Chula Vista is not the place to go if you are looking for equal protection of the law. It makes a big difference to the CVPD if you're a Republican or Democrat. Republicans like Cheryl Cox get help from the CVPD in covering up crimes and other wrongdoing.
On the other hand, a Democratic employee of the City of Chula Vista who took two hours off work to spy on a Cheryl Cox fundraiser has been charged by Bonnie Dumanis with perjury for not admitting he was doing political work on the job.
There's a lot of political work being done on the job in Chula Vista, but you don't hear much about the work done by Republicans in the police department.
The Chula Vista Police Department is a friend of Cheryl Cox, who was a Chula Vista Elementary school board member before she was elected mayor. The CVPD failed for over a year to investigate a financial crime at Castle Park Elementary School reported in 2005. Why? The CVPD has a knee-jerk policy of covering up wrongdoing by Cheryl Cox and Chula Vista Elementary School District.
In 2006 I pursued a public records request for months before the CVPD admitted that it had a record of a police visit to Castle Park Elementary on April 21, 2001. When they decided I wasn't likely to go away, I finally received a copy of the Castle Park Elementary School "call" report.*
But the Chula Vista Police Department was doing a lot more than illegally hiding public records in its efforts to support Cheryl Cox's campaign for mayor of Chula Vista in 2006.
Between 2000 and 2006 a long string of crimes had been committed at Castle Park Elementary which resulted from criminal actions by a Santa Barbara Sheriff's deputy and his sister, a teacher in Chula Vista. Cheryl Cox and CVESD committed bigger and bigger crimes to prevent the exposure of earlier, smaller crimes and violations of law committed at Castle Park Elementary in 2000 and 2001.
See "Castle Park Elementary," "Teacher Reports," and "Law Enforcement" at MAURALARKINS.COM (link available on this blog's link list).
In 2005-2006, the most newsworthy crime being covered up by the CVPD and the media to protect Cheryl Cox and the CVESD school board was the embezzlement of about $20,000 from the Castle Park Elementary PTA.
Apparently fearing that this crime would eventually become public knowlege, perhaps because it was being reported by this blog and the San Diego Education Report website, the Chula Vista Police Department seems to have developed a plan in November 2006 to create the appearance that it was no longer covering up the embezzlement. Of course, by November 7, 2006, the election was over. The cover-up was successful. Larry Cunningham crowed that voters had seen throught the lies of his opponents. The truth is that the voters saw almost nothing because Larry and Cheryl had spent hundreds of thousands of tax dollars to cover up crimes and other violations of law at CVESD.
The police asked former Castle Park PTA president Kim Simmons to come in the CVPD office, where she was interviewed and arrested. Was Simmons arrested after a careful investigation? No, the CVPD does not carefully investigate incidents that might embarrass Cheryl Cox and the school board. CVPD arrested Kim Simmons simply to create the impression that they weren't covering up Castle Park crimes, and passed on their humble efforts to District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis.
What did Bonnie Dumanis do? Prosecute the crime? Not likely. Just as she had refused to prosecute CVESD Assistant Superintedent Richard Werlin for obstruction of justice, she also refused to prosecute Kim Simmons.
Why? Maybe because Kim Simmons knew too much about crimes at Castle Park Elementary.
Did I mention that Kim Simmons was a close friend of transferred teacher Robin Donlan, a member of a powerful teacher clique at Castle Park Elementary that received a great deal of support form local papers when she and several other teachers were transferred out of the school?
Robin Donlan and her friends created a bizarre brouhaha, in which they and the media attacked the principal of Castle Park Elementary without ever mentioning the crimes of which Donlan had been accused. The truth was that the principal was attacked for daring to challenge the authority of the "family" that had created a crime wave at the school.
In October 2004, Kim Simmons entered a Castle Park Elementary classroom, and asked to use the school phone during class time so she could call up Robin Donlan and ask for instructions on how to proceed with her attacks on the principal of the school. The teacher gave permission, and took the opportunity to explain to her students that she was "mad at the principal." (There has been a dearth of professionalism at Castle Park Elementary since this "Castle Park Family" teacher group took over.)
Kim Simmons, along with Gina Boyd, the president of the teacher union, and school site council President Felicia Starr were working with transferred teacher Robin Donlan to get rid of the first principal who had had the nerve to stand up to the arbitrary power of the group of teachers who ruled the school.
What was Cheryl Cox's role in all this? She and all the other board members authorized the payment of hundreds of thousands of public dollars to Stutz, Artiano, Shinoff & Holtz law firm to represent Robin Donlan and cover up the crimes initiated by her and Assistant Superintendent Richard Werlin and several other CVESD officers and employees in 2000 and 2001. After fostering perjury and other crimes, and using huge sums of public money to keep bad teachers in power, Cheryl Cox ran for mayor on a platform of "charater" and "fiscal responsibility."
