Wednesday, September 12, 2007

Child porn at Rusk ISD. Former Alto, TX coach busted. Death by Internet and Deputies. Escapee's taped phonecalls lead to arrest of Nacogdoches jailer



This posting covers quite a bit this month: a Nacogdoches jailer helps inmates escape and is later arrested after the Sheriff Department confirms inmates' recorded jailhouse pay phone calls. Neighboring Cherokee County Sheriff denied his deputies monitor jailhouse pay phones in a 1995 news article designed as a smokescreen. Complete with a fictitious concerned citizen complaining about a non-existent problem with James Campbell's cell block pay phones.

Next, the FBI infiltrates the Rusk, TX High School to bust a long time teacher on child porn charges;  former Alto ISD head coach Lucky Gamble arrested on domestic dispute; and local Internet forums turn political.

Lastly, the family of retired Lufkin, TX detective Allen Wallace calls Cherokee County Sheriff Department for suicide intervention - Wallace is shot dead in family cemetery.
Nacogdoches, TX:

Nacogdoches County, Texas correctional officer Hector Navejar, 24 was arrested Wednesday September 26, 2007 for helping 3 Hispanic inmates escape via an unlocked and/or malfunction door back in July. The escaping trio had led authorities on an extensive manhunt and to date 2 of the escapees have been caught leading to the arrest of 3 others in San Antonio who facilitated their run from the law. One of the escapee's sister, Laquisha Monque Tyler, 18, of Alto, TX was picked up by Cherokee County deputies for her part in helping her brother Marcuese avoid authorities.

"Authorities believe that Tyler provided her brother with transportation from Nacogdoches to Alto the morning of the escape and concealed his location from law enforcement officials."
Efforts to locate her brother Marcuese Tyler had been ongoing throughout the state. Tyler may have escaped 9 hours earlier than authorities originally believed, traveled to Alto then Jacksonville, TX, and may be in the DFW area. Marcuese Tyler was a 2002 Alto High School graduate. He was apprehended in Houston County.


Correctional Officer for the Nacogdoches County jail, Mr. Hector Navejar age 24 now faces 2nd degree felony charges and has been arraigned.

The case of the escapees is non-eventful other than the fact it sheds the light on a common Texas practice of recording all inmates calls from the pay phones in the jail. A practice Cherokee County officials deny tooth and nail, because their phone tapping goes beyond the jailhouse and out into the city streets and rural backroads. Cherokee County has also denied that it records incoming 911 calls established by DETCOG in the 1990's. A lie that has been repeated for decades, even in local newspapers.

The Nacogdoches jailer was caught because the inmates used the jailhouse phone to call Navejar and promised him illegal drugs for his cooperation in their escape. According to Officer Navejar's arrest affidavit located at:

"Jail phone recordings implicate the defendant [jailer Hector Navejar] by name and phone number. Jail phone conversation indicated the defendant was being paid off with illegal drugs. The cell phone mentioned in the call was confirmed by employee records."

Apparently the Nacogdoches Sheriff Department has no problem admitting it intercepts and records phone calls in the Nacogdoches County Jail.


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Page 1 of defendant Hector Navejar's arrest affivadivt :
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Now that's reporting the news accurately. It may look bad to Nacogdoches County, but the sheriff is openly trying to solve the problems in the jailhouse. He isn't covering them up with lies, misdirection and fictitious "concerned citizens." The bad apples are weeded out instead of promoted.

Cherokee County's Sheriff James Campbell in a 1995 Cherokeean article, stated "The law prohibits my deputies to listen in (on phone conversations)" on the jailhouse pay phone. Even if one is allegedly making harassing collect calls out their cell blocks. But in 2007 it's OK for the Nacogdoches County jail to record the inmates' conversations?

From the Rusk, TX Cherokeean June 1, 1995 p. 1


 

Did Joe Evans, the former Nacogdoches County sheriff and current Cherokee County District Attorney's Investigator monitor the jailhouse pay phones under his tenure in Nacogdoches, Texas? You bet. But the neighboring Cherokee County sheriff and his deputies would not listen in on anybody's personal or business calls, even his own inmate's they're charged with monitoring? Must be that dang ol' Patriot Act, retroactively. Apparently East Texas Sheriff Departments do listen in and record all incoming and outgoing calls from their jails. Why the misdirection in Cherokee County, Texas?

Is it supposed to be a secret that phone calls between defendants in Cherokee County jail and their respective attorney/client conference calls are recorded? Then sent over to the District Attorney's office for further scrutiny? Countless county jails around the country admit to recording inmates phone calls and use the calls to prosecute contraband traffickers. Cherokee County Texas' private conversation recording obviously goes beyond the jailhouse and out into the neighborhood. And they get a kick out of publishing fictitious "
concerned citizen" stories when they are smoke screening the illegal activity of their law enforcement.

 

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Rusk, TX: 

For the 3rd time this year, another Cherokee County Texas schoolteacher is under FBI investigation on child pornography and indecency charges as reported by the online Rusk Cherokeean. The longtime Rusk High School teacher's name is being withheld by the local paper. His name is Harold "Bo" Scallon, Rusk High School drama teacher.

veteran Rusk ISD teacher Harold "Bo" Scallon

The Tyler Paper online reports that the first out of the three, a 34 year-old Rusk geography teacher named Brian Basee pled guilty to an improper relationship between a "teacher and student." A Cherokee County grand jury indicted Basee last March for indecency with a minor. He will receive 3 years incarceration according to the Jacksonville Progress. Also according to the Cherokeean article, a 23 year-old youth minister from Jacksonville, TX that was sentenced to 4 years for having over 600 child porn pictures stored on his computer. This is not just a male teacher problem in Cherokee County, TX.

Bryan Edward Basse, Rusk, TX registered sex offender

Alto TX:

In 2005, Shelley Allen a 35 year-old Alto, TX teacher's aide was arrested for indecency with a student and sexual assault. Her charges were reduced to providing alcohol to a minor.

Because she is a member of the Allen family of Alto and Rusk, TX, local reporting never made it past her arrest. She was out on $30,000 bond. Her story dropped off the map quicker than the beating of Alto, TX resident John Brown by Cherokee County law enforcement.

Former Alto, TX high school football coach Drennan "Lucky" Gamble was arrested twice last week for domestic violence and DWI. Waco and Killeen TX authorities formed a police barricade around Gamble's home in Falls County, TX after police were alerted to a domestic dispute.
Coach Lucky Gamble was Alto ISD's head coach and athletics director from 1993 to 2000.
He lead the Alto Yellowjackets to several high school football victories during his tenure. He is currently an assistant football coach at Chilton High School in Falls County (between Waco and Temple). Gamble had a previous assault charge after beating his first wife back in 2003.


"Lucky" Gamble, Alto ISD athletic director 1993-2000

 Smith County political smarts vs. Cherokee County paid shit smearing campaigns

To the north and towards civilization, Smith County Commissioners Court meetings are now posted on YouTube by County Judge Joel Baker. Some commissioners question the postings, in fear that internet users "can alter the broadcasts" or "edit" the recordings. At least the debate is for an open forum where the public can view the court meetings. Instead of behind closed doors as in Cherokee County Commissioners' Court.

The Cherokee County old bitty network is always in full propaganda mode, trying to distract the local population with on-going smear campaigns. However they are not as Internet savvy as the younger population who has access to this and other blogs. A lesson for those old worn out hags who do random postings 'under the radar' and 'under the covers' in local Internet forums. They could wind up like this guy: http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/09/17/internet.death.ap/index.html?eref=ib_technology

Again, the lesson is limit your internet access and time on the computer. Its called "Internet addiction." You people will die of exhaustion trying to cover up the illegal activity going on in your hometown Cherokee County, Texas. The Bill of Rights or Freedom of Speech has always been under attack in backwoods East Texas. The latest tactic is to have the local internet political forums shut down entirely by posting profanity and slander of non-news related subjects, under the guise of anonymity.
Then they themselves cry foul and try to have the entire discussion board shut down. Local officials do not want any open forum where people can discuss Cherokee County, Texas corruption; they want to control the subject matter. Since they can't control public opinion on the internet, they are attempting to have it terminated internally by posting personal attacks at random chatroom members. Very Nazi-esque.

Note to subscribers: if you come across postings that do not agree with the Internet etiquette requirements listed in the service agreement, then you have found your East Texan saboteur trying to shut the public site down completely. It is the Cherokee County old wives club given the charge of shutting these Free Speech sites down. For solidarity's sake they often attack one another under pseudonyms to create diversions of the ongoing criminal activity in Cherokee County, Texas. Their weapon of choice is venomous vitriolic personal attacks to mask the stench of corruption. Don't be fooled. A quick check of their ISP address will give them away. Try this free online service from Geobytes, Inc.: http://www.geobytes.com/IpLocator.htm

In more intelligent circles, the Tyler/Smith County League of Women Voters will be hosting a panel of judicial experts Tuesday September 25, 2007.

