OREGON STATE TROOPER SEEKS REVENGE AFTER CITY COP BLOWS WHISTLE

http://Mediafilter.org/guest/Pages/February.9.2001.15.48.48

This Event Happened in HEPPNER OREGON
ppp7-heppner.oregonvos.net.

To The Pendleton Office of the FBI I am writing in search of Justice. I have been, and continue to be, the victim of criminal police mis-conduct, abuse and ridicule. My name is Raymond Dale Rhode, I am a Reserve Police Officer for the City of Heppner, State of Oregon. I am 40 years old, I have a wife and 5 children ages 3 to 16. My mom lives with us following the death of my dad in 1998. I have Never committed any crimes, my record is clean. I started back to School the latter part of 1998 to obtain my Criminal Justice Degree, and moved my family to Heppner, where I had lived before, from 1985 to 1988, and promised myself I would always return to pursue a career in Law Enforcement, and start my own rock shop, and live out the rest of my life here. We moved here in March of 1999, and I was hired as a Reserve Police Officer in September that same year.After being with the force for 1 year, the Chief told me I was next in line for a full time position, my dreams were coming true. Little did I know but at that very same time Trooper McCool of the Oregon State Police was planning my doom, as he had done countless others, in the past, for getting in his way, "of whom are willing to testify, and the OSP should have some of their complaints on file." This is how and what started the Troopers quest for revenge that has landed me suspended from my duties as a Police Officer, and framed into and under investigation for 1st Degree Aggravated Theft.....Please read the following facts. Last Spring I was involved in an independent investigation through the Governors Office in regards to a 100,000 acre fee hunting ranch here in Heppner called, Ruggs Ranch-TKO, And the Oregon Dept. Of Fish and Wildlife's possible involvement with the ranch.When the ranch owner first heard of it he went to my chief, this rancher owns over 100,000 acres, very wealthy, and told my Chief if he didn't get me backed off he would have my job!!!The Chief told him to go ahead and try!!! During the investigation it was found out that a State Trooper lived on the ranch with his family, Trooper Andrew McCool. This rented Ranch house is 5 miles off the main road and another 10 miles from where he actually starts his patrol area, so thats 30 miles per day, 7,000 miles per year, that he was, and still is driving his cruiser to drive to and from his seclude Rented ranch home, at Which he is the only tenant allowed to hunt for free, which in Law Enf. Is the crime of, "excepting gratuities.".. One day, before he knew of the investigation, he stopped to talk to me while I was setting on Radar. He told me he lived on TKO, I said that"s a bummer, all those deer and pheasants, and you can't hunt. He grinned and said, well I didn't know if I could, but I kept seeing these rooster pheasants coming into my yard and so I asked my landlord, Brian Thompson, of TKO, and he said sure you can hunt anytime you want, don't worry about it. I was shocked, as TKO don't even allow their employees to hunt for free! I never said anything for fear of messing up the investigation I was working on. Around May, 2000 the East Oregonian Newspaper, "Pendleton Or.," got involved and the editor, Richard Hensley wanted to do a story. He came to see me and I took him out on TKO and showed him all the fee hunting, when he seen the State Police car sitting in the driveway in the remote ranch house he asked what's that about, so I told him, but made him promise to keep it confidential, and if he told the Trooper I said anything I would have to deny it, as I had to work with this guy and he would make things very difficult for me. That mis-use of state money was not the objective of this investigation. So he disheartenedly agreed to leave it alone and He didn't tell Trooper McCool, but around the first of Sept. One of his reporters did, and McCool had a fit. I told the Editor to not even print anything about McCool, and he agreed, and didn't. On Oct.1st 2000 while me and my sons were deer hunting my 2 sons became lost, Travis age 16, and Devon, age 14. I waited in the pick- up till 10:00pm when I was getting ready to go look for them Tammy McCool, Trooper McCools wife drove up and had Devon with her. She said that Devon had showed up at their house, which is about 5 miles from where we were, and said he was lost, that they had wounded a deer and found it right at dark, then lost their sense of direction, so Travis stayed with the deer while Devon went in search of a road or farm. Devon said he had no idea where Travis was at. I asked Tammy if she told her husband, she said yes he was making some calls. I told her I would look on this end of the mountain then. I took it for granted that McCool had reported my lost son and search and rescue would be on their way. At 4:00AM we were still looking, at daylight I got into my rig and went driving around to see if I could find them, when Brian Thompson pulled me over and walked up and said, "Well I guess I have you now!" I