The Blue Lie

Crooked Cops

CROOKED

BY: Jay Santos

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Cops arrested for:7/3/11-7/9/11

Austin officer Jason Powers Huskins arrested for boating while intoxicated (With Video)

Jul 3, 2011

AUSTIN (KXAN) – Austin police will begin an internal investigation after an APD officer is arrested for boating while intoxicated.

James Ryan Englehardt and APD officer Jason Powers Huskins and James Ryan Englehardt were arrested early Saturday morning near Devil’s Cove on Lake Travis and now face boating while intoxicated charges.

Police said they were called out on a burglary when they were told by a property owner that Englehardt allegedly admitted to the owner that he stole his golf cart, drove up to his house and then went inside and made a sandwich.

Englehardt and Huskins were found inside a running boat near Mile Marker 9, police said.

A court affidavit states Englehardt was driving the boat, but then let Huskins take the driver’s seat and put the boat in neutral.

Police said Englehardt smelled strongly of alcohol, had bloodshot, glassy and watery eyes, was slurring his speech and was staggering.

A court affidavit states that Englehardt refused a breathalyzer test.

Police said Huskins also smelled of alcohol, had watery and glassy eyes, was slurring his speech and swaying. A court affidavit states that Huskins also refused a breathalyzer test.

Both men were arrested and are now facing boating while intoxicated charges.

Englehardt and Huskins are both out of jail.

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Officer David Britto charged with trafficking methamphetamines; could face life in prison

July 3, 2011

(Boynton Beach, FL) — Officer David Britto from the Boynton Beach Police Department. According the DEA, Federal Investigators charged Britto with trafficking methamphetamines. Investigators say they found a large amount of drugs in Britto’s posession. If convicted, he could face life in prison.

Here’s some more information about Britto. It comes from a new release announcing Britto as Boynton’s police officer of the year for 2010. He joined the department in March of 2007. He has also been an instructor in the Boynton Beach Police department’s teen police academy. A spokesperson for the Boynton Beach Police department tells CBS 12 they cannot comment on Britto’s arrest.

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Yorkville officer David Delaney placed on paid-leave after being accused of stealing prescription drugs from department

July 5, 2011

YORKVILLE — A former high-ranking Yorkville police officer accused of stealing prescription drugs from the Police Department has been put on unpaid leave.

According to the Police Department, David Delaney submitted a request on June 30 to be put on unpaid leave of absence as of June 20. The request was granted and his leave of absence will be in effect until Delaney resigns or his employment status is changed by the city’s Board of Fire and Police Commission.

Last month, Delaney, 37, of Yorkville, was charged with felonies possession of a controlled substance and theft of government property. Prosecutors claim that Delaney took prescription medicine for his personal use from the supplies turned in by residents as part of an unused medication disposal program. He is scheduled to make his first appearance in court today.

Delaney was serving as the city’s first deputy chief at the time he was arrested by Illinois State Police.

He was quickly demoted from deputy chief to lieutenant and put on administrative leave, meaning he is not allowed to identify himself as a Yorkville police officer or act as one.

Only the police chief can appoint someone to the deputy chief position or demote them. Delaney had been a lieutenant before being promoted in July 2010. Any hiring and firing decisions, besides police chief, are done by the city’s Board of Fire and Police Commissioners.

Delaney, a well-respected officer, is out on bond. As deputy chief, he was in charge of administration, which included significant police paperwork. Since the arrest, Don Schwartzkopf has been promoted to deputy chief.

Delaney has been with Yorkville police since April 1999.

Yorkville police canceled the medication disposal program on the day Delaney was arrested. The program, common among many local departments, allows residents to safely dispose of unwanted medication to keep it from entering the water supply.

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New Mexico state police officer Daniel Barde arrested

for DUI

July 6, 2011

VALENCIA COUNTY — A New Mexico state police officer arrested a fellow officer Tuesday for drunken driving.

Daniel Barde, 33, was placed on paid administrative leave pending an internal investigation after he was charged with aggravated drunken driving and an open container, Sgt. Tim Johnson said in a prepared release.

Barde was off-duty and driving his personal vehicle when he was stopped.

