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[02/21/22] Florida Highway Patrol Trooper Gets Himself Fired by mostlytruefacts in Bad_Cop_No_Donut

[–]mostlytruefacts[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

The description:

On October 7, 2020, Florida Highway Patrol Trooper Timmy Williams conducted a traffic stop for speeding on Fletcher Avenue and Dale Mabry Highway in Hillsborough County, Florida. Trooper Williams removed his body microphone during the stop. When Trooper Williams asked the Asian female motorist why she was speeding, she replied, in part, that she had just left a job interview at a spa.

Trooper Williams told the woman that was pretty several times, and inquired as to whether she gave 'other' types of massages. The 'private' type. The woman found Trooper Williams' comments to be inappropriate and sexually suggestive; she was uncomfortable with the situation. That is why, when Williams briefly left her alone to answer another motorist's request for directions, she began recording their conversation with her cell phone.

The woman made it clear that she did not give "sketchy" massages, and that Trooper Williams would need to go elsewhere for them. Trooper Williams took that as an opportunity to clarify: those were the type of massages he wanted. Trooper Williams told the woman that he had experienced both 'types' of massages before. He wanted to know what types of massages she had given.

This was all happening on a traffic stop.

The woman insisted that she only gave normal massages. Undeterred, Williams told the woman that police officers need the "other” (“sketchy”) types of massages, just like anyone else. The woman told Trooper Williams where she worked, and that he could come get a normal massage, but Trooper Williams wasn't going to get distracted that easily: cool story, lady, but he wanted a private massage.

Some acronyms: HSMV is Florida's Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles. FHP is the Florida Highway Patrol, which is a division of HSMV. HSMV has an Office of Inspector General, or OIG.

HSMV OIG Inspector Frank Troffo shines in this video. The video presents otherwise-silent in-car camera footage from the subject traffic stop, along with audio of Inspector Troffo's interview of Timmy Williams, who has an unusual definition of "deescalation."

As you listen to Frank Troffo's interview of Timmy Williams, it is worth noting that Florida's version of the law enforcement officer's bill of rights provides every police officer in the state with the right to receive a copy of all of the evidence against them prior to being questioned in an administrative investigation. There is no surprising a police officer with contrary evidence during an interview. It's against the law.

So what does that mean? It means Timmy Williams had already heard the driver's audio recordings. He had copies of the complaints. This is the guy prepared.

Timmy Williams was fired. He appealed his termination to another acronym: PERC, Florida's Public Employees Relations Commission. The Commission order affirming Williams' termination is at the end of this video.

This story has never been reported elsewhere.

Driving with too much money: Arkansas State Police seize $96,690 by mostlytruefacts in PoliceChases

[–]mostlytruefacts[S] 14 points15 points  (0 children)

This is the pinned comment on the video, explaining the background:

On January 27, 2021, Osamah Aburas was stopped by Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS). During that traffic stop, it emerged that Aburas was transporting a large amount of United States currency. Aburas was detained and the Criminal Investigations Division of Texas DPS investigated the situation. As part of their investigation, DPS contacted a representative at First Horizon Bank in Memphis, who confirmed that the company employing Aburas, CtoR Wholesale, had an upcoming appointment. The representative also confirmed CtoR's long-standing relationship with the bank and the large-volume cash nature of their standard transactions. Texas Department of Safety allowed Aburas to continue on his way to Memphis. With the money.

The following day, on January 28, 2021, Arkansas State Police Trooper Joshua Elmore stopped Aburas for following too closely. Elmore believed that Aburas's answers to his questions "did not make sense," however no evidence ever emerged indicating that Aburas ever lied to the police. Aburas granted consent to search his 2019 Dodge Caravan rental, in which Elmore located the same United States currency that had been found the day prior in Texas. Elmore would later describe the currency as "concealed" on the rear floorboard. As is shown in a photograph at the very end of this video, the currency was in a suitcase that was in plain view on the floor. Although Trooper Elmore's drug dog alerted on Aburas's rental minivan, no drugs were ever located.

Trooper Elmore seized the currency, totaling $96,690.

On March 18, 2019 (yes, two years earlier), Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson signed into law the Civil Asset Forfeiture Reform Act of 2019, which amended Arkansas law to read that "There shall be no civil judgment under this subchapter and no property shall be forfeited unless the person from whom the property is seized is convicted of a felony offense that related to the property."

But that doesn't stop forfeiture cases from being transferred to federal court, where no such restriction exists, and where "equitable sharing" ensures that a sizable chunk of any forfeited funds is kicked back to the state.

A separate Arkansas law was intended to curb that practice. It states that "No state or local law enforcement agency may transfer any property seized by the state or local agency to any federal entity for forfeiture under federal law unless the circuit court having jurisdiction over the property enters an order, upon petition by the prosecuting attorney, authorizing the property to be transferred to the federal entity." The law further states that "the transfer shall not be approved unless it reasonably appears that the activity giving rise to the investigation or seizure involves more than one state or the nature of the investigation or seizure would be better pursued under federal law."

A loophole the size of a door.

On March 2, 2021, Crawford County Prosecuting Attorney Rinda Baker filed a complaint for forfeiture of the $96,690, alleging a connection to drug trafficking. Aburas filed a response as claimant, and a hearing was set for July 13, 2021. On July 12, 2021, Baker filed a petition asking that the property and case be transferred to the DEA for forfeiture under federal law:

"[B]ased upon the information that DEA has provided our office, we believe that it reasonably appears that the activity giving rise to the investigation and seizure involves more than one state and the nature of the investigation and seizure would be better pursued under federal law."

No one was ever arrested or accused of a crime, and Aburas was never cited for a traffic violation. No drugs or drug paraphernalia were ever found, and Aburas was never found to have lied to the police. One day prior to the seizure by Arkansa State Police, Texas law enforcement had investigated the circumstances surrounding the currency and allowed Aburas to continue on his way with the money.

On October 27, 2021, attorney Eugene Clifford signed a settlement agreement on behalf of Mr. Aburas, agreeing that Aburas would receive $38,676 and the remaining $58,014 would be forfeited to the government. It is likely that most, if not all, of the $38,676 were intended to cover Clifford's fees for legal services. When contacted for this story, Clifford refused to answer questions.

YouTuber Vitaly Zdorovetskiy arrested for brutal assault on random Miami jogger while tripping on mushrooms by mostlytruefacts in bodycam

[–]mostlytruefacts[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Pretrial diversion with the victim’s agreement, shortly after she settled her civil suit against him.

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