police fraud & deception, part i: Details of methodology of mayor-directed, police chief-effected, council-allOwed cover up revealed!
The following is an expose of the criminal police work done by Detective Havard of the Meridian, Mississippi Police Department, in his (so-called) "investigation" into the arson against Christ's Church In Action (CCIA) This document was researched and prepared by Lucinda Johnson, Executive Assistant to Christ's Church In Action. Read it to see the lies, tricks, misinformation, misleading information, and other tools which were used to deflect attention away from the criminals--not only the criminals who committed the arson, but the criminals in government and law enforcement who covered up both the arson and the fact that it was not investigated properly. And let us not neglect to mention the media, who assisted in the cover up of the arson by not reporting anything about it. My suggestion is that, for better understanding, you refer to the police report as you are reading this. REMEMBER, HOWEVER, THAT THE POLICE REPORT STANDING ALONE IS DECEPTIVE, FRAUDULENT, MISLEADING, AND FULL OF FALSE INFORMATION--TO PUT IT BLUNTLY--LIES. (Police Report-arson) ALTHOUGH THE FOLLOWING DOCUMENT IS VOLUMINOUS, IT IS NECESSARY TO READ IT IN ITS ENTIRETY TO UNDERSTAND BOTH THE COVER UP OF THIS CRIME AND OTHER RELATING INCIDENTS OF PERSECUTION AGAINST THIS PASTOR AND CHURCH. BE SURE ALSO TO READ MY ANALYSIS OF THE POSSIBLE SCENARIO AND MOTIVES FOR THIS CRIME AND COVER UP (BERACHOT'S ANALYSIS).
ATTACHMENT TO COMPLAINT AGAINST MERIDIAN POLICE DETECTIVE ANDREW HAVARD
This is to be attached to the Meridian Police Department’s Internal Affairs Grievance Form regarding the actions of Detective Andrew Havard, whom we allege never properly investigated the arson that took place against Christ’s Church in Action (CCIA) on June 8, 2003, at CCIA’s property at 518 41st Avenue. At this time we are just making a complaint against an individual police detective, but all of the questions raised herein are also going to need to be addressed at some point through the proper channels, because of the criminal activity of so many people.
GENERAL STATEMENT: It is our allegation that Detective Andrew Havard of the Meridian Police Department never properly investigated the arson committed against Christ’s Church in Action, 4015 Paulding Street, Meridian, which was committed on June 8, 2003 at CCIA’s property at 518 41st Avenue, and that what he did goes beyond negligence. We will attempt to show this with the Meridian Police Department’s Incident Report (largely prepared by Detective Havard).
Some examples of his dereliction are:
· No victims were contacted after the arson. The first thing that should have been done is to interview the victims and ask the victims if they have any enemies or anyone who is angry with them. This is SOP (Standard Operating Procedure) in any law enforcement agency regarding an arson.[1] THIS WAS NEVER DONE.
· No mention was made by Detective Havard in his police report of an explicit threat against the pastor of CCIA (Wade Demers) which was made just a few weeks prior to the arson, on May 13, 2003 by about 18 people from New Beginnings Church, many of whom were ministers from New Beginnings Church (Adelia Spencer was the pastor)[2]. Victims always alleged that New Beginnings Church people, who had also made other threats against/assaulted CCIA’s pastor (Wade Demers) and had harassed others from CCIA prior to this, were the ones who committed the arson. (If Detective Havard had followed SOP and interviewed the victims, he would have found out about this threat.)
· No mention was made by Detective Havard himself (in his police report entries) of the circle burned in the grass around the house[3] on the day before the arson which was reported to the Meridian Police, and which is on record in a police report made by Officer Ronald Payton. This circle is also mentioned in the arson police report, narrative #2, by Officer Ronald Godwin[4]. (Again, if Detective Havard had followed SOP, he would have found out from the victims that this had occurred, as well as the threat against CCIA’s pastor 3 weeks prior to the fire, and these should have been an important factor in his investigation. Instead, he ignored the circle burned in the grass and never found out about the threats against Pastor Demers because he didn’t bother to interview the victims.)
· According to Detective Havard’s report, no suspects were contacted/questioned after the arson (except for one person (a relative of Adelia Spencer), who was not talked to until over 3 weeks after the arson had been committed. (See details under July 1, 2003 herein.) No other suspects were ever contacted/talked to/questioned by Detective Havard or any other member of the Meridian Police Department.
· The very beginning of the police report (“Case Management Information—Assignment History,” pp. 1-3) is rife with errors, including wrong names, wrong/missing telephone numbers, wrong addresses, etc. It is our allegation that this section was not put into the report until a year after the arson, when Ken Storms ordered Detective Havard to do the investigation he had not done. (This is shown by the addresses of some of the people listed—the details are provided further on in this document you are reading.)
We will attempt below to lay out the scenario from the beginning, and then show chronologically with the police report how Detective Havard never did any (proper) investigation. The police report is a sham, a whitewash. It is just words on paper to make it look like Detective Havard did an investigation, when he did not. What he did is not proper investigating at all. Detective Havard’s report also contains an attack (based on slanderous, false, and misleading information) against one of the VICTIMS, Wade Demers, Pastor of Christ’s Church in Action.
This sham police report has been used to lie to the people. It has been used to falsely state that Detective Havard did a proper investigation when in reality, he DID NOT INVESTIGATE THIS CRIME. The complainants are alleging that this sham document was shown to or referred to by the police and the mayor’s administration to discredit the victims’ (true) claim that there was no real investigation into this arson. The police, Mayor Smith, Ken Storms, and others have all been repeating the lie that there was a proper investigation done, and supposedly this police report was part of the “proof.” Now that we have obtained a copy, we are able to show their heinous trick.
