Modesto Police Detective James Eichbaum A Pedofile

Judge Marie Silveira called the case of Edward Deandre Mitchell and Laron Tavon Davis, who are accused of murder and a string of convenience store robberies.

This time, the credibility of former Modesto police detective James Eichbaum, who retired in October, was on the line.

On Feb. 9, Eichbaum pleaded no contest to providing alcohol to a minor, an infraction, and paid an $800 fine.

He had been accused of giving an alcoholic energy drink to a 17-year-old female Explorer Scout while they worked together on an alcohol sting operation in August 2006.

In court and in legal papers, defense attorney Frank Carson alleged that Eichbaum's relationship with the minor was far more extensive, and sexual in nature.

As proof, the defense attorney gave the court a copy of an anonymous letter, purportedly from someone who works for the Modesto Police Department.

He asked the court to review Eichbaum's personnel file to determine if complaints against the former detective show a pattern of malfeasance that could call his work on the Mitchell and Davis case into question.

Modesto Police shooting of Sammy Galvan goes to court

Sammy Galvan, 22, was shot eight times before he had a chance to comply with the officers' commands, posing no threat as he leaped out of bed and grabbed a knife to protect himself from intruders. The Galvan family's attorney is seeking $3 million for Galvan's parents and points out that Galvan's wounds show that he could not have been taking aim.

Twelve jurors will decide after they hear from all involved when the wrongful death case comes to trial today in U.S. District Court in Fresno. An attorney representing the Galvans said a trial is the only way to get justice for a young man who died at police hands but committed no crime.

"These cases are hard," said Oakland-based attorney Walter Riley, who declined to discuss the case in detail. "But they have to be tried sometimes."

Senior Deputy City Attorney James Wilson, who represents the officers, could not be reached for comment.

Los Angeles Police corruption investigated

In 1996 Javier Ovando was shot in the head and paralyzed after he fired upon three Los Angeles police officers. He went to prison, sentenced to 23 years for his crime.

After officer Rafael Perez, who was present at the shooting, was allegedly caught stealing about 600,000 pounds of seized cocaine from a police locker, a new story of the Ovando shooting was revealed.

Perez has traded testimony against his fellow officers for a lighter sentence, and now claims that Ovando was unarmed and shot in the head while he was lying on the floor in handcuffs.

This incident and other corroborated stories have touched off the largest corruption scandal and subsequent investigation in the history of the Los Angeles Police Department.

Investigators are probing at least seven other 'unjustified' shootings. At least 13 officers have been relieved of duty, with more incidents likely to surface as the internal scrutiny continues. Another 50 officers are known to be under suspicion, and almost 200 criminal prosecutions could be overturned.

The officers involved in the Ovando case may have been given orders to plant the weapon. A sergeant with the department's anti-gang unit allegedly instructed officers under his command to plant guns on unarmed suspects to back up a shooting or questionable arrest.

Brazen officers from the elite anti-gang unit known as CRASH (Community Resources Against Street Hoodlums) consistently imitated the street gangs they were supposed to be eliminating. Sporting gang tattoos, it has been alleged that 'death parties' were held to celebrate fatal shootings of suspects. They are accused of dealing drugs, robbing banks, framing innocent citizens, shooting unarmed civilians and lying under oath.

Other corruption cases under public scrutiny include: police officers supposedly rented an apartment for on-duty sexual liaisons with prostitutes also enlisted to sell drugs officers had stolen from dealers; a 35-year veteran Los Angeles police officer was arrested for possession of heroin he stole during a sting operation; another officer was allegedly caught stealing $600,000 worth of seized cocaine from a police locker; two Pasadena deputy city marshals, one reserve deputy, one police officer and two former police officers are charged with theft, burglary and manufacture/delivery of a controlled substance.

Amnesty International has sent representatives to Los Angeles to investigate these incidents, similar to others covered in its new report, "United States of America: Race, Rights and Police Brutality."

Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan and LA Police Chief Bernard C. Parks have publicly expressed their disgust at their officers' flagrant disregard for the law.

Even though Javier Ovando has been released from prison and is free now, he will be bound to a wheelchair for the rest of his life. A day of reckoning is due this victim. Ending the Drug War would restrain the police violence and corruption of which Javier Ovando and countless other victims have greatly suffered.

