The Tale Of The Second Story Detective                                    MCSO - PART 2

Leadership is a quality that not all people possess; It requires honesty, courage and shared vision to do what is ethically and morally correct. It is not to have a shared vision of what is best for oneself or a small circle of friends. Law Enforcement is a unique culture of diverse individuals that are exposed to some of the worst human depravities. It is demanding physically and emotionally. Individuals that answer the call of duty must be honest, and above reproach. What happened in the following story is an example of poor decision making on the part of an MCSO Detective, then Sheriff Crowder and the new Sheriff Snyder.

The MCSO detective in question made a severely inappropriate decision the night he decided to visit a married lady friend. While visiting with this lady friend his visit was interrupted when the estranged husband unexpectedly arrived at the home. The SWAT trained detective then escaped the wrath of the husband by jumping from the 2nd story balcony of his lady friend's bedroom to the ground wearing only his underwear. The SWAT detective was in fear of his own safety, when his lady friend told him her husband might be armed and become violent.   Instead of standing his ground to protect the lady, or even taking her with him when he escaped, he abandoned her.  As a police officer it is a serious conflict of integrity and ethics to leave a person in possible danger to fend for themselves.  Domestic disputes result in many serious injuries and even death when human beings passions become inflamed.  The scared detective ran to a neighbor's home to call the police and Sewall’s Point Police and the MCSO responded.

Before they arrived, the angry husband luckily did not hurt his wife, but he did however find the detective's keys to his unmarked police car in the trousers pocket that the scared detective had left behind.  The husband then retrieved a badge, cell phone and a few other items from the unmarked police car in his driveway.  In anger he threw the badge and keys into the river behind his home, then spoke with arriving police units.  At this time, it is not known by “Archangels” exactly who gave the underwear clad SWAT detective some suitable clothing to wear during this portion of the events.

The next day the 2nd story detective just happen to call the Team Leader of MCSO's Underwater Recovery Team {Sal Rastrelli-AKA now known as Archangel with Horns}. His question was; “Can the dive team recover small items in the river?”   Rastrelli’s response was; “How small and what exactly?"  His response was, “Keys and a badge.”   Rastrelli responded with a chuckle (and with a lucky guess by the way} asked, "Are there a pair of panties wrapped around that badge?” Quietly and dejectedly the detective related some of his woeful tale over the phone.  Rastrelli’s response was, "I'd like to help, but I can't just call out the dive team without permission from a higher authority for something like this.  Call the Colonel and ask him to authorize me directly and I will call them out."  Well needless to say Rastrelli did not hear from the Colonel or anyone else to call out the dive team.

The resulting Internal Affairs complaint initiated by the irate husband on or around April 28, 2006, simply resulted in a written reprimand from Sheriff Crowder, for misuse of department equipment and embarrassing the agency.  In reality the detective should have been charged with Willful Neglect of Duty, Official Misconduct and Abandonment, since his actions could have resulted in serious injury or death to his lady friend.  However, as you have observed from our other posts the truth is only half told by those in charge. Remember, when you're politically connected to so many wonderful people in the community, things tend to get glossed over.

"A half truth is the same as a whole lie." 

As you will see when you go to MCSO to read the Internal Affairs report, this is actually a travesty of justice, neglect of duty and official misconduct. What you won't read in the IA report is that the husband had to pay for a dive team to recover the items or 'face possible criminal charges'.  Archangels interviewed the husband a few weeks ago and was apprised of that bit of information.  A public records request for that particular file will reward your efforts with the whole sordid tale.

The second story detective resigned from MCSO two years later to pursue a career that he has a natural affinity for; politics. With his good looks, smile, charm and uncanny ability to escape scrutiny he could very well be the next Sheriff or even worse.

There was an article in the local waste of paper The Stuart News, regarding this debacle shortly afterwards.  Don't waste your time looking for it on line in archived news articles, it’s not there.  People like this individual have political and press connections and apparently had the story removed.

Fast forward to Sheriff Snyder's campaign promises of bringing the best of the best to MCSO. He stated he wants people that share his vision of what a law enforcement agency should be.  Is the marvelous SWAT trained detective that fearlessly jumped from the bedroom in his underwear, a person who shares his vision? You decide, since he returned to MCSO to a nice fat paycheck with benefits in a leadership position, under Snyder. Interestingly, his required background check, polygraph and drug screen were “WAIVED.”

We promised you the post would be entertaining and educational. Now put on your detective hats and take the clues one by one and figure out for yourselves who we are talking about.  You come to your own conclusion after you discover the evidence yourselves.

{Hint-April 28, 2006-Sewalls Point is where the incident occurred.  MCSO maintains IA reports in the professional standards unit.  The Stuart News articles can be found in the public library where they are stored for posterity.}      Now get to work!!!!  You all can work together on this too.

Questions: Is this the type of police officer you want coming to your aid when in danger? Is this the type of person you want leading a law enforcement agency? Is this what we have come to expect from the law enforcement community? Or should we demand change? How about a citizen review board that oversees Internal Investigations? How much input should they have? Did you know that many times the brightest, hardest working and honest officers get passed over for promotion since they refuse to play politics??? After all, you’re the taxpayer that ultimately foots the bill for this nonsense.  DEMAND Change for the better, not the Smoke and Mirrors your getting.

Authored by:  Ira B. Robins                                                 Salvatore Rastrelli

www.irarobins.com

www.rastrelliinvestigation.com

www.innocenceconsultants.com

www.salvatorerastrelli.com

TAGS:  Martin County Sheriff’s Office, MCSO, Sheriff Snyder, Sheriff Crowder