Another Drug Raid Nightmare

[SomeGuy]

Whats the point, what are these people thinking when they sign up to be cops.

I grew up in a small town and went to a small high school. 2 guys from around my time there later joined the force.
They were sniveling little snitch's in high school and are sniveling little snitch's now, only difference is now they have guns and badges.

 

[Backwoods Bud]

I grew up in a small town and went to a small high school. 2 guys from around my time there later joined the force.
They were sniveling little snitch's in high school and are sniveling little snitch's now, only difference is now they have guns and badges.

Yep, two kinds of people become LEO.

1. Those that have a long family history in law enforcement.

2. Sniveling little bitches who used to get punked all the time in school as SG described above.

 

[twojoints]

why does it seem that marijuana laws and enforcement will be looked back upon as one of the stupidist and most retarded events in human history? well shit we can start with the fact that the first prohibition nearly crippled our society and the second one has done more damage to civilians then the french revolution

 

[Macster2]

Anything new on this poor bugger??

 

[SomeGuy]

Nope. I just checked yesterday and he's still being denied bond and waiting for trial in January.

Should be something soon as pretrial motions are set for august.

 

[SemperAltus]

i pray this guy gets off... reminds me of a story about miami cops who got a ci and placed him in charge of setting up the latin kings and he did... commited multiple crimes etc.. and then he just set people up... its so bullshit...


well i hope he gets out... i mean hopefully he gets a jury that aint full of shit.

 

[zeeba amoeba]

One of the plants Frederick told the local television station he raised was the Japanese maple, a plant that, when green, has leaves that look quite a bit like marijuana leaves.

It just goes to show how little the DEA/leo understands marijuana that they make mistakes like the above.

It's hard for me to imagine the mindset of someone who would work in law enforcement and actively try to bust mj growers. I just can't see the ethical justification, so I must assume they are devoid of ethics. Or else, their brain lacks moral reasoning skills. Instead of deciding for themselves what is right or wrong, they simply accept whatever authority tells them.

Must be some kind of power trip...they enjoy harming others. Schadenfreude...joy in the suffering of others... a primary human drive, best expressed by the Germans who developed the word for it.

I visited a friend in California and she had this growing in their front yard, wild. check it out. What would you think?



I think it's a cleome.

She doesn't grow weed so if the cops decide to raid her house...they will waste a buncha time and generate another newspaper headline. Actually that's a good argument for letting this stuff grow wild. What if it were growing everywhere, all over the state parks, etc. Would make it hard to tell the lookalike from the real deal.

 

[SomeGuy]

Not a lot of news on this guy. So he sits in jail and they get new body armor so they'll be safer next time they raid somebody.

The Virginian Pilot

After an internal investigation into the fatal shooting of Detective Jarrod Shivers in January, Chesapeake police will now issue new tactical vests to its special investigations section.

Shivers, 34, was shot and killed Jan. 17 while police were executing a search warrant for drugs at a home in the 900 block of Redstart Ave., in the Portlock section . Two shots were fired from inside the home through the front door as officers used a battering ram on the front door.

One shot hit Shivers and traveled through his armpit and into his body. Police have bought new vests that offer more protection, said Dorienne Boykin, a police spokeswoman.

“It’s different because of flaps that come down over the arm and shoulder portions, so it’s protecting that part of the body,’’ Boykin said.

Police said no other policy or procedure changes have resulted from the internal probe into the shooting. Police reported in May that their investigation had been completed and that the report would not be made public.

An independent review of the police department, commissioned by the city in March for $219,000, did not touch on the Shivers’ shooting in its 60-page executive summary released this week.

Ryan Frederick, now 29, is accused of killing Shivers. Frederick faces trial in January on charges of capital murder, use of a firearm and possession with the intent to manufacture marijuana.

He is being held in the Chesapeake Correctional Center.

 

[ItsGrowTime]

Thanks for the update SomeGuy. I cant stress enough to anybody even remotely considering moving to Virginia, DONT DO IT!!!

 

[leaddraft]

We should "sticky" this thread, awaiting it's outcome..
If I could, I'd send a contribution.

 

[FrankRizzo]

This is just utterly depressing

 

[zingablack]

after reading all of that i feal horrible i really wish he gets out and then sues the everliving shit out of everyone involved. and someguy you are the best updater ive seen on IC more props to ya man.

