Cops Plant Marijuana

Who would know more about police-corruption than someone who had worked for them since the age of 13?  Who would be more informed about the way the Florida police ruin the lives of innumerable, innocent, mostly Black or Latino citizens, with the policy of "fitting them up" on false drug charges?  The author of the following official complaints was recruited by St.Petersburg Police Department as an immature youth, for purposes of infiltrating highly dangerous criminality, which involved guns, cocaine, multiple pounds of marijuana etc.  

I expect it is quite easy to pull in a youth for questioning over a petty theft or similar matter, then pile on the pressure until they agree to go undercover and work as as police-spy.  In the case of Harold Hempstead, they certainly managed to find a vulnerable family to exploit, as his father had died and his mother was spending spells in psychiatric care while the children were young.  Having got involved with undercover police-work, Harold's problems started after he exposed police-corruption and misconduct.  Eventually he was sentenced to 165 years in prison for allegedly leading a conspiracy to burgle various  empty houses.  Due to a dubious "motion in limine" the judge was able to effectively suppress a lot of evidence that was vital to Harold's defence - including the little fact that he was working for the cops when arrested.  The very same cops who testified against him at  his medieval-style trial.  

Trained as a Confidential Informant from childhood, trained to collect evidence in a methodical way, imprisoned for 165 years by a corrupt judiciary, witness and whistle-blower to the torture-murder of Darren Rainey and the torture and death by starvation of various convicts in the Florida Department of Corrections, Harold Hempstead eventually rose to a kind of fame as the "Caged Crusader" who was awarded for Bravery for his advocacy in the Darren Rainey murder case.  During his years behind bars, in the nightmare world of US prisons, Harold became a born-again Christian and is one of the most religious and spiritual people I have ever encountered.  His advocacy for Darren Rainey and the others was all done at the risk of his life and I think he got his nickname of the Crusader because nothing, even the threat of death, will stop him speaking out for what is right.

Following the publication of his second book, detailing his juvenile police-work, Harold is publicly exposing some of the corruption he encountered in his earlier years.  A study of his writings will show a systematic pattern of racially-profiled arrests, often on spurious evidence. 

It will be interesting to see the reaction of the St.Petersburg Police Department to the statements accusing them of gross corruption.  I will happily publish any response the police care to give.  I do not believe in censorship.  Free speech is at the very heart of democracy, and considering the incredible sacrifices some people, like Florida's "Caged Crusader" have made for its sake, the least we can do is give a fair hearing to what others have to say, no matter how disagreeable some of it may be.  

Jeremy Schanche, 4th May, 2019.

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INTERNAL AFFAIRS COMPLAINT

To:  St Petersburg Police Department

Attention:  Internal Affairs Division

1300 First Avenue North

St Petersburg,  Florida, 33705.

Subject of Complaint:  Former St Petersburg Police Officer Mike Brown

FACTS

I authored a book entitled “Used And Abused By The St.Petersburg Police Department.”   My book can be located at crusaderbooks.com or lulupublishing.com.

In my book I explain in detail how I know from personal knowledge that former St.Petersburg Vice and Narcotics Detective Mike Brown was behind setting up Michael Ashmead of St.Petersburg, Florida, with a frivolous felony sales and possession of marijuana charge in 1992.

Additionally, I explain how St.Petersburg Vice and Narcotics Detectives James Mosely and Jim Haley engaged me in conversations in 1998 asking me to aid them in setting up Jose Cortes of Tampa, Florida, on drug charges.

Finally, in my book, I also explain how I was subjected to retaliation and censured for previously trying to expose misconduct by these detectives.

From personal knowledge I know that several St.Petersburg Police Department Vice and Narcotics Detectives were involved with setting up numerous individuals with false drug charges in the nineteen nineties.

Presently, dozens, if not hundreds of individuals, have been arrested and are possibly incarcerated on false drug charges, who were set-up by St.Petersburg Police Department Vice and Narcotics Detectives.