A Drunk Busters phone call alerted state police to Barde’s driving about 5 p.m., and he was stopped about 6 minutes later while traveling north on I-25 near milepost 190 in Valencia County, Johnson said.

Barde had blood-shot, watery eyes and his breath smelled of alcohol.

The state police officer arrested Barde after he failed field sobriety tests. He was booked at Valenica County Adult Detention Center and later released on his own recognizance, Johnson said.

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Ex-convict’s and married corrections officer Katrina Owens’ relationship turns deadly

July 6, 2011

An ex-convict who authorities say was romantically involved with a married corrections officer shot and killed the woman early Tuesday during an argument at a holiday barbecue in Newark before fleeing to Virginia where he killed himself as federal marshals closed in.

The shooting of the officer, Katrina Owens, was one of four that occurred during a 40-minute spate of gunfire that began just after midnight. When it was over, three people were dead and two others were hospitalized with non-life threatening injuries. None of the attacks was related, Newark authorities said.

Owens, who lived with her husband and three children in the Monmouth Junction section of South Brunswick, was having an affair with 21-year-old Allen Barron, said Samuel DeMaio, Newark’s acting police director.

The two were attending a Fourth of July barbecue at 35 Columbia Ave. when they began to argue inside the house, DeMaio said. The argument spilled into street when, at around 12:30 a.m., Barron pulled out a gun and shot Owens, DeMaio said. Owens was pronounced dead at the scene.

Barron, whose last known address was in Pemberton, Burlington County, fled in Owens’ truck and drove 325 miles to Richmond, Va., said Anthony Ambrose, chief of detectives for the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office. Owens’ vehicle was recovered last night, Ambrose said.

Authorities did not say how or when Owens met Barron or when the affair began. However, as a juvenile, Barron was incarcerated at the New Jersey Training School in Jamesburg at the same time Owens’ worked there as a guard, said two law enforcement officials with knowledge of the investigation. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the case publicly.

Owens’ husband, Marquis, is a sergeant at Northern State Prison in Newark, said Matt Schuman, a Department of Corrections spokesman. He could not be reached for comment.

Once he arrived in Richmond, Barron ended up at the Greyhound bus terminal at around 10:30 a.m., authorities said. The U.S. Marshal’s Service was already looking for him and tracked him to the station, said Kevin Connolly, a Marshal’s Office supervisor in Richmond. Officers in plain clothes approached Barron at 10:41 a.m., but he pulled out a gun before they could identify themselves, Connolly said.

After briefly aiming the weapon at a marshal, Barron turned it on himself, Connolly said.

Owens worked as a state probation officer from 1998 until 2006, when she took a ―break in service,‖ Schuman said, offering no details. She then began working at the New Jersey Training School in September 2007, where she remained until transferring to New Jersey State Prison in Trenton in 2010, according to a spokesman for the Attorney General’s office.

According to court records, Barron pleaded guilty to receiving stolen property in September 2007.

Law enforcement sources said he was sentenced to a year in prison and served his time at the Jamesburg facility while Owens was a guard there.

At the Royal Oaks Apartments complex in South Brunswick, neighbors described the Owenses as a close-knit family and said they were shocked to learn of Katrina Owens’ affair.

―They seemed to be very happy. I saw the little girl Saturday riding her bicycle out here with the other little kids and the father standing there, watching,‖ said one neighbor, Joan King.

Owens’ death was one of three that occurred in Newark between 12:18 a.m. and 12:55 a.m. Tuesday.

The first incident occurred at 697 S. 19th St., when an unidentified male was shot. His injuries are not considered life threatening.

Thirty minutes after Owens was gunned down, 20-year-old Shawn Miller was shot and killed on Elizabeth Avenue, Murray said. At almost the same moment, 24-year-old Marquis Robinson was slain in the 300 block of Osborne Terrace, Murray said. An unidentified female was shot in the same incident and is hospitalized in stable condition.

Robinson’s death was drug-related, DeMaio said, adding that police recovered drugs at the scene of Miller’s death.

Despite the blitz of gunfire, DeMaio noted shootings and homicides have decreased since he implemented his Safe City initiative, a summer anti-violence program, on June 1. There have been more homicides to date in 2011 than there were last year, but the number of killings since June 1 has dipped, he said.