 

[SomeGuy]

and someguy you are the best updater ive seen on IC more props to ya man.

Its easy with news.google.com alerts. It sends an email whenever an item/name I'm watching gets updated. Currently watching for Ryan Frederick, Rachel Hoffman and Luther Ricks Sr.


I also regularly search "marijuana grow" +mystatename to see whats going on around me. You'd be surprised what gets reported in some of the small town news around you that you never see.

 

[zingablack]

dude i didnt know google would send alerts thats freakin awesome im gunna have to figure that out. i was searchin ryans case and i came up on rachels by accident but thats sum shit huh. go to http://stopourdrugwar.blogspot.com/search/label/drug war victims it has all kinds of stupid police fukups. also a case where a black man robbed a guy for 2 bux and was on probation for 10 years and smoked a joint a couple months in and because of that he got life in prison but a white guy killed a guy and was put on 10 yrs probation and got caught with coke twice during the ten years and nothing happened to him. o yea it was the same judge in both trials and hes up for reelection

 

[bluebreedsfunk]

Eager to hear an update...

Ryan Frederick deserves a medal. He was an ordinary, law-abiding citizen, protecting his home. He happened to have a tiny amount of pot in his house...How uncommon is that? Its insane that he could have possibly been facing the death penalty for not wanting to die.

I agree with the poster above about us growers that care about protecting ourselves with firearms...We would be in a world of shit. You would be viewed as a drug-running gangster cop-killer...All for not wanting to die.

So what is a grower to do for protection? Swat teams don't wear bright orange vests. They commonly use flashbangs and other tactics to disorient the target..It seems there is a sad truth to be found in that story:

Even if you are completely justified in killing a home invader, pray they aren't a cop.
(And even if they are not, pray you can break down your grow/move all your illegal stuff before police arrive, which is unlikely.)

I can't wait until I have enough loot to live off the grid in a very defensible house of my design. Life as a law-breaker is a paranoid one with the gangs of police roaming about.

 

[SomeGuy]

Small update.

The Virginian-Pilot

Prosecutor wants Frederick trial moved out of Chesapeake

By John Hopkins
The Virginian-Pilot
© September 3, 2008

CHESAPEAKE

The special prosecutor in the case against Ryan Frederick, a Chesapeake man accused of killing a city detective, wants his murder trial moved out of Hampton Roads.

The commonwealth has urged the court for a change of venue from Chesapeake to a jurisdiction elsewhere in the state. Frederick is scheduled to stand trial Jan. 20 in Chesapeake Circuit Court on charges of capital murder, use of a firearm in the commission of a felony and possession with the intent to distribute marijuana.

His defense attorney, James Broccoletti, said Tuesday that he opposes any move, arguing the mere public knowledge of the case alone is an insufficient reason for a change of venue.

"The citizens of Chesapeake have not only the obligation but also the right to sit in judgment in a capital case of this

magnitude, involving allegations of murder of a police officer that occurred in their own city," Broccoletti said in response to the change-of-venue motion. "That opportunity should not be taken away from them and shifted to jurors in another jurisdiction without cause."

A pretrial-motions hearing is scheduled for next week before Judge Marjorie A.T. Arrington.

Frederick is accused of fatally shooting Detective Jarrod Shivers on the night of Jan. 17 while Shivers and more than a dozen other officers executed a drug search warrant. Shivers, a 34-year-old father of three, was standing at the steps of Frederick's front door in the 900 block of Redstart Ave. when he was shot, police said.

Frederick said he fired two shots through his door at what he feared were intruders that night. The shots were fired as officers on the other side of the door used a battering ram on it.

One shot from a .38 -caliber handgun hit Shivers in a side area of his body unprotected by his vest.

Paul Ebert, the commonwealth's attorney from Prince William County, was appointed to prosecute the case after local prosecutors who had worked closely with Shivers said they wanted to avoid any perceived appearance of conflict or bias.

The case has received local and national publicity.

Ebert said the publicity - some of it inaccurate and based on speculation - makes it impossible for the commonwealth to get a fair trial in Hampton Roads. He wants the court to find a jurisdiction that could host a trial of such size.

"As a general rule, they try to get a place with similar demographics," he said.

Broccoletti said he thinks that "the pretrial publicity regarding this case has been remarkably restrained and objective."