WE BELIEVE THAT THIS POLICE REPORT PLAYS A BIG ROLE IN THE REASON(S) WHY THE VICTIMS HAVE NOT BEEN ABLE TO OBTAIN JUSTICE FROM ANY LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES WHICH THEY HAVE CONTACTED, INCLUDING THE MISISSIPPI ATTORNEY GENERAL, THE JUSTICE DEPARTMENT, THE FBI, ETC.—ANY ONE OF THESE AGENCIES WHO MAY HAVE BEEN GIVEN THIS POLICE REPORT PROBABLY TOOK ONE LOOK AT IT AND COMPLETELY DISCOUNTED THE VICTIMS’ CLAIMS.
FOR ONE THING, THERE IS ONLY ONE VICTIM NAMED OR REFERRED TO IN THIS POLICE REPORT, AND THIS VICTIM IS DISCREDITED IN THIS REPORT BY FALSE, MISLEADING, AND SLANDEROUS INFORMATION AS WELL AS BY OPINIONS OF DETECTIVE HAVARD WHICH HAVE NO BASIS IN FACT.
ALSO, THIS POLICE REPORT IS REPLETE WITH MISLEADING AND FALSE INFORMATION, PRESENTS A SKEWED PICTURE OF THE ACTUAL EVENTS, AND HAS MANY “HOLES” IN IT WHERE INFORMATION IS MISSING WHICH IS CRITICAL TO SOLVING THIS ARSON AND CRITICAL TO PRESENT TO ANY LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCY WHO MIGHT WANT TO LOOK INTO THIS CRIME.
BECAUSE THE INFORMATION PRESENTED IS SO MISLEADING AND SOME IS OUTRIGHT UNTRUE, AND BECAUSE THERE IS CRITICAL INFORMATION MISSING, NAMES OF VICTIMS ARE MISSING, NAMES OF SUSPECTS ARE MISSING, ETC.—THIS REPORT, BECAUSE IT HAS BEEN PRODUCED AND PRESENTED BY A CREDIBLE SOURCE (THE MERIDIAN POLICE DEPARTMENT), ALTHOUGH TERRIBLY FALSE AND INCREDIBLY MISLEADING AND IN ERROR, HAS BEEN EFFECTIVELY USED BOTH TO BRING ABOUT AND TO CONTINUE A GROSS MISCARRIAGE OF JUSTICE.
We believe that any reasonable thinking person will be able to see from reading this document and the police report (enclosed):
· the falseness of the claim that there was any proper investigation;
· the guile of Detective Havard (and/or those who control him, unless he acted alone as a renegade policeman[5]);
· the tactic which was used to turn attention away from the perpetrators of this crime, and away from himself (Detective Havard) and the fact that he was NOT investigating this crime but was merely “going through the motions,” to make it LOOK like he was.
In a nutshell, to repeat: the mayor, Ken Storms, the police, etc. have been saying to everyone: “Yes, there was an investigation – there’s a police report….see?” But in reality, there was no real investigation – the report is a sham and contains much false information….and worse; by presenting irrelevant “facts” out of context, it slanders one of the victims. And, the report proves that Detective Havard did, basically, nothing to investigate this crime.
OUTLINE OF KEY DATES AND EVENTS:
On various dates prior to the arson of June 8, 2003:
Pastor Demers was threatened and assaulted by members of New Beginnings (NB) Church (Adelia Spencer was the pastor):
· A number of years prior to the arson, Pastor Demers was talking with some NB people from the street about reading the Bible…4 or 5 men, including Joshua Powell (one of Adelia’s sons), came into the street (from the vicinity of the pink house, corner of Paulding St. and 41st Avenue) and were pushing Pastor Demers… (Then their “bishop” came over to smooth it over and to keep Pastor Demers from calling the police. Adelia Spencer also came over later.)
· On many occasions over the four years or so prior to the arson, Pastor Demers’ life was threatened by NB people, including “Bear,” Donald, Peter Powell (one of Adelia’s sons), and Caleb… One time Peter had to hold Bear back on the sidewalk.
· They also threatened Pastor Demers in groups. During one intense time after an attack, Pastor Demers approached Arthur Spencer (Adelia’s husband, overseer at NB Church) and asked him if he ordered them (NB people) to kill him (Pastor Demers)…Arthur Spencer said, “if I want you dead, I’ll kill you myself.”
· Over the years, members of New Beginnings Church had told Pastor Demers that they would “get him,” “stomp him,” “kill him,” etc.
· THESE PEOPLE WERE KNOWN TO BE VIOLENT. THEIR PASTOR, ADELIA SPENCER, TOLD THEM THEY WERE “GOD’S MAFIA.” THEY WERE KNOWN TO TAKE VENGEANCE ON PEOPLE THEY DIDN’T LIKE FOR WHATEVER REASON THEY DECIDED[6].
A number of days prior to March 1, 2003:
One night, Joshua (Arce) Powell (adult son of Adelia Spencer) and a man named Levi from New Beginnings Church were outside of the “purple house[7]” on the corner of 41st Avenue and Paulding Street, working under floodlights, putting landscape lighting in front of the house. Pastor Demers was walking around the block as was his habit, and he said something specific to Joshua about something in the Bible, telling him that it said a certain thing in the Bible. And Joshua, who considered himself a preacher, stopped, looked at Pastor Demers, and said, “Nah, that’s not in the Bible,” and Pastor Demers said, “Yes, it is.” So Joshua Powell said, “Show me,” and Pastor Demers replied that it was 11 o’clock at night. He told Joshua that if he wanted to, even though it was late, he (Joshua) could come over to the parsonage and bring his Bible and he would show him where that scripture was in the Bible.
Joshua did come over after he finished (by this time it was around midnight) and Pastor Demers showed him, and Joshua was surprised. Then Pastor Demers showed him a lot of other things in the Bible that Joshua didn’t know were in there. Joshua saw that there were a lot of things in the Bible that weren’t being taught at his mother’s church…to the contrary, he saw that their church was being taught a lot of other things that were in opposition to the Bible.
