Friday, April 18, 2008

04182008 - Officer Brandon Robinson - Child Abuse - Sentenced - Lowell PD

Also See:

Lowell PD Officer Brandon Robinson charged with CSC [May 22, 2007]









ORIGINAL CHARGES: TWO COUNTS OF 3RD DEGREE CRIMINAL SEXUAL CONDUCT



MDOC NUMBER: 680367
CURRENT STATUS: PROBATIONER
LOCATION: KENT / GRAND RAPIDS PROBATION
SECURITY LEVEL:
SUPERVISION BEGIN DATE: 04/18/2008
SUPERVISION DISCHARGE DATE: 04/18/2013
OFFENSE: CHILD ABUSE, 2ND DEGREE MCL# 750.136B3
COURT FILE #: 0715242-FH
COUNTY: ALLEGAN
CONVICTION TYPE: PLEA
MINIMUM SENTENCE:
MAXIMUM SENTENCE: 5 YEARS
DATE OF OFFENSE: 01/01/2002
DATE OF SENTENCE: 04/18/2008










Former police officer gets jail time, probation
Published: Friday, April 18, 2008, 11:45 PM
Updated: Friday, April 18, 2008, 11:47 PM
By The Grand Rapids Press
The Grand Rapids Press
http://blog.mlive.com/grpress/2008/04/former_police_officer_gets_jai.html

ALLEGAN -- A former Lowell police officer accused of molesting a 13-year-old boy in 2002 was sentenced to 11 months in jail and five years of probation Friday in Allegan County Circuit Court.

Brandon Clare Robinson, 31, of Wyoming, was sentenced for second-degree child abuse as part of a plea agreement where prosecutors dismissed a sexual assault charge.

Allegations against Robinson surfaced last year when the teen, now 18, divulged to his sister the molestation secret he kept for five years.

The victim alleged Robinson molested him several times over at least a year at Sandy Pines Resort near Hopkins, where Robinson had a trailer.

Robinson, who resigned from the Lowell Police Department in February, had worked full time since 2005 and part time since December 2002.

Before that, he worked as a part-time deputy with the Allegan County Sheriff's Department from April 2000 to May 2002.

He had been on unpaid administrative leave before his resignation.

At Friday's sentencing, the victim talked about the molestation's harmful emotional impact, Allegan County Assistant Prosecutor Doug Ketchum said.

The child abuse conviction keeps Robinson off the state's sex-offender registry, but Ketchum said it should end any career in law enforcement.

"I would think anyone with any kind of felony conviction would not be a likely candidate for that type of job," he said.

Ketchum said it is not uncommon for victims to come forward about sexual assaults years after they occur, particularly when the victim is a child. Sometimes, they are frightened to tell anyone until they get older.












Officer in sex case quits Lowell job
Published: Wednesday, February 20, 2008, 9:33 AM
Updated: Wednesday, February 20, 2008, 9:35 AM
By John Tunison
The Grand Rapids Press
http://blog.mlive.com/grpress/2008/02/officer_in_sex_case_quits_lowe.html




ALLEGAN -- A Lowell police officer accused of molesting a teenage friend six years ago at an Allegan County campground has resigned from the force after pleading guilty to a lesser charge.

Brandon Clare Robinson, 30, was on unpaid administrative leave from the Lowell Police Department since May. He resigned Monday, police said.

He was charged with third-degree criminal sexual conduct after the alleged 2002 molestation surfaced when the teen, now 18, told his sister.

Robinson pleaded guilty Friday to second-degree child abuse, a four-year felony.

Robinson, a full-time Lowell officer since 2005 who worked part time for more than two years before that, was accused of molesting a teen family friend at a trailer Robinson had at Sandy Pines resort near Hopkins.

During a hearing in May, the teen testified he sometimes would spend the night at the trailer and said he was molested several times over months.

Robinson was not employed with Lowell then, but worked as a part-time Allegan County sheriff's deputy from April 2000 to May 2002.

He pleaded guilty to the child-abuse charge just days before his trial was to begin in Allegan County Circuit Court.

"He had to put his family first," said Robinson's attorney, Frank Stanley. "He has a young child at home. He wanted to think about what was in the best interest for his family."

Stanley said the trial may have come down to the teen's word against that of Robinson.

"There was a pretty significant factual dispute about what happened," Stanley said. "This was the best compromise."

Lowell Police Chief Jim Valentine said Robinson came to the Police Department on Monday to submit his resignation. With a felony conviction pending, he knew he could no longer serve, Valentine said.

The allegations against Robinson, described as a capable and respected officer, are still baffling even today, he said.

"It was just a state of total shock and surprise to our entire staff," Valentine said. "He was an outstanding police officer."

The department is close-knit, with seven full-time officers, eight part-time officers and two clerks.

Robinson could receive jail time at his March 14 sentencing, but is not expected to receive prison, his attorney said.