He argued that a decision at this time about a change of venue is premature and, if granted, would impose a substantial burden to his client and civilian witnesses. The move would burden the Chesapeake Sheriff's Office with transporting and securing Frederick in another jurisdiction, Broccoletti said.

It also would burden the host jurisdiction, he said. The defense, its witnesses, support staff, the judge and court clerks would have to travel and make overnight accommodations in a new jurisdiction, Broccoletti said.

Broccoletti, in a motion to the court, asked that the selected jury for the trial be allowed to travel to the Portlock section of the city to view the crime scene, both inside and outside Frederick's home. He also seeks to have the court sever the drug case from Frederick's murder case.

"They're separate events and should be tried separately," he said.

 

[ItsGrowTime]

I came across a new update on Frederick's case. Interesting developments. I think the cops are lying through their teeth but who knows...

http://hamptonroads.com/2008/09/prosecutors-say-frederick-knew-police-were-coming-door

By John Hopkins
The Virginian-Pilot
© September 10, 2008
CHESAPEAKE

Ryan Frederick knew police were coming to his house the night he shot police Detective Jarrod Shivers, prosecutors maintained Tuesday.

For the first time, prosecutors outlined the basis of their case against Frederick, during a hearing on several pretrial motions. Special prosecutor Paul Ebert has asked to move the trial out of Hampton Roads, citing what he calls inaccurate and speculative pre-trial publicity. Another motion involves whether the jury should be allowed to tour the scene of the shooting.

Circuit Judge Marjorie A.T. Arrington said Tuesday she would rule on those issues next month.

She also ruled that a video camera will be allowed into the courtroom to capture the proceedings, as had been requested by local television stations. Special prosecutor Paul Ebert had objected, saying cameras add nothing to the dignity of the proceedings.

Conrad Shumadine, the attorney for the media, argued that a case of such magnitude needs openness.

"If there's ever a case that should be before the camera, it is this case," Shumadine argued.

Shumadine and his law firm, Willcox & Savage, also frequently represent The Virginian-Pilot.

Frederick, in a red jail uniform, watched in silence from the defense table as prosecutors suggested he was not as innocent as he claims.

Frederick is accused of shooting Shivers on Jan. 17 as the 34-year-old detective, who was there as part of a drug raid, stood at the front steps of the home in the 900 block of Redstart Ave. Frederick is scheduled to stand trial Jan. 20 in Chesapeake Circuit Court on charges of capital murder, use of a firearm and possession with the intent to distribute marijuana. The judge denied a defense motion to separate the drug case from the murder case.

The 29-year-old is being held without bond at the Chesapeake Correctional Center.

More than one person broke into Frederick's detached garage days before the fatal shooting, taking about half of the marijuana growing inside, prosecutors said. Frederick contacted one of the burglars, made threats and indicated he knew who they were, prosecutors said.

He told the burglar: "I know police are coming to my house. I know why they're coming to my house, and I have a plan for them, too," according to Richard Conway, one of the special prosecutors from Prince William County in Northern Virginia who is handling the case.

Frederick never reported the break-in to police because he had a "significant, if not lucrative, marijuana-growing operation" in his garage, Conway said.

After the burglary, Frederick removed the remaining plants, prosecutors said.

Still, in their raid police found grow lights, tubs that contained traces of marijuana and publications such as "Marijuana Horticulture," Conway said.

Frederick's attorney, James Broccoletti, argued that police confiscated only one-third of an ounce of marijuana from his client's home and are relying on unknown informants.

"Who knows who they are?" Broccoletti said. "Who knows what they said? Who knows what their records are?"

Police have said that a confidential informant told them about the marijuana-growing operation in Frederick's garage. Prosecutors did not say if the informants are the burglars.

Frederick has maintained that he was in bed when police arrived and that he fired through the front door at what he thought were intruders.

To support his effort to move the trial, Ebert produced affidavits from several Chesapeake residents who support a change of venue. He asked the judge to let the case be settled by an impartial body elsewhere.

"There's so much misinformation that has been put forth in this case," he said. "Much of that has been self-serving statements from the defendant."

He cited Frederick's jailhouse interviews, rallies in his support and a billboard erected in front of his home. Ebert said that blogs, some claiming to have audiences of up to 50,000, have added to the speculation.

