Another Settlement in Case First Reported Here of Rohnert Park Officers Illegally Seizing Cash and Cannabis
The joint lawsuit filed by seven motorists in August alleges that former Rohnert Park officers Jacy Tatum, Joseph Huffaker and Christopher Snyder collectively took more than 330 pounds of marijuana from them and seized $55,000 in cash but never appropriately documented, destroyed or returned the cash or cannabis.
In an unusual legal move, the suit made RICO allegations — stating that the officers were basically acting like an organized crime ring by conspiring to extort drivers and obstruct justice.
One officer, Jacy Tatum, resigned. One officer, Joseph Huffaker, agreed to leave after a $75,000 payout and at least two of the officers in charge of the department have retired early including the director of the department at the time, Brian Masterson.
For more, read Lewis’ article here.
Earlier Chapters:
- Former Undercover Officer Involved in Developing Cannabis Products Accuses Hopland Tribal Police Chief of Theft, Corruption, and Civil Rights Violations
- Outraged: One Man’s Two Month Quest From the FBI to the ATF to Expose What He Says Are Corrupt Police Officers in Mendocino County
- Rohnert Park Police Officers Being Investigated Following Two Incidents Where Humboldt County Cannabis Was Seized Under Suspicious Circumstances
- ‘Highway Robbery’: Drivers Allege Rohnert Park Police Illegally Seized Cannabis, Cash
- What Happened to 800 Pounds of Marijuana Seized by Rohnert Park Police?
- City of Rohnert Park Hires Police Practices Expert to Address Corruption Allegations
- Former Rohnert Park Police Sergeant Faces Credibility Questions as He Testifies in Court This Week
- Rohnert Park Police Officer Accused of Misconduct in Case Involving Pounds of Humboldt County Marijuana Agrees to Resign for $75,000
- City of Rohnert Park Settles for $415,000 in Lawsuit Alleging Its Officers Stole Cannabis From Travelers Just After a Second Suit Alleging More Corruption Was Filed
Join the discussion! For rules visit: https://kymkemp.com/commenting-rules
Comments system how-to: https://wpdiscuz.com/community/postid/10599/
Sadly, no one was fired the day before their retirement. That only happens to honest law enforcement personnel i guess.
Nonetheless, good job Kym.
I’ll second that opinion. Thank you Kym for the reporting. In the end the penalty is being born by the tax-payers of Rohnert Park (for hiring bad-cops). Convoluted justice.
There is no penalty here at all. Rohnert Park paid everyone off in order to avoid further embarrassment in court. Simple.
I am impressed by the use of the Rico statute in the suit, I would like to have seen someone, anyone, prove any of this in a court of law…
I still, for the record, do not believe Zeke Flatten’s story, or much about the other claims, and it still looks to me like the only provable aspects of this sordid mess were that the record was not kept according to any reasonable procedure, and that the officers were well outside their reasonable jurisdiction.
If I hadn’t have been personally stopped in broad daylight, by two CHP officers who appeared to be “running and gunning” while looking for marijuana in vehicles, I probably wouldn’t ever have believed that sworn officers would behave like this.
Nice going, Rohnert Park, you did exactly what I thought you would do, paid everyone off, to make it all disappear…
you obviously don’t understand how things work at that level of service. Attorneys and Judges, and Administrators can only do so much to hide the Tactic’s of the war on the people.
This was obviously a good example of learning how to better refine the art of asset forfeiture, against the general population.
It’s clear to many why light is really the best disinfectant.
I do believe that Tatum had “credibility issues”, and that this was known to officials in Rohnert Park. In my opinion, the Plaintiffs in this case, had “credibility issues” of their own…
I do not believe there is a “war on the people” being staged by government, but, I do believe there may have been a conspiracy to confiscate marijuana and cash, which may have benefited more than one person.
I also believe that Rohnert Park will continue to bury the evidence, pay off everyone involved to guarantee silence, and, that we will never learn what actually happened in any of these cases.