04172008 - Sheriff Scott Fewin - Grand Traverse County SD


Also See:

Deputy Justin Revnell [Sheriff Scott Fewin's nephew] - Charged with domestic violence




























ALSO SEE:
DEPUTY JUSTIN REVNELL, MARCH 2004: SIX- PAGE DEPARTMENT WRITE-UP

http://michiganoidv.blogspot.com/2004/03/deputy-justin-revnell-grand-traverse.html


DEPUTY JUSTIN REVNELL, AUGUST 2004 ASSAULT:
http://michiganoidv.blogspot.com/2004/08/deputy-justin-revnell-grand-traverse.html













Lawsuit Against Record-Eagle Dismissed
Interlochen Public Radio
Date: July 16, 2009
http://ipr.interlochen.org/ipr-news-features/episode/3423

A Benzie County Circuit Judge has dismissed a suit against the Traverse City Record-Eagle. Former Grand Traverse County Sheriff Scott Fewins charged the paper defamed him in an April 2007 editorial.

Editor Mike Tyree wrote that Fewins was tampering with the victim in a domestic violence case. It involved Fewins' nephew, who was at the time a sheriff's detective.

The Court found Fewins did not clearly show the paper acted with malice. Since Fewins had several conversations with his nephew's accuser, it could not be proven that he didn't influence her decision to move away from the area. After than, the domestic charges were dropped.

Judge James Batzer said the editorial contained sharp language and hyperbole, but was not knowingly false.

As a public official, former Sheriff Fewins faced a strict standard to prove the paper defamed him.















Grand Traverse Sheriff sues The Record Eagle
Posted: 08.01.2008 at 3:34 PM
http://www.upnorthlive.com/news/story.aspx?id=168624

The Grand Traverse County Sheriff is suing The Traverse City Record Eagle for libel. Friday afternoon, Sheriff Scott Fewins, along with his his attorney Christopher Cooke, announced they have served the newspaper with a lawsuit for "defaming the Sheriff's good name". The original complaint was filed in Benzie County Circuit Court on April 17th, but the Sheriff waited until July 17th to serve the newspaper with the lawsuit. On July 18th the case would have been automatically dismissed. When asked why they waited so long to have the suit served, Cooke told 7&4 news anchor Diana Fairbanks "We waited because We wanted to give The Record Eagle time to retract their statements." The Record Eagle has not yet commented on this lawsuit only saying they were working on a response. The sheriff is up for re-election on Tuesday.

In fairness to the two other Republican candidates 7&4 News contacted Tom Bensley and Brian Weese for comment on this story.

Brian Weese told us that " I am sure that the timing has something to do with the election. If it was actually legitimate in his mind he should have done it long ago. "

Tom Bensley told us. "It's unfortunate this had to occur. It's evident with the timing that it's for political purposes

















Editorial

Theft investigation leaves another blemish on sheriff
The issue: No charges likely in jail fund thefts
Our view: Another black mark for sheriff
See related story:
Probe of Grand Traverse County jail thefts proves fruitless
April 7, 2007
http://static.record-eagle.com/2007/apr/18edit.htm

For more than a year, someone used an account reserved for Grand Traverse County Jail inmates as a personal ATM.

Someone stole $16,120 from that account during a 14-month span, from December 2003 until January 2005.

It was an inside job, committed by one or more members of the Grand Traverse County Sheriff's Department. And it appears the culprit is home free.

A Michigan State Police detective this month all but raised the white flag on the thefts case, finally acknowledging what had become increasingly apparent over the past year:

The crime will go unpunished.

Well, unpunished if you don't count taxpayers who had to foot the bill to replenish the account.

Unpunished, if you don't consider the honest sheriff's department employees who had nothing to do with the thefts, yet were tarnished by the crime.

Unpunished, if you ever believed in Sheriff Scott Fewins but now can't help but know a ruddlerless, ill-equipped administration when you see one.

A sheriff's employee notified sheriff's brass of a problem with the inmate accounts in early 2005, about the same time Fewins was running interference in a criminal domestic violence case against his nephew Justin Revnell, who also happened to be a Grand Traverse County sheriff's detective.

It's unclear whether Fewins was too busy tampering with the victim/witness in Revnell's case to focus on the inmate accounts, but the fact is the thefts case mostly sat fallow for months, until mid-August, when state police were invited to join the investigation.

By then, it was far too late.

Whoever stole the money had plenty of time to conceal evidence and cover tracks. And the same systemic holes in sheriff's department procedures that created opportunity for the thief came back to haunt the state police investigator; he couldn't pin the case on one particular person, in part because slack rules created opportunities for multiple sheriff's employees.

Beyond those limitations, Fewins' office was slow to face facts. As late as September 2005, sheriff's officials were still hoping to pin blame on employees of the bank that housed the inmate cash.

Those were false hopes, though, and state police Detective Sgt. Mark Henschell, who called the case "enormously frustrating,” said he's confident a jail employee is responsible. A handful remain under suspicion, but all can breathe easier.

The public can't, though, not with yet another example of Fewins' failures to competently administer his department. It's little wonder the sheriff increasingly has tried to circle his wagons and shield his decisions from public view.