Sheriff Embarrassed to be Lauded by Playboy

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When the Bad Guys Have the Badge

Lashanna Snipes was fatally wounded in a St. Louis car crash and another adult passenger was also injured, as were three children.

The accident occurred when a car being pursued by Upland Park Police ran a stop sign, hitting Ms. Snipes' vehicle in an intersection and though at least one of the suspects have since been arrested, the driver, the two people in the car being pursued originally fled on foot.

While investigating the accident for a February (sweeps) report, the local Fox affiliate (KTVI) discovered that the officer who engaged in the high-speed chase, which tragically ended more than two miles out of his jurisdiction was not licensed to be a police officer by the State of Missouri and had not received the required training.

They also found that the unlicensed police officer had previous convictions for assault, stalking and possession, plus he had been arrested 51 times for similar crimes along with trafficking, forcible rape, assault on an officer and 1st degree murder.

When trying to get a statement from a local official, investigative reporter Chris Hayes was asked to leave the "night court" by another officer, whom Mr. Hayes knew to be on criminal probation.

And as the result of preparing dossiers on previous officers from the same department with a troubled history, Reporter Hayes found a former partner of one mentioned in the original report working in neighboring town, also unlicensed and lacking the proper training.

Both video reports follow the jump;

Keeping Schools Safe or Spying on Students?

Obviously reporter Emily Turner of Fox affiliate WGMB has a point of view and the gratuitous shot of her in the police car is a little much, but her report about a Louisiana's school district's reluctance to give police direct access to school surveillance cameras raises an interesting question about privacy rights.

It also brought to mind the recent case from Pennsylvania, where the camera in a student's school-issued laptop was remotely initialized and the student confronted by an administrator on the issue of possible drug sales from home. Not to mention, the subsequent revelation that the school district had setup a website to share captured images from other cases with local police.

The Woods Have Eyes

Herman Jacob was camping in South Carolina's Francis Marion National Forest, when he discovered a wire while gathering firewood near the primitive campsite, he shared with his a daughter and her friend.

Mr. Jacob followed the wire to a hidden camera along with an antenna, which because they had no markings, he removed the surveillance equipment and at some point, either in the woods or at home, he punched the camera's model number into Google and learned that it was "law enforcement grade".

Armed with the knowledge, Mr. Jacob contacted law enforcement agencies in the area, which prompted a return call from Mark Heitzman of the U.S. Forest Service, who asked for his camera back.

When contacted by Charleston's Post and Courier, a spokesperson for the Forest Service would only speak in generalities about the use of surveillance cameras in remote locations as a law enforcement tool and would give no specifics about convictions.

Though she did say that footage of non-targeted persons aren't "kept".

Hopefully, It's More than Paintball & Video Games

Due to concerns over the shooting of an unarmed man by Portland (OR) Police, local media were invited to spend a day participating in academy training on the use of deadly force. In an unembeddable video, KPTV's Mark Hanrahan gives a sample of the curriculum.

Sheriff Replies to Rachel Maddow & MSNBC

Bossier Parish (LA) Sheriff Larry Deen has started training civilians to help with riot control, while Rachel Maddow and MSNBC have called into question his motivation and the need for the program.

After the jump is Maddow's eight minute segment, a link to the press release and article she cites, plus a video of the Sheriff's response;

Scam Artist Spams Judge

Ubiquitous, late night, informercial staple Kevin Trudeau has been found in contempt by a Chicago area judge for the second time and forced to post a $50,000 bond, plus surrender his passport, while awaiting sentencing on at least one of the charges, next week.

In open court, U.S. District Judge Robert Gettleman said that he'll likely require jail time and a fine because Mr. Trudeau bombarded his email with letters of support from his followers, some of which could be considered threatening and all of which are undergoing analysis by the U.S. Marshals Service in a first of its kind investigation.

Trudeau, who previously served two years on a 1991 conviction for credit card fraud, where he charged more than $122,000 to the cards of eleven customers from one of his prior schemes is currently awaiting final sentencing for this most recent act of contempt, and a previous conviction after he successfully appealed the judge's amended punishment for violating a 2004 court order.

After run-ins with the SEC, the FTC and eight states for pyramid schemes and selling products using false and misleading statements, Trudeau settled an action by the Federal Trade Commission in 2004, by paying a $2 million dollar fine and agreeing to a lifetime ban "from appearing in, producing, or disseminating future infomercials that advertise any type of product, service, or program to the public, except for truthful infomercials for informational publications".

In 2007, the FTC charged that some of the marketing statements for a book titled The Weight Loss Cure 'They' Don't Want You to Know About were misleading because its infomercial claimed that the weight loss program was something easy, consumers could do at home without exercise and would allow them to eat anything they want, while the actual publication outlined a complex plan with lifetime dietary restrictions and exercise requirements, daily injections of a growth hormone available only by prescription and regular colonics, which must be administered by a licensed practitioner.

Mr. Trudeau was found guilty of making "patently false" statements to sell his weight loss book, thus putting him in violation of the '04 order.

