A veteran Miami-Dade Police officer is facing fraud charges after he filled up his personal car with county fuel, authorities said.

Sgt. Emil Van Lugo was arrested Friday on one count of organized fraud of $20,000 or less and five counts of petty theft, the Miami-Dade State Attorney's Office said Monday.

His bond was set at $10,000 and it was unknown if he has an attorney.

Authorities said Van Lugo, a 16-year veteran, was fueling his car at a station rarely used by other officers between January and March. The amount of fuel consumed appeared to exceed the miles driven, authorities said.

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According to the investigation, Van Lugo was caught pumping gas on 55 different occasions into a red gas can. He would then head home, put a funnel into his wife's BMW and top it off.

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Records show Van Lugo made $130,000 last year.

A man who spent nearly 40 years in prison for a murder he did not commit filed a federal lawsuit on Tuesday against the city of Cleveland and the police officers who he says helped frame him in 1975.

Ricky Jackson was convicted at age 18 along with two others because of the testimony of a 12-year-old boy. Jackson, 58, was exonerated in November after that witness, a man now in his early 50s, recanted his testimony.

The witness, Eddie Vernon, said in 2013 that police detectives threatened to put his parents in jail and coerced him into implicating Jackson and brothers Wiley and Ronnie Bridgeman in the slaying of salesman Harold Franks outside a corner store.

Jackson and the Bridgemans received death sentences that were later commuted to life in prison. Jackson’s attorneys say their client is believed to have served the longest prison term in the US for someone wrongfully convicted.


The lawsuit alleges that eight officers, including detectives and their supervisors, were involved in framing the three. Some of the officers are now dead.

A statement from the Chicago law firm that filed the lawsuit said Jackson’s mother, father, stepfather and other relatives died while he was incarcerated and that he was assaulted and injured physically while behind bars.

“This lawsuit seeks compensation for that grievous injustice,” attorney Jon Loevy said in the statement. “We now know substantially more about the fallibility of eyewitness identifications. Too many people have been sent to prison wrongfully based on bogus identifications.”

In an interview on Erin Burnett Out Front, Karletha Cook-Gundy and Valecia Battle said their sister did not deserve the low-priority response she got from Dallas police even after she was heard choking and pleading for her life on an open 911 line. She had called 911 on her abusive ex-husband, Delvecchio Patrick, many times before.

“Regardless of how may times she had to all 911, you know this was the one time that really really mattered and they were not there for her,” Cook-Gundy said.

Cook made the call from her cell phone at her southern Dallas home. The officers who arrived at her home 50 minutes later left after no one answered the door.

Cook’s worried relatives, including Cook-Gundy, found her dead body in a bathtub of the flooded home two days later. Patrick, 35, faces a murder charge in the case. He has a history of beating and threatening Cook.

The sisters were asked whether they believe Cook, 32, could have been saved if Dallas police had responded faster.

“Something could have been done if they responded immediately,” Battle said. “My nieces wouldn’t have had to find their mother. That would make a huge difference. My sister and my mother wouldn’t have had to see it. That would have made a huge difference.”

The internal investigation into how the call was handled is ongoing, but earlier this week Dallas Police Chief David Brown ordered changes in how officers respond to calls like the one Cook made. The sisters were asked if those changes are at all satisfying to them.

City officials settled a lawsuit out of court last week with 26-year-old Nicholas Kincade, who was knocked from his motorized wheelchair by a Lafayette police officer nearly 18 months ago.

Denise Page, a mediator who met with both parties, submitted a letter last Wednesday to a federal judge, reporting that the dispute had been resolved.

The judge responded by vacating all upcoming hearings and deadlines in the case and ordering Kincade to file additional paperwork within 30 days acknowledging his consent to dismiss the complaint voluntarily.

Kincade, who filed suit last July, accused Lafayette police of violating his First and Fourth Amendment rights, plus the Americans with Disabilities Act.