The topic will be "The Texas Judiciary: Is Justice for Sale?" Specific examples should include Cherokee County's district court employees backing of law enforcement guilty of rape, murder and drug dealing.

And for the unsullied and idealistic district court interns, fresh faced and out of law school : it will look better to have Church's Chicken on your resume' than Cherokee County.


The East Texas child porn epidemic.
Why the constant barrage of reports of child pornography coming from the Bible Belt in greater East Texas, eg. the Nacogdoches county jailers, Rusk school teachers, Rusk County deputies etc. ? This is highlighted in a Lufkin News article dated August 31, 2007 "Rusk County deputy pleaded guilty to having child porn."

Henderson, TX cop Kenneth Martin, age 36, fired in April after a fellow officer found the images on Martin's police cruiser computer. US District Judge Michael Schneider sentenced the former deputy to 78 months in federal prison on Tuesday September 18, 2007. Why is child porn the choice for so many East Texas law enforcement personnel? Is it a dangerous combination of boredom and the need to break the law?

Certainly the majority of these law enforcement officials and educators are not pedophiles. The answer: they are gathering a library of the most illegal thing they can find, including stockpiling illicit drugs in order to plant on and/or frame their colleagues when the time arises. Sexual blackmail has been the mainstay of Cherokee County politics for decades. Some of the dumber ones are getting caught. They aren't doing it for their own gratification---they are being instructed to. And sometimes they are probably successful in framing each other. Others collect the sordid images because they enjoy violating the law, plain and simple.

The thrill of breaking the law is too tempting and easy to do for the caliber of people hired in law enforcement in these areas. The rest of them are child predators and rapists that need castration, chemical or otherwise. This criminal activity will continue in Cherokee County Texas because the established elected officials will continue theirs. Cherokee County police officers like Larry Pugh certainly saw his bosses illegally tape record suspect's phone conversations and had the district court back him during his brutal actions during the Tomato Bowl riot of 2004. Even saw his bosses put a man on trial for "interfering" and "resisting" while Pugh kicked his teeth in. So he felt emboldened to go out and rape and dispose of his complainants.

Constable Randy Thompson saw innocent poor people get framed and their property seized, so he decided to crank up a meth lab to get more locals addicted. Chester Kennedy Police Chief of Troup, TX had the best of both worlds being on the dividing line of Cherokee and Smith County. He could steal evidence from both counties and never report it. Hell, the Dogwood Trails Narcotic Task Force got away with it for years.

If you can't make a phone call to revoke the bail of a violent drug addict locked up in the Rusk State Hospital, a la' Michael Harris in 2003, before he signs out and murders his wife, then there is no telling what you can get away with. Because the economy is so rotten in Cherokee County, a government job is one of the most coveted, and these good Christian souls will say and do anything to keep their mortgage payments. They will even resort to investing in child pornography, in order to extort each other.

The Cherokeean front page article for Sept. 26, 2007 titled "TDCJ overtime boosts economy" tells the story why the economy is so poor for Cherokee County. The only viable source of income for the region is the Skyview and Hodges Unit and the article brags on the pittance (of less than $29,000 annually) a jailer makes. If correctional officers are the largest source of revenue for the area, it is easy to understand why these people resort to blackmail via drugs and pornography. The target is the majority of well intentioned law enforcement that uphold the letter of law and don't deal in drugs. Other targets are unsuspecting citizens caught up in an irate and egomaniacal officer's debauchery or boredom. The usual suspects are the ones who seek out the most attention with the most mundane and mediocre "drug busts" or acts of unsubstantiated heroism.

With so much time on their hands, making barely enough salary to feed themselves, they begin delving into criminal acts to ease their boredom and frustration, i.e. tapping phones, child porn, doing drugs, cheating on their spouses, etc. etc.

Or in the case of Jacksonville, TX patrolman Larry Pugh, they resort to targeting and raping defenseless women to sate their small town power trips.

Footnote: Larry Pugh pleaded guilty to falsifying his guilty plea, tacking on a few more years to his 12 federal years for rape and retaliation.

Federal prisoner and ex-Jacksonville, TX police officer Larry Pugh

Even though local media outlets do not immediately report the overtly corrupt behavior of the Cherokee County criminal justice system, some other not so distant newspapers will.
For instance, the report of local retired Lufkin detective Allen Lee "Stinger" Wallace, age 50, being gunned down in a "suicide"[sic] "altercation." Wallace was shot in the head Monday September 17, 2007 over his mother grave in a cemetery on CR 2218 outside Rusk, TX. Cherokee County sheriff deputies were called to the secluded graveyard, the article begins:

Wallace drew his weapon at the cemetery, and according to Cherokee County Sheriff James Campbell, shots were fired. Allen Wallace, a 23 year veteran of the Lufkin Police Department was killed at the scene by Campbell's deputies. Sheriff Campbell comments he doesn't know "who fired first," and has called the Texas Rangers to "investigate." Cherokee County doesn't know "who fired first" but they do know the retired ex-detective was "suicidal."

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Maybe the gentleman was just having an emotional visit to his family's cemetery plots. Nonetheless, this article didn't make it to local Cherokee County media outlets the day it occurred, even though it happened on their doorsteps. If it looks bad, then don't print it.

The Lufkin Daily News reported the killing on September 18, 2007:
This article mistakenly repeats the nonsense of issuing an "autopsy" on Wallace to determine "who fired first." That would be an issue for forensics to solve during the inquest; nonexistent forensics and no witnesses.With talking points freshly honed for public consumption, the Daily Progress reports on the shooting in their September 19, 2007 issue ---minus the proper day the incident took place.

The article begins the Sheriff Department's "welfare concern" [sic] "began at approximately 1:50 PM..." Forget the fact the killing took place on Monday Sept. 17, not Wed Sept. 19. Apparently there are no courses in suicide prevention offered to Cherokee County, Texas recruits. The Cherokeean Herald online reports the failed intervention after the Wallace family supposedly called Cherokee County in fear Allen Wallace was going to kill himself.

Local Cherokee County media outlets never mentioned another police brutality claim that occurred in October 2006, the alleged excessive force of former Cherokee County Deputy Keith Gayle. Deputy Gayle arrested Kevin Yates in November 2004 for public intoxication and resisting arrest; Yates claimed he was roughed up unnecessarily during the domestic dispute call. Yates filed a civil rights lawsuit that was heard in Tyler's US Magistrate district, naming Cherokee County, Deputy Gayle and Deputy Sargent Jamie Beene as co-Defendants.

Mr. Yates lost his federal suit of $200,000 in damages and is serving a 3 year prison term on a failure to appear sentence before Cherokee County's charges for the dispute incident were dismissed. Deputy Sgt. J. Beene had been a co-Defendant in the recent beating of Alto, TX resident John Brown, and too won his excessive force civil trial after a brutality "investigation"
by the Texas Rangers.


Now let's look retrospectively at more recent ARTICLES OF DIS-INFORMATION:

http://www.jacksonvilleprogress.com/archivesearch/local_story_006082510.html from the Jacksonville Daily Progress January 6, 2006:

regarding the "resignation" of Cherokee County Constable and bailiff Randall Thompson during his Federal indictment for selling meth to an undercover US agent. Ostensibly Thompson was feeling the pressure to resign for not showing up to work for over a month - he was sitting in a federal holding block not able to make his bail. The misdirection is that bailiff Randall Thompson was not participating in his district court duties prior to his indictment. Thompson was an officer of the 369th District court, though several accounts contend he did not serve as bailiff since June 23, 2005 http://www.jacksonvilleprogress.com/archivesearch/local_story_007151417.html (article dated January 7, 2006).


369th District Court documents tell another story; Thompson was an active participant in courthouse security and coordination. He disappeared for 6 weeks after being arrested by the Dept. of Justice. Another misleading article dated January 11, 2007 again states Thompson was shirking his constable and bailiff duties http://www.jacksonvilleprogress.com/archivesearch/local_story_011111403.html

It is unlikely the Cherokee County district court was unaware of Randall Thompson's incarceration and indictment from the US DOJ press release dated January 12, 2006.
http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/txe/news_release/news/thompson_moore.pdf

It appears ignorance was being feigned about Thompson's whereabouts AND the fact that he was an active participant in 369th District Court activities and only abandoned his duties after his arrest. Thompson was sentenced to 10 years federal prison for possession and distribution of a controlled substance. His initial arrest was not reported by Cherokee County media outlets.

The fact is Randall Thompson was not a drug addict. Thompson job was to make crystal meth for sale and distribution by Cherokee County law enforcement in order to inflate the county's drug arrest rate.

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A' la the now defunct Dogwood Narcotics Trail Psuedo- Task Force in Palestine, TX, also part of the 369th District Court. This in turn would guarantee more federal funding to Cherokee County, TX.
Last year's articles were designed to make the public believe that Constable Thompson was not working for the district court since June of 2005.

