Suit: Detroit sergeant seen on video planting evidence

[Judi Lynn]

Suit: Detroit sergeant seen on video planting evidence
Robert Snell, The Detroit News 9:17 p.m. EDT March 24, 2015

Detroit — A recycler has sued the city and Detroit police in federal court, alleging he is being targeted in a scrap-metal crackdown after a sergeant was caught on surveillance camera planting evidence.

Dearborn resident Joseph Fawaz, whose family owns Southwest Metals, accused a sergeant on the city's Copper Theft Task Force of waging a years-long personal vendetta, bribing a witness and arresting employees. The task force member, Sgt. Rebecca McKay, allegedly was caught on the scrap metal shop's surveillance camera planting evidence during a raid, according to the lawsuit.

The federal court lawsuit filed Monday illustrates complications in the post-bankrupt city's attempt to clamp down on copper and metal thefts that trigger blight and fuel a black-market criminal racket.

The city is picking on Southwest Metals and trying to revoke the company's business license because the company is Muslim-owned and one of the smallest in the city, lawyer Nabih Ayad told The News on Tuesday.

More:
http://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/detroit-city/2015/03/24/suit-detroit-police-sergeant-caught-video-planting-evidence/70380462/

[blkmusclmachine]

1. Uh oh.

[Judi Lynn]

3. The Copper Theft Epidemic

The Copper Theft Epidemic

Copper theft is a serious, deadly crime, and a growing epidemic. From Iowa to Ohio and Australia to South Africa, copper thieves risk their own as well as other people’s lives, leaving in their wake paths of destruction and endless possibilities for more senseless deaths.

Legislation is critical — in every state. I offer the highest praise to states whose legislative bodies have not only passed tough laws in attempts to crack down on illegal scrap metal sales, but to states who’ve gone above and beyond standard legislation to expand the scope of these laws from copper to even more nonferrous metals. See where your state stands.

The articles below are a small sampling of how copper theft has impacted U.S. states and other countries. They are listed by National, followed by U.S. States, Federal, and International.

~ snip ~

Copper theft: a worldwide, and sometimes lethal, epidemic
March 29, 2013 | Econowatch
What killed Thelma Morrow?

At first glance, the answer seems obvious and not all that unusual. On the night of September 7, 2011, a car struck the 52-year old Miami woman as she crossed the road. It’s tragic, but pedestrian-car accidents happen all the time.

Yet something about Morrow’s death was different, and it had nothing to do with Morrow, the driver, or weather conditions. As a local news outlet reported at the time, “A 30-block stretch of road was unlit because copper wiring had been stolen from the street lights, rendering them inoperable.”

Crime Stoppers USA launches Copper Theft Program
March 15, 2011

Radio Is More Prepared This TimeJune 22, 2010

Broadcast tower sites are like gold to copper thieves. Particularly attractive are AM transmission facilities that often feature extensive copper grounding systems.

U.S. News & World Report: Price Hikes Lead to Rash of Metal Thefts — Thieves target copper, aluminum, and bronze—even if it’s bolted down

By Emma Schwartz
Posted March 27, 2008

In Columbus, Ohio, Reeb-Hosack Community Baptist Church has paid $15,000 to replace two stolen air conditioners. In Lake Worth, Fla., in January, $18,750 worth of bronze and brass pots disappeared from the graves of a local cemetery. And in the Central Valley of California, pilfered metal from irrigation equipment cost farmers millions of dollars last year alone.

WEB EXCLUSIVE: FBI Report Indicates Copper Thefts Still Threaten U.S. Critical Infrastructure

More:
http://iowacoldcases.org/the-copper-theft-epidemic/

(This crime has been happening for DECADES.)

[Joe Chi Minh]

4. Should be a real life-sentence, if the victim faced a prison sentence.

[Joe Chi Minh]

5. Auto-deleted. Not quite with it this morning.