National Roundup

Massachusetts
Report: State troopers who commit crime rarely fired
BOSTON (AP) — A Massachusetts trooper led fellow officers on a chase and had to be subdued, another took cash under the table for unauthorized police escorts for funeral processions and yet another partied in Las Vegas with people connected to organized crime.

None of them were fired.

The Boston Globe reported Sunday that its review of internal affairs files shows troopers are rarely fired, almost no matter what they have done.

All told, dozens of troopers who are still on the force despite having broken the law collectively have 29 sustained charges for assault and battery; 19 alcohol and drug violations, including four drunken driving arrests; 17 charges for harassment, including three for sexual harassment; and another 17 for improperly using the state’s criminal background check system, the Globe reported.

The office of Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan, whose jurisdiction covers State Police headquarters and other barracks, said it has not received a referral from State Police since she took office in 2013.

A spokesperson for Attorney General Maura Healey called the information “highly concerning” and said it “erodes public trust” in law enforcement.

State Police Col. Christopher Mason declined to discuss the Globe’s review of internal investigations. Recordkeeping on internal investigations was sloppy and incomplete, and the records themselves closely guarded from public view, the newspaper reported.

Former Massachusetts inspector general Gregory Sullivan said there should be no double standard “that allows police officers to get away with alleged criminal activity by virtue of the supervisors and administrators keeping it secret.”
“That is plain wrong. It’s a disservice to the public and it’s unfair,” he said.

New Jersey
Man gets 40 years in slaying in restaurant
FREEHOLD, N.J. (AP) — Prosecutors say a man has been sentenced to 40 years in prison in the slaying of a man and attempted slaying of a woman in a New Jersey restaurant two years ago.

Forty-two-year-old Miguel Camara of Long Branch was sentenced Friday on guilty pleas in July to first-degree murder, first-degree attempted murder and third-degree child endangerment.

The Asbury Park Press reports that Superior Court Judge Vincent Falcetano sentenced Camara to 30 years for murder, 10 years for attempted murder and five years for child endangerment, calling the shooting a “cold-blooded, planned, deliberate attack.”

The murder and attempted murder prison terms will be served consecutively, but the third term will be served at the same time as the other two. Prosecutors had recommended a 45-year term as part of their plea agreement with all terms served consecutively. His attorney had asked that all terms be served at the same time. Camara must serve 38½ years before being eligible for parole.

Authorities said Camara entered Bom DMais restaurant in August 2018 and approached a table occupied by his ex-girlfriend, her 18- and 5-year-old children, and 45-year-old Marco Moreira of Ocean Township. Authorities said he shot Moreira and then fired twice at the woman, who had a restraining order against him, but both shots missed. Prosecutors said he was disarmed but then tried to seize the weapon of a responding police officer.

Camara tearfully expressed remorse and asked for forgiveness, telling the court in Portuguese through an interpreter that he considered Moreira a friend and a “good person.”

“I never had any intention to harm anybody,” he added.

After the sentence, Camara faces deportation to Portugal, prosecutors have said.

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This story has been corrected to correct aggregate sentence to 40 years rather than 45 years.


Delaware
Doctor convicted of supplying drug ring sentenced
WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) — A former Delaware doctor convicted of illegally prescribing thousands of powerful painkillers will spend five years and 10 months in prison.

Charles Esham, 61, was sentenced Thursday after being found guilty by a federal jury of 39 counts of unlawful distribution of oxycodone in December 2019, the News Journal reported.

Evidence presented by prosecutors during a six-day trial indicated that Esham issued oxycodone prescriptions to several individuals without a legitimate purpose over the course of several years.

Many of the pills were then illegally diverted and sold for profit.

After the sentencing, U.S. Attorney David Weiss said that Esham wrote prescriptions “as if he were taking orders at an ice cream shop.”

Three other men who were part of the drug ring were indicted separately and have each pleaded guilty to drug charges, according to the newspaper.

Florida
Deputies: Man charged in theft, slaughter of horse
PALMETTO, Fla. (AP) — A Florida man has been arrested in the theft and slaughter of a horse last year, officials said.

Eladio Garcia-Gasca, 50, was arrested Thursday at his North St. Petersburg home and charged with grand theft and animal cruelty, according to a Manatee County Sheriff’s Office news release.

In December 2019, someone forced their way through a locked gate in a rural area of Manatee County, just south of Tampa Bay, and removed the horse from its stall, officials said. When the deputies and the owner later searched the surrounding area, they found the animal dead, with most of its meat removed.

Surveillance video  linked Garcia-Gasca to the crime, officials said.

Garcia-Gasca was being held on $22,500 bond. Jail records didn’t list an attorney who could comment on the charges.

West Virginia
Man jailed after ex-girlfriend’s throat slit
CLINTON TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) — A man has been arrested in West Virginia after his ex-girlfriend’s throat was slit with a box cutter earlier this month as she was taking personal protection order documents to a suburban Detroit police station.

Kevin Lee Vanaelst, 45, was being held Monday in a Charleston, West Virginia, jail awaiting extradition to Michigan.

He was arrested Saturday in connection with the Oct. 9 attack on the 34-year-old woman outside the Clinton Township police office northeast of Detroit.

She suffered minor injuries. Police said the woman is about 22 weeks pregnant.