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| Time | Text |
|---|---|
| Well, this may seem like just a small local story, but it shows how the police themselves | |
| will suffer when the government's allowed to cut itself loose from the Constitution. | |
| And it shows how the mainstream media can make itself a tool of the government to crucify those the government doesn't like. | |
| We all know how abusive and vindictive the TSA can be. | |
| We've seen this released in recent news articles. | |
| But the key question here is, was the TSA able to get an entire small-town police department disbanded and its police chief put on leave? | |
| We reported five days after the Chief was placed on leave. | |
| Four days after our report, KOTA Channel 7, the ABC Disney affiliate in Albuquerque, ran a report that completely changed the timeline of events and made false allegations about the Chief. | |
| Chief Harger was stopped by TSA and questioned about his two IDs. | |
| At the convention, he spoke with an internet talk show host. | |
| The story grew on the web, but it caused Sandoval County to do some digging. | |
| The sheriff revoked Harger's authority to do law enforcement in the rest of the county outside of the village. | |
| Let's take these in reverse order. | |
| I verified with Sheriff Mack, who runs the CSPOA and presided over the convention, that there were no internet interviews at the convention. | |
| I also verified that the earliest report from Vincent Fanelli was four days after the chief was placed on leave. | |
| So the sheriff didn't learn of the incident from the internet. | |
| Unethical, unconstitutional TSA agent. | |
| He made the statement to me, I know people in your district, and I'm going to make some phone calls. | |
| Well, he lived up to his word. | |
| Chief Harger has just obtained this security footage. | |
| All your stuff checked in? | |
| Yes, sir. | |
| Do you want me to check your ID real quick? | |
| No, not at all. | |
| You guys didn't go to any other checkpoint on us? | |
| You guys go to the checkpoint already? | |
| Yeah, we went to a checkpoint. | |
| We went to the TSA yesterday. | |
| All I said was, I have a ticket under Chief Harger. | |
| My driver's license for that name is expired. | |
| Will they still let me fly? | |
| I said, go talk to TSA. | |
| So I asked for a supervisor, not a rookie. | |
| I talked to the supervisor and said, here's the deal. | |
| I have two different vacations because of the nature of what I do for a living. | |
| My ticket isn't for Schoenhauger. | |
| What do I need to do? | |
| He said, no, as long as you've got information for Schoenhauger, you're good. | |
| So we came here and got our ticket, and here's what I'm finding out. | |
| But later, he was approached by a man in plain clothes who identified himself only as a federal agent. | |
| And so, he demands to see identification, and I tell him, you know, we've already been through this. | |
| I've already presented my identification at least three times to various officials. | |
| What's going on? | |
| He told me that I was a person of interest, that I was listed as being suspicious. | |
| So, I comply. | |
| I give him my credentials. | |
| I finally just asserted my First Amendment rights, my Fourth Amendment rights. | |
| And it really upset him. | |
| You could see it in his demeanor. | |
| Ultimately, I gave him a scenario. | |
| I said, you know, sir, the way you're treating me, I said, how would you like it if I were to treat you that way? | |
| When the chief returned, his entire police department was disbanded. | |
| And he was put on administrative leave, even though just two days before he left, he had been given a meritorious commendation by the mayor. | |
| The sequence of events reported by KOTA is false. | |
| But the real thrust of their report is to attack the police chief for having two names. | |
| The police chief with two identities goes before his village council tonight. | |
| Leaders in Hemisprings insist they are perfectly happy with Shane Harger, but others still have questions about a man with two names. | |
| Some are happy, but others have questions. | |
| Hmm, must be something shady. | |
| Their spin is that this is a case about a police chief with two names, and just so you don't miss the point, they leave it up throughout the entire report on the lower thirds. | |
| KOTA does briefly mention why Chief Harger has two names. | |
| I have a valid driver's license under Braxton Hayes, that is true. | |
| An identity he says he assumed following his interview in the Levi Chavez case. | |
| It was done lawfully and legally. | |
| Chief Harger's role in the Levi Chavez case where another cop was charged with murder was much more than just an interview. | |
| It sheds light on why he would have two names and it also sheds light on his character. | |
| Levi Chavez was a cop who said his wife committed suicide using his service revolver. | |
| Shane Harger was a deputy and first on the scene. | |
| There were several things that led him to believe that it was not a suicide, but a possible homicide. | |
| And then Chavez's police friend showed up, out of their jurisdiction, and started destroying evidence. | |
| According to the deposition, Deputy Shane Harger said he was appalled when he was told by an APD lieutenant He was going to cut up and remove bloody sheets. | |
| Harger said in the deposition, quote, I was appalled that a lieutenant of a renowned agency as Albuquerque Police Department would even consider entering a homicide scene out of his jurisdiction, let alone remove evidence. | |
| That was a report at the time of the trial from another Albuquerque TV station, KOB Channel 4. | |
| But KOTA Channel 7, that is now attacking Chief Harger, reported a police lieutenant suspiciously destroying evidence this way at the time. | |
| But when O'Connell saw the bloody bedding and mattress, he asked and got the okay from the Valencia County Sheriff's Office to clean it up. | |
| He became a little emotional when he explained why. | |
| I had a personal experience with suicide in our family. | |
| You can tell that was pretty difficult for Lieutenant O'Connell to say again. | |
| So Lieutenant, who should know better, and who's out of his jurisdiction, calls and gets permission to destroy evidence, and it just so happens that the suspect is a friend and fellow cop, and KOTA has no questions about that? | |
| The suspect's uncle, Robert Chavez, was a sheriff. | |
| Shane Harger was offered a job and accepted, not knowing that they were related. | |
| The murder suspect's father, Levi Chavez Sr., also worked for Robert Chavez and allegedly approached Shane Harger to give favorable testimony about his son. | |
| When you look at what came to light during the investigation, the destroyed evidence, the alleged car theft ring being run by the Chavez law enforcement family, and the multiple suicides of people involved with the Chavez family cops that were killed with police service revolvers belonging to the Chavez family members, It appears that Shane Harger had very good reason to fear for his life. | |
| KOTA Channel 7 also takes a cheap shot at the Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association. | |
| We were wondering if it wasn't akin to going to a Tea Party meeting. | |
| The CSPOA is not the Tea Party. | |
| It's not partisan. | |
| It's an organization that is there to get sheriffs and police officers to think about their obligations under the Constitution. | |
| And that's something that's apparently a big problem in New Mexico. | |
| Just look at these recent headlines from just the last three months. | |
| A cop shooting up a minivan full of kids. | |
| A man doesn't come to a complete stop. | |
| And the cops force him to undergo enemas, x-rays, and eight anal probes. | |
| A woman has her genitals sprayed with mace by a cop. | |
| You would think that New Mexico would be applauding that someone in law enforcement was concerned about the police staying within the bounds of the law and the Constitution. | |
| The media and law enforcement routinely excuse behavior of cops who abuse citizens, even kill them, if they merely feel threatened. | |
| But if a cop like Chief Harger gets death threats because he's testifying against another cop, he's somehow bad if he legally gets another name to protect himself? | |
| While KOTA attacks him, they're ignoring some very serious questions that affect us all. | |
| Was he targeted by the surveillance state because he's going to a constitutional sheriff's meeting? |
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