Former Dallastown police chief accused of falsifying records
It began with a brutal murder.
David and Lorraine Donivan were killed in late December 2005 in Plattsburgh, N.Y. -- their bodies found in their business, a furniture warehouse. David Donivan had been stabbed 32 times. His wife's body had 10 stab wounds and was gutted. A former employee, Edward Dashnaw, was convicted April 2, 2007, after a three-month-long trial, according to news reports.
William Donivan attended the trial. David was his brother.
After the trial, he signed up with the state's Survivors Speaker Bureau, established by the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency's Office of Victims' Services. That, and his background as a state police officer, former police chief in
Dallastown and private investigator, led to him getting a job with the Office of Victims' Services investigating claims for compensation filed by crime victims.
"My family knows what it's like to be a victim of crime," Donivan, 60, said on the porch of his West Manchester Township home.
He went to work for the agency in September 2008. His job entailed reviewing claims and investigating to see whether victims or their families who had filed for compensation were entitled to it. The agency's policies forbid it from granting compensation to victims who were engaged in criminal activity at the time of the crime.
By March 2009, Donivan was out of a job.
And he was facing felony charges of falsifying records to deny crime victims
compensation.
He says he did nothing wrong, that he had done his job and in the cases cited in charges, did what he could do to prevent victims' compensation money from going to criminals or their families.
"I'm not perfect, but everything I did at victims' compensation, I did to help people, to help the victims of crime," he said.
It's a complicated case. But at the heart of it, according to the state Attorney General's office, is whether Donivan falsified documents to deny the families
of crime victims benefits from the Office of Victim's Services.
Donivan has a different view. He believes the case is about whether the Office of Victims Services has given money to people who were victimized while they were committing a crime.
Under the state's regulations, crime victims qualify for compensation if they report the crime promptly, cooperate with police and were not committing a crime at the time. The example often cited is a drug dealer shot while selling drugs.
Donivan said in the cases in which he is charged with falsifying records the victims were engaged in illegal activity. But because police didn't charge them, he said, the office determined that their claims should be paid.
It would have been difficult to
charge the victims in the cases he denied. They are all dead. The claims had been filed by their families.
On Nov. 23, 2008, Donald Royster was shot and killed in the Strip District in Pittsburgh. Royster had a criminal record -- including drug charges, possessing an unregistered handgun and possessing body armor. He was shot with two different weapons.
Royster's family filed for compensation and that's where Donivan came in. He called the Pittsburgh detective assigned to the case, Thomas Leheny.
Here is where versions of the story diverge.
Donivan said Leheny told him he didn't take the Office of Victims Services forms seriously because the office's investigators were "rubber-stampers." The detective told him, according to
Donivan, that police didn't trust the office because it had often provided compensation to criminals. Leheny further told him that the victim was the head of a drug ring in the city's Hill District and that his murder was a hit.
Donivan wanted the office to reject the claim made by Royster's family.
According to the affidavit of probable cause filed to support the charges against Donivan, his boss at the office, Lynne Shiner, asked Donivan to document his conversation with the detective, a request that, Shiner noted, made Donivan uncomfortable. Later, when Shiner asked Donivan's supervisor for the notes of the conversation, they were found to be missing from the file. Donivan told her, according to the affidavit, that he had removed
the notes because he didn't want to "sell Detective Leheny out."
He later provided documentation, but the new version indicated that Leheny was "only joking," according to the affidavit.
Later, the affidavit states, Leheny told Shiner that Donivan's account of their conversation was "entirely false." He also told Shiner that it was apparent from their conversation that Donivan was trying to get information to deny the claim. Leheny added that Royster had not been involved in criminal activity at the time of his murder.
The other cases involved the same crime. On Sept. 2, 2008, Jose Rivera and Kenneth Lockwood were executed on the second floor of an auto-parts store in Philadelphia.
The store was a known drug house. Rivera and Lockwood were found with their hands duct-taped behind their backs and bags over their heads, each shot, point-blank, in the back of the head. Their families filed for compensation.
According to court records, Donivan told his superiors that a Philadelphia police officer, Kathy Battle, told him that a confidential informant had told police the murders were the result of a drug rip-off gone bad. He said Battle told him that the informant told police that men who were going to steal a drug shipment arrived at the address too soon and killed Rivera and Lockwood.