I’m requesting that you conduct administrative, civil rights and criminal investigations into the pattern and practice of St.Petersburg Police Department Vice and Narcotics Detectives setting people up on false drug charges. I also request that appropriate action be taken against any detectives involved with the violations mentioned in this complaint.

Finally, I request that you ask the Federal Bureau of Investigations and Department of Justice to investigate the pattern and practice of St.Petersburg Police Department Vice and Narcotics Detectives setting-up individuals with false drug charges.

Unnotarized Oath:

Under penalty of perjury, I swear that everything stated herein is true and correct.

Dated this 7 day of February, 2019.

Affiant: (Signature appears here on original document)

Harold Hempstead, #577366,

Northeast Correctional Complex,

P O  Box 5000,

Mountain City,  TN 37683-5000.

Attorney for Harold Hempstead:

John Trevena

801 West Bay Drive

Largo, Florida 33770

CC:

John Trevena

Kathryn Varn

Casey Frank

Julie Brown

Craig Patrick

Meg O’Connor

Rick Kriseman

Jeremy Schanche

Harold Hempstead, #577366

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SWORN COMPLAINT

To:

Florida Department of Law Enforcement

Criminal Justice Standards and Training Commission

P.O. Box 1489

Tallahassee, Fla.,32302 – 1489

Subject of Complaint:  Former St Petersburg Police Office Mike Brown

FACTS

I authored a book entitled “Used And Abused By The St.Petersburg Police Department.”   My book can be located at crusaderbooks.com or lulupublishing.com.

In my book I explain in detail how I know from personal knowledge that former St.Petersburg Vice and Narcotics Detective Mike Brown was behind setting up Michael Ashmead of St.Petersburg, Florida, with a frivolous felony sales and possession of marijuana charge in 1992.

Additionally, I explain how St Petersburg Vice and Narcotics Detectives James Mosely and Jim Haley engaged me in conversations in 1998 asking me to aid them in setting up Jose Cortes of Tampa, Florida, on drug charges.

Finally, in my book, I also explain how I was subjected to retaliation and censured for previously trying to expose misconduct by these detectives.

From personal knowledge I know that several St.Petersburg Police Department Vice and Narcotics Detectives were involved with setting up numerous individuals with false drug charges in the nineteen nineties.

Presently, dozens, if not hundreds of individuals, have been arrested and are possibly incarcerated on false drug charges, who were set-up by St.Petersburg Police Department Vice and Narcotics Detectives.

I’m requesting that you conduct administrative, civil rights and criminal investigations into the pattern and practice of St.Petersburg Police Department Vice and Narcotics Detectives setting people up on false drug charges. I also request that appropriate action be taken against any detectives involved with the violations mentioned in this complaint.

Finally, I request that you ask the Federal Bureau of Investigations and Department of Justice to investigate the pattern and practice of St.Petersburg Police Department Vice and Narcotics Detectives setting-up individuals with false drug charges.

Unnotarized Oath:

Under penalty of perjury, I swear that everything stated herein is true and correct.

Dated this 7 day of February, 2019.

Affiant: (Signature appears here on original document)

Harold Hempstead, #577366

Northeast Correctional Complex

P O  Box 5000

Mountain City,  TN 37683-5000

Attorney for Harold Hempstead:

John Trevena

801 West Bay Drive

Largo, Florida 33770

CC:

John Trevena

Kathryn Varn

Casey Frank

Julie Brown

Craig Patrick

Meg O’Connor

Rick Kriseman

Jeremy Schanche

THE INMATE-WITNESSES THE MIAMI-DADE POLICE DEPARTMENT PLACED IN DANGER IN THE DARREN RAINEY MURDER CASE

"After approximately 6 months of Dade C.I. staff using a shower that reached temperatures of 160°F (according to Dade C.I. Cpt. Dixon) to punish mentally disabled inmates, Darren Rainey would be the last inmate placed in the shower as punishment.  Why?  Because he was killed in the shower.

