Russell F. shared this post via CopBlock.org’s submit page.
Date of Interactions: Multiple Dates Between October 2010 and June 2013
Police Employees Involved: Dep. LaPrato, Dep. Ottenson, Sgt. Sanford, Dep. Jones, Dep. Ray
Police Employee Contact: Loudoun Co, IAD – 703-771-5007, Det. Hibberd
In October 2010, Loudoun Co. (VA) Sheriff’s deputies began what can only be described as a campaign of intimidation, harassment, false arrests and retaliation against my wife and I. I have to start out by saying I have two step-sons, an older and a younger, and they are both rather problematic. It all started in October 2010; we had just cut off the older child’s cell phone and he wasn’t happy over it, he was angry and starting to become violent. My wife shook her fist in his face telling him to back off.
In an effort to punish his mom, he called 911 and told them his mom assaulted him. Deputy Victor LaPrato and other deputies arrived at our home where I told them no one was assaulted and my youngest step-son told them the same. I also told them the eldest was angry over his cell phone being cut off, but they arrested my wife anyhow. We spent $1,200 on a lawyer and went to court where the eldest step-son changed his story and said his mom never assaulted him. The case was nolle prosequi and that is not the same as dismissed in VA.
In February 2011, the eldest child was working for a major retailer and after an internal investigation by that company, he was arrested by Leesburg Police for stealing $4,000 worth of merchandise. The eldest was getting more and more out of control. In April 2011, the eldest child came home high on drugs and began arguing with his mom; she cut off his cell phone again. He became violent, hit her, and then pushed her down a flight of stairs. He ran out the front door.
I went out to see if he had left and he took a swing at me as I came outside. I took him down to the ground and restrained him while the youngest child called 911. In the 911 call, he told them his brother was going crazy, beating-up his parents and that he pushed his mom down the steps. Sgt. Sanford was the first to arrive and she cuffed him. The second to arrive was Dep. Victor LaPrato, followed by Dep. Ottenson. At that point I noticed 6-8 of our neighbors were watching, either from their front steps or through their windows. We told them what had happened and they told us the eldest would be charged with assault on a family member.
My wife was talking to Sgt Sanford and she asked if he was going to be released. She said most likely he would be. At that point, my wife yelled up the street, “Don’t come back here, you’re not f**king welcome here anymore.” Sgt. Sanford scolded her for the outburst, but said she understood she was upset. At that point, Dep. LaPrato came running down the sidewalk full speed and tackled my wife to the ground. He slammed his knee into her lower back (later we learned this broke her tail bone), all the while looking at me and saying, “Don’t be a hero.”
Sgt. Sanford told him his actions were unnecessary, that he was out of line and then she pointed out all the witnesses watching. He literally got in her face and said, “Are you challenging me?” Sgt. Sanford asked him what he planned on charging my wife with and he replied, “Disorderly conduct – she swore in public.” At this point, I went inside and grabbed an old 8mm video camera then returned outside and started filming. Fearing I would become a target, I went inside, opened a window, set-up the camera on a tripod, locked the door and went back outside. I informed Sgt. Sanford there was a camera in the window and she was being recorded. I engaged her in conversation in which she admitted Dep. LaPrato was out of line and had no cause for what he did, acknowledged the number of witnesses and that the charge is bogus. It is my understanding that if a superior LEO knows a subordinate under their command filed a false charge, it is their DUTY to report this to their superior officer.
I went to pick up my wife and learned, in what can only be described as an effort to discredit my wife and change the focus, my wife had been charged with assaulting a family member. We filed a complaint with IAD over Dep. LaPrato’s actions the next day. The investigator was told of the number of witnesses and he was told they all work during the day and it would be best to come out to talk to them after 6:00 pm. The investigator was also told of my videotape and the conversation I had with Sgt. Sanford on the tape.
