Investigations by Lt. Randy Sutton - PG County Maryland

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BETRAYAL OF HONOR COP'S CAREERS DESTROYED AFTER REPORTING POLICE
ADMINISTRATION'S CORRUPTION AND MISCONDUCT

(05/21/2010) Lt. Randy Sutton

By Randy Sutton


Who protects the Protectors? Who defends the men and women who defend
others? When Police Officers fall prey to corruption and misconduct,
it may not be their own weaknesses that destroy their careers. Sadly,
their own leadership, those who have a sacred duty not only to the
community but to those who serve it, may sacrifice them to further
their own greed, power or political agenda.

This is a story that will anger you if you believe in justice. It will
offend you if, like me, you pray that "doing the right thing" will
prevail over the darkness of human weakness. But it is a story which
must be told for it is also the story of courage. Of several cops and
a city councilman who laid it all on the line for their beliefs and
their quest for justice.
It is important that you know the perspective from which this story is
reported.

I despise investigating cops. In the thirty plus years that I have
worn a badge on my chest, stripes on my arms and bars on my collar, I
have been forced to conduct a number of investigations involving
officers and while I found it personally distasteful, it was my duty.
It's not that I live in a fantasy world where the "good guys" only do
good. I would simply like to celebrate the service and accomplishments
of those who share the responsibilities of the badge with me, rather
than bear witness to the sadness that accompanies dishonor or a
momentary lapse in judgment.

However when I was contacted by a young police officer whose tale of
corruption and misconduct within the top levels of his police agency
followed by the incompetence of government and law enforcement which
led to the destruction of four honest cops, I had to put aside my
personal feelings and probe the allegations. What I found disgusted me
in the sense that I was forced to bear witness to the suffering of
four good cops, whose only "crime" was to try and do the "right
thing", while those in power and control either stood aside and did
nothing, or continued their criminal and professional misconduct.

***

New Carrollton, Maryland is a little city about 30 minutes from our
nation's capitol. Demographically it is just 1.5 square miles with a
population of approximately 13,000. The city's police services were
provided by the Prince Georges County Police Department until 2005,
when the City Council and Mayor Andrew Hanko voted to form its own
police department. The man that they chose to lead the new agency was
David Rice.

Rice had been a police officer for a short time with the tiny Seat
Pleasant, Maryland Police Department before getting hired as Chief of
Police for the neighboring community of Fairmont Heights. In 2003
during his tenure at Fairmont Heights the number of fulltime officers
and reserve officers fluctuated, but a small core group of
commissioned officers surrounded the Chief. David Ladd, Mark Butler
and Vincent Lyew served in various patrol and supervisory roles.
Unfortunately, the reputation of law enforcement in Fairmont Heights
within Prince George's County was less than savory. Rumors of drug rip-
offs, lucrative private security deals, city money unaccounted for and
very prominently, cash sales of seized cars from within the police
station abounded. During interviews with the Chiefs that followed Rice
at Fairmount Heights, equipment was reportedly unaccounted for,
records were in complete disarray and weapons were found to be
missing.

The City of New Carrollton hired David Rice as the head of their
police organization in November of 2005. He quickly hired David Ladd
as a Sergeant and his second-in-command,
and in a very short time promoted him to the rank of Lieutenant, then
Captain. Marc Butler was also hired as an officer, then quickly
promoted to Sergeant, and shortly thereafter Vincent Lyew was hired as
an officer, and was also promoted to Corporal, then Sergeant in short
order. Rice himself was assigned the rank of Colonel. Over the next
several years the number of full-time commissioned personnel
fluctuated between three and 13 officers. This force was supplemented
by a small number of reserve officers.

In January of 2007 Rice began to recruit experienced law enforcement
officers in an attempt to give the fledging department a more
"polished" look. One officer, a 26 year veteran who was also brought
in at the rank of Sergeant, was skilled in information technology and
other electronics, and was tasked with helping to streamline the
record keeping and other information systems of the department. Soon
after, Sergeant Richard Hartnett discovered that impounded property
and evidence was routinely disappearing, and pointed out to Rice that
the current system of property storage was in serious need of repair.
Rice agreed, and even pointed out his own observation of evidence
problems by showing Hartnett a small safe which according to Rice,
contained "several thousand dollars" of confiscated drug money, but
could not be opened because he had lost the combination. Hartnett
suggested that Rice contact a locksmith to gain entry to the safe, and
although the chief agreed, the safe remained unopened for the next 22
months.

One day while working in the police station, Sergeant Hartnett came
across a G.E. UHF portable police radio sitting on a counter near his
desk. The radio immediately struck him as odd, because it was
different from the model of radios being carried by New Carrollton
officers at the time, and more notably, the manufacturer's serial
number located on the back panel had been obliterated. When Hartnett
inquired about the radio, Chief Rice told to him that it was his
"personal" radio, and that he had brought it to New Carrollton with
him when he was hired and had it programmed to work on the NCPD radio
frequencies. Hartnett did not raise the issue of the defaced serial
number at the time (although it is a crime in Maryland to possess a
manufactured product with an obliterated serial number), but was later
told by a radio shop technician that when the radio was brought in to
be programmed, a little known "internal" serial number indicated that
it belonged to the Seat Pleasant Police Department, one of Rice's
former employers.

Not long after being hired, Hartnett was assigned an older unmarked
Ford police car, and was told by Chief Rice that the department was
"low on funds" due to it being mid budget year, and asked if he could
"scrounge up" some used emergency equipment to outfit the car, until
the next fiscal year when he would be assigned a new car. Hartnett
obtained some free surplus radio console and computer equipment from
the local park police department, and used his own personal money to
purchase most of the emergency lighting equipment and other necessary
items. At one point the car was reassigned to another officer, and
while parked in the parking lot of the police station, it caught fire
from a faulty windshield wiper motor. After the fire, Rice approached
Hartnett and asked him to use his record keeping system to produce
receipts and/or purchase orders for the equipment installed in the
car, so that he could file an insurance claim.