The San Diego Union Tribune has maintained to this day a complete black-out regarding crimes committed by Robin Donlan, Richard Werlin, Cheryl Cox and others at CVESD. On November 17, 2006 the SDUT published a small article about the arrest of former PTA Kim Simmons. The story immediately went into "partially hidden" status in the Union-Tribunes archives. (If someone does a signonsandiego search for "castle park PTA Simmons," he'll get a message back saying "No articles found.) The article can only be found by leaving "simmons" out of the search. If you already know about Kimberlee Simmons, the San Diego Union Tribune doesn't want you to know more.
Of course, there has been no follow-up to the SDUT story. But there should be--because the story created the false impression that the police were actually intending to do something about crime at Castle Park Elementary. Nothing could be farther from the truth.
The police waited until Cox was elected, and then they did their hoax arrest, but Kim Simmons was never charged with anything.
When wil the SD Union Tribune publish the full story, revealing Kim Simmons' close association to Robin Donlan and the "Castle Park Five"? When will the San Diego Union Tribune apologize for so maliciously attacking the honorable and decent principal of Castle Park Elementary on behalf of Robin Donlan, Kim Simmons, and the rest of their clique, after the group was found to be responsible for yet another crime after the SDUT had written so much on its behalf? How about it, Don Sevrens?
The SDUT November 2006 story about Simmons arrest was published to create the impression that Bonnie Dumanis and the Chula Vista Police Department are not covering up crimes involving Cheryl Cox and Castle Park Elementary School. It appears that Simmons wasn't really the fall guy; she was actually the pretend fall guy.
Bonnie Dumanis, why don't you investigate the use of public resources for political purposes at CVPD? Why don't you investigate crimes at Chula Vista Elementary School District, including perjury by Cheryl Cox and Robin Donlan? Or do you only use the public resources under your control to investigate Democrats?
*The police "call' report that was hidden for months by the CVPD revealed Assistant Superintendent Richard Werlin's attempt to silence a teacher who had suggested that the media might investigate what was happening at the school in 2001. The teacher clearly knew nothing about the media in San Diego. The San Diego Union Tribune, the Chula Vista Star-News and La Prensa still have not reported those crimes, although all three newspapers have long known about them. These three publications exposed their lack of journalistic ethics when they published a deluge of letters, articles and editorials defending the teacher, Robin Colls/Donlan who initiated the crime wave! All three papers were incensed when Robin Colls was transferred from Castle Park Elementary. Richard Werlin, who called the police when the teacher mentioned the media, didn't correctly estimate the power of his Chula Vista Elementary School Board bosses, including Cheryl Cox, to silence the media. Werlin did go on to achieve a certain amount of notoriety for his use of the police to silence teachers. He had second-grade teacher Jenny Mo arrested in front of her students at his new school district in Richmond, California this year when the teacher went to the media with a story about bullying at her school. Of course, Werlin didn't step up and take the credit/blame for the arrest. He let the principal sit in the hot seat. He took indefinite sick leave from his position.
Sunday, April 15, 2007
Thursday, April 05, 2007
Chula Vista Mayor Cheryl Cox caused big problems for the Santa Barbara Sheriff's Department
San Diego District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis has charged former Chula Vista employee Jason Moore with multiple perjury counts. With all the perjury that goes on without any consequences, this certainly seems political, doesn’t it? Maybe Bonnie wants to be appointed US Attorney by George Bush. If I were he, I’d appoint her. Of course I’m not he, so I am disgusted with her actions.
She ignored my complaint about Rick Werlin’s obstruction of justice, and then went on to charge Moore. Bizarre.
This new case was triggered by the camp of Chula Vista Mayor Cheryl Cox, so it made me think about all the perjury and other wrongdoing that resulted from Cheryl’s decision to commit and/or cover-up many violations of law at Chula Vista Elementary School District. Santa Barbara Sheriff Commander Sam Gross would never have been pressured to commit perjury if Cheryl Cox hadn’t voted to disobey the law.
She ignored my complaint about Rick Werlin’s obstruction of justice, and then went on to charge Moore. Bizarre.
This new case was triggered by the camp of Chula Vista Mayor Cheryl Cox, so it made me think about all the perjury and other wrongdoing that resulted from Cheryl’s decision to commit and/or cover-up many violations of law at Chula Vista Elementary School District. Santa Barbara Sheriff Commander Sam Gross would never have been pressured to commit perjury if Cheryl Cox hadn’t voted to disobey the law.
Friday, March 16, 2007
Molested Georgia boy need not have died
When a missing 6-year-old boy was found dead yesterday near Brunswick, Georgia, the part of the story that got to me was that the abductor was a child molester on probation who was living with his own parents across the street from the boy's grandmother.
