More asset forfeiture problems in Texas, plus a typical weekly rogues’ gallery of dirty cops. Let’s get to it:
In Austin, Texas, a former Brooks County sheriff is being investigated by the state attorney general’s office over his lavish use of forfeited assets seized from drug and weapons suspects. The Corpus Christi Times details the allegations against former Sheriff Balde Lozano as well as a broader investigation into asset forfeiture in Texas in a series of reports. A state auditor has questioned Lozano’s spending on new cedar paneling for his office, 18 vehicle purchases and sales, and $80,000 in credit card transactions.
In Los Angeles, a jailer at the LA County Jail was arrested last Monday on charges he was smuggling cocaine into the jail. Jailer Remington Orr, 24, was caught carrying the drugs when he went to work at the Men’s Central Jail. He is charged with possession of a controlled substance with intent to sell, transportation with intent to sell, and bribery. He was jailed on $1 million bail. Three sheriff’s guards have been convicted and a fourth fired in recent years for smuggling or attempting to smuggle narcotics into jail for inmates.
In Athens, Ohio, a local police chief was arrested last Wednesday for peddling pain pills. Buchtel Chief of Police Kelsey Lanning went down after Athens County sheriff’s deputies did a controlled buy at his home. Lanning is accused of buying the prescription medication to give to someone who was working with the sheriff’s Narcotics Enforcement Team.
In Oklahoma City, an Oklahoma City police officer was charged last Friday with tipping off a drug suspect of an impending raid. Sgt. Mari Christina Cervantes is charged with a misdemeanor count of obstructing police officers. In November 2010, police raided two locations, including the home of one of Cervantes’ snitches. Police found text messages from Cervantes on his cell phone, including one telling the informant to “stay away,” another hoping police wouldn’t find anything, and a third saying, “They are supposed to be kicking in the door, but you didn’t hear it from me.”
In Fort Lauderdale, Florida, a Miramar police officer was sentenced last Friday to two years’ probation for searching the apartment of a drug suspect without a warrant and lying about it. Officer Jean Paul Jacobi, 39, was found guilty in December of official misconduct, falsifying records, and criminal mischief and could have gotten up to five years behind bars. The state asked for two years, but the judge gave him probation, and if he keeps his nose clean, with deferred adjudication, his felony record will be wiped clean. The search in question occurred after police arrested a drug suspect in a traffic stop and seized his vehicle. The keys ended up with another Miramar police officer, who gave them to Jacobi, who used them to enter the apartment without a warrant.
“…could have gotten up to five years behind bars. The state asked for two years, but the judge gave him probation, and if he keeps his nose clean, with deferred adjudication, his felony record will be wiped clean.” I’m sure that’s a common occurrence in courts regardless of whether or not the defendant is an LEO, right? I mean if I’m ever arrested, I’m sure the State will only ask for 2/5ths the possible punishment and then the judge will judge that as far too harsh and give me a wink and a smile with that slap on the wrist, RIGHT?
notJoeKing – Here’s the funniest part – review a bunch of old posts similiar to this one. All of the pro-cop posters either claim that there is no double standard, and that any first time offender caught would receive a similiar sentence, or, that the Judge was more leniant because the defendant had a good record of serving the public as a police officer.
Funny, when I suggest that being a police officer is a position of extreme public trust (in which a cop can,and will, be excused for murdering an unarmed person in cold blood, based upon their OPINION that their life was in danger), and that any offenses should carry extreme penalty enhancements due to the betrayal of this unique trust, all you hear is crickets………..
Certain
I couldn’t agree more.
More power should come with greater responsibility and worse punishments for abusing that power.
Of course for every LEO on here, they approach criminal-citizens with an attitude of “this is not their first offense, just the first time they got caught.” But for the criminal-LEOs, they will go on about how the cop only messed up once and was immediately caught… so his “good” service years should be payment in advance for a lighter sentence on his “one little mistake”.
Guess us citizens are just far better at avoiding capture than the ones well versed in police tactics, right?
The whole thing is just one huge eye-rolling moment…
Can you believe this filth actually might be elected??
http://sn120w.snt120.mail.live.com/default.aspx?rru=inbox#n=271277935&rru=inbox&fid=1&fav=1&mid=b5681121-5e88-11e1-904c-00237de335f4&fv=1
We’re past eye-rolling, they’re doing somersaults (is that how it’s spelled? LOL).
