05-19-2010, 08:26 PM
Former FHP Captain Found Guilty Of Misconduct, Forging Document
Posted: Tuesday, February 21, 2006
Updated: July 8th, 2008 05:27 PM GMT-05:00
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A judge in Osceola County said, if he could, he would strip a former highway patrol captain of his law enforcement certification.
Monday night, it took a jury just minutes to find Sterling King guilty of official misconduct and forging an official document. The jury believed the prosecution's argument that King gave a woman a break on a speeding ticket in hopes of having a sexual relationship with her.
"He started telling me about having an affair with a woman at a nudist colony and telling me about what they did at the nudist colony. [Like] having sex in a lawn chair," said witness Alaina Edgemon.
King also sent the woman two dozen sexually explicit emails. King will not serve jail time. He already paid a $1,500 fine.
Authorities: FHP trooper wrote fake tickets
WEAR ABC 3 - 3rd Feb 2010
MIAMI (AP) -- A Florida Highway Patrol trooper based in South Florida has been arrested on charges of official misconduct, after authorities say he wrote hundreds of fake citations to drivers. Paul C. Lawrence is accused of trying to increase the number of citations he issued by writing bogus tickets. More than 200 traffic tickets he issued since November have been dismissed, and there may be more. Authorities grew suspicious when the ticketed motorists began complaining
US DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE TO REVIEW CIVIL RIGHTS COMPLAINT
FILED AGAINST THE FLORIDA HIGHWAY PATROL AND ITS TROOPER(S)
One or more FHP Trooper Racially Profiled and Stole Money from Minority Motorists
ORLANDO, Fla. – Today, the Florida Civil Rights Association (FCRA) announced that the US Department of Justice will conduct a federal review into a civil rights complaint filed against the Florida Highway Patrol (FHP) and one or more State Trooper on November 30, 2009.
In a two page letter from the Civil Rights Division of the US Department of Justice informed the Florida Civil Rights Association that the Special Litigation Section of the Justice Department will review the complaint to evaluate whether a pattern or practice investigation is warranted. The complaint was also referred to the Criminal Section of the Justice Department which enforces the federal criminal civil rights statutes to investigate specific incident(s) and actions of individual officers. See copy of the Justice Department’s letter attached for your review.
The federal review by the US Department of Justice against the Florida Highway Patrol and its individual trooper(s) should serve as a wake-up call to police agencies and police officers across the state that complaints of police misconduct will not be ignored by this civil rights organization, said J Willie David, III, President of the Florida Civil Rights Association. Our federal civil rights complaint filed against FHP and one or more of its state trooper(s) provide the victims of police misconduct other avenues to pursue justice.
Officials at the Florida Civil Rights Association, is deeply concerned about the recent increase in police shootings (Orange County deputies fired 100 shots at an unarmed Black car theft), and racially discriminatory practices (Melbourne Police Officer Targeted Black Motorists), (TSA Orlando Office created a discriminatory assignment board for gays, lesbians, and African American Air Marshals) by police officers in Central Florida.
The days of believing that police officers can do no evil act is over. This is supported by the numerous termination and arrests of police officers for misconduct is a growing and disturbing trend in Florida, David said. Public trust in police is quickly eroding as allegations of police misconduct and excessive use of force to often go unchecked.
A former Florida state trooper facing fraud charges was shot in the chest after he tried to run over a Metro police officer in a Vanderbilt University-area parking garage on West End Avenue on Wednesday, police said.
Michael Smith, 52, already on probation and on the sex offender registry stemming from a Florida case, was shot in the chest and was being treated at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, police spokesman Don Aaron said. He is expected to survive.
Officer Chad Barth was on his way to arrest Smith, of Lafayette, Tenn., when he caught up to him in the third floor of the garage at 2525 West End. Barth, an 11-year veteran, approached Smith, who was sitting in a Honda Civic. When Barth tried to arrest him and opened the car door, Smith tried to drive away, pinning the officer, Aaron said.
Barth, 37, fired several shots, striking Smith once. Barth suffered abrasions and a knee injury.
Smith, an employee of a document service assigned as a courier for Wyatt, Tarrant & Combs law firm, charged more than $1,000 to the law firm's credit cards, including hotel, airfare and cell phone bills. Police were tipped off that Smith had an appointment at the law firm, on the 15th floor of the 2525 building. Smith was probably there to attempt to smooth things over, Aaron said.
Police sealed portions of the parking garage and controlled traffic on the busy street.
Smith, a Florida state trooper in the 1990s, was convicted of 10 counts of lewd, lascivious or indecent acts upon a child, official misconduct and one count of forcing or enticing a child to commit a lewd, lascivious or indecent act in June 1995.