The primary officer responsible for killing Rainey was reposted to work in another area at Dade C.I. (other than in the TCU where Rainey was killed) about four months after Rainey’s murder.  Rainey was killed on June 23, 2012, the officer was reposted in October 2012.  In March 2014, the officer was reassigned to work back in Dade C.I. Westside TCU which is the area where Rainey was killed.  The officer who killed Rainey was no longer an officer when he returned to the Westside TCU.  He returned as a sergeant.

In April 2014 I met with a Miami Herald representative at Dade C.I., on May 18, 2014 the Miami Herald newspaper published their first article on the Darren Rainey murder and from thereforth until the first about two weeks of June, 2014 they published several articles on the Miami-Dade Police Department not investigating the Rainey murder.

In June 2014 the Miami-Dade Police Department interviewed ten inmates in the Dade C.I. TCU who were in the Dade C.I. TCU when Rainey was killed.  In August 2014 the MDPD interviewed an eleventh inmate in the Dade C.I. TCU who was also in the Dade C.I. TCU when Rainey was killed.

These eleven inmates were all witnesses to inmates being starved, abused and tortured in the TCU they were housed in.  Several of these inmates were witnesses to the Rainey murder and how the Dade C.I. staff used the shower Rainey was killed in to torture mentally disabled inmates for approximately six months.  

Why did the MDPD place these inmates’ lives in danger and interview them while they were still housed in the Dade C.I. TCU in the custody of staff who were starving, abusing and torturing inmates?  Why didn’t the MDPD make arrangements to have these inmate-witnesses transferred to another TCU at another institution where the inmates would be safe and interview the inmates at a safe institution?  Do you believe the experienced MDPD detectives that interviewed these witnesses knew or didn’t know that by interviewing the eleven inmates in the Dade C.I. TCU, they were placing these inmates’ lives in danger?

I believe these detectives knew what they were doing and they did such to hinder/hurt the investigation.  It is obvious that the MDPD only acted like they were investigating the Rainey case because of the numerous articles that the Miami Herald published in May and June 2014 on the MDPD refusing to investigate the Rainey murder.  The police didn’t want to investigate the Rainey murder and the May and June Miami Herald articles that mentioned their failure to do the foregoing is what caused them to have to investigate said murder.  How do you think the MDPD felt that a newspaper was exposing them for failing to investigate the murder of a black, mentally disabled Muslim prisoner?  Do you believe that if the MDPD conducted a thorough and effective investigation into Rainey’s murder and proved Rainey’s murder, it would’ve made the MDPD look bad?  I believe it would’ve because it would’ve showed that the police were originally trying not to investigate a brutal murder and that they only investigated said murder and allowed such after the media published several articles on the police department refusing to investigate Rainey’s murder.  The sad thing is Rainey was a black, mentally disabled Muslim prisoner and that is why the MDPD didn’t want to investigate the Rainey case and that is why the Dade County Florida State Attorney don’t want to prosecute Rainey’s killers.

Please share this blog with your friends and anyone you think can help us with getting justice for Rainey’s murder.  Please sign our petition on Change.org entitled THE LIFE OF BLACK, MENTALLY DISABLED MUSLIM PRISONER DARREN RAINEY DOES MATTER."

Harold Hempstead, a.k.a. The Caged Crusader,

Tennessee Department of Corrections, April 2017.