Hartnett explained to him that his request was virtually impossible
due to the fact that the city did not purchase anything for that car,
as most all of the equipment was either donated at no cost, or was
purchased by him personally. Rice then told Hartnett to produce
receipts for similar equipment installed in "other" police cruisers,
and said that he would use them to claim that the items had been
purchased for the destroyed car. Hartnett pointed out to Rice that he
was uncomfortable with request because he felt it amounted to
insurance fraud, but he was told point blank, "You just get me those
receipts, and I'll decide what to do with them." Hartnett did what he
was ordered to do, and in fact that documentation was used when the
claim was awarded by the insurance carrier, LGIT. An insurance company
representative later stated that she knew "something was odd about
that particular claim," yet even after being informed by city
officials of the bogus receipts, neither the insurance company nor the
city took any action against Rice.

Corporal Jeff Hamilton was another long experienced police officer in
Prince George's County. He had spent 22 years working patrol,
narcotics and special investigations as a Sergeant with the Prince
George's County Police Department from 1995-2007. He retired from
policing, but when David Rice called him with an offer to go back into
policing with New Carrollton where he was promised a promotion to
sergeant within a year, he gladly accepted the offer. When he was
hired, New Carrollton's police department was only two years old and
consisted of eight full-time officers.

When Hamilton reported to work, Rice called him into his office and
told him that he had to fill the current police officer opening with
the person serving as his clerk and asked Hamilton to take that
position which was basically Rice's administrative assistant, until he
could hire him as a patrol officer. Hamilton agreed and held that
position for a period of approximately six months. He reported that
shortly after taking that position, he began having suspicions about
improprieties taking place within the department.

While working in the position of clerk, his responsibilities included
taking payments for parking tickets and vehicle releases. Hamilton
reported that a $75 fee had to be paid to the police department before
an impounded car could be released by the wrecker service, Charlie's
Towing. The cash that was collected would be placed into a cash box
and the money turned over to Rice. According to Hamilton, Rice had a
close personal relationship with the owner of Charlie's Towing (Rice
had used Charlie's Towing when he was the chief in Fairmount Heights),
and the storage fees charged by the towing company would often mount
up to the point where the owner's could not afford to pay them.
Frequently this led to titles being signed over to the towing company
or the police department, with some of the vehicles being sold for
cash by the Chief.

According to several sources there were often 10-15 impounded vehicles
stored behind the police station, in addition to those taken to the
tow yard. It is unknown how many vehicles were sold in this manner, as
according to the State of Maryland's Motor Vehicle Department, they
cannot track the number of titles obtained in this way. It is
important to note here that none of these vehicles were ever sold by
way of a public auction (the standard method for government agencies
to dispose of impounded vehicles and other property), and it appears
that very few (if any) were accounted for in the records of the police
department.

Another observation made by Corporal Hamilton was the number of
complaints from citizens that property had been stolen from vehicles
when they were impounded. He brought this to the Chief's attention
several times, but it was never addressed. In fact, on one occasion,
Hamilton took a crime report when a person insisted that their
property had been stolen from the impounded car. When Rice read the
report, he confiscated it and ordered Hamilton not to take another
crime report because he said the complainant was a "liar". Minutes
later Hamilton overheard a conversation from Rice's office. Rice was
telling the recipient of his call that they had to stop taking
property from the cars as it was generating too many complaints and
"too much heat".

In addition to these incidents, Hamilton reported that property such
as narcotics and other evidence were often kept in drawers and
cubbyholes without being secured. This impounded evidence would
constantly disappear. He also reported that after the service of a
search warrant, a large flat screen plasma television was seized and
the Chief had it mounted and wired into his private office. Eventually
the job of police officer came open and Hamilton was assigned to
patrol. Not long after, Colonel Rice called him on the radio and
informed him that a subject was selling property and clothing out of
the trunk of his car in the parking lot of a local strip shopping
center. Rice ordered him to investigate and seize the property.
Hamilton located the subject and confiscated several large green
storage bags of what appeared to be counterfeit purses and clothing,
which are illegal to sell or possess.

He took the property back to the police department where it was
cataloged and stored in the "property container" located next to the
police station. Hamilton had several days off and when he returned to
duty, he observed one of the green storage bags that had been secured
in the impounded property container, now standing empty in the corner
of the squad room. When he asked several officers on duty what had
happened to the property, an officer informed him that Lt. Ladd had
distributed the property amongst various officers on the department,
and told them they could "have it." Hamilton then went out to the
property storage container, only to find that the remainder of the
confiscated property was also gone. He immediately confronted Lt. Ladd
and in a somewhat heated exchange, Ladd told him that it was "no big
deal." Hamilton asked Lt. Ladd what would happen when the man whose
property was confiscated attempted to reclaim his property. Ladd told
him that no one would believe him, and if they absolutely had to, they
would just compensate him for the property. Hamilton reported this
incident to Chief Rice, but it was clear that Ladd had already spoken
to him. Rice told him that he had completed an investigation into the
missing property and that it had been "handled". Hamilton stated that
this incident was a critical turning point in the manner in which he
was treated by Rice and Ladd, as well as the other officers who had
come from Fairmount Heights with them.

Hamilton mentioned the property incident to Hartnett, who had now been
promoted to Lieutenant, and further informed him that several other
members of the department (including some which had recently left the
department due to conflicts with the Chief, Ladd and the two patrol
sergeants), had been talking about acts which they believed
constituted criminal misconduct on the part of the Chief and Lt. Ladd.