asked what in the world was he talking about? He said McCool called him and told him we were trespassing, I said I don't believe that, he said oh yes, ever since you told that reporter about his free hunting he has been mad as hell at you. I asked why didn't anyone come to help last night? He said he was at a birthday party, I told him my son was still lost and it had gotten below freezing the night before. He said, well maybe we can work something out, he said he would help me find my son if I wrote the newspaper and retracted everything, and wrote the Governor's office and Oregon Dept. Of Fish and Wildlife retracting everything. I said we would talk, but my son is in danger. We couldn't find him, At noon he said he had some clients to take hunting, at 3:30 I finally located Travis!!!I went home, Thompson called me and still tried to coerce me, I told him that was a crime, he said he was pressing the trespass charges, so we met with the Sergeant and Lieutenant from the OSP Pendleton office. I told them about McCools failure to act, That he had his cruiser there with a spotlight, and PA system, sirens, if not that, he had a 4-wheeler, but he did nothing but call Brian Thompson and tell him how to file criminal trespass charges!!! They said theywould talk to McCool, which I never heard about again, as to the trespass they didn't press any charges as Travis's trespassing was an act of necessity. On Oct.4th I called McCool and asked him why he didn't help me,...after a pause he said, "Well first of all I had just got off duty, so I wasn't on duty, and second I had a couple beers and didn't think it was safe to go out." I asked why he didn't call search and rescue, he said he figured I would!!!, I have this conversation on tape, So all night while my son froze in the dark, and we stumbled around in the dark, McCool had full knowledge of it but opted to sit on his couch and drink beer, while this all occurred practically in his backyard!!!Later during the phone call I told him about the reporter, I was very upset, and scared, and when he asked me if I told the reporter about his free hunting, I lied and said I didn't say anything. Given the fact that my son had almost died because of him, I didn't want to upset him more. I have now cleared that up and admitted my lie. but we supposedly worked through it and things seemed fine, boy was I ever more wrong!!!!!! Over the next couple months I documented numerous acts of mis-conduct and time-wasting acts of intimidation while I was on duty. Especially when he was teamed up with Rayburn. on Dec. 7th while I was on duty he made a couple false reports, along with a Deputy Randy Rayburn of the Morrow County Sheriff's Office, I have a copy of the reports for your review, upon request. At any rate it was enough to warrant me filing a complaint against both of them as their behavior was only getting worse. I wrote the report and gave it to my Chief on Dec.8th, he didn't show it to them and discuss it until Dec. 11th, at which time they agreed to back off. As to their making a false report over the police band, no charges were filed! McCool began his quest that night, he called my Chief and wanted all the inf. On a car wreck my wife had been in on Nov.20th 2000, after talking to the Chief, my Chief said it was clear that McCool had a vendetta against me. When McCool couldn't find illegal behavior to nail me on, he went to work with his buddy Rayburn and concocted the following; On Dec. 12th, one day after they got my complaint, McCool and Rayburn claim they got an anonymous MSG on their cell phones saying I was mailing out large qualifies of opal via UPS, How convienent, just ONE day after I filed the report against them???What a coward assed act!!! note; There is no crime in mailing rocks, and everyone in this small town knows I have my own rock shop, and opal Butte is just 20 miles away...end of note. On Dec. 20th I called the Chief and he told me they had agreed to back off and everything should be fine. At 2:00pm I get a knock on my door, it was McCool and a couple other State Troopers, McCool had a search warrant and said I was under suspicion for Aggravated Theft for the theft of $20,000 in opals from a mine on opal Butte!!!!I was shocked, he then started to read me my rights, but I wouldn't give him the pleasure. I told my wife to call my Chief, she said he was on his way over. I asked the Sergeant if he knew about the complaints I had filed against McCool, he said he didn't know anything about it!,McCool then tells me to open the door and let them in!!!I said my Chief will be here in just a sec, I want him to see this. McCool put his chest up against mine and stared me in the eye and said "OPEN THE DOOR NOW!!!! I yelled for him to back off, luckily the Chief pulled in, and I told them to go ahead and go in. My Chief was in a state of shock. McCool went straight for the living room, where my Wife, and Mom and 5 kids all sat in horror and dis- belief. McCool really made a show of it, purposely going into the livingroom in front of them and taking pictures of rocks that weren't even Opal! It was the most disgusting " gestapo type," police