The next day, Joshua approached his mother, Adelia Spencer, who was the pastor, with this knowledge and tried to point out different things to her in the Bible that she wasn’t teaching. Adelia said things like this: “I don’t deal with that mess” (meaning the Bible), “You don’t know if Matthew or Paul even existed,” and, “I know what God tells me.” Joshua later told Pastor Demers what happened with his mother. Joshua told Pastor Demers that he was shattered by the things his mother was saying, and with her attitude towards the Bible. He said he never knew his mother thought that way. She was directly going against what the word of God stated.
Joshua was really upset that his mother was believing and teaching her church things that were contrary to God’s word. At that point, he just walked away from his mother and her church, and he was staying at a truck stop in Newton, in his vehicle.
After a number of days had gone by, Pastor Demers realized that he hadn’t seen Joshua for a while, and since he had Joshua’s cell number, he called him and Joshua told him where he was living. Pastor Demers and his wife went to see him and invited him to come and stay with them instead of living in his truck, since they had room for him at the parsonage at that time.
March 1, 2003:
Joshua (Arce) Powell, adult son of Adelia Spencer, moved into the parsonage at 4015 Paulding Street. So, from this point, Joshua was staying at the parsonage at CCIA and was attending services and Bible studies at CCIA, and being taught by Pastor Demers. Joshua, as he learned more and more about what the Bible says, commented, “Man, I thought I was a preacher—I’m finding out that I wasn’t even a Christian!” Eventual plans for Joshua were for him to live in the residence at 518 41st Avenue, after renovations were completed. (Of course, this never came about because 518 41st Avenue was subsequently set on fire on June 8, 2003, just after renovations were completed.)
Sometime in mid-March, 2003:
Peter (Amos) Powell (Joshua Powell’s brother, Adelia Spencer’s son), a former golden gloves boxer, assaulted Pastor Demers (in front of Pastor Demers’ home and his 2 daughters) and tried to kill him.
Joshua and Pastor Demers had been walking back from the store, and Pastor Demers had 2 gallons of milk, one in each hand. Joshua’s wife Nicole was on the sidewalk (in front of the NB church building on Paulding Street) and Pastor Demers merely said to her that she should just consider reading the Bible to see what her husband had been trying to tell her about what was in the Bible.
Adelia and lots of other people started coming around Pastor Demers, and they started pushing him. Pastor Demers had just recently showed Joshua in the Bible about where Jesus said to turn the other cheek and not fight back. Joshua was watching this with his new-found knowledge from the Bible, now knowing that Jesus said not to fight back, so Joshua realized that Pastor Demers was at the mercy of the attackers. Pastor Demers just kept walking towards his home with the 2 milk jugs in his hands. He heard Arthur Spencer yell, “No, Peter, NO!” …Peter Powell was flying at Pastor Demers and punched him behind his head, trying to break his neck.
April 2, 2003:
There were verbal assaults by a Vikki from New Beginnings Church in which she attacked Mrs. Demers and Deborah Keller (CCIA’s secretary)—attacking their church, their beliefs, and their modest mode of dress. Vikki was angry because Joshua Powell had left NB and was attending church and Bible Study at CCIA, after reading the Bible and seeing differences in what his mother taught and what the Bible said.
May 13, 2003:
(Explicit threat 3 weeks prior to the arson) About 18 people, many of whom were ministers from Adelia Spencer’s church, New Beginnings, banged on the parsonage (4015 Paulding Street) at approx. 11pm. (There was a perfectly good doorbell which they didn’t use, and they didn’t knock on the door. They banged on the house.) Pastor Demers, Mrs. Demers, and Joshua Powell went outside onto the front lawn where the people were. Pastor Demers asked them what they wanted, and they said that he’d better stop preaching what he was preaching or they were going to “do something.” When Pastor Demers said: “That sounds like a threat.” They said, “No, it’s a promise.”
June 7, 2003:
A circle was found burned in the grass around the house on the church’s 518 41st Avenue property. The police were called. They responded, and a police report was made.
June 8, 2003:
The house at 518 41st Avenue was set on fire in the middle of the night (around 2am). This was confirmed as arson by Vince Vincent, fire department investigator, who, with the Meridian Fire Department’s fire dog (ATF Accelerant K-9), found 5 points of origin.
Vince Vincent tells Pastor Demers that this was an arson and that he will be gone for 1 week to a seminar in Washington D.C., but that he is handing it over to the Meridian Police Department and that someone will contact the victims within 24 hours. Pastor Demers pointed out to Mr. Vincent that it was Sunday, very early in the morning, and asked Mr. Vincent if he was sure that someone would be in contact with them within 24 hours due to the fact that it was a Sunday. Mr. Vincent said, “It’s SOP, someone WILL contact you within 24 hours.” In reality, the victims were not contacted within 24 hours; in fact, they were not contacted at all. NO ONE CONTACTED THE VICTIMS.
MERIDIAN POLICE DEPT. INCIDENT REPORT
We need to explain that there are two sections to the report. The first section of the report starts with page 1, and continues to the top of page 3 where the names end, prior to “Narrative #1” by Ronald Godwin. This part was given to us on August 31, 2007 by Chief Dubose. The report given to us by Chief Dubose has the words “END OF REPORT,” on page three after the last person’s name and information (Arthur Easley—“Other Person Information -#6”). (See enclosed copy of the 3-page report given to us by Chief Dubose.)
On September 25, 2008, the 8-page report that is enclosed here was given to us by Lt. Dean Harper. This has the first 3 pages plus additional information totaling 8 pages. The second part of the report, which starts on page 3 with Narrative #1 by Ronald Godwin, is the original report in which Det. Havard was trying to make it appear that there were no suspects, and to discredit one of the victims with false and slanderous information. (We believe that the reason the chief gave us only those first 3 pages and not the second section is because the two don’t match up, and he knew it.)
