[FL] Parker Police talked to the accused mayor's husband intstead of the alleged victim who had called 911

..."YOU DO REALIZE WHO HIS WIFE IS, RIGHT?" JACKIE RECALLED THE OFFICER SAYING...

This "victim" is with the United States Air Force, a marathon runner, a sharp observer, and willing to MAKE SURE that she is heard - regardless of who the alleged pervert outside her window is married to. Police responded to her call - but when they came talked to the alleged perpetrator instead of her - then drove away. She called 911 back, mad, and demanded what she needed. THEN, what she didn't get from local Parker Police - she did get from the Bay County Sheriff's Office - after she pushed for further action. It has taken it's toll on her mentally and physically - but she has come up swinging - and she is shining. [Audio of calls to police]

Let her out of that damn lease.

PARKER POLICE ACCUSED OF GIVING SPECIAL TREATMENT IN VOYEURISM CASE
The News Herald, FL
By S. Brady Calhoun
February 04, 2009
[Excerpts] Parker Police Chief Charles Sweatt on Wednesday defended his department's actions in a case involving the mayor's husband. The mother and neighbor of the female complainant in a voyeurism case have accused Parker officers of acting inappropriately during last week's conflict. The incident began about 8:51 p.m. Thursday when a 23-year-old woman spotted a man outside her window. The woman, who is a member of the Air Force, identified the man as Howard Gene Hendricks, husband of Mayor Brenda Hendricks... A Parker police officer, Michael Renaldo, was sent to the area after the complainant called to report a prowler. Renaldo made contact with Howard Hendricks and then left without speaking to the woman, according to the woman's mother, the woman's neighbor and Sweatt. Jackie said she and her husband were on the phone with their daughter during the incident. "We were staying on the phone with her because she was afraid," she said. "The next thing (the officer) is leaving. He just left"... After the officer left, the woman got off the phone with her parents and made a second 9-1-1 call. About 9:15 p.m., the woman heard noises outside her window and again spotted Howard Hendricks looking in the window at her, according to a statement she gave Deputy John Bennett of the Bay County Sheriff's Office. The woman ran outside and confronted Hendricks, telling him she had had enough, Bennett wrote in an incident report. Hendricks kept coming toward the woman, trying to explain himself even after the woman told him to stay away from her, the report stated. Hendricks then called 9-1-1 and asked the operator to send the same officer he had previously talked to back out to the property, according to a 9-1-1 recording provided by the Sheriff's Office. When the officer returned, Jackie and her husband were listening to his conversation with their daughter via speaker phone, Jackie said. Brenda Sue Voskanales, the woman's neighbor, also confirmed Jackie's version of what happened next. "You do realize who his wife is, right?" Jackie recalled the officer saying. She added that he told her daughter that Hendricks could do whatever he wanted on his property... However, after the conversation with the woman, Renaldo called his supervisor, who called the radio room and asked for a Bay County deputy to be sent to the scene... [Full article here]

Kudos to the first investigating officers [Bennett and Ward] from Bay County Sheriff's Office.

SELECTED INFO TRANSCRIBED FROM:
Bay County Sheriff Offense / Incident Report
Casenumber: 2009-006054
Reported on: 01/29/2009 @21:43
Offense #1: Voyeurism
Officer Reporting: J. Bennett
Supervisor: AP-Lt. David Ward
Suspect: Hendricks, Howard Gene [Panama City, FL]

NARRATIVE

On 01-29-09, at 2155 hours, I responded to [redacted] to investigate an unknown problem. The response was at the request of the Parker Police Department, who cited a conflict of interest in taking the victim's report. When I arrived, I contacted Parker Police Reserve Officer Renaldo, who stated that the victim, Ms [redacted] wished to report that her landlord, Mr. Hendricks, was watching her through her windows. He added that Ms. [redacted] appeared to be upset with his actions. It was noted that Mr. Hendricks was the spouse of the current mayor of Parker. The Parker officers departed.

I contacted Ms. [redacted] at her residence. She advised that she was a member of the USAF, currently serving with the 325th Air Traffic Control Squadron, at Tyndall AFB. She said she rented the unit in August of 2008, and has had problems with Mr. Hendricks since shortly after moving in. I noticed that she appeared to be emotionally distraught. Her emotional state appeared to be appropriate for the nature of her complaint. She was not under the influence of any alcohol or medications at the time of this investigation. She was articulate, and able to provide a clear and consistent account of the events of this offense.

