Illegal Wiretapping by CPS

[vau58]

I want to know how many people who have been falsely accused or know of any CPS worker illegaly wiretapping phone conversations. I know CPS calls it supervised phone conversations, but it falls under Illegal Wiretapping. I was a police sergeant when I was falsely accused and my trial begins May 16th. I am confident that I will win, but you never know what a jury will do. My wife was charged with tampering with a witness with information illegaly obtained from wiretapping. I've been in law enforcement for over 13 years and I know that it is done by cps everyday, but most people are unaware of the civil rights violation. CPS went after my wife and charged her, because she would not turn against me. Her attorney is filing for a suppression hearing. We have solid proof of the illegal wiretapping documented by another state agency. How many people are told that when they talk to their children on the phone that their phone conversations are to be supervised with someone listening?

[Bob_Lynn]

That's excellent information. Unfortunately it's only one of a very long list of human and civil rights violations CPS commits every single day. But it is one that I don't believe I've seen discussed that I'm aware of.

[vau58]

I know there are a lot more civil rights violations. My attorney says that I must have pissed off CPS, because of the way that they are coming after me. When I was the on duty shift commander, CPS would call me wanting one of my officers to co investigate a child abuse allegation. My officers were usually very backed up with calls and I would ask the nature of the request. CPS would say something about parents discipling their child by spanking. I would always tell CPS that unless that child was severly hurt that their request would be denied. Our state statute states that a parent has the right to discipline their child anyway they deem as long as it does not endanger the life of that child period.
It has been hard to be on this side of the fight. I was blind in the begining that the system would work. The saving grace in my case is that I know how the system works. I saw within the first 2 days that CPS was coming after me, because I had pissed them off in the past. I took measures to protect myself and my family. You have to document EVERYTHING. What amazed me was that I'm paying for two attornies and no one noticed that federal and state laws regarding Illegal Wiretapping was violated. I brought it to the attention of both attorneys. I had to show them the us code and state statute and they were in disbelief. I told both attorneys that I understood their oversight, because in law enforcement there are laws that we do not see everyday and so we may overlook charging these crimes. Attorneys are the same way. They are now taking measures to fight cps with the documented information that we have. I know that many people are falsely accused and I am now one of them. I know people go bankrupt fighting cps and still loose their children in the end. I have spent nearly $100,000.00 dollars. I also know that most people are the mercy of their attorneys, because they do not know how the system works and cannot help their attorney. I hate cps, because they are harming my daughter right now keeping her isolated from family for the past year. I plan on being a very outspoken against cps when we win and I plan on being an advocate to rebuild cps from the ground up. There needs to be laws enacted to hold CPS accountable.

[Dazeemay]

How many people are told that when they talk to their children on the phone that their phone conversations are to be supervised with someone listening?

We were told everytime we called our granddaughter. If the granddaughter said anything that she was not suppose to we could hear them in the background telling her she could not talk about it. Sometimes they listened on the extension.

The county we were in was very poor so I don't think they could afford to be that sophisticated to wire tap. I may be wrong.

[ericb]

vau58,
As an EMT, I too "knew the system", and never really thought that it could happen to my family, but it did. As to the illegal wiretapping, is there anything that was recorded by them that might help your case? Do you know which specific conversations were recorded and are they relevant? I personally record every confrontation with CPS. Be it by phone or by a small tape recorder that I purchased. As a cop, you tell me, if you as a cop are recording, even with an open mic to dispatch, would I need to inform you if I was also recording the conversation? I hope that you do become a vocal opponent of this broken system. We need individuals who have seen both sides to get the word out just how badly this system is broken. I'm with you on that one.

[vau58]

By US Code Title 18 Paragraph 2511 listening in on a phone conversation that you are not a party to is a violation of the Illegal Wiretapping Law. They do not have to record your converstaion, just listening is still violating your 4th Amendment Rights. I do not know what your state statute says, but in my state, Missouri, the law says that you can record your phone conversation without the other party knowing as long as you are a part of that conversation. It is very hard to prove illegal wiretapping, but in your case you say that you can hear cps telling your grandaughter what to say or what not to say. In Missouri, I would be able to use that to prove that someone was eavesdropping illegaly. I do not know about Florida law, but that could be enough to fight at the federal level. If enough of us could prove that cps has been violating Federal Wiretapping Laws, we could in affect open CPS up to massive law suits and call evrything they do into question.