@ certain. So. I should get more of a punishment because of my job? Sorry, the law is supposed to be blind, and you want to give it radar. Sorry that you heard crickets b4 that is wrong. So what about teacher’s?? They have special trust. shouldn’t we hold them to a higher standard? Fire fighter’s? Pastor’s? Where does it end.
As for the actual outsome. Here are some sentencings from my state. ALL CAPS is what the actual law suggests that I’ve added for you. And the “plead guilty” ones mean that they were most likely charged with more serious crimes but plea dealed down to the charges listed..
Codie James Felton, 26, , convicted by a jury of failure to register as a sex offender: 8 months with credit for 12 days, $198 in fines, costs and fees, 01/10/2012. 1 YEAR MISDOMEANER(I THINK)
Jeffery John Harinck, 51, , convicted by jury of assault with weapons and firearms: 2 years with credit for 4 days, $806 in fines, costs and fees, 01/03/2012 5 YEAR FELONY-GOT 2
Jeffrey Scott Haynes, 48,, convicted by a jury of 1st degree home invasion and by the court as a habitual offender: 200-520 months with credit for 193 days, $198 in fines, costs and fees, 01/09/2012.THIS GUY IS A HABITUAL OFFENDER – HAS PRIOR FELONY CONVICTIONS, GOT 16-43 YEARS. WHICH SOUNDS GOOD FOR AN OFFENCE THAT CAN BE A LIFE SENTENCE
Lorenzo Hampton, 30, , pleaded guilty to fleeing and eluding police and assaulting a police officer: 24-60 months with credit for 36 days, $266 in fines, costs and fees, 01/09/2012. THIS ONE i DON’T KNOW.. FLEE &ELUDE HAS DIFFERENT DEGREES WITH DIFFERENT PENALTIES. STARTING AT 2 YEARS BUT GO AS HIGH AS 15 YEARS
William Henry Handy Jr., 31, , pleaded guilty to possession of less than 25 grams of a controlled substance: 23-48 months with credit for 54 days, $198 in fines, costs and fees, 01/09/2012 THIS GUY IS CHARGED WITH POSSESION AND GOES TO PRISON
Daneko Depree Erskine, 19, , pleaded guilty to manufacture and delivery of a controlled substance: driver’s license suspended 60 days, restricted 305 days, must undergo random testing, 30 months probation, $738 in fines, costs and fees, 01/09/2012. tHIS GUY IS CHARGES WITH MANUFACTURING!!!!!>…AND THEY SUSPEND HIS DRIVER’S LICENSE
Clayton Ray Henderson, 42, pleaded guilty to larceny of a building: 12 months with credit for 10 days, 48 months probation, $10,973 in fines, costs and fees, 01/09/2012. 5 YEAR FELONY ASSUMING HE STOLE MORE THAT 2K.
Dana Desean Johnson, 19, 24 Corwin St., Battle Creek, pleaded no contest to 3rd degree criminal sexual conduct with a person between 13 and 15: 180 days with credit for 130 days, 36 months probation, must register as a sex offender, $973 in fines, costs and fees, 01/09/2012. THIS GUY GOT 6 MONTHS FOR A 15 YEAR FELONY
If you violate the laws you will throw someone in a dungeon for violating, the punishment should be as harsh as possible. Teachers are responsible for educating, cops, in theory, for enforcing law.
You don’t see the logic in policing those responsible for policing more harshly? Henhouse guards should not develop a taste for chicken.
@lakewood. If I violate your rights, I’m subject to federal law and it’s punishment. Something that you and the majority of American’s aren’t subject too. But if I’m arrested for smacking my wife, drunk driving, stealing a candy bar, punching my neighbor. I’m entitled(under the constitution) to the same rights you have. Just because I’m a cop doesn’t mean the constitution doesn’t apply to me as well.
Lakewood is right, all the cops get breaks, its part of the Masonic ‘secret’ oath cops take I’m sure. There sentence guidelines and then there, ‘the guidelines’ -
@PSOSGT,
So then, we can assume you DO support the constitution and bill of rights? Further, if asked by your commander to go under cover, infiltrate an activst organization,(as your fellows did during the Vietnam “war”), create mayhem for the sole purpose of giving fellow officers a reason to crush the legal/peaceful demonstrators you would flat refuse, lose your job and go to work collecting trash and become an activist yourself?
