Judge says it's up to cop accused of rape to show victim is unreliable

The stroke-impaired woman named as the victim in a rape case against a Sacramento police officer appeared at times to be competent in her interviews with investigators, a judge said from the bench Tuesday.

As a result of his finding, Sacramento Superior Court Judge Patrick Marlette said it will be up to the fired ex-cop to show whether the statements of the woman he is accused of raping are unreliable and inadmissible in his preliminary hearing.

Marlette made his finding on the fourth day of the hearing to decide if Gary Dale Baker must stand trial for the alleged sexual attacks on the woman in November 2010 and September 2012.

Baker, 50, is accused in a 12-count complaint of the purported assaults on the woman who was 75 and then 77 years of age and disabled by speech aphasia as a result of her stroke.

In a competency hearing earlier this year, Judge Cheryl Chun Meegan ruled the alleged victim was not able to testify reliably at trial and that no accommodations were available to help her out.

Defense attorney Linda Parisi filed an objection last week at the outset of Baker’s preliminary hearing to block any police officer hearsay testimony based on statements the woman gave to investigators.

Police hearsay testimony is admissible in California for the preliminary hearing’s purpose of determining if there is probable cause to hold a defendant for trial. The issue almost certainly will be replayed if and when the case is bound over for trial, when far more restrictive standards on the admissibility of hearsay testimony would come into play.

Judge Marlette has not ruled yet on the admissibility of the investigators’ hearsay statements, but he said that based on his review of their videotaped conversations with the woman, it looked like she was fairly understandable about half the time.

“There is evidence that has been produced that supports competence,” Marlette said from the bench.

Parisi has said in court papers that Judge Meegan’s July 1 ruling already has determined that the woman is incompetent to testify. The presumption, Parisi argued, should be that the alleged victim was no more competent when police interviewed her after the assaults that allegedly took place on Nov. 24, 2010, and Sept. 20, 2012.

Marlette, however, made a distinction between the alleged victim’s competence when she was examined by a neurologist earlier this year for the purpose of Meegan’s ruling and how the woman appeared to have come off during the 2010 and 2012 conversations with police that were the basis of his observations of her.

She “seems to have slipped,” Marlette said, from the earlier interviews with the police to the later one with UC Davis neurologist Dr. Sarah Tomaszewski Farias.

“In our case,” Marlette said, “we have a progressive incompetence.”

When Marlette gave his opinion on the woman’s performance during the police interviews, the startled defense attorney asked, “Is that a finding?”

“Yes,” Marlette said, to which Parisi replied, “I’m absolutely shocked and surprised.”

Baker’s preliminary hearing is scheduled to resume Monday and continue on Tuesday and Thursday of next week.

Four officers already have testified in the hearing about their interview sessions with the woman, whose 2009 stroke left her with speech aphasia, a condition that inhibits a person’s verbal and written communication abilities.

Officer Matt Armstrong, who interviewed the woman in the presence of some of her family members, said she “would use her hands and we would come up with a concept she seemed to agree with,” to get her take on what happened to her.

When Parisi asked Armstrong for the specific words she used in his interview, the officer said, “It’s very possible she gave me five words, 20 words, 40 words … (and) I filled in a story like I do on all calls. It was just tougher on this one.” Armstrong added later, “I can’t tell you yes or no on the exact words she used.”

Detective Joyce Thorgrimson, who is now a district attorney’s investigator, said the woman indicated what the suspect did to her and that she “made kissing gestures” to demonstrate his actions. She also touched herself where she had indicated the suspect did and that she demonstrated how he placed her on a couch and removed her clothing.

“She was miming it,” Thorgrimson testified.

In his testimony last week, Detective Andrew Newby said, “It was extremely difficult to communicate” with the woman. He said it was his impression “she was able to understand very simple yes and no questions.”

Newby said she simulated that her blouse had been removed, and “her facial expression was snarled at that point, and she was repeating ‘no, no.’” The woman took investigators into a bedroom to give them a further demonstration of what they believe she wanted them to know about what the suspect did to her.

Marlette’s finding that the woman at times appeared to be competent means Baker must carry the burden of proof in the preliminary hearing to show the unreliability of her communications with the police.

Parisi protested that it’s unfair for her to now have to show the level of the alleged victim’s competence for each specific statement, after she’s already cross-examined the key police witnesses.

The judge disagreed, saying the “vast bulk” of her cross examination, in his view, “has been attacking the reliability and credibility of those statements” by the alleged victim. Marlette invited the defense attorney to present any evidence she wants that the woman was not competent when she made the statements.