Battle, a victims' assistance officer in the city's homicide unit, later told investigators that she never told Donivan about any confidential informant and that police did not have one in this case. Even if one existed, she said, police procedure would prohibit her from revealing that information. The homicide detective assigned to the case confirmed that, court records stated.
Battle further told investigators that she did inform Donivan that the Rivera and Lockwood had criminal records, but she did not say anything about a drug shipment or any criminal activity at the time of the men's deaths.
Donivan said last Saturday that that may be true, that he did speak with Battle, but that he got the information about the confidential informant and the drug shipment from an undercover cop. He said the case was suspicious from the beginning -- the drug house, the fact that Rivera and Lockwood had criminal records, the report that the man who found the bodies called his father, owner of the auto-parts shop, before calling police.
The undercover cop told him that the case was one of a drug rip-off gone bad.
And that would be reason to deny the claims filed by the victims' families.
The charges, Donivan said, were filed because he opposed compensating people for being victims of crime while engaged in criminal activity. He said the office often awards compensation to criminals or their families. In some cases, he said, the compensation is awarded because police decline to file charges against victims -- in homicide cases, it's impossible.
He said he had gone to an investigative reporter in Harrisburg and was planning to blow the whistle when the charges were filed.
"I wasn't going to change what I believe in," he said. "I believe it's wrong to give victims' money to criminals."
The case, in Dauphin County court, won't go to trial until sometime next year, his lawyer, York attorney Joanne Floyd, said.
The Office of Victims' Services declined to discuss the case. Spokeswoman Tara Mead said the office is obligated to pass on cases such as this to the state attorney general's office for prosecution. The state attorney general's office did not return phone calls seeking comment.
Donivan, though, did speak out.
"I'm going to fight this," he said. "I'm going to do the best I can to expose what they've done. I'm not going to roll over and go away."
About the Office of Victims' Services
The Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency's Office of Victims' Services compensates crime victims and their families to help them survive the financial impact of crime.
The agency reported in its latest annual report that it had distributed nearly $14.2 million to victims or their families in the fiscal year of 2008-2009. The money is intended to help pay for medical bills or other expenses, including, in cases involving homicides, funeral costs.
The money comes from fees collected from those convicted of crimes and from a state allocation.
-- Source: Office of Victims's Services annual report for 2008-2009 fiscal year.
The charges
William Donivan, a former state trooper, chief of police of Dallastown and private investigator, faces four charges:
--- Tampering with public records or information.
--- Tampering with records or identification.
--- Unlawful use of a computer.
--- Unsworn falsification to authorities.
Donivan denies the allegations.
Governor Rendell Vetoes Three Bills
Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
US troops in convoy kill Iraqi civilian driver
BAGHDAD – U.S. troops who thought they were under attack killed an Iraqi airport employee Sunday as he drove near a military convoy on his way to work, officials said.
The driver, identified by colleagues as Baghdad International Airport worker Karim Obaid Bardan, failed to heed repeated signals to slow down or turn on his headlights as he neared the military convoy, said U.S. and Iraqi security officials.
"As a result, the vehicle was perceived as a threat and a decision was made to engage it with small-arms fire in order to stop it and to protect the convoy from a possible attack," said Army Col. Barry Johnson, a U.S. military spokesman in Baghdad.
"Iraqi drivers know that they must use caution and avoid threatening behavior when approaching military vehicles," Johnson said.
The shooting comes a day after Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said U.S. troops would not be needed in Iraq beyond a December 2011 withdrawal deadline already in place between the two nations.
An Iraqi policeman confirmed the driver did not stop or slow. Two other Iraqi officials said the pre-dawn shooting happened near a security checkpoint on the road to the airport and described the shooting as a mistake.
All three Iraqi officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief the media.
The shooting is under U.S. investigation, and Johnson said the military "deeply regrets" the driver's death.
Such so-called "escalation of force" self-defense shootings were common in the years immediately after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion, and inflamed tensions between American forces and Iraqis who saw them as occupiers. But the tactic has been less frequent since U.S. soldiers scaled back their presence around Iraq, starting in June 2009, when they stopped patrolling cities without Iraqi forces with them.
Meanwhile, in a shocking killing north of Baghdad, police said gunmen wearing Iraqi security forces uniforms invaded the home of a Sunni sheik in a pre-dawn raid and shot him and his 15-year-old son.
A police officer in the village of al-Meshahda, about 31 miles (50 kilometers) north of the capital, said Sheik Abdul Kerim Talab Mutlak al-Halbussi was a leader of the local Sahwa, or Awakening council. The councils are the government-backed Sunni militias that joined forces with the United States against al-Qaida in one of the turning points of the war.