"There has been criticism that the police should have never gone to this house to begin with," he told the judge.

He said the mainstream media added to inaccurate information being distributed. He pointed to speculation around a .233-caliber bullet casing, which did not come from Frederick's gun, that was recovered at the scene.

Ebert said the real story is that the casing fell from the pocket of a SWAT team member who showed up at the scene after the shooting.

Broccoletti said a request for a change of venue is premature and that an attempt should be made to seat a jury before moving the case elsewhere.

 

[SomeGuy]

Cops Employing Robbers

Cops Employing Robbers

I really like Reason and Radley.

This explains it all the way up to Sep 25th

Reason Magazine

Ryan Frederick, the 29-year-old Chesapeake, Virginia man facing capital murder charges after shooting and killing a police officer during a nighttime drug raid on his home, was back in court for a preliminary hearing earlier this month. What came out at the hearing may be the beginning of the unraveling of the state's case against him.

Frederick has said he was asleep in preparation for an early shift when police raided his home at 8:30 p.m. on January 24. According to search warrant affidavits, officers were acting on a tip from an informant that Frederick was running a major marijuana growing operation in his garage. The raid turned up only a misdemeanor amount of the drug—about a third of an ounce.

Frederick has said in interviews and in letters to his family that he was awoken by his dogs barking at the intruders, then heard the sound of someone breaking down his front door. He says he grabbed his handgun and ran to his living room, where he saw that the bottom panel of his door and been busted out and saw someone reaching up through the broken panel toward the door handle. Frederick says that's when he fired, striking and killing Det. Jarrod Shivers. Police and prosecutors counter that Frederick fired through the door, hitting Det. Shivers as he was standing on Frederick's front lawn. Police say they announced themselves before attempting to enter Frederick's home. Frederick and at least two neighbors say they heard no announcement.

Frederick's case is only one recent example of the inherent danger and disproportionate absurdity of using violent, forced-entry police tactics to serve nonviolent drug warrants. This raid on a man with no prior criminal record left a police officer dead, his wife widowed, and his children without a father, while effectively ruining Ryan Frederick's life. He's facing one count of capital murder for the shooting of Shivers, a felony drug distribution charge, and a charge of using a weapon during the commission of a drug crime.

Now, disturbing new questions have emerged about the quality of the police investigation and the way the Chesapeake Police Department's narcotics officers may have been using confidential informants in their drug investigations. The latter would be nothing new. The ACLU is currently in the midst of a national campaign aimed at drawing attention to the misuse of informants, including in high-profile cases in Cleveland, Dallas, and just across the U.S.-Mexican border near El Paso.

Last May, a local TV news station identified the police informant in Ryan Frederick's case as "Steven," a 20-year-old man who was dating the sister of Frederick's fiance. The report noted that Steven had been arrested for stealing credit cards nine days prior to the raid on Frederick's house and may have broken into Frederick's garage three days prior to the raid to collect evidence against him. According to Frederick's family, the two had been feuding after Frederick accused Steven of stealing from him. The search warrant in the case notes that the informant had been inside Frederick's home three days prior to the raid, where he saw evidence of the marijuana-growing operation. In an interview with a local TV station shortly after his arrest, Frederick said someone had broken into his garage at about the same time.

In June, I spoke with a second man who confirmed to me that Steven had indeed broken into Frederick's home. He could confirm that, he said, because he assisted with the break-in. I gave him the moniker "Reggie" at the time, but can now identify him as Renaldo Turnbull, Jr. I had been made aware of Turnbull and his story by John Hopkins, a reporter with the Virginian-Pilot newspaper. Hopkins told me Turnbull called him to tell him about his involvement in the raid after the police arrested Turnbull on charges of burglary and fraud—charges Turnbull says were undeserved. The Pilot decided not to publish Turnbull's accusations at the time.

When I spoke with Turnbull in June at the Chesapeake Jail, he confirmed that he and Steven had been working for the police as paid informants for several months and that Steven had cut a deal with the police after being arrested for credit card theft—they'd drop the charges if he brought them evidence of a major marijuana operation. He confirmed that he and Steven then broke into Ryan Frederick's home and stole the alleged marijuana plants the police then used as probable cause to obtain the search warrant that led to the fatal raid. Turnbull was hesitant to confirm the more serious allegations he had made to Hopkins in February—that the police were actually encouraging these illegal break-ins—explaining that his lawyer had advised him to stop taking and that he feared the police would retaliate if he kept talking. "I don't want to get into any more trouble," he said.