Several days later, I noticed two detectives going door to door at 10:00 am! Court was a month away and we shelled-out another $1200 for a lawyer. At one point, I asked a neighbor who had seen everything and had the best view (she actually asked if she should call 911, and my wife told her they’d already been called) if she would testify on our behalf. She told me she wouldn’t. I asked why and she said, “I’ve got too much to loose; they will retaliate against me.” I told her the deputies can’t do that. She said it wasn’t the deputies who would retaliate against her (this becomes important later in this story). About two weeks before court, I called IAD to ask about their progress. I asked the investigator why my youngest step-son and I had yet to be interviewed. I also asked why he hasn’t wanted to review my videotape. He had no answers and said he couldn’t comment on an ongoing investigation. Also about two weeks before court, the eldest step-son was arrested on drug charges and was being held on $10,000 bond. A few days before court, we were told by my wife’s lawyer to leave all our photos and videos at home as he was going to ask for a continuance so he could talk to witnesses and examine the evidence.
We went to court and asked for the continuance; the prosecutor (who knew of our complaint to IAD and knew there were witnesses who would destroy his case) objected, saying that a month is plenty of time to prepare! It is my understanding that in VA a person is guaranteed at least one continuance if they ask for it. We went to trial that day. All of the deputies lied on the stand. The eldest step-son was brought out in his jail clothes, took the stand, and lied. We later learned that he was offered a deal to have his charge of assaulting his mom and the drug charge dismissed in return for his testimony that got a conviction. We also later learned he was coached by the prosecutor. My wife was found guilty! We filed an appeal that day and shelled out $800 to the lawyer for it. A few days after her conviction, we got a letter from IAD saying they could not find any witnesses and there was no wrongdoing on the part of Dep. LaPrato! For the appeal, four witness subpoenas were issued and her lawyer asked the court to provide equipment to play an 8mm videotape.
We showed up for the appeal with our witnesses, videotape, photos and a court reporter. Suddenly, the prosecutor wanted nothing to do with this case and told my wife’s lawyer the case would be nolle prosequi. I guess four witnesses going on record saying they watched a deputy assault a person and a video that proves the deputies are lying kind of presents a lot of problems; the first is liability, the second is credibility, and the third is misconduct on the parts of so many public servants. Always bring a court reporter! Fast forward to February 2012: The eldest step-son was not living at home and he was arrested again. There was no getting off easy for him; he was sentenced to 18 months. This really bothered my youngest step-son, who was 12 at this time, and he began acting out at home, in the neighborhood and at school. We met with his guidance counselor to discuss his behavior and we were advised to call the non-emergency number if he started to become violent. We were also advised to put him in a local counseling program. There were several incidents over the next few months where he became violent and we had to call for the deputies. On one occasion, he admitted to a deputy that he head-butted me. On another occasion, he admitted that he kicked me in the groin. He was never charged.
Then, there was another incident over the summer of 2012, involving Dep. LaPrato. It was after 11:30 PM and my step-son was not home (this was unusual for him). I drove around the neighborhood to look for him. I went home and called the non-emergency number to report him as missing. Around 11:45 PM, Dep. LaPrato pulled up with our child in his car. We thanked him for finding the child, he told me to go inside, and said, “If I have to come back here tonight, someone’s going to jail.” Shortly after he left, several of my step-son’s friends started calling our house and made veiled threats, taunting me to “step outside.” I stepped outside with my 9mm strapped to my side. The kids were hiding in the bushes that bordered my home, I could hear them jumping around and talking. I went inside and went out on my deck; the kids were heckling me, so I told them to leave. They started threatening to, “Rush the house.” I reminded them that I was armed. At that point, one of the kids set off a firecracker, and they ran off saying they were calling the cops on me for shooting at them. A few minutes later, Dep. LaPrato was at my door asking if I was shooting my gun. I offered him the gun and asked if it smelled like it had been fired. I also pointed out that if he were to arrest me, a paraffin test would need to be done and when that test came back negative, the magistrate could not legally proceed with any charge involving the discharge of a firearm. Before he left, Dep. LaPrato asked me why I didn’t call the sheriff’s department over these kids harassing me. I looked at him and said, “You said if you came back here tonight, someone was going to jail.” I asked him, “Why are you here talking to me? Shouldn’t you be talking to those kids’ parents and asking them why their fourteen year olds are jumping around in my bushes at almost 1:00 am on a weeknight?” He said, “I will.” and left.
