Free Republic

Iowa Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley sent a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder Thursday requesting an explanation as to why the Justice Department declined to file charges against a federal prosecutor with child pornography found on his work computer. The finding against the Assistant United States Attorney (AUSA) was made by the Justice Department’s Office of the Inspector General (OIG). According to the Inspector General’s report, the AUSA admitted to spending a significant amount of time each day viewing porn at work. “The OIG conducted an investigation concerning allegations that an AUSA was using his government computer to view inappropriate...

A police officer has been fired after allegedly losing his temper at a cook-off and throwing a tear gas grenade at a rival team - many of whom were military amputees. Mike Hamby, 52, could face criminal charges for the drunken attack, which happened at this year's Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo BBQ Cook-Off in Texas. Several members of the team were left vomiting and with burning eyes after Hamby, an officer with 30 years service, allegedly flung a military-style 'clear-out' grenade into their tent. Hamby, who was off-duty, had been drinking before the incident in February, according to police...

Kenneth Melson of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms faces controversy over the agency's surveillance program that allowed U.S. guns into Mexico. He is said to be eager to testify to Congress. The acting director of the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is strongly resisting pressure to step down because of growing controversy over the agency's surveillance program that allowed U.S. guns to flow unchecked into Mexico, according to several federal sources in Washington.

A female Florida sheriff's deputy handcuffed naked girls to a desk, spanked them with a leather paddle and sent the seamy homemade videos to a boyfriend she met on a fetish web site, authorities said. Robin Leigh Pagoria, 45, subjected her two victims - described as girls between the ages of 10 and 18 - to multiple torture sessions, authorities said. "There aren't words to describe my anger with her," Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd told the Orlando Sentinel, adding that the arrest "came out of nowhere." Pagoria, a divorced Marine veteran, shackled the girls' wrists and ankles to a...

BOSTON — An international series of protests known as SlutWalks, sparked by a Toronto police officer's flippant comment that women should avoid dressing like "sluts" to avoid being raped or victimized, is taking root in the United States. Some women and men who protest dress in nothing more remarkable than jeans and T-shirts, while others wear provocative or revealing outfits to bring attention to "slut-shaming," or shaming women for being sexual, and the treatment of sexual assault victims."It was taking the blame off the rapist and on the victim," said Nicole Sullivan, 21, a student at the University of Massachusetts-Boston and...

King County has settled with the family of a man who was severely injured by sheriff's deputies in 2009 for $10 million. Christopher Sean Harris, from Edmonds, suffered permanent brain damage when he was tackled by deputies in May 2009. Harris' family filed a civil lawsuit against King County, claiming deputies used unnecessary force when they arrested him after a chase, knocking his head into a wall. John Cobb, the senior prosecutor on the case for the county, confirmed the settlement five days after the civil trial began on January 20. The settlement is believed to be the largest of...

BOISE, Idaho — As many as 15 church members who knew several months before authorities did that a Boise police officer had molested children will face no criminal charges for failing to report the crimes, Idaho authorities say. The Ada County Sheriff's Office says members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are protected by Idaho's clergy privilege law. Police said Stephen R. Young confessed his crimes to church officials in January, but the crimes didn't become public until March. Young attended an LDS church in Eagle. SNIP Court records say Young admitted molesting four children, ages 1...

A Pennsylvania teen who stored intimate photos of herself on her cell phone — but never e-mailed or shared them with anyone other than her longtime boyfriend — settled her federal privacy case against high school officials who had seized the phone without a warrant and turned it over to prosecutors. Still unsettled, however, is the question of how far educators can go when it comes to fulfilling their obligation to keep sexually explicit images, audio and text from reaching the eyes and ears of minors while on school grounds. "I hope this settlement will lead school officials in the...

Rene Lozano Jr. once lost control of his patrol car while chasing a traffic violator. The vehicle slammed into a utility pole, fatally injuring a rookie officer riding with him. A bullet narrowly missed another officer's head when Lozano's pistol accidentally discharged. He was the passenger in a stolen Mercedes-Benz driven by a friend. The bolt cutters used to steal the car were stashed under the seat. And he once was fired for making false statements about his arrest on charges of driving while intoxicated, a case that ultimately was dismissed because the arresting officer was unable to testify. That...

CHICAGO -- The idea seemed simple though bold: Call reputed gang leaders to a meeting with top police and federal prosecutors and deliver an ultimatum to end killings in the nation's third-largest city. But Chicago police Superintendent Jody Weis is facing mounting criticism for holding a so-called "gang summit" last month, even though several police departments across the country have relied on that approach for decades to help reduce crime. Among the chief complaints: that Weis himself was at the meeting, that the department should instead be adding more officers on the streets and that gangs won't take the message...

