Fort Lauderdale fires police officer over affair with informant

FORT LAUDERDALE-- A veteran police officer has been fired over allegations that he had a long-running sexual affair with a cocaine dealer-turned-confidential informant.

An internal affairs investigation concluded Officer Jason Maldonado began the affair shortly after he helped arrest the woman in 2006 and that the relationship continued while she helped police set up other drug deals, was under house arrest and completed court-ordered requirements to have her case dismissed.

The woman told investigators that during the affair, she and Maldonado had sex at a police substation and near the main downtown police station while he was on duty.

According to police statements, Maldonado visited the woman for sex while she was under house arrest. He would arrive in a police vehicle, in uniform and leave his radio on. She said he told her that her court-ordered, electronic-monitoring ankle bracelet was a turn-on for him.

Maldonado acknowledged the relationship, but said it began only after her case was resolved and that they never had sex while he was on duty.

"Your conduct not only demonstrated a lack of integrity and poor judgment, it also confirmed a flagrant disregard for department rules and regulations and violated the basic trust placed in you as a police officer," Chief Frank Adderley wrote in his letter firing Maldonado.

He joined the force in 2002 and was a member the Police Department's "Raiders" drug enforcement team. Maldonado could not be reached for comment, but Jack Lokeinsky of the Fraternal Order of Police said the union is representing him and is challenging his dismissal.

Maldonado has had a history of disciplinary problems. He was ordered to undergo extra training in 2008 after he and two other detectives broke into an apartment without a warrant, was suspended in 2007 for a day for conducting a sloppy investigation and reprimanded the same year for crashing his cruiser on Sistrunk Boulevard.

The Police Department has suspended Maldonado without pay until Oct. 12 when Adderley has ordered him fired. The investigation concluded he violated police policies by regularly associating with a criminal, using his position for personal gain, lying to investigators and engaging in conduct unbecoming a police officer.

The investigation began after the woman contacted the police internal affairs unit in April and alleged she and Maldonado had had an affair.

Officials decided she came forward out of anger at Maldonado but say they corroborated her story. She passed a polygraph test, and investigators gathered other evidence about the relationship including statements from witnesses, text messages and data from the GPS-tracking system in Maldonado's patrol car.

According to the investigative file, Maldonado was part of a team of detectives who arrested the woman in March 2006 after purchasing $2,500 worth of cocaine from her in a restaurant parking lot. She agreed to cooperate with police and soon helped in two narcotic operations.

Because of her assistance, she faced a reduced charge of cocaine possession and entered the first-time offender drug court treatment program. She was under house arrest for a month in the summer of 2006 and had the charge dismissed a year later.

Investigators concluded Maldonado started a sexual relationship with the woman within a week of her arrest. She said she was scared but agreed in hopes it would help her case.

"I felt like such the victim at the that time, but I would do anything because I was, was scared," she said in a statement to police. She added that Maldonado informed her to keep quiet about the relationship.

The internal affairs investigation found that Maldonado and the woman had 181 calls on his department-issued cell phone in the first 44 days after her arrest even though he was not the lead investigator. Officials allege the woman then got Maldonado a private cell phone so he could avoid conversations on the department phone.

She told officials that she also met Maldonado at the police station when he was working overtime in the booking facility and drive nearby for sex. And she said she accompanied Maldonado on a trip to Marco Island in 2006.

The woman provided text messages to police, including one that stated Maldonado was sexually aroused at that moment. She also turned over a toothbrush, hairbrush and black police "Raiders" shirt that she said were Maldonado's. And, she described a tattoo on Maldonado and displayed a picture she had on her cell phone of his dog "Buddy."

The relationship, she said, lasted through late 2009 and that Maldonado's wife confronted her about it this spring. Witnesses interviewed by police included her daughter, who said she saw her mother and Maldando in bed together.

"Officer Maldonado betrayed the trust placed in him by the Fort Lauderdale Police Department and the public-at-large by initiating and pursuing a personal relationship with … an admitted cocaine dealer, cooperating individual and eventual arrestee," Capt. Rick Maglione wrote in his internal affairs report.

Broward public defender keeps files on accused-but-cleared police officers

FORT LAUDERDALE —

Beyond their natural adversarial relationship, the Broward State Attorney's and Public Defender's offices have found themselves at increasing odds lately over how and if they should keep track of police officers accused-but-cleared of misconduct in case they're accused again. . . and again, and again.

State Attorney Michael Satz and Public Defender Howard Finklestein agree in principle that police officers should get no more benefit of the doubt than civilians accused of crime.

And the best evidence of that philosophy, Satz says, is the 17 Broward cops who pleaded guilty or have gone to trial since January 2009 for criminal charges ranging from battery to theft. Twenty-three more Broward officers are currently awaiting trial on charges ranging from drug possession to sex assault. And as of Aug. 20, the State Attorney had 15 pending investigations into recent complaints against 23 officers.

