases.
___
Associated Press writer Channing Joseph contributed to this report

Oklahoma cop sues over firing after he cited 3-year-old for peeing in public

Kenneth Qualls claims he had permission from on high to give the toddler a $2,500 public urination ticket in November 2012 after the boy began to pee in front of his house.

BY SASHA GOLDSTEIN / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2014, 7:46 PM
Dillan Warden was just three when Piedmont, Okla., cop Kenneth Qualls gave him a $2,500 citation for public urination. Qualls is suing the city over his firing after the incident.
NEWS9.COM

Dillan Warden was just three when Piedmont, Okla., cop Kenneth Qualls gave him a $2,500 citation for public urination. Qualls is suing the city over his firing after the incident.
An Oklahoma cop canned for citing a 3-year-old boy for peeing outside is now suing the city of Piedmont for unfairly flushing his career.

Kenneth Qualls claims he had permission from on high to give little Dillan Warden a $2,500 public urination ticket in November 2012 after the tot unzipped in his pants on Ryan Drive.

RELATED: OKLA. COP TICKETS TOT, 3, FOR ‘PUBLIC URINATION’

The prohibited pee was on private property, the boy’s mother, Ashley Warden, said at the time.

"I said really, he is 3-years-old, and [the officer] said it doesn't matter – it’s public urination,” the boy’s grandmother, Jennifer Warden, told KWTV News 9 at the time.

Ashley Warden is the mother of toddler Dillan, who police officer Kenneth Qualls cited for public urination when the little boy started to pee in his front yard.
NEWS9.COM

Ashley Warden is the mother of toddler Dillan, who police officer Kenneth Qualls cited for public urination when the little boy started to pee in his front yard.
RELATED: ELDERLY WOMAN URINATES ON HOUSTON BUSINESSMAN'S DRIVEWAY

But about 10 days after the ill-advised ticket, Qualls was dumped from the department, The Oklahoman reported.

“Of course we did receive a lot of notoriety over that,” City Manager Jim Crosby said at the time of the pee heard ‘round the world.

RELATED: SEE IT: ENGLAND'S WILSHERE SNEAKS A LEAK ON SIDELINES

Qualls contends the charge wasn’t dropped — only amended to contributing to a delinquency of a minor — and that the city’s police chief knew of the ticket the day after it was issued but did not intervene.

A 3-year-old peeing in his own front yard, pictured, was cited by Piedmont, Okla., cop Kenneth Qualls — who was eventually fired over the matter. Qualls is now suing the city.
NEWS9.COM

A 3-year-old peeing in his own front yard, pictured, was cited by Piedmont, Okla., cop Kenneth Qualls — who was eventually fired over the matter. Qualls is now suing the city.
During the 2012 pissing match, the officer was even called “stupid” by the city’s mayor, furthering muddying his reputation, the suit claims.

RELATED: TEXAS MAN PLEADS GUILTY TO URINATING ON THE ALAMO

The city denies the claims, except for the fact that a personnel board did vote to fire Qualls, a veteran officer with 18 years of law enforcement experience.

But little Dillan’s grandmother said at the time of the ticket that the officer was just bothering the family and would frequently wait down the rural street in patrol car doing nothing at all.

"I am disappointed that the officer thinks ... what he needs to do with my tax dollars is sitting and harassing our family," she told the TV station.

sgoldstein@nydailynews.com or follow on Twitter

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Jury finds Pomona police used excessive force against LAPD officer

latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-pomona-arrest-20140124,0,2376619.story
latimes.com

By Joel Rubin
4:26 PM PST, January 24, 2014

A jury has awarded a Los Angeles police officer $260,000 after finding Pomona police used excessive force on the young officer and unlawfully arrested him.
The verdict reached Wednesday evening was a final step in Sergio Arreola's nearly two-year push to clear his name after the 2012 encounter that resulted in his being fired from the LAPD and facing a possible prison sentence.

“This was about showing the officers and showing Pomona that they can’t be treating others the way they treated me,” said Arreola, 27.

The Times first wrote about Arreola’s case last year as he was fighting to get his job back.
In the morning on April 11, 2012, Arreola, then a rookie in the LAPD’s Central Division, finished a night shift on patrol and drove to Pomona to meet up with his wife. While on the way, his wife called and asked Arreola to meet her in a nearby neighborhood where a relative had gotten into a minor traffic accident.
Things spun out of control quickly after Arreola arrived. Although Arreola identified himself as an off-duty LAPD officer, within minutes he was on the ground with Pomona officers piled on top of him, placing him in handcuffs.