Where is a child molester to live after he is released by the justice system? I honestly can't think of a more suitable place, UNDER THE CURRENT SYSTEM, than his parents' house. BUT THAT SHOULD BE CHANGED.
We need to create a better option for the placement of pedophiles. I believe that children deserve absolute protection from child molesters. I doubt that pedophiles can change their sexual desires, no matter how much they might want to. I suspect that they were born that way.
So what should we do the first time a pedophile teenager touches a child? Throw him in prison forever? Yes and no.
Why not let those individuals who are found to be pedophiles live apart from children, but in a place where they can live their lives happily and fully? THE ONLY THING MISSING FROM THEIR LIVES WOULD BE CHILDREN. We learned in the Danielle Van Dam case that a killer pedophile can be a successful engineer, living within the law for decades, and then finally surrender to his compulsion. Wouldn't it have been better if David Westerfield had worked as an engineer, had lived in a nice house, had socialized with his many adult male friends, BUT HAD DONE IT ALL IN A COMMUNITY WHERE CHILDREN COULD NOT ENTER, AND PEDOPHILES COULD NOT LEAVE?
Perhaps entrance into such a community could be optional. But once a person commits a terrible crime, he must go to prison (or worse), not to a childless community. I think pedophiles should be separated from children as soon as they reveal themselves--BEFORE THEY COMMIT ANY SERIOUS CRIMINAL ACT. Pedophilia should be treated as a disease for which we currently have no cure. PEDOPHILES SHOULD BE QUARANTINED BECAUSE THEY ARE SICK.
Prison is a place for people who have already harmed others. Pedophiles should be separated from children before they do harm, not after. We pay huge amounts of money for murdered children. We could KEEP OUR CHILDREN SAFE and save a huge
amount of money if pedophiles were supporting themselves in their own communities--forever separate from children.
Where is a child molester to live after he is released by the justice system? I honestly can't think of a more suitable place, UNDER THE CURRENT SYSTEM, than his parents' house. BUT THAT SHOULD BE CHANGED.
We need to create a better option for the placement of pedophiles. I believe that children deserve absolute protection from child molesters. I doubt that pedophiles can change their sexual desires, no matter how much they might want to. I suspect that they were born that way.
So what should we do the first time a pedophile teenager touches a child? Throw him in prison forever? Yes and no.
Why not let those individuals who are found to be pedophiles live apart from children, but in a place where they can live their lives happily and fully? THE ONLY THING MISSING FROM THEIR LIVES WOULD BE CHILDREN. We learned in the Danielle Van Dam case that a killer pedophile can be a successful engineer, living within the law for decades, and then finally surrender to his compulsion. Wouldn't it have been better if David Westerfield had worked as an engineer, had lived in a nice house, had socialized with his many adult male friends, BUT HAD DONE IT ALL IN A COMMUNITY WHERE CHILDREN COULD NOT ENTER, AND PEDOPHILES COULD NOT LEAVE?
Perhaps entrance into such a community could be optional. But once a person commits a terrible crime, he must go to prison (or worse), not to a childless community. I think pedophiles should be separated from children as soon as they reveal themselves--BEFORE THEY COMMIT ANY SERIOUS CRIMINAL ACT. Pedophilia should be treated as a disease for which we currently have no cure. PEDOPHILES SHOULD BE QUARANTINED BECAUSE THEY ARE SICK.
Prison is a place for people who have already harmed others. Pedophiles should be separated from children before they do harm, not after. We pay huge amounts of money for murdered children. We could KEEP OUR CHILDREN SAFE and save a huge
amount of money if pedophiles were supporting themselves in their own communities--forever separate from children.
Sunday, February 18, 2007
Whether Concealed or Destroyed, Sheriff's Audits No Longer Needed
Bill Brown, Sheriff of Santa Barbara
Commander Sam Gross
Kelly Duncan Scott, Esquire
I no longer need the two audits that the three of you are hiding. (Or perhaps you are not hiding them. Perhaps they have been destroyed!?)
I know what those audits contain (or contained). If the audits had not contained evidence of Michael Carlson’s guilt, Michael Carlson would not have been transferred from Information Services to patrol duty, and the audits would have been included in Sam Gross’s declaration.
I urge each of you to make this right.
Michael Carlson got away with the misdemeanors and felonies he committed—as far the courts are concerned. There’s not a chance in the world that Tom Sneddon or Bonnie Dumanis will prosecute him for his crimes, or that I will win my appeal.
But the three of you and Carlson are incorrect that this matter will be permanently concealed. The damage that Michael Carlson and Sam Gross and Deborah Garvin did to children, adults and taxpayers is too great to ignore. The fact that felonies are being committed by people in a position to put others in jail and prison for the exact same crimes is ridiculous. People who lie out of sheer arrogance don’t just do it one time. I’ll bet the Sheriff of Santa Barbara has covered up this type of wrongdoing more than once. Taxpayers shouldn’t be paying the sheriff’s department to cover up crimes.