Officer Jason Cressman had been an Annapolis, Maryland police officer
and then served with the Phoenix, Arizona Police for five years. In
November of 2007 he interviewed for the position of police officer/
canine handler with Chief Rice and Lt. Ladd. During the interview he
was given a verbal job offer as a Canine Officer with a salary of
$47,000 and a rank of PFC. He accepted the position and they agreed
that when he returned from Phoenix and sold his house there, he could
take the position. Because of the downturn in the housing market, he
was unable to sell his house immediately, but returned to Maryland to
take the job anyway.

When he reported for work he was informed that the salary had now been
reduced to $39,000, there would be no rank, and that there were
actually no positions open at the time, but that if he agreed to work
as an unpaid Reserve Officer for a while, the next Police Officer
position would be his. Rice told him that he would nonetheless send
him for canine training and when the budget allowed, he would be put
on the payroll as a regular full time officer. Unfortunately Cressman
was required to spend his own money for housing and other expenses,
and was also promised he would be reimbursed upon his return. (This
was important for an officer who was not getting a paycheck at the
time.)

Chessman traveled to South Carolina where he was trained by canine
instructor, Jim Beernink. It was later learned that Beernink was still
owed almost $2000 by the city, as an earlier accepted contract for
canine services had been forged. When he tried to collect the
outstanding money he was told by Ladd in an email that 'any future
attempts to contact the city would be deemed as harassment and he
would be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law', another threat.
When he completed his training, Cressman returned to New Carrollton
and submitted an expense report for his lodging and food, which
totaled approximately $750 and was never reimbursed. After
resubmitting the receipts two more times, and becoming more "vocal"
about the fact that he was receiving no paycheck and badly needed the
money that was owed to him, he was given a plain white envelope by
another recently hired Lieutenant (Bill Everts) containing $219 in
cash, and told, "here's your money - stop complaining." The amount of
his reimbursement was about $530 short of the total, and it was now
abundantly clear that he would not be getting what he was owed, and
that he had struck a nerve with the Rice and Ladd (who had since been
promoted to Captain), as was evident with all his future interactions
with them.

Like other officers on the department, Cressman now had his own
reasons to suspect that corruption was an accepted practice within the
agency.

***

Other officers on the New Carrollton Police Department were having
their own issues with what they termed the "clique from Fairmount
Heights". One officer, still in Field Training and on probation,
reportedly observed her Sergeant beating a handcuffed juvenile
prisoner. According to this officer, The Sergeant took a 17 year old
juvenile into custody for a minor crime. While enroute to the
detention facility, the handcuffed juvenile was cursing at the
Sergeant but not being physically combative, yet at one point, the
Sergeant pulled the cruiser over to a dark area, and struck the
prisoner with a closed fist.

This unfortunately was not an isolated occurrence. The second incident
took place several months later when the Officer arrived as a backup
unit for the Sergeant. A juvenile was in custody for Trespassing and
the Officer was told to book him into the juvenile facility but as the
Sergeant placed the handcuffed prisoner into the Officer's vehicle for
transport he punched him several times in the chest and ribs. The
juvenile facility refused to take the juvenile as he complained of
pain from being assaulted and had to be transported to the hospital.
He was later released from the hospital to the custody of his father.

As a rookie, the probationary Officer was shocked at having to witness
these events, and eventually asked the patrol commander (Lt. Everts)
if she could be transferred to a different squad because she felt she
could no longer work with her Sergeant. After some prodding, she
explained the "real" reason she wanted the transfer, and was
eventually placed on Hamilton's squad.

In October of 2008, this "reason" for the probationary Officer's
earlier transfer request came up in a conversation in Captain Ladd's
office, who appeared agitated that it was now something that the
department "would have no choice but to investigate." Shortly
thereafter, the probationary Officer reported that she began having
her reports turned back to her for minor reasons and could feel that
the Command Staff treated her differently than before and criticized
her frequently. Although she was never advised of any sort of Internal
Investigation, she discovered a copy of a report that accused her of
"substandard performance". Not long after, Hamilton was ordered to
accompany Ladd and Lt. Everts to the probationary officer's place of
residence. They waited for her to return home and she was
unceremoniously terminated (just a few days short of the end of her
probationary period) for a list of relatively minor offenses, such as
not turning a report in on time.

Another officer who I interviewed during this investigation was a long-
time acquaintance of David Rice, Officer Billy Qudah. He joined the
New Carrollton Police Department shortly after his graduation from the
MPCTC Police Academy. During his field training period he reported
answering an unknown trouble call, which was revealed to be a domestic
violence investigation. Responding to the call was this officer, his
Field Training Officer, Sgt. Marc Butler along with Ladd. The suspect
had beaten his wife, hit her with some type of utensil and bitten her.
She required hospitalization and after she had been taken away by the
ambulance, this officer observed his FTO and Ladd severely beat the
suspect while in hand-cuffs.

Several months after that incident, while this officer was at the New
Carrollton Police Station, a subject came in after his vehicle had
been impounded. He was argumentative with the officers who were in the
station. He was told that they would not be releasing his car. He
yelled several insults at the officers and walked out. He was followed
outside where several officers grabbed him including the Sergeant
mentioned in the beating of the handcuffed juveniles. They took him
back into the station and at one point struck him so hard while
handcuffed that he was knocked into a small closet. A civilian who was
visiting the police station at the time decided that the abuse was too
much for him to bear, and left in a hurry. Shortly thereafter, the
arrestee was walked out to a waiting patrol car to be transported to
jail. At that time, Ladd grabbed him and smashed his head into the
patrol car and struck him numerous times. Ladd then ordered the
officer to write in his report that the suspect had tried to "grab his
gun," and that the officers had to use the force necessary because of
the danger facing them. The officer followed his orders and the
charges were later dismissed when Ladd failed to show up for court.