More recently, the East Texas media has tried to put a pretty bow on and close the door on the Larry Pugh rape and retaliation case. They are aware that several of Pugh's federal witnesses have disappeared and one key witnesses' decomposed body was discovered in the Angelina Forest after ex-officer Pugh's 12 year sentencing. Even the Tyler Paper paints a unsympathetic picture of Pugh's rape victims as homeless drug addicts, wandering the alleyways and cemeteries of Jacksonville, TX. 


Source: http://www.tylerpaper.com/article/20070910/NEWS01/709090330

The article goes on to cite the investigation of Pugh by the Cherokee County District Attorney's office, but never asks "Why wasn't Larry Pugh arrested by Cherokee County?" if all these allegations Joe Evans states he investigated were pouring in? Joe Evans states he checked into 30 other complaints in the county. Then he decided to contact the FBI when he had a grand epiphany?

No sir, Larry Pugh's last victim -the recipient of a $300,000 settlement against Larry Pugh (in care of the city of Jacksonville, TX is the one who contacted the FBI after her complaints fell on deaf ears. After it all, Cherokee County District Attorney Elmer Beckworth gathered his 12 loyal grand jurors, indicted Pugh and offered him 12 years concurrent state time for screwing an "inmate." No mention or investigation required for the multiple late night traffic stops and sexual assaults Larry Pugh conducted for Cherokee County's 'Driving While Female ' crackdown. After Larry Pugh was indicted and sentenced, then Pugh's drug arrests were dismissed. Cherokee County continued to prosecute Larry Pugh's arrests during the time he was out on federal bond and continuing to stalk his complainants.


And of course the Jacksonville and Rusk newspaper would never divulge the county resident's name: Evelyn Lewis. Because of female resident Cherokee County woman with a home, a job and a stable household might impact decorated patrolman Larry Pugh's reputation. As Elmer Beckworth later told the Tyler Paper "the possibility of planting drugs was higher (with Pugh) than any other officer, " he said.

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To win the trust of the Cherokee County, Texas taxpayer, they are to believe that a Constable did not show up for work for months for his bailiff duties and was terminated the day before he was indicted on federal drug charges. Of course Constable Randy Thompson still got his paycheck for the Rusk, TX Skyview Unit where he also worked as a correctional officer; he had a perfect attendance record up at Skyview. But he never coordinated any case loads in the 369th District Court;no absolutely not...he was nowhere to be found?

Meanwhile, Jacksonville, TX police officer Larry Pugh was pulling women over and raping them on the side of the road. Women whose complaints were not followed up on after reporting them to the local Rape Crisis Center and district attorney's office. Not until the FBI got involved and made them 'investigate' Larry Pugh. But these women were just homeless drug addicts that wandered off into the Angelina Forest and never were seen again, according to local newspapers.

And that is going to win your trust back?

Thursday, August 9, 2007

Rape and Perjury charges for Jacksonville, TX cop. Redneck Games. Nacogdoches Deputy facing child porn charges...Frontal lobes needed.

The Cherokee County District Attorney's office has decided to charge federally convicted rapist Jacksonville patrol cop Larry Pugh with something. This comes after district attorney Elmer Beckworth predicted months earlier to the Jacksonville Daily Progress that Larry Pugh would merely "have to register as a sex offender" after his jail time. Following Beckworth's suit of offering probation as plea bargain to sex offenders and the local media ignoring the sentencing. It was decided after Larry Pugh's exhaustive 2 weeks worth of plea bargains (no Federal appeal on the horizon) that it was in the vested interest of the little community to finally bring state charges against the rouge officer. 

Pugh buckled under the federal indictments and convictions, even though the District Attorney continued to seek charges against several of Pugh's victims . How long should we hold our collective breath for 369th District Court bailiff and Constable Pct. 3 Randy Thompson to have state charges levied on top of his 12 year federal drug sentence???? Something like that might actually make it into the local papers and no one needs to know about a Cherokee County district court bailiff selling crank to an undercover federal agent..... I mean good ol' Randy Thompson's appeals haven't been exhausted and there's a thin chance he'll win his appeal, unlike poor ol' Larry Pugh. The bodies are starting to pile up.  

Post script: the Tyler Morning Telegraph ran a two-part series on ex-Jacksonville, TX patrol officer Larry Pugh titled "One Bad Cop" regarding 2 missing federal witnesses. Unfortunately, they portray Pugh's victims as streetwalkers; secondly Cherokee County has had more than one bad peace officer. Wonder if an expose' will be published on 369th district court bailiff Randall Thompson, convicted of intent to distribute meth.... Hats off to the Tyler Morning Telegraph for showing concern, yet following Pugh's and the Cherokee County district attorney's talking points.

Larry Pugh was partly responsible for the Tomato Bowl riot at the Jacksonville high school homecoming in October 2004. After being assaulted by Pugh, Larry Hinton of Jacksonville was charged, tried and acquitted for "interfering with an investigation." Hinton later settled out of court with the city of Jacksonville for an undisclosed amount. Larry Pugh's last rape survivor was awarded $300,000 with more federal law suits on the way. 

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The city of Jacksonville, Texas and the police department are facing numerous civil suits because of the actions of one out-of-control officer in their brotherhood and cult of confession. The decomposing bodies of Larry Pugh's complainants scheduled to testify at his federal trial also recently surfaced in the Angelina National Forest. Remember folks, as the former Jacksonville, TX police chief stated "don't jump to conclusions," even though Larry Pugh was hired directly from the Athens, TX PD amidst allegations and investigations of 20 other rapes. 

Perfect man for the job of East Texas traffic enforcement in the wee morning hours. As the Tyler Paper online cites Pugh's "exemplary police record," and laments on how such a "good cop" with a wife and children could turn to easing his boredom in such a small town by tracking down AIDS infected drug addicts, just to have unprotected sex with them in dirty cemeteries. 

Here's the heads up: Larry Pugh, like those before him, sought out the most illegal thing he could do, short of child pornography, and get away with it every day. He got a kick out of getting away with it in front of his beautiful wife and children, so he could wipe his and Cherokee County's collective ass on the law. The locals are to believe that Larry Pugh acted alone in disposing of his federal witnesses. The guy was out on federal bond and he was monitored. How can someone with a federal indictment have access to personal records of his complainants (located at the Jacksonville, Texas city hall) via the Freedom of Information Act? No charges were ever filed on Officer Pugh by Cherokee County until he plead guilty in federal court and was sentenced. The Cherokee County media paint Pugh's victims as "transients" and drug addicts, while feigning public sympathy, as in the Jacksonville Daily Progress articles citing the missing Shunte Coleman and Terri Reyes

This is a common Cherokee County tactic propagated by the District Attorney's office, a la' the hit and run homicide of Jacksonville, TX resident Jennifer Hester who, according to Elmer Beckworth et al, was drunk passed out in the parking lot the night of her nursing school graduation. Why didn't Beckworth bother to convene a bonafide petit jury for the mother of a 2 year old? Elmer Beckworth, the city of Jacksonville and Cherokee County Sheriff James Campbell told the Hester family "they couldn't investigate a homicide in a private parking lot ." Instead they collectively claim Jennifer Hester was only a transient alcoholic. Just like they claim Larry Pugh's rape victims are merely homeless drug addicts. Unfortunately, local media outlets follow suit and report nothing on the 9 other rape complaints. Terri Reyes body was found in September 2006 after she was reported missing by her mother, during the time police officer Larry Pugh was released on federal bond.

 

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Terri Reyes, missing - remains found in Angelina National Forest 

 

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 Shunte Coleman, missing 

 

Shunte Coleman, mother of two, went missing after leaving a friend's home. Both were potential federal witnesses against Pugh, while Pugh was out on federal bond between April 2006 and August 2006. We are to believe that Larry Pugh acted alone in his crimes and the locals hope the case is closed without further scrutiny. If only Cherokee County had the ACIM alert system earlier to locate Larry Pugh's witnesses who were going to testify against him. Only in Cherokee County, Texas can law enforcement pat themselves on the back when their citizens go missing (when their own is out on federal bond) and then have the nerve publish their negligence. Larry Pugh has plead to 12 federal years for his sexual assaults he committed while patrolling the streets of Jacksonville, Texas; he gets to serve his state time concurrently for only raping "a female inmate." Easy math. Not to be outdone by the county that hired and defended ex-officer Larry Pugh, the US Attorney's office has decided to add another 5 years to Pugh's 12 year sentence for his perjury. On top of Pugh's 3 federal charges of sexually assault and retaliation, Officer/Defendant Pugh lied during the civil rights trial brought on by one of his surviving victims. The lawsuit was brought on by nine (9) women Larry Pugh raped "at their homes, abandoned apartments and a cemetery."

