Alaska: Alaska News Source reported that former Bethel Police Department (BPD) Off. Jonathan Murphy, 39, was convicted on February 13, 2026, of a brutal use of force. Body-camera footage captured Murphy during a December 2023 stolen-vehicle stop as he struck the compliant driver, Bernard Mael. When the 44-year-old sped away, Murphy and fellow cops chased his car into a snowbank before firing pepper-spray and Tasers inside. Murphy’s body-camera showed that he then reached into the vehicle and punched the defenseless driver over 20 times in the head. Though he claimed that Mael tried to run him down, a jury found Murphy guilty of fourth-degree assault, tampering with evidence, and providing false information. He resigned from BPD after the incident, resurfacing as Chief of Arkansas’ Diamond City Police Department. Both municipalities were named in a civil suit filed by Mael, and Bethel settled its share of the charges in December 2025 for $7 million, according to KYUK in Bethel. The City paid a $3 million settlement that same month to Nicholas Kerr, 40, who was found sleeping in his car in 2023 by Murphy and two fellow BPD cops. After they dragged him from his car and Tasered him, their body-cameras captured Murphy ordering one of the other cops to photograph a weapon that they allegedly found in Kerr’s vehicle. No criminal charges were filed in that incident.

Arizona: For a stunning display of investigative tunnel vision, the Phoenix Police Department (PDP) and the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office were hit with a $3 million notice of claim on February 11, 2026, for the nearly year-long wrongful imprisonment of Javier Lorenzano-Nunez. KNXV in Phoenix reported that officials allegedly ignored exculpatory evidence and relied on a faulty facial recognition “lead” when they closed a 1998 cold case with Lorenzano-Nunez’s 2024 arrest. But PDP had possessed fingerprint records since 2017 that explicitly excluded him as a suspect in the crime, according to the claim notice. Investigators also allegedly ignored a 2007 tip from Puerto Rican authorities identifying the actual killer’s Social Security number. Instead, Det. Dominick Roestenberg allegedly misled a grand jury to secure Lorenzano-Nunez’s indictment, staging the arrest using the handcuffs of a Texas cop who is the murdered woman’s now-grown son. The claim accused PDP and County prosecutors of gross negligence, false arrest, false imprisonment, negligent infliction of emotional distress, and defamation, as well as violations of Lorenzano-Nunez’s constitutional rights.

California: The East Bay Times reported that former Orange County prosecutor and Superior Court Judge Israel Claustro, 50, pleaded guilty to felony mail fraud on January 12, 2026, for orchestrating a multimillion-dollar workers’ compensation scam. Before winning his judicial election in June 2022, according to his plea agreement, Castro was serving as a County prosecutor when he illegally operated Liberty Medical Group to siphon over $3 million from a state trust fund for injured workers. The scheme involved hiring a convicted felon, Dr. Kevin Tien Do, to fraudulently ghostwrite medical evaluations for claims that were then submitted under the names of other physicians. $1.5 million of the stolen funds was funneled directly into a management company owned by Claustro, who campaigned as a “warrior for justice” to win the judicial election. More gallingly, he reactivated his law license just 48 hours before resigning from the bench on January 7, 2026, so he is currently practicing family law in Menifee while awaiting sentencing set for June 2026, when he faces a maximum of 20 years in prison.

California: On February 12, 2026, former California Highway Patrol (CHP) Off. Michelle Reinert voluntarily surrendered her Peace Officer credentials, KCRA in Sacramento reported. But despite facing six felony counts of perjury and a potential 24-year prison sentence, Reinert will avoid trial through a mental health diversion program. The case against her was described by prosecutors as “overwhelming,” including a CHP Internal Affairs investigation into allegations by wrongfully cited driver Scott Bohl, revealing that his was one of many falsified citations Reinert wrote. While she testified under oath to “pacing” vehicles at high speeds, dashcam footage proved her patrol vehicle was stationary in a median. Of 100 citations issued by Reinert in 2023, more than 50 contained such inconsistencies, forcing dismissal of numerous cases – including one DUI involving injuries. Based on a PTSD diagnosis, though, Yolo County Judge Sonia Cortés granted Reinert’s request for diversion in December 2025. To have her charges dismissed, Reinert must complete two years of treatment, including therapy, medication compliance, 240 hours of community service, and writing apology letters to her victims.