Last week, the Virginian-Pilot finally reported on Turnbull's conversations with Hopkins from last February, explaining that Turnbull's allegations seem to be confirmed by new revelations from special prosecutor Paul Ebert at a pretrial hearing earlier this month. Referring to the break-in at Frederick's home, the Pilot reported:

Turnbull said he and an accomplice didn't worry about breaking into Frederick's garage because police assured them they would be protected.

"The dude said he was going to look out for us, so let's go do it," he said.

[...]

Turnbull said he met with Shivers once and talked with him on the phone on other occasions. During a meeting at a 7-Eleven store near the intersection of Battlefield Boulevard and Cedar Road in Chesapeake, Shivers introduced himself.

"He told me what to look for. He said, if you know of any burglaries or anything, let Steven know... He said no evidence, no pay... He said if you know where it is, go get it.

According to Virginia criminal defense attorney John Zwerling, if Turnbull's allegations are true, they would represent illegal conduct on the part of the Chesapeake Police Department and the late Det. Shivers. "If the police were sending informants to break into private residences to collect probable cause for drug warrants, it would be the same as if the police were breaking in themselves," Zwerling says. "The police would be participating in crimes, and the warrants would be invalid."

As they had done with me last June, the Chesapeake Police Department and the office of special prosecutor Paul Ebert declined to comment on the allegations to the Pilot.

In the pre-trial hearing earlier this month that inspired the Pilot to finally run with Turnbull's interview from last February, prosecutors actually admitted that much of their case rests on the word of what they describe as two "burglars" who had broken in to Frederick's home prior to the raid. According to the article:

Prosecutors said they have evidence that more than one person broke into Frederick’s detached garage days before the deadly drug raid, taking about half of the marijuana growing inside.

Prosecutors haven't yet identified them, but it's difficult to see how the "burglars" who broke into Frederick's home could be anyone other than Steven and Turnbull.

Which means the police either encouraged the break-in into Frederick's home (as Turnbull has said), or they knew or should have known their probable cause had been obtained illegally. According to Zwerling, either scenario would invalidate the warrant the police had obtained to search Frederick's home, meaning the raid on Frederick's home itself was illegal. That would also lend support to Frederick's case should he decide to use a claim of self-defense.

More broadly, if true, all of this would also mean that narcotics officers at the Chesapeake Police Department were routinely sending informants to commit illegal burglaries in order to obtain evidence in drug cases—the makings of a major scandal.

Of course, if Steven and Turnbull are indeed the "burglars" referenced by prosecutors, they're both now facing their own charges (the credit card charges against Steven were dropped, then reinstated after the raid—which didn't turn up the marijuana the police said in the warrant that the informant told them they would find), which means they're both at the mercy of the state. At this point, neither is likely to to say anything damning about the Chesapeake Police Department. Jailhouse informants who are in the game of bargaining information for time off of their own sentences have little incentive to tell the truth. Indeed, Turnbull has since stopped speaking with reporters.

Ryan Frederick and the city of Chesapeake deserve to know the details of the the burglary to his garage three days prior to the police raid on his home—and if the police encouraged or permitted the burglary.

The only sure way to get at the truth in this case is through an outside investigation, one that grants both Steven and Turnbull complete immunity from all prior charges so they can tell state or federal investigators what they know free from any pressure from local law enforcement.

It's also important to find out if such tactics were limited to this case or if, as Turnbull has said, they're common practice in Chesapeake.

The latter wouldn't be so unusual. When a botched raid in Atlanta killed 92-year-old Kathryn Johnston in November 2006, the ensuing federal investigation found that narcotics police in Atlanta routinely lied in drug warrant affidavits. The city's entire narcotics division was eventually fired or replaced. That case unraveled after a police informant came forward to contradict the narcotics officers' version of events.

Drug policing is driven by statistics—the number of arrests made and the amount of contraband seized. Statistics-driven policing incentivizes shortcuts, encouraging even good police officers to bend the rules when it comes to the use of informants, or perhaps exaggerate or mislead in a warrant affidavit if it increases the odds of making the big bust. That corrupted information then provides the basis for these violent, forced entry raids into private homes. It isn't difficult to see how how they can—and often do—go wrong.

