Brickbat: Close Enough for Police Work

Cody Lee Williams spent 35 days in a Clay County, Florida, jail after being arrested on sex assault charges. Williams knew he hadn't committed any crime and didn't know the girl who had accused him. While looking over documents in court, however, he discovered the person who was supposed to have been arrested was a boy who attended the same high school he did, Cody Raymond Williams. He alerted his mother, who convinced a deputy to show the girl a picture of her son. The girl said he wasn't the one who assaulted her. Three deputies involved in Cody Lee Williams' arrest and incarceration were given counseling. Deputy Johnny Hawkins was suspended for 10 days without pay and transferred from the investigative division.

Comments

[Snark Plissken]

He alerted his mother, who convinced a deputy to show the girl a picture of her son.

To which the deputy responded, "Work, work, work, work, work, work, work....hello boys, have a good nights rest? I missed you!"

[invisible furry hand]

Cody Lee Williams had been on probation for a drug possession conviction and had failed a drug test shortly before his wrongful arrest on the sex-assault charge, the records stated. He was charged with the probation violation after his arrest on the sex-assault charge.

Five days after being released from jail on the sex assault charge in October, he admitted to violating his probation to a judge, who credited him for time served and dropped the case, the records said.

Well that was a freebie

[db]

A year from now he'll get a letter demanding child support.

[db]

How is it that the accused here was the one to.find the.name.discrepancy? Everyone fail3d here, from the arrest8ng officers to the defending attorney.

[invisible furry hand]

the little girl who was the complainant was asked why she hadn't specified which Cody assaulted her, according to the cops in one report I read. WELL SHE WOULD HAVE IF YOU'D SHOWN HER THE FUCKING PHOTO LINE UP.

When you're reduced to shifting the blame to a 12 year old you know you're desperate

[Pavlov's Cat]

I have lots of friends whose middle names could be Keihanaikukauakahihuliheekahaunaele for all I know.
And she likely didn't know two boys by the same first & last existed.

[Ted S.]

They tried typing the name into the database search using db's cell phone, and didn't get any matches.

[SugarFree]

BURN!

[Clich? Bandit]

Just so we can codify:

SugarFree'd - fuck up a link

Ted S.'d - Post exact same comment 1 millisecond too late

John'd - Misspell in an unintentionally humorous fashion

db'd - Inability to type on a mobile device leading to excess periods and weird characters.

To Tony - To slip into unintelligible babel while claiming moral superiority.

I miss anything?

[Fist of Etiquette]

Three deputies involved in Cody Lee Williams' arrest and incarceration were given counseling.

OMG, I hope they're okay!

[WTF]

They went home safely that night. It's all that matters.

[Almanian!]

Yeah, this was what caught my eye. Thank God they have counseling for those poor officers.

The stress! OMG!

[wareagle]

sounds like a job for Rollo!

[Fist of Etiquette]

I'm sure that actually meant corrective training, which no doubt boils down to the sheriff telling them not to make him look bad again before the next election.

[AlmightyJB]

Actually 10 days without pay and getting transferred out of the investigations department is probably a better outcome than most of these stories. Unless working in investigations is like the suckiest job there. He probably got transferred to vice where he's now getting free bj's from hookers before arresting them for prostitution.

[Steve G]

That'll teach him to impersonate a sex offender! Skeered straight!!
Good work boys, now lets go git us a beer.

[WTF]

What do you want to bet the kid has to register as a sex offender based only on the arrest?

[sarcasmic]

Doubt it.

[WTF]

For now.

[sarcasmic]

In high school I was accused of selling drugs. And while it never went to trial let alone conviction, it was enough for the military to tell me to screw when I tried to sign up a few years later.

[Doctor Whom]

Three deputies involved in Cody Lee Williams' arrest and incarceration were given counseling.

And by "counseling" you mean "adult literacy courses," right?

[UnCivilServant]

Naw, it said "Cody Williams" on the complaint, so they nabbed the first one they found.