[vau58]

I suggest that you go to Radio Shack and purchase a tape recorder that can be used to record phone conversations. A good recorder usually costs about $80.00 dollars. You pay for what you get. You need to record all conversation with your grand daughter or with cps if nothing else to protect yourself. CPS has a nasty habit of twisting conversations to benifit them and to hurt you.

[Dazeemay]

We got our granddaughter back after 9 months and we did record the phone conversations.

Thanks to this site for giving us the heads up.

[DontBiteMyNose]

vau58, an honor to meet you. When I was working commissioned in Texas, the LEO's I worked with/around had my deepest respect. I'm glad to have a LEO on board - but, surprised that the goons would target you - being as you have a lot of resources the average citizenry does not.

I'm wondering, though, are you still active? Does your department know about this issue? Does your Chief support you or is he merely a politician? What did the goons charge you with, specifically? How did you know that there was wiretapping?

I could be wrong, but, this could be the FBI's jurisdiction.

What resources are you gonna use to help you? Have the goons gone after some of your brothers? How is this going to affect your P.O. license? Who do you believe reported this nonsense? A jealous co-worker, some idiot you took down seeking revenge? Did you let the goons in your house? Did you sign anything? Sorry all the questions, just trying to get a clearer idea.

[Momoffor]

I would assume that as a police officer and dealing with CPS in the past would make it a conflict of interest to begin with in your county/city and that they would need to move it to another jurisdiction. As well as the court system in your city/county.

[vau58]

I resigned my commision when I was charged, because I felt that it was best so that I could concentrate on my fight. My chief and department have been very supportive. I have been very fortunate to have the support of my family, my friends, and the law enforcement community. That is what has probably pissed off cps the most is that they are used to people rolling over to their crap and not fighting them. To answer your question did they move the investigation to another jurisdiction. The answer is NO. That was the first of their many mistakes. I live in Jefferson City, the capitol of Missouri. Being in law enforcement as long as I have and being very active in the with changing laws to help law enforcement I have made a lot of friends at the state capitol. CPS to this date do not know how far my friends reach in state government. Those friends are silently supporting until trial is finished. Anytime child abuse is in question it is political suicide to support the accused until there is an aquittal. I was a very active member of the FOP and I have my contacts. As you know when cps comes after you, you have a fight on your hands. You also don't show all your cards in a card game. The law enforcement agency that took on the investigation should never have investigated. They are an incompetant small agency with no experience or training with serious ethics issues. No other law enforcement agency in the area respects them. Weeks before my nightmare started, I called into question their ethics, because they requested assistance in stopping two vehicles for careless and imprudent driving. Their officer started pursuit after he was out of his jurisdiction and wanted my officers to assist in the traffic stop. This officer did not see the drivers driving erraticaly before he started his pursuit. I was not going to allow my officers to be involved. I told my officers to observe from a distance while the officer had both vehicles stopped. From the begining I wanted the state patrol to investigate, but this agency is bent on proving something. What they will prove in the end is that they are even more incompetant and will break their city due to law suit. CPS usually runs the investigation if a law enforcement agency lacks the training or experience. This wrong, because cps has their own agenda. I was told by law enforcement friends from a nieghboring city to move my family there so that they can protect them. They drive by all of the time and check on my wife and kids when I'm not there.
As to your question as to how this happened, I blame cps and the school district. Parents are not aware that public school are mandated by state laws to teach cps garbage. Schools teach children about child abuse and that no one can touch them and not even their parents. Children are taught in school that parents cannot spank them. That is why children today lack respect for authority and parents cannot control their children. I raised my children to respect authority. I am not as harsh about punishment as my father was, but my children know that they would be punished for doing something wrong. As a father I am always there for them at their games, practices, and school activities. My oldest son is 17 and wants to join the Marines this Fall. My 15 y/o daughter is what this fight is centered around. My daughter is a good girl, but at middle school she started to hang around kids that I did not approve of and her grades were showing it. Maybe being in law enforcement I am suspicious of people. My daughter acted out and lied when confronted about things. In the months leading to the allegations, my daughter was lieing more and she ignored her mother and I telling her to stop hanging with these kids. My daughter made allegations that I had molested her right after she was suspended from school for having an inhaler in school that did not belong her. The day before her suspension I had found an email she had sent to her teacher puporting to be her mother telling the teacher that she needed the inhaler. I went to the school and searched her locker and did not find the inhaler. When my daughter got home, I confronted her and she lied about the email she sent to her teacher. I spanked her with about 3-4 swats and grounded her for two weeks. The next day the principal searched her locker and found the inhaler. My daughter was suspended for 10 days. I had to go to the school and pick my daughter up. When I got home, I confronted my daughter about the inhaler and she lied to me again. I spanked her again. I have always told my children that they had better not lie to me, because I was a trained interrogator and very good at what I did. Any parent that knows their children know when they lie. Days after my daughters return to school from suspension, my daughter made allegations of sexual abuse. My daughter tried to make things right and tell the truth within days of making the allegations, but cps threatened her to not change her story. My daughter wrote a letter to her school counselor that she made false allegations against me, because she was mad at me for punishing her. My daughter has recanted many times to everyone that she lied and that the allegations were false. Since my daughter had recanted, cps has cut off all communication between her and family. It has been 17 months since my daughter made the false allegations and she was 13 at the time she made the allegations. Oh, did I say the special prosecutor in my case is running for judge in November.