*****

Despite that, what's at issue between Satz's and Finklestein's offices are the 114 officers investigated since January last year for a variety of misconduct allegations -- and who were cleared.

Finklestein is so concerned that some of those officers are getting away with something, figuratively speaking, that he and chief deputy Public Defender Gordon Weekes have taken the unusual step of creating their own alleged-bad-cop records depot -- aka the Brady Room.

The room is named for a groundbreaking Maryland case that paved the way to the U.S. Supreme Court mandating that prosecutors turn over ``exculpatory'' evidence to defense attorneys. And it may be the Broward Public Defender's Office's greatest weapon in cases that hinge on police testimony.

Whenever the Public Defender takes on a new client -- particularly one who says he was mistreated by the police officer who arrested him -- a search is done through Brady Room files to see if the arresting officers have been accused of relevant misconduct in the past.

In some judicial districts in large metropolitan areas, experts say there is an understanding between prosecutors and public defenders that all records of investigations into public officials will be shared.

Not so in Broward, where Finklestein insists that too often, his office finds out accidentally or after the fact that an officer who testified against one of their clients has been accused multiple times in the past by different, unrelated defendants of the same kind of misconduct.

``We have found in some of those cases that there is a pattern with certain officers,'' Finklestein says. ``That's the kind of thing that should make anyone question credibility, even if the officers haven't been charged or convicted. And it's the kind of thing any good defense attorney should want to know. An officer accused repeatedly of misconduct? Maybe there's fire where there's smoke. This is about just in case. . .''

When Finklestein and Weekes established the Brady Room in January 2009, they had just two file boxes -- one on a Broward Sheriff's deputy accused of falsifying arrest and incident reports, and one on a Miramar Police officer accused repeatedly of battery.

Today, one wall of the room -- which is housed in the Broward County Public Defender's Office, in the third floor of the county courthouse in downtown Fort Lauderdale -- is full of file boxes from floor to ceiling, featuring hundreds of citizen and internal complaints against cops accused of committing crimes. Another wall is covered with the mug shots and arrest reports of police officers who've been busted.

Among others, there are Fort Lauderdale Police Officer Jason Krashefski, currently awaiting trial on charges including possession of oxycodone and criminal solicitation, and Broward Sheriff's Office deputy Jonathan Bleiweiss, awaiting trial for armed false imprisonment, sexual battery, battery, and stalking.

While they won't outright accuse the State Attorney of holding out on them, Finklestein and Weekes say they've had to prod and plead to find out about the 114 accused-but-cleared cops over the past 21 months.

In a recent interview, Satz insisted that any suggestion that his office is protecting police officers is wrong and frustrating.

``Where were people when police officers were picketing outside my office, wearing T-shirts that read `Satz unfair to cops' when I was investigating BSO deputies accused of falsifying records?'' he asked. ``We conducted that investigation 2003 to 2008, for five years! The truth is investigations -- even those that end with the officer being cleared -- can take some time.''

Further, says Timothy L. Donnelly, assistant state attorney, whose office handles public corruption investigations, prosecutors are not obligated to voluntarily turn over reports on cops who've been cleared. And even if they were, it's not legal for the State Attorney's Office to turn over details of an investigation into a police officer until that investigation has concluded. . . even if the timing hurts a public defender's case.

Donnelly said he also understands public skepticism how cops are investigated but that it is often driven by misconceptions about police behavior.

He recalled the case of an elderly man who filed a formal battery complaint against a Hallandale Beach Police officer. As per protocol, that police department initiated an internal investigation and asked the State Attorney's Office to investigate as well.

The man claimed a police officer roughed him up while he argued with his wife in the parking lot of the Mardi Gras Racetrack and Gaming Center. But then Donnelly viewed a security video from the lot, which showed the officer talking calmly to the couple before guiding the man gently by the elbow to his car and encouraging the couple to go home and make up.

``He couldn't believe it,'' Donnelly said of the man. ``People remember things differently sometimes, when they're upset. He sat and watched the tape with me, and was embarassed, and said `You know, I'd like to amend my statement.' This is what I mean. It's just a fact that some accusations against officers are just wrong.''

Still, for those officers, Finklestein and Weekes offer kudos, ``but the Brady Room isn't for them,'' Finklestein says. ``I always tell people that we don't need to be reminded that there are good cops. We don't even need to include them in this conversation.''