In August of 2007 an incident occurred involving this officer when he
was assigned to a community affairs event, with another recently hired
experienced police officer. The outside temperatures had reached
nearly 100 degrees on this particular day, and by order of Chief Rice,
officers working the event were permitted to remove their ballistic
vests. At one point Sgt. Marc Butler arrived at the event, and
observed that the two officers were not wearing their vests. When he
questioned them, they responded that their dress was approved by the
Chief of Police, due to the unusually high temperature. Butler
responded that "He didn't care what the Chief said," and ordered to
the two officers to go get their vests and put them on. As they both
turned their backs to Butler to walk to their patrol cars, Butler used
two closed fists to "punch" both officers in the middle of their
backs. So hard in fact, that one officer partially toppled over, and
the impact left a red welt in the middle of both officers' backs.
Butler then stated, "Now imagine how that would have felt if it had
been a bullet."

His action, while thinly disguised as a training exercise, was clearly
an assault, and was meted out as if it was some form of discipline.
The incident took place in front of Ladd, who said nothing and took no
action to reprimand Butler. Both officers filed formal complaints with
another supervisor who was at the event (but did not witness the
incident), and the complaint followed the chain of command up to Chief
Rice. Although Rice did have the chief of another municipal police
department conduct an investigation, Rice never notified the officers
that the investigation was over, what the outcome was, or what he
would do to prevent it from happening again. As Butler did not appear
to have been disciplined in any way, the officers felt it was just
another example of the administration turning a "blind eye" to illegal
and unjustified acts of aggression by their officers. Their suspicions
were bolstered by the story told by another recently hired experienced
police officer, who left the agency shortly thereafter because he felt
that the agency condoned police brutality.

In this incident, the officer informed me that while he was employed
as an officer with New Carrollton Police, he had arrested a suspect
who had pushed a New Carrollton Sergeant and run from him. After the
subject was arrested and handcuffed, he contacted the Sergeant who
came to the scene of the arrest. The suspect was standing by the
patrol car as the officer was moving items on the seat in order to
place him in the car for transport. When the Sergeant arrived, he
began yelling at the suspect and then struck the handcuffed man "eight
to ten times" in the ribs with a closed fist. The Officer ran to them
and got between them in order to protect the suspect. The officer who
asked for anonymity for fear of reprisals, said that he reported the
incident to Chief Rice who said that he "would have a talk" with the
Sergeant. According to the Officer, this incident along with his other
observations of the leadership of the New Carrollton led him to
transfer to another agency in a different county.

In January of 2008, Officer Qudah inquired to Chief Rice about all the
impounded cars that were parked in the rear of the police station.
Qudah said that if the city was going to sell them, he'd be interested
in bidding on one in particular, as he planned to buy it, possibly fix
it up, and sell it, and mentioned that there were two other vehicles
on the lot that his nephew might be interested in purchasing. Rice
discussed the price of the cars with Qudah and his nephew and said
that he couldn't sell the three for less than $6000. Qudah talked it
over with his nephew, and they decided that $6000 wasn't a bad price
for the somewhat high-end vehicles, and that their resale value would
certainly make it a sound investment. At that point, Rice said he had
to talk it over with the Mayor and the City Administrator, and
disappeared in to City Hall. When he returned, he had the titles for
the vehicles, and collected $2000 from Officer Qudah, and $4000 from
his nephew. The transaction took place in the secluded back parking
lot of the police station, and with the exception of the titles being
signed over to the two purchasers, no other paperwork (such as a
receipt from the city) was given to them. While Officer Qudah thought
that handing the Chief of Police $6000 in cash in the back lot of the
police station seemed a little odd at the time, Rice assured him that
it was all on the "up-and-up," and done with the blessing of city
officials. However Rice did conclude with the statement, "Let's just
keep this to ourselves for now, okay?"

In June of 2008 Officer Qudah's brother asked him if he knew where he
could buy surplus police radios. Qudah and his brother were part
owners in a small security business, and his brother wanted to obtain
some old radios to use as police monitors (no transmit capability), to
hand out to his security employees. Qudah asked Chief Rice if he knew
of the availability of any such radios. Rice then said that he had
radios he could personally sell the officer's brother, and one day
showed up at his house with four Motorola Sabre police radios. (The
radios had been given to the New Carrollton Police Department during
its first year of start-up by the Maryland Park Police Department, as
New Carrollton didn't have any communications equipment at the time.)
New Carrollton had since purchased newer, smaller radios for the
officers, and the loaned radios were sitting in a corner of the squad
room, not being used. Rice said he wanted $400 cash for the four
radios, but Qudah's brother said he only had $100 at the time. Rice
pocketed $100 and said, "Keep the radios, and get me the rest as soon
as you can."

In August of 2008, an acquaintance of Qudah's brother was stopped by
the Prince George's County Police for speeding. He had one of the
purchased police radios in his possession, and when the officer
noticed the official looking radio on the driver's seat, he ran a
check on it and discovered that it was listed as belonging to the
Montgomery County Police Department (a neighboring agency to Prince
George's), and arrested the driver for possession of stolen property.
In reality, Montgomery police had given the radios to the park police
years earlier when they upgraded to newer models, and in turn the park
police used them for some time before they themselves purchased newer
models. When the radios were given to New Carrollton, it was to help
the fledging agency get started, and as such, would have become
property of the city.

When Qudah's brother learned of the arrest, he contacted Rice to tell
him what happened. He stated that Rice replied with "I shouldn't have
sold them to you, and I need them back right away." The charge against
the driver of the vehicle was eventually dropped when the arresting
officer failed to show up in court, and according to sources, Rice
told city officials that he never sold anything to anyone, he simply
"loaned" the radios to the security company, but then told another
officer that the radios had been given to him by the park police
"personally," and therefore he could do whatever he wanted with them.
Meanwhile, none of the scenarios listed appear to be consistent with
the practices and policies of most reputable police departments, and
it is highly doubtful that the neighboring agency gave the radios to
the new department with the knowledge that the Chief would eventually
sell them for cash. Rice never did get the radios back, and they were
last seen in the possession of the FBI as evidence.