It’s time to rehabilitate the reputations of the innocent—and the behavior of the guilty.
Yours truly,
Maura Larkins
Commander Sam Gross
Kelly Duncan Scott, Esquire
I no longer need the two audits that the three of you are hiding. (Or perhaps you are not hiding them. Perhaps they have been destroyed!?)
I know what those audits contain (or contained). If the audits had not contained evidence of Michael Carlson’s guilt, Michael Carlson would not have been transferred from Information Services to patrol duty, and the audits would have been included in Sam Gross’s declaration.
I urge each of you to make this right.
Michael Carlson got away with the misdemeanors and felonies he committed—as far the courts are concerned. There’s not a chance in the world that Tom Sneddon or Bonnie Dumanis will prosecute him for his crimes, or that I will win my appeal.
But the three of you and Carlson are incorrect that this matter will be permanently concealed. The damage that Michael Carlson and Sam Gross and Deborah Garvin did to children, adults and taxpayers is too great to ignore. The fact that felonies are being committed by people in a position to put others in jail and prison for the exact same crimes is ridiculous. People who lie out of sheer arrogance don’t just do it one time. I’ll bet the Sheriff of Santa Barbara has covered up this type of wrongdoing more than once. Taxpayers shouldn’t be paying the sheriff’s department to cover up crimes.
It’s time to rehabilitate the reputations of the innocent—and the behavior of the guilty.
Yours truly,
Maura Larkins
Monday, February 12, 2007
These people can't tell the innocent from the guilty
From the Seattle Times, February 12, 2007:
"Every day for more than five months, Jeff Schmieder walked hundreds of laps around the courtyard at the Regional Justice Center in Kent, where he was serving time for a first-degree rape he did not commit. "Walking was the only thing I had left. It just gave me a lot of time to think to myself and get my head straight," said Schmieder, who was convicted in 1998 and faced more than 11 years in prison. "Everyone in there says they're not guilty, of course. But when you're really not, it does things to your mind that you can't even imagine." Schmieder, 49, and another man, Mark Clark, were freed in 1999 after NEW EVIDENCE SHOWED THE ALLEGED VICTIM WAS IN JAIL HERSELF AT THE TIME SHE SAID SHE WAS ATTACKED."
It amazes me that intelligent people are so willing to believe an accusation.
In my case, a homeless person to whom I had given shelter was believed by police when she told them I was mentally ill, violent, and had a hand gun. They gave her MY KEYS and took me to jail FOR TRESPASSING!!!
But for some reason, no one wants to believe an employee's accusations against an employer.
People assume, for example, that an Assistant Superintendent of a school district is not emotionally troubled, dishonest and hostile. Someone in such a position can say ANYTHING about an employee, no matter how preposterous and false, and it will be believed.
Recently a teacher in Richmond was put on leave for "erratic" behavior. I happen to know the district administrator who put her on leave, and I know that he has a serious problem with dishonesty and false accusations. His behavior perfectly fits the description "erratic." When this man loses his temper, it's not a pretty sight. He goes off like a loose canon. Werlin caused the "erratic" teacher in Richmond to be handcuffed in front of her second-grade students and jailed for two days on suspicion of holding her students hostage--because she didn't leave the school in the middle of the day when she was placed on administrative leave for reporting school bullying to the media.
About two years ago I put the facts about this individual, Richard Werlin, former Assistant Superintendent for Human Resources at Chula Vista Elementary School District, on my website.
So why did West Contra Costa County Union School District hire him as their Assistant Superintendent for Human Resources in 2006? Did they flunk Google? No, they just doubted that what I was saying was the truth. After all, he was the district administrator, and I was just a teacher.
I wonder what Werlin told the folks at WCCCUSD was his reason for leaving Chula Vista Elementary School District? They must have wondered why he hadn't worked in so long. Apparently they didn't consider the possibility that he might have left CVESD because the district was unhappy about paying hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees. (CVESD clearly didn't think that Werlin's crimes and other violations of law were reason to fire him.)
Or maybe their motives weren't so innocent. Be honest, folks in Richmond. Your district has done the same things that Werlin did, hasn't it? Didn't you back up administrators even though you knew they had done wrong? You need to keep teachers in line, right? The facts of any individual case don't matter to you. What matters is to keep everything under control, and present an appearance of having no problems, so those in power can stay in power, right? You'd rather protect the guilty than actually solve problems, wouldn't you? Or perhaps you just do what your lawyers tell you to do, committing perjury when they tell you to, fighting lawsuits you ought to settle. You don't stop to think that IT'S NOT IN THE LAWYERS' BEST INTEREST FOR PROBLEMS TO BE SOLVED. THE MORE PROBLEMS YOU HAVE, THE MORE MONEY THEY GET.