It's no secret that HCC and its police department are going through some tough times. Well, throw another log on the fire. Two HCC employees have filed a lawsuit against the college claiming that officials authorized hidden cameras in a room used by female police officers to change in and out of their uniforms. "The hidden cameras' location reveal the intention behind their installation was not security," the federal lawsuit states, "but fit more in line with spying for spying's sake or designed to please the prurient interest" of those watching and listening to the videos. HCC security officer Alfreda...

Officers with the Roosevelt County Sheriff's Office executed a search warrant Friday, seizing marijuana plants from the home of Poplar, Mont., Police Chief Chad Hilde. Seized during the search were several suspected marijuana plants and materials alleged to be used in the growth of the plants. Deputies are currently getting an arrest warrant for Hilde through the Roosevelt County Attorney's Office... the search was part of the department’s Operation New Beginning launched in spring 2009 to keep illegal drugs out of the community.

A former Minneapolis SWAT team member was sentenced to eight years in federal prison for the Jan. 6 robbery of the Wells Fargo Bank in Apple Valley. Timothy Carson, 29, pleaded guilty in March to two counts -- one for armed robbery and one firearms count. He received seven years for using a firearm and one year for the bank robbery. "When police officers break the law, it shakes public confidence and trust in ways we cannot measure. Today's sentence makes clear that no one is above the law," said United States Attorney B. Todd Jones, following the sentencing.

A former Orlando TSA security officer arrested for allegedly molesting a minor pleaded no contest to one charge today and was sentenced to 10 years' sex-offender probation. A victim told deputies Bennett asked her to be his sex slave and fondled her against her will. He pleaded no contest to the molestation charge, while prosecutors dropped the second count as part of the plea deal. Bennett, 58, could have received a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison for the felony. "Are you satisfied with your attorney?" Orange Circuit Judge Marc Lubet asked Bennett during the sentencing. "Yes," Bennett replied....

FLAGLER COUNTY, Fla. -- Two Bunnell police officers, a husband and wife, are facing charges and a city commissioner is under investigation after an illegal towing operation was exposed.Investigators say, when the two officers, Lt. John Murray, who is second in command, and his wife Lisa, would pull over a driver and, for example, arrest them after finding drugs inside the vehicle, even if the vehicle was legally and safely parked, they would have the vehicle towed anyway. The alleged scheme in the case is that the towing company is owned by a Bunnell city commissioner.The second in command at...

A former Memphis police officer charged with first-degree murder in the 2008 shooting of his girlfriend "looked like he had the weight of the world on his shoulders" when summoned to headquarters for questioning, a jury was told Wednesday. Chancy K. Jones initially was vague or silent during questioning, said newly named Deputy Director Toney Armstrong, but then admitted shooting Phyllis Malone because Jones said she threatened to tell his wife about their two-month affair if he did not give her money. Malone, 31, was found shot to death in her car around 6 a.m. on Sept. 9, 2008, at...

SULLIVAN CITY - CHANNEL 5 NEWS learned the Sullivan City police chief is facing felony charges. Hernan Guerra is accused of one count of conspiracy to transport drugs and four counts for distributing and selling marijuana. He has been the chief of Sullivan City's police and volunteer fire departments for the last four years. He is now on administrative leave. An investigator is filling in as chief as the federal drug investigation continues. Guerra remains in federal custody. FBI agents arrested him as part of Operation Deliverance, a nationwide crackdown on people allegedly working for drug cartels. More than 2,000...

<p>With a judge's earlier ruling that Chicago Police Officer John Ardelean had been arrested and detained without probable cause, Cook County prosecutors today dropped all charges against him in a crash that killed two people.</p> <p>The 36-year-old officer was charged with drunken driving and reckless homicide after his SUV broadsided a car on Thanksgiving 2007.</p>

In response to a flood of Facebook and YouTube videos that depict police abuse, a new trend in law enforcement is gaining popularity. In at least three states, it is now illegal to record any on-duty police officer. Even if the encounter involves you and may be necessary to your defense, and even if the recording is on a public street where no expectation of privacy exists. The legal justification for arresting the "shooter" rests on existing wiretapping or eavesdropping laws, with statutes against obstructing law enforcement sometimes cited. Illinois, Massachusetts, and Maryland are among the 12 states in which...

technician in the NYPD's forensics lab has been suspended for allegedly falsifying drug-test results, throwing into question "maybe thousands" of criminal cases -- and prompting a panicked meeting yesterday between cops and the city district attorneys. A Bronx drug trial was even abruptly halted last week because the longtime lab technician, Mariem Megalla, was supposed to testify in that case, sources told The Post. The NYPD last week sent out an emergency e-mail to the city's five DAs warning them about the evidence disaster and telling them to examine pending felony case files for evidence tested by her. In all...