A man claiming to be "Sergeant Bill" of the FBI staged a series of drug raids in Gerald, Missouri, "a Meth capital of the United States."
Sergeant Bill, it turned out, was no federal agent, but Bill A. Jakob, an unemployed former trucking company owner, a former security guard, a former wedding minister and a former small-town cop from 23 miles down the road.
Mr. Jakob, 36, is now the subject of a criminal investigation by federal authorities, and he is likely to face charges related to impersonating a law enforcement officer, his lawyer said.
The strange adventures of Sergeant Bill have led to the firing of three of the town’s five police officers, left the outcome of a string of drug arrests in doubt, prompted multimillion-dollar federal civil rights lawsuits by at least 17 plaintiffs and stirred up a political battle, including a petition seeking the impeachment of [Mayor Otis] Schulte, over who is to blame for the mess.
It's quite an interesting story.
Shouldn't this have been a huge red flag for the local authorities? I'd be interested to hear what any LEOs reading this board have to say about this.
The only difference in criminal behavior is whether the thug's badge is real, a fact impossible for the gun owner to determine at the time.
Sure, he had a badge of some sort. Did it say FBI or DEA or similar on it? Did he have a federal ID of any sort? The article doesn't say, but it seems unlikely. They called an number he gave them to confirm his identity, but did they call any independant numbers (like the local FBI field office or US attorney's office)? Again, no.
They did no independent checking, even after numerous arrests with no involvement by the a federal attorney, no additional aid. Hell, they were considering making him a "reserve" local cop. This is ridiculous.
Recently I've seen what I believe were legitimate LEOs with their "badges" embroidered on their shirts. In one case is was an INS agent, the other IIRC was a BLM ranger. This bugs the heck out of me, even though I know that metal badges can also be pretty easily faked.
If at any time he touched any of those 'arrested' then there should be quite ample evidence in the police reports (filed by the real police) to document battery. I don't get why law enforcement and prosecution is dancing so timidly around him. They need a scapegoat and he is the perfect fall guy.
These people need to learn how it's done.
They don't want to charge him with battery, because they don't want to admit their officers stood around and watched someone batter a suspect. Remember that battery for criminal purposes is more than just an unconsented to touching.
Puleeze - that any of the
moronslocals fell for either of those idiocies (which any 12-year-old who watches TV would know are baloney) just further supports my belief that "too stupid to live" really should be a valid diagnosis.These clowns give a whole new meaning to "wotta maroon."
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I'm deadly unserious.
The batterings and the like will probably come in under the Guidelines as relevant conduct and can jack up his sentence.
Sgt. Bill seems to have more on the ball than
Sgt. SchultzMayor Schulte.If you want someone on duty 24/7, that's 168 hours per week. 4 officers working 40 hours per week gives you 160, with an extra shift for someone. Oh, plus the Chief to provide the excellent management skills so clearly in evidence.
Not an excuse, mind you, but the psychology isn't too puzzling and doesn't necessarily rely on everyone being idiots.
Maybe not, JBL, but it certainly helped.
A friend of mine who grew up in a town just that size told me that in high school, the principle recreation was beating up the local cop.
I still think 5 is a lot. Maybe it really is Sin City.