Anyone who would look at the second section of the police report (the original report, before the “names” section was tacked on to the front) and perhaps would just look at it quickly and because of the lies, slander, misinformation, missing information, etc. in the police report, would see that Detective Havard was accusing Pastor Demers of having a mental problem. This false assessment by Det. Havard prejudiced Pastor Demers. Anyone looking at this accusation would question Pastor Demers’ sanity, therefore resulting in no help from any person, law enforcement entity, elected representative, government official, etc. whom the victims have contacted for help in this case, resulting in the victims’ pleas being discounted. Also, the fact that no other victims were mentioned in the report makes it look like Pastor Demers is the only victim; the report discredits him so that people reading it will discount his claims, not realizing that there were several other victims/witnesses to corroborate what he was saying.
Also, anyone who would look at just the first three pages (section 1) would say, “Oh, the police didn’t find anything.” So, with either of these two “reports,” Detective Havard was able to effectively discourage anyone from looking further into this crime; he FAKED everyone out into thinking that an investigation was done, when it was not. As we said earlier, this report was used to bring about and to continue a gross miscarriage of justice. What has been done is very diabolical.
On pages 1, 2, and 3 we can see that there appears to be names and information pertinent to the investigation, such as: Property Information, complainant information, suspect/arrestee information, witness information, victim information, etc. This “looks good” on the surface. To the untrained eye and to those without knowledge of the facts of what actually happened with this arson, it appears as if the police have done their job here, or at least have done something about investigating this arson.
Upon closer examination, however, we can see that this is a sham, a whitewash, a cover-up of the fact that there was no real investigation done into this arson. We allege that these first three pages were “tacked on” to the front of the report one year after the arson, when Ken Storms ordered Detective Havard to do the investigation which he had not done yet.
A year after the arson, in 2004, Ken Storms ordered Detective Havard to do the investigation into this arson which he had not done. (Obviously Ken Storms knew that Det. Havard had not done any real investigation into this arson, or he wouldn’t have ordered him to do one at that point.)
If you look in this document under “2004—approximately 1 year after arson,” you will see the details. Ken Storms specifically told Detective Havard to get some names from the victims. It is obvious that these names, in the front part of the police report, were added in 2004, a year after the arson, after Detective Havard was ordered by Ken Storms to investigate and to get some names, to make it look like an investigation was done. It is very misleading and confusing to look at this police report; we believe it is purposely so.
ERRORS, MISINFORMATION, AND DECEPTION IN FIRST SECTION OF POLICE REPORT:
We will now attempt to show the errors, misinformation, and deception which is contained in these first 3 pages of the report. Some of the errors include:
· Incorrect names of witnesses/possible witnesses/possible suspects (“other person”);
· Names of victims are completely missing from the report;
· Missing/incorrect phone numbers;
· Incorrect zip codes;
· Completely different states for the same address for key witness;
We will list the names chronologically in the order they appear in the police report and show you the errors with each.
1. Roberts, Gloria: The first person named on the report, under “Complainant Information - #1,” is Gloria Roberts. We found out from doing our own investigation[8] that the police never talked to Gloria Roberts; We did our own investigation and found out from Addie McGlothin, who is Gloria’s mother, that the phone was in Gloria’s name but the police never talked to Gloria. The police report is totally erroneous here, stating a totally incorrect name. The police report shows no record of any conversation with this person, there is no address listed for this person, and the zip code of “39301” is incorrect.
2. Spencer, Adelia: The second person named on the report, under “Suspect/Arrestee Information - #1,” is Adelia Spencer. This is a nice attempt by Detective Havard or somebody to make it look like they investigated/questioned her. Two points:
• If they did question Adelia, when was it? Where is the indication of it in the police report? How was it done? What questions did they ask her? What information did they find out? SHAM REPORT…SHAME ON THE MERIDIAN POLICE; SHAME ON DETECTIVE HAVARD.
• If they did question Adelia, what did they do, go up to her and say, “Did you commit this crime?” Is that how the Meridian Police Detectives solve crimes? For example, do they go up to a person like Ted Bundy and ask him, “Did you kill any women?” Wow.
There is no phone number listed for Adelia Spencer under “business phone.” Why wasn’t the phone for New Beginnings Church listed? It’s probably because this information was added a year after the fire, when Adelia and company had already moved to Florida and so there was no phone number anymore for New Beginnings church here. There is no area code for the home number listed for Adelia Spencer; there is only a “0.”
Note that Adelia’s address is listed as being in Meridian. However, that doesn’t mean that she was living in Meridian at the time these names were added. (Although Adelia and her followers left for Florida in January of 2004, she still owned homes here in Meridian, and many or all of them did not go up for sale until January of 2005. It will become more obvious throughout the reading of this document that falsehoods and lies are abounding in the police report.)
3. McGlothin, Kitaly: There is no address and there are no phone numbers at all listed under this person. We do not know who this person is and why he/she was listed as a witness.
Next to “occupation” it says “Gone to FL.” Then, next to “City,” it says Meridian, MS 39301.” The phone numbers all have “601/000-0000.” This appears to be totally useless information. Nice padding for the “report.”
4. Demers, Wade L.: Wade is listed under “Victim Information - #1.” While his information appears to be accurate, except for the zip code, which again, Detective Havard lists as 39301. (Detective Havard used “39301” anytime he needed a zip code, even for Florida.) The correct zip code is 39307
This is a sham…Pastor Demers was never talked to after the arson. We allege that this information was added a year after the arson to make it look like Detective Havard did something because he was “backed into a corner” when Ken Storms (who had also been “backed into a corner”) ordered him to do an investigation. (Det. Havard still did not investigate, as you will see when you continue reading this.)