According to a copy of the minutes of the October meeting of the City
Council in New Carrollton, Colonel Rice was questioned by Councilman
Wildoner and other members of Council concerning the sales of seized
vehicles. It was discovered that there had never at anytime been a
public auction, and while Rice admitted to selling vehicles, the only
cash accounted for in 2008 was $2100.00 which Colonel Rice claimed to
have recently discovered (after it became known that questions were
being asked about cash discrepancies) in a safe in the police station
that had to be opened by a locksmith due to Colonel Rice having "lost
the combination." According to the City Council Minutes, the $2100.00
was for three vehicles that had been sold "way back when".




In March of 2009 during a City Council meeting it was reported that
during the routine annual audit completed by an outside auditing firm,
Diane Mock, the auditor reported "significant deficiencies" in record
keeping, mostly within or related to the police department. The report
mentioned specifically the "collection and handling of vehicle fines
and seized assets by the Police Dept needed to be reviewed". According
to sources within the department, neither the Mayor nor City
Administrator J. Michael Downes ever conducted a review and in fact
when asked at a public meeting in April of 2010 about the subject, in
a scene reminisant of televised congressional hearings when Senators
were grilling hostile witnesses who "plead the fifth amendment", Mayor
Hanko publicly refused to answer "on advice of the City Attorney."




***

While Rice was Chief of the Fairmount Heights Police Dept. there were
two fatal officer involved shootings. Both were eerily similar in that
the legal justification for both was the same. In both instances, the
driver of the vehicle was shot and killed because officers had placed
themselves in the position to be "dragged" by the car, thus supposedly
placing the officer's lives in danger. One of these shootings took
place in the parking lot of the Fairmont Heights Police Department.
According to documents obtained from the wrongful death lawsuit filed
against the police, a man walked in to the police department and told
officers that the driver of the car parked in front of the station was
armed with a pistol and had forced him to go to the police department
to obtain a release for his car, which had been impounded.

Chief Rice, Ladd and Officer Timothy Kingston all approached on foot
without a patrol vehicle for cover or to block an escape route. They
ordered the driver out, but the suspect put the car in reverse.
Officer Kingston then broke out the passenger window with his pistol,
but according to testimony by the officer, his momentum propelled him
to fall into the passenger seat area where he dropped his pistol.
While he was trying to extricate himself, he stated he saw a handgun
in the suspect's waistband. He was able to retrieve his own gun and,
fearing for his life, shot him to death. Chief Rice stated that upon
hearing a gun shot he didn't know if his officer had been shot and he
then opened fire at the vehicle's tires. A pellet gun was recovered
during the subsequent investigation, but the jury found against the
city and a cash award was paid to the mother of the deceased.

The second fatal officer involved shooting had more ominous overtones.
In January of 2005, 18-year old Eric Lawrence, a young man with no
arrest record, was shot and killed during a traffic stop while parked
in front of a residence in the City of Seat Pleasant. According to
depositions obtained from the wrongful death lawsuit filed by
Lawrence's mother, Trina Reddish, Ladd and Sergeant Mark Butler
spotted the car Lawrence was driving earlier, and pulled their police
car in front of it to block it from driving away. Sergeant Butler
approached the driver's door and engaged in a verbal and physical
confrontation with Lawrence.

There were other occupants in the vehicle at the time. While Butler
was attempting to pull Lawrence from the vehicle the car drifted
backwards and according to police reports, Ladd believed Butler's life
was in jeopardy and fired his weapon several times striking Lawrence
and a passenger. Lawrence later died at the hospital.

According to depositions and information obtained from Trina Reddish,
Lawrence had purchased a vehicle from Chief Rice paying him in cash
before the shooting. According to Ms. Reddish, two of the other
occupants in the vehicle including the other individual who was shot,
had also purchased vehicles for cash from Chief Rice.

The Prince George's County Police Department had overall jurisdiction
when investigating officer involved shootings involving officers from
smaller jurisdictions within Prince George's County. In a deposition
obtained from the wrongful death lawsuit, it was discovered during
testimony of the homicide detective investigating the shooting that a
number of issues had come to light including the fact that the
officers were out of their jurisdiction at the time of the shooting.
Sergeant Butler was transported to the hospital for examination. The
homicide detective arrived at the hospital some time later and
attempted to obtain the uniform that Sergeant Butler was wearing at
the time of the shooting in order to examine it for physical evidence
to corroborate the officer's statements. The uniform however, had
already been taken by Officer Kingston. Over the next 10 days, the
detective made several requests to Kingston and Chief Rice for this
critical evidence, however although the shooting occurred January 21,
2005, the evidence was not turned over to him until February 2nd, 2005
and the uniform had already been sent to a dry cleaner. This delayed
the forensic examination of evidence crucial in the shooting
investigation and tainted the results.

Also, according to the homicide detective, Ladd proved to be less than
cooperative in providing a statement to the investigating detectives.
In fact, he was unable to get Ladd and the attorney that represented
him to agree to an interview until the 11th of February. When they
finally appeared for the interview, they refused to allow it to be
taped, which is a normal part of the interview process. After some
negotiation the detective agreed not to tape the interview and began
to question Ladd in reference to the shooting. Ladd's attorney then
presented a 3-page written statement to the detective concerning the
incident. After reviewing the written statement, he asked him a
question regarding his physical position at the time of the shooting.
Ladd's answer was "Fuck you. Why are you being a bitch?" at which
point Ladd's attorney stated that the interview was over and that they
were leaving. Ladd never gave an interview in reference to this
shooting.