I recommend that the entire staff of Sheldon Elementary School (that would include teacher Jenny Mo), participate in a class by Patrick Lencioni on the Five Dysfunctions of a Team. You've got serious problems at Sheldon Elementary. I somewhat regret that I left so quietly when Werlin put me on administrative leave in 2001. But I'm afraid that our newspapers are so protective of the corrupt school districts and teacher unions in San Diego that the exact same scenario could have happened at Castle Park Elementary, and it wouldn't have made it into the newspaper. The public in Chula Vista still isn't aware of how serious the problems are at my old school, Castle Park Elementary. Even when then three teachers who made false accusations against me were transferred out of Castle Park Elementary in 2004, the papers never mentioned my case, even though I had fully informed them.
I am afraid that Jenny Mo will never return to Sheldon Elementary. That's how the system works. But something should be done about the out-of-control principal and staff at Sheldon. This situation sounds eerily similar to what happened at Castle Park Elementary in Chula Vista.
In addition to getting the staff of Sheldon Elementary functioning in a positive manner, Superintendent Bruce Harter should fire Assistant Superintendent Richard Werlin. Werlin triggered the fiasco at Sheldon Elementary, a scenario so bizarre that only Richard Werlin's involvement can explain it.
"Every day for more than five months, Jeff Schmieder walked hundreds of laps around the courtyard at the Regional Justice Center in Kent, where he was serving time for a first-degree rape he did not commit. "Walking was the only thing I had left. It just gave me a lot of time to think to myself and get my head straight," said Schmieder, who was convicted in 1998 and faced more than 11 years in prison. "Everyone in there says they're not guilty, of course. But when you're really not, it does things to your mind that you can't even imagine." Schmieder, 49, and another man, Mark Clark, were freed in 1999 after NEW EVIDENCE SHOWED THE ALLEGED VICTIM WAS IN JAIL HERSELF AT THE TIME SHE SAID SHE WAS ATTACKED."
It amazes me that intelligent people are so willing to believe an accusation.
In my case, a homeless person to whom I had given shelter was believed by police when she told them I was mentally ill, violent, and had a hand gun. They gave her MY KEYS and took me to jail FOR TRESPASSING!!!
But for some reason, no one wants to believe an employee's accusations against an employer.
People assume, for example, that an Assistant Superintendent of a school district is not emotionally troubled, dishonest and hostile. Someone in such a position can say ANYTHING about an employee, no matter how preposterous and false, and it will be believed.
Recently a teacher in Richmond was put on leave for "erratic" behavior. I happen to know the district administrator who put her on leave, and I know that he has a serious problem with dishonesty and false accusations. His behavior perfectly fits the description "erratic." When this man loses his temper, it's not a pretty sight. He goes off like a loose canon. Werlin caused the "erratic" teacher in Richmond to be handcuffed in front of her second-grade students and jailed for two days on suspicion of holding her students hostage--because she didn't leave the school in the middle of the day when she was placed on administrative leave for reporting school bullying to the media.
About two years ago I put the facts about this individual, Richard Werlin, former Assistant Superintendent for Human Resources at Chula Vista Elementary School District, on my website.
So why did West Contra Costa County Union School District hire him as their Assistant Superintendent for Human Resources in 2006? Did they flunk Google? No, they just doubted that what I was saying was the truth. After all, he was the district administrator, and I was just a teacher.
I wonder what Werlin told the folks at WCCCUSD was his reason for leaving Chula Vista Elementary School District? They must have wondered why he hadn't worked in so long. Apparently they didn't consider the possibility that he might have left CVESD because the district was unhappy about paying hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees. (CVESD clearly didn't think that Werlin's crimes and other violations of law were reason to fire him.)
Or maybe their motives weren't so innocent. Be honest, folks in Richmond. Your district has done the same things that Werlin did, hasn't it? Didn't you back up administrators even though you knew they had done wrong? You need to keep teachers in line, right? The facts of any individual case don't matter to you. What matters is to keep everything under control, and present an appearance of having no problems, so those in power can stay in power, right? You'd rather protect the guilty than actually solve problems, wouldn't you? Or perhaps you just do what your lawyers tell you to do, committing perjury when they tell you to, fighting lawsuits you ought to settle. You don't stop to think that IT'S NOT IN THE LAWYERS' BEST INTEREST FOR PROBLEMS TO BE SOLVED. THE MORE PROBLEMS YOU HAVE, THE MORE MONEY THEY GET.
