Our previously-esteemed city prosecutor, Kimball Mason, has finally admitted he stole items from the Idaho Falls police evidence room for his own personal gain. He also admitted he forged documents sometimes to get those items. An investigation has found he committed these crimes numerous times, he admits he did it numerous times, and yet he is only being charged with three of those counts!
What we have here fellow citizens is an old-fashioned a$$ covering in Idaho Falls. Pay close attention and you can hear the good old boy network grinding away. I say this with two things in mind:
1- How was he able to get items out of the evidence locker for so many years without getting noticed sooner? In one instance, he apparently changed a judge’s order right in front of the police officer to get extra items that he did not know were there until that police officer informed him. What is that police officer’s story? What happened to the checks and balances that would spotlight items are being removed from the evidence room to be used for city purposes, but which never arrive for city purposes? Who was in charge of the accounting redundancies that failed? Failing to pursue the accessories to Kimball Mason’s crime casts even the investigators as accessories.
2- How much jail time is Kimball Mason really going to earn with those three measly counts? I can appreciate that he was responsible for putting thousands of criminals into prison, so to send him to prison would be to essentially sentence him to death. However, he certainly deserves the maximum jail time allowable per his crimes.
Why does Kimball Mason deserve the maximum sentence? Yes, he did great things for Idaho Falls for many years, yes he was an upstanding citizen in other respects, and yes, as Mayor Jared Fuhriman stated, “…people make mistakes.”
However, Kimball Mason knew better than most everyone else that his actions were illegal, and the full consequences of his actions. He did not make a single mistake, he committed these crimes numerous times over several years. Kimball Mason had a GREATER responsibility to not commit those crimes, and he did it anyways several times. He gamed the system, he abused his position, and he now he is using his city connections to snooker Idaho Falls into a light sentence.
If he does not get adequate punishment, Idaho Falls citizens ought to run him out of town and protest at city hall for a full investigation into who enabled his crimes and who was part of letting him get off easy.
UPDATED STORIES:
Justice Served to Kimball Mason
Kimball Mason and his cronies almost got away with it
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Kimball Mason is a crook and should spend time in a federal prison..how many other people coulod avoid a lengthy sentence after pleading guilty to 3 felonies? He was also an awful, lazy, prosecutor with no empathy for the victim’s families.
I agree, Kimball Mason is a crook. He should have known better, and because of that his sentence should be maximized. Any prosecutor who seeks less than the maximum sentence should be flogged, as should any judge that sentences him less than the maximum.
If Kimball Mason were prosecuting someone else for the same crime, would he show any mercy? Absolutely not.
You people do not know what you are even talking about. Kimball Mason is a great guy — who had some personal problems and screwed up. He will likely pay very dearly for his mistake. Just losing his license to practice law — and the shame and humiliation is punishment beyond what any court can do to him. The fact of the matter is this: Our jusdicial is bogged down by too many criminals and not enough police, prosecutors and/or jail space. Pleas bargins are so often done — in an attempt to get the job done — yet still lighten the load on the system when possible. These deals are made in most cases — with a prosecutor giveing tremendous consideration to victims — their families — and the community in general. One of the things that can most influence what type of “deal” can be offerred to offender is their lifelong past — criminal record and what impact — positive or negative the person has had on society. Mr. Mason had been an outstanding citizen — good parent — leader within his community, and to my knowledge — did society a hell of a lot more good than harm. This is the type of thing that makes him — in my mind eligibale for some mercy and understanding. The belief that because of his position he should pay a higher price is rediculous in my opinion. People make mistakes. Look very closely at what this one will actually cost him. Because of his great life history to this point — and his standing in the community — he has much to lose. And likely has lost it all. And he still gets convicted of multiple felonies — and loses his ability to work in the field for which he was trained and educated. Relax. He’s paying for it.
