XPost: alt.gossip.celebrities, alt.fatty-fuckers, ca.politics   
   XPost: la.general   
   From: stealing@lamayor.org   
      
   A fired Milwaukee police sergeant convicted in a stalking case   
   was sentenced Friday to one year of probation, and his appeal to   
   get his job back will now move forward.   
      
   Alex Lopez, a 16-year veteran of the Milwaukee Police   
   Department, was charged with felony stalking last summer. He   
   pleaded guilty to an amended misdemeanor charge of unlawful use   
   of a phone, which carried a maximum penalty of 90 days in jail   
   and $1,000 fine.   
      
   In addition to probation, Milwaukee County Circuit Judge   
   Stephanie Rothstein on Friday sentenced Lopez to 60 days in the   
   House of Correction but stayed the jail time, which he will not   
   have to serve unless he violates probation. Lopez also is not   
   permitted to have contact with the victim or witnesses.   
      
   Police Chief Edward Flynn fired Lopez on Nov. 19. Lopez has   
   appealed his termination to the city's Fire and Police   
   Commission, which had been waiting for the conclusion of the   
   criminal case before setting an appeal hearing date. If Lopez   
   had been convicted of a felony, the appeal would not have moved   
   forward because state law bars felons from serving as police   
   officers.   
      
   Lopez has not been paid since he was fired, but if he is   
   reinstated during the appeals process, he will receive back pay,   
   said Michael Tobin, the commission's executive director.   
      
   Lopez was charged with stalking a woman whom he had started   
   dating in January 2013. The woman told police she tried to break   
   off their relationship in March, but Lopez talked her into   
   staying with him.   
      
   When she tried again to stop contact with him, Lopez began   
   continually calling, sending text messages and driving to her   
   house, which is outside Milwaukee County.   
      
   On June 18, he stayed at her house for several hours, pounding   
   on the door, ringing the doorbell and yelling for her to come   
   out. Between June 19 and Aug. 5, Lopez sent the woman more than   
   400 messages and also sent a Facebook message to one of the   
   woman's friends, accusing the woman of using illegal drugs and   
   asking her friend to perform a sex act on him.   
      
   "She wakes up screaming at night," Assistant District Attorney   
   Erin Karshen said Friday in court. "She's very fearful of the   
   defendant."   
      
   Karshen added that Lopez was the suspect in a domestic violence   
   investigation in 2011 that involved three separate incidents but   
   did not result in criminal charges.   
      
   During the investigation of the stalking case, a woman who has   
   worked as a prostitute told investigators that Lopez would   
   regularly stop her while in his marked squad car, had obtained   
   her personal cellphone number and had texted her sexual   
   comments, Karshen said, adding that the woman's number was found   
   in Lopez's phone.   
      
   "I think that he is choosing vulnerable women that he can   
   manipulate," Karshen said.   
      
   Lopez's attorney, Jonathan Smith, disputed those   
   characterizations.   
      
   "Clearly we have a different take on the matters here," Smith   
   said. "...We certainly don't agree with some of the allegations   
   that have been made concerning the reported conduct or   
   interaction with the purported prostitute."   
      
   Smith also reiterated that no charges were filed as a result of   
   the domestic violence investigation and noted that the   
   allegations did not affect Lopez's promotion to sergeant.   
      
   As for the stalking case, Smith said that Lopez felt he was   
   being manipulated by the woman. Further, the victim had contact   
   with Lopez after the stalking investigation began, Smith said.   
      
   "There are multiple problems in this relationship on both sides   
   of the equation, to be certain," Smith said.   
      
   The judge said that Lopez should have known better, especially   
   given his profession, and that the prior consensual relationship   
   between Lopez and the victim was irrelevant.   
      
   "He should be enough of a judge of human behavior to engage in   
   some conduct that would preserve his own livelihood and protect   
   himself," Rothstein said. "Even if we view the victim in the   
   most critical light, which I don't, this defendant, of all   
   people, should have know when to stop."   
      
   Lopez's conduct, as outlined in the court case, "indicates a   
   certain lack of control that shows a potential for harm to the   
   victim or to the community in general," she said.   
      
   http://www.jsonline.com/news/crime/fired-milwaukee-police-   
   officer-sentenced-to-probation-in-stalking-b99235439z1-   
   252942781.html   
      
         
      
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