Lakeland officer suspended for one day after bra search incident

A Lakeland police officer received a one-day suspension for an incident in which he told a woman to shake out her bra for drugs, an act that received national attention.
Police Chief Lisa Womack also ordered Officer Dustin Fetz to complete re-training in arrest, search and seizure laws/procedures and an in depth research project. 
The announcement follows an administrative investigation of the May 21 traffic stop of Zoe Brugger. The vehicle she and her boyfriend Larry Fields were in was stopped by Fetz because it had only one functioning headlight, according to the investigation 
Fetz searched the vehicle and its occupants, and while searching Brugger, he asked her to pull her bra forward with two fingers to release any possible weapons or contraband concealed in the bra, the investigation found. After she did this once, he asked her to do it again. 
The search of Brugger, Fields and the vehicle turned up no contraband, and Brugger was issued a citation for not having a valid driver’s license.
The incident came to light in a letter published June 2 by The Lakeland Ledger, and Womack ordered an investigation the following day. Police received a formal complaint from Brugger on June 5. 
The department investigation concluded Fetz did not follow policies involving the search of the vehicle and using a microphone during the incident, but did not violate policies involving strip searches or the code of conduct.
According to a report by State Attorney Investigator Mike Brown, Fetz’s action violated Brugger’s constitutional rights, but his conduct did not constitute a criminal offense.
“Looking back on the incident, (Fetz) recognizes he was overzealous,” the investigator wrote.
Womack forwarded the results of investigations by the department and the State Attorney’s Office to the FBI, which concluded no civil rights violations had occurred.

LPD Officer Suspended Amid Criminal Investigation

LAKELAND | Another Lakeland police officer is under criminal investigation, although the department won't confirm what the case involves, Assistant Police Chief Larry Giddens said Monday.

A source, who asked not to be named, told The Ledger the allegations are of a sexual nature and happened while on duty.

The subject of the investigation, Julio Pagan, 31, was suspended with pay Friday night, Giddens said. The seriousness of the allegations facing Pagan caused Chief Lisa Womack to cancel her vacation plans.

"This is an active administrative and criminal investigation that is ongoing," Giddens said. "We will not be releasing any information about this case until the conclusion of the investigation."

Pagan, formerly of the Bartow Police Department, was hired by LPD in 2011 and is paid $43,789, according to LPD records. He did not return a call for comment Monday.

Pagan worked as a Bartow police officer from 2006 to 2011, when he left on good terms to take the job at LPD, according to Bartow's records.

LPD Detective Nick Marolda, who also is the president of the West Central Florida Police Benevolent Association, said he is aware of the investigation and said the union is waiting to hear the outcome of the criminal investigation before taking any steps to represent Pagan.

Following department policy, the criminal investigation into Pagan will be conducted before the administrative investigation begins.

The allegations are not part of the ongoing sexual misconduct scandal that has plagued the department for months, Giddens said. "This is a separate incident."

Pagan's case comes as the department wraps up its monthslong investigation into sexual misconduct on and off duty by numerous officers and city employees. This new case also comes after numerous reforms in policy and procedure were put into place by Womack, who emphasized officer ethics at a recent presentation to the Lakeland Police Advisory Commission.

The advisory board is compiling its final report to present to the City Commission next month. The commission, which is made up of volunteers, was created by Lakeland Mayor Gow Fields and is tasked with reviewing a multitude of problems at LPD, including the large sexual-misconduct case involving numerous employees, and recommending reforms.

Rape case against cop begins

At first, she thought the officer was "cool," an alleged rape victim told jurors in an Orange County courtroom today.