5. Powell, Joshua: Listed under “Other Person Information - #1,” Joshua Powell’s address is listed as 1704 Wharf Lane, Greencrest, FL 39301 (Detective Havard’s favorite zip code, but again, erroneous). Joshua Powell was the son of the prime suspect (the woman who allegedly gave the order to commit the arson) and he was willing to testify.
JOSHUA POWELL WASN’T LIVING IN FLORIDA UNTIL 2004. This information in the police report was added way after the arson, as is proven by Joshua Powell’s location of Florida.
AT THE TIME THE ARSON WAS COMMITTED, JUNE 8, 2003, AND UP UNTIL JULY 16, 2003 (5 WEEKS AFTER THE ARSON), JOSHUA POWELL WAS LIVING IN MERIDIAN, MISSISSIPPI AT CCIA’S PARSONAGE AT 4015 PAULDING STREET. AFTER JOSHUA MOVED OUT, HE WENT TO ALABAMA TO STAY WITH HIS WIFE WHO WAS STAYING WITH HER MOTHER.
Detective Havard never talked to Joshua Powell, even though for 5 weeks after the arson Joshua was still living in the parsonage. Subsequent to his moving out of the parsonage on July 16, 2003, Joshua was still available by telephone (Detective Havard had the number), yet was not contacted/talked to by Detective Havard.
6. Washington, Vic: (“Other Person Information - #2”) This is Rev. Washington, whom Joshua Powell was staying with in Florida. Notice that:
- the spelling of the town is incorrect;
- the state is listed as Louisiana when it should be Florida;
- the zip code is (here we go again) “39301,” which is a Meridian, Mississippi zip code.
Obviously, again, this is fake, sloppy work, apparently just slapped together to make it look like he was investigating this crime, when obviously, he wasn’t.
7. Watson, William: (“Other Person Information - #3”) Note: This is the person who told the victims, in February of 2004, “the reason you’re not getting any help downtown is because big money changed hands.” It is interesting as you read on that, according to Detective Havard’s own police report, he never made any attempt to contact Mr. Watson until October of 2004, a year and a half after the arson. (By this time someone had “gotten to” Mr. Watson and he had changed his story.)
NOTE: IF THESE NAMES WERE ON THE REPORT FROM THE VERY BEGINNING, RIGHT AFTER THE ARSON, AS DETECTIVE HAVARD WOULD HAVE US BELIEVE, WHY WASN’T MR. WATSON (AS WELL AS THE OTHERS) CONTACTED IMMEDIATELY? THIS IS ANOTHER INDICATION THAT THESE NAMES WEREN’T ADDED UNTIL OVER A YEAR AFTER THE ARSON.
8. Powell, Nicole: (“Other Person Information – #4”) Detective Havard lists Nicole Powell’s (Joshua’s wife) address as being in Florida. At the time of the arson she was living in the “purple house” on the corner of 41st Ave. and Paulding Street[9]. On June 20, 2003, she moved to Alabama to be with her mother. She wasn’t living in Florida until 2004, proving that Detective Havard added these names to the report a year after the arson…he was deceptively trying to make it look like the names were there from the beginning (when the arson was committed in June of 2003), trying to make it look like an investigation was done.
9. Powell, Amos: (“Other Person Information - #5”) This is Joshua and Peter (Amos) Powell’s dad, Adelia’s ex-husband. There is no record anywhere in the police report that he was ever talked to.
10. Arthur Easley: (“Other Person Information – #6”) We don’t know who this person is and what he has to do with the arson. According to the police report, neither does Detective Havard. There is no record in his report of his having talked to an Arthur Easley. He claims he tried to, but he had the wrong name if he was talking about “Early,” one of the alleged arsonists, AND the wrong address…Mr. Early lives at 516 41st Avenue, NOT 624 44th Avenue, as the police report states.
It would seem logical that Det. Havard would have worked from his list and talked to the people on it. (You compile your list; then you work from the list and contact the people.) The reason he didn’t do this is because the list was not there in June of 2003, when the investigation should have started. He added the names in 2004, after Ken Storms ordered him to get names and investigate.
PLEASE ALSO NOTE:
· Joshua Powell, Patricia Demers, and Deborah Keller are all victims of the arson; none of them are listed as such. (Joshua Powell is listed as “other person,” but not as a victim. And, even though he is listed, as stated previously, he was never talked to by Detective Havard.)
· This police report is ridiculously confusing in its errors, misinformation, false information, etc. HOW could anyone expect to solve this crime with this mess? Answer: They couldn’t. They didn’t want to/were being directed not to.
Was this shoddy? Or criminal…being directed by someone else to just “slap something together” to make it look like an investigation was done?
1) We allege that no one could be that incompetent; if he is, he needs to be removed from the force; we cannot have incompetent people protecting the citizens.
2) If it is not incompetence, and he was being directed by others, this is in severe violation of the law, and he still needs to be removed from the force, and additional investigations need to be done by the proper law enforcement agencies into the others who were complicit in this crime, in directing Det. Havard to act criminally.
MERIDIAN POLICE DEPT. INCIDENT REPORT
Now we go to page 3, narrative #1 (reported by Ronald R. Godwin, dated 6/8/03, the night of the fire), we see that Vince Vincent (FT2) has the dispatcher page Detective Havard (116) at the onset of the fire response. Dispatcher pages Detective Havard. No response from Detective Havard. Vince Vincent advises dispatcher to page Detective Massie (118). Detective Massie is paged by dispatcher. There is no way to tell from the police report whether or not Detective Massie responded.
MERIDIAN POLICE DEPT. INCIDENT REPORT entry by Detective Havard regarding
JUNE 8, 2003
1. According to Detective Havard in his entry in the police report, page 4, narrative #3 (reported 6/19/03, entered 6/19/03) Detective Havard calls Vince Vincent. Mr. Vincent (Meridian Fire Dept. Investigator) tells Detective Havard that he (Vince Vincent) had asked dispatch to page him (Det. Havard) at 2:12 am (0212 hrs). Detective Havard claims that his pager just went off (approx. 0425 hrs. – 4:25 AM – over 2 hours after the original page). Mr. Vincent tells Detective Havard that there were multiple points of origin in the house, and that one of the victims said that the people from the church across the street[10] might have set the fire.
