Three Edison police officers, including one who is already facing charges he firebombed his supervisor’s home, have been charged with planning to retaliate against a North Brunswick police officer who arrested another man for drunken driving, Middlesex County Acting Prosecutor Andrew Carey announced today.

Carey said Michael Dotro, 36, of Manalapan, and Victor Aravena, 42, and William Gesell, 45, both of Edison, were charged with fourth-degree conspiring to retaliate against the officer for performing an official act.

He said Gesell also was charged with third-degree unlawfully accessing a police computer data base to gather information on the North Brunswick officer.

A deputy who was recently fired from the New Hanover County Sheriff's Office was found guilty of assaulting a man who was trying to turn his power back on.

Officials charged Reed Roberts in November with misdemeanor simple assault for using his taser against an electrician who was trying to help restore power to his house in Pender County.

Roberts was found guilty of simple assault Wednesday and sentenced to 30 days in jail suspended and 48 hours of community service. He was also ordered to take anger management classes and will not be able to serve as a Law Enforcement Officer in the state of North Carolina again.

According to prosecutors, Jerome Wallace had just finished reconnecting the power, after it had been disconnected due to an unpaid bill, when Roberts approached him. According to witness testimony, Roberts started cussing at Wallace asking him not to leave the property because he believed Wallace had damaged his property.

Investigators said that Roberts was upset because some logs had been moved when the electrician went to the meter box to restore the power.

Wallace testified that he was trying to leave the property when Roberts tased him. That's when Wallace said he pepper sprayed the defendant. Roberts then admittedly went back into his home to get a gun, however, by the time he came back outside with it, the victim was driving away.

The Oklahoma State Medical Examiner said Wednesday that the death of Luis Rodriguez was ruled a homicide.

Rodriguez died in the early morning hours of Feb. 15th after being detained at the Warren Theatre in Moore. His wife, Nair, recorded the incident on her cell phone.

On Wednesday, almost two months after his death, the state Medical Examiner said Rodriguez's death was from cardiac arrhythmia caused by physical restraint and ruled it a homicide. The ME cautioned that homicide is a medical term that does not denote wrong doing or criminal intent.

A jury today found veteran Cleveland police officer Gregory Jones guilty of raping and kidnapping a woman in 2012.

Jones, 49, faced multiple charges of rape, kidnapping and gross sexual imposition involving two separate women.

After trial that lasted more than a week in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge Steven Gall's courtroom, a jury deliberated for about two days before reaching a verdict.

They found Jones not guilty of a rape reported by a separate woman in 2008.

Gall ordered Jones taken into custody and set his sentencing for April 30.

A Midland Police Department officer was charged with online impersonation, a third-degree felony, following a criminal investigation into allegations that the officer used a woman’s name and explicit photos on a social networking site, a MPD release stated.

Jaren Speck, 25, a one-year probationary officer with the department, was terminated by Police Chief Price Robinson and was being transported and booked into Midland County Jail on Dec. 13, 2013. Speck was released from jail on a $15,000 bond Dec. 14, 2013.

A criminal investigation followed after a woman alleged Speck used her name and explicit photos on a website without her consent with “the intent to harm, defraud and intimidate her,” a Midland Police Department release stated.

Difficult to comprehend why four officiers, over the time span of 10 secs, fired in excess of 50 rounds at someone laying just a few feet in front of them.

The woman who took a video showing alleged animal abuse at a cattle ranch near Kersey is now facing animal cruelty charges.

Taylor Radig, who was associated with an animal rights organization, filmed the abuse as she worked at the Quanah Cattle Company from mid-July through September.

Radig was associated with an animal rights organization identified as Compassion Over Killing and referred to herself as a “contractor” for said organization, according to the sheriff's office.

The video footage was handed over to the Weld County Sheriff's Office two months after Radig quit working there, the sheriff's office said.

On Friday, Radig was charged with animal cruelty because she didn't report the abuse when it was happening, which is a violation of state law.

A firearm was not listed among the items found on or near the body of a local man who was shot and killed during a Richland County Sheriff’s Office emergency call Sunday.

A list of evidence collected during the state Bureau of Criminal Investigation’s search of the home Monday morning reported 16 spent casings and five fired bullets, but no gun, according to the official inventory return.

Other items collected included a magazine, wallet, key, remote control, iPhone, empty can of beer and a swab from a reddish-brown stain, the report said.

...

Brian Garber, 28, of Lexington, was shot and killed by an unnamed Richland County Sheriff’s deputy around 8:30 p.m. Sunday after calls to 911 reported he had a gun at his parents’ house, 3400 Mill Run Road. Deputies had been at Garber’s home across the street earlier that day to check a domestic violence report.

...

“Deputies located (Brian) in an upstairs room of the residence. Brian confronted deputy’s with a firearm, at which time deputy’s fired on him, resulting in his death,” the warrant said.

But after a search of the area, no firearm was found, according to BCI.

Leading up to the incident, Garber’s wife, Sara Knowlton, told a 911 dispatcher that Garber sent her a text message claiming to have a gun. “Just so u know I have a gun, now too,” Garber reportedly texted at 8:15 p.m., a sheriff’s report stated.

Garber’s father, Matthew Garber, also gave a written statement to deputies that his son had shown him a gun through his T-shirt. Thursday, Matt said the statement was a misunderstanding.

“I never actually saw a gun,” Matt said. “I said it looked like a gun under his T-shirt.

“There was no light on in the room, just the light from the hallway, and he said it was a gun, so the power of suggestion I took it from there and told Connie to leave.”

Brandon Backe's once-promising career as an Astros pitcher took him to the World Series in 2005, but in 2009 his skill had deserted him and he was in constant pain.

Backe, 35, blames the sudden downward spiral of his career on a beating by Galveston police officers in October 2008.

The former pitcher lost his composure in a federal courtroom Tuesday while describing how he can no longer use his right arm for simple tasks like tucking in his shirt or fastening a seat belt.

"You want to be able to hang it up yourself, not let someone else hang it up for you," he said about ending his baseball career. Several times Backe had to wait until he could regain his composure to answer questions by plaintiff's attorney Christopher Porter.

Backe and 11 others say they were brutally beaten when more than 30 Galveston police officers burst into a wedding party at the H2O outdoor bar. Police say the accusations are exaggerated and any force used was justified. Backe is asking a jury of six men and six women to award him between $12 million and $15 million for lost income.

Eleven of the 15 officers being sued along with the city of Galveston sat in uniform across the courtroom from the jury in two rows of chairs behind their attorneys.

Abraham was flagged down by an officer last month who accused him of making an illegal turn when he had done nothing of the sort. The interaction went as follows:
Abraham: “I was in the turning lane.”

Officer: “No. You weren’t.”

Abraham informed the officer he was filming their interaction with a camera set up to activate whenever he turns on his vehicle, but the officer proceeded to ticket him anyway.

Weathering the charge of an illegal turn would have cost Abraham $138, and would have incurred a 3-point penalty on his driver’s license, which in turn would have increased his insurance premium.

However, on Tuesday night police phoned Abraham to tell him they were dropping the charges.