One of the officers, Eric Hamilton, said in his arrest report that Arreola was aggressive and belligerent from the outset, refusing to obey the officer’s commands.

Hamilton and another officer, Chris Tucker, described Arreola's demeanor as “extremely angry." Tucker said in a report that when he tried to handcuff Arreola, he “began to twist and tense up, pulling his arms from our grasp.” The officers alleged that Arreola tried to punch Hamilton in the face as they restrained him.
Pomona police officials notified Arreola’s LAPD supervisors of the arrest and the account of his behavior that Hamilton and Tucker had given. The following day, Arreola’s commanding officer called him into the station and gave him a choice to resign or be fired.

He refused to resign, saying he had done none of the things the Pomona officers accused him of doing.
Out of a job, Arreola's situation worsened when prosecutors in the L.A. County district attorney's office charged him with three misdemeanors for resisting arrest, assaulting Hamilton and obstructing the officers' work.

They eventually dropped the assault charge but refused to budge on the others. Arreola refused to consider a guilty plea in exchange for a lenient sentence. “They've ruined my life, they've ruined my name,” he recalled saying to his attorney at the time. “What's the worst they can do? Send me to jail?”

At his trial, jurors heard a starkly different account of the morning than the one the officers had told.
Arreola took the stand to challenge the officers’ allegations, saying Hamilton had been the aggressive one, cursing and yelling at him. He denied ever resisting the officers, saying Tucker had intentionally pulled him off balance as he was being frisked and, when Arreola stumbled, the officer used it as an excuse to take him to the ground.

In an audio recording of the encounter captured by a recorder Hamilton carried, the officer is heard telling Arreola repeatedly to “stop resisting” and Arreola saying that he is not resisting. Arreola is also heard pleading with onlookers to record the scene.

Once on the ground, Arreola said, the officers punched him repeatedly. Hamilton, he said, bent his left arm back violently and Tucker attempted to subdue him by using a choke hold.

Later in the recording, Hamilton told Arreola's wife, “I'm going to make sure your husband is never a police officer in the state of California again. I'll talk to Chief Beck myself personally,” referring to the LAPD chief.
And jurors listened as Hamilton and Tucker recounted the arrest for other officers. “I just about broke his left arm. I wanted to break his arm,” Hamilton said. “I had my arm around him to choke his ass out,” Tucker said.

The jury found Arreola not guilty. Following the acquittal, the LAPD offered Arreola his job back.
Pomona police officials could not be reached for comment. It is unknown whether the department has conducted an internal investigation into the conduct of Hamilton and Tucker.
Matthew McNicholas, Arreola’s attorney in the civil case, said that though the jury did not award Arreola as much money as he had hoped, the verdict sent a message.
“The jury saw these officers beat him, just abused him intentionally. They took everything away from him…. This verdict completes Sergio’s vindication.”

Copyright © 2014, Los Angeles Times

Denver sheriff failed to investigate misconduct claims, monitor says

 By Sadie Gurman
The Denver Post

The Denver Sheriff's Department failed to investigate dozens of serious allegations of deputy misconduct over the past 2½ years, including inmates' claims that deputies choked them, sexually harassed them and used racial and ethnic slurs.

That finding came in the latest report from the city's independent monitor, Nicholas Mitchell, who cited sweeping problems with the way the department investigates jail inmate grievances.
The monitor didn't say which, if any, of the allegations were true, only that each was serious enough to warrant an internal affairs probe under sheriff's department policies. The department's approximately 730 deputies are primarily responsible for overseeing Denver's jails and transporting inmates.

The report, released on Tuesday, did not mention whether any deputies had been disciplined, and a department spokesman said he did not know.

"Internal affairs units have the specialized expertise and independence required to investigate allegations of serious officer misconduct, such as alleged excessive force or sexual misconduct," Mitchell told The Denver Post. "This is a very well-established national best practice."
Of 861 inmate complaints filed between January 2011 and June 30, 2013, 54 were "serious grievances" that included allegations of excessive force, sexual misconduct and bias, Mitchell wrote.
But the department's internal affairs bureau investigated just nine of those cases. Inmate grievances triggered just three of those investigations. The other six investigations launched only after inmates filed separate complaints with internal affairs or other agencies, such as Mitchell's office.
Yet his report said the sheriff's department also failed to routinely notify the monitor's office of misconduct complaints per city ordinance. It said some deputies reported being told they could not refer grievances to internal affairs without first notifying their supervisors.

Of the cases that went uninvestigated, 31 were allegations of inappropriate force, 11 involved allegations of sexual misconduct, and 14 were allegations of bias. Inmates accused deputies of inappropriately striking them, choking them, slamming them into walls or doors, stunning them with Tasers or throwing them to the ground.