Two other people in the house were wounded in the shooting, said the police officer. A local hospital official confirmed the casualties. Both spoke on condition of anonymity.
Also, two high-profile officials were killed in separate attacks Sunday night in Baghdad, police officials said. The training and development director of the Sunni Endowment, a publicly funded religious organization, was killed when a bomb hidden on the underside of his car exploded. And an Iraqi army brigadier general was slain in a drive-by shooting.
___
Associated Press Writer Mazin Yahya contributed to this report.
Alaska Considers Suing Obama Over Plan to Save Polar Bears
In this photo provided by Philomena Keyes, a polar bear is seen in the lower Yukon River on Tuesday, July 20, 2010 near the village of Emmonak, Alaska. (AP)
Alaska is considering mounting a legal challenge to President Obama's plan to set aside 187,000 square miles in the state as a "critical habitat" for polar bears, a move that could add restrictions to future offshore drilling for oil and gas.
Alaska Gov. Sean Parnell questioned the decision, saying the designation was not supported by sound science or good economic analysis.
"This additional layer of regulatory burden will not only slow job creation and economic growth here and for our nation, but will also slow oil and gas exploration efforts," he said in a written statement on Wednesday. "We are especially concerned regarding the limited consideration given to the additional economic information the state provided."
Parnell said the state is considering its options, including a lawsuit against the designation.
The total designation, which includes large areas of sea ice off the Alaska coast, is about 13,000 square miles, or 8.3 million acres, less than in a preliminary plan released last year.
Tom Strickland, assistant secretary for fish, wildlife and parks at the Interior Department, said the designation would help polar bears stave off extinction, recognizing that the greatest threat is the melting of Arctic sea ice caused by climate change.
"This critical habitat designation enables us to work with federal partners to ensure their actions within its boundaries do not harm polar bear populations," Strickland said. "We will continue to work toward comprehensive strategies for the long-term survival of this iconic species."
Designation of critical habitat does not in itself block economic activity or other development, but requires federal officials to consider whether a proposed action would adversely affect the polar bear's habitat and interfere with its recovery.
Nearly 95 percent of the designated habitat is sea ice in the Beaufort and Chukchi seas off Alaska's northern coast. Polar bears spend most of their lives on frozen ocean where they hunt seals, breed and travel.
Sean Parnell and the state's oil and gas industry had complained that the preliminary plan released last year was too large and dramatically underestimated the potential economic impact. The designation could result in hundreds of millions of dollars in lost economic activity and tax revenue, they said.
Parnell said Wednesday that the state is pleased that existing manmade structures will be exempted from critical habitat considerations. But, he said the state is disappointed it was not consulted on many other recommendations.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said reductions included in the final rule were mostly due to corrections that more accurately reflect the U.S. border in the Arctic Ocean. Five U.S. Air Force radar sites were exempted from the final rule, as were Native Alaskan communities in Barrow and Kaktovik, Alaska.
The Interior Department has declared polar bears "threatened," or likely to become endangered, citing a dramatic loss of sea ice. Officials face a Dec. 23 deadline to explain why the bears were listed as threatened instead of the more protective "endangered."
Kassie Siegel, a lawyer for the Center for Biological Diversity, an environmental group that has filed a lawsuit to increase protections for the polar bear, hailed the designation of critical habitat.
"Now we need the Obama administration to actually make it mean something so we can write the bear's recovery plan -- not its obituary," she said.
Siegel called for the administration to impose a moratorium on oil and gas drilling in bear habitat areas. "An oil spill there would be a catastrophe," she said. "That seems like an understatement."
The Arctic Slope Regional Corp., which advocates for Alaska Native business interests, said in a statement that the decision disproportionately impacts Alaska Natives and called the designation the "wrong tool" for conserving the polar bear because it does nothing to address climate change.
"The burden of the impacts will be felt by the people of the Arctic Slope," said Tara Sweeney, vice president of external affairs for ASRC, which is based in Barrow, Alaska. "This is a quality of life issue for our people."
Kara Moriarty, deputy director of the Alaska Oil and Gas Association, said the action would hurt oil and gas exploration in Alaska by creating more delays and added costs to projects in what already is a high-cost environment, she said.
"The companies and the industry will be required to go through more permitting and create mitigation measures without a direct benefit to the polar bear or oil and gas development," Moriarty said. "The Fish and Wildlife Service has found over and over again our activities pose no threat to the polar bear."