According to Cherokee County newspaper outlets, such as The Jacksonville Daily Progress, Pugh's victims were all "homeless" and drug addicts----yet 9 of his victims lived in actual homes in the area. Again, the most recent of Larry Pugh's assault victims was actually awarded $300,000 (they'll never see) in a civil suit filed after his incarceration, AGAIN NOT ACCURATELY REPORTED BY CHEROKEE COUNTY NEWSPAPERS. These 'news outlets' did report the unfortunate decision by a federal judge not to hold the city of Jacksonville, TX monetarily responsible for hiring the convicted rapist cop. Despite the documented record of excessive force and sexual crimes. Many, many more civil suits are in the works against the now Federal felon Larry Pugh and his entire Cherokee County law enforcement support group. Certainly none will be published, unless favorable to the city and county. This typical lying and propaganda either deliberately or ignorantly reported will be dissected at the end of this blog.

 Don't confuse us with the facts.

If only the Jacksonville, Texas Rape Crisis Center wasn't running a funding deficit of over $150,000 because the state cut them off. Maybe then a local officer's victims could have DNA rape kits ran as unimpeachable State's evidence against the rapist cop. Henderson County, TX: In other news, Larry Pugh may have cellmate in federal prison with the indictment of Malakoff, TX police officer Horace Poullard, in neighboring Henderson County. Poullard is also accused of raping a female traffic stop while she was in custody.

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Horace Poullard (Courtesy: Henderson County, TX)

Another example of arrested for 'Driving While Female' in the backwoods of East Texas. That won't stop the East Texas girls from attending the Texas Redneck Games as reported by Cherokee County media outlets.  

And there we can find the tiny little story about Jacksonville, TX police officer Larry Pugh getting tossed overboard by his buddies at the Cherokee County district court. The East Texas Redneck games recently held in Henderson County is being investigated by local police for permit violations and the raunchy debauchery taking place. Such events like the "Butt Ugly Butt Crack Contest," "The Spam Eating Contest" and the "Mattress Toss Off" have been spotlighted and advertised. Complete with a Wet T-shirt Contest. This is not an event for minors or minorities.

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For several years the white trash convention and redneck rodeo has been held in neighboring Cherokee County's Shiloh Ridge outside Alto, TX, amidst complaints. The last rowdy tobacco chewin' event took place August 4-11, 2006 in Alto, TX and was greeted with open arms by the community. However, the good people of Kilgore, TX chose to distance themselves from the misleading advertisement of the Alto, TX Redneck Games by banning signs promoting the ATV event.

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In more sordid news, Nacogdoches County, TX Sheriff Deputy and jailer Michael Paul Kennedy age 32, has been indicted by a federal grand jury for accessing child porn on the internet. And storing the illegal images he purchased with a credit card on his personal computer. Kennedy had worked for 8 years in the Nacogdoches, TX jail, being the second Nacogdoches County jailer this year to be indicted on Federal child pornography charges. Ex-deputy Brian Sowell faced charges in early April 2007, after his wife caught him chatting on the internet with underage girls.

 

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 Deputy Sowell- Nacogdoches, TX deputy 

Deputy Sowell was immediately suspended by his superiors in Nacogdoches, TX when the case broke. Unlike Larry Pugh's counterparts in neighboring Cherokee County who continued to employ the patrolman (until Nov. 2005) as they prosecuted Pugh's victims and women he falsely arrested and raped in his patrol car. Nacogdoches County Sheriff Thomas Kerss has publicly admitted he is "sickened and disgusted with the department." Hopefully Sheriff Kerss can clean house. Certainly both Kennedy and Sowell deserve the benefit of the doubt of being innocent unless proven guilty. At least they have been caught and not promoted. Now for the record, let's look at this week's Articles of Disinformation: Let's begin with Cherokee County's version of events reported about convicted rapist, ex-Jacksonville, TX patrolman Larry Pugh, as reported by The Jacksonville Daily Progress

 

The article is found at URL: http://www.jacksonvilleprogress.com/local/local_story_220144351.html 

"Pugh pleads guilty to state charges" By Kelly Young, reporter for Jacksonville Daily Progress Former Jacksonville Police Officer Larry Pugh pled guilty in state court Tuesday to one count of aggravated assault and two counts of forcing an inmate to have sex with him while in custody, according to District Attorney Elmer Beckworth. Pugh, 34, was sentenced to 12 years in state prison for the assault charge and to two years for each of the sex charges.Pugh had previously been sentenced, back in March, to 12 years in federal prison after pleading guilty to forcing two women to have sex with him while on duty. He also admitted to retaliating against one of the victims when she began cooperating with the Jacksonville Police Department’s investigation into the matter.The federal and state sentences will run concurrently. Pugh’s sentencing Tuesday marks the end of his federal and state cases, though he still faces three pending sexual assault civil cases and one excessive force case. 1. "He (Pugh) also admitted to retaliating against one of the victims when she began cooperating with the Jacksonville Police Department’s investigation into the matter." FACT: Larry Pugh did not use the Freedom of Information Act to gain inside knowledge from the Jacksonville Police Department. Secondly, Pugh's last victim did not "start cooperating" with the Jacksonville Police Department. The victim(s) tried to file charges with the Cherokee County Sheriff's Department, the FBI in Tyler, TX and those agencies in turn notified the Cherokee County District Attorney. 

They (the victims) probably went straight to the Crisis Center for a DNA/pregnacy [sic] test after their trip to the hospital after being beaten and raped by Pugh. Larry Pugh was probably told by these entities that they had filed rape reports, hence the sudden media reporting on the lack of funding for the Jacksonville Crisis Center. Sounds fishy. 2. The excessive force case mentioned in the tiny minded article fails to mention that the same District and County Attorneys who offered up Pugh's plea bargain on State charges, actually filed charges and went to trial on those same trumped up charges against several of Pugh's victims. Read all about it above. 3. The biggest misdirection by the Cherokee County District Attorney is to charge ex-officer Larry Pugh with having forced sex with an "inmate," while totally ignoring Pugh's other 9 rape victims during his late night traffic stops. Then implying it was only an "inmate" he retaliated against.

 

Larry Pugh's last rape victim was not retaliated against while she was in custody; Pugh stalked her down after she notified the Cherokee County Sheriff's Department and the FBI. The woman owns a home, she is not a drug addict and was probably not ever in Pugh's "custody." Although she was already a complainant in an open federal case against Pugh and the City of Jacksonville. Larry Pugh was out on federal bond when he tried to drag this woman kicking and screaming into a van. Larry Pugh was recruited and hired by Cherokee County and the city of Jacksonville, TX despite multiple complaints against him. He was bought and paid for and given free reign to terrorize the population. As stated earlier, these renegade cops are paid from the taxpayer's coffers to possess weapons and operate police vehicles, while simultaneously perpetrating violent criminal acts upon the citizenry. 

 

Just because the former Chief of Police Mark Johnson resigned in May 2006 after Pugh's actions and indictments, doesn't mean the entrenched buddy system left with him. Officer Pugh's charges began as misdemeanors in February 2006 to a 12 + year federal sentence in May 2007. During this time period, the Cherokee County attorney and District Attorney prosecuted several of Pugh's arrests/victims. Larry Pugh was also acting out on his federal retaliation charge while out on bond. Former Jacksonville police chief Mark Johnson was scooped up weeks after his resignation and hired as a Cherokee County constable for Precinct No. 3.

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Mark Johnson

Cherokee County Pct. 3 is former 369th bailiff and convicted drug dealer Randy Thompson's old stomping ground. Johnson and fellow officer Ray Bouman left the Jacksonville PD "under FBI scrutiny and accusations." 

Tyler, TX: Look at this guy: Randal Roark, 49 from Tyler, TX.

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Randal Roark (Courtesy: Smith County)

Roark is under indictment after jail time for harassing people and now allegedly impersonating a Smith County District Attorney Investigator. He supposedly attempted to gain personal information on employees of the Tyler based East Texas Medical Center by posing as an investigator. What gave him away? Now Mr. Roark faces 3rd degree felony charges in the 241st District Court. According to the article, he may have a brain tumor, but at least he has an excuse for his pathological lying. The Cherokee County District Attorney's office may need to hire this guy before his state ordered lobotomy.

Friday, July 6, 2007

Jacksonville, TX: Convicted rapist cop linked to missing witness' remains, while JPD gets awards for crime reporting; Floods bring FEMA.

Despite the fact that former Jacksonville, TX police officer Larry Pugh has been sentenced to 12 years maximum confinement in federal prison for rape and retaliation, local Cherokee County media outlets appear to be in damage control. Officer Pugh is also linked to the skeletal remains of one of his sexual assault complainants, found in the Angelina National Forest last year. Newspapers out of the county report that two women slated to testify against Pugh in federal court went missing after Pugh made bond before his Civil Rights trial. Only callous reports of the dead witnesses by Cherokee County media, referring to the missing women as drug addicts and homeless bag ladies. Repeating Larry Pugh's perjury in print.

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Former JPD Larry Pugh

But just for argument’s sake, let’s ask ourselves: So what if these women were homeless addicts. Our nation’s creed is justice for all. Not justice only for those with heavy wallets and fancy houses. Yet the deaths of those women were disregarded by local law enforcement as though they were nothing more than roadside litter. You can bet your bottom dollar that if those two now dead witnesses against Officer Pugh had instead been connected to Cherokee County’s version of high-class families, the mystery of their deaths (before they could testify about Pugh) would have been top priority for all the county’s ‘justice’ officials. No homicide investigation required in these missing women's cases.