Florida: In an infuriating “pension padding” scheme, Broward Sheriff’s Office (BSO) Reserve Dep. Joshua Passman, 44, was arrested on February 12, 2026, after a joint investigation by the BSO, the FBI, and the federal Department of Justice (DOJ) found that he forged a supervisor’s signature on timesheets to defraud the County of approximately $3,200 in unearned wages throughout 2024. WTCJ in Miami reported that cellphone records placed the former sergeant, who transitioned to reserve status in 2022, outside Broward County – and sometimes outside the state – at the time that he claimed to be working. Investigators alleged that the fraud was a calculated attempt to manipulate the Florida Retirement System by inflating his service credits to secure a larger taxpayer-funded pension. Passman now faces felony counts of grand theft, forgery, and official misconduct. He was also terminated by the BSO.

Florida: WESH in Orlando reported that facial recognition technology led to a wrongful arrest by the Orlando Police Department (OPD) on August 21, 2025. Despite initial denials from its Chief of Staff, records revealed that an unnamed officer utilized the Face Analysis Comparison & Examination System (FACES) to wrongly match body camera footage of a suspect to a decade-old booking photo of Beau Burgess. He was then picked up at his New Smyrna Beach home by Volusia County Sherrif’s deputies on two warrants for fraud and theft in June 2025 at Universal Orlando Resort Hotels. The Orange-Osceola State Attorney’s Office was forced to drop both cases after it was proven that Burgess was nearly 70 miles away on the dates the crimes occurred. OPD policy states that facial recognition results are “investigative leads” and not probable cause for arrest. But officers ignored Burgess’ glaring physical discrepancies – he has extensive leg tattoos, which were absent on the actual suspect – and failed to verify his alibi. OPD exonerated the officers involved, however, citing the corroboration of a “positive” identification made by a hotel employee during a photo lineup. Critics argue that such lineups are hopelessly tainted by the initial facial recognition error. Burgess’ arrest marks the 11th publicly reported U.S. case of wrongful arrest based on the software.

Illinois: The Chicago Sun Times reported a rare case when jurors disbelieved a cop, finding former Sangamon County Sheriff’s Deputy Sean Grayson, 31, guilty of second-degree murder in the killing of Sonya Massey, 36, at her home in 2024. Grayson, who is white, was responding to a 911 call about a prowler that the Black mother placed, when he ordered her to remove a pot of water from her stove. When she continued to cower behind the kitchen counter, his body-camera captured his outburst of rage as he shot her dead. He later claimed to fear that she was about to throw the pot at him, but the jury rejected that defense. At sentencing on January 29, 2026, Grayson pleaded for leniency because he has now been diagnosed with stage IV cancer. But Judge Ryan Cadagin of the state’s Seventh Judicial Circuit imposed the statutory maximum 20-year prison term. Massey’s family, who secured a $10 million wrongful death settlement that inspired statewide police hiring reforms, continued to call for federal civil rights charges.

Louisiana: Former St. John the Baptist Parish prosecutor Tony Vu Tran, 36, was arrested on January 20, 2026, for allegedly moonlighting as a major narcotics trafficker, according to WVUE in New Orleans. Tran, who previously served in the Orleans Parish District Attorney’s Office, was apprehended by a multi-agency task force that seized 202 pounds of marijuana and ecstasy, plus $35,000 in cash. Parish District Attorney Bridget Dinvaut fired Tran immediately upon his arrest on charges of possession with intent to distribute the drugs, as well as possession of a weapon during the trafficking. Completing his transition from prosecuting felonies to facing them, Tran was booked into the Orleans Justice Center on a $450,000 bond. Three co-defendants are held on high-value bonds or no bond.

Maryland: Per reporting in Maryland Matters, David Michael Crawford, 74, was sentenced to 55 years in state prison in Montgomery County District Court on February 13, 2026, for setting three blazes in the county during a decade-long arson spree. The targets were family members and employees of the Laurel Police Department (LPD), where Crawford served as chief until forced to retire in 2010. That apparently sparked a retaliatory series of 12 fires set across five Maryland counties between 2011 and 2020. Crawford’s sentence in Montgomery County was for three between 2016 and 2020; it will be served after completing eight life terms plus 75 years handed down in Howard County for the other attacks. Investigators found surveillance video capturing the clicks of his lighter during one attack, along with a “target list” on Crawford’s phone that included a deputy city administrator and the LPD chief who replaced him. Three fires targeted Crawford’s stepson, with whom he had a “strained relationship,” as CLN reported. [See: CLN, May 2021, p.50.]