If asked to interfere with peaceful demonstrators who are ACTIVELY trying to clean up your country’s corrupt government, you would AGAIN, refuse without hesitation? In a year or so, when all police work is privatized and your pension has been stolen from you and all out-of-work cops are forced to look at the reality of what they’ve done to this country, then we can ALL work together to straighten it out, (unless there are victims/relatives of victims that can’t quite forgive and forget).
@pasch… glad you brought up what the police did in the 70′s cause that’s so relevent today.
And I don’t know what video’s you’ve been watching. But the majority of the vid’s I’ve seen are people destroying shit. Did you miss the story about the 20 Million dollars in damages done in San Francisco by the protesters? How about the city hall, childrens are detroyed in Oakland. Miss that one??
How bout this, I just come over to your house and plant my camper on your front lawn. Work for you? I’ll just say I’m “protesting”.
@PSOSGT,
Ummm, what part of “provocateur” do you not understand? The swine on Wall Street and in the Federal Reserve have all the money in the world to interfere with protestors….hire this maggot….that maggot…call their buddies in city hall to send in a few ambitious sycophants-in-blue to cause trouble in their “civvies”. been done before and it’s being done now. The only up-side is, once they privatize them, remove the bennies, cut the wages by +/- 40%, the little peckerwoods will be easier to outwit….that is unless all the former cops will accept huge pay cuts, benefits, retirement, etc. but then, I guess anything’s better than manual/clerical.
Look what they’ve done to airline pilots….in some cases the poor SOB’s make 17k a year! They work 2nd jobs just to exist. Same with privatized prisons…cut wages/bennies/service/security. All for yet another “bottom line”. Ahhh, the Fascist States of America!On the other hand, look what the rank and file did to poor “Il Duce” (Mussolini).
In that leaked email from B of A, they told their big depositers that things were moving along just fine and soon, they would have wages driven down to 4k a year for the working class, Sure looks like it, doesn’t it?
PSO,
Yes, I do believe you should get a harsher punishment because of your job. In court, if it’s your word versus the perp, the judge will believe you. Why? Because of your job. Your job, as I have stated many times before and will keep on repeating, is the only one in the civilian world in which you can kill an unarmed person and be excused from any form of punishment merely by stating that you thought the person was reaching for a weapon. You thought. Have you ever heard the saying – With authority comes commensurate responsibility? So if yours is the only job with that power, than the level of punishment for misusing it should also be yours, and yours alone.
And actually, I do believe that there are special enhancements to some criminal violations based upon the perp being in a position of trust, including teachers.
@paschn
Very doubtful they will ever privatize police work. Even in MN, the company only handles ‘non-emergency’ calls, they still are patrolled by the police.
Typical airline pilot salary is 102k, not 17k (UPS pilots top at 200k)
And yes, OWS was a complete failure…nothing changed, the machine didn’t stop.
lol.. 4k a year. how would that work. Wallstreet going to get every state to change the min wage to 1.92???
And I don’t work near wallstreet. And I never understood how fighting with the police will solve anything! I love the G8 or G20 summits. People come prepared to fight with the police. Back packs full of all sorts of goodies. You may not agree with them, but the tea party provided a blue print to change things. The organized, had rally’s and found people who supported what they believed in, and elected 22 to congress. 22 isn’t a majority, but a force we’ve seen when it comes to certain bills.
@certain. there have been many cases of regular people NOT charged with anything after shooting people for the same reason you say cops can. I think it was on this site where someone talked about justifiable homicides jumping in several area’s of the country. And they aren’t involving cops. Jeopardy, Opportunity, Ability. 3 main considerations for deadly force.
And privatizing police. People need to look at what they pay in property taxes, and what they go towards. In my city, a house with a SEV of 50,000 pays a little over 700/year in taxes that actually go to the city’s general fund. Most houses are closer to 25k SEV, so they pay 350/year. Which covers everything. Police/Fire/streets. Ya’ll really think that a private company could compete with that? and each other? when cities already are strggling to keep cops/firefighters/public works employees??