2. Detective Havard tells Mr. Vincent that he will go look at the house in the morning but that he would not talk to him about the fire until after he (Mr. Vincent) got back from Maryland.
3. Detective Havard states: “This case is arson but at this time there are no suspects other than the church people…” (meaning New Beginnings church)
COMMENTARY:
1. Detective Havard is told, on the night of the fire, by the fire department investigator, about the prime (and only) suspects being the people from the church across the street. According to Detective Havard in his report here, Detective Havard had this information immediately, the night of the fire, from the fire dept. investigator. It is a fact that Adelia and company were known by the police department to have guns and to do other criminal activity. (See, for example, the entry in this document dated August 28, 2003 regarding a comment by a Meridian Police Officer about Adelia and her church members.) This should have raised a “red flag” with Detective Havard. He never questioned any of these suspects following the arson, with the exception of one person and this was over 3 weeks after the arson. As you will see if you keep reading on, he only talked to ONE suspect, and that was 3 weeks after the arson. This suspect was a member of Adelia’s church and also a relative of Adelia. DETECTIVE HAVARD NEVER QUESTIONED ANY OTHER SUSPECTS THROUGOUT HIS WHOLE “INVESTIGATION” INTO THIS ARSON, FROM JUNE 8, 2003 TO APRIL 12, 2005 (the date Det. Havard requested that the case go to file)!!!! Nothing was reported in Detective Havard’s Police Incident Report regarding any other suspects being questioned.
2. Detective Havard told Vince Vincent that he was going to go to the scene of the fire in the morning (June 8, 2003). There is no record that Detective Havard ever went to look at the house that morning….he did not contact the victims, who live on the adjacent property to the back yard of the house that was burned. There is also no record that Detective Havard ever talked to Vince Vincent (like he said he would) when Mr. Vincent got back from Maryland, either. (Vince Vincent had told Pastor Demers on June 8, 2003, that he (Vince Vincent) was going to be gone for 1 week for a seminar in Washington, D.C…one week later (the first work day) would have been June 16th (Monday). Detective Havard’s entry was made on June 19th –11 days after the arson. And he makes no mention of whether or not he did what he said he would do. The police report should reflect any activity he did in this investigation.)
3. Again, Detective Havard never questioned any of these suspects, except one (she was not even what would be considered a prime suspect); and this was over 3 weeks after the arson.
NOTE:
As stated before, no mention is made in Detective Havard’s narrative about the threat or about the circle burned in the grass around the house, which are significant factors in this arson.
June 8, 2003:
· Later on that morning, Pastor Demers and his wife were walking past New Beginnings Church building on Paulding Street, and saw Mr. Early (who lives next door to the house that was burned) sitting on the steps of New Beginnings. Pastor Demers asks Mr. Early, “What’s happening?” Mr. Early nervously puts his hands up and says, “I don’t know anything…I’m not involved.” (Pastor Demers and his wife had not mentioned anything about the fire.)
· Pastor Demers and his wife also walked down 41st Avenue by the house that was burned, and at the corner of 41st Avenue and 5th Street, a gentleman, who said his name was Donald, was coming out of his house…Pastor Demers asked him if he saw anything the previous night…the man said, “big lights, everywhere.”
· At approximately 6:40 pm CST, Pastor Demers was taking pictures of the church property at 518 41st Avenue which had been burned by the arson. He was walking back down the street towards the parsonage with the pictures in one hand and a plant stand in the other hand. As he walked by some New Beginnings church members who included Tobias Ward, Pastor Demers commented, “Adelia did a pretty good job burning the house.” Tobias Ward ran over to Pastor Demers and hit him, knocking him to the ground and bloodying his face (we have pictures).
· A police officer was called. Arthur Spencer stopped Tobias Ward from talking to the police officer. The police officer made no arrest and no report of this incident was made.
· After the officer left, Deborah Keller, CCIA’s secretary (a 5’ tall, 95 lb. woman), told Arthur Spencer to leave her pastor and her and her church alone. Arthur Spencer told Ms. Keller to go, and pushed her with his hands on her back as she was walking back to the parsonage. Also with Arthur Spencer was a man named Caleb (Adrian) Edwards and a man named Patrick. Ms. Keller said, “Christians up North don’t do what you do.” Arthur Spencer told her that she wasn’t up North, she was in the South now.
IMPORTANT POINTS:
· Detective Havard did not report anything about this arson until June 19, 2003—11 days after the fire.
· No victims were contacted at all during this time.
· No suspects were contacted at all during this time, even though there were numbers of them. The list includes, but is not limited to, Adelia Spencer, Arthur Spencer (Adelia’s husband), Mr. Early (lives next door to house that was burned), Amos (Peter) Powell (son of Adelia Spencer) who had assaulted Pastor Demers and tried to kill him a few months before the fire, in March of 2003), and Tobias Ward (assaulted Pastor Demers the day of the fire), and other members of New Beginnings Church.
· Detective Havard wrote (narrative #3, pg. 4, 6/19/03): “This case is arson but at the time there are no suspects other than the church people…(meaning New Beginnings)” This seems a strange statement, stated in the negative, and stated as if the police were looking away from the suspects at hand.[11]
· No mention is made of the threats made to the pastor of CCIA on May 13, 2003 (nor of other threats/assaults made by New Beginnings Church against CCIA’s pastor and members).
· No mention is made by Detective Havard at all about the circle burned in the grass the day before the fire. (The circle was found in the grass the morning of June 7, 2003, and the fire was set that night in the middle of the night—around 2am, so technically it was June 8th, but really the night of June 7th.) This was reported to the police on that day, and there is a police report, #1-03-026389, that was made of the incident, by Officer Ron Payton. Detective Havard certainly should have accessed that police report as part of his investigation, and made reference to it.