Medical marijuana protest in Modesto

The corrupt Modesto Police Department tried for months to have this Marijuana Dispensary closed down. There were many city council meetings where the community made it clear that they did not want that to happen. Once the MPD realized that the citizen's in this area were not going to let them violate there rights under California Law, the MPD decided to whine to federal agencies. Unfortunately this crybaby tactic worked. The FBI and DEA came in to steal all of the Medical Marijuana and all of the people's money that where involved with dispensary.

17-year old killed by drug dealers as retribution for being a police informant.

It all started on January 6 when Chad was pulled over for a traffic stop by Brea police in southern California. Officers found a half ounce of methamphetamine in his truck. Chad was taken to the Brea police station and questioned for several hours. When his mother (Chad’s father died when he was an infant) arrived, she found that Chad had been crying for a long time; his face was badly swollen with tears.

Police told his mother that she could not take him home unless she signed a waiver allowing Chad to become an informant for the police. If she didn’t, Chad would face serious jail time. They told Mrs. Mac Donald that the drug charges would be dropped in exchange for Chad’s work as an informant. The mother agreed to sign the waiver and in so doing doing agreed to something she could not fully understand.

Chad worked with the police in at least two drug arrests. But soon, Ms. MacDonald realized that Chad was being pressured by the police to participate in larger and larger drug buys. Concerned that Chad was becoming involved in something quite dangerous, Ms. MacDonald called the district attorney’s office in an effort to end the arrangement. But the police pressure did not stop; they continued to pressure Chad to participate in bigger buys in exchange for dropping all charges. To hammer this home, the DA’s office filed charges against Chad for possessing and transporting methamphetamine.

Chad, feeling under tremendous pressure, set off to score a really big buy so the charges would be dropped. On his own initiative, Chad went to make a drug buy at a house in a nearby town that was well-known for drug and gang activity.

It appears that when the gang later learned that Chad was an informant, they kidnapped Chad and his girlfriend; both were both tortured and strangled. The girlfriend somehow survived and was found in Angeles National Forest. Chad was found dead in an alley in south Los Angeles.

Thoughtless, aggressive cops exploited Chad to beef up their arrest statistics. The police and the district attorney’s office treated Chad in a reckless manner which directly led to his death and endangered the lives of others. They showed no concern for the danger they were putting Chad in and are now busy covering up their actions.

Modesto Police ABC Out of Control Downtown

MPD Out of Control Downtown…

Many people don’t know that the California State ABC (Alcohol Beverage Control) has been giving the City of Modesto a grant to enforce their rules in the City of Modesto for the past three years. This grant also empowers MPD officers to become pseudo ABC agents and allows them to enforce all ABC rules. Since the grant was given MPD is on the offensive harassing businesses and causing havoc with people’s livelihoods. Just in downtown Modesto MPD has busted Tresetti’s, Barking Dog, Taiwan Restaurant, Tokyo Empress, Sharkey’s Crab Shack, Fat Cat, Dewz, 1505, Minnie’s, and those are just the ones that I know of. There almost isn’t one business that they haven’t written up for one reason or another in the downtown area.

Cops harassing teens, Patterson parents say

PATTERSON — Sheriff's deputies routinely are intimidating and harassing teenagers here, often without reason, claim some parents who want the city to take action on what they consider a persistent trend.

"I know they have a hard job. But with all the community members talking about this, something is not quite right. We want to make it right and work with them to resolve this issue," Patterson resident Violet Wells said.

Wells was among a handful of residents who raised concerns about harassment at last week's City Council meeting, citing specific incidents. They asked for the issue to be placed on a future council agenda for discussion.

Patterson contracts with the Stanislaus County Sheriff's Department for police services. Sheriff Adam Christianson said no official complaints have been filed in Patterson, but the department is investigating the allegations.

Police Chief Tyrone Spencer, who has worked in Patterson since 1981, heard the complaints at the council meeting. Spencer did not return phone calls seeking comment.

Albertina Reynoso, a mother of three, said her 15-year-old son and two of his friends recently were talking outside a neighbor's home on North Second Street when a deputy pulled up.

The deputy allegedly told her son, who was wearing red Patterson High School gym shorts, that he was "on the wrong side of town," Reynoso said.

The color red is associated with members of Norteño gangs; the Sureño gangs favor blue.

The deputy left and then returned a few minutes later with two other deputies, she said. They told the teenagers to sit down on the ground, and recorded their names and other identifying information, Reynoso said.

