Articles Posted in Police

A veteran Jacksonville police officer resigned last week after he was arrested on two counts of soliciting for prostitution in Duval County. David Sumlin, an eight-year veteran of the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office, was charged last week with two counts of soliciting for prostitution. The charge is a second-degree Jacksonville misdemeanor and punishable by up to 60 days in jail, six months of probation and a $500 fine. Sumlin was on-duty, in uniform and in a patrol car when the alleged crimes occurred, according to a report in the Florida Times-Union. The police department learned of Sumlin’s behavior two months ago and spoke with a known prostitute who said she had negotiations with Sumlin about having sex with him, according to the newspaper report. Police then used her as a decoy on two separate occasions, the second last week in which Sumlin agreed to pay $20 for sex, the newspaper reported.

Sumlin, 49, resigned from the sheriff’s office the next day and his law enforcement career is all but over. In cases like this with Jacksonville misdemeanor charges, the punishment from the judicial system tends to dwarf the other penalties Sumlin faces, both professionally and personally. An Duval County arrest like this, especially in his patrol car, is difficult to live down. But, from the perspective of a Duval County Misdemeanor Crimes Attorney, there could be a significant benefit to fighting the charges and making sure the state can prove its case.

An Experienced Jacksonville Criminal Defense Attorney would at least have a listen to the recordings police made in the case which document the conversation between Sumlin and the woman he thought was a prostitute. If Sumlin does agree to pay her $20 for some sort of sex act, then the case may be a tough one for Sumlin, but it would be worth hearing who was driving that conversation. Soliciting for prostitution cases can be very difficult for the state to prove, unless actual money changes hands as a part of the deal. Police regularly conduct undercover stings where they have either a male posing as someone looking for a prostitute or a female officer undercover as a prostitute. The decoy operation never gets to the point where a sex act takes place, but in some cases there can be doubt as to what constitutes an actual agreement. Another factor in these types of Jacksonville criminal cases is the state is likely to make an offer that does not include any jail time, unless a defendant has a lengthy criminal record. And most of the men involved just want the case over with sooner rather than later, so they’ll plead guilty, avoid jail time and try to move on with their lives. Depending on their chosen profession, it might not be that easy.

Two Gainesville-area businessmen were sentenced last week for bribing top Department of Corrections brass to get a lucrative concessions contract – seven years after the scheme went down. Eddie Lee Dugger was sentenced to 26 months and Joseph Arthur Deese was given 14 months in federal prison for the conspiracy to pay up to $130,000 to disgraced DOC secretary James Crosby, according to a report in the Florida Times-Union. The sentences cap an ugly eight-year tale for the prison system – and provide a textbook example of how federal investigations can work.

It began in 2004 with a look into rampant steroid use among corrections officers who played in high-stakes softball tournaments on the weekends. It spread to theft of goods meant to be recycled, and with each guilty plea and agreement to cooperate, investigators were gathering string on who they thought was the big fish – Allen Clark.

Turns out, when they went to Clark, he said he could get them Crosby, his best friend and the man who aided Clark’s rapid ascent in the department, according to newspaper reports. Clark served just more than two years and was released in 2009. Crosby is serving an eight-year sentence and is scheduled to be released in two years. Both Crosby and Clark agreed to help the government – presumably to tie up the cases against Deese and Dugger, according to the newspaper.

An Edward Waters College student has filed an internal complaint with the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office after police pointed a gun at him during a traffic stop.

The student was on his way to work after class about 1:30 p.m. Thursday when police said they pulled him over because his grey Crown Victoria matched the description of a car used in a Jacksonville burglary, according to a First Coast News Report.

The student told the television station he was not speeding and didn’t know why he was being pulled over. Next thing he knew, officers had drawn their guns and one told him he’d blow his head off if the driver didn’t take the keys out of the ignition, the television station reported. Officers handcuffed the student and held him in the back of a police car for 45 minutes before eventually letting him go. He says police never told him why he was stopped, but First Coast News reported that the information about the burglary was in the police report. The student says the officer popped the trunk of his car and searched without asking permission, but the report says the officer asked for and received consent from the student, the station reported. This is very common when someone is pulled over in Jacksonville. As a Jacksonville Criminal Defense Attorney, many clients tell me they never gave the police permission to search their vehicle. As a matter of fact, most were never even asked.

A former Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office records clerk has pleaded guilty to leaking confidential information, including pictures of undercover officers. Kenitra Casper was arrested in June and pleaded guilty last week to 12 counts of disclosing or using confidential law enforcement information, according to the Florida Times-Union. The technical title of these crimes is “Disclosure or use of confidential criminal justice information” and each count is a third degree felony punishable by up to 5 years in prison. Casper is facing up to 60 years in prison, but the newspaper story said it is possible Casper will only receive Jacksonville probation. In order to convict someone of this Florida crime, the prosecution must prove that you were a public servant and while working for the city, you did with intent to obstruct, impede, or prevent a criminal investigation or a criminal prosecution, disclose active criminal investigation information that is not available to the public. Casper was leaking pictures of undercover narcotics detectives, confidential photos of juveniles, suspect names and other records that were not supposed to be public. She used her JSO password to cull the information from a police database, the newspaper reported. Police told the newspaper the five detectives were reassigned and have not been injured.

Casper has entered pleas of “guilty” to all the charges against her. It is now up to the judge in the case to decide what sentence she should receive. When a criminal defendant enters a plea to the judge, it is always risky. The judge in Casper’s case can sentence her to “time served”, place her on probation in Duval County, sentence her to jail time or even send her to prison. A “Pre-Sentence Investigaion Report” (PSI) was ordered in Casper’s case. This is a report that is completed by the Florida Department of Corrections. An officer from the Department talks to the defendant and family members to discover what kind of person the defendant is. The Department also runs a background investigation. The purpose of the PSI is to present the judge with enough information to make an informed decision about the defendant he or she is about to sentence.

Cases such as this are a nightmare for the sheriff’s office, showing that the criminal element has someone on the inside feeding them information. One rouge employee can severely damage the credibility of the office, and raises the question of what else may not be above board inside the department. From a defense perspective, it warrants a look at all of the cases involving the detectives whose identities were leaked and involving the suspects whose names were put out there by Casper. There may be something there, there may not be.

A decorated Neptune Beach detective who provided input into the city’s gambling laws now finds herself on the other side – facing a felony charge for her alleged involvement in a Clay County gambling house operation. Detective Camille L. Burban was one of four people arrested in Clay County, according to the Florida Times-Union. She is charged with being the “keeper of a gambling house.” The Florida felony charge is considered a third degree felony and carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison.

Burban’s boyfriend owns a company that sells pool tables and pinball machines, along with video poker and slot machines. Burban’s Facebook page says she has worked for the company more than 20 years, the newspaper reported. According to the police report, the company installed the machines for free at two Clay County bars and would get a 50-50 split from the money collected. Two others were arrested last month, the alleged delivery drivers for the company. Burban called Clay County police several times after the first two were arrested, trying to get back a van that was seized in the first arrest.

Her Clay County Criminal Defense Attorney says he can’t figure what she’s accused of doing wrong and Burban maintains her innocence, the paper reported. Her attorney said Burban answered a few questions from the Neptune Beach City Council when the city was drafting its gaming ordinance and did not play the “instrumental role” her arrested report claims.