Post by Shuftin on Jul 26, 2006 10:22:33 GMT -5
2006-07-26
SPOKANE, WASHINGTON -- A Spokane police officer was placed on administrative leave Tuesday after a convicted sex offender living in his basement was arrested by the FBI for investigation of possession of child pornography.
There is no indication that the police officer was involved in the child porn case, said 1st Assistant U.S. Attorney Tom Rice.
The FBI declined comment. The investigation is ongoing, said bureau spokeswoman Robbie Burroughs in Seattle.
Thomas R. Herman, a registered Level 1 offender for sex crimes that occurred in Spokane County in the 1980s, was ordered held without bond after an appearance Tuesday before U.S. Magistrate Judge Cynthia Imbrogno.
Moments later, police administrators announced that Officer David Freitag, who owned the house where Herman was living, had been placed on administrative leave.
Deputy Chief Al Odenthal said the two men became acquainted when they lived near each other in another neighborhood. It was not known how long Herman had been living in Freitag's home.
Odenthal said his department would not comment on the FBI investigation. The Spokane Police Department will conduct an internal investigation and will cooperate with the FBI, a police news release said. The release also said the FBI had executed a search warrant Tuesday at the home, related to Internet child pornography.
Just last week, a new police chief, Federal Way Chief Anne E. Kirkpatrick, was named to head Spokane's embattled police department.
Kirkpatrick's appointment was announced last Thursday, three days after Mayor Dennis Hession called for an independent review of police conduct in two other recent cases that have shaken public confidence in the department.
In one case, recently released surveillance video tapes from a convenience store showed seven officers subduing a mentally disabled man last March. The man subsequently died. Police had been responding to an erroneous report of a robbery at a nearby ATM machine.
In another case, two detectives were briefly suspended for allowing digital images of a firefighter's station house tryst with a 16-year-old girl to be deleted. No charges were filed against the firefighter, who has resigned.
SPOKANE, WASHINGTON -- A Spokane police officer was placed on administrative leave Tuesday after a convicted sex offender living in his basement was arrested by the FBI for investigation of possession of child pornography.
There is no indication that the police officer was involved in the child porn case, said 1st Assistant U.S. Attorney Tom Rice.
The FBI declined comment. The investigation is ongoing, said bureau spokeswoman Robbie Burroughs in Seattle.
Thomas R. Herman, a registered Level 1 offender for sex crimes that occurred in Spokane County in the 1980s, was ordered held without bond after an appearance Tuesday before U.S. Magistrate Judge Cynthia Imbrogno.
Moments later, police administrators announced that Officer David Freitag, who owned the house where Herman was living, had been placed on administrative leave.
Deputy Chief Al Odenthal said the two men became acquainted when they lived near each other in another neighborhood. It was not known how long Herman had been living in Freitag's home.
Odenthal said his department would not comment on the FBI investigation. The Spokane Police Department will conduct an internal investigation and will cooperate with the FBI, a police news release said. The release also said the FBI had executed a search warrant Tuesday at the home, related to Internet child pornography.
Just last week, a new police chief, Federal Way Chief Anne E. Kirkpatrick, was named to head Spokane's embattled police department.
Kirkpatrick's appointment was announced last Thursday, three days after Mayor Dennis Hession called for an independent review of police conduct in two other recent cases that have shaken public confidence in the department.
In one case, recently released surveillance video tapes from a convenience store showed seven officers subduing a mentally disabled man last March. The man subsequently died. Police had been responding to an erroneous report of a robbery at a nearby ATM machine.
In another case, two detectives were briefly suspended for allowing digital images of a firefighter's station house tryst with a 16-year-old girl to be deleted. No charges were filed against the firefighter, who has resigned.