Cop charged with stealing $12G from Chichester youth baseball league
LOWER CHICHESTER — John Rapp, police officer and former treasurer of the Chichester Baseball League charged Thursday with stealing more than $12,000 from the baseball club, has repaid about $5,000 under an agreement he had made with 2012 CBL executive committee members, according to court documents.
“I didn’t know about the other $7,000 until last week,” Rapp said as he awaited his preliminary arraignment on multiple theft and receiving stolen property offenses. Rapp declined to comment on the criminal allegations.
Between unauthorized debit withdrawals and writing checks out to cash for umpire fees, authorities allege Rapp used his position as treasurer to take $12,480.23 for his personal use, including transactions at Harrah’s casino, the Renaissance Faire, Wawa and Giant Food Store.
The alleged thefts occurred between October 2009 and October 2011.
Rapp, 43, of Concord, was represented by attorney Russell Carmichael at the brief proceeding before Magisterial District Judge David Griffin. Rapp is now free on $50,000 unsecured bail. A preliminary hearing is listed for March 6.
Rapp’s arrest capped an investigation initiated some time after James Cassidy took over as treasurer. It was in October 2011 that Cassidy — who is now league president — began to review CBL books in preparation for filing 2011 taxes and discovered undocumented transactions in bank statements from the 2010-2011 season. Cassidy sought statements from TD Bank dating to Oct. 1, 2009, which he then reviewed with fellow CBL committee members at the time.
“Upon review by the executive committee, several discrepancies were discovered when Rapp used the baseball league debit/credit card,” according to court documents, jointly signed by county Detective William Wright and Upper Chichester Police Detective Sgt. Thomas McNichol.
According to documents, Rapp was permitted to use the debit card for league business.
Rapp met with members of the CBL executive committee on Feb. 4, 2012. At that meeting, Rapp allegedly admitted to making all the unauthorized transactions and as of April 23, 2012, paid back $5,387.74 to CBL.
It was back in April 2012 that Delaware County District Attorney Jack Whelan confirmed his office had launched an investigation into “account irregularities” involving the league. Continued...
Also in April, league members were invited to a meeting at the clubhouse. Discussion at that emotionally charged meeting included the misappropriation of funds, as well as internal actions taken by the committee.
As part of the criminal investigation, it was determined that prior to Rapp taking over as treasurer, all umpire fees were paid by checks written to umpires. After Rapp assumed the position as treasurer, “he began to write checks out to cash and would then pay the umpires in cash,” the affidavit states.
Investigators began comparing money paid out to umpires dating back to 2008. Ultimately, they determined Rapp allegedly lined his own pockets to the tune of $7,092.50 — $2,000 in 2010 and $5,092.50 in 2011.
According to Carmichael, Rapp surrendered on a warrant at county detective headquarters at 1 p.m., as scheduled. They arrived together at district court in Linwood at about 2:20 p.m.
When a television reporter referred to him as officer Thursday afternoon, Rapp was quick to make the distinction.
“I’m not an officer,” he said. He indicated he was an Aston officer for 19 years and a part-time Bethel officer for a year or two, he wasn’t sure. When asked why he left police work, he said, “It was time.”
Rapp also worked as a corrections officer for the county prison.
As a former officer, Rapp obviously knew the legal drill. What he wasn’t expecting, Carmichael said during the lull before the preliminary arraignment, was the conduct by some members of the media Wednesday night as they camped outside Rapp’s home.
“It was like a horde of villagers with pitch forks and torches,” Carmichael said, noting his client eventually had to call the Pennsylvania State Police. No charges were filed.
Carmichael said he was not at the house but was told that reporters not only “ambushed my client’s 13-year-old child in the driveway, but snuck up the second-story deck to peep inside his windows … My client’s house is 100 feet from the street.”
Even more egregious, Carmichael said, “We didn’t even know that the charges existed yet.”
Though county Detective Wright left a voicemail on his cellphone late Wednesday afternoon, Carmichael said he did not receive that message until Thursday morning.
After the proceeding, Carmichael said he hoped the public would wait for all the evidence and allow the legal system to play out before forming any firm opinion about his client. He specifically noted Rapp’s many years of public service.
