TPD officers under investigation - Grand Jury?

[cannon_fodder]

"We determined up front that we weren't going to spend a dime on settlements."

Sure Tulsa police officers violated Tulsa citizens civil rights, destroyed lives, lied, and falsely imprisoned people.  Yes, that happened.  But instead of looking to see if the police department did anything wrong we will litigate so citizens don't even try to find out what really happened.

I don't know that the City or department did anything wrong. But I this hard to believe corruption was so widespread without supervisers, the DA, or lots of people knowing.  I believe the NCAA would call institutional control.

As a taxpayer I'm thrilled.  But the attitude concerns me.

/hope we did some serious soul searching behind the scenes

[heironymouspasparagus]

As a taxpayer I'm thrilled.  But the attitude concerns me.

/hope we did some serious soul searching behind the scenes

Concerns you??  You should be terrified!!

And, no, there was no soul searching behind the scenes.  There was a case of massive harassment in early 70's that consisted of events that eventually led to the advice to one person involved that if he moved out of state, he would survive the year.... this was a meeting with TPD and the person and his lawyer.  There were likely others...  The pattern continues.  (No drugs, no crime, no illegal behavior...just an intense dislike between 'clashing' personalities.)

[Vashta Nerada]

A man who has spent 17 years in federal prison was freed Friday after a judge found that Tulsa law officers — including some later convicted in a corruption probe — manufactured evidence in order to obtain his drug conviction.

Jeffrey Dan Williams was convicted in 1997 of methamphetamine and firearm possession charges and sentenced to 35 years in prison.

U.S. District Judge James H. Payne issued an order on Friday vacating the judgment and sentence and dismissing the indictments against Williams, now 53.

Payne found that the "scheme to manufacture evidence was deliberately planned, carefully executed and intended to defraud this Court, and in fact, this Court did rely upon the fraudulently manufactured evidence in order to convict and sentence Williams."

Also, newly discovered evidence presented on behalf of Williams "identified numerous constitutional violations that cast doubt on his convictions and undercut the reliability of the proof of guilty," Payne wrote in his opinion and order.

Williams initially pleaded innocent, later changed his plea to guilty and has since tried to change it back, saying he was coerced to enter a plea.

Following a police corruption scandal in Tulsa, Williams' case and request to change his plea were brought back for hearings in May 2012.

At an evidentiary hearing, two alleged informants who were used in the federal investigation against Williams testified that they were coerced by Tulsa police officers to testify against Williams in 1997.

Williams maintained he had never met one of the informants who was alleged to have provided information to police.

Meanwhile, prosecutors at the evidentiary hearing worked to establish that investigators followed correct procedures in their 1997 investigation to show the original sentencing was appropriate.

Testimony also included previously unheard, inflammatory allegations against convicted Tulsa police officers, including an account of a plan to rob a police evidence van of drugs and money.

One of the informants in the case testified in Williams' 2012 hearing that he had worked for former Tulsa police officers John K. "J.J." Gray, Jeff Henderson, Harold R. Wells and former federal agent Brandon McFadden from 1995 to 1999 selling drugs.

The three officers and McFadden all have received prison terms in connection with a federal corruption investigation that spanned from 2008 to 2011.

In his ruling Friday, Payne found that Gray, Henderson and other unnamed officers in the Special Investigations Division (SID), "conducted an unconstitutional and illegal search and seizures."

In his decision, Payne also singled out a federal DEA agent, who the judge said was negligent in accepting information against Williams as fact and using it in his investigation which was ultimately was used to convict Williams.

http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/courts/man-freed-after-serving-years-on-drug-charge/article_a21b0da8-c73a-11e3-90d3-0017a43b2370.html

[cannon_fodder]

FWIW, the City paid some of the defendants.  It became clear that the cases were SO bad that it was the only choice.  One of the settlements was discussed in the World a couple months ago.