One of the ``just in case'' officers on file is in the Brady Room is Seminole Police Officer Bruce Hale, who, according to a State Attorney's Office investigation ``close out'' report, was accused by his ex-wife in 2008 of using his influence to prevent fellow officers from arresting him, following several alleged incidents of domestic violence that she'd called into police. Hale's ex-wife also insisted, according to the close-out report that he lied on an application for a temporary restraining order he later filed against her, claiming she'd hit him during those alleged domestic violence incidents. When questioned by the State Attorney's Office about why he failed to mention her assaults to responding officers, Hale said the other officers must've forgotten.

Ultimately, the State Attorney's Office hinted in the closeout report that Hale lacked credibility but that he hadn't violated the law by possibly lying on his ex-wife. So he was cleared.

Another Brady Room file is on now-former Fort Lauderdale Police Officer Gerome Wright, who was accused of soliciting prostitutes on his downtown patrol beat. Three prostitutes, who told investigators they frequently performed oral sex on Wright in his patrol car, were found to be credible by Donnelly's office.

Nevertheless, while Wright was later fired, he was cleared by the State Attorney of sex assault accustions because the women acknowledged to SAO investigators that he paid them for their services and didn't force them to engage him. Still, one of the women said Wright once pointed his service weapon at her head and told her he could shoot her and hide the evidence if she didn't perform. That time he demanded a full refund after the act.

Weekes says that while the Brady Room has not led to any defendants being exhonerated -- though it contributed to clearing the name of a Hollywood woman whose framing by officers was caught on police dashboard camera -- it has gotten charges dropped or reduced against several people whose claims of police misconduct would have gone unheeded, if not for the Brady Room database showing a pattern of accusations against a particular officer. . . who had been cleared in prior investigations.

``We know most cops are good cops. What's worrisome to us isn't that there are lots of officers getting away with crimes and that innocent people are regularly going to jail because of crimes perpetrated against them by police,'' Weekes says. ``What worries us is the mere possibility that could happen.''

Police Brutality Rarely Ends With Punishment for the Cops

• realityrocks 04/09/2010 8:18:26 PM

  I went through the same thing with North Lauderdale police years ago. I was in a fight with my boyfriend, who I had just found out was cheating on me. We were at his place of business, after hours. I was crying when the police arrived. They told me to stop crying, and I couldn't. I was walking away and about twenty feet away, and they ordered me to stop crying. I wanted to, I tried to, but the tears flowed. They arrested me. For crying. I did not harm, or threaten to harm, anyone. I wasn't a threat to anyone, again, I was about twenty feet away from them when they announced the arrest. They then had two male officers ride around slowly in the car, with me, at 120 pounds, handcuffed in the back. They took their time arriving at the station. They mocked me and challenged me to fight, threatening violence the entire time. They called me names, trying to provoke me. I did not get the benefit of a female officer anywhere around. I kept my mouth shut and tried so hard not to cry anymore. I was afraid they were going to kill me. I was relieved to get to the police station, at least other people were around. I completely believe that cooperative people are beaten by these police on the way to the police station. My attorney said this was the most ridiculous arrest he had ever seen. I didn't want to fight, and he arranged a plea deal. The judge threw it out, and slammed me with a huge fine. They were in cahoots, apparently. My attorney was so outraged that a first time defendant was treated like this he paid the fine himself. I have never been arrested before or since. I have never been in trouble with the law, besides minor traffic violations. I am a professional in the health-care industry and have to pass numerous background checks, which I do, even though I have to explain this each and every time. I am not a criminal, yet the North Lauderdale police treated me like one. So the first degree misdemeanor follows me around everywhere. I thank you so much Gail Shepard and New Times for publishing this. Thank you for validating my reality. I will submit this article when I apply for jobs and licenses to prove what happened to me did have a great deal to do with the unprofessional conduct of the North Lauderdale police. Of course I dropped the boyfriend like a hot potato after this incident, and am very careful in whom I allow in my life. I make sure nothing happens where the police could be called for anything. For now I truly do not like the police, and will often drive down a different street if I see a police car. Cops scare me, not because I am a criminal, but because they have all the power, and I'm a woman civilian. I don't see them as an ally anymore, I see that night in the back of a police car with two men, each twice my size, threatening to beat me. "Protect and serve" Not the North Lauderdale police. I hope that something is done do start an outside investigation, and that everyone starts carrying cameras to record what these cops do.
  

Ft. Lauderdale cop forced to resign after wrongful arrest caught on video

By Carlos Miller
Like many cops, Ft. Lauderdale police officer Jeff Overcash did not appreciate a citizen asking for his name and badge number, so he placed the citizen under arrest as many cops do on a regular basis.
But this time, the citizens’ girlfriend videotaped the interaction.
And the video led to Overcash having to resign rather than face termination, according to the Broward Palm Beach New Times.
Of course, this also means that Overcash will most likely pop up at any number of neighboring police agencies in South Florida.
So remember the name.  And never hesitate to film a cop if you feel something is not kosher.