KY - LMPD detective (Carl Payne) charged over dirty texts, soliciting sex

Carl Payne

Original Article

04/15/2014

By Mark Boxley

Louisville Metro Police Detective Carl Payne was charged with three counts of first-degree official misconduct Monday over allegations he propositioned three women for sex after arresting them in exchange for assisting them with their court cases, according to a Jefferson County criminal summons.

Carl Payne, 38, of Elizabethtown, was placed under investigation by the department’s Public Integrity Unit in February, the Courier-Journal previously reported.

The charges filed against him Monday allege that from March 20, 2013 to Jan. 2, 2014 Payne — a member of the department’s Violent Incident Prevention, Enforcement and Response (VIPER) Unit — contacted three women after arresting them and “propositioned each of them for sex and encouraged sexually explicit text messages and photographs from the victims in return for assisting them with court cases,” the summons said.

Payne has been on administrative reassignment since Feb. 7, LMPD spokesman Dwight Mitchell said.

Lt. Kit Steimle, who led the VIPER Unit, is also under investigation and has been on administrative reassignment since Feb. 24, Mitchell said.

Police have not said if the two investigations are related.

This is not the first time Payne has been under investigation with the department, according to his personnel file. On June 20, 2013, an investigation was opened after he was arrested for operating a motor vehicle under the influence in Hardin County on June 19, according to a document in his personnel file.

He was suspended without pay for 20 days from the police department. His charges became effective Oct. 3 and he was restored to police powers on November 25, 2013.

He was also reprimanded for missing four court appearances in 2007.

According to the summons, Payne arrested the first victim on March 27, 2013, and soon after contacted the woman by phone, sending her “numerous sexually explicit text messages.” During one conversation, Payne asked the woman to meet him at his office late at night, saying “if she helped him out, he could help her out,” referring to her court case, it said.

The second incident started on Dec. 11, 2013, when Payne arrested a woman and her boyfriend, according to the summons. While the boyfriend was in the front seat of Payne’s police car, he was in the back with the woman typing her messages on his phone for her to read, it said. One told her she was attractive, asked why she was with her boyfriend. Another message asked for her phone number, according to the summons.

Payne is also accused of putting his phone number in the second woman’s purse and told her to call him “so that he could help her with her court case,” the summons said. When she was released from jail she contacted him thinking he could help her, but he started sending her “explicit text messages,” the summons said.

Payne appeared in court on the woman’s case and had it continued on Dec. 15, 2013, which is when she told her attorney about his communications, it said.

Payne arrested the third woman and her boyfriend on April 25, 2013, the summons said. He started contacting her on Dec. 18, 2013, allegedly sending her explicit text messages and photos of his genitalia, it said. He also asked her to meet with him in exchange for helping her and her boyfriend with their court cases and offered to have gun and drug charges against her dismissed, the summons said.

Additional information was not immediately available from LMPD on any departmental actions against Payne stemming from Monday’s charges.

UT - POST Council sanctions 12 officers, 2 dispatchers

Brandon Haws (Right)

Original Article

03/27/2014

By Geoff Liesik

SANTA CLARA - The council responsible for disciplining wayward Utah peace officers meted out sanctions in 14 cases Thursday, including the case of a former school resource officer who sent inappropriate photos to a teenage boy.

Lindsay Jarvis, attorney for former St. George police officer Brandon Haws, told the Peace Officer Standards and Training Council that her client's involvement with the 17-year-old began out of a desire to help the boy.

"Mr. Haws lost his father at 4 years old," Jarvis said. "This particular student had lost his father in a car accident. Mr. Haws, with his position, attempted to act as a mentor or big brother to this student."

The officer and the student began exchanging text messages, sharing photos and communicating through social media sites like Facebook and Twitter.

"That interaction became inappropriate, quite frankly," Jarvis said.

But she also pointed out that an internal affairs investigation showed Haws was not trying to develop a sexual relationship with the teen. Instead, the officer made a mistake and "started acting like a teenager," the attorney argued.

Haws also addressed the council, asking that its members not strip him of his police certification — a sanction that would forever bar him from working in law enforcement in Utah.

"I have lived my entire life in order to be a police officer," Haws said. "I'm not here to have a pity party. I want to take accountability for what I did. I will say though that I don't think it meets the standard of revocation."

Haws admitted he sent the lewd photos when questioned Thursday by Utah Highway Patrol Col. Daniel Fuhr, a member of the POST Council. Shortly after that admission, the council voted unanimously to revoke Haws' certification for life.

The council also voted to revoke the certification of former Utah County sheriff's deputy William M. Barney for having a sexual relationship with a female probationer.

Council members approved lesser sanctions in 12 other cases.

Former St. George police officer Rick B. Goulding had his certification suspended for three years for engaging in sexual activity while on duty.

Christopher Schoenfeld, a former deputy with the Summit County Sheriff's Office, had his certification suspended for two years for willfully falsifying his application for certification.

