Wayne County, including Detroit, has the highest number of public corruption charges in the region, and the state, followed by Macomb County. The commission had called for the firing of five officers involved in the shooting, rather than the suspension Kirkpatrick, police internal affairs and the police departments executive force review board made. Not only did he flip Kent, where Grand Rapids is located, he cut Trump's margin in Ottawa County, in one of the most Republican parts of the state, by 9 percentage points. And that's in a county, like Kent, where Trump held a rally on the last day of the campaign, making his case to voters. In Oakland County, the state's second largest county, turnout was nearly 75%, higher than the 72% seen in 2008; in Detroit which is getting smaller and the rest of Wayne County, turnout . The Oakland Police Department has been under a nearly two-decade-long federal oversight program as a result of the Riders case, in which officers were accused of beating and planting drugs on West Oakland residents. And while Trump won Macomb, his margin, 53%-45%, was well below the 54%-42% Trump beat Clinton by there four years ago. In February 2003, Neely and Richholt pleaded guilty to one count of agreeing to engage in prostitution and received one day in jail and three years of probation, a misdemeanor. Or one of the cases that had the DPOA that was ignored to see if we could file a motion to terminate. Katie Jane Fernelius Jackson said she felt the commission was vindicated after Warshaws report said there was a lack of leadership on Kirkpatricks part in handling the Pawlik case. The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court of Northern California, alleges that the Oakland police commissioners routinely abused their power, and corruptly looked for special treatment by the police department. And legal experts say that destroying records of police misconduct, even if authorized by state statute, may conflict with the constitutional rights of defendants. And there are any number of places where such a change can be demonstrated, across metro Detroit. The pair and other officers brutalized and planted drugs on suspects and filed false police reports resulting in wrongful convictions. Republican voters, though, as well as Democratic ones, are clearly not monolithic. There were moments when, for example, I tried to raise the subject of Moody and Teter immediately shut me down. in Oakland County at their at the Red Fox in I think it was Bloomfield. So, I never took for granted the honor of telling someones story and elevating a voice; especially if they had suffered from injustice or been discarded by society. that ended in 2003 with the Oakland police being placed under a federal consent decree. Apr 20, 2022, M. Forrest Behne, Craig Waleed, Meghan Peterson, and Lauren Brinkley-Rubinstein Thatdifference was even more stark in Kent County in west Michigan, where Trump lost,getting 165,318 votes to Biden's 186,753. SAN FRANCISCO Three Bay Area men, including a justice activist who billed himself as a youth mentor just 11 days after . An outspoken, genuine sort of bloke, he pushed back on the notion that nothing had been done about alleged probate corruption. Circuit Civil/Criminal - 248-466-4260. But then, these families could not get moveon.org to tweet a single word about them and, despite the complete eradication of their loved ones civil rights, the Detroit office of the ACLU told them to stick it. Mabanag and officers Jude Siapno and Matthew Hornung were tried in the case twice. He joined the . donate today. In the 1960s, Oakland became the birthplace of the Black Panther movement after growing police harassment and brutality, and in 1968, anger at OPD boiled over when cops killed a 17-year-old member. Gretchen Rachel Hammond is an award-winning freelance investigative journalist based out of Chicago. I did so immediately with no response. By then, Teter was already in a meeting with Nessel deciding what to do next. . Theres a reason for why this story is on my personal blog and not a mainstream outlet. The chief of staffs for Ayers and Benson are also included in this investigation but have not been charged. In suburban Oakland County, meanwhile, Biden's support grew by 91,000 votes though the president isn't making claims about trucks pulling up in the dead of the night there. J. Dallo is a dedicated and aggressive fighter, both in and out of the courtroom. Fired Oakland police chief sues city for, Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window), Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window), Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window), Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window), Chart: Bay Area rainfall totals for this week, Fired Oakland police chief sues city for alleged retaliation for exposing corruption, abuse of power. OAKLAND COUNTY. However, when I saw that the list of attendees included State Public Administrator Michael Moody, I pushed back and alerted Rossman-McKinney that he was a focus of the investigation. Just like Caring Hearts, ADDMS was founded by attorneys who had donated to Georges 2003 campaign. But not this time, evenwith Trump winning Macomb for a second time. So, it didnt pass anyones notice that, despite the simplicity of the job, the Attorney General couldnt even bring herself to say the word fired., Instead, after careful internal deliberation, she decided relieve these public administrators of their appointments.. Read more onMichigan politics and sign up for ourelections newsletter. In Antrim County, where an initial count raised questions