I recommend that the entire staff of Sheldon Elementary School (that would include teacher Jenny Mo), participate in a class by Patrick Lencioni on the Five Dysfunctions of a Team. You've got serious problems at Sheldon Elementary. I somewhat regret that I left so quietly when Werlin put me on administrative leave in 2001. But I'm afraid that our newspapers are so protective of the corrupt school districts and teacher unions in San Diego that the exact same scenario could have happened at Castle Park Elementary, and it wouldn't have made it into the newspaper. The public in Chula Vista still isn't aware of how serious the problems are at my old school, Castle Park Elementary. Even when then three teachers who made false accusations against me were transferred out of Castle Park Elementary in 2004, the papers never mentioned my case, even though I had fully informed them.
I am afraid that Jenny Mo will never return to Sheldon Elementary. That's how the system works. But something should be done about the out-of-control principal and staff at Sheldon. This situation sounds eerily similar to what happened at Castle Park Elementary in Chula Vista.
In addition to getting the staff of Sheldon Elementary functioning in a positive manner, Superintendent Bruce Harter should fire Assistant Superintendent Richard Werlin. Werlin triggered the fiasco at Sheldon Elementary, a scenario so bizarre that only Richard Werlin's involvement can explain it.
Saturday, February 10, 2007
Who is protected when law officers commit perjury?
I agree that officers should be supported when they are doing their duties. Some situations can be very difficult to handle. Adrenaline is needed to keep reaction time swift, to keep deputies alert. As long as they don’t go nuts, officers need to be given the benefit of the doubt.
I have a related question for Santa Barbara Sheriff's deputies.
Does it raise morale when the sheriff protects deputies who do wrong OUTSIDE the course and scope of their duties, in a cold and calculating manner? With no adrenaline in their systems?
I'm a teacher in San Diego who had no idea that a Santa Barbara Sheriff's deputy had committed a crime against me until long after the fact. It took me two years to find out his identity. It wasn't such a terrible crime. The deputy wasn't fired when the sheriff found out. He’s still working in the Santa Barbara Sheriff’s department. There was no reason not to tell the truth, except to make sure I didn’t get my job back. Instead, both the deputy and the sheriff committed perjury (a far more serious crime) in 2004 to cover up the original misdemeanor. Why?
Bill Brown asked deputies, "If you were the new Sheriff, what would you do?"
I'd like to hear from deputies, too. If you were Bill Brown, would you continue to aid and abet this perjury? Or would you set the record straight and turn over the two audits as promised by Commander Gross?
If the sheriff openly supports perjury, aren’t you afraid that juries will stop believing Santa Barbara deputies?
The story of what happened to me is at mauralarkins.com.
I have a related question for Santa Barbara Sheriff's deputies.
Does it raise morale when the sheriff protects deputies who do wrong OUTSIDE the course and scope of their duties, in a cold and calculating manner? With no adrenaline in their systems?
I'm a teacher in San Diego who had no idea that a Santa Barbara Sheriff's deputy had committed a crime against me until long after the fact. It took me two years to find out his identity. It wasn't such a terrible crime. The deputy wasn't fired when the sheriff found out. He’s still working in the Santa Barbara Sheriff’s department. There was no reason not to tell the truth, except to make sure I didn’t get my job back. Instead, both the deputy and the sheriff committed perjury (a far more serious crime) in 2004 to cover up the original misdemeanor. Why?
Bill Brown asked deputies, "If you were the new Sheriff, what would you do?"
I'd like to hear from deputies, too. If you were Bill Brown, would you continue to aid and abet this perjury? Or would you set the record straight and turn over the two audits as promised by Commander Gross?
If the sheriff openly supports perjury, aren’t you afraid that juries will stop believing Santa Barbara deputies?
The story of what happened to me is at mauralarkins.com.
Santa Barbara Sheriff's department isn't alone
My two friends at the Santa Barbara Sheriff's department are not alone.
Here's a website that tells about other cases of database abuse.
Here's a website that tells about other cases of database abuse.
The Santa Barbara Innocence Project
A group of people is interested in finding out how many innocent people have been convicted in Santa Barbara County. The Santa Barbara Sheriff's department is currently covering up perjury by two employees in San Diego Superior court. Did these two employees also commit perjury in court in Santa Barbara?
DNA evidence has resulted in the release of many wrongly-convicted people in recent years, but the Innocence Project is now working on cases with no DNA evidence.
One big target of the Innocence Project is unreliable witnesses, including jail-house informants who lie at the request of police and prosecutors in order to get leniency in their own cases.
Yesterday "marked the end of another long, grinding slog through the criminal justice system to exonerate the wrongfully convicted."* Timothy Atkins was released in Los Angeles after two decades of unjust incarceration. He was convicted on the word of two perjurers--a woman who invented a story about hearing him confess, and a jail-house informant who gained his freedom as a result. The third witness was a victim who got a one-second look at the perpetrator.
The first woman recanted years ago, but prosecutors are slow to admit when they make a mistake.