A couple of comments:
1. Kimball isn’t using “Idaho Falls connections” to get off. He made a plea agreement with the IDAHO attorney general, not the Idaho Falls prosecutor. A judge from Bannock county will decide his fate and whether to accept the plea. You can argue that the deal is light (I think it is light) but don’t make up crap by saying he pulled strings with Fuhriman or someone to get off because no one in Idaho Falls had anything to do with it.
2. People wonder how Kimball fooled the police. Any police officer who verified every court order that came down would soon be crucified by the judges and clerks who issued the orders – so many come down that the system would grind to a halt if they did this. If it looks real, and Kimball made them look real, then the police are going to follow the order. Simple as that.
3. I agree Kimball was a bad prosecutor. But part of the problem is that Idaho Falls is so cheap. Most cities our size would have several full time prosecutors. Kimball only worked part time for the city. Which meant he didn’t have time to prosecute all the cases that came his way. Which meant he dismissed or plea bargained a lot of them. He was a lazy prosecutor in a setting which encouraged dumping cases. Not a good combination.
4. Lastly, to be quite honest Kimball will probably be punished much harder than most would. I still think his sentence is light but the simple fact of life is that the vast majority of people convicted of felonies (especially those of the non violent variety) don’t do prison simply because the prisons are full. They get probation and suspended sentences. The non violent offenders only hit prison if they violate their probation several times or if they have a lot of prior convictions or if there is an intense media spotlight on the case. Kimball will probably do more jail time than a normal person stealing the same amount would.
“Kimball will probably do more jail time than a normal person stealing the same amount would.”
I would hope so. Kimball didn’t walk in to somebodies house and steal personal property he
was stealing evidence from a secure location. that is not even something a “normal” person
could pull off. so i feel “more jail time than a normal person stealing the same amount
would” is still not enough punishment.
as a prosecutor he knew better than anyone he was risking his family career and ultamatly his live when
he forged documents to steal evidence. i say thwor the book at him and let him rot in prison
not jail.
Ok just to start out. Has anyone bothered to look at the constitution of the
state of idaho? I have. I did battle with mason over a gun that was illegally
siezed by the idaho falls police department. then when it was brought to their
attention that it was illegaly seized they passed the buck to mason. who’s reply
was to deal with it. that i has not the power or know how to do anything about it.
now think every single firearm in question was the result of a misdemeanor violation
(that is ALL mason handled for the city) and article 1 section 11 of the state
constitution is very clear
“No law shall impose licensure, registration or special
taxation on the ownership or possession of firearms or ammunition. Nor shall
any law permit the confiscation of firearms, except those actually used in the
commission of a felony.”
that being pointed out no mr mason was not acting solo. these guns were seized in
contrast to state law. the police department refuses to release these guns to their rightful
owners in contrast with state law. it finaly took a judges order for my gun to be released for mine to come home. and that took almost three years.
sorry mark i DO know what im talking about here. i lived it.
so who else was involved? i couldnt tell ya but it goes much deeper than one IDIOT.
and if mr mason worked only part time for the city why was his paycheck 112,000
dollars annualy? seems a touch high for a part time job. that takes ALOT of parking tickets to pay for.
i could go on forever on this but im sure you can see where it goes.
WHEN mr mason recieves his slap on the hand it hope it stings the face of every resident of idaho falls. because every single one of us will have been CHEATED out of justice.
oh but wait isnt equal justice under the law also provided by the constitution??
KIMBALL MASON MAY YOU FRY IN PEACE
Is anyone else up for bringing back a good old fashioned public hanging? i think that may be a fitting end to this story.
I admit, my interaction with Kimball was limited but it left a powerful impression.
My brother was killed while riding his bike in Idaho Falls and the driver
made an illegal turn in front of him while pulling an unregistered trailer.
Kimball refused to return my calls and never had any
interaction with the family prior to the day of the trial, which is when he
divulged that he would not press charges against the driver. I made many calls
to his office and even emailed him, trying to find out what was going on with the case.