Racial, ethnic slurs
Other inmates said deputies made racial or ethnic slurs or insulted them about their sexual orientation. Still others said deputies inappropriately touched them, threatened them with violence and denied them access to medical care.

The report didn't discuss the specifics of the allegations because Director of Corrections Gary Wilson has since ordered internal affairs investigations into 47 of them.

Jail supervisors looked into some of the cases, sometimes gathering written statements from officers or inmates or studying surveillance. But other complaints were not investigated at all, Mitchell wrote.
"We will consider his recommendations as well as conduct a second investigation through our Internal Affairs Unit of the less than 1 percent of grievances he has highlighted in his report," Wilson wrote in an e-mailed statement to The Denver Post.

Maj. Frank Gale, a sheriff's spokesman, would not elaborate on how the department would investigate the grievances, some of which are more than two years old, except to say that "the process of investigating allegations is always the same," and usually involves a review of surveillance footage and interviews with witnesses.

Gale also noted that the department's policies were recently praised by a national auditing group.
Mitchell also found that a small group of deputies account for a disproportionate number of inmate grievances, something he said officials should have spotted if they had better ways to analyze patterns in inmate complaints.

Of 788 grievances dealing with deputy conduct, 125 were filed against just four deputies, whom the report doesn't name.

"Put another way, four deputies out of a force of over 700 accounted for almost 16 percent of the total number of grievances about officer conduct during a 2½-year period," Mitchell wrote. "We believe that this pattern should have triggered a supervisory response that could have included meetings with the deputies, attempts to identify the reasons for the continued complaints against them and other supervisory forms of intervention, if appropriate."

Deputies not ID'd
Better analysis of the complaints can also help jail officials spot inmates who abuse the system, Mitchell said, noting that six inmates accounted for 50 of the 788 conduct grievances.
Gale said he did not know the identities of any of the deputies named in grievances.

"If these officers are specifically being labeled as performing acts of misconduct, that's going to be reviewed as well," he said. "It could be that these officers were assigned in places that dealt with inmates that had a higher security classification and are prone to resist order and direction."

Mitchell noted at least 10 unrelated incidents that resulted in "significant discipline" against deputies. One was fired for using excessive force, failing to report it and later lying about it; another was fired for lying in reports and to internal affairs investigators about an inmate's actions in a use-of-force case; and another was fired for allowing two inmates to dump water and spray chemicals on a third who was in a locked shower cell, among other cases.

Leaders of the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge No. 27, which represents Denver sheriff's deputies, did not return phone calls seeking comment.

Sadie Gurman: 303-954-1661, sgurman@denverpost.com or twitter.com/sgurman

Texas Police Officer Accused of Raping Woman During Traffic Stop

Texas Police Officer Accused of Raping Woman During Traffic Stop

San Antonio Police Have Put Officer Jackie Neal on Leave

By BEN GITTLESON

Nov. 26, 2013—

A San Antonio, Texas, police officer who was arrested for allegedly raping a 19-year-old woman he pulled over for a traffic stop was placed on administrative leave, police told ABC News.
Officer Jackie Neal, 40, is being investigated in connection with the sexual assault of the woman in San Antonio last week, San Antonio Police Department spokesman Roger Zuniga said Monday.
Neal, who lives in San Antonio, is accused of assaulting the teen while he was on duty, in full uniform and in a marked patrol car, Zuniga told ABC News.
"This conduct is unthinkable and I'm absolutely outraged," San Antonio Police Chief William McManus said in a statement provided to ABC News. "Once we became aware of the allegation, we took prompt action."
Neal, an 11-year veteran of the police force, allegedly stopped the victim Friday morning, searched her vehicle, handcuffed her and touched her on her breasts over her shirt, police said. He then had nonconsensual sex with the woman, according to a police report.
Neal was arrested after a traffic stop at about 2 a.m. Saturday morning, police said. An emergency protective order was filed against Neal to protect the victim and her child, according to the report.
A voicemail left at a number listed for Neal was not immediately returned.
Zuniga did not respond to a question about whether Neal, who is assigned to an overnight shift, is still receiving pay while on leave. He referred questions about whether there were any previous complaints against Neal to San Antonio's Firefighters' and Police Officers' Civil Service Commission, which did not reply to a request for comment.
The Bexar County District Attorney's Office referred questions about the case to the San Antonio Police Department.
"A high standard of conduct is a priority of the S.A.P.D." McManus said, referring to the police department. "I praise the victim for having the courage to come forward and having the confidence in the S.A.P.D. to handle the case effectively."

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