After being stopped by then-Orlando police officer Roderick Johnson for a broken tail light, the woman's initial impression of him was positive. The officer told her that, though he could, he wasn't going to charge her for having marijuana in the car, or for driving with a suspended license.
When Johnson drove her to a substation and took her inside, she said, he exposed himself as she sat in a chair inches away.
"I did like I felt what he wanted me to do," and began performing a sex act on Johnson, she said. "I was scared... He's bigger than me, he's an officer. He still had his gun on."
Johnson, 45, faces two counts of sexual battery by a law enforcement officer in the Oct. 16 incident at an OPD substation.
In the state's opening statement, prosecutor Ryan Williams told jurors that "in the world and lives of people who are less fortunate," sometimes there isn't the option to say "no."
For the victim in this case, "you will learn that 'no' was not an option," he said.
Driven to a police substation in handcuffs after being arrested for driving in a stolen vehicle, the victim found herself sitting in front of Johnson inside the station: "He stood in his uniform... firearm at his side" as he began committing sex acts on her, Williams told the jury.
He also told jurors they'll hear Johnson change his account repeatedly in a recorded interview with his own agency, ultimately corroborating the victim's claim that he gave her cash during their encounter.
Johnson had already told her that he could have charged her with additional crimes, Williams said. "With the knowledge that she could potentially be charged with more," she succumbed to Johnson, the prosecutor said.
"You'll know that 'no' is not an option from the very beginning, even leading up to the substation," Williams said.
Johnson's attorney, Robert Nesmith, told jurors the woman was allowed into the substation because she said she needed the restroom. He acknowledged that his client later gave her money, but said that wasn't payment for anything.
"The evidence will not show in any way that anything improper took place in the substation," Nesmith said, noting that the woman didn't report any sex for several days: "No complaints, no sexual battery, no sex, no nothing."
Nesmith said the woman had motivation to concoct a story. The rape allegation, he said, effectively ended any possibility that she would be prosecuted on the grand theft charge Johnson arrested her on.
"So she had motivation... and she cared not who she hurt," Nesmith said.
The state later called the alleged victim, a 23-year-old woman who lives in Indiana. She testified that Johnson stopped her for a broken tail light, and later discovered the car she was driving was stolen.
Her initial impression of Johnson was positive; the officer told her that, though he could, he wasn't going to charge her for having marijuana in the car, or for driving with a suspended license.
"I was like, I just met a really cool officer and he was cool," she testified.
However, she said their interactions soon became flirtatious, with Johnson telling her she was cute, and asking if her mother was as "fine" as she was.
"I was weirded out, like, why is he asking about my mother?" she said on the witness stand Tuesday.
Johnson drove her to the substation and took her inside, she said, then exposed himself as she sat in a chair inches away.
"I did like I felt what he wanted me to do," and began performing a sex act on Johnson, she said. "I was scared... He's bigger than me, he's an officer. He still had his gun on."
After they had sex, she said Johnson gave her $40, money she ask said she never asked for: "I remember it bright as day, it was two $20 bills."
The woman didn't claim the sex was forcible; rather, Johnson suggested she could face additional charges if she didn't cooperate with him, she said. She reported the sexual battery after experiencing symptoms of a sexually transmitted disease, authorities have said.
Johnson has denied having sex with the woman.
In addition to the criminal case, an Orlando Police Department internal affairs investigators concluded that Johnson raped the woman, then lied about what had happened to his own agency.
"The evidence and testimony in this investigation is clear and convincing to prove Officer Johnson committed sexual battery by a law enforcement officer while on duty and in uniform," the IA report stated.
Johnson "was deceptive and dishonest" and "lied repeatedly," the report says.

Edmonds cop sentenced to year in jail for having sex with detained woman

 Edmonds police officer convicted of having sex with a woman he had detained in May 2012 was sentenced today to a year in jail.

A Snohomish County jury last month convicted Daniel Lavely, 48, of custodial sexual misconduct.

“Your conduct exploited a vulnerable woman and disgraced your profession,” Superior Court Judge Janice Ellis told Lavely at his sentencing, The Herald of Everett reported.

Lavely declined to speak at his hearing. He must register as a sex offender and be supervised for a year after his release from jail.

Lavely resigned from the department in January after an internal investigation into the incident resulted in him learning that he could possibly be fired. Lavely, 48, had been with the police department for eight years.

According to charges filed by the Snohomish County prosecutor’s office, Lavely first contacted the victim, a then-28-year-old Seattle woman, after she reportedly jaywalked on Highway 99 in Edmonds on the night of May 6, 2012.

Early the next morning, Lavely encountered the same woman while responding to a 911 call about her fleeing the emergency room at Swedish Medical Center, Edmonds Campus. Lavely found the woman at a nearby motel and placed her in the back of his patrol car, according to charges.

The Seattle woman told investigators Lavely drove her to the “poorly lit back parking lot” of the Burlington Coat Factory in Edmonds and forced the woman into sex, charges said.

It’s a crime for an officer on duty to engage in sex with a person being detained, even if that sex is consensual.

While Everett police, who were brought in to investigate the incident, say the woman was not handcuffed, the charges say she was “detained, under arrest or in the custody of the defendant.”

Everett police investigated the sexual-misconduct allegation and forwarded the case to Snohomish County prosecutors, who filed charges in November.

Officers recount alleged victim’s rape accusation against ex-cop

Much of the 75-year-old woman’s story had to be told through physical demonstration and pantomime, the officers testified, because the stroke and its resulting expressive aphasia drastically affected her ability to speak.

In interpreting her gestures, the officers said it was pretty clear she was telling them that sexual activity had taken place, and that in spite of her impairment, she was able to fashion a one-word answer when asked if she agreed to it.

“No,” she said, according to the investigators. Physical examinations then documented injuries that appeared to have been incurred during acts of sexual intercourse, which brought another word to the minds of investigators – rape.

