California: Former Stanislaus County Sheriff’s Deputy Matthew Joseph Dessert, 42, was sentenced to nine years in prison on August 8, 2025, for sexually abusing his teenage daughter. According to The Modesto Bee, County Superior Court Judge Jeff Mangar said that the lawman violated his office’s trust in the “worst possible way.” He was found guilty on all five felony counts of sexual battery and two misdemeanors that he was charged with, after his now-19-year-old daughter detailed years of abuse that began when she was nine, leaving her with diagnosed depression, anxiety, and PTSD. Her plea for his sentence – one year for each year of her abuse – was granted by the court. The Office of County Sheriff Jeff Dirkse stated that Dessert was treated like any other suspect because“no individual is above the law.”

California: Nexstar Media Group reported that Hanford Police Department (HPD) Off. Brian Scandura turned himself in on September 10, 2025, after a grand jury indicted him for involuntary manslaughter in the death of a man he assaulted while making a stop for a bicycle code violation. The Kings County Sheriff’s Office said that Scandura stopped Richard Saunders at 8:40 p.m. on January 27, 2025, for riding a bicycle without a light. After placing Saunders in handcuffs, Scandura allegedly slammed him to the ground, causing a bloody head injury that left Saunders unconsciousness; he died from his injuries 17 days later. County Sheriff David Robinson called video footage from Scandura’s body-worn camera “graphic and disturbing.” An autopsy determined that the cause of death was blunt force head trauma, and the death was ruled a homicide. Scandura, an 18-year HPD veteran, was also charged with assault with force likely to cause great bodily injury and battery with serious bodily injury.

California: Former Orange County Superior Court Judge Jeffrey Ferguson, 74, was sentenced to 35 years to life in prison on September 17, 2025, for the fatal shooting of his 65-year-old wife, Sheryl, following an argument at their Anaheim Hills home in 2023. KABC in Los Angeles said that Ferguson was a criminal court judge for nearly a decade, and a narcotics prosecutor for over 30 years before that; but his career ended with his conviction for second-degree murder, after an earlier mistrial. The defense argued that the shooting was an accident caused by Ferguson’s fumbling the firearm, which in turn resulted from his disabled shoulder. The prosecution countered that he was an experienced gun owner, also pointing to the confession that he texted to his clerk and bailiff: “I lost it. I just shot my wife. I won’t be in tomorrow. I will be in custody. I’m so sorry.” Phillip Ferguson, the couple’s son was present during the shooting and tried to revive his mother with CPR. He served as a key witness in his father’s trial.

California: The Fresno County Sheriff’s Office reported that former Sanger Police Department (SPD) Off. J. DeShawn Torrence, 41, was sentenced to five consecutive life sentences on September 22, 2025, after a federal jury convicted him on eight counts of civil rights violations, five of which involved kidnapping and aggravated sexual abuse. Torrence worked for the small city (pop. 26,649) from 2016 until his arrest in 2021, using his badge to “exploit women who expected the police to protect them” from the “heinous acts of sexual violence” that he committed, according to Assistant U.S. Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon. Among those acts: kidnapping and raping a 21-year-old walking to a store to buy groceries for her young children; raping a 67-year-old after following her into her home during a DUI investigation; and showing up at the home of a domestic violence victim and forcing her to expose herself by falsely claiming that he had to photograph her injuries.

Delaware: Former Bethany Beach Police Department (BBPD) Chief Michael Redmon, 59, and Cpt. Darin Cathell, 50, were sentenced to federal prison on September 15, 2025, after pleading guilty to a six-year overtime fraud scheme that cost the coastal town nearly $300,000, according to WGMD in nearby Rehoboth Beach. Redmon was ordered to serve a 13-month federal prison sentence, followed by three years of supervised release, plus pay $81,850 in restitution and a $50,000 fine. Cathell was sentenced to a two-month federal prison term, followed by three years of supervised release – the first six months on home confinement – and he was ordered to pay $69,970 in restitution and a $25,000 fine. Both men were fired in January 2024 when the scheme came to light. They were set to surrender to the federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) on October 20, 2025. The Town announced plans to pursue civil action against them to recover another $140,000 in lost state and federal grant money that the scheme cost.