Massachusetts: Former Massachusetts State Police Association (MSPA) Pres. Dana A. Pullman was resentenced on February 18, 2026, to two years in federal prison, six months shorter than his initial sentence, after an appeal overturned three of his convictions. As the Boston Globe reported, prosecutors proved that the former trooper transformed the MSPA into an “old-school racket” between 2012 and 2018. Though he successfully appealed three wire fraud convictions, the 64-year-old remains convicted of other crimes, including racketeering and tax evasion, for siphoning union funds to finance a lavish lifestyle of champagne, caviar, and Miami Beach vacations. Bribes from union lobbyist Anne M. Lynch, 75, were brazenly disguised as “consulting fees” to Pullman’s wife. She was sentenced to 15 years in prison and ordered to pay $41,795 in restitution. Crawford’s defense argued for home confinement, but the court ordered a prison term, along with $43,915 in restitution for what he pilfered by deceiving the Commonwealth and over 1,500 state troopers he once represented.

Mississippi: Former Humphrey County Sheriff’s Office (HCSO) Dep. Dequarian Smith and former Greenville Police Department Off. Martavis Moore pleaded guilty to federal drug trafficking charges on February 11, 2026. According to Mississippi Today, Chief Judge Debra M. Brown accepted the pleas in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi. They were among over 14 officers in eight Mississippi agencies indicted following a DOJ crackdown. Moore, 32, admitted to accepting a $5,000 bribe from an FBI agent posing as a drug cartel member to secure a transport through Sunflower County in March 2023. Smith, 29, pleaded guilty to conspiring to protect other illegal drug shipments between August and September 2022, when he worked for both HCSO and the Isola Police Department. Both resigned. At sentencing, Moore faces 10 years to life in prison, while Smith is looking at up to 20 years.

Missouri: According to KCUR in Kansas City, Off. Blayne Newton’s resignation from the City Police Department (KCPD) on February 13, 2026, was part of a settlement that also sent him packing with a $50,000 “agreed departure” payment. KCPD moved to terminate Newton, 29, after a nine-year career marked by three fatal shootings and several taxpayer-funded settlements. He fired into Donnie Sanders’ vehicle in 2020, and after the 47-year-old died, it was revealed that he was unarmed. His family filed a suit which the City Board of Police Commissioners settled for $300,000. Another suit settled for $65,000 in 2022 accused Newton of injuring Bermeeka Mitchell during an arrest that she live-streamed from a suburban Platte County Walmart store, where another customer accused her of trespassing. Mitchell said that Newton assaulted her with excessive force that left her injured, a charge substantiated by the KCPD office of community complaints. In another 2023 incident, Newton fired 16 rounds into a minivan killing two and wounding a third. A resulting suit was settled with a $3.5 million payout. But Jackson County Prosecutor Melesa Johnson declined to file criminal charges, citing Missouri’s broad self-defense laws. Though barred from returning to the KCPD, Newton’s resignation without decertification could allow him to be rehired in law enforcement.

New Jersey: Jersey City Police Department (JCPD) Sgt. Andrew LaBruno, 44, was indicted for first-degree aggravated sexual assault and second-degree official misconduct on February 12, 2026. WKXW in Trenton said that a Bergen County Grand Jury upgraded initial charges filed after LaBruno allegedly used the Grindr dating app to solicit sex from a juvenile in November 2025. He was on duty and in full uniform when he visited the victim at home and sexually assaulted him, providing him amyl nitrate – also known as “poppers” – that caused the victim dizziness. The assault was interrupted when the victim’s father returned home, and LaBruno fled, dropping his cell phone. He then attempted to evade arrest when Englewood officers responded to the outraged father’s call. During his detention hearing, his defense argued that the encounter was consensual, pointing out that the seventeen-year-old victim met New Jersey’s age of consent. LaBruno, a 20-year JCPD veteran who also served as mayor of Dumont from 2020 to 2023, was suspended without pay and booked into the Bergen County Jail without bond.