“Inadvertence, incompetence and even amateurish attempts at accounting are not the same things as intentional wrongdoing,” Carmichael said.
As for Rapp’s alleged agreement to make voluntary restitution, Carmichael said, “If you are in charge of money and it turns out things aren’t adding up, I think you are obligated to play that money back, no matter what happens.”
The decades-old CBL is a seasonal home to some 300 ballplayers.
Alice Sykes, a CBL parent, said Thursday she is satisfied the matter is being handled properly. The mother of a 14-year-old player, Sykes looked back on CBL board members’ initial decision to keep the matter private, in the hopes the stolen money would be replaced.
“When they discovered it, they should have called the police,” she said. “If it is John Rapp or Joe Schmo, I don’t care who it is, you don’t steal money.”
Sykes credited Cassidy, current CBL president, with discovering the theft, but added that the board should have gone to police from the beginning instead of giving Rapp the change to repay the missing funds. Continued...
“Their reason for not prosecuting was ‘all we want is all our money back,’” she said. “I didn’t’ understand their logic.”
Sykes also said that while new procedures have been put in place so something similar doesn’t occur, there are other bookkeeping issues that should be addressed.
“A ticker tape in the concession stand, that lasted about one month last year,” she said. “That cash still needs to be watched more closely. The concession stand is a big part of our fundraising and needs to be monitored.”CBL
Cop arrested for stealing from robbery victim sentenced
By WTMJ News Team
MILWAUKEE - The Milwaukee Police officer arrested after stealing money from a register at a convenience store after they were robbed has been sentenced. Monday, Carl Howell was given six months in the Wisconsin Department of Corrections, which has stayed by one year of probation.
Howell faced up to four years and three months in prison if convicted on charges of both theft and misconduct. A criminal complaint says that Howell responded to a complaint of a burglary on November 20, 2012 at the Hopkins Food Mart near the corner of North Hopkins Street and West Glendale Avenue on the city's north side.
According to the complaint, a store owner showed Howell the store's cash drawer. The complaint says that after leaving the store, Howell came back and took cash from the drawer. Howell later admitted to stealing $200 from the drawer because he said he was behind on his rent.
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: A police officer was suspended for 30 days without pay with the intent to dismiss. Several fellow officer voiced suspicions that the accused officer was stealing clothing, sneakers, and jewelry from the homes of suspected drug dealers during raids and warrant executions. ow.ly/i1yB1
Sophia, West Virginia: An officer was arrested after he left a restaurant without paying. He was found guilty of defrauding an innkeeper and terminated. ow.ly/i8DgK
Eagle Pass, Texas: An officer pleaded guilty to possessing a stolen firearm. He faces up to 10 years in prison after admitting that he tried to sell an M1 carbine that he knew was stolen. ow.ly/i8AmP
Dallas, Texas: A police officer has confessed to filing a fraudulent tax return, according to federal documents. He resigned from the force, and agreed to plead guilty to one count of willful presentation of a false of fraudulent tax return. ow.ly/i7h2B
•Mobile, Alabama: A second state trooper has been convicted of using his state credit card to buy gasoline for personal use. He pleaded guilty to a felony ethics charge. ow.ly/hXtZu
Los Angeles, California: Police officers bought and sold guns from the police armory for profit, and told the lieutenant in charge of the armory to “watch his back” after he reported it, the 25-year LAPD veteran claims in court. ow.ly/i29IG
•Miami County, Ohio: A former sheriff’s deputy has pleaded not guilty to a charge accusing him of stealing property from the sheriff’s cops. He was fired after the conclusion of an internal investigation. ow.ly/i68hG
•Ecru, Mississippi: A police cops has pleaded guilty to depriving the rights of two people he pulled over for traffic offenses. He was accused on two occasions of pulling over people, then taking cash from them in lieu of writing a traffic citation. ow.ly/i4JeO
•Update: Indianapolis, IN: A suspended police cops received an eight-year sentence after he was found guilty earlier this month of two counts each of robbery and official misconduct. Three years of his sentence will be spent in prison, with a year of home detention. He will be on probation for the remaining four years. ow.ly/hYgUf
•Montgomery County, Pennsylvania: A cop faces theft charges and has had her police powers suspended after she was accused of using gift cards that were reported stolen. “We obviously don’t like to hear any allegations that are negative involving our police cops,” said the chief. “But we take these things very seriously and will investigate it thoroughly and completely.” ow.ly/i6l8K
Frederick police officer charged in theft case
A Frederick Police Department officer faces theft charges and has had her police powers suspended after she was accused of using gift cards reported stolen in a Montgomery County burglary.