From speaking with a local reporter I learned this type of behavior was not uncommon, Kimball
has refused to provide many other families with information about their cases. Moreover,
other people have been killed in similar accidents and the perpetrator of these
crimes were also not convicted or even charged. In my mind, this makes Kimball a
lazy, ineffective prosecutor. Perhaps he is a wonderful father and citizen, but
his professional demeanor was criminal (yes, he violated many
different canons of the American Bar Association and should have been sanctioned for
these issues alone. The roles and responsibilitiers of a prosecutor are public
information). Ironically, the attorney retained by Kimball was the same one the
truck driver used to avoid charges in my brother’s case. Coincidence? You decide.
i’ve never had the opportunity to meet the guy but I’ve talked with other people that have and all say the same things. maybe we could just fix a noose to a bridge over the river and all watch him dangle.
John,
I’m sorry about your brother. I remember that incident although I don’t recall what if anything the driver was initially charged with. What was the charge out of curiousity? Because Kimball only handled city misdemeanor cases and basic traffic citations. Vehicle manslaughter, such as the one in the news right now case involving the 72 year old who was killed by a kid high on meth while driving, is a felony. Your brother’s case would have been handled by the county as well if the driver had been charged with a felony. The fact that Kimball was involved makes me think the driver was only charged with a basic traffic violation.
Chiasm,
Thanks. You are correct, the driver was to be charged with misdemeanor homicide but
that never happened because my Brother was resucitated at the hospital. The facts
of the case, in my opinion, deserved to be heard by a jury. Kimball
used a recent supreme court opinion to dismiss the case but the events of that
trial were quite different than the accident at hand. The truck driver in my Brothers
case did not receive a single infraction despite breaking several laws.
A local news reporter will hopefully be documenting similar accidents where people were either seriously injured or killed yet the defendants were never charged. I don’t think the driver intended
to kill Mark but certainly exhibited negligence (there were two other people in the car at
the time that said they did not see Mark despite an unobstructed view,
on a clear day, and Mark clearly had the right-of-way). I also discovered that paperwork
associated with case and filed with the court had been falsified. So, there seems to
be many aspects of Mark’s case that mirror what’s already been published. Not to mention
that we could not get any information about the case from Kimball despite
numerous requests.
People working in law enforcement should be held to a higher standard, and do not deserve to plea for justice when they have spent years flaunting the very system they swore to uphold.
It is unthinkable that Mason Kimball will essentially walk away a free man after violating the faith and gtrust of the City of Idaho Falls and the people he was supposedly serving, even while he willingly committed felonies and violated the law and the oath he had taken as an officer of the court and an attorney.
Kimball won’t be walking away a free man. Where do you get that from? Most likely he is going to do a year in a jail. You can make some valid arguments that he should more time but don’t make false points that nothing is happening to him when that is far from the truth.
Here is what would happen to the average citizen with no prior record. They would do NO jail time. They would get fined and get probation. And they would keep their day job most likely. Kimball has lost his job and all future jobs in his field, he’ll likely be doing a year in jail, he’s already paid restitution for all the guns but he’ll pay more in fines, and he’ll get probation. He’s going to get a much more serious penalty than a normal person with no criminal record would.
Another point many don’t realize. I hear a lot of people say how easy he’s getting off because he committed nineteen thefts and is only getting convicted of two. Thats totally normal with the system. No serial thief, be it a car burgalar, shoplifter, or whatever is ever tried and convicted of every theft. Thats because you have to have a seperate trial for each crime and thats gets very costly and time consuming. Its 110% standard operating procedure to accept a plea bargain on a few of the counts rather than try nineteen seperate cases which would bog down the courts for quite a while.
As you might guess by my comments I’m more than a bit familiar with the legal system given that I work in it. I know Kimball through work and on a few occasions was in court with him. I don’t personally like Kimball so don’t think I’m trying to defend him. I just don’t like it when mistruths get spread about the how and why of whats going on. It does nothing but get people upset without cause and then they spread more mistruths and soon there is a whole lot of anger where there shouldn’t be any.
