Dash cam video appears to show officer planting evidence

Raw Story

An officer in Utica, New York is being accused of planting evidence — and he was busted by the dash cam in his own police cruiser.

The Utica Phoenix recently obtained dash cam video of a February 11, 2011 traffic stop, where officers Palladino and Padulla search an African-American couple.

At about one minute into the video, one of the officers is seen taking a plastic bag out of his back pocket and seems to place it inside the vehicle. Several moments later, he emerges from the vehicle with a larger plastic bag, presumably evidence...[Full Article]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i7oenshcwPk

Judicial Favoritism - Judge in Jerry Sandusky Case Was Donor and Volunteer to His Charity

Published on Nov 14, 2011 by AssociatedPress

The judge who recently set bail for accused pedophile and former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky donated to his charity two years ago, raising questions about whether the bail was appropriate. (Nov. 14)

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Revealed: Judge who freed Penn State 'paedophile' Sandusky worked for his children's charity

• District Judge Leslie Dutchcot ruled Sandusky be freed without bail unless he doesn't show up for court
• Dutchcot previously volunteered for The Second Mile charity, which Sandusky founded in the 1970s
• The Second Mile helps disadvantaged children (but Sandusky allegedly picked his victims from it and adopted his now adult son from the charity)
• Sandusky denies charges of alleged sexual abuse

The judge who requested Jerry Sandusky be freed on $100,000 unsecured bail, undertook volunteer work for the retired American football coach’s charity, according to reports.

District Judge Leslie Dutchcot, who previously volunteered for The Second Mile charity, ruled that the former Pennsylvania State University defensive coordinator be freed without posting any bail money unless he doesn't arrive for court.

Her decision overruled a bid by prosecutors, who requested a $500,000 bail be set for the 67-year-old and for him to be fitted with a leg monitor, after being charged with 21 felony counts for alleged sexual abuse...[Full Article]

We fabricated drug charges against innocent people to meet arrest quotas, former detective testifies

New York Daily News

A former NYPD narcotics detective snared in a corruption scandal testified it was common practice to fabricate drug charges against innocent people to meet arrest quotas.

The bombshell testimony from Stephen Anderson is the first public account of the twisted culture behind the false arrests in the Brooklyn South and Queens narc squads, which led to the arrests of eight cops and a massive shakeup.

Anderson, testifying under a cooperation agreement with prosecutors, was busted for planting cocaine, a practice known as "flaking," on four men in a Queens bar in 2008 to help out fellow cop Henry Tavarez, whose buy-and-bust activity had been low...[Full Article]

Official: Mexican cartels use money, sex to bribe U.S. border agents

CNN

Washington (CNN) -- Mexican drug cartels have used cash and sexual favors as tools to corrupt U.S. border and customs agents, an inspector general investigation has found.

In exchange, agents allow contraband or unauthorized immigrants through inspection lanes, protect or escort traffickers or leak sensitive information, said Charles Edwards, acting inspector general of the Department of Homeland Security.

Testifying before a Senate subcommittee, Edwards cited the Zetas drug cartel as one of the leaders "involved increasingly in systematic corruption."

He did not elaborate on how non-cash methods of corruption, like sexual favors, have been used to corrupt agents.

Since October 2004, 127 Customs and Border Protection employees have been arrested or indicted for acts of corruption, said agency Commissioner Alan Bersin, speaking at the same hearing of the Senate Subcommittee on Disaster Recovery and Intergovernmental Affairs...[Full Article]

Homicide case involving Daley nephew closed without charges

Chicago Sun-Times

For the first time, the Chicago Police said Friday they know who hit David Koschman and knocked him to the ground in a drunken confrontation in the Rush Street area, leading to his death from a brain injury 11 days later — but they’re not telling.

They said they are closing Koschman’s 2004 homicide case without asking the Cook County state’s attorney’s office to charge anyone because they concluded the punch was thrown in self-defense.

Police reports made public Friday black out the name of the man who detectives concluded threw the lone punch at Koschman. But the descriptions they provided and accounts given by witnesses and others to the Chicago Sun-Times make clear it was Richard J. “R.J.” Vanecko, a nephew of Mayor Daley and White House Chief of Staff Bill Daley...[Full Article]

Documents reveal FBI transgressions, abuses of power

Raw Story

Leaked internal FBI documents reveal dozens of employee transgressions ranging from sex-related misconduct to felonies involving the abuse of power and classified information.

One employee gave sensitive information to his girlfriend, who was a journalist, and later threatened to release a sex tape of the two after they had broken up. The employee lied under oath during the inquiry.

Another employee became obsessed with a co-worker and continued to press for a closer relationship despite "clear indications" that the colleague wasn't interested and persisted even after receiving orders to cease contact.

A third FBI employee shoplifted two ties from a local store.

In another instance, an employee obtained FISA-derived information from over 1,500 unauthorized searches of the FBI database and shared it with a non-FBI employee...

[Full Article]

‘Largest ever’ FBI corruption probe nets 133 cops, officials

WASHINGTON — US officials Wednesday unveiled the FBI's largest ever police corruption sweep saying 133 police, prison guards and army officers have been charged in a huge anti-graft crackdown in Puerto Rico.

The suspects face charges relating to possessing and distributing cocaine, and using firearms during a drug trafficking offense, the US Department of Justice said in a statement.

The arrests "are the result of Operation Guard Shack, the largest police corruption investigation in the history of the FBI," the statement read.

"Close to 750 FBI agents were flown in to Puerto Rico from across the country to assist in the arrests" early Wednesday.

A total of 129 people, including 60 Puerto Rican police officers, 16 municipal police, 12 prison officials, three Puerto Rico National Guard soldiers, and two US army officers, have been arrested...

[Full Article]

Wis. Agent Accused Of Stealing Drug Money In FBI Sting

MADISON, Wis. -- A state Justice Department narcotics agent has pleaded not guilty to stealing drug money in an FBI sting.

Johnny Santiago was charged in March in federal court in Milwaukee with theft of government property. Prosecutors believe he stole about $1,100 that FBI agents planted in a vacant store front Santiago was set up to search.

Santiago entered the plea Friday. His trial is set to begin June 28.

His attorney, Michael Hart, did not immediately return messages.

Who's Afraid of Sibel Edmonds?

Sibel Edmonds has a story to tell. She went to work as a Turkish and Farsi translator for the FBI five days after 9/11. Part of her job was to translate and transcribe recordings of conversations between suspected Turkish intelligence agents and their American contacts. She was fired from the FBI in April 2002 after she raised concerns that one of the translators in her section was a member of a Turkish organization that was under investigation for bribing senior government officials and members of Congress, drug trafficking, illegal weapons sales, money laundering, and nuclear proliferation. She appealed her termination, but was more alarmed that no effort was being made to address the corruption that she had been monitoring...

FBI Illegally Collected Phone Records

The Washington Post says the FBI invoked nonexistent terrorism emergencies or persuaded phone companies to provide information as it illegally gathered more than 2,000 records between 2002 and 2006...