In this case, a man with no prior criminal record, a steady job, and who was recently engaged had his home violated—perhaps by two police informants. Then, three days later, he was allegedly awoken by the sound of someone battering down his front door. His reaction was to defend his home by shooting at the intruders. It isn't a stretch to say that many people might have had the same reaction.

Sending Ryan Frederick to prison for the rest of his life won't bring Det. Jarrod Shivers back. And unless the Chesapeake Police Department—and for that matter, police departments all across the country—dramatically change the way they investigate and prosecute drug cases and serve drug warrants, it certainly won't prevent similar tragedies from happening again.

The only way to prevent that is to stop sending police teams barging into private homes to arrest people suspected of nonviolent drug crimes.

ADDENDUM: Earlier on September 25, the day this article posted, Chesapeake Police Chief Kelvin Wright denied that Renaldo Turnbull was ever a police informant. However, Wright did not say whether Turnbull was one of the "burglars" who broke into Ryan Frederick's home.

Radley Balko is a senior editor of reason.

 

[SomeGuy]

Man claims he broke into garage, was police informant

Man claims he broke into garage, was police informant

State paper referenced in the post above

The Virginian Pilot

CHESAPEAKE

The case against accused cop killer Ryan Frederick relies partially on the accounts of burglars who may have been working as confidential police informants.

A 21-year-old Chesapeake man said he and another informant broke into Frederick's garage in the Portlock section of the city in January to look for evidence of a marijuana-growing operation and told the police about what they found there.

In an interview at the Chesapeake Correctional Center, Renaldo Turnbull Jr. told The Virginian-Pilot that he had been working with police for several months before the shooting of Detective Jarrod Shivers. Turnbull said Shivers was among the police officers he had provided information to.

Shivers, a 34-year-old father of three, was shot and killed during a Jan. 17 drug raid at Frederick's home in the 900 block of Redstart Ave. Frederick said he didn't know police were on the other side of his door when he shot through it. He said he thought intruders were breaking into his home.

Prosecutors now say Frederick, 29, knew the police were coming. They say Frederick told one of the burglars in a threatening phone conversation that he knew police might be coming after him and he would be ready.

Police and prosecutors have not identified the people involved in the Frederick burglary, and no one has been charged with that crime. Frederick never reported the break-in to police.

Frederick's attorney, James Broccoletti, said Wednesday he could not answer any questions regarding informants and their allegations. The special prosecutor in the case, Paul Ebert, also said he could not comment on the identities of the informants or allegations made by Turnbull.

Chesapeake Police Chief Kelvin Wright said his department does use confidential informants to make undercover drug buys, but he would not comment on any relationship police may have with street sources.

"We do not discuss people who may or may not be confidential informants," he said.

Police indicated earlier this year that a reliable informant led them to Frederick. At a court hearing on Sept. 8, prosecutors disclosed for the first time the involvement of burglars.

That disclosure prompted The Pilot to report now on its February jailhouse interview with Turnbull, who identified himself as one of the burglars.

According to Turnbull, he started working as a police informant after his release from prison last year. In August 2006, he pleaded guilty to breaking and entering, burglary of a dwelling with the intent to commit larceny, and two counts of grand larceny, according to court records.

Turnbull spoke to The Pilot shortly after his arrest in connection with a Jan. 3 burglary, he was arrested Jan. 28, 11 days after Shivers was killed.

He is now in the Chesapeake jail awaiting sentencing in December for that burglary. Other felony charges, for an alleged December 2007 crime involving grand larceny and entering a house to commit assault and battery, have since been leveled against him.

Shivers was killed as he and more than a dozen other officers tried to enter Frederick's house, looking for evidence of a marijuana-growing operation. Frederick's attorney, James Broccoletti, has argued that police later confiscated only one-third of an ounce of marijuana from the home.

Frederick was charged with capital murder, use of a firearm, and possession with the intent to distribute marijuana. He said he fired his gun twice that night at what he thought were intruders breaking through his front door.

When Frederick was taken into custody, he said he tried to tell authorities about a burglary at his home days before.

"I was telling them someone broke in earlier," he said. "And they said they know about that."

Turnbull said he and an accomplice didn't worry about breaking into Frederick's garage because police assured them they would be protected.