―Although this is a very tragic incident … this is something that is not going to deter us,‖ he said. ―Obviously we’re very disappointed at the events of last night, but we’re going to continue to move forward.‖

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Dallas police officer Victor Esparza arrested for

domestic violence and endangering a child

July 7, 2011

A Dallas police officer was arrested on domestic violence charges Wednesday, accused of striking his girlfriend as she held their baby.

Officer Victor Esparza, 26, was taken into custody on charges of family violence assault, a misdemeanor, and family violence endangering a child, a felony.

Detectives made the arrest based on an incident that occurred Monday at an apartment in the 4300 block of Wyoming Street, near Cockrell Hill Road.

The fight began with a verbal argument in the parking lot of the apartment complex, according to a police report.

The 27-year-old woman told police that during the argument Esparza took their baby and put him in his vehicle to leave. As she reached in to remove the baby, she said, Esparza repeatedly closed the passenger side door on her leg, causing bruises.

After removing the child and his car seat from the vehicle, she said, she walked toward an apartment and was struck on the back of the head. She said Esparza then grabbed both her arms and forced her down onto a

concrete step. She told police that she fell in such a way to avoid injuring the baby.

The department’s internal affairs division will investigate.

Esparza, an officer in the southwest patrol division in Oak Cliff who has been with the department since April 2009, will be on administrative leave until the investigations are completed.

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St. Cloud police officer Jeffrey Ortega-Cerda arrested on stalking charges

July 8, 2011

A St. Cloud police officer was arrested on stalking charges Thursday, just days after announcing his intention to resign, according to Police Chief Pete Gauntlett on Friday.

Officer Jeffrey Ortega-Cerda was arrested after St. Cloud police asked the Osceola County Sheriff’s Office late Wednesday to investigate a complaint that he had threatened his estranged wife in the midst of divorce proceedings, according to the sheriff’s office and police.

Ortega-Cerda’s wife told deputies the threats were made Wednesday when he sent her 18 text messages and called her 30 to 40 times within 90 minutes, according to the sheriff’s office. She also accused Ortega-Cerda, 24, of past domestic violence.

The arrest report filed by the sheriff’s office documents numerous allegations of domestic violence against Ortega-Cerda including slapping his wife while pregnant, slamming her against the side of their home and making her pull the trigger of his police sidearm while he sucked on the pistol barrel. The sheriff’s office has recommended to the Orange-Osceola

State Attorney’s Office that Ortega-Cerda be arrested on domestic violence charges, said sheriff’s spokeswoman Twis Lizasuain.

When located Thursday at his Kissimmee home, Ortega-Cerda denied threatening his wife but acknowledged sending her text messages, according to the sheriff’s office. He was charged with domestic stalking based on those messages, according to the sheriff’s office.

The arrest report quotes from several text messages found on her telephone, including: ―U and everyone else will be involved with The Bull including the cops. I’m not afraid…U should be and will be.‖

Gauntlett said Ortega-Cerda had been a ―stellar officer‖ for four years, who told colleagues he intended to resign to move closer to family in New England. His resignation was processed following his arrest. Otega-Cerda remains held without bail in the Osceola County Jail.

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OKC police officer Christopher Gayhart paid more than $75,000 in administration leave after felony arrest

July 9, 2011

An Oklahoma City police officer charged with not working his entire shifts has been paid more than $75,000 in administrative leave during an investigation into the allegations.

Police tell The Oklahoman that Lt. Christopher Gayhart still is collecting a city paycheck. He turned himself in Friday, the day after he was charged with three felony counts and 10 misdemeanor counts of obtaining money under false pretenses.

Gayhart’s attorney, Irven Box, says he and Gayhart still are looking into the allegations.

City officials say the must keep paying the salaries of employees accused of breaking the law because of disciplinary procedures established during negotiations with employee unions.

Gayhart has been on administrative leave since Aug. 16, after a supervisor questioned if Gayhart was working his assigned shifts as Gayhart had claimed.

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The Blue Lie

Crooked Cops

BY: Jay Santos

www.crookedpd.comwww.crookedsapd.com/forum

More to come...