[WTF]

Close enough for government work.

[UnCivilServant]

Sadly true. While there is a space for a middle initial on our documents, it's often omitted, even by the people who own the name in question. The powers that be don't want to finance a refactoring of the databases.

[JD the elder]

Look, it's not their fault that Cody Lee Williams' heart condition didn't appear on Cody Raymond Williams' file.

[Matrix]

well, if you're name is John Smith and someone says a John Smith committed a crime, there will be a lot of people getting locked up.

[mr lizard]

Something something .... They all look a like....

[Almanian!]

I went to school - actually, high school AND college, with a kid named.....Joe Smith.

He was guilty of/accomplished/was used as an example for EVERYTHING.

I can't believe he was never wrongfully accused of something. Maybe he was and we never knew. Cause, y'know, all those Joe Smiths look alike.

[Matrix]

all those Joe Smiths look alike
RACIST!

[UnCivilServant]

Did he also found a religion?

[Radioactive]

Hope he cam eup with a better saint than Moroni....Moroni hahahahahahah Moroni?

[mr lizard]

I just realized the kid on the right looks like SadFace

[Suthenboy]

Around here there is a small newspaper that publishes the photos and charges against people arrested. Last year some time I was sitting in the gun shop having coffee. During a lull in the conversation I picked that little paper up and flipped through it. On the third page I learned that I had been arrested for rape. Holy shit, the guy even looked a lot like me.

I hate when I am the last one to find out about stuff I have done.

[UnCivilServant]

The closest I came to that sort of situation is when I looked myself up and discovered I was a state trooper. Boy did I panic - then I remembered it was a government database, and didn't have a middle initial.

[pan fried wylie]

"Fuck, I've been showing up at the wrong office all this time?!"

[Wasteland Wanderer]

Luckily I have a fairly uncommon name. I can find maybe three other guys online with the same one.

One is a lawyer, though, which isn't quite like finding your name in the arrest records, but close.

[sarcasmic]

I guess I should be glad I have an uncommon last name.

[Pavlov's Cat]

Depends on where you are, too. When I lived in LA, there wasn't another person with my last name in the whole phone book. New Orleans a couple dozen. In Charlotte, we filled pages.

[sarcasmic]

A quick google found this site

http://howmanyofme.com/search/

While my first name is very common, according to that site only 7,409 people in the US share my last name, and only 122 people share both my first and last names.

[UnCivilServant]

That many? I got 3,634 of my surname, and 57 of both. (but some five million with my first name, it's in the top 5)

[Bronwyn]

I'm the only one of me. That's probably a very good thing.

[Wasteland Wanderer]

There are 47 people in the U.S. named [My Name].

I'm surprised it's that many.

[BuSab Agent]

It says there are 3 of me and I know one of the others (my husband's cousin)...so who is this other one? And is she a criminal?

[SRVolunteer]

7200 of me.

Millions with my first name, millions with my last name.

There are 4 people with my name who work for the (very large) company I work for, and 6 people with my name who work for the (not-so-large) government agency I contract with.

I am practically un-googleable.

[Bones]

I wish it allowed me to input my middle name as well because that's what I go by. For first and last name, there are 1412 Americans with my name and one is my dad. But we have different middle names and of course it would reduce the 1412 by a lot. Curious. This site disappoints.

[Pavlov's Cat]

First 1,046,744
Last 11,718
First and Last 39

[Corning]

First and Last 39

There are 4 of me.

It will be easy to kill off the other 3 I think.

[sarcasmic]

I won't be here for the morning links, so I might as well post this now.