Former Garfield County sheriff's deputy Cache Miller also had his certification revoked for two years for assaulting his wife in the presence of their children.

Wayne County sheriff's deputy Craig W. Brown and Unified Police Department dispatcher Chastity T. Corona each had their certifications suspended for 18 months for DUI.

The council suspended former Utah Department of Corrections officer Randall Scott Hall's certification for 15 months for theft and disorderly conduct.

One-year suspensions were handed down to former Springville police officer Nathan N. Brimhall for falsifying a police report, and to former UHP trooper Jon Gardner for a DUI arrest in Colorado that happened before he retired.

Sunset police officer Brian Kirby's certification was suspended for three months for a trespassing incident.

South Salt Lake police officers Anita Bench and Eric R. Jensen each received letters of caution for accessing the state Bureau of Criminal Identification database for unauthorized purposes. The council also issued a letter of caution to Makette Morgan, a dispatcher with the Utah Department of Public Safety, who slapped her former husband's face during a domestic dispute.

Lt. Al Acosta, who heads up POST's investigative unit, said Thursday that his staff received 176 reports of alleged misconduct by officers in 2013. From those reports, 108 cases were opened.

POST Director Scott Stephenson acknowledged that's "an upward trend" from what the agency has seen in past years.

"Just like with anything, there are peaks and valleys," Stephenson said. "These are tough situations. We're dealing with people and their lives. These are never easy things. This is the ugly side of my job."

Less than 1 percent of Utah's nearly 9,000 peace officers ever become the subject of a POST misconduct investigation, the director noted.

FL - Florida lawmaker says DHS should face "tough questions" about its new sex offender evaluation director

Rep. Matt Gaetz DUI Photo

Original Article

Mr. Gaetz was arrested for DUI, refused a breathalyzer test, and didn't have his license suspended like the law mandates (here), wants closure, yet he continues to exploit ex-offenders for his own gain? He's also pro-Marijuana legalization. How hypocritical of him! Maybe Florida needs a DUI registry, make it retroactive, then put Mr. Gaetz on it?

02/17/2014

MADISON (WXOW) - The man hired to be the new sexual offender evaluation director for the Wisconsin Department of Health Services (DHS) resigned from a similar position in Florida last September, after defending the rights of sex offenders and allowing the number of offenders tagged as "sexual predators" to drop by more than half under his watch.

A DHS spokesperson says the agency has selected Dr. Daniel Montaldi to head up sex offender evaluations at Sand Ridge Secure Treatment Center in Mauston, but notes that the "hiring process is not complete."

Sand Ridge specializes in treatment services for offenders committed under Chapter 980, Wisconsin's sexually violent persons law.

Dr. Montaldi last served as the lead administrator for Florida's Sexually Violent Predator Program.

He resigned that position one day after the Florida Sun-Sentinel newspaper wrote an article raising questions about is views and record.

As in Wisconsin, Florida law allows the state to keep sexual predators locked up after their prison sentences end. Dr. Montaldi was in charge of the staff that would evaluate those offenders before they were released and recommend those likely to re-offend for continued confinement.

According to the Sun-Sentinel, the number of sex predator recommendations dropped considerably under Dr. Montaldi. In the year before he became director, the program flagged 213 offenders as potential predators. In the year under Dr. Montaldi's direction, that number dropped to 86.

"We learned that Florida had been releasing violent sexual predators under Mr. Montaldi's watch and that those violent sexual predators were re-offending, sometimes even the day or the same week they were released," Florida State Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-District 4) said on Monday.

Rep. Gaetz is the Chair of the Florida House Sub-Committee on Criminal Justice, who says he found not only Dr. Montaldi's record troubling, but also his comments on the civil rights of sex offenders.
- All human beings are entitled to civil rights, period, so if it offends you then you are not adhering to your oath of office to uphold the Constitution and the rights of others!

The Sun-Sentinel reported that in an August 2013 email to members of the Association for the Treatment of Sexual Abusers, Dr. Montaldi wrote: "The value of liberty in a free society must also extend to society's most feared and despised members. The civil rights of even sex offenders is still an important moral value."

"I think the people of Wisconsin should have a lot of questions about somebody that was essentially run out of the State of Florida because he used a position as an administrator with our sexually violent predator program to increase the propensity for releases for some very, very dangerous people," said Rep. Gaetz.

But in its statement, DHS downplayed those concerns.

"Dr. Montaldi has experience, expertise and philosophies that align with the Department's role under Chapter 980 with regard to the treatment and supervision of sex offenders as well as sex offender re-offense risk assessment. He is widely recognized as a content expert in risk assessment and we are eager to have him join our staff," wrote DHS Spokesperson Stephanie Smiley.

Smiley said that because the hire is not yet complete, she cannot confirm a start date or salary for Dr. Montaldi, but says the starting salary for the position was listed to go as high as $122,316 annually.

See Also:

• Scott Walker looking to fire new sex offender administrator
• Bill Would Ban Release of Mug Shots in Florida