Free Republic

FORMER San Bernardino County Sheriff Floyd Tidwell's plea bargain on charges of stealing more than 500 guns during his tenure has led to a reduced sentence that saves the public nothing, even as it saves Tidwell from going to prison. Justice, indeed, has been cheated. And so have law-abiding citizens, who expect that San Bernardino County's one-time top law enforcement officer be held liable for his transgressions. Instead, Judge J. Michael Welch on Tuesday reduced Tidwell's felony charges to misdemeanors, sentenced him to three years' probation and fined him $10,000. Welch seemed to wink and look the other way at...

Officer charged in Texas drug haul By Tom Bailey Jr. January 24, 2004 A brand-new traffic law in Texas led to drug charg es Friday against a Memphis police officer. Terrance A. King, who patrols on the 5 p.m.-to-1 a.m. shift for the North Precinct, was released on $50,000 bond Friday morning from the Bi-State Justice Center Jail in Texarkana, Texas. The 39-year-old officer was charged Friday in state court with possession of 100 pounds of marijuana and possession of 2.2 pounds of cocaine. The arrest started with a Texas traffic law that took effect Sept. 1: If you pass...

Property room theft easily turned routine By Erin Sullivan January 25, 2004 He was wearing a baseball cap, leaning against his green pickup truck in the driveway in front of his house, on a street where all of the houses look the same. It was Friday afternoon on Cordova Club Drive in a neighborhood of quarter-million dollar homes, varying slightly in shades of brick veneer and shutters, neatly wrapped around a golf course. A woman was walking her two Shih Tzus on the sidewalk. Another woman was power walking with a cell phone pressed to her ear. He saw a...

Ex-police employee guilty; Stole drugs and cash from evidence room"By Chris Conley January 21, 2004 When Kenneth W. Dansberry was running the Memphis police evidence room - and using his position to loot it of drugs and money - he grew so swamped with cash that stacks of it grew mold. Dansberry, 41, a former Police Department civilian employee, pleaded guilty in federal court Tuesday to a wide array of drug conspiracy and money laundering charges. U.S. Dist. Judge Bernice Donald, who received his guilty plea, called the magnitude of Dansberry's crimes "daunting." Fifteen alleged co-conspirators and two other property...