Smith went to prison and was released in 2007. He is on probation until 2022. Probation allowed him to move to Tennessee, where he is under the supervision of the Tennessee Board of Probation & Parole
Posted: Tuesday, February 21, 2006
Updated: July 8th, 2008 05:27 PM GMT-05:00
0
A judge in Osceola County said, if he could, he would strip a former highway patrol captain of his law enforcement certification.
Monday night, it took a jury just minutes to find Sterling King guilty of official misconduct and forging an official document. The jury believed the prosecution's argument that King gave a woman a break on a speeding ticket in hopes of having a sexual relationship with her.
"He started telling me about having an affair with a woman at a nudist colony and telling me about what they did at the nudist colony. [Like] having sex in a lawn chair," said witness Alaina Edgemon.
King also sent the woman two dozen sexually explicit emails. King will not serve jail time. He already paid a $1,500 fine.
Authorities: FHP trooper wrote fake tickets
WEAR ABC 3 - 3rd Feb 2010
MIAMI (AP) -- A Florida Highway Patrol trooper based in South Florida has been arrested on charges of official misconduct, after authorities say he wrote hundreds of fake citations to drivers. Paul C. Lawrence is accused of trying to increase the number of citations he issued by writing bogus tickets. More than 200 traffic tickets he issued since November have been dismissed, and there may be more. Authorities grew suspicious when the ticketed motorists began complaining
US DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE TO REVIEW CIVIL RIGHTS COMPLAINT
FILED AGAINST THE FLORIDA HIGHWAY PATROL AND ITS TROOPER(S)
One or more FHP Trooper Racially Profiled and Stole Money from Minority Motorists
ORLANDO, Fla. – Today, the Florida Civil Rights Association (FCRA) announced that the US Department of Justice will conduct a federal review into a civil rights complaint filed against the Florida Highway Patrol (FHP) and one or more State Trooper on November 30, 2009.
In a two page letter from the Civil Rights Division of the US Department of Justice informed the Florida Civil Rights Association that the Special Litigation Section of the Justice Department will review the complaint to evaluate whether a pattern or practice investigation is warranted. The complaint was also referred to the Criminal Section of the Justice Department which enforces the federal criminal civil rights statutes to investigate specific incident(s) and actions of individual officers. See copy of the Justice Department’s letter attached for your review.
The federal review by the US Department of Justice against the Florida Highway Patrol and its individual trooper(s) should serve as a wake-up call to police agencies and police officers across the state that complaints of police misconduct will not be ignored by this civil rights organization, said J Willie David, III, President of the Florida Civil Rights Association. Our federal civil rights complaint filed against FHP and one or more of its state trooper(s) provide the victims of police misconduct other avenues to pursue justice.
Officials at the Florida Civil Rights Association, is deeply concerned about the recent increase in police shootings (Orange County deputies fired 100 shots at an unarmed Black car theft), and racially discriminatory practices (Melbourne Police Officer Targeted Black Motorists), (TSA Orlando Office created a discriminatory assignment board for gays, lesbians, and African American Air Marshals) by police officers in Central Florida.
The days of believing that police officers can do no evil act is over. This is supported by the numerous termination and arrests of police officers for misconduct is a growing and disturbing trend in Florida, David said. Public trust in police is quickly eroding as allegations of police misconduct and excessive use of force to often go unchecked.
A former Florida state trooper facing fraud charges was shot in the chest after he tried to run over a Metro police officer in a Vanderbilt University-area parking garage on West End Avenue on Wednesday, police said.
Michael Smith, 52, already on probation and on the sex offender registry stemming from a Florida case, was shot in the chest and was being treated at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, police spokesman Don Aaron said. He is expected to survive.
Officer Chad Barth was on his way to arrest Smith, of Lafayette, Tenn., when he caught up to him in the third floor of the garage at 2525 West End. Barth, an 11-year veteran, approached Smith, who was sitting in a Honda Civic. When Barth tried to arrest him and opened the car door, Smith tried to drive away, pinning the officer, Aaron said.
Barth, 37, fired several shots, striking Smith once. Barth suffered abrasions and a knee injury.
Smith, an employee of a document service assigned as a courier for Wyatt, Tarrant & Combs law firm, charged more than $1,000 to the law firm's credit cards, including hotel, airfare and cell phone bills. Police were tipped off that Smith had an appointment at the law firm, on the 15th floor of the 2525 building. Smith was probably there to attempt to smooth things over, Aaron said.
Police sealed portions of the parking garage and controlled traffic on the busy street.
Smith, a Florida state trooper in the 1990s, was convicted of 10 counts of lewd, lascivious or indecent acts upon a child, official misconduct and one count of forcing or enticing a child to commit a lewd, lascivious or indecent act in June 1995.
Smith went to prison and was released in 2007. He is on probation until 2022. Probation allowed him to move to Tennessee, where he is under the supervision of the Tennessee Board of Probation & Parole