Blood stained lies.

Lies are created by corrupt justice officials because public corruption at its basest, most indispensably fundamental level requires deception as its cornerstone. And perpetuation of that deceit into infinity, often with the help of small town newspapers and the old wives club. The inherent nature of the lies propagandized by corrupt law enforcement authorities requires habitual creation of new lies while simultaneously embellishing their old ones. In order to daily successfully gull the lay population, these very dangerous men AND women must never ever cease toiling to maintain their virtuous façades. And their first choice methodology is always smear mongering, reputation-pulverizing those who are able to expose their covert illegal activities.

The survival of their cult of confession is dependent upon their criminal activities remaining unknown and hidden from public scrutiny/accountability. So they destroy the credibility of anyone who places them at risk to be discovered. They are literally sociopaths who cannot allow those outside their cult to gain enough momentum to topple their slimy underground criminal world. Therefore they tell one lie, then another and another ad infinitum, ad nauseam. Thousands, and thousands and thousands of times. They have chosen to damn themselves into a netherworld of constant lying in order to feed their addiction to their creed, which is: "How many can we fool today?" "What can we get the local media to print this week?" Lies times ten thousand.

And, like true sociopaths, they find lying about those outside their cult of confession invigorating, exhilarating FUN. These men and women are comparable to serial killers in that they ENJOY destroying others. Example: the person(s) responsible for the deaths of those two missing material witnesses against ex-Jacksonville police officer Larry Pugh. The local media shows no remorse they can no longer testify. The killer is happily sated until, like Jack the Ripper, the urge to silence the next victim becomes uncontrollable again. In the interim, the killer and others in Cherokee County’s cult of confession will do what they do best: Lie as often and as effortlessly as they blink. While they occupy pews in the local churches and attend sorority luncheons and Lions Club functions. All the while maintaining constant vigil that somebody else will step forward and take the place of the murdered witnesses whose testimony would doubtless have further ruined that rapist/federal felon/Cherokee county 'law' officer AND his cohorts. This is standard operating procedure and has been for decades.
Ironically, ex-Officer Larry Pugh's former employers, the Jacksonville, TX police department got a recent rave review by the Texas Crime Information Center. In a strange stroke of luck, the TX Crime Info Center did a quick audit this month of Pugh's former employers and gave the Jacksonville police department gold stars for their 911 dispatch and crime reporting.

As a follow up from the May 12, 2007 posting regarding the Rape Crisis Centers operated by Anderson and Cherokee County after Larry Pugh's attacks have been reported in the following:
First a "change in funding" to the Jacksonville based crisis center, the one Pugh's last rape victims checked into. And another article on the loss of federal funds for the Jacksonville, TX Rape Crisis Center. That explains the city's apparent inaction in helping Pugh's victims and gives the story a nice little bow on top to explain away Larry Pugh's retaliation sentence ---he was convicted of raping a woman, then tracking her down in a van.

The Cherokee County safe house has an apparent poor rating with the East Texas Council of Governments, so its someone else's fault the Jacksonville based center can't collect a local police officer's DNA.

To win back the hearts and minds of the locals, The Jacksonville Daily Progress does report in its July 6, 2007 issue that the Jacksonville PD, along with the DEA, seized 127 grams of methamphetamines from a local crack head. Quite impressive given the fact that just last year Cherokee County's district court bailiff Randy Thompson (369th Judicial District) was sentenced to 10 years for having his own meth lab, while milking the county for gas money as Constable Precinct 3.
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Another tactic by local East Texas media outlets is to put drug busts out of the area on their front pages, like The Tyler Morning Telegraph's July 22, 2007 issue that states "Agents Find Field with 10000 Marijuana Plants." You have to read it to find out the marijuana field was in the Dallas/Fort Worth area, not anywhere near Tyler, TX 150 miles away. Drugs seized in East Texas rarely make it out of the local precincts or are reported to the DPS.

Rusk county, TX: Nearby, the Tyler Morning Telegraph does report that neighboring Rusk County's Chief Deputy Daniel Flanagan admitted to beating a handcuffed prisoner back in November 2006 as part a plea agreement. Ex-Chief Deputy "Dusty" Flanagan faced US District Judge Michael Schneider after being investigated and charged with assault by the DPS office and Tyler, TX FBI.
Two other Rusk County deputies involved in the police brutality were not charged. Flanagan and Rusk Co. Sheriff Glen Deason are also involved in a sexual harassment suit. After decades of corruption charges and multiple federal investigations, the good people of Rusk County are starting to clean house in the Rusk County Sheriff's Department.
There has been a litany of charges against the Rusk County Sheriff's Department from civil rights violations, stealing drug seizure monies, child pornography and insurance fraud.

Local: Both The Jacksonville Daily Progress and Rusk's Cherokeean Herald plaster their front pages in the month of June and July with the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals decision to uphold the murder conviction and death sentence of local dirtbag Beunka Adams, the easiest to prove capital murder case in Texas history.

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TX death row inmate Beunka Adams

Each week a new update on the 2004 murderer's death row appeal----The only reported murder in the county in 3 years. The murders not championed or reported on are the ones of 2 missing women waiting to testify against Larry Pugh, Cherokee County and the City of Jacksonville, Texas. Where's the victims' advocacy for Officer Pugh's rape victims?

The Beunka Adams capital murder case has been reported so many times by the Cherokee County media (trying to keep it fresh in the minds of the readers) that one would think it happened in 2007.

The Jacksonville Daily Progress does lament on the fact that the population of Cherokee County only increased by 300 people in 2006 in its July 6, 2007 issue. Still, no mention of Jacksonville PD's Larry Pugh or his victim's body being found mutilated and decomposing. Maybe that explains Cherokee County's zero population growth...
No mention that this missing woman was to testify against Pugh, after her rape complaint was passed on by the Cherokee County District Attorney's office. It takes the Tyler Morning Telegraph to mention it.

Perhaps this why intelligent business people are fleeing the corrupt county at record rates.
The article cites that the city of Rusk gained 22 people and Alto, TX gained 1 citizen. That gives local law enforcement only 23 new illegal phone drops to install. Just like the good ol' days.
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And another mediocre drug bust to champion, via an illegal phone drop on the local Jacksonville, TX crack dealer
or as Cherokee County Sheriff James Campbell calls it: "intelligence gathering." Everybody looks good after busting their drug informants and users.

According to the same article
in a few years Cherokee County may actually have 50,000 residents; meaning about 250,000 illegally registered voters. As they say in Cherokee County during the primaries, "Vote Early and Vote Often!"
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The months of June and July 2007 have seen record breaking rain events, with substantial flooding in the East Texas region. Smith County Judge Joel Baker (Tyler, TX) will be seeking federal relief funds for road and infrastructure repairs after the deluge. The city of Jacksonville, TX has been granted close to $100,000 for issues unrelated to flooding; mainly for fire safety and hydrilla problems in Lake Jacksonville. Creeks may have swollen to floodstage but you'll never read much about it in the Cherokee County media, because it might require county funds to address the issue (and matching county funds). Neighboring Smith County has a more observant media that will track the federal monies and hold their elected officials responsible for repairs.
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In good 'ol Cherokee County to the south of Tyler, TX , county road and bridge repair will take the backseat for more effacacious uses for the grant money. Frequent rainfall in the months of June and July have produced broken sewer systems, contaminated well water and highway closures, however nothing is reported in the Cherokee County media, other than the opposite : "the rainfall has been good for hay bailing."

Despite the obvious county road closures and utility damage caused by the flooding, Cherokee County will barely disclose (in the fine print of a strategically placed front page picture) the fact that it too, is seeking federal disaster relief. People in northern Cherokee County, around Lake Jacksonville and the Texas State Railroad, expect their officials to use FEMA money to fix their neighborhoods after the deluge. The Jacksonville Daily Progress reports that Cherokee County is declared a disaster area because County Judge Chris Davis
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has filed the paperwork with Gov. Rick Perry's office. It is reported that FEMA will set up shop in Jacksonville, TX and panhandlers and insurance defrauders alike are encouraged to register for the government handouts.
Neighboring counties have had actual loss-of-life, but for Cherokee County, Texas FEMA is sounding the dinner bell. Unfortunately, FEMA is basing the assistance on population, instead of ACTUAL RAINFALL AMOUNTS as reported in the following counties: Archer, Bell, Brown, Burnet, Cherokee, Comanche, Cooke, Coryell, Denton, Eastland, Grayson, Hamilton, Hood, Lampasas, Llano, Parker, Runnels, Smith, Starr, Tarrant, Travis, Victoria, Webb, Wichita and Williamson.


According to the local experts, Lake Jacksonville is a whopping 6 inches higher than normal. And besides, other counties to the north such as the ones actually hit the hardest are seeking federal aid packages. More financial assistance for Cherokee County is the request.

