In January 2005, Valerga was charged with two counts of violating the civil rights of his victims, and two counts of false imprisonment. In 2015, the Alameda County Superior Court destroyed the case files for Neely and Richholt, erasing the only public record of the incident aside from media reports. Barry King was then in his late seventies, still practicing law. Under the Brady rule, prosecutors must disclose material that might help the defense, including information that undermines the credibility of state witnesses. Since the inception of the consent decree, the agency has cycled through 10 police chiefs, all of whom have failed to fulfill the reform programs mandates. For instance, look at East Bay Township Precinct 1 in Grand Traverse County. On Nov. 16, 2000, Officer Harper was acquitted of all charges after a month-long trial. Only one of them Saginaw was among those Trump flipped four years ago, and even then, Biden won it by only three-tenths of 1%. We can do something right now. The women turned out to be undercover Alameda County sheriffs deputies running a sting operation. It spoke generally to the strength Democrats showed in growing suburbs as well as in areas where retirees from southeastern Michigan are moving into Up North. Ayers and Benson have not been charged with any crimes, however their homes have been raided in connection with this broad FBI investigation, according to news reports. Finally, late in the evening, too late anyway for my editor friends in Chicago to RSVP on my behalf, I received a text from my editor at the Free Press. One of the firearms found in the car was a shotgun that Neely and Richholt allegedly seized from an East Oakland mans house earlier in the day in a warrantless search. So, I never took for granted the honor of telling someones story and elevating a voice; especially if they had suffered from injustice or been discarded by society. Record turnout of 5.5 million, larger than that seen in the election of 2008,drove his victory. In 2008, Oakland paid $2 million to settle a civil rights lawsuit brought by 16 womenall of whom were Asian Americanwho said they were victims of Valerga. In fact, the entire day went by with radio silence from both the Free Press and Rossman-McKinney. ", ames Ryan Jr.'s company Public Affairs Associates (PAA) has longstanding ties to Democrat Governor Gretchen Whitmer and was among the, Gretchen Rachel Hammond is an award-winning freelance investigative journalist based out of Chicago. You told me you would never back down to anyone. In Brighton's Precinct 4, at the Brighton Education Community Center on Church Street, Trump won 55%-40% four years ago, getting 507 votes to Clinton's 370. But that wasnt on the high level reviews agenda. She filed a claim against the city in May, the first step to filing a lawsuit. The Oakland Field Office of IRS Criminal Investigation has dedicated resources to unraveling the truth behind the extensive web of corruption, which Mohammed Nuru presided over, during his tenure leading the San Francisco Department of Public Works," said IRS Criminal Investigation Special Agent in Charge Mark H. Pearson. Oakland County Courts are known for their corruption and their extortion. The Appeal was unable to locate Valerga for comment. in Oakland County at their at the Red Fox in I think it was Bloomfield. Kinzinger, the attorney, told The Appeal that because the Riders trials ended with hung juries and the court dismissed the cases after 60 days, the retention requirement for the case files dropped to three years from 50. In order to make her point, only one member of the public was invited to attend. For instance, it dropped by 8 percentage points in Emmet County, 9 in Ottawa in west Michigan, nearly 10 in Grand Traverse. Numerous other officers were named during the investigation and trial as having participated in similar abuses. What is fundamentally clear is that neither the Free Press nor Nessel wanted me there asking anything specific. Miller recently asked for the misconduct in office and conspiracy to commit a legal in an illegal manner charges against him to be dropped. According to news reports from the Detroit Free Press and Detroit News, at least three members of the Detroit Police Department are suspected of accepting bribes from towing industry figures; no charges have been filed so these unnamed individuals were also not included in the regional public figure count. Ninety minutes later, I published a five-part, freelance series detailing an alleged massive abuse and exploitation ring operating out of a Detroit-area probate court. Indeed, outside Catallo and myself, no one ever wanted to talk to these families. You strung me along for eight months. However, some legal experts, including Cordell and Stanford University law professor Robert Weisberg, believe that records of police prosecutions should be maintained longer because they also constitute official histories of institutional corruption. Moreover, she had pledged to support the the downtrodden and, her meeting request looked like a desire to keep that campaign promise. Two years later, ADDMS