About two weeks ago I posted a video showing cops in Owensboro, Kentucky responding to a guy’s house after he butt-dialed 911 by accidentally pressing the “emergency” button on his iPhone. But when officers from the Owensboro Police Department arrived, they claimed that officers had the “right” to detain the guy and enter his house, despite not having a warrant. The reason they gave is the alleged smell of marijuana. As I explained in the video, that was completely wrong – a violation of the important protections our Founders gave to the privacy of our homes. These were constitutional violations captured on the officers’ own bodycams. That video ended up making it into both the TV news, as well as the local newspaper there. Which was fantastic, because that, in turn, then prompted the Owensboro Police Department to publicly respond to my video.
In June of 2024, a woman called police and claimed Charles Read kicked down her door and assaulted her, then fled on foot. Officer Mark Bellotte obtained an arrest warrant for Mr. Read. The only problem was… Mr. Read has been in a wheelchair for 25 years. Now there’s been an update. Someone’s been fired… but also someone hasn’t been fired.
Back in March of 2024, I brought you a story that honestly shocked a lot of people — including me. A 76-year-old man, standing on his own property in Oilton, Oklahoma… attacked by the very officer who was supposed to protect him. We broke that story right here on this channel — and that video ended up being seen by over a million people. Well, now there’s been a major update. That same officer — the one from that video — has now been criminally charged. And not just for that one incident… but for multiple crimes, including one that is much, much darker.
Imagine that a law abiding, completely innocent, Texas oilfield worker is just driving to a worksite and back one day as a part of his job, and his government, who is spying on him from some secret base somewhere, where a spy named Kiki is wondering why he was making the trip in one day, as opposed to two… And so he directs a secretive unit of Texas deputies, who were trained by the highly respected legal scholar, “Dennis,” a former cop who runs Street Cop Training – since banned from training police in his home state of New Jersey – to pull over the innocent oilfield worker, and using the Jedi-mind tricks they learned from Dennis, along with an alert from a drug dog who has never NOT alerted for them, reveal the truth that the innocent oilfield worker is actually a mastermind cartel smuggling kingpin… Except that he isn’t.
After detaining him for an hour and searching every inch of his truck, the deputies let the guy go. But the guy is pissed, and he complains. Internal Affairs said they did nothing wrong. So he calls the Institute for Justice. They investigate and file a lawsuit. They also tell this West Virginia lawyer with a YouTube channel, who is sort of just starting out, about the case, and he does a video on it that goes viral… Which in turn causes Internal Affairs to reopen the case and fire the deputy. And at his termination hearing, the deputy complains that the YouTube video left a lot of stuff out of the video – and that it’s just not fair… That would be crazy, wouldn’t it? Well it all happened, just like that. And more….
My original video:
Raw footage and documents coming soon…
Alek Schott’s Raw Dash Cam:
Deputy Joel Babb’s Raw Bodycam – Part A:
Deputy Babb’s Bodycam Part B:
Deputy Martin Molina’s Raw Bodycam:
Deputy Joe Gereb’s Raw Bodycam:
The Complaint (which has links in a footnote to the raw bodycam and dash cam):
Screenshots from the termination documents used in my video, showing the significance of Street Cop Training on what Deputy Babb ended up doing to Alek Schott, and others:
My 2024 Video on Street Cop Training and Dennis Benigno:
Monongalia County Sheriff’s Deputy Lance Kuretza was indicted by the Feds as a result of this never-before-seen bodycam footage showing him suddenly confronting and arresting an innocent man, who was sleeping in a hotel room. I tried to get the footage over two years ago. Since then, he was acquitted by a federal jury in his criminal prosecution. Now he’s back to work as a deputy. But should he have a badge in light of this footage, showing what really happened that night?
The hatemail that jogged my memory about the incident:
Viral Twitter post about the indictment that first got people talking about it:
The US Attorney’s statement about the incident, from a radio show appearance (IIRC):
Here’s the press release by the DOJ about the indictment of Deputy Kuretza:
Photo taken by the police during arrest processing:
Monongalia County Sheriff’s Quote (recently retired now) about the trial result, commenting that he was “glad” the jurors came to the same conclusion he/his department had:
A media report about the trial, revealing shocking testimony from an EMT an unnamed deputy lied to her about the cause of Mr. Graciano’s injuries:
EMS was eventually called to the department and the jury heard from one of the emergency medical technicians (EMT) who responded to the call.