The focus on assistance by the local media is on the residents surrounding the flooded Lake Jacksonville, not the county bridges and roads in the outskirts of the county.

Editor's note: The Rusk, Texas Cherokeean Herald has not reported on the Larry Pugh case, despite the fact that Cherokee County District Attorney Investigator Joe Evans 'testified' at the Pugh civil rights violation trial. No mention of Pugh's actions against Jacksonville business owner Larry Hinton and no mention of Pugh's sentencing.

Why didn't the Rusk, TX Cherokeean Herald print the fact that the 369th District Court bailiff had been sentenced to 12 years for intent to distribute meth?
As far as any federal disaster relief, that money is obviously going to be made available to the rain soaked county.


Post script, the August 23, 2007 Cherokeean Herald online reports that Cherokee County will receive $445,000 in federal flood aid issued by FEMA to 223 people living in the county. Their names will be linked to for the readers' perusal. Neighboring Smith County and the hardest hit only collects $340,000. Cherokee County has a population of less than 50,000 based on the 2005 census and Smith County dwarfs them with 180,000 residents. Do the math.

Sunday, June 17, 2007

Rusk County Deputy commits suicide amidst corruption; New Summerfield mayor "destroys taped phone calls"

Rusk County, TX:
 
A 56 year old Rusk County Sheriff Deputy weeks away from retirement committed suicide inside the Rusk Sheriff Department early Thursday June 14, 2007. Lieutenant Fred Dunlap arrived to work at 5:30 am and apparently shot himself in the chest. Many of his former allies within Rusk County were under a Federal civil rights investigation, though Dunlap was never named an actual suspect in wrongdoing.
Investigators: Deputy Found Dead In Uniform Closet Left Suicide Note, Jun 15, 2007
The Rusk County, Texas, sheriff's lieutenant who apparently shot himself to death in a department uniform closet on Thursday left a suicide letter, authorities said.Colleagues of Lt. Fred Dunlap, 56, said they were unaware he had problems that would lead him to take his own life. Authorities did not release the contents of a letter Dunlap left behind. Dunlap was found by other deputies about an hour after he reported to work Thursday morning at the sheriff's department in Henderson. He had a gunshot wound to the chest. Dunlap apparently muffled the sound of the gun by using layers of uniforms kept in the closet, authorities said. Rusk County district attorney's investigator William Brown said Dunlap was close to retirement. He called Dunlap "a good man and a good officer. He tended to his business and left everyone else alone." Texas Rangers are investigating Dunlap's death. (The Associated Press contributed to this report) (KTBS)

Lt. Fred Dunlap's suicide note has not been made public.
 
According to the Tyler Morning Telegraph "Investigators at the scene have confirmed there was a lengthy suicide note, which indicated Dunlap had some knowledge of alleged corruption that has recently come to light." Reports list the similar allegations occurring in Cherokee County, Texas, namely recent insurance fraud and civil rights violations within the Sheriff Department. Lt. Dunlap had been with the Rusk Co. Sheriff's Department since 1984. Following several civil right violations, fellow Rusk County Deputies were sentenced to federal prison for covering up the beating of prisoner held in the Rusk County jail. Lt. Johnny Davidson, who headed the Rusk County sheriff's office criminal investigation division, and Deputy Chief Dusty Flanagan were involved a November 2006 incident, along with unnamed officers.
Rusk County Deputy Dusty Flanagan pleaded guilty on July 18, 2007 for the civil rights violations and was later sentenced to 24 months in federal prison.


(Courtesy KLTV)
According to information presented in court, on November 9, 2006, Flanagan was employed as the Chief Deputy with the Rusk County Sheriff's Office. That morning another officer arrested an individual on an outstanding state warrant. Flanagan was contacted and instructed the officer to transport the prisoner to the Rusk County Sheriff's Office in Henderson, Texas. He was then taken to Flanagan's office where he was interviewed. Flanagan and two other officers were present in the office with the prisoner. Another officer was stationed outside the door during the incident.

 

The man was placed in a chair and interviewed. Flanagan admitted that during questioning, a heated exchange of words occurred at which time one of the officers in the room grabbed the prisoner and hit him in the face. Flanagan then threw the man to the ground, jumped on him and kneed him in the back. The man was handcuffed with his hands behind his back during the entire incident. The victim was then taken to jail. Flanagan also admitted that he took photographs of the office area where the assault occurred and wrote a fraudulent report regarding the incident. (Courtesy KLTV)
Rusk County Deputy Johnny Davidson, Jr. pleaded guilty on Aug. 2, 2007 and was later sentenced to 24 months in federal prison for "excessive force."


(Courtesy KLTV)
 
New Summerfield, Texas:
The New Summerfield City Council heard from fired ex-police chief Tony Almengor who alleged his termination last year was a result of him whistle blowing to the Cherokee County District Attorney. The former New Summerfield police chief claimed that current Mayor Dan Stallings destroyed secret tape recordings of conversations with officials. New Summerfield Councilwoman Sherry Solomon countered that Almengor was fired for an improper relationship with the city secretary and for violating the city's time card policies.

The Jacksonville Daily Progress reports "According to Almegor, the beginning of the end for he and [city secretary Chrisina] Collier was earlier this year when Collier allegedly witnessed Mayor Stallings destroy a tape that contained phone conversations between the mayor and former Mayor Jerry Carlile.
"Danny Stallings bought a recorder himself, put it on his phone here in the office and did record Jerry Carlile when he would call and told Jerry Carlile he was recording him,” she [Collier]said.“The tapes didn’t belong to the city, the recorder didn’t belong to the city, they weren’t city property.” (Daily Progress)
New Summerfield City Secretary Chrisina Collier was terminated the same day as police chief Tony Almengor. They were accused of having an improper relationship. Weeks later, Mayor Stallings hired gypsy cop Michael Meissner as Almengor's replacement.
 Michael Meissner was a gypsy cop notorious for bouncing small town to small town in North East Texas. WFAA News 8 did a 3 part expose' on Messiner that aired in 2005.
 
Mayor Dan Stallings had stood by the Michael Meissner hiring and Meissner was subsequently fired by the New Summerfield City Council in March 2007. Meissner has a criminal record and by not being a certified peace officer, placed the city at risk regarding insurance and liability. Texas law and TCLEOSE licensing requires a thorough background check of police candidates. Meissner had had 15 police jobs in 15 years. Regardless, Michael Meissner was handpicked as Tony Almengor's replacement as New Summerfield's Chief of Police.

Prior to former New Summerfield, TX mayor Jerry Carlile resigning in August 2006, police chief Randal Kennedy and city treasurer Cindy Carson were terminated. Kennedy had also been employed with the Cherokee County Sheriff's Department for over a decade, then subsequently fired. He was later placed in New Summerfield as the city's police chief by former Mayor Carlile. Mayor Dan Stallings would ultimately approve of the hiring of Almengor and Meissner.


Michael Meissner courtesy DPS
 
New Summerfield, Texas currently has no active police department; the city is patrolled by the Cherokee County Sheriff Deputies. As for the destroyed tape recordings between Mayor Stallings and former mayor Carlile, who knows? It is not an issue for a city employee to record his/her phone calls. It is an issue for a 3rd party to be secretly someone else's, no matter what the CCSD or D.A.'s office has advised. The FBI and Texas Rangers are the entities that can record 3rd party phone calls, and even they need a warrant and have to listen in IN REAL TIME. State and County jails can record inmates phone calls, as Nacogdoches County Sheriff Kerss admits in print but Cherokee County Sheriff James Campbell denies.

Cherokee County employs deputized GTE and former Lufkin Conroe Telephone Exchange employees who are directed and paid for by the Cherokee County District Attorney's office.

The Cherokee County District Attorney Investigator's prime duty is to initiate 'outlaw' phone drops on political enemies and potential jurors. Federal grant money and funds from the coffers of the State of Texas are given as payment to informants, who just happen to be close relatives of members of the Cherokee County establishment. Recording a phone call is not illegal unless both parties are not aware of it being done by a 3rd party, therefore a slippery slope.

In a town that small, every phone call coming out of city hall is being routed to somebody's grandma's farm for a Cherokee County constable or three to listen in on. Yes Sir, every one of New Summerfield's city business calls are intercepted by somebody out of the CCSD and recorded somewhere down the road. Why would they accuse the mayor of "destroying tapes" of city business calls, which the mayor has ever legal right to record? It's that third party recording, the home phones and the pay phone at the Dairy Queen (if New Summerfield has one) that law enforcement record via outlaw drops. Ever notice how many reserve Cherokee County Sheriff deputies are also full time LCTX or GTE linemen? 
 
As far as Michael Meissner is concerned, his lack of proper TCLEOSE certification put the city at risk in terms of liability insurance. Those that defend and support Meissner should stop and think about the hiring of Larry Pugh by Jacksonville, TX PD. Can New Summerfield afford similar civil rights suit?
 