action I have ever witnessed! he took dozens of pictures, most weren't even of Opal, none of them knew what Opal even looked like! Just to get rid of them I showed them some of the Opal that was described as being stolen, as most collectors have that type of opal.....Note..Last August there was a reported theft on the mine, we know who did it and have tried to get them to investigate them but they refuse to! Even though there is 3 adult witnesses and one teenager. Now the real thieves have had to have hidden their trail and any evidence. McCool wasn't out to solve the alleged theft, he was out to ruin my job, and get revenge. That night I called the mine owner, he said that he wanted to drop the whole thing but this Trooper McCool kept insisting that they had a good solid lead. He told him that his suspect was in Portland, but McCool didn't want to hear about that. The miner also told McCool that he didn't suspect me or my sons. But McCool claims in his probable cause affidavit that the mine owner didn't know us!!!My son worked with him for a week last Summer, they gave us permission to gather any opal they left when they pulled out in the Fall. .....Now he has isolated the owner, so I can't talk to him about these conflicting statements, McCool is clearly inducing the victim. Then there is the question of why the mine owner would want to just drop the case??? It throws a light of suspicion on the miner.The people we KNOW took the opal are actually two employees of the mine. There are 3 guys that own the mine, and 2 College boys that helped work it, both were hired by the miner. When the County did the initial investigation the Deputy suspected the 2 College boys, as they were alone with the mine for several days when the theft occurred. After the Deputy requested the inf. the miner wouldn't comply, and stopped talking to the police, and just wanted to drop the whole thing, yet claims in the initial police report that $20,000 in stones was stole???I don't think so!!!....Even after McCool called him the miner was still relunctant, now if any other officer was investigating that, an alarm bell would have went off right then!!!. I have the miner and I on a taped telephone conversation Dec. 20th 2000, a couple hours after McCool searched my home. It is clear that he didn't want to pursue this, and that he is hiding something, " as to the 2 college boys, that is." I have sent out numerous complaints and proof, that McCool has acted with Malice and BadFaith and the entire investigation was instituted out of revenge, which is a violation of the Constitution!!!Still he continues to haunt me, he has never been punished for the gratuities he received, the false reports he made, or any of the other unpolice like behavior he has engaged in. They continue to treat me like a drug cartel, spending hundreds of man hours in the construction of this frame up. On Dec. 21st McCool shows the mine owner the 7 pieces of opal he took from my home, and the one I gave him to show the miner is the one the miner claimed was part of the stolen lot!!! This is what McCool claims. Also thus far every piece of High Grade Opal they have found that belongs to me they say the miner claims is his!!!Which it is impossiable to identify these stones, they are fungiable, there are no identification marks on them. There is no way Huett can look at a stone and say with complete certainty that that is one of the stolen stones! They take out hundreds, actually tons of opal rock every year. During the taped conversation with Huett he told me that he was very upset with me as I had been selling Opal that he said I could have, but I was selling lower than him, and he said I was upsetting the market by undercutting his prices!!!Note: We had permission to go up and get opal after they pulled out this last Fall, and we also had 2 or 300 pounds of Opal from our personal collection. Another thing that is very upsetting is The District Attorney, David Allen is very very good friends with McCool, I have heard that he is going to nail me on this with full force!!!!They have been good friends for over a year, to the point of spending leisure time together. Just January 31st, McCools wife and the DA"s wife were having lunch together. I called and sent faxes to McCools supervisors about his malice and bad faith, they defend him, and continue to let him work the case. McCool has been calling my customers and rather than follow standard procedure and discreetly tell them that the opal might be stolen, McCool will say straight out Dale Rhode sold you some stolen opal, which scares my customers silly, he has totally ruined my rock shop business. McCool, Rayburn and David Allen continue to tell my Chief that I'm guilty as sin, no doubt about it. I talked to my Chief the other day and he told me to hang in there, but I'm still suspended pending this bogus investigation! But that he will testify to McCools vindictiveness towards me. Also I need to mention that around the end of Oct and the first week of November I emailed several lawyers in the Portland area, with the intentions of filing a tort against TKO and Andy McCool for their