[Vashta Nerada]

FWIW, the City paid some of the defendants.  It became clear that the cases were SO bad that it was the only choice.  One of the settlements was discussed in the World a couple months ago.

How Tulsa's corruption probe would have gone if the Feds hadnt' lost their nerve:



Six cops charged with robbery, kidnapping, extortion
http://www.philly.com/philly/news/breaking/20140731_Sources__6_cops_arrested_in_federal_corruption_probe.html

Six Philadelphia police officers were arrested Wednesday in a predawn roundup and charged with robbing, kidnapping, and extorting drug suspects over a nearly seven-year period.

The officers all were veterans of a narcotics squad that came under the scrutiny of a joint FBI-Police Department Internal Affairs investigation.
The officers charged in a federal indictment are Thomas Liciardello, 38; Perry Betts, 46; Brian Reynolds, 43; Michael Spicer, 46; John Speiser, 42; and Linwood Norman, 46.

The indictment alleges the officers falsified records, held people without arrest, stole drugs and shared in the proceeds.
Federal officials said they stole more than $500,000 from February 2006 to November 2012, including Rolex watches, electronics and a Calvin Klein suit.

According to a 42-page indictment, some of the officers allegedly took part in a game involving beating drug suspects for points. Others held one suspect from a balcony 30-feet above the ground and knocked out his teeth to obtain a computer password.

Prosecutors said the officers routinely filed false police reports to cover up their criminal behavior.
"That many of the victims were drug dealers, not Boy Scouts, is irrelevant," said Edward Hanko, special agent in charge of the FBI's Philadelphia Office.

Police Commissioner Charles H. Ramsey, who attended the news conference where the charges were announced, said the arrests stemmed from "one of the worst cases of corruption I have ever heard."  All the officers, except for Speiser, face up to life in prison, officials said. For Speiser, the maximum term is 40 years. Ramsey suspended all six for 30 days with the intent to dismiss.

John McNesby, president of Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 5, said the accusations against the officers represented the worst allegations of police corruption he has seen during his seven years as union chief.
"On the scale of one to 10, from what I'm reading this is a 10," he said. "These are serious accusations, and they have to be dealt with seriously."
He said the union "does not take corruption lightly," but would review all of the facts before rushing to judgment against the officers.
"On the face of it, it looks bad, but let's let the dust settle, and see exactly what happened," McNesby said. "They all have good attorneys and they'll make the right decisions."

The arrests come seven months after Ramsey first acknowledged a federal probe was underway and said he had pulled at least four of its targets, all narcotics squad veterans, off of street duty.

The probe intensified after former officer Jeffrey Walker pleaded guilty to federal counts of attempted robbery and using a gun during a violent crime in January. Prosecutors said during his last court hearing he had been cooperating with the investigation.
Questions have dogged the narcotics officers' work since at least 2012, when District Attorney Seth Williams said his office would no longer use their testimony in drug cases, a decision that resulted in the dismissal of scores of cases.
The city has since paid at least $777,000 to settle lawsuits claiming the officers framed suspects with false testimony and evidence. Dozens more remain on court dockets awaiting resolution.

In a statement, Williams' office said it "will review previous convictions involving the six officers and will take appropriate action. When a decision is made on these cases the District "
The office said it had no open cases involving all the officers except Norman and that it was reviewing cases involving him "from the relevant time period."
Mayor Nutter, speaking after a groundbreaking in North Philadelphia, said, "If you are corrupt, we will find you."

Walker, 45, began cooperating with the investigation as soon as he was arrested last year in an FBI sting operation, his lawyer said.
An undercover informant caught the former officer on tape scheming to set up a South Philadelphia drug dealer by planting nearly 28 grams of cocaine in his car.

Walker later took his mark's keys, broke into his house and stole $15,000 and five pounds of marijuana.

[Vashta Nerada]

http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/courts/tpd-corruption-probe-five-years-later-one-former-officer-still/article_e420e5e1-3fa3-5cae-898b-f02882fc768f.html