The complaint stemmed from a confrontation Oct. 1, 2013, when then-Lt. Tom Davidson knocked Kincade out of his chair into the street.

Although the entire Lafayette police command staff recommended that Davidson be fired, the department's Civil Service Commission opted instead for demotion, suspension and probation.

The commission was unanimous in finding that Davidson had engaged in conduct unbecoming an officer, but their determination that Davidson hadn't used excessive force came with a 3-2 vote.

Prosecutors are attempting to break up America’s most violent motorcycle gangs by claiming rights to their logos.

If the government is successful, it will become illegal for a member of the 600-strong notorious Mongols Nation gang to wear its trademarked patch – a black-and-white image of 12th century conqueror Genghis Khan riding a motorbike in a pair of sunglasses.

Police sources say that removing gang logos diminishes the gang’s power and identity.
A source told Fox News: ‘It not just stripping them of their identity, or robbing them of a recruiting tool, it's taking the star off their helmet. The logo itself furthers a criminal enterprise.’

If successful, one expert says that the government will use the legal precedent to disrupt other violent motorcycle groups, including those involved in Sunday’s horrific shoot-out in Waco.

NYPD narcotics cops told not to arrest drug dealers over 40 years old and threatened with transfer if they do

Officer in New York's narcotics division are being told not to arrest drug dealers over 40 because younger perps account for most 'violent crime'

In a memo obtained by the New York Post, officers are ordered to provide a written explanation when a suspect over 40 years old is arrested

Officers are being threatened with transfers and other disciplinary action for failure to comply with the new rule

Scott Boyler, a resident of Evans, New York, is a low-level registered sex offender who was convicted of attempting to receive child pornography. He was recently arrested and jailed for several days not for something he had received, but rather something he had posted online – comments critical of the local police in a website entitled “Lackawanna Police Corruption.”

One of Boyler’s recent posts described an illegal cell phone search conducted by an officer he identified as “Joseph `Pig Face’ Leo.” Leo filed a complaint against Boyler, who was arrested for “aggravated harassment.” That charge was quickly dismissed, as the officer most likely knew it would be. But it did lead to Boyler being incarcerated for several days as summary punishment for “contempt of cop,” which was the objective. Boyler has filed a $1.25 million lawsuit.

“If the courts criminalize this kind of speech, there goes the First Amendment,” predicts Buffalo attorney (and LRC contributor) James Ostrowski, who is representing Boyler. “It’s pure political speech that led to his arrest…. This goes back to colonial days when people got arrested for criticizing the king.”

America long ago ceased to be ruled by a monarchy, and succumbed to a more invasive and violent strain of statism in which police officers are seen as “God’s agents on earth,” to borrow Max Weber’s unironic expression. Examples are accumulating of online criticism of the police being punished as a species of blasphemy.

Meridian, Idaho resident Matt Townsend faces trial a spurious “witness intimidation” charge — and a potential five-year-prison term — for a Facebook post criticizing an officer who arrested him without cause. Roseville, California resident Dominic Ray Aguilar was charged with making a “terrorist threat” following a post suggesting that a police officer who had killed an unarmed man should likewise face a violent death.

The late Bob Foster, a businessman from Sunriver, Oregon, was hit with a stalking protection order by police officers as retaliation for his peaceful activism (most of which involved speaking out at meetings of the local home owners association). Santaquin, Utah resident Shawn Peterson lost his job as a short-order cook following a social media campaign organized by police unions targeting his restaurant in retaliation for a Facebook post in which Peterson criticized the police.

Only in a police state are people punished for criticizing the police.

A Detroit Police Officer is facing more problems with the law after she was arrested early Wednesday morning on accusations of assault.

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What happened in there? Police aren't saying, however the owner of the club spoke with FOX 2's Amy Lange. He said that they invited Stone into the club for a cup of coffee because they thought she needed to sober up. He said when they started speaking Albanian, she got agitated and asked them 'don't you know who I am?' He said she then slapped him, prompting his call to police.