"The dude said he was going to look out for us, so let's go do it," he said.

A Frederick family member identified the second informant as a man in his early 20s named Steven. The Pilot is not fully identifying the man because he declined to be interviewed.

Steven knew Frederick and had worked with police before, according to Turnbull.

"Steven was doing this before I met him," Turnbull said.

Steven was arrested on unrelated charges two days before the Shivers shooting. He was being held in the Virginia Beach jail in February when he agreed to an interview with The Pilot, but he later declined. Steven's family, contacted at their home in Great Bridge, said he wasn't ready to talk.

Steven was scheduled to stand trial earlier this month but didn't show up at court. He is now listed as a fugitive.

Turnbull said he met with Shivers once and talked with him on the phone on other occasions. During a meeting at a 7-Eleven store near the intersection of Battlefield Boulevard and Cedar Road in Chesapeake, Shivers introduced himself.

"He told me what to look for. He said, if you know of any burglaries or anything, let Steven know... He said no evidence, no pay... He said if you know where it is, go get it."

The first attempt to break into Frederick's garage was canceled after they saw his SUV and another car parked in the driveway, said Turnbull, who said he does not know Frederick.

On the second attempt, they decided to call there first. When there was no answer, they went to his house and knocked on the door to make sure no one was home. Frederick's SUV was gone, he said.

Then they went through Frederick's privacy fence to his garage, Turnbull said. "It was locked, but Steven gave it a nice little kick and it opened, and there it was," he said.

Inside the garage was "a tent," with a zipper, "like a greenhouse," Turnbull said. Inside the small portable greenhouse were about 15 marijuana plants, each about 2 feet high, in two rows, in some sort of hydroponic setup, he said.

Turnbull said he took about five or six plants and left to turn the evidence over to police. Steven, he said, was the person who actually handed the plants to police.

Days later, police executed a search warrant for Frederick's home. In a search warrant affidavit, police said a confidential informant had been inside Frederick's residence and saw marijuana plants in the detached garage.

The informant, police said in their affidavit, described the growth stages of the plants, which were inside "a portable closet type casing."

Frederick has said that on the night of the shooting, he was sleeping when he heard a commotion and retrieved his Bersa .380-caliber Firestorm gun.

"My dogs woke me up," he said in an earlier interview. "They were barking like crazy. They're barking like really crazy, so I grabbed my gun. As I'm walking through the hall, something comes busting through my door."

According to Turnbull, Frederick suspected that the informant Steven was behind the burglary. After the break-in, an angry Frederick had repeatedly called Turnbull's cell phone and had threatened Steven's parents in Great Bridge.

Turnbull speculates that Frederick obtained his cell number from caller ID after he and Steven called to see whether Frederick was home before the burglary.

Frederick "kept calling," Turnbull said.

He tried to assure Frederick that he was not involved in the break-in, but Frederick seemed to know that the burglars were Steven and a dark -skinned black male, possibly from a security camera, said Turnbull, who is black.

"When I talked to him on my phone, (Frederick) said, 'I know Steven's locked up and I know police are coming to my home, but I got something for them,' " Turnbull said.

"He said: 'Anybody come to my door, I'm going to blast them' - straight like that."

That is similar to the account prosecutors provided at the Sept. 8 court hearing.

Police in February obtained a search warrant to seize Verizon telephone records for all incoming and outgoing calls on Jan. 16 and 17 at Frederick's home.

In more recent months, Turnbull has declined to discuss the case further. Once, during a bond hearing, he yelled out to a General District Court judge as he was being escorted to jail, "They didn't tell you about that officer who was shot!"

 

[spindlywicket]

Just another case of cops who dont give a fuck about peoples' rights working with crooks, then when they get burned for it they try to shift the blame on a regular guy like you and me. If my house was broken into recently and someone was kicking my door in a week later I would shoot them too. The prosecutors say he knew about police coming because some shady guy who happens to have a history of being a thief says he told him over the phone that if 'anyone comes to my door, I'll blast them.' Well it sounds more like he was referring to another person breaking in. I hope the jury in this case can see through 'The Man's' bullshit. I mean this informant has no fucking credibility in the first place considering they didnt find shit. What did he have, like 10 grams? Intent to distribute my ass.
My apologies for the muddled post.