The jail-house informant tried to recant at trial, but prosecutors ironically argued that he was lying when he tried to recant.
The victim-witness made a cross racial identification, which is notoriously unreliable.
Who is against the Innocence Project? Last year Arnold Schwarzeneggar vetoed two bills that would have drawn up new guidelines for law enforcement regarding witness testimony.
Arnold isn't thinking. We are in danger when perpetrators walk the streets while innocent people are locked up. We are vulnerable not only to being victimized by the perpetrators, but to becoming victims of false charges backed up by perjury and unreliable testimony.
*"Wrongly convicted man walks free after 2 decades" by Greg Moran, San Diego Union Tribune, Feb. 10, 2007
DNA evidence has resulted in the release of many wrongly-convicted people in recent years, but the Innocence Project is now working on cases with no DNA evidence.
One big target of the Innocence Project is unreliable witnesses, including jail-house informants who lie at the request of police and prosecutors in order to get leniency in their own cases.
Yesterday "marked the end of another long, grinding slog through the criminal justice system to exonerate the wrongfully convicted."* Timothy Atkins was released in Los Angeles after two decades of unjust incarceration. He was convicted on the word of two perjurers--a woman who invented a story about hearing him confess, and a jail-house informant who gained his freedom as a result. The third witness was a victim who got a one-second look at the perpetrator.
The first woman recanted years ago, but prosecutors are slow to admit when they make a mistake.
The jail-house informant tried to recant at trial, but prosecutors ironically argued that he was lying when he tried to recant.
The victim-witness made a cross racial identification, which is notoriously unreliable.
Who is against the Innocence Project? Last year Arnold Schwarzeneggar vetoed two bills that would have drawn up new guidelines for law enforcement regarding witness testimony.
Arnold isn't thinking. We are in danger when perpetrators walk the streets while innocent people are locked up. We are vulnerable not only to being victimized by the perpetrators, but to becoming victims of false charges backed up by perjury and unreliable testimony.
*"Wrongly convicted man walks free after 2 decades" by Greg Moran, San Diego Union Tribune, Feb. 10, 2007
Saturday, February 03, 2007
Friday, February 02, 2007
What makes these two audits of criminal records searches so different?
February 2, 2007
Bill Brown
Sheriff of Santa Barbara County
Dear Sheriff Brown:
Commander Sam Gross was only too happy to provide two red herring audits that he contributed to a false declaration. But it was a different story when I asked him to provide me with the two audits that he partially described in a letter to me. He refuses.
What makes these two audits so different?
I spoke to Sheriff’s counsel Kelly Duncan Scott today. She refused, as she has repeatedly done in the past, to provide the two CLETS audits for “maura” or “larkins” that were described in detail by Sam Gross in his November 24, 2004 letter. These audits turned up eight searches in 2000 and 2001. To make clear precisely which audits I’m talking about, I have circled the pertinent section of Mr. Gross’s letter, and attached the letter to this fax. The letter is also on my website at the bottom of the page that contains my complaint against Michael Carlson..
Kelly Duncan Scott refuses to discuss these two audits with me. In fact, she even refused to return my call to the switchboard when she was finished talking to me. Her secretive behavior makes me quite certain that these two audits show the precise dates on which Michael Carlson conducted illegal searches and began a long string of criminal acts which did enormous damage to Chula Vista Elementary School District. Kelly and Sam Gross wouldn’t be trying so hard to cover up these audits if they didn’t reveal Carlson’s first crime, committed long before Carlson obstructed justice and suborned perjury.
Why wouldn’t Kelly transfer me back to the switchboard? I think she’s afraid that I might actually find someone who disapproved of sweeping felonies under the rug. I’d very much like to know who is that person that Kelly fears—the one who would disapprove of hiding a series of crimes committed by Sheriff’s employees. I’m hoping that person is you, Sheriff Brown. Sam Gross and Kelly Scott would not be so determined to cover up these audits if they were not incriminating.
Please consider this letter an ethics complaint about Michael Carlson, Sam Gross and Kelly Duncan Scott. I believe Kelly has been giving very bad legal advice to the Sheriff of Santa Barbara for many years, advising cover-ups of crimes committed by sheriff’s employees. Of course, I also believe that that’s the kind of advice the sheriff’s department wanted in past years when Jim Anderson was sheriff. If this letter is not adequate to initiate an official complaint process, please inform me of the proper procedure.
I am aware that Michael Carlson’s demurrer to my complaint may well be sustained on February 16, 2007. At that time, I plan to go to the Court of Appeal.
I believe that the policy giving complete tort immunity to those who suborn and commit perjury in lawsuits is the most important tort reform needed in our society. There are some powerful dissent opinions in case law that disagree with the current situation that allows law enforcement officers should go “Scott” free (pun intended) when they turn our justice system into a joke, a circus, a sham.