[Bob_Lynn]

"the special prosecutor in my case is running for judge in November"

Sorry to sidetrack the issue here a bit but the DA in Monroe County, Pa. also ran for judge and won. Just prior to taking his oath of office, he was charge with public drunkeness and sexually molesting his daughter in front of several witnesses at a concert in Scranton. The quote above reminded me of that incident.

[vau58]

My trial starts next week and we have shown that my daughter is not credible. She has admitted to perjury, because she has lied many times even under oath. We have completely destroyed the prosecutions case. Even the prosecutor has told my attorney that I was going to walk out of trial a free man. The prosecutor has gone too far to drop the charges. I want to go to trial to clear my name and so that I can go after cps. CPS does not want me to win, because they now know that I'm coming after them for the wiretapping. In juvenile court, the judge has not handed down his verdict yet and for that I am thankful. Our juvenile case has been ongoing since January 2004. This is unheard of around here for a juvenile case to go as long as it has, because a verdict is usually handed down very quickly. Our case is the longest running juvenile case ever. The judge in our case is holding off his verdict until after my trial. He is a good and fair judge and he has bent over backwards for us. As anyone knows that if you are found guilty in juvenile court that cps and the juvenile system will be stuck up you rear forever. As I have said I had to resign my position, but have been offered a position with two different large departments when this trial is over. This will be a huge slap in the face of cps that I become a cop again. We did not move my trial out of the county where the allegations were made and where I worked. The reason is that I grew up in that county and the sentiment when the allegations were made was that I was innocent. This county is extremely conservative and the jurys are usually the most fair. We have overwhelming evidence that this investigation was botched from the begining and that my daughter has lots of motive for doing what she did. Right now I am preparing to fight hard to save my family and my daughter. I love my daughter very much and want her back. I am sad to know that I will never ever completely trust her, but I cannot abandon her.

[vau58]

The prosecutor in my case to his credit has not made this public. It's probably a good thing for him. He has been trying to get me to plead guilty so that this does not go to trial. I was charged with nine counts of child molestation. He offered dropping the charges down to one count of child neglect and tampering with evidince. He also said that I would not have to register as a sex offender. I told him to kiss my ass. I am not pleading guilty to something that I did not do. As far as the tampering with evedince, we have a suppresion hearing Tuesday and that charge will be thrown out. The prosecutor knows that his case is very weak and he does not want the bad publicity that this case will draw when I win. I plan on being the most outspoken asshole cps has seen in a long time. As I said I have friends waiting for my aquittal and they have the power to fire anyone that works for the state. They have said that they will support me publicly when I win and several cps workers will be lossing their jobs. The Department of Justice is calling me tomorrow regarding the wiretapping done by the state. CPS has put my family through HELL and I want these persons held accountable. I also do not want other families to go through this nightmare.