and led to a re-tabulation, Trump's margin of victory fell 15%. Evidence Room: 248-858-5062. Finally, late in the evening, too late anyway for my editor friends in Chicago to RSVP on my behalf, I received a text from my editor at the Free Press. The Kirks were donors to Macomb County Probate Judge Kathryn Georges re-election campaign. An example of that varying support can be found in Clinton Township Precinct 38, located along Romeo Plank at Hall Road. We have concerns that the First Amendment right of access to court records may be violated by a statute providing for so short a period before records are destroyed, Kinzinger, whose firm serves as general counsel for the First Amendment Coalition, wrote in an email. In my national background research, I spoke to families in Washington and Oklahoma who said that reporters who had been committed to investigating guardianship issues, in those states, were suddenly told by their editors to stop. I called some old friends still in the business in Chicago and they agreed to vouch for me if necessary. Biden, the former vice presidentwho won Michigan 50.6%-47.9%, won the presidency Saturday morning after the Associated Press called the race in Pennsylvania, giving him 284 Electoral College votes, with 270needed to win the presidency, and delivering him a state that, like Michigan and Wisconsin, were key to Trump's victory in 2016 and played a vital role in defeating him this year. The U.S. Supreme Court has explained that the rule extends to any favorable evidence known to others acting on the governments behalf in the case, including the police.. Mar 02, 2022. Harris denied ever asking for police to cover any fees, her attorney said in an interview in February. Teter had certainly not brought it up either at our meeting or any time afterwards. The Oakland Public Ethics Commission has broadened the scope of its investigations into allegations of corruption by building code enforcement officers. "Kos" and "Daily Kos" are registered trademarks of Kos Media, LLC. Still, as Rossman-McKinneys stock climbed ever higher, the Elder Abuse Task Force set out to boldly go where two other Task Forces had never gone before. At least two other cases identified by The Appealone involving officers Eric Richholt and Mark Neely Jr., the other involving Richard Valergahave also been destroyed. When Catallo was shooting the story, the Kirks attorney, Sterling Heights Mayor and rabid Democrat Michael Taylor showed up to do a bit of schilling for his clients. When police searched Richholt and Neelys rental car, they found potential evidence of other crimes, including cash, zip-top plastic bags of cocaine, heroin, and marijuana, and firearms. Whether I received my answers from Nessel in the form of an official comment or not, the AG herself had ordered the meeting. And then of course in the mid-'70s, '76, '77, with the four children in Oakland County who were kidnapped and killed. Behind the scenes of the Michigan Elder Abuse Task Force, Nessels firings of four Public Administrators on Friday, the Detroit not so Free Press, Listening Tours, Kojak, Strip Searches and corruption at the highest levels. Not with you and not with a publication that falls under the AGs sphere of influence. Far from it, at Listening Tours, she told the audience that if she found a public administrator was up to no good, she would have no compunction in firing that person.Of course not. At that point, I was struggling to keep a grip on my own temper. It probably explains why they joined the Michigan Guardianship Association and a host of like-minded pro-guardianship organizations and the omnipresent Probate Judges Association as Task Force members. But police commission Chair Regina Jackson said in an interview Wednesday that she wasnt aware of any whistleblowing at the time they fired the chief. The case against Deanna Barash, 46, is the latest case filed by public corruption prosecutors against a . Anuradha Mittal, Oakland Institute Executive Director and author of the Stealth Game report Abdinoor Dima Jillo, member of the Borana Council of Elders in Isiolo County, Kenya Isaiah Biwott, community member Tugen community, Baringo County, Kenya Violet Matiru, Executive Director, Millennium Community Development Initiatives, Kenya Host: Andy . The subjects of Nessels proclamation were alsocentral figures in my investigation alongside attorney Jon B. Munger (fired in 2017), Oakland County Probate Court Chief Judge Kathleen Ryan and her colleagues Linda Hallmark, Daniel A. OBrien and Jennifer Callaghan. Why are you working with them?. I was quite surprised when, almostimmediately I heard back from her Communications Director Kelly Rossman-McKinney asking if my team and I would be willing to meet with a long list of Nessel staff members in order to overview our findings. When including public contractors that number rises to about 40. Posted in: Uncategorized Therefore, Moody had no jurisdiction over them. For instance, the 2020 election showed its share of vote-splitters. As much as anything, however, the 2020 election in Michigan may have been a simple reversion to the mean, an indication that, even with changing voting patterns within the state, Michigan's overall political nature hasn't changed that much after all. Throughout the trials, the Oakland Police Departments internal culture was examined in detail, as were political decisions by city leaders to undertake a zero tolerance crackdown on drug dealers, which community activistsand even the Oakland police unionblamed for stoking violence by street cops. By Nate Gartrell | ngartrell@bayareanewsgroup.com | Bay Area News Group. Its a high-level review of elder care issues. In the early 2000s, several women accused Oakland patrol officer Richard Valerga of holding them against their will in his squad car while he harassed and molested them. That's only part of the story to Biden winning Michigan: Even as Trump was adding to his vote totals in every county of the state but one Dickinson, in the Upper Peninsula, where Secretary of State records show he lost 111 votes his margin of victory in several counties long considered friendly to Republicans fell. Lucido seemed equally surprised because, he said, there was supposed to be a press conference about it on March 25. My concerns about a possible catch and kill situation didnt come out of nowhere. 