The only “war” here, is the “war on truth”, and, crookedness/incompetence and institutional secrecy, are winning…
Those dirty cops are clearly Trump supporters. They were going to donate the proceeds to the Trump slush fund, I mean the Trump Foundation. Daddy needed another fake Times Cover portrait , this time for the White House Oval Office.
Yes, I need help in exposing the fact that everything that’s screwed up is because of Consertives.
And by the way, I don’t see you saying that the prolific anti-liberal that posts ridiculous conclusions needs help.
Conservatives
“The nobler sort of man emphasizes the good qualities in others, and does not accentuate the bad. The inferior does.”
― Confucius
“Never do to others what you would not like them to do to you.”
“Revenge is a dish best served cold.”
“Hunger makes the best sauce.”
“Stay strapped or get your cheeks clapped.”
– Abraham Lincoln
“I’d rather be a warrior in the garden, than a Gardener in a war.”
Not even close. Obama and the Clintons did alot of it, from deregulating banks, targeting law abiding immigrants, increasing fracking oil and gas production many fold, etc etc and today they are doing their best (though at this stage behind closed doors) to stop Bernie from getting the nomination. The center right democrats are just as much a part of the problem as right wing republicans.
Thank you Kym for your true badass reporting.
If their Trump supporters, then why is every politician in office in California a Democrat?
Doesn’t matter. Everything that is wrong, every crime committed is Conservative driven. Everyone knows that.
“What the superior man seeks is in himself; what the small man seeks is in others.”
― Confucius
C’mon, accuracy will matter more and more in the future.
Trump’s inaccuracies are horrible, let’s not strive to promote his type of world.
You need to change conservative, to humans.
Nunes? McCarthy? Calvert? Republicans are the minority but there are still many in office.
Ok, I’ll put a different way. Are all the members of the BOS in Humboldt Democrats? That everyone complains about in here, daily. Are the people who let these guys off so far Democrats?
I don’t know about everyone but I’m pretty sure that Rex Bohn isn’t a Democrat. He was registered as a Republican until 2011? Right before he ran for Supervisor. Then he switched to Independent.
And Rohnert Park is in Sonoma County. I’m not sure whether it runs Democrat or Republican but I don’t think it matters. There are good politicians on both sides of the aisle and bad ones.
Always with the stinkin’ facts!
Let us not forget that trump was a democrat back in the 90s
NOT EVERY, one look at Devin Nunes he’s one of the LYING Pieces of crap who basically gave RUMP Carte Blanche to do WTF ever he damned well wants to!!!!
“Life is really simple, but men insist on making it complicated.”
-Confucius
Please . This has nothing to do with the president and there are plenty of Democrats that are criminals. What I want to know is why these cops are not being prosecuted for robbery and other crimes.
They support nasty nancy and her despicable gang obviously.
Get a clue🇺🇸
“Moscow Mitch.”
“That dick, Cheney”!
You get a clue!
A happy ending. Bad laws corrupt society. Something lawmakers should keep in mind as we clean up the debris from the war on drugs.
I basically agree except for this: Two men broke the law in a very bad way. Put yourself in the place of these victims, except imagine that yor were carrying your prized baseball memorabilia (or a similarly valuable collection) to the Bay Area to sell for up to tens of thousands of dollars. Their sole “punishment” is to lose their jobs. One fellow even got $75K for doing so. I’ve worked at (and patronized, as have most folks) places where drinking an unpaid-for coke gets a person fired.
Those above this horrible duo—as well as whoever determined they should not be prosecuted—are complicit in this miscarriage as well. They may have thought they were doing the best for their city, but letting these two menaces to society walk freely among the rest of it is, in my view, despicable.
“Most if the general population has been neutered, the rest are awaiting conviction”
Joe Mama
Resigned? Retired? Why not jailed?
yeah, I don’t get this either. Should certainly be in jail.
