SgtCHP
06-17-2009, 08:21 AM
This certainly does not bode well for the overall image.:mad:
CHP officer denies bribery allegations in DUI case
By Raul Hernandez (Contact)
Saturday, June 13, 2009
A California Highway Patrol Officer testified in court Friday that he has made “bets” with alleged drunken drivers many times, as he did after a motorist in Moorpark was pulled over last year.
CHP Officer Keith Bianco testified at a hearing about evidence in the case of 27-year-old Shant Ohannessian of Granada Hills, who is being charged with drunken driving. Bianco said he bet Ohannessian that he was legally intoxicated.
“I asked him if he wanted to bet on it?” said Bianco, adding that he then asked Ohannessian how much money he had in his pocket.
Bianco said Ohannessian said he had $40, and Bianco said he raised his bet to $100. He said he didn’t realize the bet had gone to $200, as Ohannessian claims.
He denied telling Ohannessian that he could get $200 at an ATM at a convenience store across the street from where he was pulled over.
Ventura County Superior Court Judge David Long is holding the evidentiary hearing after Ohannessian’s lawyer, Ben Maserang, filed a legal motion to get all the evidence during his client’s arrest tossed out of court.
Maserang claims the evidence was fabricated after his client refused to pay a $200 bribe.
Maserang subpoenaed Bianco to testify as a defense witness. Bianco, along with CHP Officer Dustin Wood, was secretly recorded by Ohannessian’s passenger Camillo Landinez, 28, of Thousand Oaks about 11:45 p.m. Oct. 28 on Spring Road in Moorpark.
Landinez made the seven-minute recording with his cell phone during the traffic stop. In the recording, a voice identified as Bianco is heard making bets twice.
The recording was deleted by an officer, Maserang said. Ohannessian paid a computer data service $300 to retrieve the deleted file.
Landinez made a call to the 911 dispatcher at 12:45 a.m. on the night of the incident and said CHP officers were asking for a $200 bribe to let them go, according to Maserang.
Bianco denied that he had taken a bribe or deleted the recording, saying he doesn’t know how to erase a recording from a cell phone. He said he’s made bets numerous times with motorists as a tactic to gauge a person’s “ability to be honest” to his questions about intoxication.
Bianco said he was working overtime at a California Department of Transportation highway project at highways 23 and 118 near Los Angeles Avenue in Moorpark. He said he was parked there to protect construction workers and monitor traffic. Bianco said he heard a radio transmission or possibly through a cell phone call that Wood, who was also working overtime nearby at a Caltrans project, had stopped a motorist.
On Thursday in Ventura County Superior Court, Wood testified that he saw a pickup truck stop at a green traffic signal before turning, so he followed the driver, Ohannessian, who Wood said went two feet over the lane divider.
Wood said he followed the vehicle because stopping at a green light could be a sign of intoxication. Wood testified the “bet” was a joke, everybody laughed about it and no money exchanged hands.
Bianco said he’s been with the CHP for 17 years and has worked overtime at Caltrans projects more than 400 times.
A CHP supervisor, Sgt. Michael Curtin, testified that he didn’t recall the exact day that Landinez went to the CHP to file a complaint about his bribery allegations.
Curtin admitted telling Landinez that he could be prosecuted if he filed a false report against the officers. Curtin said he didn’t know it’s against the law and against CHP policies to make such an admonition about prosecution when someone is filing a complaint. Curtin also said he didn’t know that it has been five years since that kind of written admonition was removed from the form used to file a complaint against a CHP officer.
Curtin said he didn’t tell Bianco it was “inappropriate and unprofessional” to make bets with DUI suspects because his hands are tied, since the current allegations could lead to the filing of complaints against officers.
CHP officer denies bribery allegations in DUI case
By Raul Hernandez (Contact)
Saturday, June 13, 2009
A California Highway Patrol Officer testified in court Friday that he has made “bets” with alleged drunken drivers many times, as he did after a motorist in Moorpark was pulled over last year.
CHP Officer Keith Bianco testified at a hearing about evidence in the case of 27-year-old Shant Ohannessian of Granada Hills, who is being charged with drunken driving. Bianco said he bet Ohannessian that he was legally intoxicated.
“I asked him if he wanted to bet on it?” said Bianco, adding that he then asked Ohannessian how much money he had in his pocket.
Bianco said Ohannessian said he had $40, and Bianco said he raised his bet to $100. He said he didn’t realize the bet had gone to $200, as Ohannessian claims.
He denied telling Ohannessian that he could get $200 at an ATM at a convenience store across the street from where he was pulled over.
Ventura County Superior Court Judge David Long is holding the evidentiary hearing after Ohannessian’s lawyer, Ben Maserang, filed a legal motion to get all the evidence during his client’s arrest tossed out of court.
Maserang claims the evidence was fabricated after his client refused to pay a $200 bribe.
Maserang subpoenaed Bianco to testify as a defense witness. Bianco, along with CHP Officer Dustin Wood, was secretly recorded by Ohannessian’s passenger Camillo Landinez, 28, of Thousand Oaks about 11:45 p.m. Oct. 28 on Spring Road in Moorpark.
Landinez made the seven-minute recording with his cell phone during the traffic stop. In the recording, a voice identified as Bianco is heard making bets twice.
The recording was deleted by an officer, Maserang said. Ohannessian paid a computer data service $300 to retrieve the deleted file.
Landinez made a call to the 911 dispatcher at 12:45 a.m. on the night of the incident and said CHP officers were asking for a $200 bribe to let them go, according to Maserang.
Bianco denied that he had taken a bribe or deleted the recording, saying he doesn’t know how to erase a recording from a cell phone. He said he’s made bets numerous times with motorists as a tactic to gauge a person’s “ability to be honest” to his questions about intoxication.
Bianco said he was working overtime at a California Department of Transportation highway project at highways 23 and 118 near Los Angeles Avenue in Moorpark. He said he was parked there to protect construction workers and monitor traffic. Bianco said he heard a radio transmission or possibly through a cell phone call that Wood, who was also working overtime nearby at a Caltrans project, had stopped a motorist.
On Thursday in Ventura County Superior Court, Wood testified that he saw a pickup truck stop at a green traffic signal before turning, so he followed the driver, Ohannessian, who Wood said went two feet over the lane divider.
Wood said he followed the vehicle because stopping at a green light could be a sign of intoxication. Wood testified the “bet” was a joke, everybody laughed about it and no money exchanged hands.
Bianco said he’s been with the CHP for 17 years and has worked overtime at Caltrans projects more than 400 times.
A CHP supervisor, Sgt. Michael Curtin, testified that he didn’t recall the exact day that Landinez went to the CHP to file a complaint about his bribery allegations.
Curtin admitted telling Landinez that he could be prosecuted if he filed a false report against the officers. Curtin said he didn’t know it’s against the law and against CHP policies to make such an admonition about prosecution when someone is filing a complaint. Curtin also said he didn’t know that it has been five years since that kind of written admonition was removed from the form used to file a complaint against a CHP officer.
Curtin said he didn’t tell Bianco it was “inappropriate and unprofessional” to make bets with DUI suspects because his hands are tied, since the current allegations could lead to the filing of complaints against officers.