Florida cop sentenced to 12 years in prison for planting drugs

[ansible]

A former Florida cop was sentenced Tuesday to 12 years and six months in prison for planting drugs at three different traffic stops. Wester was convicted in the cases of Teresa Odom, Joshua Emanuel and Steven Vann. During Odom’s arrest, Wester was seen on body-cam footage carrying a baggie to her truck.

Zachary Wester, 28, was convicted in May on 19 charges related to the three incidents that occurred while he worked for the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office from 2016 to 2018. Wester was fired amid the investigation, and prosecutors in the panhandle county dropped 119 cases he was involved in.

Wester was convicted of one count of racketeering, three counts of official misconduct, three counts of perjury, three counts of fabricating evidence, four counts of possession of a controlled substance, three counts of possession of drug paraphernalia and two counts of false imprisonment. The sentences for those crimes would not usually merit such a lengthy sentence, but prosecutors argued Wester’s case was a special circumstance, according to the Democrat.

“With that great power comes great responsibility,” Williams said Tuesday at the sentencing hearing. “The defendant made choices to violate that trust and committed crimes against those people he was sworn to protect.”

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/florida-cop-sentenced-to-12-years-in-prison-for-planting-drugs/ar-AAM7E28

[Hugh_Lebowski]

1. Well now THAT ... is some legitimately GREAT NEWS!

[Dream Girl]

2. Love this! nt

[GoodRaisin]

3. Planting drugs alone should have a 12 year sentence. nt

[Baked Potato]

4. Good! We watched some of his poor victims testifying on YouTube.

This guy was ruining people’s lives real bad.

[d_r]

5. I wonder what the motivation was

he was planting meth on them. Was he doing it to specific people he had identified and wanted to get personally, or was he doing it to random people to try and look like he was getting a lot of busts.

[wryter2000]

13. Listen to how cops talk

They "know" who commits crimes and lament that they're not allowed to arrest them based solely on their "knowledge." Plant evidence, and, Boom. Arrest accomplished.

[d_r]

24. I found this youtube of the trail

the sound quality is crap, but it has body camera video from the traffic stops.

ETA - he keeps pushing the guy to name people that may have left it in the car.

"you don't appear to be a user, but the state entrusts me to get to the bottom of it, you can't think of *anybody* that could have left it?"

[The Magistrate]

6. Could Turn To Be A 'Natural Life' Sentence, Sir

Can't honestly say it would trouble me....

[Patterson]

7. Not enough time.

[Prof. Toru Tanaka]

9. I agree, considering

he was convicted of 19 total counts.

[exboyfil]

8. Mighty man of God

Just doing God's work by planting drugs.

“When that career ended, suddenly I watched a part of him and myself as well die,” she said. “This blow is one that will not be overcome quickly, and honestly one we may never overcome. The Zach that is in the court before you today is a mighty man of God. Has been greatly missed, but the place he has been missed the most is in our home.”

Friends of Wester also testified about his work with his family’s church and love for Jackson County.

“We need more men like him to bring healthy change to our community,” friend Michael Montague said. “Zach is an asset to everyone’s life, not a liability. He deposited hope in their lives, inspiration, motivation and encouragement.”

[Midnight Writer]

15. "He deposited drugs in people's cars and deposited innocent folks into prisons"

[Mariana]

10. I'd like to know how many of his colleagues

knew or suspected that this was going on, and did nothing about it.

[SeattleVet]

18. ...and how many of them are doing the same crap, but have not yet been caught.

[Prof. Toru Tanaka]

11. "We need more men like him to bring healthy change to this community."

Uh, he was PLANTING DRUGS in people's vehicles to arrest them, dipshit!

[11 Bravo]

12. He should do time equal to the cumulative time that the three ...

individuals could have received had they been given a max sentence as a result of his criminal behavior.

[Grokenstein]

14. So long, pig.

[mountain grammy]

17. I think he deserved the whole 15

maximum sentence.

[Whatthe_Firetruck]

19. Uncle Ben would be proud...

Last edited Wed Jul 14, 2021, 06:07 PM - Edit history (2)

...of the use of his catch phrase.

I sometimes wonder how they justify this sort of thing. 'Maybe they didn't do this, but they gotta be guilty of something'?

Or just for the power trip lulz.

[BlueCheeseAgain]

20. Honestly, for such a gross abuse of public trust...

The sentence should be a lot longer. He tried to deprive innocent people of their liberty and ruin their lives.

[keithbvadu2]

21. He is going to be popular.

He is going to be popular.

Isolation?

[iluvtennis]

22. Good - some justice against dirty police. n/t

[tishaLA]

23. Every single victim should have been allowed to

do a victim impact statement and every single one of the drug convictions he'd gotten should be vacated and the victim compensated.

One of his victims lost custody of his child. All of them had their lives toyed with. AND the prosecutor who discovered this guy's crimes has had to file a whistleblower complaint, quit the DA's office, and sue over her treatment for exposing the crimes.