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

Nice to see someone defending him. What amazes me have been the posts here that have condoned these citizens firing in the dark at anyone, whether they knew it was an LEO or not. I've said it before, I'll say it again. These two citizens are lucky that they are alive. Dark area, shots fired, perhaps no one knew who they were shooting at. I'll never condone killing someone for trespassing or theft.

I don't know the whole story. I wasn't in court. I DO know that a plasma TV isn't worth killing someone over, whether it was a thief there to steal it or a bored teenager there to get out of his house and fortunately NOT the LEO's there to protect the shooting citizens.

As a long time retired LEO, I never would have shot anyone for stealing a TV even when we were legally allowed to do it.

I guess some of us have more conscience than others.

Cops falsely accused?? I dont beleive it happens here, not at the PPD. Look at Moody and Sievers for example. Two cops that were the best of the best. Moody accused of dv by his girlfriend. Forget the fact she was a lying, pill popping, alcoholic who was banging half the admin. Forget the fact she was baker acted after Moody was arrested. IF she said it happened then by god it did. Forget the fact the investigator assigned the case was ORDERED to arrest Moody. Sievers?? Oh he was just sticking up for his friend, Moody, when the admin. went after him on some trumped up b.s. Sievers just told the admin. to stick it and resigned. Cops are falsey accused in this town on a daily basis too bad the PPD admin cant see crap for what its worth. Dont get me wrong. If a cop is dirty get rid of him. But if a cop is lied on and then arrested or forced to resign then what happens?? The guy looses his career over what?? Times have changed at the PPD and changed for the worse. The admin. use to stand behind its officers. Now the admin. is full of nothing but a bunch of bus drivers and quick to throw one of their own under it!! The admin. now thinks they are gods, they dont make mistakes and they sure as hell wont admitt it when they do mess up. Im not saying Moody and Sievers were perfect but neither one deserved what the PPD admin. did to them. T.O.

People sometimes tell lies to hide their own little secrets, kind of like Greg's wife did. In the end, it all works out. Eventually the truth comes to light. Keep being good guys and it will all work itself out. Remember, there is a higher power at work here and good will come to those who are just.

There is an organization that can help and it is known as the national police defense foundation. This group is is located in New Jersey. They provide tremendous resources, in these type of situations. What is being baker acted mean?? I'm not from Florida.

The Florida Baker Act is a Florida law that allows a person to be involuntarily committed to a psych evaluation center or hospital that has a psych ward to be evaluated to see if that person is mentally competent or incompetent. Most states have similar laws whatever they are called.