We got the youngest child in to a counseling program, and it made him worse, as he began “cutting’ and self-mutilation. On January 2, 2013, my wife was contacted by the school guidance counselor and he informed her that sometime that day before school, our child had carved, “F**k life,” into his leg. He advised her to take him to a local psychiatric hospital for evaluation. On the night of January 3,2013, our child found out we were going to put him in the hospital the next day. He lost it and became very violent with his mother and I. I was forced to restrain him on the ground until he calmed down. When I let him up, he grabbed the phone and said, “I’m not going to any mental hospital, I’m calling the cops and telling them you beat me up.” The deputies arrived and our child told them a wild story about being swung around the room with his necklace, being thrown into the DVD stand, and having his arm broken. I was arrested, my wife was sent for a psychiatric evaluation, and my step-son was sent to the local youth shelter. The deputy noted in his report that he noticed my step-son’s self-mutilation and my step-son told him he had done it the day before.
My dad bailed me out and took me home. I asked him to come inside. When he came in, he noticed nothing was smashed, and there were no signs of the violent fight that was listed in the charges. I took photos of my dad standing next to an undisturbed DVD stand. These events also put us under the thumb of CPS, and my wife and I were forced to jump through hoops for those people. At the preliminary hearing, Dep. Erik Ambrose took the stand. He was asked if he ever examined me for marks, scratches or bruises, and he replied, “No.” My lawyer asked him if he examined my wife for marks, scratches or bruises, and he said, “No.” My lawyer asked him if he took my step-son to the hospital, since after all he was claiming his arm was broken, and the deputy replied, “No.” My lawyer asked him if he examined the necklace to see if it was heavy enough to support his claim that I swung him around the room with it, or if he checked to see if it was damaged. He said, “No.” My lawyer asked him if it would be reasonable for the DVD stand to be smashed, disturbed or have DVDs knocked off of it if a person had been thrown into it. He replied, “It would be reasonable.” My lawyer asked him if he examined the DVD stand or took photos to support his case, and he said, “No.” My lawyer asked him if he had noticed the self-mutilation my step-son had done the day before, and he said, “Yes.” He was then asked what it said. He replied, “It said ‘f**k life’.” My lawyer asked him if it would be reasonable to say that a person who carves “f**k life” into their leg most likely has some psychiatric issues. He replied, “It would be reasonable to say that.” It was at this point my lawyer confronted the deputy, saying that he has admitted that he did no investigation of this case and that he took the word of a twelve year old who has psychiatric issues as the truth. He said his investigation was proper and complete. The judge (the same one who refused to give my wife a continuance), said there was enough evidence to send my case to the grand jury. I was facing eleven years.
The prosecutor knew he had a weak case and called my lawyer to offer me a deal, one year of probation. I told my lawyer to use my exact words when she spoke with him again. “You can stick your deal where the sun doesn’t shine, we’re going to trial, we’re asking for a jury trial and we’re going to make sure everyone on that jury is a parent!” About a week before another preliminary hearing, my step-son (who was still in the youth shelter & hadn’t had any contact with me; all his calls and visits with his mother were monitored and recorded) sent a letter to the prosecutor saying he lied to the deputy that night and didn’t remember much about the events of that night because he had been smoking marijuana with his friends most of the day and was high when everything happened. The prosecutor was furious and demanded to speak with my step-son face to face. They met about a week later and my step-son told him he wrote the letter, no one told him to write the letter or what to say. When the prosecutor asked him why he wrote the letter, he told him he made a mistake, he lied, and it was hurting his family. He also told the prosecutor that the deputy twisted his words and statements. My charges were nolle prosequi with prejudice, meaning they can be reinstated at any time. I wish I could say it stopped there, but it didn’t.
