Those who know me well know that I never forward anything, but this one I
had to. My appologies to anyone who is offended, but this injustice by our
government cannot go without being publicized.
Greg
-----Original Message-----
From: GOPUSA Friends [mailto:xxxxx@gopusa.com]
Sent: Thursday, January 12, 2006 9:36 PM
To: xxxxx@gopusa.com
Subject: Justice Department throws policewoman in jail
Greetings to the GOPUSA Family of Activists!
Please see the below from Stephanie Mohr and find out what happened
when her police dog bit an illegal alien and drug dealer.
Keep up the fight,
Bobby Eberle
Robert R. Eberle, Ph.D.
President and CEO, GOPUSA
My name is Stephanie Mohr, and I used to be a police officer
with the Prince George’s County Police Department in Maryland. I’ve sent you
a photograph of my little boy, Adam. It’s all I have of him right now.
Because instead of tucking Adam into bed tonight, and
leaning down to give him one last butterfly kiss…I am sitting in a jail
cell. A jail cell where I’ve been sentenced to spend 10 years of my life for
a “crime” I didn’t commit!
Please – let me explain.
I received over 25 letters of commendation and two awards
during my years on the police force. But to the bureaucrats at the U.S.
Department of Justice, that doesn’t matter. To them, I’m just a white police
officer whose police dog bit an illegal immigrant on the leg in 1995.
You may have heard about my case on TV. On the night of
September 21, 1995, I was on patrol with my police dog, Valk. The area I
patrolled, Takoma Park, had been suffering a rash of burglaries. My partner,
Sgt. Anthony Delozier, and I got a call for backup from an officer who had
spotted two men on the roof of a nearby store. We knew we had likely found
the perpetrators.
When we arrived, the situation was tense. The suspects,
Ricardo Mendez and Herrera Cruz, had been ordered down from the roof and
told to face a wall. They were shouting back and forth to each other in a
stream of Spanish.
And then it happened.
Mendez made a move as if to flee the scene. In accordance
with my training, I released my dog, Valk, who was trained to perform the
standard “bite and hold” move. He did so, biting Mendez on the leg and
holding him until I and the other officers could handcuff him.
Both of the suspects were charged with 4th degree
burglary. Cruz pled guilty and was deported to Mexico. Mendez was convicted
of illegally entering the U.S. and selling crack cocaine and was deported to
San Salvador. As for me, I was relieved to get two dangerous drug dealers
off our streets.
So imagine my shock – five years later – when the U.S.
Department of Justice announced that it would indict me for “violating”
Ricardo Mendez’s civil rights by allowing my police dog to bite his leg!
Mendez, a criminal and an illegal alien, had been fleeing
the scene of a crime, and it had been my duty to release Valk and apprehend
him. But the bureaucrats in the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department
of Justice chose to ignore the facts; they were looking for cases of “police
brutality”, and I was exactly what they wanted: a white officer whose police
dog had bitten a minority.
My fellow officers and I testified in court that I had
done my job by the book. And it was true: the P.G. County police training
clearly states that if a felony suspect makes a move, we are authorized to
release our police dogs.
The jury agreed and voted to acquit me 11-1. And that’s
when things really got ugly.
Civil rights groups were furious. Everyone from Amnesty
International to the NAACP declared the arrest “racist” and demanded further
investigation. The Justice Department insisted on a second trial because of
the one lone juror who had sided with the prosecution. They got it.
The second trial was a circus. The government flew in
Mendez from San Salvador and Cruz from Mexico at taxpayer expense to testify
against me. They stacked the jury with minorities who would be sympathetic
to illegal immigrants. They drummed up minority witnesses who accused me of
using racial epithets against them – without a shred of proof!
Their strategy worked. I was convicted and sentenced to
ten years in prison – for apprehending a drug dealer!
For over two years my son has been without his mother. I
think about Adam every minute. It is an unimaginable pain – maybe something
only a mother can feel. I’m not there to crawl in bed with him in the middle
of the night when he has a bad dream. I’m not there to wrap my arms around
him when he falls down. I feel so small, helpless… and alone.
But there is one ray of hope that I am clinging to with
all my heart and soul: The Law Enforcement Legal Defense Fund (LELDF).
If you’ve heard of LELDF then you know it’s the best
friend a police officer could ever have. LELDF helps defend good officers
who have been unfairly prosecuted for their split-second decisions in the
line of duty. They’ve helped Officer Chuck Schwarz, in New York; Officer
Scott Smith, in Connecticut; and Officer Wyatt Henderson, in Florida. And it
was LELDF who helped Stacey Koon when the Rodney King-sympathizers tried to
throw him in jail back in 1991.
Now, with your help, the LELDF will be doing what they can
to help me.
It will be an uphill battle. The appeal alone has cost
upwards of $35,000. And there are legal fees for expert witnesses, legal
research, and other court fees. To make things worse, I was forced to resign
after my conviction, and now in prison I have no means of earning money to
fund my case.
I have already missed over two years of my little boy’s
life. I missed his fourth and fifth birthdays. And I can’t bear to think how
many more precious moments I will miss – moments that every mother
treasures but that I will never see!
That’s why I am going to swallow my pride and ask you the
hardest question I’ve ever asked another person: Will you help me get home
to Adam by sending a tax-deductible contribution to the Law Enforcement
Legal Defense Fund to help them fund my appeal?
The U.S. Department of Justice has unlimited federal tax
dollars to spend on their case against me. But I must rely on the generous
hearts of people like you to help clear my innocent name and send me home to
my son!
Any gift you can send – be it $20, $35, $50, $100,
$500 – is tax-deductible. By clicking here, your tax-deductible
contribution will help fund my appeal as well as help other good officers
who are being unfairly attacked.
This is my last chance to gain freedom. For me, your $20
gift could be the difference between clearing my name and being there for my
dear son… or spending the next eight years in prison, innocent, while Adam
grows up without a mother. He will be a young man by then… almost 14. And
I will have missed the years when a little boy needs his mommy the most.
Thank you so very much for taking the time to read my
letter. Just knowing you’ve done that much gives me hope – hope that I will
get home to Adam before it’s too late. With your help, Adam will never spend
another Christmas without his mom by his side.
Yours truly,
Stephanie Mohr
P.S. If I can be sent to prison for doing my job, then
sooner or later every police officer in this nation will be at risk. By
clicking here and contributing, you can help LELDF defend those good
officers. Won’t you please help me clear my name and get home to my son by
supporting LELDF today? I truly appreciate any help you can spare. From the
bottom of my heart, thank you!
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