Suspected Murderer Of Pennsylvania State Trooper Captured In The Poconos Mountains

Laura McCrystal and Mike Newall at the Philadelphia Inquirer offer a piece on the capture of the suspected killer of a Pennsylvania state trooper.

Eric Frein, the suspected cop-killer who for six weeks was the target of a Poconos manhunt involving more than 1,000 law enforcement officers, surrendered Thursday after being discovered hiding in an abandoned airplane hangar, officials said.

A search team found Frein at the hangar at Birchwood Resort in Tannersville. U.S. marshals led the search team, two sources confirmed. Frein was unarmed and surrendered without incident, the sources said, and was expected to be transferred to nearby Pike County.

The site - on a near-deserted country road - remained an active crime scene Thursday night, with a road leading to the resort blocked off and law enforcement vehicles driving and in out. A group of police officers huddled at the entrance of the abandoned resort, and patrol cars, lights flashing, lined the road.

Pennsylvania State Police spokeswoman Trooper Connie Devens confirmed Frein was in custody, but would not elaborate.

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20141031_Suspected_cop-killer_Frein_taken_into_custody.html 

Tainted Justice: Why An Accused Philadelphia Police Officer Is Still On The Force

Mike Newall and Aubrey Whelen at the Philadelphia Inquirer offer a piece on why a Philly cop remains on the force after being accused of several crimes that were covered in a Philadelphia Daily News series and subsequent true crime book called Busted.

The woman in the emergency room at Frankford Hospital told the detective that the police officer who sexually assaulted her was named Tom. After the attack, she said, the officer scrawled his cellphone number on a torn piece of paper and handed it to her.

Through personnel records, police traced the number to a 10-year veteran of the force, Thomas Tolstoy. Within hours of the alleged assault on Oct. 16, 2008, the officer was pulled off the street.
Three women who did not know one another would eventually accuse Tolstoy of assaulting them under strikingly similar circumstances. Of the three cases, only the one involving the woman from Frankford Hospital led to a full-blown inquiry.

The allegations were investigated by the Philadelphia Police Department's Internal Affairs bureau, the FBI launched an exhaustive inquiry, and the U.S. Attorney's Office convened a grand jury, yet no criminal charges were filed. When news broke this year that there would be no prosecution after years of investigation, many expressed outrage.

The city has paid $227,500 to settle lawsuits brought against the officer by two women who accused him of groping their breasts. But unless city prosecutors determine that there is sufficient evidence to file charges against Tolstoy in the Frankford woman's case - the only one in which the statute of limitations has not expired - he soon could be cleared to return to street work.

An Inquirer review of an extensive investigative file - along with detailed interviews of people directly involved in or familiar with the case - reveals how Tolstoy emerged from a joint local and federal investigation unscathed.

The documents show that in seven interviews with investigators, the then-24-year-old woman, from Frankford, never wavered on the central tenet of her story: that she had been sexually assaulted, and that an officer was responsible.

But the woman's case presented a challenge from the start. DNA evidence did not match Tolstoy, according to the documents. The woman was fearful of police, initially lied about her name and criminal history, and at one point changed certain details of the assault - all of which could be used to undermine criminal prosecution of her assailant.

The documents also show that actions the victim ascribed to two Philadelphia Daily News reporters who wrote about her assault further undermined the criminal case by damaging her credibility and complicating a federal investigation.

The woman told investigators that the reporters - whose account of the assault and other police abuses would go on to win a Pulitzer Prize in 2010 - provided her with gifts, paid her bills, offered her money to hire a lawyer, and told her that she could collect a financial windfall if she talked to them and not to law enforcement officials, according to the documents.

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

http://www.philly.com/philly/hp/news_update/272249261.html

I reviewed Busted for the Washington Times and I interviewed the Daily News reporters.

You can read my interview with the reporters via the below link:

http://www.pauldavisoncrime.com/2014/05/my-crime-beat-column-my-q-with-wendy.html 

Targeting South Philly's Top Criminals

Mike Newall at the Philadelphia Inquirer offers an interesting piece on law enforcement efforts to curb gun violence in South Philadelphia.

The young men had been summoned to the ornate room in City Hall because police had determined that they were the ones most likely to shoot or be shot.

After months of intelligence huddles, police and prosecutors had identified the 45 South Philadelphia corner boys who shuffled into the courtroom that spring morning as "impact players" - possible triggermen - in violent street crews.

Flanking the lectern were neighbors, outreach workers, and city and federal law enforcement officials, including Police Commissioner Charles H. Ramsey and District Attorney Seth Williams.
They had rehearsed their message as part of a new strategy they call Focused Deterrence, which combats gang gun violence through outreach and targeted enforcement.

They did not want them to die, they told the group. They did not want to send them to jail. They wanted to help.

But if the men or any of their friends squeezed a trigger, their entire crew would experience the weight of the law like never before. The whole group would pay. No matter who pulled the trigger.
Cops would swarm, they were warned. And there would be stiffer jail sentences, higher bails, the revisiting of stalled cases, stricter probation, and parole enforcement, and even crackdowns on child-support failings, welfare fraud, and utility thefts.

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20131103_Targeting_South_Philly_s_top_criminals.html

Note: I live in South Philadelphia, but my area of South Philly is mostly free of gun violence and violent drug gangs, although we do see an occasional organized crime murder.

But I've gone out on patrol with the Philadelphia Police and I've seen the South Philly neighborhoods and other neighborhoods in the city that are plagued by drugs, drug gangs, violence and poverty. I hope this program has continued success.       

Contractor and Excavator Operator Connected To Building Collapse In Philadelphia Have Criminal Records Involving Drugs, Theft, Firearms, Assault, And Fraud, Philadelphia Inquirer Reports

Mike Newall and Mark Faziollah at the Philadelphia Inquirer report on the contractor and excavator operator's criminal past.

The 42-year-old Hunting Park man who was operating the excavator during Wednesday's building collapse in Center City has been arrested 10 times on charges including drugs, theft, firearms, and assault, court records show.

Sean Benschop, who was treated and released for minor injuries, has also been convicted 16 times in Traffic Court since 2006, most for driving without a license or insurance and for operating unregistered vehicles, records show.

Benschop, who according to court records also uses the name Kary Roberts, was demolishing the four-story building next to the Salvation Army thrift store at 22d and Market Streets when the remaining structure collapsed, killing six people.

A law enforcement source said Benschop had used the excavator to remove a second-story beam just seconds before the building toppled onto the shop.

You can read the rest of the story at Philly.com via the below link:

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20130607_Excavator_operator___Nothing_I_can_say_right_now_.html?nlid=5913291