was also found to be up to its ears in all kinds of alleged malfeasance (of course, no one was ever prosecuted) and it was also a company to which George handed over rewards in the form of docket-fulls of wards. Hundreds did and the majority of the time, their stories focused on Michigans probate courts. On the night of March 21, a South Michigan guardianship reform activist forwarded an email she had received from a reporter at a local paper. It would, therefore, not serve our goals for publication at all to provide you with the requested documents at this time, I concluded. This request came because, according to news reports, Millers attorney claims there was no criminal intent with his interaction related to the larger case of alleged misuse of forfeiture funds by Smith. The sole remaining court record of the Riders case is related to officer Frank Vazquez, known to his fellow officers as Choker because he frequently grabbed people by their necks. And his percentage of the overall vote actually declined slightly. Ali Winston, Political parties have to realign their messaging," she said. By the morning of Friday March 22, I was getting nervous. It probably explains why they joined the Michigan Guardianship Association and a host of like-minded pro-guardianship organizations and the omnipresent Probate Judges Association as Task Force members. Dear Abby: Why do they imply my husband is a freak? While the rest of the country engages in hand-wringing over the treatment of undocumented immigrants not one civil rights group has raised a finger in protest about the rights that have been stripped from innocent, American citizens. Its the easiest job in the world for Nessel; like telling Sarah Ferguson, the Duchess of York that she cant be a Duchess because all those weight watchers commercials were a bridge too far. However, Vazquezs case documents were inaccessible to the public until Sept. 27, when the Alameda County clerk uploaded them to its electronic records database in response to questions from The Appeal. Theyve been breaking the rules with impunity for so long that they dont see a problem with it.. Corruption cases have long riddled the Metro-Detroit region and in an upcoming post we will detail the ones that have been brought to the public eye since 2016. Just what in the blue fuck was that supposed to mean? After all, less than a week after Nessels office asked to meet with me, the Detroit-area Task Force raided the Taylor, Michigan City Hall and the Attorney General herself released a note congratulating them. Some voters are unwilling to admit they are voting for him. I called some old friends still in the business in Chicago and they agreed to vouch for me if necessary. I have to come to the conclusion that there is a certain lie factor, a certain unwillingness of Trump voters to express themselves.". Leland admitted to accepting the cash when he pled guilty. Read more onMichigan politics and sign up for ourelections newsletter. Its my first and last OpEd so it calls for some trial anderror. In 2008, Oakland paid $2 million to settle a civil rights lawsuit brought by 16 womenall of whom were Asian Americanwho said they were victims of Valerga. Mar 02, 2022. Oh them! Teter replied, growing visibly impatient. But then, these families could not get moveon.org to tweet a single word about them and, despite the complete eradication of their loved ones civil rights, the Detroit office of the ACLU told them to stick it. Richholt did not respond to a request for comment. He also saw raw numbers of voters swell in virtually every part of Michigan,which is a testament to his ability to generate additional support where it had seemed it had hit a ceiling. In 2000, Vazquez fled the country before he was arraigned on 18 felony counts including kidnapping, assault, and conspiracy to obstruct justice. But, I keptthe name of the Free Press out of requests for interviews. The polices independent federal monitor, Robert Warshaw, criticized Kirkpatricks discipline of the officers which he said deviated from recommendations of her own senior commanders calling the chiefs thinking disappointing and myopic.. As for the morning being a "high level review of elder care issues," either Rossman-McKinney lied to my editor or he lied to me. Please take a moment to explore these programs below. Whether Moody had jurisdiction over them or not, even after public administrators like Munger had been fired by him in 2017, Munger still took and was taking deceased estate as well as guardianship and conservatorship cases at the Oakland County Probate Court. Five police departments ensnared in controversy. Staff writer David DeBolt contributed to this report. That piece concluded that history indicated that anytime a Democratic presidential or gubernatorial candidate won betterthan 56% in metro Detroit defined as Macomb, Oakland and Wayne counties he or she would win the state. Miss Manners: I shouldn't call because the phone scares people? Tipline: 1-888-TURN-1-IN or 1-800-773-2587. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. 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