It COULD work in some area, but lower income areas…who don’t have much money, will most likely have private PD’s who pay very little money.. Who is going to want to work there?? People who can’t get a job anywhere else bc they aren’t that good…….sound like a good plan? Having a private cop who get’s paid crap and most likely hates his job?
Hmm, conflicting information here. About 20 – 30 years ago prior to the Fascist States of America’s, (with the foolish support of many in the rank and file), undeclared war on collective bargaining, their wages/benefits rivaled even cops/congress. Quite a different story now.
http://thetruthabouttheprofession.weebly.com/professional-pilot-salaries.html
Note that they too are saddled with crushing debt in the form of student loans, (which, by the way, Libyans didn’t worry about prior to “NATO”‘s successful insertion of a Rothschild Central Bank there too).
PSO,
Can you please point out even 1 story which compares to the recent shooting here in the town in which I live? You saw it, I posted about it here. The guy in Lancaster who the Sheriffs were chasing and shot because he “reached for his waistband”. He was found to be completely unarmed, yet the shooting was ruled justifiable.
I’m not debating the merits of that individual case. What I’m asking is for you to produce a similiar case, not involving a LEO, in which no charges were filed.
certain. I will do my best. But it’s a hard comparison. your not going to find many regular citizen’s chasing someone who is wanted and then reaching for his wasteband.
So, I had to do some digging, wasn’t to successful. Youtube isn’t user friendly when your trying to find information. It’s been years since I’ve seen it.. and I can’t find it. Robbery attempt at a liquor store, bad guy pretends to have a gun, clerk chases him out the store. Once outside, bad guy goes for his wasteband and the clerk shoots. Clerk told police/news that he shot the guy bc he thought he was going to pul out a gun.
Here’s 1 where she shoots robberer who never threatened her,
http://www.copblock.org/13703/this-weeks-corrupt-cops-stories-49/#comments
There’s also one with a jewelry store where 1 of the two robber’s goes for his waste and is shot. no luck finding that one in the hundred’s of hit’s i’m getting with my search’s.
Which shooting in lancaster are you talking about? Cause I’m finding quite a few. 1 where a man was shot in a shoot out with police, another a convicted felon was shot while reaching for a gun. Another was a man who shot a store owner in a leg, another pulled a gun on a cop at a car wash. Lot’s of bad people using guns!! Glad I didn’t press send. I think I found it. 26 year old hispanic male on a bike? “The suspect was wanted for an Inglewood felony narcotics warrant that upon arrest, no bail amount would be permitted for his release. He was on probation for felony receiving stolen property and had three felony convictions on his record. He was an Inglewood gang member who had recently moved to Lancaster” Wanted gang member. I would need more info as to what the police knew. YOur not going to get that in a news story. Did the police know he was a gang member and wanted? My guess this was in a high crime area. I would lean more towards justified than not. Obviously if this was in a nicer part of town, I would most likely be leaning the otherway.
But the simple sentence of “police shooting a man reaching for his wasteband who turned out unarmed” doesn’t sound good. and shouldn’t!!!!!!! If it happened in my area, it wouldn’t fly! There is not standing behing it. And if you also notice on the web with cop stories, they only seem to happen in large populated cities and specific parts of those cities. Area’s where gun’s are ALOT more common and used alot more! You kind of half to add things up. Put youself in the cops shoes for a minute. Your in a high crime area, lots of drugs, lots of gun’s. Your chasing someone for X crime, it’s dark, and he starts reaching into his wasteband. 1 of 3 things he’s reaching for 1, he’s need’s to scratch his nut’s while running, 2, dope or a stolen item, 3, a gun. When you deal with gang banger’s on a daily basis and someone on your shift is finding someone armed every night. YOU are going to react differently because of it. right/wrong, it’s just how the world turns. No cop wants to shoot anyone, especially someone who TURNS OUT to be unarmed.
I’ve done my best, without losing your interest, to somewhat explain a bottle top full of info on the use of deadly force. According to the law, the judgement of the use of force is the information known at the time the use of force by the cop pulling the trigger. And that goes for regular folks as well!!!!! After the shooting information doesn’t count, even IF it would help justify it!!! I HAVE seen cases where someone used force and was disciplined for it, when they would’ve been justified when more information was obtained!!!!!!!