by TChris

The president of the San Francisco Police Officers Association explains that videos made for a police Christmas party were intended as “comic relief.”

The videos include scenes of uniformed and plainclothes officers mocking the homeless, women, Asians, African-Americans and gay men. In one segment, a mock scene has a black woman yelling after apparently having been hit by a patrol car.

The association president is “absolutely certain that none of the officers involved participated in the making of these comic parodies with the intent to disparage any individual or group.” Huh?

by TChris

Two New York police officers have been accused of sexually assaulting three women. In November, the officers approached a woman who was stopped at a red light in Brooklyn.

Investigators said one of the officers leaned into her car and rubbed his hand on her leg and both officers followed her home on the pretext of making sure she arrived safely, but assaulted her once they got there while her child and her brother's two children were sleeping inside.

DNA belonging to one officer was found in the woman’s apartment. A month earlier, the same officers groped two women in their apartment when they responded to a noise complaint, according to complaints the women filed after realizing the same officers had committed other assaults.

Sexual abuse of women by police officers isn’t limited to New York.

What was going through the mind of former Miami cop Jesus Guitierrez when he turned down a plea offer with probation and no jail time on charges he had sex with a 14 year old enrolled in a police teen program over a ten month period?

He rolled the dice, went to trial and was convicted of three counts of lewd and lascivious conduct on a child. The Judge sentenced him Friday to 20 years in prison to be followed by 15 years of probation.

Trials are risky. Guiterrez has a wife and two small children, who will now grow up without a father. If he turned down the deal to get his job back or avoid sex offender registration, banking on the victim crumbling on the stand, he made a poor choice.

by TChris

Does the FBI recognize any limits on its ability to deceive the public? The FBI planted Thomas Esposito as a candidate in a primary for the West Virginia legislature. Catching Esposito on a federal corruption charge in 2003, FBI agents used him to set up a vote-buying sting.

Esposito entered the state House race in January 2004, after losing his bid for a fifth term as Logan mayor. … Investigators believed that "if Esposito were to become a candidate for elective office, a virtual treasure trove of evidence could result," Assistant U.S. Attorney R. Booth Goodwin II said in a federal court filing last month. "The undercover investigation has yielded important results."

Esposito withdrew from the race less than a month before the primary, claiming he needed to tend to an ill family member. Nobody knows whether the alleged vote buyers would have committed their crimes if Esposito, desperate for a break in his own case, hadn’t begged them to take his (that is, the FBI’s) money. In any event, the results obtained — “charges against 16 residents of Logan and neighboring Lincoln counties” — can’t justify the FBI’s tactics.

I've been waiting years to see a report like this in today's Los Angeles Times.

A recent inspector general's investigation of the FBI's informant program noted violations in that agency's use of snitches in 87% of cases reviewed.

The story behind the story:

A Yemeni immigrant's activities cast a shadow on federal agencies' use of informants. One man the felon fingered didn't go quietly to prison.

Ismael took on the system and won:

He says he never lost faith that the truth would emerge. "I knew there were corrupt agencies, like you see in the movies," Ismael said. "But I figured the court couldn't be corrupt, too. "If the court were corrupt, people wouldn't want to live in America."

Snitch testimony is purchased testimony. It is bought with promises of leniency. Freedom is a far more precious commodity than money. The incentive to lie is enormous. Only by telling the Government's version of the truth does the snitch get his pay-off: a lesser sentence for his own misdeeds.

Say no to snitching.

by TChris

Having trouble keeping track of all the governors and members of Congress who are dogged by accusations of wrongdoing? Chris Cillizza assembled this handy scandal scorecard as a quick reference.

by TChris

Former Representative Randall "Duke" Cunningham, whose bribery conviction and resignation are discussed here, is rolling over on his coconspirators. Who will he bring down?

Cunningham's 33-page guilty plea Monday says the congressman worked with four coconspirators to take $2.4 million in bribes from defense contractors and others over the past five years. The money went to pay for a San Diego estate, a Virginia condominium, a Rolls-Royce and a litany of other luxury items.

The plea agreement did not name the alleged conspirators, but details such as business addresses and occupations made some of their identities apparent. One was Mitchell Wade, former president of MZM Inc., a Washington, D.C., firm that does classified intelligence work for the military. The documents also suggest that another conspirator was Brent Wilkes, an associate of Wade's who headed a defense contracting company called ADCS Inc., which also provided campaign cash and favors to Cunningham while reaping valuable contracts.

by TChris

Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham entered guilty pleas today to bribery and tax evasion charges. TalkLeft background on the Dukester is collected here.

Asked by U.S. District Judge Larry Burns if he had accepted cash and gifts and then tried to influence the Defense Department on behalf of the donors, Cunningham said, "Yes, your honor."

U.S. Attorney Carol Lam said the Dukester "did the worst thing an elected official can do -- he enriched himself through his position and violated the trust of those who put him there." (If only violating our trust were a federal crime ....) Cunningham also announced his resignation from Congress today, reducing the ranks of the indicted in that body by one.

Murray Waas reports tonight that Sen. Richard Shelby of Alabama, former top Republican on the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, has been cleared in an ethics probe. The probe began in 2004 on a referral from the Justice Department, after it conducted its own investigation and declined to charge Shelby with a crime.

The Senate Ethics Committee inquiry commenced as a result of a referral from the Department of Justice to the committee on July 20, 2004, in which the department said that there existed what sources described as "credible and specific information" that Shelby might have leaked classified information to the press, and then possibly made false statements to federal investigators to conceal what he had done.

The CIA has referred the leak of secret prison locations that appeared in the Washington Post to the Justice Department for investigation. This is the same way means by which the criminal investigation began into PlameGate.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the issue deals with classified information, said the referral was made shortly after the Nov. 2 story. The leak investigation into the disclosure of covert CIA officer Valerie Plame's identity came about through the same referral procedure. The Justice Department will decide whether to initiate a criminal investigation.

by TChris

Jersey City Police Officer Julio Luna moved to a different apartment in his apartment building, but he left his bed behind. His landlord put the bed in storage. When Luna demanded that the landlord pay him $1,000 for the bed, the landlord told Luna he could have his bed back. Luna responded by placing his landlord in handcuffs. That act prompted the landlord to agree to pay the $1,000, but when the landlord showed up the next day, he brought the bed, not the cash.

Luna again handcuffed the landlord, then took him to jail. The landlord “wasn't released until he'd agree to a deal - brokered by an unidentified cop wearing uniform pants and a white T-shirt - in which he'd give Luna a month's free rent and a free parking spot, worth about $829.” About a year later, Luna was indicted on two counts of official misconduct and one count of theft by extortion. He just agreed to enter a pretrial diversion program which -- if he completes probation -- will result in the charges being dismissed. To obtain that deal, Luna agreed that he’d never work as a police officer again.

by TChris

While we await word on Fitzgerald's indictments, the waiting ended for Tom Noe, the Ohio coin dealer who allegedly laundered money into President Bush’s re-election campaign. Noe was indicted today.

The three-count indictment ... states that beginning in October 2003, Mr. Noe contributed to President Bush’s election campaign “over and above the limits established by the Federal Election Campaign Act."

“He did so, according to the indictment, in order to fulfill his pledge to raise $50,000 for a Bush-Cheney fund-raiser held in Columbus, Ohio, on Oct. 30, 2003,” Gregory White, the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio, announced at an afternoon news conference.

Noe, a Bush "pioneer," is also being investigated for stealing millions from the state. TalkLeft background on Noe is here and here.