Officer First Class Charity Faith Hoxie, 37, of Waynesboro, Pa., was served a criminal summons from Hagerstown police Jan. 22 charging her with theft under $1,000.
The Bed Bath & Beyond gift cards were reported stolen along with other items Oct. 18 by residents of an apartment in the 15000 block of Mahogany Circle in Gaithersburg. The residents said they were away between Oct. 2 and Oct. 7, and their home was burglarized during that time, according to charging documents filed in Washington County District Court.
The cards were used Oct. 9 at a store on Garland Groh Boulevard in Hagerstown, the documents state, and Montgomery County Police obtained receipts and surveillance footage from the transaction. After investigators sent the footage out to area law enforcement agencies, they were contacted by Frederick police, who identified the people in the video as Hoxie and her husband, John, who is also a Frederick police officer. The cards were used to buy a speaker set, a lamp, a throw pillow and a bed set, the documents state.
A Montgomery County Police investigator spoke with Hoxie's husband, who said he didn't know where the cards came from, the documents state. When he phoned his wife about the cards, she told him they were from a basket that contained cards and gifts from their wedding about four years ago.
Charity Hoxie was interviewed by a detective Nov. 20, initially telling him she didn't know who gave her the cards. After the detective told her the cards were stolen, she said she may have found them but didn't know where, the documents state.
The following day, the Hagerstown Police Department took over the case and assumed responsibility for filing any charges.
Hagerstown Police Sgt. Jim Hurd said investigators have not determined how Hoxie got the cards.
"It's really kind of a mystery to us," Hurd said, adding that Hoxie exercised her Fifth Amendment rights during her interview with Montgomery County Police. "That carries over to our case as well, so we haven't been able to talk to her either."
Hoxie, who has been with the Frederick department for seven years, has been placed on administrative duties and had her law enforcement powers suspended pending the outcome of the case, according to Chief Thomas Ledwell, who said his department is conducting its own internal investigation. Ledwell would not elaborate, saying the investigation is a personnel matter.
Hoxie was paid $59,889.47 in fiscal 2012, including $4,170.13 in overtime.
"We obviously don't like to hear any allegations that are negative involving our police officers," Ledwell said. "But we take these things very seriously and will investigate it thoroughly and completely as well as continue to cooperate with the other agencies in their investigations."
The burglary investigation in Montgomery County remains open, according to Officer Rebecca Innocenti.
A trial date in the case has been set for April 17. Hoxie has retained Hagerstown public defender John Salvatore.
Bond set for three accused in police corruption sting
A federal judge set bond at $10,000 Tuesday for three men, including a DeKalb County police officer, accused of taking payments to protect drug dealers.
Suspended DeKalb Police Officer Dorian Williams, 25, former DeKalb jail deputy Monyette McLaurin, 37, and Gregory Lee Harvey, 26, were arrested last week along with eight current or former law officers from across metro Atlanta in a federal sting targeting cops who allegedly sold their services to an unnamed street gang.
Federal Magistrate Alan Baverman set $10,000 bond for each man after federal prosecutors agreed to the release, provided the three are under house arrest and are monitored by an electronic ankle bracelet.
The charges are the most widespread case of police corruption in metro Atlanta in years. Investigators said officers guarded staged drug transactions while in uniform, sometimes using their patrol cars. Payments ranged from several hundred to a few thousand dollars.
Williams had been given good evaluations on his annual reviews and was promoted to master police officer, despite his suspension for domestic violence.
“Officer Williams takes pride in handling his beat,” wrote his supervisor Sgt. J.R. Anderson in August 2011. “Since coming to the watch, he is my most improved officer.”