Eventually, the investigation circled Sacramento police detectives back toward one of their own, Gary Dale Baker, 50, whose preliminary hearing began Monday in Superior Court on a 12-count complaint that he raped the woman who had suffered the stroke and been rendered aphasic.

The hearing is expected to resume and conclude on Thursday, when Judge Patrick Marlette must decide whether prosecutors have enough evidence to hold Baker – who has since been fired – over for trial.

A July 1 ruling by another judge, Cheryl Chun Meegan, that the alleged victim is incompetent to testify complicated the hearing. Based on Meegan’s ruling, defense attorney Linda Parisi challenged the reliability of the information police gleaned from the woman that was the basis of some of their Monday testimony.

Marlette took the objection under submission. He is likely to rule Thursday whether the woman’s mostly nonverbal account of what happened to her can come in through the officers’ hearsay testimony – normally allowable for the purpose of a preliminary hearing, but now in question in the Baker case in light of Meegan’s ruling.

Expressive aphasia is a condition that can result from severe brain trauma that hinders a person’s ability to speak or write, although the thought process remains normal. Advocacy groups say that with proper accommodations, aphasics can testify competently. The National Aphasia Association has since filed a complaint with the U.S. Justice Department over the judge’s ruling barring the woman’s testimony in the Baker case.

The alleged victim’s daughter-in-law first reported the case to police on Nov. 25, 2010, a day after the woman said she was attacked.

The lead detective, Joyce Thorgrimson, testified she and another investigator interviewed the alleged victim – identified only as “Jane Doe” – on Nov. 30, 2010.

“She was not able to communicate or have a normal conversation,” testified Thorgrimson, who has since left the Sacramento Police Department and is now an investigator with the District Attorney’s Office.

A resident of a senior-living complex in south Sacramento, the woman told authorities she first encountered a man she described as a “sheriff” or an “officer” earlier in the day when she was returning home, according to Thorgrimson’s testimony. She said the man told her he would be coming over to see her later in the afternoon.

“She indicated he knocked on the door, she opened it, and he came in,” Thorgrimson testified, under questioning from Deputy District Attorney Amy Holliday. “She said he began kissing her right away.”

Thorgrimson said the man at the door “touched her under her clothes and over her breasts,” got her onto a couch “and her took her lower clothing off.”

During the interview, the woman “was miming” what the intruder did to her, according to the investigator. Asked if she wanted to have sex with him, the woman said she told him, “Please, no,” Thorgrimson testified.

The detective said police talked to the woman again the next day and that “she responded well to visual cues” and was able to clarify her account. Investigators brought a laptop computer to enhance their communication with the woman.

“She was able to answer questions,” Thorgrimson testified.

Shown a calendar for November 2010, the woman pointed to the date of Nov. 24 when the attack allegedly occurred, and said, “He come here today,” Thorgrimson testified.

Thorgrimson said the woman “indicated that he opened the door and pushed his way into the apartment.”

“Then she started saying the word ‘off,’” Thorgrimson said. “She repeated that several times.”

When they asked her again if the sex was consensual, the detective testified, “She told him she was too old.”

Thorgrimson said the woman was able to pull an alarm in her apartment “and the suspect ran out the front door.”

According to the complaint against Baker, he returned to the woman’s apartment on Sept. 20, 2012, and attacked her again. A nurse practitioner who examined the woman “said Ms. Doe was having a difficult time explaining it, but she was demonstrating” what had taken place, Thorgrimson said.

The physical examination of the woman showed she suffered five separate assault-related injuries, the investigator testified.

Parisi, who began her cross-examination of Thorgrimson, is expected to conclude it on Thursday.

Ft. Wayne Officer Suspended on Sexual Misconduct Allegations

A Fort Wayne police officer has been suspended without pay.

Police Chief Rusty York confirmed that crime scene technician Mark Rogers has been charged with two counts of sexual misconduct, both felonies and one count of false reporting, a misdemeanor.  Rogers is charged with sexually assaulting a woman while she was intoxicated and in custody. The woman claims the officer forced to her to have sex on a park bench and she cooperated out of fear for her safety.

The police report filed by Rogers, claims he was transporting her to jail when she vomited in the police car and was taken to the hospital for evaluation and blood test.   Records show a medical clearance form signed by the ER doctor and the officer. Video also shows the woman being hand-cuffed and led from the hospital.

However, Rogers claimed in his report she was held for observation and he returned to the police station to file paperwork.  The prosecutor's office says an arrest warrant for woman was never received from police. 

Fort Smith officer resigns, arrested on sex charge

FORT SMITH, Ark. (AP) — Fort Smith police say an officer resigned shortly before being arrested on five felony counts of sexual assault.

Police arrested 31-year-old Billy Roweon Tuesday.