Florida: According to WPEC in West Palm Beach, former city police department (WPBPD) Off. Justice Feeley-Carim, 30, was arrested for allegedly coercing sex from a woman while he was on patrol, after he cornered her vehicle in a Walmart parking lot – where she and a companion were smoking marijuana – and approached with gun drawn in March 2025. According to the probable cause affidavit, the cop persisted in his advances even after she refused his request to have sexual intercourse, telling her “just touch it” – by which he meant his penis. Out of fear for her safety, the victim submitted to his demand and rubbed his erection through his uniform. Afterward, Feeley-Carim allegedly warned her not to report the incident, pointing out surveillance cameras in the parking lot that would have recorded her smoking pot. The victim reported the incident 13 days later, and WPBPD fired Feeley-Carim on April 16, 2025, still within the probationary period following his September 2024 hire. He was then booked into the County jail on August 30, 2025, on charges of kidnapping and battery. His bond was set at $200,000. Feeley-Carim previously worked for three years with the Fort Pierce Police Department, where he was named Officer of the Month, only to later resign amid allegations of chronic absenteeism.

Florida: Former Ormond Beach Police Department (OBPD) Off. Jacob Cannon, 33, was sentenced to six months in the Volusia County Jail on July 29, 2025, after surveillance video at the Department Headquarters captured him violently throwing a handcuffed arrestee to the ground, WESH in Orlando reported. In that December 2024 incident, Cannon claimed that Shanna McRee, who was in custody for a DUI, fell while attempting to run, but the video evidence gave the lie to that assertion. The force of the fall left McRee with a head injury that required seven stitches. OBPD investigators determined that Cannon used excessive force and was abusive. He resigned two months later, when he picked up the felony battery charge on which he was convicted. After his release from jail, he will also serve two years of probation.

Hawaii: News USA Today reported that former Honolulu Police Department (HPD) Off. Mason Jordan, 34, was sentenced to 23 years in federal prison on August 27, 2025, after pleading guilty to sexually exploiting three minors and coercing two of them into prostitution. The disgraced cop evaded discovery of his crimes, which included harassing and cyberstalking over a four-year period, by “systematically rotating between multiple phones, SIM cards, fake email accounts, online phone number services, and false social media profiles,” according to HPD Interim Chief Rade Vanic. He pledged to strengthen policies and oversight with enhanced background checks, improved training on ethics and boundaries, and clearer channels for reporting misconduct.

Illinois: On September 18, 2025, Chicago Police Department (CPD) Off. Kevin Rodriguez, 27, was indicted on federal charges for allegedly using his law enforcement credentials to illegally purchase assault weapons for another man who smuggled them into Mexico. The U.S. Attorney’s Office (USAO) for the Northern District of Illinois announced that Rodriguez faces charges including conspiracy and making false statements on federal firearms purchase forms. The indictment alleges that in September 2024, Rodriguez bought two assault-style weapons in Indiana and Illinois for Diego Valdez, 25, who is not legally permitted to own such weapons. Valdez reportedly paid Rodriguez more than $2,600 via Zelle for the guns, which he later smuggled into Mexico. Both men have pleaded not guilty. Rodriguez was placed on unpaid leave, and the CPD launched an internal investigation.

Indiana: Already serving a 12-year state prison term after pleading guilty to 27 felony embezzlement charges, former Clark County Sheriff Jamey Noel, 53, was ordered to pay $918,000 in punitive damages on September 16, 2025, in a civil suit brought to recover some of the public funds that he stole, according to WDRB in nearby Louisville, Kentucky. The new damage award is on top of $3.1 million in restitution that Noel already agreed to pay as part of his 2024 plea deal for bilking the money out of four different agencies: his own Clark County Sheriff’s Department and the Utica Township Volunteers Firefighters Association, which he ran under the name New Chapel EMS, plus the state police and the Indiana Department of Revenue. The ongoing effort to recover the money includes sale of his seized assets, ranging from luxury cars to guns and a collection of vintage police cruisers.