I appreciate your comments chiasm, and you obviously have some legal expertise and inside perspective to this contentious issue. One thing I don’t understand it the requirement for separate trials for each crime. Isn’t that when they label it ‘charged with 19 counts of whatever’? If he was charged with 2 crimes in this instance why wasn’t it two trials?
I just found this site and I appreciate the forum for discussion. I have lived in Idaho Falls for over 45 years now and have known of Kimball Mason for quite a while. My experience with him has given me the opinion that he has an air of smugness and superiority about himself.
As I recall, he was elected Bonneville County Prosecutor multiple times, then I think it was 1992 when he was defeated in the election. During his tenure he had built relationships in the good old boy network which led to him receiving an appointment as city prosecutor, basically a sweetheart deal that was handed to him. It was renewed without opposition and probably would have continued to be so as long as he wanted. Even Mayor Fuhriman tried to sugarcoat his offenses, as an ex-police officer could you see him defending criminals he had arrested in the same way?
A big problem I have with the plea agreement is that I see a class conflict within the judicial system. Kimball Mason stole nearly 20 firearms (that we know of), forged signatures on official court documents, and carried on this charade over a period of years. And he is looking at a year at the most along with probation as I understand it. I have a son who was arrested for a felony several years ago. A couple of years ago he was picked up by the local police and had a firearm confiscated from him. The police later released the firearm to his step-brother. About a year ago my son was close to being paroled from prison and he knew he would have to get rid of the firearm. He arranged a deal to have the gun sold, it was a gun he legally owned. Remember, the police had taken it from him and checked it out, and then returned it to him. Two officers from the Department of Correction got wind that my son had been trying to sell a gun and convinced the Feds to file federal charges against him for being a felon in possession of a firearm. And get this, since my son has two felonies, they charged him with two counts of being a felon in possession of a firearm. They never accused my son of having physical possession of the firearm, since he was in prison at the time, but I guess that doesn’t matter. He is now facing 20 years in federal prison for trying to get rid of a gun he knew he couldn’t have, which the police had taken from him and then returned.
Something that really bothers me is that if they thought my son was breaking the law, then why didn’t they file the felon in possession of a firearm charge when they first confiscated the gun? Then when my son was released from prison last April he was jailed for a simple curfew violation less than 3 weeks after his release. They kept him in the county jail for months, then ended up serving an old arrest warrant they had laying around since before he even went to prison. So he ended up going back to prison again. Why didn’t they bring up all of the charges at once instead of setting him up to go back to prison after only a few weeks of freedom? That’s just not right. Oh, and by the way inmates cannot bring items into the prison, everything must be purchased there. So even though he was only out for a few weeks, he had to re-purchase all of his clothing, shoes, hygiene items, guitar, TV, etc. And these items must be purchased through the prison commissary, and they are grossly overpriced.
Sorry for the rant, but what I am getting at is that Kimball Mason committed serious gun crimes time after time, year after year, and he is looking at a year at the most. My son, wrong though he might have been, was trying to do what he thought was the right thing (only one gun crime) and he is facing 20 years. Double standard? What do you think?
You guys go suck a c*** (IdahoFallz.com admin edited). I knew him personally and he is a very good man. I realize he broke the law but the last thing he deserves is death. You are joking about this and it is a serious thing. He has a family too and he deserves better comments from the likes of you people.
Kimball Mason deserves what he got and more. He is lazy and conceited and obviously thought he was above the law.
From reading the PR this am it appears that Mason was giving or selling guns to city attorneys,
county prosecutors (current and former), police department employees, and probation officers.
Are we really expected to believe that none of these people knew what Mason was doing? Right
now I could care less about what Mason got or not. I’m more concerned that his actions were not
one of a single individual. He may be the guy that was stealing the guns but this web is getting
bigger by the day! This isn’t something that can be handled locally either. There really needs
to be an independent investigator from outside the area with no ties or relations to anyone involved
who can come in and really uncover just what was going on. The person can be from Boise, CdA,
SLC, or even the FBI for all that matters but as a citizen I’m sensing that a hell of a lot more
people were intimately involved in this that just Mason!