Police Chief Kevin Lindsey says Rowe is suspected of having a sexual relationship with a 16-year-old — including once while on duty. Rowe had been on paid leave since Sept. 11 when officers began investigation the allegations against him.

Rowe was booked into the Sebastian County jail on $25,000 bond and is due in court Wednesday morning.

DA’s Office won’t try rape case against cop

The District Attorney’s Office will not pursue charges against a Santa Fe Police detective accused of raping a female fellow officer.

Attorney John Day said his client, who has given her resignation notice to the police department, was disappointed when she learned prosecutors would not take the case.

“I think they thought it was too hard of a case to take,” Day said. “But as a former prosecutor I know there are often hard cases and prosecutors sometimes have to take the hard cases on and try to win.”

District Attorney Angela “Spence” Pacheco said she made the decision to not prosecute after reviewing all of the reports and audio interviews from a New Mexico State Police investigation.

“Based on the facts or evidence, I could not prove there was force or coercion in order to prosecute the case,” Pacheco said.

The female officer, in an interview, said she was surprised and angered by the decision and disagreed with some of the statements attributed to her in the State Police report, which she thought weakened the case.

And, she said, she’s trying to figure out where she goes from here.

“I feel like my life has been totally altered,” she said. “The entire course of my life I thought I would be a cop forever. Well, 20 years. I loved my job. I was good at my job. I actually cared about people, and it’s heartbreaking to have to give up that dream.”

The female officer, who had been on the force about two years, alleged that the rape occurred July 31 at the home of a city detective who has been with the department since 1999. According to State Police reports, the assault allegedly happened after the woman went to the detective’s home to talk to him about problems he said he was having with his wife.

She said the man kissed her and she said, “No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. … This is not gonna happen. This is not OK.”

She told investigators that the detective started to undress and kiss her. She said she “froze” and didn’t say anything else as he had sex with her.

“She stated she felt like the whole situation didn’t look good,” the State Police report stated. “She didn’t feel like she could leave.”

The woman gave a second statement to police later, telling them she didn’t know in the first interview whether it was rape, but after she was not in shock she knew he “absolutely” raped her.

The report states that she did not fight the man and she did not have defensive wounds.

The detective told police that the sex was consensual, that no force was used and that the woman did not say she did not want to have sex.

In the interview with the Journal , the woman said she disagreed with one phrase police used in the report, stating that some of the sex acts felt “really enjoyable.” She said this statement was taken out of context and relates to a term regarding rape she has since learned is called “body betrayal.” She said the comment was made in a wider context in which she said she enjoyed the physical experience, but did not understand how that could happen because it was not consensual.

Claire Harwell, the project director of the Community Justice Project, said she has been working with the woman as an advocate, and that the case was “not unlike many other sexual assaults.”

“The victim just doesn’t feel heard,” she said. “If you say, ‘No, no, no, no, no, don’t do this’ and someone keeps going, how long would you be expected to voice something that’s not being honored?”

Harwell also noted sections of the report that indicate the woman did not fight back or suffer injuries, saying that sometimes in cases of rape a victim goes into a kind of shock called “tonic immobility.”

“It’s a kind of paralysis that sets in when you’re terrified,” she said. “It’s not something you can control.”

In the case of the woman’s statement that the contact felt enjoyable, Harwell said, “That is not uncommon either.”

“Our bodies are hardwired to do a particular thing if they’re touched in a particular way,” she said. “Terror can heighten that. It doesn’t mean they enjoyed that.”

The woman officer turned in her two-week notice of resignation to the police department Monday, stating she was quitting because the detective was still employed with the department and she does not feel safe.

The detective is not on police duty, but he is doing non-law-enforcement work for the department away from the station, spokeswoman Celina Westervelt said.

In her resignation notice, the woman also said there is a cultural problem of sexual harassment in the department.

“It has been my experience that the majority of male police officers treat the female officers with very little respect, making the SFPD a difficult place for female employees to work,” her letter states.

Police Chief Ray Rael said that allegation “surprised” him.

“This is the first I heard of any allegations that this is a culture, that there are problems out there,” he said.

He said he asked for an internal investigation relating to the woman’s sexual harassment claims and that investigation is ongoing.

Federal trail delayed until March for former APD officer accused of rape

SACRAMENTO — A former Anderson police officer facing life in prison if convicted of raping a Millville woman he was taking to jail in May 2010 won’t be going to trial next month.

The Oct. 8 federal trial scheduled for Bryan Robert Benson, 29, has been postponed to March 25 at the request of his Gold River-based law firm, Goyette & Associates.

The delay was granted after Benson’s attorneys said they needed more time to review additional discovery evidence provided by federal prosecutors.

Benson, who was released earlier this year from Sacramento County Jail to the custody of his parents, spent a year in jail under a controversial plea bargain he struck with Shasta County prosecutors in 2011.