Chief Rice was deposed in regards to this shooting on September 27,
2007, more than two years after the shooting occurred. During his
deposition, several items of interest were revealed, including that he
had sold two vehicles to Eric Lawrence prior to the shooting. It was
also revealed during this deposition that Chief Rice had made the
decision the night of the shooting that Ladd would not be compelled to
give a statement. And, in fact, when questioned as to if he had ever
asked Ladd or Butler what had occurred in any form of internal
investigation into the shooting, the Chief stated that he had not and,
in fact, until he attended the deposition more than two years later,
did not know the scenario that had taken place. After the depositions
had been obtained, and the relationship between Chief Rice and Eric
Lawrence was discovered, LGIT (Local Government Insurance Trust) and
the Town of Fairmont Heights agreed to a costly settlement to be paid
to the family of Eric Lawrence.

In June of 2008, a New Carrollton officer had an occasion to spend
time with City Council Chairman, Dave Anderson. During the
conversation that followed, the officer revealed what he felt were
unethical incidents occurring within the agency and spoke of his
displeasure at the way officers were routinely treated by some members
of the command staff.

At the end of August of the same year, Lt. Hartnett and Officer
Cressman ran into Councilman Anderson at a community gathering.
Several residents were making small talk with Hartnett, and several
feet away, Anderson and Cressman exchanged routine greetings. Cressman
mentioned to Anderson that Harnett would like to talk with him briefly
before they left. Once they had a chance to talk, Hartnett said he had
some things on his mind and wondered if the two could meet somewhere
less crowded when he got off-duty. Anderson agreed, and the two met a
short distance outside of town later that night.

Once they met, Hartnett told Anderson that he was uncomfortable going
outside the chain of command, but that he and several other officers
felt that they could trust Anderson and that since they had concerns
about members of their command staff, they didn't know who else to
turn to other than the Council Chairman. The City Administrator was
very close to Chief Rice, so they couldn't go to him, so they were
basically between a rock and a hard place.

Hartnett told Anderson that he enjoyed working for the city, but was
unhappy with the reputation the police department was getting "on the
street." Anderson told him that he too had heard about problems from
other officers, and in fact had recently received an anonymous letter
from someone that described serious issues within the agency. Anderson
then stated that back in 2004 he was instrumental in leading the fight
to get a police department started in New Carrollton, and because of
that, he felt somewhat compelled to make sure it was successful. He
went on to say that there had been grumblings on the council as well
about broken promises from Chief Rice. Hartnett said that in addition
to the officers Anderson had heard from already, there were others
that wanted to bring acts of corruption to light, but knew they would
be treading on very dangerous ground, and feared that their names
would somehow get back to the command staff. They each faced their own
nightmares caused by this ethical dilemma. Councilman Anderson stated
that he would not reveal the sources of his information, and would
guarantee confidentiality to any city employee that felt they needed
to report corruption. Anderson did point out however, that at some
point he would be compelled to take his information to Mayor Hanko, as
he is the "CEO" of the city. Hartnett thanked Anderson for being so
concerned about the welfare of the department, and they parted ways.


The Nightmare Begins

Councilman Anderson knew all too well the serious consequences that
each of the officers faced should it become known that they were
reporting what they believed to be misconduct and corruption, and
decided to seek advice on how best to handle the situation. However,
in seeking advice, it did not take long for the rumors to begin and
names of the officers to get back to the Chief and his administration.
Within a week Cressman was called into the Chief's office and ordered
to resign immediately or be fired. Cressman who was still a
probationary reserve officer demanded to know why he was being
terminated. He was told by Rice that he had "gone over the Chief's
head" by talking to the City Administrator about issues on the police
department. ressman had in fact not talked to the City Administrator,
but had simply told his supervisor Sgt. Lyew, that if he did not
receive the remainder of the reimbursement money he was owed, he would
take it to the next level, which would be the City Administrator.
Knowing that a termination would reflect permanently on his ability to
get a police job in the future he felt he had no choice but to resign.
Before he left Rice's office however, Rice gave Cressman a stern look
and said, "It ends here - you understand? After you leave, I don't
want to hear anything about this from anyone."

On September 10, 2008, Councilmember Anderson met privately with Mayor
Hanko and City Administrator Mike Downes, and advised them about the
allegations against the Chief and Captain Ladd, and about other
problems on the police department. Councilman Anderson reported that
Hanko became infuriated that the officers did not come to him and
instead went to Councilman Anderson. After a community event just 3
days later, Anderson learned that Downes had already told Rice that he
was "being investigated".

Indeed, sometime during this time, Chief Rice had a conversation with
another officer on the department and stated "I've got a cancer on the
department and I need to get rid of it". As he was saying this he was
staring at Hartnett who was standing a short distance away. He went on
to tell the officer that he knew that he (Rice) was under
investigation and he knew that Hartnett and possibly others had talked
to a city official.

A few weeks later, Anderson arranged for a meeting between the
officers and the Mayor. The meeting took place in the law offices of
City Attorney Bob Manzi. The officers did not want to meet with the
Mayor for fear that the information would get out, but it appeared
that the Mayor did not believe Councilman Anderson, and they felt that
had a duty to meet with him to confirm that in fact the allegations
Anderson brought to him were true. The officers relayed the acts of
criminal misconduct to the Mayor and City Attorney, and once again,
expressed their fear of retribution should the Chief be made aware the
officer's names. According to the officers that attended this meeting,
Mayor Hanko told them that the Chief had not been informed that he was
being investigated and that if he found out that anyone told the Chief
anything, he would "fire them immediately". The Mayor himself then set
a date for another meeting with the City Administrator, Michael
Downes, and the four officers. The meeting was set for October 9th
2008 at the City Attorney's office.

On October 7th Captain Ladd escorted one of the officers out of a
yearly training class and drove him to City Hall. Once there, he
walked into the City Administrator's office and closed the door. City
Administrator Mike Downes then told the officer in front of Ladd that
the meeting with the Mayor and City Attorney was canceled and that he
should "tell the others that there would be no more meetings". Ladd
then drove the officer back to the training center. After taking the
officer back to the training center, Captain Ladd confronted Hartnett
and told him that he was now under investigation for misuse of the
department computer system. He informed Hartnett that his desktop
computer had been confiscated and then asked him "Why did you guys do
this? The Chief feels that you have betrayed him. We had a good thing
going here and you're going to mess things up". Hartnett was
subsequently reassigned to street patrol, but just days later Chief
Rice presented him with a letter informing him that he was being
placed on administrative leave while the complaint against him that
concerned his computer "log-on" was investigated.

