Dirty DUIs used to sway divorce judgments
October 18, 2011
Former and current law enforcement officers in Contra Costa County are under an FBI investigation for setting up DUIs for soon to be ex-wives, selling drugs and operating a brothel. [LATimes]
A whistleblower told authorities a private detective had been arranging for men to be arrested for drunk driving at the behest of their ex-wives and their divorce lawyers – and that they used decoys to assist in their entrapments, the LA Times said.
One alleged victim, David Dutcher, met a tall beautiful blond on Match.com in late 2008, a few months after separating from his wife.
“We had a lot in common,” he told the LA Times. Sharon loved four-wheel-drive trucks and sports.
Dutcher and Sharon met for coffee and then a dinner where she told him she had not had sex in a long time, the Times said. During their second date, Sharon wanted them to meet a friend of hers at a bar to celebrate a recent real estate deal.
Sharon’s friend Tash was a raucous brunette who was pounding down shots. The two women rubbed Dutcher’s neck and asked him to help them finish tequila shots before suggesting he follow them to house with a hot tub
After a few minutes, an officer pulled Dutcher over for a DUI.
His wife waited three months before telling a judge she feared for the safety of their children because of the DUI. The judge ordered that Dutcher’s visits with his children be supervised, the LA Times said.
Earlier this year, Contra Costa County Senior Deputy Dist. Atty. Harold W. Jewett sent Dutcher a letter telling him he had been duped by Christopher Butler, a private detective and the subject of a state and federal investigation, the LA Times said.
“I hope in some small way this information will help you recoup both rights and dignities lost in one of the most deplorable legal practices I have ever heard of,” Jewett wrote.
Investigators determined Butler’s hiring of women to help him set up ex-husbands for DUIs was but only one of his illegal activities.
Butler, 49, a former police officer, was arrested in February for setting up at least five DUIs, selling drugs for law enforcement officers, and helping them open and operate a brothel, the LA Times said.
Butler told investigators his enforcement accomplices reasoned that they could shield their criminal activities because any complaints would be investigated by a state-run narcotics task force, which one of the officers headed, the Times said.
Officers from the San Ramon and Danville police departments and the narcotics task force have been implicated in the crimes that took place in Contra Costa County.
Prosecutors eventually dismissed charges in 20 DUI and vice crime cases handled by the suspect officers.
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