But he was re-arrested in December after he was indicted by a federal grand jury on charges he allegedly deprived the Millville woman of her constitutional rights under color of law. He is now free on bond.

Circumstances of the alleged rape widely differ based on prosecution and defense accounts.

Federal prosecutors claim Benson raped the woman while he was taking her to the Shasta County jail in an unmarked patrol car after she had been arrested on suspicion of DUI.

But his defense attorneys have claimed that the sex was consensual.

Prosecutors said earlier this year that they had learned of at least two earlier complaints filed against Benson showing a disturbing pattern of behavior.

One complaint accused Benson of following women from a pre-employment training agency into that agency’s parking lot while going through his police training, prosecutors have said.

He also was accused of stopping a woman on a traffic violation, but letting her off after she agreed to a lunch date. He then allegedly went looking for the woman after she had stood him up for their date, prosecutors said.

The alleged rape victim, who is not being identified by the Record Searchlight because she’s a suspected sex crime victim, has filed a $10 million federal lawsuit against the city of Anderson and its police report in connection with the purported rape.

In her lawsuit, she claims the city of Anderson is responsible for the sexual assault because its policies, customs, practice and inadequate supervision or training allowed it to happen.

The city has denied the charges.

Benson is not named as a defendant in the lawsuit because he’s been fired from the police department and is bankrupt.

Electronic court documents show the attorneys representing the alleged rape victim in the civil case took Benson’s deposition late last month, but that he asserted his Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination.

“He refused to testify about anything to do with law enforcement, to the point of refusing to testify about any conversations he had with his father, a long-time sworn officer in the Redding Police Department (now retired), about law enforcement,” according to a joint status report filed earlier this month in U.S. District Court.

Fort Wayne police officer accused of sexual misconduct

A Fort Wayne Police Department officer was arrested and placed on unpaid administrative leave Monday morning on felony charges of sexual misconduct by a service provider and official misconduct.
Officer Mark A. Rogers, a 19-year veteran of the department, was arrested about 10:30 a.m. Monday, Police Chief Rusty York said.
Rogers, 45, works as a crime scene technician for the city police department, York said.
Rogers was also charged with misdemeanor false reporting, York said.
Under Indiana law, sexual misconduct by a service provider charge applies to a public servant, another person employed by a government entity or a person who provides goods and services to someone in lawful detention.
A service provider who knowingly or intentionally engages in sexual intercourse or deviate sexual conduct with a person who is being lawfully detained can be charged with a Class C felony. A service provider of at least 18 years old who knowing or intentionally engages in sexual intercourse or deviate sexual conduct with a person who is less than 18 and in lawful detention can be charged with a Class B felony, according to Indiana code.
Rogers is charged with Class C felony sexual misconduct by a service provider and Class D felony official misconduct
Official misconduct is defined by state law as when a public servant knowingly or intentionally: commits an offense in the performance of their official duties; "solicits, accepts, or agrees to accept from an appointee or employee any property other than what the public servant is authorized by law to accept as a condition of continued employment; acquires or divests himself or herself of a pecuniary interest in any property, transaction, or enterprise or aids another person to do so based on information obtained by virtue of the public servant's office that official action that has not been made public is contemplated; or fails to deliver public records and property in the public servant's custody to the public servant's successor in office when that successor qualifies."
York said an investigation began a little more than a week ago after a complaint originated in Allen County. York declined to provide additional details about the complaint and said the case had been passed to the Allen County Sheriff's Department.
Also on Monday, the Board of Public Safety placed Rogers on unpaid administrative leave pending an investigation by the sheriff's department.

Police officer charged with rape in Johnstown

JOHNSTOWN, N.Y. - A police officer in Johnstown has been arrested for allegedly raping a 16-year-old female.

The Johnstown Police Department says city police officer 31-year-old Adam Schwabrow has been charged with third-degree rape on Friday. The charge was announced during a press conference held at City Hall by the Johnstown Police Department.

Police say the alleged rape was not forcible; however the female involved was not old enough to give consent.

Schwabrow, a nine year veteran and K-9 officer for the department, was arrested at the police department Friday morning. He posted bail and is due back in court next week. The District Attorney is asking for a special prosecutor to handle the case because of Schwabrow's position.

Schwabrow has been suspended from the department with pay pending an internal investigation.

He also acts as the Montgomery County Emergency Management Director. The Chairman of the Board of Supervisors John Thayer says Schwabrow has been immediately placed on administrative leave with pay from that position as well, pending more information and future developments. Interim Deputy Director Rick Sager has been placed in charge of the Emergency Management Office until further notice.