Hung Out To Dry

In early October of 2008 during a class being given by an agent of the
FBI some New Carrollton officers requested to meet privately with the
agent in order to inform her about misconduct and corruption occurring
in their agency. The agent learned that beatings of hand-cuffed
prisoners were a common occurrence that was tolerated by or took place
at the direction of the administration of the agency. The agent
advised the officers that the FBI would look into the allegations.
Indeed, on October 22, 2008, the Washington Post reported in a
headline that stated "Maryland Police FBI Probe City Force. New
Carrollton Chief on Leave. Abuse, Theft by Officers is Alleged". In
this article City Administrator J. Michael Downes disclosed the
investigation and temporary removal of Rice. Captain David Ladd was
named Acting Chief. The article also reported that multiple paper
shredders were purchased after Rice had earlier been notified of the
investigation, and also relayed the concerns from another City Council
member that the officers who raised the allegations could face
retaliation.

The FBI, as of the writing of this article, has consistently refused
to comment or verify that any investigation of Chief Rice or the New
Carrollton Police Department has taken place. In fact the FBI and the
United States Attorney's Office have refused Freedom of Information
Act requests filed by the author and an appeal has been filed. Perhaps
even more startling was the reaction of the FBI when the author
attempted to provide them with information related to the
investigation. The name of the primary Agent was obtained by this
author and since I believed that I had pertinent information from my
probe into the events at New Carrollton, I made contact with her.
Prior to that however, an FBI agent with whom I had worked with for
years made a call to her Field Office as an introduction. When I
identified myself to her and offered her access to the information
that I had developed, she told me in no uncertain terms that she
"wasn't interested" in my information. Stunned, I explained my law
enforcement experience and background but was told once again that she
had "no reason to talk" to me.

Meanwhile Chief Rice has been returned to his position of Chief of
Police and currently retains that position and David Ladd was promoted
to Captain. Chief Rice was returned to full duty status approximately
a month after his suspension by Mayor Hanko citing the need for
additional officers on the street during the holiday season. A
spokesman for the Maryland State Police also refused comment on the
status of any investigation into the New Carrollton Police Department
and referred the author to Mayor Hanko who was the requesting
authority. Mayor Hanko has consistently refused to speak to the author
or make any comment. However during a discussion with City Attorney
Bob Manzi I brought up the letter that had been sent to the City of
New Carrollton by the Maryland State Police. He acknowledged that such
a letter does exist and when I asked him for a copy, he told me to
file a "Freedom of Information Request". I did so and Mr. Manzi's
response was then to deny the request citing the reason that it was a
"personnel matter" and thereby exempt from the Freedom Of Information
law.

On February 27th 2009, several of the officers met with Assistant
Prince Georges County State's Attorney Patricia Smoot. The meeting
took place in a conference room at her office. The Officers explained
to her about the events and their allegations and provided her with
documentation of altered reports and their observations. She was given
a copy of a charging document used to threaten Cpl. Hamilton and her
comment to that was that she believed that could be considered
"extortion". She also admitted that "We are very familiar with Chief
Rice" and commented how serious this situation was. All of the
officers in this meeting however stated that Ms Smoot kept answering
her cell phone during the meeting and appeared distracted and
disinterested. In fact while they were still recounting their
information, Ms Smoot suddenly told them that the conference room
needed to be set up for lunch and that she would be in contact with
them after she advised the Prince Georges County State's Attorney,
Glenn Ivey about the situation. Neither she, nor anyone else from the
Prince Georges County State's Attorney's Office ever contacted them
again. Glenn Ivey has refused repeated requests for an interview and
Patricia Smoot who after I informed her that I was writing an article
about New Carrollton refused comment as did the Office of Public
Information for the Prince Georges County State's Attorney.

Over the next several months the officers who had brought these
allegations to light and remained on the police department became the
victims of continual harassment, intimidation and threats by Chief
Rice and Captain Ladd. The probationary officer who had made a
complaint reference the beatings of handcuffed prisoners by a Sergeant
and who was one of the officers bringing such misconduct to light was
subsequently fired just days before completing probationary status.
The reasons for the firing were minor infractions which occur every
day in police work, yet they were used as an excuse to terminate her.

In early December another one of the officers was charged with making
a false statement to a superior officer reference off-duty employment,
despite the fact that he had not done so. After consulting with an
attorney and determining what the legal fees would be to fight his
termination, the officer resigned. Less than a month later, Hamilton,
reported that Captain Ladd confronted him while he was putting fuel
into his vehicle. Ladd told him that "Once you speak out against the
Chief, you can no longer work for the department" and that he would
never be promoted again and should resign. Ladd also stated to him "No
one will stand between me and my retirement".

Hamilton believed this to be a threat which was subsequently
reinforced when Ladd made a reference to a Prince George's County
Police Officer who had been imprisoned and then made the statement
that Hamilton could wind up as her cell mate in federal prison.
Hamilton's health began to deteriorate under the pressures and
intimidation he was facing which included suffering from bleeding
ulcers. On February 15, he resigned and after handing his resignation
letter to Chief Rice, Capt. Ladd called him into his office and said
"It's a good thing you resigned, because I had you." Hamilton asked
what he was talking about at which time Ladd showed him an application
for an arrest warrant bearing his name. This charging document made
reference to police equipment that he had picked up at a local supply
store a month earlier using a city purchase order given to him by
Chief Rice. The alleged "crime" was that the total amount of the
purchase slightly exceeded the spending limit of the purchase order,
which Ladd deemed as theft. Using the warrant application as a threat,
Ladd went on to say, "I've got a year and a day to apply for this
warrant, and when you leave here, if I find out that you have talked
to anybody about anything that went on in this department, I'll file
it!"