[Bob_Lynn]

I sure hope you win full acquittal, not only for your sake but selfishly, for our cause. I am really hoping that you attack this illegal wiretapping issue with a vengence and keep us posted, this could break the back of CPS well beyond your local area because you have much standing as a former law enforcement officer (and I hope future as well).

[vau58]

I found out about the wiretapping through my own investigation. I know that I have an advantage where most people don't. I am a trained investigator with years of experience. I have to admit that I did not handle child abuse cases, because I felt it would be to hard for me because I have four children. I look back and now wish that I did handle child abuse, because maybe I could have helped families fend off cps. Even though at the time I did not handle child abuse investigation, all investigations are still handled much the same way. I poured through all of the documents that my attorney was recieveing. My attorney is great in that we work very well together and he has become personally involved in the case. He has experience in fighting this type of case and has won. He had a similar case, but did not have any motive for the girls to make such an allegation. My attorney defended this man pro bono while this father sat in jail for a year in solitary with lights on all of the time and no blankets, because of possibility of suicide. My attorney won that case. This case has still been a learning experience for the both of us. I have read so many books and studied other cases. Right now I am reading "Wounded Innocents" and it is heart wrenching. This is only fueling my anger to fight cps long after my case is finished. As far as the wiretapping and how I discovered it, I knew from the begining that when they told my wife that they were going to monitor phone calls I felt that was wrong. My wife never said anything to incriminate herself, but what they did was turned her words around. It is hard to prove wiretapping, but while searching through state records, I found that they documented the wiretapping and who authorized it without a warrant. That is hard evidence that they overlooked. They overlooked the document because it is common practice to monitor phone conversations between parents and children taken into custody by CPS. CPS thinks that they can violate the law, because no one has challenged them until now. I have two attorneys from two different large law firms and everyone agrees that there will be huge law suits that the state will be embarrased by publicly and want to settle. There have been so much wrong doing by the state that it is sometimes mind boggling even to me and everyone I know in law enforcement all the way to judges and to the Governors Office.

[Bob_Lynn]

this father sat in jail for a year in solitary with lights on all of the time and no blankets, because of possibility of suicide.

That person may have a cause for a federal lawsuit for an 8th Amendment violation.

[vau58]

Sadly, but Yes. Generally when someone is accused of this type of crime when they are innocent it can destroy you mentally as well as physically. My case started December 16, 2004 and we are now going to trial next week. In the begining it was very hard have your world crash. I was a officer with a good reputation. It took a very heavy toll on me and I almost ended my own life on Feruary 5, 2005. I dressed in my uniform and put my service weapon to my chest and was ready to end my life so that my family would not have to endure a very public trial and suffer financially. What saved my life was God and he reminded me that my children needed me and that I could not abandon them or my daughter that they had taken away. I certainly did not want her to be lost in the system. God showed me and gave me the strength to put my gun down and the will to fight to save my family. I turned my serice weapon into my Chief the next day. He understood when I told him that I needed to turn in my weapon, because even he had tears in his eyes. He knew that I came very close to ending things. I resigned a month later when I was charged even though I was not asked for my resignation. I do understand why the other father was in solitary. He could not make bond and he did not know what was happening outside.

[dasuberding]

This has got to be the beginning of the end for CPS. How incredibly stupid or incredibly brazen of the CPS individuals must be to go after a police officer. Vau58, you sound like a stand-up individual and I believe you will prevail.

[gideonmacleish]

Vau58,

Welcome to the board. We need you, and others, to stand up and help us in this fight.

As affected families, we are too often accused of lacking credibility. Having police officers, attorneys, and case workers tell the story of political correctness run amok will help us immensely in this struggle.

[unfairjustice05]

you have me thinking now! The case worker called me to see if i could take my kids for a weekend when all hell broke loose at their dads house.And now i am wondering if she taped it.

I have been suspicious since 04 when they were at my home to take my son and after the police took me in for questioning after they arrested my then husband.My phone in 04 started making this beeping sound on certain phone calls i made to certain people and since i have moved and gotten remarried the phone hasn't done it in a while till i filed the attempted rape charges against my kids 12 year old step brother.But the beeping doesn't do it all the time.