Mitchell, from Glasgow, was convicted of two counts of rape, three indecent assaults and six counts of misconduct in a public office
Northumbria Police face Stephen Mitchell damages claims
A police force which admitted failings over its recruitment of an officer who raped and assaulted vulnerable women is facing damages claims from his victims.
Lawyers representing the victims of Pc Stephen Mitchell have initiated civil claims against Northumbria Police.
Mitchell, from Glasgow, was convicted of two counts of rape, three indecent assaults and six counts of misconduct in a public office on Wednesday.
Northumbria Police said each claim for damages would be considered carefully.
But it added that Mitchell, 42, must bear responsibility for his crimes.
Mitchell's trial at Newcastle's High Court heard he targeted vulnerable women, including heroin addicts and shoplifters, by offering to help them while they were in custody at Newcastle's Pilgrim Street police station and then asking for sexual favours.
He denied all the charges and claimed the 16 women who made complaints about his behaviour were liars.
'Early stage'
He was cleared of nine counts of misconduct in public office, three of indecent assault and three of rape.
During the trial, it emerged that the force had disciplined him when it was discovered he had sex with a woman he had met as part of his duties, but he was not dismissed for the offence.
It also emerged Mitchell was accused of a serious sexual offence while he was still in the Army but this was not revealed when he applied to join Northumbria Police.
After the conclusion of the trial, Temporary Deputy Chief Constable Jim Campbell acknowledged the investigation had "highlighted some failings within Northumbria Police at both the recruitment stage and when subsequent allegations were made during Mitchell's service with the force".
Serious injury specialist Lindsey Houghton, from the North East office of law firm Irwin Mitchell, is overseeing the civil claims for damages on behalf of Mitchell's victims, who are upholding their right to anonymity.
She said: "The civil cases are at an early stage but we are making claims for damages for sexual assault, false imprisonment and breach of human rights.
'Horrendous crimes'
"Mitchell was in a position of trust and authority and he abused that position, taking advantage of vulnerable young women in the most horrific way imaginable.
"We will never be able to remove the memories and the lasting damage that he caused, but we hope to be able to provide our clients with some comfort as they try to get their lives back on track."
A Northumbria Police spokesman said each compensation case would be "dealt with in the normal way and carefully considered on its merits".
He said: "Pc Mitchell has been convicted of horrendous crimes and must bear the responsibility for his actions."
Mitchell will be sentenced on 11 January.
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Coldest November night on record in parts of UK
Temperatures plummeted to the coldest on record for November in parts of the UK overnight.
Northern Ireland hit a new low of -9.5C (15F) at Lough Fea, Co Tyrone, and in Wales, a record minimum of -18C (0F) was reached at Llysdinam, in Powys.
Snow is still falling in Scotland, Northern Ireland and north-east England, and Edinburgh, Glasgow and Derry airports have been closed.
Forecasters say the cold spell will continue well into next week.
Met Office severe weather warnings for heavy snow and widespread ice remain in place for eastern and central Scotland, and eastern England from the Borders down to the East Midlands.
Snow is also falling in Northern Ireland and north Norfolk, with some flurries possible in the southern-most counties of England.
BBC weather forecaster Alex Deakin said 10cm (4in) fell in Aberdeenshire in just two hours on Sunday morning, with a further 15-20cm (6-8in) likely in Fife, Perth and Kinross and Angus during the rest of the day.
That follows up to 40cm (16in) in parts of north-east England and Scotland on Saturday - said to be the most widespread snow at this time of year since 1993.
The coldest place in Scotland overnight on Saturday was Loch Glascarnoch, in the Highlands, at -15.3C (4F).
In England, the coldest spot was Topcliffe, North Yorkshire, where the mercury fell to -13.5 °C (8F).
Drivers are being urged to take care in the worst-hit areas and to travel only if necessary. The M9 in Stirling and the A1(M) in County Durham are particularly hazardous.
A 40-year-old man was seriously injured in a crash on the M1 near Sheffield on Saturday morning. His car skidded off the carriageway after hitting a patch of ice, and he was struck by another vehicle when he stepped out onto the hard shoulder.
Bitter winds from Siberia are forecast to arrive from Monday, making it feel even colder
Motoring organisation the AA said it had received 10,500 call-outs by 1430 GMT - compared with about 7,500 for the whole of an average November Sunday.