Saturday, May 12, 2007

Jacksonville, Texas police officer sentenced to 12 years for RAPE and RETALIATION; Victim put on trial by County Attorney, Other Awarded $300,000



Jacksonville, Texas, the economic center and largest city in Cherokee County, faces several lawsuits from the actions of convicted rapist and former police officer Larry Pugh. Not only did the rogue officer sexually assault several of his traffic stops during the course of working for the city of Jacksonville, he beat and tasered a black gentleman and his pregnant wife during the 2004 "Tomato Bowl Brawl." Pugh was recently sentenced to 12 years in federal prison for sexual assault while in uniform and retaliating against a witness after the Cherokee County Sheriff's Department alerted him to the federal complaints. Despite nine (9) of his alleged rapes being ignored by the city of Jacksonville, Texas and the Cherokee County Sheriff's Department, the city will not be held liable by Pugh's last victim who barely survived being attacked a second time by the predator cop.


Jacksonville, TX exemplary policeman; months later convicted rapist and linked to missing Athens, TX woman's corpse.

The retaliation charge comes from Officer Pugh being notified about his last victim's plea to the Cherokee County District Attorney's office. DA Investigator Joe Evans comments at Pugh's civil trial that the rogue officer was "one of the coldest interviewees in Evans' 40 years of law enforcement." Articles suggest Pugh had over 30 women throughout East Texas file RAPE charges against him; the first investigation began with the Department of Justice. No investigation required by Cherokee County; the Cherokee County District Attorney's office waited for Larry Pugh until his federal indictment a la' Bailiff Randall Thompson (sentenced to 10 + years for making meth for distribution).

According to the May 24, 2007 issue of the Jacksonville Daily Progress, U.S. District Judge Michael Schneider saved the city by blocking a civil suit brought by Pugh's last victim (a total of 8 women claimed rape in the lawsuit). The case against the City of Jacksonville and the chief of police was stopped by Summary Judgment. Investigator Joe Evans began to "interview" the other 8 victims. Evans later testified he interviewed over 30 of Pugh's victims. Victim statements were created after Larry Pugh's racially motivated beating of Mr. Larry Hinton of Jacksonville and Hinton was exonerated after being put on trial by Joe Evan's bosses in the Cherokee County court. Despite Pugh's federal indictments, Cherokee County brought charges and tried one of Pugh's victims. The Tyler Morning Telegraph reports on June 20, 2007 that Officer Larry Pugh had  been linked to the skeletal remains of a missing Athens, TX woman who moved to Cherokee County and disappeared in May 2006. The article cites that another missing woman that encountered Pugh has yet to be found.

Nacogdoches, TX: The Daily Sentinel confirms that remains found in the Angelina National Forest are in fact those of one of Jacksonville Texas patrolman Larry Pugh's victims who was slated to testify against the rapist Cherokee County officer, while Pugh was out on federal bond (pending his federal rape and retaliation trial). No reports on the woman's remains by local Rusk or Jacksonville, TX newspaper or media outlets. Last year, the new Jacksonville, TX police chief Daniel Reese defended Larry Pugh to the Jacksonville Daily Progress, saying the victims that "disappeared under suspicious circumstances" was "speculation" on the part of out of region media. The fact is Larry Pugh probably did not act alone in his disposal of federal witnesses.  Additional civil suits are still pending against the city, however due to former Jacksonville police officer Larry Pugh's illegal activities. You have to do intricate internet research to find out a federal trial actually took place in the federal courts and that the jury voted in favor of the victim in U.S. District Judge Schneider's trial. The jury would have also voted to hold the city of Jacksonville, Texas and Cherokee County liable had the judge allowed it.

The Wednesday June 13, 2007 issue of the Tyler News reports that former JPD officer Larry Pugh's last rape victim was awarded $300,000 in punitive damages. Hard to collect from a convicted ex-officer.  Cherokee County District Attorney Investigator Joe Evans testified at the federal trial about "investigating" Officer Pugh's other rape victims. Obviously the Rusk, TX Cherokeean Herald will not mention the victim's victory in court in the June 13, 2007 issue keeping the simple norm of NOT reporting anything negative about the Cherokee County District Attorney office's failure to render aid to victims of violent crime. Despite Pugh's past, he was employed by the city of Jacksonville, TX as a peace officer. Despite over 35 complaints of sexual assault throughout Pugh's law enforcement career, Cherokee County law enforcement produced DA Investigator Joe Evans at Pugh's sentencing. Officer Pugh was said to had used the Freedom of Information Act to locate the majority of his complainants, several he had arrested on drug charges in the past after he raped them.

Evans testified that he had "interviewed" the majority of Pugh's victims, however it took the federal government to actually stop Pugh's appetite for destruction. Remember, Cherokee County does not arrest its own officers for anything; Pugh was therefore assisted by local law enforcement in locating those who had filed police reports or visited the Rape Crisis Center in Jacksonville, Texas. Larry Pugh would not have been also been charged with RETALIATION had he not been personally informed about the multiple victims' complaints to the Jacksonville Texas police department and the FBI. Pugh's police brutality sanctioned by Cherokee County, Texas does not just include raping homeless drug addicts living on the streets; those are easy prey. Pugh focused his attention on less prominent black residents in the community, where he could start a violent incident at random when finding his victims in a public place, knowing the Cherokee County Sheriff's Department would back his every move.

The "Tomato Bowl Brawl" was a race riot that occurred at the Jacksonville, TX high school football stadium and homecoming in October 2004. What began as juvenile rough housing, turned into a full blown race riot, complete with tasers, pepper spray and billy clubs. Fellow officer Larry Pugh beat several black attendees in the parking lot. A gentleman named Larry Hinton escorted his pregnant wife to their car, when the fighting broke out. He was by attacked and tasered by JPD Officer Pugh, his front teeth knocked out and his pregnant wife maced. Mr. Hinton was later charged with "interfering" with a police round-up. Mr. Hinton was actually put on trial by the Cherokee County attorney Craig Caldwell. Mr. Hinton and others filed a federal lawsuit and excessive force suits against the city of Jacksonville. Jacksonville recently "settled" the lawsuits pending from Larry Pugh's actions during the Tomato Bowl Brawl, after the exoneration of Mr. Hinton and other black citizens filed class action police brutality suits.

The Cherokee County media reported on Larry Hinton's "public misconduct" trial after concerned citizens took to the Rusk, TX courthouse steps in protest. During the same time Cherokee County District Attorney's office was "interviewing the 25-30 witnesses, including women who claimed they had been raped by Pugh and people they had told, including ministers and police officers, which substantiated their claims." The bogus Larry Hinton criminal trial took place AFTER Officer Larry Pugh was arrested and incarcerated for sexual assaulting women while in uniform. Mr. Hinton was later acquitted, as was a 13 year old girl, the center of the altercation. Cherokee County officers had "arrested" and kicked the junior high girl, when fellow citizens jumped into the fray created by Cherokee County officers. Mr. Hinton had simply refused Officer Pugh's request that he lay down while his front teeth got kicked out. Hinton's wife was punched and knocked down during the melee. Supporters for Mr. Larry Hinton took to the steps of the Cherokee County courthouse to demonstrate the community's zero tolerance for police brutality.


Cherokee County Attorney Craig Caldwell, who tried Larry Hinton, stated to the media that the Jacksonville Police Department "got control of the situation" and "they did a good job for the city that night." Caldwell's statements come after Hinton's acquittal and officer Pugh's federal indictments for rape.

Craig Caldwell's statements come after Mr. Hinton's testimony on how his jaw was broken that night in October 2004.
 
These statements on what a "good job" the Cherokee County peace officers did that night inciting a race riot. A riot the taxpayers of the city Jacksonville, Texas will be paying for years to come. Very little mention of the fact that Officer Larry Pugh pleaded guilty to one count of retaliation and two counts of civil rights violations in the local media. Those following the case will have to go to the Department of Justice's website and press releases to find out that Larry Pugh was sentenced to 12 years confinement in federal prison. The case was prosecuted by the US Attorney's office. One complaint by a white woman whom Pugh threatened to kill after having forced sex with her, apparently got the attention of the US Attorney's office; several excessive force complaints were ignored, including his actions during the October 2004 homecoming beatings.
 
Missing rape victims Shunte Coleman (l) and Terri Reyes (r),  of Larry Pugh's "good job" according to County Attorney Craig Caldwell.

The good news is that city of Jacksonville, TX and the family of Larry Hinton "settled" the civil rights class action suit for an undisclosed amount and Larry Pugh is settling in good at the federal prison where he can continue to "do a good job" for Cherokee County. And Pugh's last rape victim, though unable to collect a settlement from a convicted rapist, was awarded $300,000 for pain and suffering. After being raped and then almost murdered after Pugh was notified and totally cognizant about her complaints to the Cherokee County District Attorney's office. Pugh actually testified that the rape victim "had a bad reputation."As a footnote, the Palestine Herald-Press almost gets to reporting about Larry Pugh's federal civil rights violations in neighboring Cherokee County and indictment in 2006.