One resigned, one paid $75,000 to leave, two retired, why no criminal charges? Robbery, theft, conspiracy, drug trafficking, kidnapping, there must be some law that was broken here.
The ball is still rolling. I have hopes I’ll be writing about this again soon.
Really good to hear that, and thank you for what you do!
Sort of encourages criminals to become cops, doesn’t it?
First you must find a cop willing to investigate and arrest another cop. That is career suicide. The blue wall is hard to climb.
This is not much justice. Rob citizens you are sworn to protect and get paid $75k????
Who thinks that is justice?
it’s corporate justice flat girl.
It isn’t real justice like would be served up to non law enforcement armed robbers,a citizen would be looking at 25 years if committing highway robbery with a firearm!! These guys get paid by the city either through retirement checks or cash settlement. Just shows how corrupt the POWER PIGS really are!!!!!
Whoever is getting the money paid back, is now marked. Hope they never get pulled over by the thieving POS cops friends.
“Same story the crow told me. The only one he knows”. My crop was stolen by CAMP back in 1987. Proved it in court with Ron Sinoway as my lawyer. Cops squirmed on witness stand but they walked and I went to jail. Pigs is pigs.
Like the morning sun you come and like the wind you go
They work with the secret police. The secret police are fired law enforcement officers. They put tracking devices on cars and call law enforcement where they have friends in the system. Its a nationwide racketeering investigation. These guys are the main cause of homelessness in north California. They have abused darpa and big tech. I have names and addresses but can’t post names. Redwoodcopwatch.com Whosarathumboldt.com . All information has been investigated thoroughly. Its easy to do drugs when being oppressed n
By a crazy faction of the liberal oppressors.
End police corruption. Free minorities and vote for trump!!! He is our only hope. Bernie is 700 years old in moses years.
Umm.. Hello. tRump is the Corruption King. Talk about a Hope killer, not to mention a pathological lier. Stop the embarrassment Dump tRump 2020!
The police and the secret police. I.e. informants work together and illegally use civilian tracking devices and get access to evidence lockers and the cash seized. They drop charges or plea out and sell the evidence causing pockets of depression. If you have evidence of corruption let it out. Weed is not like it was when Schwarzenegger was governator.
The police and imformants back door facebook android and apple. Stay updated and secure.
Tired of liberals is back [edit]. The only reason these guys aren’t going to jail is because they live in democratic shit hole Ca. that lets criminals go free. Fuck greasy Newsom. TRUMP Rules 2020!! [edit]
Why did you block me. I didn’t threaten anyone or cuss anyone.
You weren’t blocked. A banned person uses multiple ip addresses similar to yours (most likely a cell phone). In order to deal, I’ve had to put IP addresses starting with the same number on moderation which means you have to wait for me to moderate before your comment appears. I apologize for the inconvenience.
Kym, I apologise to you too. Sorry
No worries. There was no way you could know.
I still get a chuckle out of the “Tiered of liberals” handle. I’m in the tier of liberals that support gun rights. titter, giggle. Oh, please. Shhhhhhh!
Kym,
I am a mendo resident, but own property in Sonoma county. I have evidence I was extorted for pound of weed by a Santa Rosa permit inspector who claimed inside information about my property and how code enforcement was targeting me for septic compliance in Russian river. Please contact me if you would like proof of my claim. Worst part is that this permit inspector was hired to help fire victims expedite their permit requirements to rebuild burnt homes. I tried to reporting this to authorities in Sonoma county but they dismissed my claims even though I have clear text message evidence I am telling the truth.
TC, this is outside the area I normally cover. Have you tried reaching out to Julie Johnson at the Press Democrat?
We need to boycott Rohnert Park. Dont spend a dime in that town…..
Hello I have videos of recent incidents involving C.Snyder, was wondering how Snyder is still a cop?
You can email me at [email protected]