Wells relayed a similar story. Her 15-year-old son was playing basketball with a group of friends when they were approached by a deputy searching for a missing child, she said.

What began as a lighthearted conversation turned to "intimidation," Wells said, when the deputy stopped smiling, unsnapped something from his belt and repeated a question about the age of one of the youths.

"He unsnapped something, like mace or a gun. He said, 'I'm going to ask you one more time.' He was intimidating them," Wells said.

Helpful Links

• Copwatch
• Police misconduct
• Political corruption
• Police brutality
• False arrest
• Edwin Atherton
• Wickersham report
• Intimidation
• Political repression
• Surveillance abuse
• Falsification of Evidence
• 1992 Los Angeles riots
• ICAC
• Knapp Commission
• Frank Serpico
• Rampart Scandal

A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words

Speak Out Against Police Corruption

If a picture is worth a thousand words, then how much is a picture with words on it worth?

Click the picture to enlarge.

Click the picture to enlarge.

Speak Out Against Police Corruption

Modesto to pay family $2.55 million for botched drug raid that killed 11-year-old

Speak Out Against Police Corruption

MODESTO, Calif. (AP) -- The city of Modesto announced Wednesday it will pay $2.55 million to settle a suit brought by the parents of an 11-year-old boy killed during a drug raid two years ago.

Alberto Sepulveda was accidentally shot and killed by a member of the Modesto Police Department's SWAT Team in September of 2000. Modesto's city attorney, Michael Milich, said most of the $2.55 million will be covered by insurance. The parents of Sepulveda had filed a wrongful death suit against the city following the boy's killing.

Speak Out Against Police Corruption

Modesto Police Coerce Teen Into A False Confession

Speak Out Against Police Corruption

In the case of Somnguen Michael Amphavannasouk. Using coercive methods, police extracted a false confession. As a result, Michael, still a juvenile, ended up spending a year in an adult jail charged with a crime he did not commit.

It started on February 20, 1997. Two Modesto police officers yanked Michael, then a 16-year old junior, from his second period class for questioning in a gang-related shooting. School officials cooperated fully with the police and did nothing to intercede on Michael’s behalf. Michael was subjected to hours of threats from the police right at his school. What took place at the school sent Michael to jail for a year.

Officers Al Brocchini and Detective Nick Chilles arrived at the high school and took Michael down to the attendance office where they interrogated him relentlessly. They wanted information on a burglary and subsequent shooting. Michael didn’t have any information for them; he claims he wasn’t there. But police kept after him, threatening and making promises throughout the entire morning.

Michael wanted the session to end. The police told him repeatedly that he would not be prosecuted as long as he cooperated with them and provided information about other gang members who were involved in the burglary and shooting. They told him that even if he was the shooter, he would not be booked. And they said that if he didn’t tell them what they wanted to hear, he would be sent to jail.

Worn down and confused, Michael told them what they wanted to hear. He made a false confession. The police put words into his mouth. In reviewing the 169-page transcript, an expert on police interrogations called the statement "grossly" coercive.

Then, true to their word, the cops took him home. When he got there, Michael explained the false confession to his father. The father called the police and said that his son had lied. The police responded by returning with a warrant and arresting Michael. He was then charged with 11 counts of attempted murder and remained incarcerated for the next year.

During that time Michael recanted his confession. The police, using their coercive methods once again, were able to extract statements from two other youths who claimed that Michael was involved. Michael ultimately took a lie detector test which showed that he was not involved in the burglary and shooting.

When Michael was first arrested, he was placed in juvenile hall. Inmates cannot post bail to get released from juvenile hall. When it was later determined that he would be tried as an adult, he was transferred to the men’s jail and bail was posted at $250,000. This amount was too high for Michael’s family to pay. So Michael remained in jail. In order to do his best for his client, Michael’s attorney had to request a number of delays of court appearances and Michael remained in jail.

Finally after Michael had passed two polygraph tests and repeatedly denied that he was involved, a deputy district attorney asked the Superior Court to dismiss the charges for lack of evidence.

Michael is now free. But I cannot imagine what spending a year in an adult jail for a crime he did not commit has done to someone so young. Not only was Michael unfairly punished, police focus on the wrong boy let the real perpetrator to go free.

Speak Out Against Police Corruption