Two Milwaukee officers seek dismissal of strip search charges

Two Milwaukee police officers charged with being present at illegal strip searches and body cavity searches on Tuesday filed new motions to dismiss the charges, saying they are too vague to defend and violate due process.
Jeffrey Dollhopf and Brian Kozelek were in court Tuesday for a pretrial conference. Dollhopf is charged with illegal strip search and illegal cavity search, misdemeanors, both as party to a crime, and two counts of misconduct in public office, a felony. Kozelek faces one count of illegal strip search, and one of misconduct in office.
Motions filed Tuesday on behalf of both men argue that the counts should be dismissed because they are too vague to allow a proper defense and violate due process. Each is charged with counts related to a July 2011 stop in which a former fellow officer, Michael Vagnini, searched a suspect's buttocks, then later made him strip and try to defecate in a box at the District Five police station.
Dollhopf also is charged with being party to search of another suspect in September 2011, first during a stop, then a more aggressive probe of the suspect's anus back at the station, and finally getting the suspect to expel drugs from his rectum into a garbage can after he was stripped to his underwear. Vagnini also conducted those searches.
But the criminal complaint against Dollhopf and Kozelek doesn't allege they ordered anyone to strip, or touched or spoke to the suspects, according to their motion. In the second incident, the complaint does not specify where, how or when Dollhopf was involved, the motion contends.
Dollhopf and Kozelek also have filed a motion to exclude any expert testimony by prosecutors, citing their failure to identify any such experts or turn over their reports since defense counsel made the demand for such information in early July.
Vagnini pleaded no contest to four felonies and four misdemeanors and was sentenced to prison. A fourth officer, Jacob Knight, pleaded no contest to a single misdemeanor strip search count and is awaiting sentencing.
More than a dozen victims of the illegal searches have sued the City of Milwaukee and various police officials. Dollhopf, Kozelek and Knight have been suspended with pay.

Idiot cop accused of sexually intimidated women he met during routine calls.

House arrest ahead for Vegas officer in abuse case

LAS VEGAS (AP) — A Las Vegas judge set bail at $16,000 and placed a suspended police officer on house arrest Thursday pending a Jan. 14 preliminary hearing on allegations that he sexually intimidated women he met during routine calls.

Solomon Coleman, 28, stood in court with his lawyer and spoke only to acknowledge that he understood the charges against him, including oppression under color of office with threat of force, a felony, and four misdemeanors including gross lewdness and taking pictures of a person's private area.

Coleman wasn't asked to enter a plea, and Justice of the Peace William Kephart allowed him to remain free for 24 hours pending processing and release from the Clark County jail.

Coleman was named in an arrest warrant issued last Friday. His lawyer, Josh Tomsheck, told the judge he arranged for Coleman's surrender in court on Thursday to smooth the process of arresting and processing a police officer at the jail.

Tomsheck said Coleman would post bail.

Outside court, Coleman huddled with family members and avoided reporters while Tomsheck said he had just received police reports in the case.

"Obviously, there's more to the story than we know at this time," the defense attorney said.

Prosecutor Lisa Luzaich declined comment.

Coleman, a five-year police veteran who was born, raised and married in Las Vegas, was suspended with pay pending departmental action.

Among other allegations, he is accused of remaining at the home of a woman whose boyfriend had been arrested in June on a domestic violence charge and instructing the woman to disrobe so he could check her for bruises and photograph her body.

The woman told the Las Vegas Review-Journal for a Thursday report (http://bit.ly/11Nk2zC ) that her 5-year-old son walked into the bedroom during the incident and Coleman ushered the boy away.

Coleman later exposed himself to the woman in her bathroom, the newspaper reported, citing the woman, then returned to the woman's home later, but she didn't open the door.

Other charges stem from allegations that Coleman used his phone to record more than 20 minutes of a personal sex video from another woman's cellphone, which police had seized during an arrest.

Police matched Coleman's patrol records with the date the video was recorded and determined he had taken the phone from a California woman during a traffic stop in June 2012, the Review-Journal said.

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Weasel 101

San Bernardino police officer faces sex charges

Jose Jesus Perez is indicted on suspicion of forcing two prostitutes to have sex with him 'while acting under the color of law.'

As a San Bernardino police officer, Jose Jesus Perez had hopes of becoming a vice cop.

He knew prostitutes who worked in the area, authorities say, and gave tips to fellow officers on how to conduct vice investigations.

But on Thursday, prosecutors alleged Perez's interest in the subject was more than professional. He was arrested and charged with forcing two prostitutes to have sex with him while he was apparently on duty.

"The charges in this case describe disgraceful abuses of police authority that simply cannot be tolerated in our society," U.S. Atty. André Birotte Jr. said in a prepared statement.

