 |
|
| |
 |
Recent Blog Posts in October 2009 |
| October 06, 2009 |
| Broward Sheriff Officer charged with Burglary, Extortion & Possession of Marijuana |
| Posted By Brett Schwartz |
 |
| A Broward sheriff's deputy arrested after authorities say he promised to turn a blind eye on a marijuana grow-house in exchange for cash became the fourth deputy this year to be accused of abusing their badge.
But Manuel Silva, 34, may not be the last.
The agency's Division of Internal Affairs is investigating allegations that the deputy had accomplices in the extortion scheme discovered last week, Sheriff Al Lamberti said Monday. The sheriff is also asking the public to report similar cases.
"By no means is this over," Lamberti said. "We believe he was not acting alone, and we're going to root out the other people who may have been involved."
Silva, a nine-year veteran of the force, is being held without bail in the Broward Main Jail on extortion, armed burglary and drug possession charges. He was suspended without pay.
On Sept. 29, Silva showed up at the Fort Lauderdale home of Orlando Gutierrez, 38, and insisted he be allowed to search the house, authorities said. The deputy was not in uniform but brandished a badge and a gun, Lamberti said.
After seeing five marijuana plants, Silva told Gutierrez he wouldn't arrest him or take the plants if Gutierrez gave him money, the Sheriff's Office said. Lamberti said Silva asked for "a significant amount" but would not say how much.
To sweeten the deal, Silva even offered to give Gutierrez the picture and name of the person who'd ratted him out, Lamberti said.
Gutierrez later told another person about the extortion. That person, whom Lamberti would not identify, reported Silva to a Broward sheriff's supervisor on Sept. 30, authorities said.
Deputies arrested Silva in Plantation on Friday after he'd picked up the cash from Gutierrez, officials said. Oxycodone pills and a prescription bottle of Cialis with the label partially removed were found in his unmarked patrol car, according to police reports.
"This is an indication of a bigger problem, and it all comes down to greed," Lamberti said.
Silva, assigned to the agency's Central Broward district, made nearly $68,000 in 2008, according to Sheriff's Office records. Any overtime he might have accrued that year was not included in the report.
Silva served as an intelligence analyst for the U.S. Army during the late 1990s before applying at the Sheriff's Office in 2000, according to his personnel report.
Known as the "go-to deputy," he quickly amassed scores of commendation letters and was nominated several times for his district's employee of the month award, which he won once in 2006.
A minor on-duty car crash in 2002 was the biggest blemish on his record, according to a Sheriff's Office Internal Affairs report.
Records show Silva's street work was valued by his supervisors. He built a solid network of sources that often gave him a heads-up to crime scenes and suspects.
"[Silva] has developed a very workable rapport with many residents of the area. This gives him a slight advantage when speaking to victims/witnesses and suspects," a supervisor wrote in the deputy's 2008 performance evaluation. "In many of his cases he knows where to start his investigation due to his knowledge of the area."
Silva's case bears similarities to the August arrest of Jonathan Bleiweiss, another deputy with a sterling record ruined by what Lamberti on Monday called an abuse of the public's trust.
Bleiweiss remains jailed, accused of intimidating eight men into performing sex acts with him. Because the men were illegal immigrants, Bleiweiss would threaten to have them deported if they reported him to authorities, officials said.
Also in August, the Sheriff's Office arrested Detention Deputy Gladys Dauphin after a six-month investigation into charges that she severely injured a jail inmate by hitting him on the head with a radio.
In March, Deputy Charles Grady Jr. resigned after being formally charged with two counts of battery. Grady had been accused of inappropriately touching women during traffic stops in 2008.
|
|
| Continue reading "Broward Sheriff Officer charged with Burglary, Extortion & Possession of Marijuana" » |
|
Permalink  |
| |
| October 06, 2009 |
| Dolphin Player Arrested in Broward County |
| Posted By Brett Schwartz |
|
| The girlfriend of Dolphins practice squad player Wilfred "Will" Billingsley this morning said she won't press charges after a Broward County judge ordered him held on $4,000 bail for allegedly trying to throw her outside their Wilton Manors home.
"He didn't do anything," Leah Michelle Boyd said as she stuck her head out of the door at Billingsley's townhouse in the 2700 block of Northeast Eighth Avenue. She slammed the door shut.
It will be up to the Broward State Attorney's Office to decide whether it will pursue charges against Billingsley, said Wilton Manors police spokesman Detective David Jones.
Judge John Hurley this morning ordered Billingsley, a cornerback, to avoid any contact with Boyd, his girlfriend of several years.
Billingsley, 25, also was ordered to not return to his home, where police said he and his girlfriend have lived for four months.
Wilton Manors police arrested Billingsley at about 6:40 p.m. Monday on misdemeanor charges of domestic battery and resisting arrest.
"We only heard about it late last night," said Harvey Greene, Dolphins senior vice president for media relations. "We're just now in the process of gathering information and won't have a comment at this time."
Police arrested Boyd, also 25, on a charge of obstruction after police said she interfered with Billingsley's arrest. She was freed from custody at about 2 a.m. today, on the condition she appear before a judge at a later date.
During an argument, Billingsley grew angry when Boyd placed his shoes outside their home, Jones said. He didn't want them outside, police said.
Billingsley then "tried to physically throw her outside the residence through the front door," a police report said.
As Billingsley held her horizontally, Boyd resisted, holding onto the door and door frame, police said.
When police arrived, they found Boyd had scratches on her left upper arm and neck area, police said.
Meanwhile, they found Billingsley sitting outside on the ground in his yard. A police officer handcuffed his left hand, but Billingsley then pulled his right arm away, saying he "couldn't go to jail," police said.
He "pushed and pulled" to prevent being arrested, but police were able to place the other handcuff on his arm and take him into custody.
At some point during police's visit to the home, one of the couple's dogs, possibly a Boxer breed, bit a police officer, seriously injuring his right thumb, Jones said.
The officer, whose name wasn't provided by police, was taken to Holy Cross Hospital, where he was treated and released. The officer's injury will require visits to a hand specialist, Jones said.
Billingsley's agent could not be reached for comment.
Billingsley originally signed with the Dolphins in April 2008 as an undrafted free agent out of North Carolina A&T.
He spent all last season on the team's eight-man practice squad.
He returned there this season after failing to make the active roster out of training camp
|
|
| Continue reading "Dolphin Player Arrested in Broward County" » |
|
| Permalink |
| |
|
 |
|