Ex-Chesapeake cop guilty of shaking down prostitutes

The Virginian-Pilot ^ | February 21, 2014 | Scott Daugherty

[csvset]

CHESAPEAKE

A former police officer pleaded guilty Thursday to shaking down three prostitutes – stealing more than $3,000 in the process.

Michael Mobley, 29, was convicted under a plea agreement of two counts of misdemeanor embezzlement. He faces up to two years in jail and $5,000 in fines when he’s sentenced June 2 in Circuit Court.

“This is a sad day,” police Chief Kelvin Wright said outside the courtroom. “It’s painful to see one of our own went astray.”

Mobley resigned Thursday before his hearing. He and his attorney, Hugh E. Black III, declined to comment.

According to prosecutors, Mobley approached prostitutes in July 2012 after finding their advertisements on the Internet and determining they were ­operating out of two Greenbrier hotels. He entered the women’s hotel rooms on two different days and questioned them under the guise of a police investigation.

Deputy Commonwealth’s Attorney Derek Wagner said Mobley took $309 in cash and a small amount of marijuana from one of the prostitutes. He took $2,600 from another prostitute a few days later and $140 from a third who was also in the room.

Wagner said Mobley told the women that the money was being seized, and that it would eventually go to Chesapeake schools. He pocketed it instead.

All of the money and drugs was placed in police evidence bags. None of the women was arrested.

Mobley told at least one of the prostitutes that she could try to reclaim the money from the department, but he warned her that doing so would probably result in criminal charges, Wagner said.

But a prostitute did contact police, who found no record of the seizures and opened an investigation.

Wright commended his officers for taking the prostitute’s complaint seriously.

“That’s true to who we are,” he said. “If a police official has done anything wrong, we want to know about it.”

A grand jury indicted Mobley in November 2012 on two counts of felony embezzlement.

Wagner explained in court that he offered to let Mobley plead guilty to the misdemeanors because he’d been unable to find one of the victims. The prostitute who had $2,600 stolen had not returned calls or emails in more than three weeks, he said.

Mobley worked as a police officer for seven years, primarily on the street responding to calls for service. Officer Kelly O’Sullivan, a police spokeswoman, said he was placed on unpaid leave following the prostitute’s complaint.

Mobley served as a liaison to Greenbrier hotels during the summer of 2012. Among his duties: taking reports from hotel employees about suspected prostitutes.

[csvset]

The prostitute who had $2,600 stolen had not returned calls or emails in more than three weeks, he said.

Yeah, probably dead. Good work copper. /s

[Carry me back]

If she’s dead the cheif may be covering it up. So a big investigation could be needed.

[Dick Holmes]

World’s oldest profession. Not prostitution, scamming.

[Chode]

Gus Mally: Yeah. Not unlike being on the take at two dozen bars in downtown Vegas. Taking money from some politician each time you peel his drunken kid's Cadillac off a telephone pole. Strong-arming the Chicanos in the barrio on Saturday night. Busting kids for smoking grass... then taking a kickback from the heroin dealers. Or those occasions when you do bust a pusher... and skim the haul when you've made the collar. Sell it to your dope addict buddies on the force.

Constable: She's sure onto all our tricks.

[fso301]

Mobley took $309 in cash and a small amount of marijuana from one of the prostitutes. He took $2,600 from another prostitute a few days later and $140 from a third who was also in the room.

That Mobley is still alive indicates the girls didn't have other cops on their payroll.

[tomkat]

It’s painful to see one of our own went astray caught.

(more likely)

[Flick Lives]

I love that phraseology, “went astray”. Sounds like a little lamb who has wander out of the fold.

[subterfuge]

If the dirty cop were president his thievery would be overlooked. It would be understood as redistributing wealth. It certainly wasn’t fair one prostitute had so much more than the other.

[RIghtwardHo]

The fact that he got a misdemeanor plea out of it is disgusting.

[DJ MacWoW]

Click The Pic To Donate

Support FR, Donate Monthly If You Can

[Nifster]

I have to admit that was my first thought too

[vetvetdoug]

Was the cop an Obama voter?

[vette6387]

“It’s painful to see one of our own went astray.”

This comment should be coming from most of the Chief’s of Police in the country today, because their underlings are routinely “going astray” with a lot more troubling actions than stealing from prostitutes! Problems is, by their own “training protocols,” they are abetting these aberrant behaviors. But “because it’s in the name of justice,” it’s deemed to be acceptable. In some instances, it rises to the level of suborning murder. When is the last time any of us saw a cop go to jail for killing someone?

[GOPJ]

It’s not a sad day when a dirty cop is caught and convicted. It’s a day for celebration - they system works!! Justice matters... It’s not who you know... all the good stuff.

[hosepipe]

Whores in Virginia?... say it’s not so..
Politics in Virginia is much like whoredom..

Basically whores shaking each other down..
Washington D.C. is the red light district..

Pretty much Groino-nomics.. political blow-jobs.. and Keyster packings..
The acrid unwashed smell of politics on the east coast is nasty..
from Mayor to dog-catcher.. especially teachers Unions.. and unions in general..

The west coast is disgusting as well..