· Detective Havard did not interview the victims and start compiling a list of suspects. This is especially strange, since there had been an explicit threat, witnessed by several people, and a circle burned around the house which was reported to the police the day before the fire, and which was documented in a police report.
· Not only was Pastor Demers, one of the victims, not contacted, but Mrs. Demers, another victim, was also not contacted. Neither were Joshua Powell, or Deborah Keller (CCIA’s secretary).
· Joshua Powell was not only a victim but was also a key witness. (Joshua Powell is the adult son of Adelia Spencer, the person who allegedly gave the order to burn the house and who was pastor of New Beginnings Church.) He was living at CCIA’s parsonage for a number of months prior to and at the time of the arson, yet was not contacted immediately and interviewed about his extensive knowledge of New Beginnings church and its policies and practices against people whom New Beginnings perceived to be their enemies. (For example, Joshua Powell had related to Pastor Demers how his mother would have meetings and give orders of how to commit violent acts against her enemies and the enemies of New Beginnings Church. They called themselves “God’s Mafia.”)
· Members of New Beginnings Church lived in the neighboring houses all around the house at 518 41st Avenue; these houses were all owned by Adelia Spencer/New Beginnings Church. Yet, ON THE NIGHT OF THE FIRE, NONE OF THEM CAME OUT OF THEIR HOUSES TO SEE WHAT WAS GOING ON, EVEN THOUGH THE FIRE TRUCKS AND THE POLICE WERE THERE, IT’S LIKE THEY KNEW ADELIA HAD ORDERED IT, THEIR PEOPLE HAD DONE IT, AND THAT WAS IT. THEY WERE “HIDING” IN THEIR HOUSES. (This was a spectacular fire; certainly not one that most people would sleep through.)
· According to the police report, Detective Havard (or anyone else from the Meridian Police Department) did not go around to these neighboring houses to try and talk to any of those people to find out anything about anybody. Detective Havard did NOTHING. WHY?
June 15, 2003:
Carlos Burton (from New Beginnings Church) tells Joshua Powell that he’s confident that New Beginnings people “torched” the house at 518 41st Avenue. Joshua Powell tells Pastor Demers that New Beginnings many times had used physical assaults to enforce their will or punish those who were in opposition to them.
COMMENTARY:
Again, Joshua Powell was living at the parsonage at 4015 Paulding Street at this time. He was a former member of New Beginnings Church and one of the sons of its pastor, Adelia Spencer. Joshua Powell was never contacted by Detective Havard to ask him anything about what he might know about the arson, and the people who allegedly committed the arson. Joshua was an extremely valuable witness and potential source of valuable inside information for the police—yet, they never interviewed him. Only someone incompetent or who did not want to solve this arson wouldn’t have talked to Joshua Powell at this time.
June 16, 2003:
Vince Vincent returns from the seminar in D.C. Pastor Demers tells Mr. Vincent that no one has contacted him or any of the other victims. Mr. Vincent is incredulous. Mr. Vincent checks into it and says something is wrong…his report is not in the computer –it’s been erased.
NOTE: IT’S SOP FOR VICTIMS TO BE CONTACTED WITHIN 24 HOURS OF AN ARSON. THIS WAS NOT DONE. DETECTIVE HAVARD VIOLATED SOP.
· HAVARD STATES: “THIS CASE IS ARSON…” yet
· VICTIMS NOT CONTACTED
· SUSPECTS NOT QUESTIONED
WHY???
June 19, 2003:
Detective Havard makes his first entry into the police report. Report taken from June 8, 2003. Entry not done until June 19, 2003—11 days after the arson. (Please refer to “MERIDIAN POLICE DEPT. INCIDENT REPORT, June 8. 2003, earlier in this document for details of the police report entry.)
COMMENTARY: NO INVESTIGATION HAS BEEN DONE. VICTIMS HAVE NOT BEEN CONTACTED. NEW BEGINNINGS PEOPLE (SUSPECTS) HAVE NOT BEEN CONTACTED. NO MENTION IN DETECTIVE HAVARD’S REPORT OF ANYTHING OF THIS NATURE UP TO THIS POINT. [12]
June 27, 2003:
Letter from Bobby Vance, Meridian Housing Inspector, stating that complaints had been received about the house, and demanding that the house be demolished or repaired. (For a church with hardly any members and all of whom have taken a vow of poverty, the option would obviously have to be to tear it down. But this would be destroying evidence.) Pastor Demers contacts Mr. Vance, makes satisfactory arrangement to have house cleaned and boarded up.
July 1, 2003:
Pastor Demers and wife meet with Mayor John Robert Smith after 3 weeks had gone by with nothing done about the arson. Pastor Demers and his wife explain:
· the threats prior to the fire,;
· the “burning” on the lawn prior to the fire;
· the event of the fire;
· the facts related to the fire being proved as arson and the fire investigator’s part in opening the police investigation;
· the pictures (which they showed him) before and after the fire;
· the pictures (which they showed him) of Pastor Demers with blood on him after the assault by one of New Beginnings people the day after the fire.
Mayor Smith acts shocked and says that he will talk to the Chief of Police, Vince Vincent (fire department investigator), and others. Mayor Smith tells Pastor Demers and his wife that he will get back to them in 24 hours. NO ONE CONTACTS THEM.
MERIDIAN POLICE DEPT. INCIDENT REPORT
1. (Narrative #4, page 4, reported 7/02/03 entered 7/02/03). Detective Havard states that he and Detective Massie went to talk to Wanda Powell, relative of Adelia Spencer, at New Beginnings Church, on July 1, 2003.
2. They asked Wanda Powell if she knew anything or had seen anything about the fire at 518 41st Avenue. She said that she didn’t know of anyone who had seen anything, other than people on the street saying the house had burned.