Initially, Judge Gettleman sentenced him to pay a fine of more than $5 million dollars and imposed a three year moratorium on appearing in any informercial for a product in which he holds an interest, but both Mr. Trudeau and the FTC asked him to reconsider the sentence. After less than a month's time, the judge decided to keep the three year moratorium, but upped the fine to more than $37 million dollars, which is what the Federal Trade Commission alleges Mr. Trudeau had received from the estimated 32,000 times the infomercial ran.

The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld Mr. Trudeau's conviction last fall, but directed Judge Gettleman to do more fact-finding to justify the fine. In an attempt to sway the court, Mr. Trudeau reached out to his customers via email and through his website asking them to contact the judge, which caused his email account to become flooded.

This was not only a demonstrable inconvenience to the court, but it also violated the rules governing ex-parte communications.

And because you've most likely seen a Kevin Trudeau infomercial recently, while awaiting the appeal and fact-finding effort, he has been actively marketing Free Money "They" Don't Want You to Know About, a book published in 2009 and a product in which he holds an interest.

This guy will never quit.

Links

• Wikipedia
• Chicago Tribune
• Chicago Sun-Times
• FTC Linklist outlining the entire case

A Sad, but Important Story

12 year-old Jahmeshia Conner's body was found, approximately two weeks after she was reported missing.

Chicago Police and National Center for Missing and Exploited Children labeled her a runaway, though her family insisted that she had never done such a thing before and now, her familiy and others are asking if the miscategorization might have lessened the urgency with which authorities treated her case. As of yesterday, the police were still investigating why the media weren't notified before it was too late.

(In addition to the above links, the Chicagoist and their commenting community has additional information on the heartbreaking situation)

The Efficiencies of Death

Ohio is scheduled to execute a convicted killer next week and it'll mark the first time they'll use a new method of lethal injection, one which is not currently being used in any other state.

Previously, an IV would be established and three drugs administered -- one to sedate and two to stop the heart and lungs. The new method will not require an IV site, it'll just be one massive injection of a lethal drug (unless they miss a vein the first time, then it will take two). Prison officials liken it to a flu shot.

"Coincidentally", this first use of this new method of execution follows the state opening up the "Death House" for it's first media tour in seven years, when they removed the "old" electric chair.

Video & Tour (WHIO - Dayton)
Text w/ Link (WHIO - Dayton

Colorado Sheriff Goes on the Offensive

The Garfield County (CO) Sheriff, Lou Vallario has been accused of being "heavy handed" by some former employees and several members of the community.

A few search and rescue volunteers have complained about their background searches and he was recently cleared of wrong-doing in relation to his romantic involvement with a detention center employee.

He has also been the target of several lawsuits.

Concern has also been expressed about his purchase of a $200,000 armored vehicle and others question why it was used to seize a juvenile, who was taken into custody at the request of Social Services.

Because he's facing re-election and believes local newspapers report with "spin" slanted against him, he has participated in an interview with a sympathetic, usually all music radio station and has sent out two email statements, which were also distributed on letterhead.

Sheriff May Charge News Copter

Throughout the initial investigation, the KING-5 helicopter hovered over the scene where four Lakewood (WA) police officers were killed.

Twice the Pierce County Sheriff's office called the station and asked them to back off because the noise made it hard to hear and twice the copter flew away only to return a short time later.

Now in the the aftermath of the tragedy, the Sheriff's Department has forwarded information to prosecuters with the idea that the station could be charged with interfering in an investigation.

Sheriff, Deputy, County, Reporter & Paper Sued

Dave Lovejoy was a candidate for Rockingham County (NH) Sheriff in 2008, when the person holding the office and one of his deputies leaked information about Mr. Lovejoy's annulled criminal record to the press, just over a week before the election.

Sheriff James "Dan" Linehan and his second-in-command Maj. Mark Peirce unlawfully told Portsmouth Herald reporter Karen Dandurant that Mr. Lovejoy had been "involved in a case of simple assault" in 1989. It appears that the Sheriff's office did not tell Ms. Dandurant that the case had been annulled, but when reached for comment, Mr. Lovejoy informed her of this fact. Under New Hampshire law, annulled cases can not be disclosed under any circumstances.

The state Attorney General's office investigated and last week, both Sheriff Lineham and Major Peirce resigned. To avoid prosecution, Mr. Lineham promised that he'd never seek another law enforcement position and both relinquished their law enforcement credentials.

On October 27th of 2008, Karen Dandurant of the Portsmouth Herald wrote an article, which included comments by the Sheriff about Mr. Lovejoy's knowledge of courtrooms because he's been involved in 22 civil cases and she discloses that the paper was "provided" with information about Mr. Lovejoy's arrest. When reached for comment, Mr. Lovejoy told the reporter that the case was part of a "domestic dispute" and that his conviction had been annulled.

Ms. Dandurant is no longer employed by the paper, but because a crime has been established by the state's AG, Mr. Lovejoy has filed a four-count lawsuit against the former Sheriff, the Deputy, the county, the reporter and her paper. He has also asked the county delegation to name him interim Sheriff based on his status as runner-up in 2008.