Ms. [redacted] state that on this date, at approximately 2051 hours, she was in her bedroom working on her computer, when she heard what sounded like footsteps in the leaves, beneath the bedroom window on the north side of her residence. She said she went in to the living room to look out her front window to see if anyone was outside her window. Ms. [redacted] said she saw her landlord, Mr. Hendricks, standing in the driveway, near her bedroom window. He then walked away, to the east. She added that she kept the lights off in her living room while she was looking outside. Ms. [redacted] called 911. I learned that she reported someone walking around her house, and she thought it was her landlord, Parker Police were dispatched to conduct a residence check. Ms. [redacted] said she then called her parents, and waited for the officer to contact her. She related that she waited approximately twenty minutes, then looked out her back window, where she saw a Parker officer speaking with Mr. Hendricks. She said the officer never contacted her. Ms. [redacted] said that at approximately 2115 hours she was sitting on the couch in her living room, speaking with her parents on the telephone, when she heard noises outside her window. She said she could tell the noises were coming fom the north west corner, where she was sitting. She said she looked out the window, and saw Mr. Hendricks leaning against the outside corner of the building, looking at her. She stated that she made direct eye contact with him, then bolted to the door to go outside and confront him. Ms. [redacted] said she found Mr. Hendricks walking away from her residence on the south side, headed toward his residence, which was also on the property. She confronted Mr. Hendricks, and told him that she'd had enough of his actions. Ms. [redacted] related that after she spoke to Mr. Hendricks, she truned to go back to her residence. She said he followed her. She told him to stay away from her several times, but he kept coming toward her. She said he followed her all the way to the north driveway, which was approximately one hundred feet. She stepped behind a vehicle to keep a barrier between them, but he continued toward her, until a neighbor, [BV] intervened. She said the entire time he was trying to explain himself, but never heeded her request for him to keep away from her. She then entered her home while the neighbor spoke with Mr. Hendricks. It was learned that Mr. Hendricks called on a non-emergency line and requested to speak with the Parker officer who responded previously. That call was received at 2114 hours. Ms. [redacted]'s second call, also made on 911, was received by this agency at 2115 hours.

Ms. [redacted] stated that she was certain someone had been entering her residence while she was gone. She said she places her bike in front of the door, and has a very specific method of standing it so she can get out and re-enter, however, a person with no knowledge of the bike's location would move it. She demonstrated this to me. She placed the left pedal between album covers in a rack of record albums. She then showed how she exits, and demonstrated what happened when the door was opened too far. The bike was noticeably disturbed. She then added that she was missing several pair of her underwear. She pointed out that she was aware of the number of missing items because she was required to have them available for military deployments. This is a common practice among military members, due ot the sometimes short notice of deployment. She said she was missing seventeen pair of her underwear over the past few months. She had no proof of who was entering and taking these things, but opined that it was Mr. Hendricks. She said she caught him watching her several times, including one time while she was in the his house, speaking to his wife while she paid the rent. She said he walked out after she came in, and while she was speaking with Ms. Hendricks, she saw Mr. Hendricks peeking through the blinds of their own home, watching her. She said the incident made her extremely uncomfortable. She added that during the late summer, she found him outside her bathroom window, unloading his truck, at 0200 hours, after a fishing trip. She questioned this because he had a large garage nearer to his house.

Ms [redacted] advised she wanted to move, but was unable to break her rental contract, which was effect until May, 2009. She contacted the military housing authorities, who advised her that they had no authority to intervene at that time. She told me that for the past two years she had been a competitive marathon runner, participating in international events. She had been in exceptional health, and maintained the lifestyle of a professional athlete. She stated that since Mr. Hendricks began watching her, hr health had declined. She advised that she was now being treated for hypertension, despite her strict diet and exercise routine. She attributed this to the stress and anxiety resulting from Mr. Hendricks' actions.

I interviewed [BV]. She said she lived in unit [X] and was friends with Ms. [redacted]. She added that she too had some odd dealings with Mr. Hendricks, finding him outside her residence at odd hours. [BV] advised that she was a nurse with over twenty five years experience and opined that Ms. [redacted] was truly frightened by Mr. Hendricks' actions towards her. At one point she stated, "I don't know what he would have done if I wouldn't have been there." She also advised that she'd been told that Mr. Hendricks often walks the property using a pair of night vision goggles. I obtained an audio taped witness statement from her.