Seized 'Monroe threesome sex tape starring JFK and his brother Robert' will not be auctioned after owner settles $200,000 court debt

The tape was seized by authorities after owner defaulted on a court debts
Allegedly depicts Marilyn Monroe with John F Kennedy and brother Robert
Collector 'kept it private out of respect for Monroe's ex Joe DiMaggio'
Auction cancelled after the $200,000 debt was paid, police said today

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....elled.html

[Bean Counter]

I once received a letter demanding I pay the state of Texas several years of child support because I had fathered a child whose mother was on welfare while I was living with her in Arlington. The mother was black and she described the father as having a dark complexion, 6 foot 2 inches and 190 pounds. I'm white, 5 foot 8 inches and weigh well north of 230. Oh, and I had lived and worked in Denver for 3 years before the complaint said I began living with mother in Texas. By some miracle, I was able to contact a reasonable human being in the welfare office who removed my name and address from the complaint. It seems they had sent the same letter to several men all over the country who had a name similar to mine and had ever lived in Arlington. I'm still amazed they never attached my salary.

[Hillary's Clitdong]

Why don't you want to pay your fair share? That child needs a father.

[neoteny]

Precisely. It isn't the biology which matters but the feelings.

[R C Dean]

They probably just found another sucker with your name who could afford more child support.

Because the main thing is getting money to the baby mama. Who it comes from is secondary.

[Notorious G.K.C.]

"It seems they had sent the same letter to several men all over the country who had a name similar to mine and had ever lived in Arlington."

So they knew they were breaking the law?

[Pavlov's Cat]

I'm white, 5 foot 8 inches and weigh well north of 230.

I must be your evil twin!

Once I had to travel to MD to give DNA and blood samples. (No, for some reason they couldn't take the DNA from the blood.) I had to sue to get the chance to have that test. A woman I knew in college decided to list me as the father of her kid who was born several years after I last saw her.
Then I had to fight to not pay child support anyway because, according to the judge, my name on the birth certificate made it a legal fact in Maryland that I was this kid's father.

[R C Dean]

my name on the birth certificate made it a legal fact in Maryland that I was this kid's father.

Thus, the main thing is getting money to the baby mama. Who it comes from is secondary.

[Corning]

So you are a white guy with a black guys name?

WHIGGER!!

[pan fried wylie]

If you've done nothing wrong something something fuck you that's why.

[Notorious G.K.C.]

It say the sheriff's office is trying to have the record expunged.

But will he still be required to tell potential employers he got arrested for having sex with a girl under 12? How many employers will get beyond that particular fact?

[sarcasmic]

Since when did you have to disclose arrests that did not end in convictions?

[Bean Counter]

You're kidding, right? Every job application you fill out.

[Stormy Dragon]

Legally employers may ask about convictions, but not arrests (although I'm sure many ask about arrests anyways).

[sarcasmic]

I seem to remember applications asking for convictions, not arrests. Then again it's been a while since I filled out an application.

[Bramblyspam]

If the record is expunged then it never happened. The kid will be allowed to answer "no" if he's asked if he's ever been arrested.

I would know, my stepson got arrested for an idiotic stunt when he was a minor, and got his record expunged after he turned 18.

[sarcasmic]

Oh, it's still there. Expunged just means hidden from little people. But it's right there in his file for any cop or federal investigator to see.

[R C Dean]

They can ask for arrests as well as convictions.

What they can't do is say out loud that you were turned down because of an arrest.

The fact that an individual was arrested is not proof that he engaged in criminal conduct. Therefore, an individual's arrest record standing alone may not be used by an employer to take a negative employment action (e.g., not hiring, firing or suspending an applicant or employee). However, an arrest may trigger an inquiry into whether the conduct underlying the arrest justifies such action.

http://www.eeoc.gov/laws/pract.....iction.cfm

[Bramblyspam]

If you have a common last name, then please please please give your kids a really uncommon first name. Like Balthazar. Or Iphigenia.

For the children!

[Corning]

Oh Florida.

The land where they name everyone the same yet where everyone is the least mentally equipped to deal with everyone having the same name.

[Corning]

HA HA I totally thought the one on the left was rapist.

he just looks evil...and his skin is darker or something.

The rapist is the clean cut kid on the right.