The Tyler News also reports that entire incident from both the victim's perspective and Larry Pugh's arrogant denial of the charges. He states he took the federal plea to spend 12 years in prison "to protect" his family, while denying the fact that other federal witnesses (including Cherokee County DA investigator Joe Evans) testified about being raped.
 
The Jacksonville Daily Progress was recently awarded three (3) AMPE prizes for its coverage of rogue elements within the Jacksonville  Texas Police Department. Good going Daily Progress, the light is beginning to shine. The National Domestic Violence Hotline (NDVH) has established a hotline and a secure website for victims of teen dating violence, for situations like those ongoing in Cherokee County. The Helpline is available 24 hrs at 1-866-331-9474 (TTY 866-331-8453) and at http://www.loveisrespect.org/
 
It took the US Attorney's office and the FBI to stop Jacksonville, Texas police officer Larry Pugh for continuing his sexual assaults on women driving through Cherokee County. According to the National Census of Domestic Violence Services (NCDVS) Survey show the counties of Anderson and Cherokee have miserable ratings based on the number of victims' service requests.
 
As a footnote, The Jacksonville Daily Progress reports in its May 24, 2007 issue that Larry Pugh's rape victim cannot proceed with her federal civil suit against the city of Jacksonville, TX.

Thursday, May 10, 2007

Veteran Troup, TX Police Chief sentenced to 10 years

Troup, Texas:

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60 year old Chester Kennedy, police chief of Troup, TX has been sentenced to 10 years prison time for stealing a gun and evidence tampering. Sgt. Samuel "Mark" Turner was sentenced to 3 years in prison for helping himself to seized marijuana in the evidence locker.
In an article running in the Seattle Times, the Smith County prosecutor states:
"In rural East Texas, methamphetamine labs can operate unnoticed. Misdemeanor drug charges in Smith County, about 100 miles southeast of Dallas, are as common as drunken-driving arrests, District Attorney Matt Bingham said. But in the past six years, the Troup police force sent just 11 drug cases to the district attorney's office."
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According to the AP wire on the December 2006 conviction, the Troup police department "commonly accepted money and drugs as bribes." Troup has sent only 2 drug evidence samples to the Texas DPS crime lab since the year 2000!

Chester Kennedy had been acquitted in 1993 for indecency with a child charges in neighboring Wood County, while working as a Wood County Sheriff''s deputy, according to the Denton Record-Chronicle. The same article cites the time Chief Kennedy's son violated parole, went into hiding and was caught at Kennedy's home.

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Footnote: the Cherokee County Sheriff's Department patrols the city of Troup.
Don't let the cover up continue by local media sound bites that CCSD "now" after the Kennedy conviction "now CCSD patrols the southern part of Troup." Chester Kennedy's jurisdiction included Cherokee County.

Smith and Rusk Counties have attempted to clean up their law enforcement, with the help of local media outlets actually willing to report the FACTS.
Rusk County's Sheriff Department personnel have had ongoing sexual harassment problems with its female staff. The latest has resulted in a federal lawsuit. It takes a Longview attorney to hold a press conference and "break the silence" of the
civil rights violations happening in the Rusk County jail. Similarly, the police chief of Tatum, TX was fired after 9 years of on the job, by a city council vote of no-confidence.


Cherokee County would have reacted to the previous situations with blatantly false media reports and press releases from the Sheriff's Department to distract attention away from the sexual harassment. Perhaps a fictitious character would emerge to praise a rapist cop or drug dealing constable---but when they're caught tell the media that they hadn't shown up for duty in over a year, a la' Larry Pugh and Randall Thompson. Great stuff ain't it?

Saturday, May 5, 2007

369th Judicial District Court bailiff convicted on METH charges in Cherokee County, Texas

bailiff (n): A sworn peace officer and officer of the court that maintains order and security within the courtroom by assisting in the administration of court functions as directed by the judge and clerk.
 

To avoid confusion in the ongoing Nacro-drug trade of Cherokee County, Texas law enforcement, this US Department of Justice news release from January 2006 is posted here: http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/txe/news_release/news/thompson_moore.pdf  

This is regard to Cherokee County Constable (Pct. 3) and acting court bailiff for the 369th Judicial District being arrested and convicted for intent to distribute methamphetamines. The headline should read "Officer of 369th Judicial District, Cherokee Co. TX, Sentenced to 10 Years for Intent to Distribute Drugs."  

Note to readers: this is not the Chester Kennedy (chief of police in Troup, TX) arrest, but the indictment of Cherokee County precinct 3 constable Randall Lee Thompson, 38 of Jacksonville, TX . The 60 year Troup police chief Chester Kennedy's arraignment can be read at: http://www.news8austin.com/content/top_stories/default.asp?ArID=156663 (AP) 

Chester Kennedy was found guilty on two counts in Nov. 2006 and sentenced a month later to 10 years. He was later "fired" by Troup, TX city council on a vote of "non confidence." Kennedy was also taking drugs and money as bribes to cover up other crimes.
 

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Troup, TX is on the border of Smith and Cherokee Counties.

This posting is in regards to Constable Pct. 3 and 369th District Court bailiff Randall Thompson. Constable Thompson was busted by the feds for distributing meth, unbeknownst to the Cherokee County District Court and Sheriff's Department. This Law Dog's salary was paid for and approved by the Cherokee County Commissioners Court. Constable Thompson was further employed by the Cherokee County Sheriff's Department, during his drug dealing stints, at the county Correction Facility, making ends meet as a jailer for TDCJ's Hodges Unit in Rusk, TX. Thompson was facing 20 years in federal prison.

 

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Of course in typical East Texas/Cherokee County fashion, the local media did not initially report that Constable "Randy" Thompson worked as a bailiff for the Cherokee County District Courts found at URL: http://www.jacksonvilleprogress.com/local/local_story_011111403.html
 
The aforementioned article indicates (if you can find it) that Thompson was removed from his post by Judge Bascom Bentley III for not showing up for his baliff's duties. Probably didn't know that Thompson was sitting in a federal holding block on a million dollar bond ...A drug dealing bailiff that represented the 369th Judicial District and coordinated case loads with the Cherokee County District courts.
 
Several former members of the now defunct Dogwood Trails Narcotic Task Force have passed through the halls of the Cherokee County courthouse. According to the Rusk, TX city council minutes from February 2006 there was an ongoing need for the "Burn (sic) Grants," i.e. Byrne grant money to clean-up the methamphetamine labs in the county. Constable Randy Thompson (Precinct 3) was busily doing his part in the drug enforcement arena at the Cherokee County courthouse for years, before Judge Bascom Bentley III and a fictitious hearing "fired" him.
 
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The Jacksonville Daily Progress article dated January 11, 2006 is oblivious of the fact that the US DOJ had arrested Constable Thompson for drug dealing. The question is: how can that Thompson was "a no-show" for his bailiff assignment but salaried as a Hodge Unit jailer- missing his duties for over a month? For the trials and hearings he sat in on providing courtroom security? 
 
We will post the outcome of the Randall Thompson federal appeals, if it is reported by the local media outlets. Latest posts from J'ville Daily Progress for March 6, 2006 was that Constable Thompson plead guilty to "possession/distribution of approximately 108 grams of pseudo-ephedrine, a component of methamphetamine."
 
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No mention of the fact that Randall "Randy" Thompson was the assigned bailiff for District Judge Bascom Bentley III 's court. NO more reporting can be found posted by local media on Cherokee County drug dealings. But a good picture and a sob story of underfunding in Precinct 3 ran in June 2005, featuring a healthy Randall Thompson pumping gas into a county vehicle, at his own expense:
 
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Thompson's quote is that he " spends at least $600 a month on gas. But he gets only $150 from the county. That forces him to take at least $450 out of his own pocket every month."  www.kltv.com/Global/story.asp?S=3625355
 
 
READERS: Be sure to read the article at URL: http://www.jacksonvilleprogress.com/local/local_story_011111403.html where Cherokee County officials try to cover for the "missing" bailiff / constable, without acknowledging in print, that in fact Constable/Bailiff Thompson was incarcerated by the feds. Meth appears to be the drug of choice for East Texas law enforcement over the years. A March 28, 1991 article from the Cherokeean Herald shows a TDCJ Skyview correctional officer being arrested for conspiring to manufacture methamphetamines in his speed lab out in the Anderson County boondocks.
 
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Click pic for larger image.
 
 
Cherokee County has its private methamphetamine users (found at U.S. Attorney media release on February 17, 2007 ) who do pose a threat to society, like this guy storing explosives in his home in Jacksonville, TX, http://www.ntxe-news.com/artman/publish/article_40543.shtml Arrests of this nature are published as the shining example of Cherokee County law enforcement, hard at work with federal agencies, actually putting a dent in the East Texas drug trade, instead of scoffing at the law and arbitrarily enforcing it. However, a constable such as Randall Thompson that makes drugs for distribution, but is obviously not a drug user or addict, is apparently trying to hook members of the local community.
 
http://www.cherokeecountytexas.blogspot.com