I plan to make a public issue of this matter.
Yours truly,
Maura Larkins
Bill Brown
Sheriff of Santa Barbara County
Dear Sheriff Brown:
Commander Sam Gross was only too happy to provide two red herring audits that he contributed to a false declaration. But it was a different story when I asked him to provide me with the two audits that he partially described in a letter to me. He refuses.
What makes these two audits so different?
I spoke to Sheriff’s counsel Kelly Duncan Scott today. She refused, as she has repeatedly done in the past, to provide the two CLETS audits for “maura” or “larkins” that were described in detail by Sam Gross in his November 24, 2004 letter. These audits turned up eight searches in 2000 and 2001. To make clear precisely which audits I’m talking about, I have circled the pertinent section of Mr. Gross’s letter, and attached the letter to this fax. The letter is also on my website at the bottom of the page that contains my complaint against Michael Carlson..
Kelly Duncan Scott refuses to discuss these two audits with me. In fact, she even refused to return my call to the switchboard when she was finished talking to me. Her secretive behavior makes me quite certain that these two audits show the precise dates on which Michael Carlson conducted illegal searches and began a long string of criminal acts which did enormous damage to Chula Vista Elementary School District. Kelly and Sam Gross wouldn’t be trying so hard to cover up these audits if they didn’t reveal Carlson’s first crime, committed long before Carlson obstructed justice and suborned perjury.
Why wouldn’t Kelly transfer me back to the switchboard? I think she’s afraid that I might actually find someone who disapproved of sweeping felonies under the rug. I’d very much like to know who is that person that Kelly fears—the one who would disapprove of hiding a series of crimes committed by Sheriff’s employees. I’m hoping that person is you, Sheriff Brown. Sam Gross and Kelly Scott would not be so determined to cover up these audits if they were not incriminating.
Please consider this letter an ethics complaint about Michael Carlson, Sam Gross and Kelly Duncan Scott. I believe Kelly has been giving very bad legal advice to the Sheriff of Santa Barbara for many years, advising cover-ups of crimes committed by sheriff’s employees. Of course, I also believe that that’s the kind of advice the sheriff’s department wanted in past years when Jim Anderson was sheriff. If this letter is not adequate to initiate an official complaint process, please inform me of the proper procedure.
I am aware that Michael Carlson’s demurrer to my complaint may well be sustained on February 16, 2007. At that time, I plan to go to the Court of Appeal.
I believe that the policy giving complete tort immunity to those who suborn and commit perjury in lawsuits is the most important tort reform needed in our society. There are some powerful dissent opinions in case law that disagree with the current situation that allows law enforcement officers should go “Scott” free (pun intended) when they turn our justice system into a joke, a circus, a sham.
I plan to make a public issue of this matter.
Yours truly,
Maura Larkins
Friday, December 15, 2006
We don't lie, cheat or steal
"We don't lie, cheat or steal, and we don't tolerate those who do," says the San Bernardino Sheriff's Department regarding an incident where a San Bernardino Sheriff's Deputy shot an Air Force Iraq Vet, then changed his story after seeing a video of the incident.
An Air Force security officer just back from Iraq, was a passenger in a Corvette that police chased at high speed on the night of Jan. 29 until the Corvette crashed into a wall in Chino, about 45 miles east of Los Angeles.
A videotape shows the Iraq vet on the ground, with the deputy standing over him. A voice appears to order the man on the ground to rise, but when he begins to rise, he is shot in the chest, shoulder and thigh by the deputy.
The victim's wife says, "I just want that man to be placed in jail. I want justice. And I'm not giving up."
An Air Force security officer just back from Iraq, was a passenger in a Corvette that police chased at high speed on the night of Jan. 29 until the Corvette crashed into a wall in Chino, about 45 miles east of Los Angeles.
A videotape shows the Iraq vet on the ground, with the deputy standing over him. A voice appears to order the man on the ground to rise, but when he begins to rise, he is shot in the chest, shoulder and thigh by the deputy.
The victim's wife says, "I just want that man to be placed in jail. I want justice. And I'm not giving up."
Saturday, December 09, 2006
What a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive
Information derived from a Reuters report
December 7, 2006
Canada's top law enforcement officer resigned yesterday as a result of a false report to Washington that Maher Arar, a Canadian citizen and engineer, was a suspected Islamic extremist.
As a result of the false report, U.S. agents arrested Arar and deported him to Syria where he was repeatedly tortured.
file/police
December 7, 2006
Canada's top law enforcement officer resigned yesterday as a result of a false report to Washington that Maher Arar, a Canadian citizen and engineer, was a suspected Islamic extremist.
As a result of the false report, U.S. agents arrested Arar and deported him to Syria where he was repeatedly tortured.
file/police
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