DOn't they have to have a warrant to tap your line?

[dasuberding]

Yes, legally they do have to have a warrant and it has to be issued by a state supreme court judge or a federal judge, not some county rubber stamper. Do they still wiretap without warrants? Why not do it? Nobody is going to hold them accountable (yet). Also, you are supposed to be issued a letter 90 days after wiretapping has begun, explaining that your phone service has been tapped and why. Do they still follow the rules? As far as I have seen, policies are just lip-service to keep the feds of their backs.

[Frustrated]

I know for sure, that I used to live with a Foster Mother, I was the Room mate, and she was responsible looking after 17 Children. She had the Tape Recorders beside the Phone every time the Child calls or some Parent calls in to talk to the Child, the Foster Mom would press "RECORD" and record all the phone conversations.

Scary isn't it?

I asked this Foster Mother what the tapes were for beside the phone, and she responded "It is for CPS".

Shocking indeed. I am sure all the meetings in CPS Office are even taped as well, there are many video holes everywhere I see in those meetings and I asked them if it was "recorded" and they replied "No" but you and I know this is bollocks, they did record it. They need to cover their arse and protect their interests at heart, and to protect their Agency. That is why it is important not to say too much in any where because you never know you might be recorded.

As far for Wire tapping, where People listen into the conversations are illegal, but recording isn't? (depending on States Law)

Strange.

[vau58]

There is no rule that you have to be notified about wirteap. Wiretap warrants are extremely hard to get. There have been many times in my law enforcement career that I wished that I could get such a warrant. Wiretap warrants are hard to get because judges worry about violating civil rights. Wiretap warrants are only issued for drug investigations at the ferderal level and terrorism. A judge in his right mind would never issue a warrant for CPS. Also, if your phone is wiretapped, it would not beep. You do have to be careful about cordless phones and cell phones. Do not talk about anything on these phones that you don't want anyone to hear. Police scanners can pick up cordless phone conversations very easily. The foster mother that recorded phone conversations is severly violating the federal wiretap laws. She is guilty of a felony and is civily liable. The cps office that has her record these conversations is also guilty of violating federal law. If we can teach people how to document and wage a war against cps we can win. Everyone needs to educate themselves about cps. A great book that I have read is "Wounded Innocents The Real Victims of the War Against Child Abuse." This is a MUST READ for everyone. It will break your heart and it will enrage you to the core, but it will educate you about cps and their agenda. Being in law enforcement, I can relate to this book. If everyone read this book and educated everyone else we can rock the world of the "Child Savers." We are fighting for our families lives. CPS does not care if a single mother is trying to take care of her child. If that mother does not meet cps standards they will take her child. CPS believes that they know how to take care our children better than we do. I know these caseworkers. They are usually kids out of college that have know idea what it takes to take care of a family on limited funds. CPS does target lower income families. People also need to know how to arm themselves with knowledge about how we can protect our children from cps. Everyone needs to know what public schools teach our children at the direction of cps. Parents have the right to limit what schools teach their children under the Hatch Amendment. Schools should not teach our children anything other the general things like reading writting and arithmatic. Anything else, parents should be able to review what the school is going to teach your child. I know where you can get a sample letter of the Hatch Amendment letter. When I sent this sample letter with my children at the begining of the school year, the principals called the next day wanting to set up a meeting to make sure that they did not go against the letter I sent. This is a powerful letter where schools can loose federal funding if they violate the Hatch Amendment. I wish I knew about this letter years ago. If I did, I wouldn't be in the position that I am in now with my daughter. Things happen for a reason and maybe my calling is to help others fight cps when my court is over next week.

[unfairjustice05]

Here in missouri CPS/DCS tell us parents we have no civil rights,and yet they have given no proof in court that i have committed a crime against my children.And my 2 girls 16,15 have called the case worker on her cell phone to tell her how scared they are of their step mom and how their dad doesn't have any food in their home and she just ignores it.

The step mom tried calling me right after they dropped the case of her 12 year old son attempting to rape my 14 year old daughter and well she didn't leave a message.But you a can use a recorded message if one is left right thats not illegal i don't thnk is it?