Spokane sheriff acknowledges porn search was at wrong house

Thanks to a regular reader for pointing me to this:

The Associated Press

SPOKANE - For a 67-year-old homeowner and his wife, wrongly subjected to a shattering pornography search, saying, "Oops, wrong number" is not enough.

Spokane County Sheriff Ozzie D. Knezovich apologized Tuesday for the blunder, which he said resulted when Detective Timothy D. Hines tried to nail whoever was responsible for obscene calls to at least 20 or women enrolled at Whitworth College.

Hines wrote down the wrong figures for a telephone number associated with the calls, so he obtained a search warrant for a house in Spokane, miles from the correct location in suburban Spokane Valley, Knezovich said.

Through a spokesman in the sheriff's office Hines declined an interview request from the newspaper.

The irate homeowner told by The Spokesman-Review, which did not identify him at his request, that deputies dumped out drawers, went through his wallet and checkbook, seized computers, CDs, floppy disks, VHS tapes and other material and refused to clean up the mess in the raid Sept. 27.

Half a dozen sheriff's vehicles converged on the house, and after taking photographs outside Hines told officers within hearing of the neighbors, "Now let's go inside and get some porn," the owner said.

As if this was not insulting and degrading enough, the following certainly is:

Knezovich said he plans to adopted a more structured system for checking facts in search warrants, adding that Hines probably would not be disciplined.

"I could see it if it was a blatant lack of diligence," the sheriff said, "but sometimes things like that happen. A number can get transposed."

And Sheriff Knezovich, just how many other cases that Detecive Hines was involved with have simple mistakes too? You come out and apologize for the mistake because you are the sheriff, but has he done so PUBLICLY and if so, then why decline an interview? Is it because he did this:

Perhaps worse, he said, Hines played recordings of the obscene calls and his wife had to listen to "this filthy stuff." According to court documents, the obscene caller made lewd suggestions while describing child pornography he said he was watching.

The West Point Road resident said Hines argued with his wife when she told him the voice on the recording wasn't that of the man to whom she had been married for 37 years.

When he put his arm around his wife as she cried, the man said, Hines challenged him: "What are you doing?"

The man said Hines told him he could keep the story out of the newspaper if the man would confess. Three days later, the homeowner said, his wife called him at a Promise Keepers meeting to tell him the newspaper had published a story about the search.

Yes, certainly, another simple mistake by a cop, who threatens innocent people with things that turn anyone's stomach, once again, and of course, we can't sanction him for that let alone a wrong number, now can we?

WP