Brookshire Officer Fired, Faces Charges of Stealing From Citizen While On-Duty

Brookshire Officer Fired, Faces Charges: MyFoxHOUSTON.com

Brookshire, Texas

A Brookshire police officer is without his usual job and facing charges, following accusations that he stole from a citizen while on duty.

According to a press release from the Waller County Sheriff’s Office, Officer Charles Jerome Cole was arrested and served with two grand jury indictments on Saturday.

The charges included Official Oppression (a misdemeanor) and Theft from Person (state jail felony). The press release did not offer details into what took place, saying only that Cole is accused of committing the crimes about three months ago.

The charges surfaced, following an investigation led by the county district attorney’s office, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Texas Rangers, Waller County Sheriff’s Office, and the Brookshire Police Department.

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Sullivan City Police Chief Pleads Guilty To Helping Drug Cartels

McAllen, Texas

A police chief in South Texas has plead guilty to federal charges of helping Mexican drug cartels smuggle drugs across the border.

Police Chief Hernan Guerra Jr., will be sentenced in April. Guerra served as police chief of Sullivan City, located 25 miles west of McAllen. His lawyer, Oscar Alvarez, told the McAllen Monitor that his client “knew from the beginning” that he wouldn’t avoid a conviction in the case.

Last week, Guerra pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy with intent to distribute. According to prosecutors, Guerra conspired to move more than 1 ton of marijuana across the Rio Grande on flat-bottom boats in the Sullivan City area starting in June 2009.

Alvarez said the police chief understands he “abused a position of trust.”

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Harris County Deputy Accused of Killing Inmate

Harris County, Texas

The family of an elderly Houston man who suffered from paranoid schizophrenia and died in the Harris County Sheriff's Office's custody is demanding answers after he sustained serious head injuries during what they said was an altercation with a deputy at the Harris County Jail.

Norman Ford Hicks Sr., 72, of the 10400 block of Royal Oaks, died at 11 p.m. Jan. 22 at Ben Taub General Hospital after his children made the decision to discontinue life support. His official cause of death has not yet been released by the Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences, where pathologists performed an autopsy on his body.

Hicks, who was on probation, had been in custody at the Harris County Jail at 1200 Baker St. since Jan. 7 after he was arrested in Oklahoma City for unknown reasons and transferred back to Harris County, said his daughter, Marie Hicks-Fields of Houston.

The altercation happened Jan. 16 at the jail, but his daughter said the sheriff's office did not notify her of the incident. On Monday she said she did not learn her father was at Ben Taub's intensive care unit until a hospital social worker called her to confirm her father's date of birth and address.

Hicks' family said on Monday that Sgt. Felipe Rivera of the Harris County Sheriff's Office Homicide Division told them Hicks had been involved in an altercation with a staff member at the jail, although the sheriff's office refused to confirm that on Monday. Doctors said Hicks suffered multiple facial fractures and severe brain trauma, said his daughter, Evangeline Hicks Campbell of Katy.

Family members who saw Hicks at the hospital before his death said they saw bruises on his head. He never regained consciousness and died five days after arriving at the hospital, they said.

Two days after the altercation, while Hicks was hospitalized and on life support, he was charged with felony offense of harassment by a person in a correctional facility after the sheriff's office filed a complaint against him with the district attorney's office. Court papers accuse Hicks of trying to harrass, alarm and assault a deputy by causing the deputy to come into contact with feces and urine.

Court papers allege the offense happened on Jan. 7, the day Hicks was booked into the county jail. It was not immediately clear why the charge was filed after he was hospitalized and on life support.

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Is There An Increase In Sex Offenses By Police Officers?

After reviewing the police crime reports on this blog, along with law enforcement crime reports from around the country, one has to wonder about the alarming number of sex crimes committed by police officers. Check out the latest list of sex crimes from around the country.

Police Officer Sex Offenders

Is There Any Merit To Police Claims of War on Cops?

Between January 20 and January 25, 13 police officers were shot in the U.S., five of them fatally. These tragic incidents have led some police advocates to draw unsupported conclusions, claiming that they are tied to rising anti-police sentiment, anti-government protest, or a lack of adequate gun control laws. Media outlets also have been quick to draw connections between these unrelated shootings. While these incidents are troublesome, many are asking if law enforcement advocates are attempting to use the tragedies to stifle much-needed debate about police tactics, police misconduct, and police accountability. Radley Balko, Senior Editor at Reason Magazine takes a closer look. 

Dig into most of these articles, however, and you will find there is no real evidence of an increase in anti-police violence, let alone one that can be traced to anti-police rhetoric, gun sales, disrespect for authority, or "don't tread on me" sentiment. (CNN is one of the few media outlets that have covered the purported anti-police trend with appropriate skepticism.) Amid all the quotes from concerned law enforcement officials in MSNBC's "War on Cops" article, for example, is a casual mention that police fatality statistics for this month are about the same as they were in January 2010. 

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Houston Police Officer Accused of Multiple Rapes is Freed On Bail

Houston, Texas

A Houston police officer charged with sexually assaulting a woman while on duty was released on bail Saturday.

Abraham Joseph was released the day after state District Judge Denise Collins lowered his bail from $500,000 to $150,000.

Joseph, 27, has been indicted on charges of aggravated sexual assault. Joseph is accused of handcuffing a cantina waitress outside a bar on Jan. 2, driving her to a secluded area and raping her on the trunk of his police car, according to a civil lawsuit filed by the woman.

Authorities say Joseph is implicated in five additional sexual assault cases.

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Judge Lowers Bail for Houston Police Officer Charged With Multiple Rapes

Houston, Texas

A judge has lowered the bail for a Houston police officer accused of sexually assaulting a woman while on duty and implicated in five other possible cases, disappointing advocates of the other alleged victims.

State District Judge Denise Collins lowered the bail from $500,000 to $150,000 for Abraham Joseph after tearful testimony from Joseph's wife, who is eight months pregnant, saying the family doesn't have any money.
Katrina Patrick, an attorney involved in a civil suit against the officer, said other women accusing Joseph of attacking them are concerned for their safety.

"I find it terribly, terribly alarming that Joseph's bond was reduced today, especially in light of the fact that we are seeing more and more victims coming forward," Patrick said.

"This is a guy who has done some horrendous acts against the community, and he deserves to be behind bars," she added. "I think this is going to alarm a lot of the victims. A lot of their ... solace comes from the fact this guy is behind bars."

Benjamin Hall, who represents the woman Joseph is charged with raping and two other possible victims, said he worries the former officer may be released.

"He's got a constitutional right to have a reasonable bond, but we're just going to make sure he has no contact with our clients," Hall said.

Joseph, 27, was indicted last week on charges of aggravated sexual assault. The charges stem from an alleged attack on Jan. 2 in which Joseph is accused of handcuffing a cantina waitress outside of the bar, driving her to a secluded area and raping her on the trunk of his police car, according to a civil lawsuit filed by the woman.
He was relieved of duty by HPD officials later that day. Prosecutors argued Friday that Joseph is a suspect in five other cases involving four other women.

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