PULASKI COUNTY, Kentucky March 10 2020 -- Two Kentucky constables conspired to violate the civil rights of people through bogus searches and by taking their property without proper cause, a federal grand jury has charged.
The grand jury indicted Pulaski County constables Michael “Wally” Wallace and Gary E. Baldock on Feb. 27 on one charge alleging civil rights violations.
The charge was sealed until after FBI agents arrested the two early Friday.
Baldock allegedly shot an FBI agent during the effort to arrest him early Friday. Agents fired back and wounded Baldock.
The FBI confirmed at 5:30 p.m. that the agent wounded in the shooting had been released from the hospital and that Baldock was in stable condition.
The FBI did not release Baldock’s name or the name of the agent. However, property records confirm Baldock lives on the street where the shooting occurred near the airport in Somerset.
Wallace was not involved in the shooting.
The indictment charges that between November 2018 and Sept. 24, 2019, Wallace and Baldock conspired to “injure, oppress, threaten, and intimidate persons within Pulaski County, Kentucky in the free exercise and enjoyment of a right secured to them by the Constitution and laws of the United States, specifically their right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures by one acting under color of law and the right to be free from the deprivation of property without due process of law . . .”
The maximum sentence for a conviction on the charge would be 10 years in prison.
The FBI had been investigating Wallace and Baldock for some time and had notified local prosecutors.
Motions from local defense attorneys revealed pieces of the FBI investigation.
Defense attorneys had asked the commonwealth’s attorney’s office to turn over any evidence of corruption involving constables, including discrepancies in the amount of property seized from alleged drug dealers and the amount logged into evidence.
‘Credible pattern’ of missing money in cases
Timothy E. Jones, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran who lives in Pulaski County, told the Herald-Leader he gave information to the FBI about an allegation that Wallace logged less money into evidence than he actually took from Jones during a September 2018 arrest.
Wallace and other constables came to Jones’ home after Jones called 911 because of a dispute with his girlfriend, Lisa Nicholas.
In an arrest citation, Wallace said that he found marijuana, pain pills and methamphetamine in the house.
Jones denied the pills and meth were his. He said he had about $9,000 in the house.
Wallace said in the arrest citation he found $7,430 in the house.
Nicholas pleaded guilty in the case. Jones is charged with selling meth but refused to plead guilty, saying the meth and pills belonged to Nicholas and that he hadn’t sold meth.
“There is justice,” Jones said on hearing of Wallace’s arrest. “Thank God.”
Gregory A. Ousley, a former federal and local prosecutor who now has a criminal-defense practice, said several of his clients told him that Wallace had taken money from them during arrests and not logged in all the cash as evidence.
Clients also told him that Wallace planted drugs on them so that there would be enough quantity to justify forfeiture of money and property, Ousley said.
Some cash and property seized in drug cases ultimately is awarded to the investigating police agency, including constables, when the case is resolved.
Records from the Pulaski County Fiscal Court show constables have used forfeited cash for vehicles and vehicle maintenance, electronic equipment, bullets and other products and services.
Ousley said he didn’t initially believe what his clients were saying but eventually a “credible pattern” emerged.
Ousley said he contacted federal authorities about the claims.
Wallace had his initial court appearance Friday in federal court in London. He pleaded not guilty and maintains his innocence, said his attorney, Robert E. Norfleet.
Wallace hadn’t expected to be arrested and is “devastated” by the charge and saddened by the shooting involving Baldock and the FBI agent, Norfleet said.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Hanly A. Ingram released him from custody, but imposed the condition that he cease law enforcement activity and not act as a constable, according to a court document.
Constables are elected in Kentucky and have full arrest powers.
Wallace has been a constable since first elected in 2006 and has kept a high profile in Pulaski County.
There are dozens of drug cases pending based on arrests he made, and he was considered a potential candidate for sheriff in 2022.
Wallace often posted information about arrests on his Facebook page. In some cases, he put up a sign outside the homes of people he’d arrested saying “This drug house is closed for business” courtesy of the constables.
The federal charge against him could complicate the prosecution of dozens of cases.
Lexington Herald-Leader
No comments:
Post a Comment