Police are not releasing further details at this time but do say Stone has been suspended without pay pending the outcome of the investigation.

She'll be back in court on June 29th.

This is not Stone's first issue arrest. She's been on the force for 16 years and has had several run-ins with the law in recent years.

In February, she was accused of being drunk while carrying her gun while she was off duty. During that arrest, staff at the Golden Greek bar said Stone believed she had won a $20,000 jackpot in Keno. The bartender tried to convince her that she did not and she then claimed the bar stole her ticket.

During that incident, she punched one of the bartenders and when police showed up, she had her gun in her purse. She was charged with possession of a firearm under the influence.

Last summer she was arrested when she got drunk, threw a brick through someone's window. When police showed up, they found her pistol was in her purse as well.

And Stone can't seem to escape the controversy. A couple of years ago - someone broke into her Eastpointe home and she was forced to shoot in self-defense.

She was also caught up in the domestic drama that lead to the demotion of Cmdr. James Moore in 2012 where she was named as his mistress. In 2012, Stone's 10-year-old son called 911 and claimed Moore hit Stone in front of a liquor store. She called police a few days later and claimed it happened again at a home on Strathmoore. The domestic violence charges were eventually dropped.

"They took away my faith in the local police department. They took a lot of things away from me, it hurts," says Ross Flynn.

The two officers seen in this video are no longer employed. This, after an internal investigation of their conduct.

The December 23rd video of a police holding cell shows Las Cruces police officers Richard P. Garcia and Danny Salcido allegedly beating the arrestee -- 47 year old Ross Flynn.

Flynn says he lost many things in the holding cell that day. Blood, pride, but worst of all he says, his sanity.

"I can't see an LCPD car without having an anxiety attack."

According to his attorney, Flynn was taken into custody after a confrontation with a friend's neighbor. He faced a long list of charges. In this surveillance video he can be seen kicking the cell door and yelling. Flynn says it was a request to have the cuffs removed because of his back.

"I was requesting because I am handicapped, to please be removed from the waist chains. The response I got from outside the cell was shut up or I'll chain you to the bench. I responded with an expletive, chain me to the bench."

Flynn says that response set off what happened next.

"It was unnecessary, it was absolutely unnecessary," says Chris Cardenas, Flynn's attorney.

"I see this video where they're not keeping our community safe. What they're doing is making it worse. Our community is worse off because Mr. Flynn was thrown into that wall. That was completely contrary to their sworn oath that those officers made to protect our community, and that's what offends me the worst," says Cardenas.

Flynn says he was in the ICU for 2 days because of a brain bleed and a fractured skull. He says while he struggles with the effects of those injuries everyday, he feels his path to healing is heading in the right direction.

"It's certainly a victory, it's a step in the right direction. I know good and well that this is going to take a long time but I'm in it for the long haul. I really don't want this happening to anybody else."

A former Mt. Airy, Ga. police chief and his wife are headed to jail for allegedly keeping four adopted children locked in a room for years with little food. Richard and Cheryle Burton were facing 28 counts of child cruelty. Richard Burton was also charged with child molestation. They pleaded guilty to four of those child cruelty charges on Monday. In exchange, all the other counts, including child molestation, were dropped.

They received sentences of 10 years each. They’ll serve 25 consecutive weekends in the county jail; the rest will be served on probation. As part of the plea agreement, the Burtons were given first-offender status. They will not have a felony criminal history and Richard Burton is not required to register as a sex offender.

Two Miami Beach Police officers have been reprimanded, and will undergo additional training, after a woman claimed they disrobed her and left her naked over a $20 cab fare.

The disciplinary action was handed down Tuesday to Officers Joseph Gonzalez and Giordano Cardoso in the 2013 incident.

Candice Padavick had claimed the officers came to her apartment for no reason and one of them grabbed her arm and her robe came off. Instead of aiding her, the officer gawked at her in the nude for a considerable time and left her nude for about 30 minutes, Padavick claimed.