I agree with Flat Lander, there are many other people culpable in the commission of these crimes and they
too should be held accountable. I believe the Mayor’s office also knew about these thefts and thus
facilitated their execution and should be investigated. Kimball’s sentence is fair considering the severity
of these crimes, even if he is a ‘nice guy with a family’. Sorry, the fact that he is a good guy does not
place him above the law, especially given his position in the judicial system.
How would you feel if one of your family members were harmed by someone cut lose by Kimball so that
he could steal their guns?
I feel that everyone is game to their own opinion and each person here has one, and that is great. However, bottom line is that Mason should NOT have done this in the first place. It was legally and MORALLY wrong, and he knew that. If he did this then what else has he done and can he ever be trusted again by anyone? He stole and he lied, he should have known that he was going to get caught and he didn’t seem to care because , he just kept doing it. I feel that an example should be made of him. They are the ones that we are suppose to be able to TRUST and have FAITH in to protect us. I just makes me not trust any person that has to do with up holding the law. Just like the phrase goes, it just takes one bad apple to make all of them look bad. I know that everyone makes “mistakes” and some are really big ones but, how can any one say that this was a mistake? It wasn’t just one gun that he took, it was a lot over a long amount of time. He knew what he was doing and therefore he needs to be treated as the crime should be treated if it was some on off the street. We count on the law (from all sides Police, Judges, Lawyers….ect) to protect us and if he could get to them and take as many as he did for as long as he did then, how do we know some one with more harmful intentions isn’t going to get to them as easy as he did? There are more things to look at and I think that everyone needs to set aside the “type” of person that he is and, look at the bad example that he has given. As well as the lack of faith that he has given to everyone around him whether you know him or not. I don’t doubt that he wasn’t a good person but this “mistake” needs to be properly dealt with.
I can’t resist telling Chiasm that he couldn’t be more wrong. The judicial system does not require that each charge be tried under a separate trial. The charges can be consolidated and tried as a single trial. The plea agreement is a necessary part of the justice system as it would be impossible to try every case at trial. However, don’t kid yourself that one of the reasons that some of the charges weren’t pursued was because it would have disclosed information regarding other individuals who were involved that the powers-that-be who appointed them didn’t want made public.
John Stosich was appointed by the comissioners. (How many guns did he have/hide?)
Kelly Mallard was appointed by the commissioners. (He not only had a gun but watched as bribes were being paid to KM)
Kimball Mason was appointed by the city council. (Need I say more on that one?)
Dane Watkins was appointed by the commissioners (yes, he knew about what Kimball was doing, he just didn’t have the backbone to take him on about it. Jimmie Caudle went to the AG’s office, who couldn’t investigate unless Dane invited them in. He finally had to because the suburban issue came out)
Chief Livesey was appointed by the city council. (Yes, he knew, or should have because it was his department who was cutting Kimball checks in exchange for getting money forfeited).
Jim Archibald was appointed by the commissioners. (He didn’t last six months before having to resign in shame)
Have we had any appointed official in recent history who has stood the test of legitimacy?
The powers-that-be moved heaven and earth to protect themselves and their appointed ones. Appointed people are not subject to the ballot box, but the ones who appoint them are. There’s a very “good” reason why all of the charges weren’t brought forward. Self-protection being a main one.
Now, we’re going around again because in spite of everything they did, the information came out anyway and they have to prosecute Kimball again. Let’s hope they prosecute them all this time.
And let’s hope that we as the voters make our elected officials painfully aware that we are no longer going to tolerate their appointing people based on cronyism, religion, political party favoritism, but rather on the merits of the individual. Make them bring the process of appointing people out into the open BEFORE the choice is made rather than after. There are two more appointments pending as we speak. For God’s sake, speak up and be heard! I don’t want to do this again, do you?