Perez, 46, was indicted on four civil rights offenses that involved aggravated sexual abuse "while acting under the color of law," court records show. He was arrested in Denton, Texas.

The two prostitutes, whose identities were not released, told investigators that they "engaged in the sex acts demanded by Perez only because they feared for their well-being because he was a police officer," according to a news release from the U.S. attorney's office.

Perez, who was once a Los Angeles police officer, was fired from San Bernardino Police Department in December after an internal investigation into the allegations.

In an affidavit filed in court, FBI Agent Heng K. Liv alleged Perez encountered one prostitute while on patrol and asked whether she had any outstanding warrants and "other biographical information," including her phone number. Over the next several days, he sent a series of sexually explicit text messages to her, Liv wrote.

Liv alleged that on April 25, 2011, shortly after 1 a.m,  Perez, while in uniform and in his patrol car, pulled up alongside the woman as she walked down the street near a convenience store. He told her to go behind the store, where he allegedly touched her breasts while searching the woman's shirt, "in a way that caused [her] to believe that he was looking for a recording device," according to Liv's affidavit.

Perez then demanded that the woman perform oral sex on him, prosecutors allege. When she told him, "maybe next time," he grabbed her by the arm, and pulled her toward him, according to the agent's affidavit.

"No. We are going to do it now," Perez allegedly said.

Police Department GPS records showed that Perez's patrol car was in the location where and when the woman alleged the attack occurred, according to court documents.

Perez assaulted the second woman in 2011 on three occasions in August and September, prosecutors allege. The woman told investigators that she "feared that if she refused Perez's sexual advances he could and would make her life difficult," according to Liv's affidavit. The agent added that the woman told detectives that "prostitutes have a common understanding that they cannot tell a police officer 'no' if he requests sex."

The woman, who worked as a prostitute in San Bernardino "for many years," told investigators that Perez lured her to a vacant field, where he sexually assaulted her, Liv alleged. GPS data, again, confirmed that Perez's patrol car was in area where the woman alleged that assault occurred, the agent wrote.

Days later, Perez had intercourse with her at two motels, Liv wrote in the affidavit. During the second alleged encounter, Perez showed up to the room wearing street clothes but also possessing his gun, the agent stated.

In an interview with San Bernardino police detectives, Perez admitted to having sex with the second woman but maintained that the sex was consensual, according to Liv's affidavit. He denied having sexual contact with any other prostitutes.

Both Perez and the two alleged victims told investigators he had never paid for the sex acts, nor had he offered to pay for them.

If convicted, Perez faces a maximum sentence of life in federal prison, according to Thom Mrozek, a spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office in Los Angeles.

Cop raped and then threatened women during sex.

Former Orange Co. cop convicted of forcible sodomy

SANTA ANA, Calif. -- An Orange County jury has convicted a former police officer of forcibly sodomizing three women he dated.

Jurors concluded that Jesse Andrew Greenphysically restrained and attacked the women during what prosecutors said had been consensual sexual encounters.

The assaults happened between 2006 and 2009, when Green was an officer with the Garden Grove Police Department. He was charged in October 2010.

On the witness stand, Green denied numerous details from the women's testimony, including that he threatened them during sex.

Green faces a minimum of nine years and a maximum of 24 years in prison when he is sentenced in November.

Sexual assault suit against Pa. trooper can proceed, judge rules

U.S. District Judge James M. Munleycomplaint against a state trooper to proceed, despite the fact that the jurist granted immunity to the law enforcement officer on certain claims.

Faith Kintzel is suing Kleeman over allegations that the defendant had forced sexual intercourse with the woman three years ago.

According to the complaint, Kleeman had charged Faith Kintzel with summary harassment back in April 2010.

Following the hearing, the trooper asked Kintzel if she wanted to have coffee with him sometime, to which the woman responded that she did not.

Kleeman then asked the plaintiff to accompany him to a cemetery where they could talk in private the complaint states. It was at that time that Kleeman allegedly had intercourse with Kintzel against the woman’s will.

Kintzel and her husband ended up suing Kleeman for false arrest and imprisonment, excessive use of force, due process violations, sexual assault and battery, and loss of consortium.

Wood River policeman accused of felony misconduct

EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. (AP) - A police officer in southwestern Illinois' Wood River is accused of soliciting a sex act from a woman in exchange for his help in an investigation.

A Madison County grand jury on Thursday indicted 32-year-old Jeremy Elliott on charges of felony official misconduct.

The county's state's attorney's office says Elliott committed the misconduct involving a 29-year-old woman in his official capacity as a police officer in Wood River, northeast of St. Louis.

Elliott is suspended from the police force without pay.

Online court records don't show whether Elliott has an attorney. Elliott does not have a listed home telephone number.

The charge in punishable by up to five years in prison.