Reached on Tuesday, Padavick said the punishment isn't enough for what she endured.

Surveillance video showed Padavick moments before heading to her apartment with friends and a cab driver waiting in the lobby to be paid after his credit card machine didn't work, a $20 fare the internal affairs report showed was paid by the building's security guard.

The report said when the officers arrived, Officer Cardoso indicated Padavick had to pay the fare. She wound up arrested and charged with resisting arrest, battery on a law enforcement officer, and petit theft for no payment of the taxi ride. The charges were later dropped.

"I mean the way that I was treated was just like a piece of trash, throwing me around," Padavick said. "What I was thinking was do any of these officers have wives or daughters and if they could even imagine putting them through something like that."

Padavick had filed a complaint in November but investigators determined they could not verify her allegation and that she was intoxicated. The officers did have the legal authority to enter her apartment, the investigators determined.

But Investigators said Cardoso and Gonzalez broke the rules when reporting the night's events saying.

"In numerous instances Officers Cardoso and Gonzalez make contradictory statements between their reports, their depositions, and their internal affairs interview," the report said.

A Minneapolis police officer is charged in federal court with assaulting four people in two separate bar fights, after identifying himself as an officer. Michael Lewis Griffin was off-duty.

Griffin, 40, of Oakdale, is also charged with lying on official police reports, in civil dispositions and at trial.

"Police officers cannot use their shield as a weapon against innocent civilians," U.S. Attorney for Minnesota Andrew Luger said.

The U.S. Attorney's office said Griffin was involved in an incident May 29, 2010. That night, he was outside of Aqua Nightclub and Lounge on First Avenue. He was off-duty and in plain clothes.

Griffin's friend began to argue with a third person. Griffin displayed his badge and identified himself as a police officer. The man tried to walk to Envy Nightclub about a half of a block away.

Griffin followed and punched him in the face, knocking him unconscious, the U.S. Attorney's Office said.

Griffin then approached two on-duty Minneapolis police officers nearby, identified himself as an officer and directed them to arrest the man.

Griffin later wrote a police report falsely indicating the man tried to attack Griffin and that Griffin only punched the man after attempting to sweep his legs out from under him. The man suffered lacerations to his lip and head. He was charged with assaulting a police officer. That charged was later dismissed.

A second incident happened Nov. 5, 2011, Griffin verbally assaulted four men at The Loop bar on Washington Avenue North in Minneapolis. Griffin was off-duty at the time and threatened to have the men thrown out.

Griffin went to the bouncer, said he was a police officer and directed him to throw the men out. The bouncer threw them out. The indictment says Griffin said he was going to call "his boys" and then followed the men out of the bar...

A South Bend Police Department officer was placed on unpaid leave Wednesday, May 20, after he was indicted last week on a federal civil rights charge.

The Board of Public Safety voted to put 40-year-old Theodore Robert on unpaid administrative leave during its meeting Wednesday, the South Bend Tribune reported. Robert was placed on paid administrative leave in November for an unrelated incident.

Robert is accused of assaulting a handcuffed man at the St. Joseph County Jail on May 30, 2010. Surveillance footage shows Robert shoving the handcuffed man around a room inside the jail and punching him. The U.S. Justice Department charged Robert with depriving a person of civil rights while acting under the color of law.

” Hoopeston police department, located in Vermilion county area code 60942 abuses 70 year old man with COPD, emphysema, has active brain aneurisms, high blood pressure and has had strokes. The date of the video is may 16th not march. I recorded them within my legal rights as a concerned civilian and was assaulted. The man in the video was in his underwear inside his residence when the officer T. Showers badge no. #245 shined a bright light in his face when he was already informed it could cause seizures. As a result of pleading to please shine the light out of his eyes the police entered a private residence without permission or probable cause and detained a 70 year old man for no reason. And released him without charges and requiring medical attention from their abuse.”