"We're getting about 2,000 calls an hour - that's virtually unheard of for a Sunday," spokesman Gavin Hill-Smith said.
Edinburgh, Glasgow and City of Derry airports are closed due to heavy snow, and there are also delays at Aberdeen, Newcastle, Durham-Tees Valley and Jersey airports.
Ian Mercer, who runs a company which supplies salt for gritting to schools, hospitals and shopping centres, told the BBC: "People are being much more proactive. Last year was the busiest ever, but we've already sold twice as much this year and it's not even December.
"We've had to import salt from places like Russia, Egypt and Sardinia but even there it's becoming more and more difficult to source.
"If it continues to be this cold beyond Christmas I think there will be really serious shortages."
Sporting fixtures
The extremely cold weather is not expected to ease until late next week at the earliest
Several weekend race meetings were called off due to the snow, as is Monday's event at Ffos Las, in Carmarthenshire.
Scotland's Alba Cup final, Dundee United's Premier League game against Rangers, and several FA Cup second round fixtures were also postponed.
Newcastle United's game against Chelsea will go ahead after extra staff were drafted in to clear the pitch.
A man died after jumping into the icy River Lune in Halton in Lancashire on Saturday in an attempt to save his pet springer spaniel.
The easterly winds show no sign of letting up, with the cold weather expected to last until next week at least.
Mr Deakin said: "As we go into Monday, one feature which will become significant is the wind. From Siberia, it will pick up quite significantly from Monday through to Tuesday. It will feel quite bitterly cold.
"Temperatures on the thermometers will be around 1C but it will feel much colder than that."
The unusual weather is being caused by high pressure over Greenland and low pressure in the Baltics, forcing cold winds from the north-east across Europe.
The lowest ever recorded temperature in the UK was -27.2C (-17F) in Altnaharra, in the Highlands, in 1995.
England's lowest was -26.1C (-15F) in Newport, Shropshire, in 1982. The lowest in Wales was -23.3C (-10F), recorded in Rhayader, Powys, in 1940, and in Northern Ireland was -17.5C (1F) in Magherally, Co Down, in 1979.
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Temperature drops to record -17C November low in Powys
Mid Wales recorded the lowest temperatures in the UK on Saturday night as bitter cold continued to bite.
Llysdinam in Powys saw -17.3C (0.86F), which is both the lowest ever recorded in Wales in November, and the lowest in the UK during the month since 1985.
Another Powys weather station at Tirabad, south of Llanwrtyrd Wells, saw a new local record of -14.3C (6F).
That made Wales colder than Greenland, with the chill continuing next week, and more snow possible from Tuesday.
Rhondda Cynon Taf council has cancelled recycling and refuse collections on Monday because of the weather.
The council said staff had "worked around the clock" since Friday's snow to keep the roads clear, but it took the decision because the icy conditions are forecast to remain, and the state of some side streets and pavements.
The council - which is Wales' second biggest - said it wanted to ensure the safety of staff. Residents have been asked not to place waste outside on Monday, but keep it for next week.
Michael Dukes of MeteoGroup, the weather division of the Press Association, said: "You are seeing some ridiculously low temperatures - it has been a bit like it is in the middle of Scandinavia.
"There should be a bit more of a breeze over the next day or two, which will not feel quite as extreme.
'Extraordinary cold snap'
"But then we might see temperatures threaten -20C (-4F) in the Scottish glens later.
"This is certainly an extraordinary cold snap."
The all-time lowest recorded daily minimum temperature in Wales was also in Powys, on 21 January, 1940, when Rhayader saw -23.3C (-9.94F).
BBC Wales weather forecaster Behnaz Akhgar said many places remained below freezing on Sunday, with a top temperature at most of 2C (36F).
Sunday night was again be cold and frosty, but dry, with temperatures down to -8C (18F), and Monday is similar.
It is expected to get even colder as next week goes on, with snow showers or longer spells of snow likely from Tuesday night into Thursday.
BBC Wales has the latest online travel news and weather updates.
The unusual weather is being caused by high pressure over Greenland and low pressure in the Baltics, forcing cold winds from the north-east across Europe.
The lowest ever recorded temperature in the UK was -27.2C (-17F) in Altnaharra, in the Highlands, in 1995.
England's lowest was -26.1C (-15F) in Newport, Shropshire, in 1982, and in Northern Ireland it was -17.5C (1F) in Magherally, Co Down, in 1979.
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