Hyped Crimes and Misdemeanors of the Sheriff's Office

[XLFD]

The Ocean County Press reports:  HART — A former Oceana County sheriff’s deputy, who had worked for the department for over 11 years, is facing criminal charges.

Wesley John Hanks, 52, of Hart, was arrested by the Hart post of the Michigan State Police for misdemeanor charges of malicious destruction of trees, shrubs, crops, grass, turf, soil less than $200 and police radio receivers/scanners – use in the commission of a misdemeanor, according to his court file in 78th District Court. He was still employed as a sheriff’s deputy when he allegedly committed the crimes.

Hanks was arraigned last Tuesday, Sept. 20, in district court stemming from an Aug. 5 incident, according to his file.

“He is currently no longer employed with the Oceana County Sheriff’s Office,” said Oceana County Sheriff Robert Farber. The sheriff did not want to elaborate whether Hanks was fired or resigned. “John was employed by the Oceana County Sheriff’s Office from Feb. 21, 2005 until Sept. 21, 2016,” Farber said.

Farber declined further comment on the case, because the investigation was handled by the state police.

Details leading to his arrest are also unclear. Lt. Matt Kanitz of the Hart post said the matter was turned over to the Special Investigation Section at the MSP district headquarters in Rockford. A message left at that office was not immediately returned.

Oceana County Prosecutor Joseph Bizon said he recused himself from the case due to a conflict of interest. The case has been handed over to Newaygo County Prosecutor Robert Springstead, Bizon said. A message left at Springstead’s office was not immediately returned.

A pretrial in district court is scheduled for Tuesday, Oct. 4, at 2 p.m. Hanks’ bail was set at $5,000/personal.

http://www.oceanacountypress.com/2016/09/30/former-deputy-faces-cri...

When you see odd charges like this where a twelve year deputy is ran out of service for some odd misdemeanor charges like malicious destruction of shrubbery valued under $200 and misusing a police radio, and no description is given of the actual incident involved, you can believe that two things are probably afoot.  A corrupt or outgoing administration is cleaning house and a civil lawsuit is in the works for the deputy improperly terminated. 

Here's a possible backstory.  Deputy Hanks was a visible proponent of the Craig Mast for sheriff effort this year and adopted the campaign logo on Deputy Hanks Facebook page; he still has it there.  Mast mentioned several ways he could improve the department, which probably did not endear him to the retiring Sheriff Farber.  Is it merely coincidental that the date of the incident in question happened just a couple of days after the August election where Mast was elected handily to be the next sheriff? 

We'll keep an eye on this while our public officials deny the public the right to see the public records they are entitled to see involving these crimes allegedly committed by a public servant.  The public will pay for it soon enough.  It will cost them much more than $200.

Isn't it odd that our Mason County deputies can be caught unlawfully imprisoning and brutalizing an innocent vehicle passenger on camera, tasering an innocent vehicle passenger on the street and while handcuffed to a hospital bed, and illegally stopping and searching a former county commissioner twice in their car when they were looking for his son, and not suffer any penalties for doing so other than the public paying for their legal bills and settlements when they finally get sued? 

[John Doe Jr]

If Hanks worked for MCSO he would probably get a promotion and an award.

[XLFD]

That's what seems to happen.  Deputy Fort will get the promotion and award once he officially gets sued, if he doesn't get lost in the next snow storm.