In May 2013, the eldest step-son got out of jail. We let him move back home, and it only lasted two weeks before my wife told him to get out of the house. Somehow the older step-son convinced the younger step-son that his mother had kicked him out too (like a mother is going to throw her thirteen year old out on the street). The boys ended up at a neighbor’s house. That neighbor called CPS and told them we had thrown out our thirteen year old child and he was safe at her house. The next morning I woke up to every parents worst nightmare: our thirteen year old was missing. We immediately called the sheriff’s department to report him as a runaway. About thirty minutes later, two deputies showed up with our child in their patrol car. They told us he stayed with a neighbor and he had told them that we kicked him out. I looked the deputy in the eye and said, “Are you a f**king idiot? If we had kicked him out, why in the world would we call the sheriff’s department and report him as a runaway?” He had no answer. About a week later, my step-son self-mutilated again. His girlfriend’s mother knew about this, called the sheriff’s department (not us), and deputies showed up at our home around 11:00 pm to do a “welfare check” on him.
My wife was furious that his girlfriend’s mother had called the sheriff’s department rather than us and called her to confront her over this. My wife did not threaten her, she simply confronted her for not telling us about the child’s behavior. This apparently did not sit well with the girlfriend’s mom. At 1:20 am, Loudoun Co. deputies descended on my home en mas; according to a neighbor there were six to ten deputies at our home. They were there to serve a “no trespass order” issued by the girlfriend’s mother, a document they are only obliged to tape to our door. The deputies actually tried to break into our house. My family was terrified. I grabbed my 9mm, my 12ga and my video camera and filmed the attempted break in from the top of the stairs. In the video, you can actually tell they are trying to enter the house, even though there was no warrant, no probable cause and no threat to public safety – this was just deputies out of control. The deputies also pried open a locked gate and attempted to enter through the back door, and, according to my neighbor, climbed my deck and attempted to make entry from there. They also nearly blinded my step-son by shinning laser pointers through the windows. The next day I awoke to find at least 100 dents in my front door, a muddy footprint on the door, and my gate open. I took pictures of everything, and made copies of my videos. I then filed a complaint with IAD.
About a week later, my wife and I presented our evidence to IAD. Several days after that, a deputy showed up at our house saying she was investigating a complaint from school officials that they noticed scratches on my step-son. The night before, my step-son got in a physical altercation with my wife; he was physically trying to wrestle her cigarettes from her hand, and this time I used my smart phone to record the whole incident. I showed the deputy the video and she advised us to take our step-son to the local psychiatric hospital for an assessment. Less than a week later, we were served with subpoenas from CPS; they wanted to take my step-son from us. This was Loudoun County’s way of retaliation for us daring to complain about deputies. Remember what I said earlier about the neighbor saying “they” will retaliate if she was to testify? She was involved with CPS. This was also confirmed when I spoke with a retired law clerk who said he’s seen deputies use CPS as a way to retaliate.
At the initial hearing, the judge (the same judge my wife and I had both been before in the past) repeatedly questioned CPS over the language in their petition. CPS wanted my wife, my step-son and myself to participate in two county-run counseling sessions per week at a cost of $150 per person, per session, per week, or they would take the child from our home. Yes, they wanted us to spend $900 per week for six months! I told the judge this was about revenue building and bureaucrats ensuring their budgets and their job security. My wife and I both told the judge our child was in need of counseling, but it should be OUR CHOICE as to who and where he gets that counseling from, and that we needed to find a counselor who accepted our insurance. The judge agreed with us and CPS was not happy. I eventually moved my family out of state and the judge eventually closed the case. In regards to the night the deputies terrorized my neighborhood and my family, Dep. Ray and Dep. Jones were found to have “violated department policy.” IAD refused to say what policy or what the consequences were, but I won that round!
I have to add this: Loudoun County has gone from a “rural” area to a highly suburban area over the past twenty years. They need a POLICE department with a police chief who will be an appointed official who will answer to a board of supervisors who can terminate him if his officers get out of line and he does not take action. Loudoun County also needs a civilian review board, where those who are wronged by a LEO can bring their case before an impartial board. Deputies answer to an ELECTED OFFICIAL, and that official can only be removed from office in two ways – by voters every four years, or by the coroner, and the latter only for the charge of murder. When you know your boss can’t be fired, you know you pretty much won’t be fired no matter how badly you behave. There are no checks and balances and that is not what our founding fathers wanted for this county.
If anyone out there can help us find justice and expose this corruption, it would be greatly appreciated.
Russell F.
Harassment & Intimidation by Loudoun Co. VA deputies is a post from Cop Block - Badges Don't Grant Extra Rights