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Dade Correctional Institution - The House Of The Dade - Welcome To Auschwitz USA, a place where anything can happen - a place which the guards themselves liken to the Nazi's human-slaughterhouse - a place with a high rate of Death - an inexplicably high rate of Death - until Harold Hempstead started to explicate it, that is.
I heard about the place because I do environmental and political campaigning and I get sent lots of American petitions in my email inbox.  After years of studying the horrors of various dictatorial regimes around the world and campaigning for human rights in Tibet, Arabia, China, Britain, Nigeria etc. I'd seen and heard about a lot of evil, the kind of evil perpetrated by the uniformed thugs and maniacs that always find employment in the penal, police, 'intelligence' and military systems of this world's great nations...
A petition from someone called 'Windy Hempstead' caught my eye.  The story behind it stood out for its extreme brutality and inhumanity and it shocked someone who'd spent years dealing with human horror of an Official nature.  Windy's petition talked about her brother Harold and how he'd witnessed a black man being steamed to death in a Florida prison.  A particularly horrible story from the internet.  The story dwelt on my mind and I started to write on it.  Pretty soon I'd made contact with Windy, then Harold and then I wrote myself into the story. 
Just over a year later and working in partnership with Harold Hempstead on the Darren Rainey case has become my main focus of attention.  Mr Hempstead is a powerful force for good, he's a man lit by divine inspiration and that's not something I say lightly.  He's driven by a religious impulse to witness the truth, whatever the consequences - and for a man doing one hundred and sixty-five (165) years in the grip of the mass-incarceration complex of the United States of America, those consequences could well prove fatal.  Previous blogs on this and Harold's own site describe Florida Department of Corrections' deadly games, including housing Harold in a cell with a series of no less than five murderers, several of whom were tripping out on 'spice' which mysteriously bypassed the rigorous security of FDC. 
Like many a survivor of hideous trauma, Harold blames himself for not doing enough to stop a violent tragedy from occurring - even though he was locked in a cell, at the mercy of people whom he knew to be torturers and killers.  Living under repression and downright oppression for years is going to affect anyone - inmates who merely file an official grievance risk getting their bones broken or teeth kicked out (evidence available - as with all assertions about FDC)  The 'sensible' thing to do in prison is keep your head down and try not to upset the guards.  These people don't like being accused of crimes by those they seem to consider as sub-humans.  Dade had certain spooky and vile parallels with the death-camp it's guards called it after.  People were starved there, they died soon after.  Many people have died there under suspicious circumstances.  People were tortured and treated as though they were less than human - some of those who were tortured had indeed done some monstrous things, but 'monsters' torturing 'monsters' is not what is meant by 'the rule of law.'  However bad some of these people are, or were, they deserve to be treated in accordance with the law - otherwise, if the penal system is apparently above the law, you have a form of democracy so rotten and corrupted that it is no longer worthy of such a name. 
This is not the America of 1776 - this is not the Vision of an America that was dreamed by freedom-loving people long ago.  This is a corrupt, late-stage, decadent empire, strangling and eating its own children.  This is not what they fought the Brits for or what Betsy Ross made a flag for - she wouldn't have bothered if she'd known what it was going to stand for.  If she could have had a look round the Westside TCU down there at Dade Correctional Institution she would've come up with a flag of a different colour. 
One of the sickest aspects of the Darren Rainey case is that all the abuse and torture, all the starvation and 'shower-treatment' happened inside what was meant to be some sort of mental hospital. 

Darren Rainey

Since the night of June 23rd, 2012, when Darren Rainey was shoved into the 'special shower' and the whole wing heard him screaming and begging for mercy as he died, Harold Hempstead has been on a long journey, changed by what he witnessed and determined to work to expose the truth and achieve justice.  He believes in the value of every human life and so do I.  Sometimes in life you have to take a stand - when something offends you to the core of your heart and mind, when something sickens you to your stomach, you have to find a way of fighting against that thing.  The monstrous treatment and killing of Darren Rainey has galvanized a lot of people into action already, including Harold's sister Windy and the Miami Herald newspaper, who have made massive contributions towards amplifying Harold's voice and supporting this quest to uphold the value of life.  Please read Harold's blogs and feel free to respond to his questions, he would like to hear from you.  You can leave a message at his blog, harold hempstead caged crusader . wordpress . com.

Thanks, Jeremy Schanche