Louisiana: It took a federal jury only two hours of deliberation on September 18, 2025, to convict former Lafayette Parish Assistant District Attorney Gary Haynes, 67, for his role in a bribery and money laundering scheme. KPLC in Lake Charles reported that criminal defendants admitted to the Parish Pretrial Intervention (PTI) program, which Haynes oversaw, were directed to take remedial classes from businessman Leonard Franques in exchange for kickbacks. Among the five counts on which Haynes was sentenced was one for conspiracy to engage in bribery with fellow PTI attorney Dusty Guidry, whom Haynes overheard discussing the scheme and said he wanted in, according to Guidry’s 2023 guilty plea. The trio of co-conspirators used a defunct company and a new truck to conceal the illegal proceeds, destroying documents to cover their tracks. Haynes faces up to 65 years in prison at his sentencing scheduled for December 2025.

Nebraska: Former Winnebago Police Department (WPD) Off. Jordan Vaughn, 34, was sentenced to 60 years in federal prison on September 11, 2025, on two counts of producing child pornography, according to KOLN in Lincoln. The sentence includes consecutive 30-year terms for each count. The case began after Vaughn texted pictures of his penis to a minor. Investigators then found a substantial amount of child pornography on his phone, as well as evidence of the production of child pornography – revealing that he was sexually abusing children aged 12 and younger and recording the assaults. U.S. Attorney Lesley Woods credited the successful prosecution for preventing harm to more children on the Winnebago reservation. Vaughn worked for the WPD in late 2024 and early 2025 before he was charged and terminated.

New Jersey: Shore News Network reported that former Mount Laurel Township Police Department (MLPD) Off. Ayron Taylor, 25, was sentenced to 12 years in prison on September 5, 2025, after pleading guilty to computer theft and official misconduct for hacking into private online accounts maintained by women enrolled in a local college and distributing their private nude photos to their contacts. The investigation began in September 2022 when a victim reported her Snapchat and Facebook accounts had been hacked, and her nude photos were sent to her contacts. Investigators discovered other victims, learning that all had student email accounts at Rowan College at Burlington County, where Taylor illegally accessed approximately 5,000 student emails from his personal devices while on duty. The four-year MLPD veteran was subsequently suspended and resigned before charges were filed against him.

New York: Corrupt former New York Police Department Det. Saul Arismendy De La Cruz, 33, pleaded guilty on September 26, 2025, to racketeering and conspiracy charges for his role in a violent, multi-state theft ring primarily targeting Asian American small business owners. The USAO for the Southern District of New York said that De La Cruz, using aliases “Nene” or “Venom,” accepted bribes in exchange for providing confidential police information, including details about potential victims and ongoing investigations into the group’s involvement in armed residential burglaries, home invasion robberies, bank fraud, and money laundering. Further betraying his badge, De La Cruz tipped off ring members, including fugitive leader Dagoberto Soto-Ramirez, that the FBI was planning arrests, thus allowing them to escape. De La Cruz’s guilty plea to the single count could put him in prison up to 20 years at his sentencing on January 8, 2026.

Ohio: Former Columbus criminal defense lawyer Dennis W. McNamara, 74, pleaded guilty on August 21, 2025, to making false statements to the FBI about a client who was a witness in a federal drug and sex trafficking investigation – and whom he outed to his girlfriend, a sex worker familiar with people in the organization that was the investigation’s target. Not only did the attorney endanger his client by disclosing confidential details about her cooperation with authorities, The Columbus Dispatch reported, he also lied about it when questioned by the FBI. The breach caused the entire trafficking case to be transferred to the USAO for the Western District of Pennsylvania. For all that trouble, the 74-year-old McNamara was sentenced to two years of probation, the first six months on location monitoring. Judge Sarah Morrison of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio also imposed a curfew and ordered him to pay a $15,000 fine.