Camden Boggs, who worked as an EMT with Star City at the time, said a deputy in a black shirt told him Graziano “was drunk downtown starting fights and got beat up.” He could not say whether that deputy was Kuretza.
Boggs said a fight made sense because he initially saw blunt force trauma and at minimum a fracture to the nose or eye and at maximum a traumatic brain injury. He testified that Graziano’s right eye was so swollen, EMTs could not pry it open to evaluate his pupils for brain injuries.
Initially, Boggs said Graziano wanted to go to the hospital, but after being told by an unidentified deputy that by not going to the hospital he could see the magistrate sooner and go home sooner, Graziano then refused to go with the EMTs.
Fourth Circuit caselaw I referred to in the video regarding the 4th Amendment rights of hotel tenants is here. This is based on the US Supreme Court opinion from Stoner v. California.
The RAW footage, showing that not only did I not edit in a misleading way, I substantially censored the footage in order to comply with Youtube’s guidelines. The raw footage is much worse. Here is the full, unedited, footage from Lance Kuretza’s bodycam from January 18, 2018:
The full, unedited, uncensored, footage from Isaac Coe’s bodycam from January 18, 2018:
The full, unedited, uncensored, footage from Lance Kuretza’s bodycam during the arrest processing portion of January 20, 2018:
The full, unedited, uncensored, footage from Sgt. J.D. Alexander’s bodycam from January 20, 2018:
Here’s the full complaint from the civil lawsuit that was settled for $175,000:
Here’s a clip of Deputy Ethan Mongold encouraging Deputy Kuretza to give Mr. Graciano “the solution.”
Here’s the portion of the trial transcript (from above) that features Deputy Ethan Mongold testifying under oath to the jury that he admits that is indeed his voice that can be heard encouraging Kuretza to “give him the solution,” but unfortunately doesn’t remember saying it, and doesn’t remember why he would have said it – and also doesn’t know what “the solution” was.
Two years ago I posted body cam footage submitted by Janet, of Union County, Illinois, showing her son, who suffered from meth-induced mental illness, being tased by police officers. Imagine parents calling 911 for an ambulance, and instead, police officers, aware that they have a warrant for the son, show up instead, and without an ambulance. Instead of medical treatment, they use force. I just found out that the officer resigned and the civil lawsuit settled.
Elkins Police Department (former) Officer Christian Mayle has now been terminated, following my last video detailing his recent arrest. As promised, here’s new video footage showing the likely reason that he resigned from his last department, the Barbour County Sheriff’s Department, the day prior to being hired by Elkins Police Department. It shows then-Deputy Mayle trespassing onto an innocent homeowner’s property and confronting him during a deer-strike call that occurred in front of the man’s home. When the man asked the deputy to move is police cruiser so that it didn’t block his driveway, Mayle went anabolic…
You’ve probably seen the “arrest for laughing” case that has gone repeatedly viral over the past few years. I’m actually the attorney on that case. Just yesterday the Court ruled on the officer’s motion to dismiss and request for qualified immunity. The officer claimed that flashing headlights to warn oncoming motorists was not protected free speech, and that he was justified in handcuffing, frisking and detaining the driver after he laughed at him. What did the Court rule?
Remember the video from about 8 months ago where the cop in Frankfort, Kentucky, barged into a woman’s home without a warrant and illegally arrested her while she was wearing only a towel? She correctly tells (former) Officer Larry “Gus” Curtis that he can’t do that – that what he was doing was illegal, due to the fact that he was acting without a warrant. Curtis tells her, “if it’s illegal, then file a civil lawsuit.” Well, she did file a civil lawsuit and it just settled. Was it enough?
Remember the Orlando Police Department Officer who was criminally charged for fleeing a traffic stop in Seminole County, Florida, after being caught speeding 80 mph in a residential area? You may not want to know how that one ended…