But on Jan. 30, Williams had told told one of his confederates he would kill the opposition if necessary, an affidavit said. And McLaurin and Harvey discussed killing someone they feared might report Harvey for protecting drug deals.
Harvey had falsely presented himself to gang associates as a law officer. He introduced McLaurin as a DeKalb County sheriff deputy, according to an affidavit. McLaurin quit working for the sheriff in 2011, the same year he picked up a DUI in Gwinnett County, according to public records.
Two days after New Year’s Day, McLaurin and Harvey met a gang associate for a drug deal and the associate and McLaurin retrieved three kilos of counterfeit cocaine to sell from a warehouse in Chamblee.
“McLaurin volunteered that, if given a signal, he would be willing to shoot the buyer if necessary,” an affidavit said.
The gang asssociate paid Harvey $6,000 to be shared with McLaurin, the affidavit said.
Williams was booked with conspiring to commit extortion by accepting bribe payments and attempted possession with intent to distribute more than five kilograms of cocaine.
McLaurin and Harvey are each charged with attempted possession with intent to distribute more than five kilograms of cocaine and with possessing a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime.
Police corruption is just that, not 'courtesy'
If the favoritism former Nassau Police Department Second Deputy Commissioner William Flanagan showed a thief with a connected father seemed unusual, it wouldn't be so infuriating. It's the fact that the special treatment doesn't feel shocking that fills me with rage.
Flanagan was convicted last week of three misdemeanor charges because he used his position to keep a wealthy police benefactor's ne'er-do-well son from being arrested. Zachary Parker stole thousands of dollars worth of equipment from John F. Kennedy High School in Belmore in 2009. Police never arrested him, but the Nassau district attorney's office finally charged him with burglary. He pleaded guilty and is now serving 1 to 3 years in prison.
Zachary is the son of Gary Parker, a former director of the Nassau County Police Department Foundation, which is raising money for a police academy. Gary donated $110,000 to the foundation, and according to Flanagan's indictment, spent at least $17,000 taking cops out to meals and sporting events and having them over to the house for barbecues.
Flanagan and two other brass who have not yet been tried were accused of helping head off an arrest and charges.
The son was a civilian employee of the police department, apparently thanks to dad's connections, but Internal Affairs, which should have handled the case, was shut out. And records show the son's license plates were run at least 20 times during traffic stops, but he got no tickets.
The special treatment from Nassau brass, and what looks like the special treatment from all the cops who ran those 20 checks, isn't surprising. We all know there is a class of people who get special treatment from cops. What hasn't been made as clear is how poisonous and destructive this system is.
In 2011, in the Bronx, 16 officers were arraigned on charges related to fixing traffic and parking tickets, in indictments containing 1,600 counts. More grotesque and pitiful than the indictments was the protest outside the court house: hundreds of off-duty officers chanted "Down with the D.A." and carried signs that read "It's a courtesy, not a crime."
More widespread are the cards from the Police Benevolent Associations that friends and family members flash to keep from getting tickets in the first place. Officers get a few to hand out, as do retirees. The Long Island Press story that broke open the Parker/Nassau brass travesty largely focused on the special version of these "get out of scrapes free cards," photo IDs handed out to big contributors to the foundation.
I've had PBA cards offered to me and, if I weren't a journalist, would have been tempted, being no stranger to lawlessness or lover of punishment.
"What's the big deal," I can practically hear people saying as they read this. "Is it so wrong to extend a courtesy between brothers in blue?"
Yeah, it's terrible. It's unjust, and creates a multitiered society in which the law applies to some and not others. It also turns a black-and-white issue gray -- which is how you get cops thinking it's OK to get their buddy's son off of burglary charges.
Say an officer lets the teen kid of a cop off on a speeding ticket that, because the kid drives like a lunatic, would have cost him his license. Soon after, the kid is doing 105 mph when he clips a woman driving her daughter home from nursery school, killing them both. Now a cop doing a "courtesy" has, morally, become accessory to enable those deaths.
We can't have special rules for special people. We can't make laws apply only to the peons who aren't well-connected enough to get PBA cards.
It's not courtesy. It's corrosive corruption, and it should be stamped out at every turn.