failure to act when my son was lost. I can't help but wonder if they caught wind of this. I need your help, as I am fearful that they will continue to implicate me into this, and maybe even other crimes. I have a clean record, Criminal Justice has been my life. I could end up in prison over this, and the dishonorable cops and DA will be out doing their dirty work. Please let me know what can be done to help me. There is also some other mis-conduct that MUST be told, as I witnessed them talking about it before we became enemies. McCool and Rayburn started tag-teaming this last Summer, mainly targeting poor teenagers, there was two that I will always remember, as McCool and Rayburn were talking about them and Rayburn said he would like to take them out and beat the SH_T out of them, put a bullet in their head and leave them in the sand, McCool said, That ain't no sh_t!!!Hell I'd even throw a party over it!!!!...I was totally shocked as these kids were only 14 and 15 years old. Yes they had troubles, but my goodness I'll never ever forget the look in both their eyes, I knew then that they were very dangerous, now I know they will do whatever it takes in seeking revenge. I have always heard about whistle blowers in big depatments catching all kinds of retaliation, it happens in small towns to. I fear for the physical well being of my family as well as myself. I hope you can help bring justice, and get these two bad cops off the beat before they ruin more lives, or kill someone. McCool has intimidated the entire town, as the citizens have seen what has happened to me over turning McCool in. Personally shocked that McCool is still allowed to work, unsupervised, after all the complaints. Another incident that was witnessed by numerous officers from the Morrow County Sheriffs Dept., Heppner PD, is last March during the St.Patrick's day celebration a couple very intoxicated guys got into a fight. A reserve called for back-up, and about 3 or 4 of us responded, including McCool. It was a couple good ole boys, drunker than drunk, and the reserve was doing a good job of gaining voluntary compliance. The guy was still yelling a lot, McCool stepped in and yelled back at the guy, which pissed him off. McCool got his pepper spray out and shook it up and gave the guy 10 seconds to leave. We all stood shocked, because McCool wasn't bluffing. You could tell he wanted the drunk guy to try something!!! A couple cops told McCool to put it away that it was upsetting the drunk guy, and NONE of us were in danger. Luckily a friend of the drunk guy came and grabbed him and they took off. This guy witnessed the close call of police brutality that almost took place, and after they left, McCool laughed and said, "I was hoping, just hoping that stupid fuck would take a swing at me!!!" I will bet within a few years, if that, McCool will either seriously hurt, or kill someone, unjustified. He poses a serious threat to the citizens of Heppner as he is 99% unsupervised, and goes around like a loose cannon.....Yes McCool has proved he has some control over the DA"S office, and a couple Deputies, but unless he puts a bullet in my head, I will not fear him, and look forward to going to court and presenting my case. He can intimidate other victims, but he isn't about to intimidate me. He has broken the law, filed false reports, lied to a circuit court judge, stalked me, molested the Fourth Amendment, failed to act that could have cost my son his life, tried to ruin my job by KNOWINGLY initial a bogus investigation against me costing the State thousands of dollars in investigating me, and cost my family and I such pain and suffering that no amount of money can compensate, he has induced witnesses, made fun of fantasizing about murdering two teenagers, profiled poor whites and hispanics, engaged in the unlawful practice of law, and abused the Justice System by engaging in unlawful practice with the District Attorney, and tarnished his badge in many other ways. What other acts of mis- conduct must he commit before something is done??? I would like to mention that on Feb 8, 2001 my Chief told me he had seen the Ranch owner coming out of the store, he walked over to my Chief with this shit eaten grin, and said, "Whatda I tell you hahaha," and walked off. This is in reference to the investigation of the fee hunting ranch and the rancher telling my Chief he would have my job! From what I have been told, McCool and the rancher, Thompson had a pretty good ole party after McCool searched my home and got me suspended off work. It's enough to make a person sick. Thompson and McCool, the two jerks that let my son almost freeze to death all night, lost in the dark. Why do they get away with it? MONEY, Thompson is worth a lot to this town, he's like a king-pin trying to control it, he bribed the Oregon State Police, I wonder who else he has bribed to turn our Criminal Justice System into a Criminal Injustice System. If you can help in any way to fight these criminals that control this towns Justice System, please do. Thank You Raymond Dale Rhode PO BOX 792 Heppner Or 97836

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