After leaving New Carrollton, Hamilton took a job as an investigator
at the Department of Corrections for a nearby county. Several weeks
into the job, he was summoned to Internal Affairs where he was
informed he was under investigation for withholding information on his
application for employment. He was shown a copy of the application for
the arrest warrant with Ladd's signature at the bottom. It had been
sent anonymously to them, but when investigators discovered that the
return address on the envelope was bogus, they dismissed it.

By December all of the officers who had reported their suspicions and
allegations to the City Council, the Mayor, the FBI and the Prince
George's County State's Attorney's Office had either been terminated,
resigned under threat, or in the case of Lt. Hartnett been placed on
administrative leave indefinitely. In May of 2009 Hartnett was
summoned to Chief Rice's office, where he was told that if he
resigned, he would be given a good reference and paid a severance. But
if he refused, he would be brought to a trial board. When asked what
charges there would be at the trial board, Rice replied, "Oh we'll
have something." Hartnett retained an attorney who had advised Chief
Rice that any termination would be challenged.

On July 6, 2009 Assistant State's Attorney for Prince George's County,
Doyle Neiman contacted Hartnett and informed him that he had received
a criminal complaint from Chief Rice accusing him of "denying the
police department access to their records system, misuse of grant
funds, and refusing to return departmental property." After looking
into the case and upon consultation with Hartnett's attorney, this
criminal complaint was never served. In August of 2009 Hartnett was
summoned to the New Carrollton City Hall where he was confronted by
City Administrator J. Michael Downes, City Attorney John Shay and
Captain David Ladd. Downes handed Hartnett a letter telling him that
the position of technical services lieutenant had been eliminated due
to "financial reasons," and that he was being laid off.

All of the officers who had come forward were now gone.

Each of these officers had varying degrees of police experience from
being a first year probationary officer to having had more than two
decades of police experience. Each of these officers now faced the
very frightening prospect of unemployment, loss of wages and an
uncertain future. These Officers put their faith in the Government of
New Carrollton, Maryland State Police, Federal Bureau of Investigation
and the Prince Georges County State's Attorney's Office. It was a
faith that would be betrayed. They faced this hardship because they
believed that they were doing what needed to be done to serve their
community and their profession, to live up to the ethics that are
demanded of all law enforcement officers in our nation. But the
reality of corruption has many tentacles. When it is the leaders of
the agency themselves who grasp onto power and are strengthened by
their positions of authority, the system itself seems to protect and
envelope them in a cocoon of safety and security, protected by self-
serving politicians, apathetic governmental leaders as well as the
shadow of incompetent law enforcement.

Reports of official misconduct involving the leadership of New
Carrollton's Police Department continue unabated. In fact in April of
2010, sources revealed that on
September 17th 2009 at about 11PM the Prince Georges County Police
Department received a report that a woman was being held against her
will at an apartment in New Carrollton. According to the report, the
suspect was a New Carrollton Police Officer named David Ladd. Sources
close to the investigation reported that when Prince George's County
Police arrived they found that the victim was from an escort service
that had been requested to come to Captain Ladd's apartment. A dispute
over her "services" took place at which time the woman said that she
was leaving. According to sources, the suspect identified himself as a
police officer and threatened her with arrest if she did not comply
with his "requests." The County Officers were also surprised to find
that later three other men had been called to the apartment by the
suspect, one of which was Chief of Police David Rice. Reportedly,
several hundred dollars were paid to the woman before she left. A
"Commanders Log" report was completed by the Prince George's County
Police, which is an internal police report, under that agreement that
Chief Rice would handle the situation appropriately. Meanwhile,
according to the police radio dispatch log, a New Carrollton police
officer on the scene officially cleared the call as "300 - No Report."

The Prince Georges County Police Department Office of Public
Information spokesperson, Sgt. Reedy when asked for comment about the
status of any investigation told the author to request information by
e mail. No reply was ever received but sources report that an Internal
Investigation into the handling of the reported crime is underway.

As a writer it is imperative that I remain neutral and impartial in
reporting the events taking place in New Carrollton. Our justice
system is based on the presumption of innocence until guilt is proven.
And vilifying the command officers of this police department is not
the intent of this report. However, injustice must never be tolerated
in a free society, for to accept it by act or ambivalence is to
surrender our morality. As an American, I am outraged that the lives
and careers of the officers who came forward and reported the criminal
and administrative abuses taking place within this police agency were
not only irreversibly damaged, but in some cases nearly destroyed.
These officers had a duty to report what they believed was corruption
and an abuse of power. They did their duty, but instead of rewarding
their courage, the very system they tried to protect turned against
them and allowed their career destruction.

Beginning with Mayor Hanko's unconscionable failure to take action to
protect the officer's identities to the cavalier and inept response by
the Prince George's County State's Attorney Office, Maryland State
Police and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, this situation has
revealed itself to be a glaring display of incompetence, apathy and
bureaucratic bungling. If our criminal justice system cannot or will
not protect those who have sworn to protect the citizens of our
nation, how can we ever expect the people we serve to embrace or
believe in our system of justice? Our citizens have the right to
believe that their law enforcement officers will live the values of
integrity, honesty and courage just as our nation's law enforcement
officers have the right to expect the same from its leaders.

The American people long for justice and it is the responsibility of
our people, our elected officials and law enforcement officers to
embrace its ideals and fight for its protection.

Author's note: Three of the victim officers have since been hired by
other police departments. All three were required to submit to a
polygraph examination during the application process. In all three
exams, the hiring agencies added questions to the polygraph test
specifically related to the events which took place at the New
Carrollton Police Department.

The result of the polygraph exam was that all of the officers were
telling the truth.