Wrongly Accused

How many of you have ever thought about loosing your careers, your homes, your freedom; all because of a false accusation? As Cops we are constantly judged by public perception for decisions that we have to make. Now imagine that accuser having the right connections, and embellishing his story to not only get you in trouble at your job, but getting you sent to prison? That is exactly what is happening to Rick Farnham, a former Pinellas and Hillsborough Deputy.

Rick was deployed to Pensacola in the aftermath of a destructive hurricane. In uniform, he and a Santa Rosa Deputy were checking a vacated home, when they were confronted by an angry neighbor, who believed they were looters, and didn't take a second to recognize that he was firing his handgun, not at criminals, but at uniformed Law Enforcement Officers. Rick deployed his taser, and subsequently subdued the man. A struggle ensued involving the man's angry wife, as well as other angry neighbors coming to his defense. The intricate details of this struggle are what is being argued, however all parties have agreed that the man fired his handgun, and was tasered. In a surreal decision, the State Attorney arbitrarily "no filed" on the man. Coincidentally, the man is a retired NY City Corrections Captain, and his neighbor is a retired high ranking officer from the military. Each of them used connections to file a Civil Rights complaint agaist Rick. The Pinellas Sheriff's Office defended Rick through the entire process. Unbelievably, Rick was convicted for a Misdemeanor Federal Civil Rights Violation. He has been sentenced to 12 months in Federal Prison. He resigned from the Sheriff's Office after the verdict, and is now loosing everything.

In addition to the sentence, Rick was ordered to pay $2500.00 in restitution. He also has a civil trial coming up for litigation. I realize that there are those who do not like Rick, or choose to believe the other sides version of events. This post isn't here for bashing Rick, please use another thread to voice that. For those of you who are as disgusted as I am that this has happened, an Account has been set up at all Bank of America Branches, for Non tax deductible donations. Even a $1.00 bill will help. If you want to donate money, go to any Bank of America branch, simply put the account number on the front of the envelope and whatever amount you wish to donate, and drop it in the night deposit box anonymously. The Bank of America Account number is 229005152048.

Thanks in advance for your help

Everyone should give a buck at the very least. By the way. No member should ever go help another community in need after a storm for that very reason. Can anyone find out how many grand juries heard the case before indicting him? I heard there was 2 and the first did not indict.

Oh geez give him a buck for me out of your own pocket and be quiet.

Why did he use a tazer when he was "being shot at"? If he was in fear that he was actually under fire then he should have returned fire.

In my book retired military and retired NY corrections are nothing special, so the arguement about them being someone of importance does not hold water because the connections they had are probably worthless.

I hate to see a fellow LEO in trouble because it looks bad on all of us, but it sounds like bad judgement to me.

Good thing he wasn't working for Pasco, they would never stand by him

Would it be OK for me to go into the branch, sit down with a bank employee, confirm the details of the account, identify myself and donate the money? Or would you prefer I do it anonymously via the night drop when no one is there? How about if I put it under the door mat at your house?

Since everyone gripes that anyone can post on this website without identifying themselves (sorry, I don't know you, Griff) why don't you get with the PBA or FOP and advertise this in their newsletters or identify yourself some other way?

I know this sounds cynical, but how do we know you aren't some scammer taking advantage of Farnham's situation?

NOT ONLY WOULD THEY NOT STAND BY YOU HERE THEY WOULD BE THE FIRST TO TURN THE KNIFE IN YOUR BACK, BUT TICK TOCK AFTER BW IS OUT SOME OTHERS MIGHT WANT TO DO SOME JOB SEARCHING YOUR JOB SECURITY AS AN A@@ KISSER WILL BE GONE TOO

The saddest thing is this can happen to anyone whenever force is used in arresting someone. It happened to me as well. The evidence is there when we document our use of force and the bad guy who was resisting and even violently fighting gets his injuries documented by us.

Then in the defense attorney's quest to win a case, a complaint gets filed for excessive or unnecessary force which is placed on hold until the criminal case is finished. Meanwhile, no statement is taken and the bad guy works on a story line that should be sent to hollywood. By the time it gets into the system, the story is nothing like the incident and the bad guy was sitting there reading the bible and totally surprized by the wild police.

Anyone who thinks this doesnt happen is sadly mistaken. I do believe the perjury part of the Pinellas Deputy's case sealed his fate with the jury though and therefore, I can not see giving him any $$$. Also, he flipped his pension into the investment side so he can cash it out in a few months, or wait for the civil suit to be finished cause the traumatized retired LEO is suing the Pinellas SO because he was so much of a real LEO.