I haven’t read anything about the new charges that might be brought against Kimball (albeit well deserved and long overdue); is this information posted on any website? I agree, all involved should be held accountable this time but it’s unlikely to happen given the prevailing ineptitude.
What I can’t believe is that everyone is so concerned about what he stole. I am worried about all the false judgements he has imprisoned people for. I think all of his cases should be reviewed by the courts and people wrongfully prossecuted thru Kimball should be retried. They need to find out how many people his cronies framed and how many times he took a bribe to get rid of it. He is a bad man and I do believe he deserves the death penalty.Firing squad would be nice. I wish his cronies would stop coming on here and defending his actions. Because they are going to find all of you too and put you all behind bars with him. Kimbal Mason isnt a good man at all. He is a sick man with some really sick power issues. He is going to pay for everything he did and has done. God will meet him some day. And satan will welcome him home.
Wow. I have wondered about the focus on the items, too in the sense of how many cases got screwed up by missing evidence. Isn’t that the value the items held at that point, even more than monitary?
So who thinks we should have his convictions looked at? since he also took alot of bribes? i think so . lets get everyone to call the internal affairs office and the bars association.
Whether we like the rules of the court or not, the fact remains that unless the defendant asks that his case be reviewed, it will not happen. No one can possibly believe that the court would voluntarily subject itself to an audit of all of KM’s cases. The defendant, by himself or through his attorney, has to file with the court and ask that his/her case be reviewed and cite the basis for the request. There are strict timelines regarding appeals, but a strong case could be made to exempt a case involving KM from timeliness issues.
Another thing you need to understand is that not many attorneys ask that the defendant’s property be returned. It is a separate request from the other parts of the criminal procedures that usually takes place after sentencing, although it can be filed at any time after the property was seized. That’s why so many people lost their property. Their attorneys weren’t asking that it be returned, and the average citizen doesn’t know how to go about getting it back by himself.
I don’t believe cases were screwed up over missing evidence. The items taken by KM weren’t taken until after the cases were finished. At least that’s the way it appears in the AG’s report.
As for holding him and his cronies accountable, complaining on this website isn’t going to cut it. We have to go to our commissioners, the attorney general, the ballot box, and demand that justice be done. Send a letter to the editor detailing how you won’t vote for any elected official who doesn’t stand up and voice his support for a complete disclosure of the facts/people in this catastrophe.
Write the judge. He has retained jurisdiction over the sentencing. He can still require that KM serve the full five years instead of six months.
The people we elected work for us (although they hate being reminded of that fact). If we demand that they clean up this mess, they will do it. If they don’t, we could always vote them out of office. What a unique concept! Is there any new blood downtown? I can’t think of anyone in office right now who hasn’t been on the public payroll for years. Maybe it’s time we vote them all out!
kewl – Yes Kimball Mason definetely deserves to be punished for his crimes, and should have to serve his time in prison. However, I hardly think his crimes warrant the death penalty. That is a little extreme. Nobody was physically harmed by any of his actions.
PLEASE! If anyone finds out and as soon as anyone finds out the date that Kimball Mason will be seen again by the judge (the 180 day rider thing), please post it here.
I’ll try to get the day off to attend and I’m sure others would also.
Guest,
I hardly consider “phsyical harm” as a criteria for incarceration. And I wouldn’t be so sure of that no one was physically harmed. Didn’t a sexual offender go uncharged due to km’s negligence? How many kids were sexually molested because KM didn’t do his job? Yes, mistakes happen, but if KM wasn’t so busy shopping in the property room, he might have been a tad more diligent about his contractural, ethical, moral, assigned duties, like prosecuting criminals.
I don’t remember the exact statistics, but aren’t some 70+ % of criminals non-violent offenders? If we use that no one was physically harmed as an excuse to release KM, then what about the other 70+ % of individuals who are now in prison/jail? Do we let all them go too after six months?
I think “death penalty” sounds a little harsh, but you have to understand that the people in this city are so intensely disappointed and disgusted, not only with km, but with all his supporters and co-horts, that they are reacting strongly – thank god. Would you rather no one reacted at all?