3. They asked her if anyone had said anything about the house being burned and she said “not that she had heard.” Detective Havard said that he and Detective Massie asked Wanda that if she heard of anyone that knew of anything or seen anyone set the fire to please contact them and let them know who they were so they could talk with them. (Detective Havard enters this into his report on July 2, 2003.)
COMMENTARY:
1. a) July 1, 2003 is over 3 weeks after the arson. Why did it take him 3 weeks to do anything? b) This looks like the mayor may have alerted Detective Havard to go do something to make it look like they were investigating, due to the fact that Pastor Demers and his wife were meeting with the mayor that day. c) If, as Detective Havard would have us believe, the beginning part of the report had names of suspects, etc., why did he choose to question Wanda Powell, who was not even on his list? Why didn’t he talk to Adelia, who supposedly was on his list? (Indication, as mentioned before, that the list was added a year after the arson.)
2. The questions Detective Havard and Detective Massie asked Wanda Powell appear ridiculous. They were asking a relative of the prime suspect, who was also a member of her church, to let them know if she knew anything or had seen anything about the fire. That would be like asking Bonnie, “Did Clyde break any laws? Well, if you know anyone who knows anything about that or who saw Clyde break any laws, then here’s our number, please let us know.”
3. Again, this appears ridiculous; to ask this person to contact them and to let them know if anyone saw or heard anything or saw anyone set the fire. See comment about Bonnie and Clyde in #2, above.
COMMENTARY:
No other suspects are interviewed/talked to by Detective Havard. There is no record anywhere in the police report of Detective Havard interviewing/questioning any other suspects from new beginnings church, even though Pastor Demers of the victimized church (Christ’s Church in Action), told the police and fire department that he thought Adelia and her church people set the fire, and Vince Vincent relayed this information to Detective Havard the night of the arson, and Officer Godwin put it in his entry in the police report on June 17, 2003—Detective Havard never questioned them. No other people in the area were questioned, either.
NO PROPER INVESTIGATION WAS DONE. THIS WAS A WHITEWASH. ONLY ONE PERSON WAS ASKED SOME QUESTIONS, AND SOME PRETTY “LAME” QUESTIONS AT THAT, THIS WAS 3 WEEKS AFTER THE ARSON, AND NO VICTIMS HAD BEEN CONTACTED. DETECTIVE HAVARD IS OBVIOUSLY BOTCHING THIS INVESTIGATION EITHER ON ORDERS FROM SOMEONE ELSE OR IS ACTING FROM HIS OWN PERSONAL BIAS AND PREJUDICE IN NOT INVESTIGATING THIS ARSON. PERHAPS HE WAS “PAID OFF;” WE DON’T KNOW…BUT THERE IS SOME REASON THAT HE DID NOT QUESTION SUSPECTS NOR TALK TO THE VICTIMS.
July 7, 2003:
Sgt. Jackson of the Meridian Police Dept. tells Pastor Demers that no one contacted investigators and there was no report of the fire in the computer.
July 16, 2003:
Joshua Powell moves out of the parsonage, saying it is because he could no longer take the persecution he was receiving from his own family. (JOSHUA POWELL WAS AN AVAILABLE, WILLING WITNESS WHO WAS LIVING IN THE PARSONAGE from March 1, 2003—3 months prior to the arson—UP UNTIL THIS POINT—5 WEEKS AFTER THE ARSON. HE WAS NEVER INTERVIEWED BY POLICE DURING THIS TIME FRAME AFTER THE ARSON, PRIOR TO HIS MOVING OUT ON THIS DATE. In fact, he was never interviewed by police at all.)
August 28, 2003:
Substance found in grass in 3 areas on parsonage lawn (4015 Paulding Street). Due to what happened the last time CCIA found substance in grass, police are contacted. Responding officer at the scene says, “They burned your house? You think that’s bad? Watch your back; they’ve got guns, and they’re not afraid to use them.”
******RED ALERT! RED ALERT! RED ALERT!******
HAVARD STATES: “THIS CASE IS ARSON…” yet
-VICTIMS NOT CONTACTED
-SUSPECTS NOT QUESTIONED
NO INVESTIGATION DONE
WHY???
And then…
September 16, 2003:
DETECTIVE HAVARD, AFTER NOT DOING ANY INVESTIGATION INTO THIS ARSON, (OTHER THAN TO ASK QUESTIONS OF ONE PERSON, A RELATIVE OF THE ALLEGED MASTERMIND OF THE ARSON), DECIDES TO SEND TO ANOTHER STATE (RHODE ISLAND) FOR CRIMINAL RECORDS ON WADE DEMERS, A VICTIM OF THE ARSON!
MERIDIAN POLICE DEPT. INCIDENT REPORT
1. In Narrative #5, reported on 10/23/03, entered 10/23/03, Detective Havard states that on Sept. 16, 2003, he had sent to Rhode Island for criminal records of Mr. Walter L. Demers (aka: Wade Demers). He states that as of this date (10/23/03) he has not received any response so he will send another request.
2. He states that “there is no new information to point to a single suspect at this time in this case.”
COMMENTARY:
1. SOME KEY QUESTIONS ARISE HERE:
· Why, all of a sudden, is Detective Havard, instead of doing his job and investigating the arson, sending to Rhode Island to get information on one of the victims? (Remember, he has not interviewed the victims or any suspects except one.) Why is he going after this pastor?
· Why were Adelia and company, who were known to commit criminal acts, some of whom had made threats and assaults on the pastor of CCIA, and who were allegedly the ones who committed the arson, NEVER INVESTIGATED?
· How did Detective Havard even know that Pastor Demers was from Rhode Island, and what made him think that he had any criminal record there?
· How did he even know to contact Rhode Island?
· Who gave him this information, and for what reason? (continued POLICE FRAUD & DECEPTION , PART 2)
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