I inspected the exterior of Ms. [redacted]'s house. The ground surrounding the residence had sparse vegetation, and intermittent covering of dried leaves. I was not able to identify any specific shoe impressions. There were several, which were attributed to the Parker officers, and myself. The ground beneath the north bedroom window was covered with dried leaves. Ms. [redacted]'s bedroom had a second window on the east side. There was a second bedroom, which was unoccupied on the south east corner, with similar window configuration. The windows on the south side of the house were obscured from view from the road and the main house. The area between the east side of the house and the unit E was dark, with little to no illumination. I inspected the windows, and Ms. [redacted] pointed out that the venetian blinds had holes in them. The holes were at the guide cords, where the manufacturer's holes were. It was further noted that the holes were in the same slats. The holes were also at a height that facilitated viewing into the room without having to crouch, or stand on something. They were essentially at eye level for an average person. A similar set of holes was found in the blinds in the unoccupied bedroom. I inspected the blinds from the inside, and could clearly see that they had been intentionally cut to enlarge the manufacturer's holes.

I contacted Lt. Ward, and briefed him on the above information. He advised to standby while he responded to my location.

Lt Ward responded and spoke briefly with Ms. [redacted] and [BV]. I then showed him the window blinds. Lt. Ward and I then made contact with Mr. Hendricks. He appeared nervous, but was cooperative. He explained that he had been walking near the other dwellings on the property because he was looking for a tenant who owed him rent. He said he spoke briefly with the Parker officer, then went to find the tenant. Mr. Hendricks said he walked from where he was speaking with the officer, to the west side of Ms. [redacted]'s house, but when she came outside, he turned around and headed back to his house. He said she startled him. He said he was speaking with the officer in his driveway, approximately halfway between this residence and the road. I noted that the natural path to the location where he said the tenant was likely to have been was between units G and E, not around the west side of Ms. [redacted]'s house. I had him show me where he went. He frist took a wide path to the west, around a large planter, but noticed I was searching the ground for shoe impressions. He then corrected himself, and took a course that led him directly along the west side of the dwelling, to the north west corner of Ms. [redacted]'s residence. He said he couldn't see the tenant's vehicle from there, and assumed he wasn't there. He admitted to "glancing" in the window while he was there. We continued down the driveway on the north side of the property. Mr. Hendricks said he thought the tenant may have parked his vehicle around the corner, and he couldn't see it. He then identified the location where the vehicle had indeed been parked. This was verified by tire tracks in the dirt driveway. The location of the vehicle identified by Mr. Hendricks was clearly visible from the north west corner of Ms. [redacted]'s home. It became evident that Mr. Hendricks was attempting to deceive. Lt. Ward confronted him on the discrepancies in his account, and the illogical course of his actions. He continued to deny any wrong doing. Lt. Ward inquired if he had any prior allegations of voyeurism made against him. He replied with, "Not to my knowledge." Lt. Ward continued and advised Mr. Hendricks this office was submitting a compliant against him for this offense, and that his attempts at deception were only solidifying the belief n his guilt. He then "remembered" an incident which occurred several years ago in Callaway. He said he'd been chasing a racoon, and was accused of lookin in windows. Lt. Ward asked him if he had an issue with looking in windows at people. Mr. Hendricks replied, "I guess I do." He agreed to give an audio taped statement.

Mr. Hendricks provided an audio taped statement, but agian tried to deflect the issues, and denied any wrong doing. He did admit to telling Lt. Ward that he had a problem with watching people through windows. He denied cutting the holes in the window blinds. He also denied entering Ms. [redacted]'s residence without her consent. He said that while she was traveling, he once took her mail inside, but left immediately. He denied ever taking anything from her residence. His statement was given freely, at his residence.

I obtained an audio taped statement from Ms. [redacted]. I photographed the blinds from the inside. At Lt. Ward's advice, I did not collect the blinds for evidence until I can photograph them in daylight. All photographs will be submitted to evidence at the time, along with the blinds. I completed a complaint affidavit, charging Mr. Hendricks for the offense of voyeurism. It was submitted to the State Attorneys Office with a request for a summons. No further actions were taken at this time.