New Mexico: Former New Mexico State Police (NMSP) Off. Morgan Ortiz was sentenced to three years in prison on January 22, 2026, for an $800,000 Medicaid fraud scheme that exploited a substance abuse recovery program. KRQE in Albuquerque reported that Ortiz was found guilty of intimidating Medicaid recipients into surrendering personal identifiers that he and co-conspirator Dr. Keith Leavitt used for fraudulent billing between 2019 and 2021. Leavitt then billed the agency for thousands of phantom trips, employing Ortiz’s specialized knowledge of investigative tactics to mask the paper trail, But while state prosecutors successfully prosecuted Leavitt as the mastermind behind the scheme, state Second Judicial District Judge Benjamin Chavez sentenced him to time served only – leaving the disgraced former NMSP trooper to serve his full term in the state Corrections Department and pay a $750,000 fine.

Oregon: On January 12, 2026, a state court jury awarded $800,000 to two public defenders, agreeing they were racially profiled by a Washington County Sheriff’s deputy who denied them entry to the courtroom at the County’s Law Enforcement Center. Attorney Chloe Clay, who is Black, said that she was barred by Dep. David Lyle in November 2022, before another Court employee recognized her, and Lyle relented. Attorney Alyne Sanchez, who is Latina, said that she experienced the same thing in January 2023, when Lyle presumed she was an interpreter. They provided testimony from nine white attorneys who were not hindered from entering, and jurors agreed that the women were victims of discrimination. They awarded $500,000 in damages to Clay and $300,000 to Sanchez. See: Clay v. Washington Cty., Ore. Cir. (Washington Cty.), Case No. 23CV34948; and Sanchez v. Washington Cty., Ore. Cir. (Washington Cty.), Case No. 23CV35026. Sheriff Caprice Massey said she was “disappointed” in the verdict, The Oregonian reported. Lyle is currently working parttime and assigned to the County jail.

Pennsylvania: Disgraced Philadelphia defense attorney Paul DiMaio was sentenced to two years of federal probation on February 11, 2026, after he pleaded guilty to smuggling a cell phone, Suboxone, and 240 cigarettes into the Federal Detention Center for a detained client. As the Philadelphia Inquirer reported, DiMaio told the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania that he was “financially ruined” after his wife’s cancer diagnosis and “panicked” by fear that the client – Jahlil “Kill Bill” Williams, the alleged leader of the Omerta street gang – would order a contract hit on him if he didn’t mule the contraband. Though he bypassed initial security, surveillance video captured the hand-off DiMaio made to an unnamed accomplice of Williams, and the package was seized. DiMaio, who surrendered his law license, must serve 90 days of his probation in a halfway house. Conspiracy charges remain pending against Williams and accused accomplices Jada Williams, his sister, and Tanya Culver, their mother.

Texas: KTRK in Houston reported that 23-year veteran Harris County Sheriff’s Office (HCSO) Sgt. John Black, 46, was arrested while on duty and fired on January 12, 2026, on charges of sex crimes against a minor out of Leon County, Florida. The arrest took place at the department’s own Internal Affairs Division offices, an ironic backdrop considering the charges that Black – a former member of the HCSO homicide unit and its VIPER violent persons warrant task force – sent sexually explicit photographs of himself to an undercover Tallahassee cop posing as a 13-year-old girl. He was booked into the Harris County Jail without bond to await extradition to Florida, where he faces felony charges for transmitting harmful material to a minor.

Vermont: Windsor County Sheriff Ryan Palmer, 39, was arrested on January 27, 2026, following a misconduct investigation, according to Vermont Public. The probe began in July 2025, sparked by “numerous” whistleblower tips that Palmer, a Democrat elected in 2022, was engaged in financial irregularities. It has since expanded to encompass an alleged a pattern of sexual and professional abuse. Resulting charges include solicitation of prostitution, stalking, lewd and lascivious conduct, and obstruction of justice. To avoid conflict of interest, the Bennington County State’s Attorney is prosecuting the case. Palmer remains in office, shielded by Vermont law requiring impeachment to remove an elected sheriff.  

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