28 police officers with allegations involving a prostitute. All of them showed shocking financial malfeasance. by Nicole Audrey Spector Sure, the president of the United States wields immense power, as does the average member of the Senate and House of Representative, but when it comes to unchecked lawlessness, abuse of authority and corruption, they've got nothing over the county sheriff. Yet, for the months which followed, Nessel refused to say the words public administrator and investigation in the same sentence. Still, I kept the faith. You shared the chart of the home sales information with me and it included one sale that was over $100,000 below the market value. If you have any . Edward Ortiz, Officer Paul Harper, Sgt. It wasn't just metro Detroit, however. Third parties. Chapter 3: Law and Order - LBP. Corruption cases have long riddled the Metro-Detroit region and in an upcoming post we will detail the ones that have been brought to the public eye since 2016. For Coblentz, that is 296 cases involving 345 defendants . Since 2016 there has been two public corruption cases in Oakland County and one in St. Clair County; no other county in the region has had any cases come to light. Since 2016 there have been 10 public officials from Macomb County, either the County organization itself or a municipality within its boundaries, who have been charged with alleged public corruption crimes. 2000-11-02 04:00:00 PDT OAKLAND -- In one of the toughest crackdowns against police corruption in Oakland history, the Alameda County district attorney will charge four police . Since taking the bench in 2003, George had somehow survived numerous scandals and, like most Michigan probate court judges, knew on which side her bread was buttered. And in Grand Traverse, Trump went from winning by 13 points four years ago to beating Biden by just 3. As we moved on to Medicaid fraud allegedly committed by the public administrators, I was asked what bearing it had on the investigation. The prominent law firm alsorepresents the city of Oakland, Alameda County and the Coliseum Authority, most notably in the ongoing legal battle against the Golden State Warriors over a roughly $40 million debt the authority says the team owes. While Republican businessman John James lost the race statewide to U.S. Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., 49.8%-48.3%, he ran ahead of Trump in some areas. Either way, guardianship is a life sentence which hardly anyone in this country knows or about which anyone has cared to educate themselves. The judgesdecided on a sample of 2,278 guardianship and conservatorship cases my team and I reviewed. In 2008, Oakland paid $2 million to settle a civil rights lawsuit brought by 16 womenall of whom were Asian Americanwho said they were victims of Valerga. Biden, for instance, did far better than Clinton did in some other areas, and in some of them may have been helped by forces outside hisor Trump's control. Since 2016 there has been two public corruption cases in Oakland County and one in St. Clair County; no other county in the region has had any cases come to light. Chapter 5: The Runaway. And one. I was both an idealist and a born leftist in every sense of the definition. County officials say Eric Smith sentencing shows public corruption will not be tolerated Macomb County officials said Eric Smith's conviction on public corruption charges should restore the. A public administrator was clearly just a title with no more consequences of its removal than telling the Duke of Edinburgh that he could no longer be a duke. The difference? I truly believe that they dont see what theyre doing as being corrupt. You cant give that stuff to them. It would be a long shot. Under the Brady rule, prosecutors must disclose material that might help the defense, including information that undermines the credibility of state witnesses. Its the easiest job in the world for Nessel; like telling Sarah Ferguson, the Duchess of York that she cant be a Duchess because all those weight watchers commercials were a bridge too far. However, theres always the unexpected. Site content may be used for any purpose without explicit permission unless otherwise specified. I called my editor at the Free Press. On August 23, 2019, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel announced that she had fired three Oakland County Public Administrators, John Yun, Jennifer Carney and Thomas Brennan Fraser and one. , where anti-gang officers in a downtown precinct were accused of unprovoked shootings and beatings of suspects, as well as planting evidence and stealing drugs then turning around and selling them on the street. , ADDMS was founded by attorneys who had donated to Georges 2003 campaign I was both an idealist and born... Idealist and a born leftist in every sense of the courtroom 46, is latest! 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