Ohio: Former East Canton Police Department Off. Brian S. Pittman, 52, avoided jail time after pleading guilty on September 15, 2025, to falsifying work records, according to the Canton Repository. Originally indicted on felony theft charges, he instead pleaded guilty to a first-degree misdemeanor charge of dereliction of duty, receiving a 180-day suspended jail term. A three-year veteran of the department, Pittman resigned while under investigation. He was also ordered to pay $8,225 in restitution and surrender his peace officer certification. East Canton’s nonpartisan mayor, David Spencer, said that the agreement ensures the village is “made whole” and that it was in the “public’s best interest” that Pittman can no longer serve as an officer.

Ohio: WEWS in Cleveland reported that three former East Cleveland Police Department (ECPD) cops were sentenced on August 26, 2025, for crimes committed while in uniform, with two receiving jail time. Former Off. Tristan Homan, 28, received a six-month jail term after pleading guilty to assaulting two drivers who had already surrendered and filing a false report claiming that a third driver rammed a police vehicle – when the cop driving it had in fact struck the driver’s car. Former Off. Daniel Toomer, 34, was sentenced to 90 days in jail for tossing a driver’s cellphone down the street when the man called 911 seeking medical attention following his arrest. Toomer was also ordered to serve two years on probation and perform 250 hours of community service. Former Off. Tyler Mundson, 30, pleaded guilty to three counts of interfering with drivers’ civil rights in three separate 2022 incidents and was sentenced to three years of probation; he was also ordered to serve 250 hours of community service. All three former cops must surrender their law enforcement certificates. They bring to six the number of former ECPD officers sentenced this year for crimes in uniform; Cmdr. Larry McDonald, 48, Sgt. Anthony Holmes, 38, and Det. Ian McInnes, 41, were sent to prison in April 2025 after juries found them guilty of charges including assault and evidence tampering.

Rhode Island: Special Assistant Attorney General Devon Flanagan, 34, pleaded nolo contendere to misdemeanor trespassing on August 27, 2025, following her widely publicized arrest outside Newport’s Clarke Cooke House restaurant on August 14, 2025. The Boston Globe reported that bodycam footage showed Flanagan invoking her title and demanding that police turn off their cameras before warning: “You’re going to regret this.” She received a six-month filing, meaning the charge could be dismissed if she avoids further legal trouble. On six months’ unpaid leave in the meantime, Flanagan was also barred from returning to the restaurant. The incident sparked an internal review within the office of Attorney General Peter Neronha (D), who called Flanagan’s behavior an embarrassment. Her companion during the incident, Veronica Hannan, also pleaded nolo contendere to resisting arrest and received a similar six-month filing.

Texas: On September 9, 2025, Harris County Sheriff’s Office (HCSO) Sgt. William A. Vides, 46, was charged with stealing over $2 million from a Houston shopping center where he worked as an extra job coordinator, according to Graham Media Group. Vides picked up the charges, aggravated theft and multiple counts of forgery, for allegedly depositing more than 30 phony checks into his personal bank account between 2020 and 2023. Prosecutors said that Vides’s position as a law enforcement officer was an aggravating factor in the case. He has been on administrative leave since December 2024. HCSO confirmed that an internal affairs investigation was pending. Vides remained in the Harris County Jail with a total bond of $145,000.

Texas: Local CBS affiliate KTVT in Fort Worth reported that a 911 dispatch error left the family of Thomas Simpson traumatized, after Grand Prairie cops mistook him for a criminal suspect and shot him in his own home on September 12, 2025. Awakened by barking dogs and fearing a burglary, Simpson grabbed his gun before opening his garage door, where he was met with a hail of gunfire from officers who had been mistakenly sent to his address. Simpson dropped his firearm immediately upon seeing their badges, but he was shot in the leg as his teenage son and nephew watched in terror. The ordeal did not end there. After the shooting, police reportedly fired eight more rounds, striking the home and rupturing a water pipe, causing considerable damage. The family, including Simpson’s children, were then detained for hours in handcuffs before the mistake was discovered and they were released. No apology or explanation was offered, they said, leaving them to deal with the emotional and property damage.  

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