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| NEWS > 02 October 2007 |
Other related articles:
Police corruption' probe begin
Detectives have begun a criminal investigation into alleged police corruption, as recommended by a High Court judge.
It follows a case in which the judge said there was evidence someone within the PSNI had undermined a firm which lost a vehicle armour-plating contract.
The contract ended up going to another firm at a much greater cost.
The PSNI said its fraud squad had begun an inquiry which was being personally supervised by a senior detective.
Sam Kinkaid, Assistant Chief Constable for Crime Operations, will be advised by an "external independent exp... Read more
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 Article sourced from
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Dallas Morning News - TX,USA
02 October 2007
This article appeared in the above title/site.
To view it in its entirity click this link.
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Handling of teens' case by Sou
A Tarrant County grand jury is investigating whether Southlake police provided preferential treatment in a case involving five teenagers caught trespassing at a construction site this year.
The grand jury is also looking into allegations that the Police Department may have mishandled several other cases.
The investigation began Monday after several Southlake officers complained to the Tarrant County district attorney's office that some of their colleagues may have acted improperly while investigating some cases.
Among the issues under review is a rare request by Southlake investigators asking that the teens' trespassing cases be returned to the Police Department after they had already been filed with the district attorney's office.
"The grand jury is looking at complaints about preferential treatment and the way criminal cases are handled and possible misconduct," Assistant Tarrant County District Attorney Kurt Stallings confirmed Monday.
The teens were arrested in May on charges of criminal trespassing and evading police at the site of the future St. John Baptist Church in Southlake. The trespassing charge is a Class B misdemeanor, which carries a maximum sentence of six months in jail.
The charges were reduced to attempted criminal trespassing, however, after attorney Michael Deegan, who represented four of the teens, called Police Chief Wade Goolsby, according to an internal memo sent by Chief Goolsby to Director of Public Safety Jim Blagg.
Attempted criminal trespassing is a Class C misdemeanor, which carries a maximum sentence of a $500 fine.
Mr. Deegan said he asked police to reconsider the charges against the teens because none of them had a prior criminal record and they did no damage at the site, a point confirmed by city officials.
"These are good kids," the Fort Worth attorney said. "There are no blemishes on their records." He said one is trying to get an appointment to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, at least one is an Eagle Scout, and they're all good students.
"Sometimes it's justified in cutting people some slack," he said. "It happens a lot for people who are worthy of it."
Mr. Deegan denied seeking preferential treatment for the youths and said there is nothing unusual about an attorney trying to get reduced charges for his clients. "That's my job," he said.
John DePinto, Nicholas Piazza, Benjamin Gibson and Mark Schmiedel were charged as adults and sentenced to community service by a Southlake municipal court. John's father, Joseph, is the president and CEO of 7-Eleven Inc.
The other teen, a juvenile, was enrolled in the Teen Court program that allows offenders to pay for misdemeanor offenses through community service and involvement in the judicial system.
Ingrid DePinto, John's mother, on Tuesday denied accusations that her husband's position played a part in getting the boys' charges reduced, and Mr. Deegan concurred.
"We didn't play that card at all," he said.
Mrs. DePinto described the boys as "cross-country nerds" and said they used poor judgment when they decided to crawl through a hole in the fence around the construction site to play a game of capture the flag. She said they were attracted to the site because it has "a big fenced parking lot that's lit so they didn't have to worry about cars."
When the teens were caught by police, "they were arrested with guns held to their heads and spent the night in jail," Mrs. DePinto said.
She said the boys made "a stupid little decision" and went through the legal system. "These are good kids that did something wrong," she said.
Jerry Gibson, Benjamin's father, called the allegations of preferential treatment absurd. He believes the brouhaha is all about an internal dispute between some police officers and Chief Goolsby.
"It isn't as much about our kids as it is about turmoil in the department," Mr. Gibson said.
Mr. Stallings confirmed that Southlake police asked that the case against the youths be returned to their jurisdiction so they could handle it internally, a step he acknowledged is unusual.
"I don't know of another instance where they asked to have it back," said Mr. Stallings, chief of the district attorney's office pretrial division. "They asked to send it back, and we sent it back. Basically, if a police agency represents that they're not supporting a case, then we've got a problem.
After the charges against the teens were reduced, Southlake City Manager Shana Yelverton received an anonymous letter alleging that the police had mishandled three cases, including the one involving the teens.
A Southlake representative said the city is still investigating the allegations.
Since the teenagers involved in the trespassing case have been adjudicated, they will not face additional charges, Mr. Stallings said.
The grand jury investigation will look into the actions of the Southlake officers.
"Some of those allegations could rise to the level of a crime," Mr. Stallings said.
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