I never said he should be released, I totally agree he should be in prison. I only said that the death penalty was not warranted by his actions.
I was not aware that a sexual offender had gone uncharged because of him. I guess that is a different issue.
I just don’t think whether physical harm was committed or not was a criteria in how km handled any of the cases he prosecuted. It shouldn’t be a criteria now. Since causing physical harm to someone would usually result in felony charges, that charge would be handed over to the county as km didn’t handle felonies. It just doesn’t apply in any way I can see.
But again, I agree that “death penalty” is a bit overboard. But I do believe you’re taking it too literally, although I have seen the county prosecutors drooling to fire up ol’ sparky on a lot of cases they handle. They want to throw the book at everyone who comes through their doors. Now the shoe’s on the other foot. It isn’t a big surprise that people, many of whom have had to deal with the overzealous crowd in the prosecutors’ offices, are wanting a little vengeance.
Personally, I’ve never been charged on either a city or county level, but I am familiar with the emotions that go along with seeing someone get a little back of what they’ve been dishing out. It’s hard to remain above those primitive feelings. And there’s times when you just don’t want to pull yourself above them. Working their way through these feelings will give them a chance to heal. Allow them that. Healing is what we’re all trying to accomplish although I doubt that can happen until the entire wound is purged of its infection. There are a lot more people who were part and parcel of this disaster who should be held accountable. Until they are, I doubt anyone can fully be healed and learn to trust our local officials again. That is something I don’t think the powers-that-be are taking into consideration. They truly believe if they can get this mess back below the radar, then we’ll be back to business as usual before you know it. On the contrary, to any of them who may be reading this, I say to you that none of you will ever be trusted again until you insist anyone and everyone who was complicit in this be required to answer for their involvement. Covering it up won’t make us trust you, quite the opposite. It may cause more embarrassment, but it would make us believe that you have the best interests of the community at heart, rather than your own political career. And besides, we don’t want to go back to business as usual. Business as usual didn’t work for us before and it won’t ever work for us again. If you can’t get your head around that, it’s time to step down.
As per Innsider Observer’s comments, we did ask the AG and Bar Association to investigate Kimball’s actions (in our case) but they both declined. As the defendant in our case was deceased, we ask on his behalf citing various infractions of the legal canons. The Bar Association basically told me to get lost and when I pressed harder, they refused to acknowledge my request or answer our calls. I would be happy to provide copies of this information to any news organization as a means to substantiate this cover up. The AG said they could not investigate unless invited to do so by Dane Watkins, which never happened. I agree, people need to raise the level of awareness so these actions do no pass un-noticed, I’m just not sure whom to contact. We also contacted the Mayor but she also dismissed our concerns, to no great surprise. I finally turned to the local new organizations (TV, paper) and only the Post Register was interested in following up on the story.
John,
Did the defendant have an attorney either for his criminal case or his estate?
look at the Kimball mason updates he is in deep sh!t now
http://www2.state.id.us/ag/newsrel/2006/nr_sept062006.htm
Observer,
My apologies, I meant to say the victim was deceased, not the defendant. Anyway, the defendant’s lawyer was Fred Hoopes, who also represented Kimball Mason in his criminal proceedings. Coincidence??
No, you can’t read too much into that. Every criminal defense attorney in town would have had dealings with km. Then when he needed an attorney for his own defense, he would have to turn to one of them.
Here’s the media release from the state AG’s office:
http://www2.state.id.us/ag/newsrel/2006/nr_sept062006.htm
Date: September 6, 2006
Media Contact: Bob Cooper
(208) 334-4112
Kimball Mason Charged With 13 Additional Felonies
- Attorney General asks court to impose full prison term from previous sentence.
(Boise) – The Attorney General’s Office today filed a new criminal complaint charging former Idaho Falls City Prosecutor Kimball Mason with 13 additional felonies. In a separate filing, the Attorney General asked Judge William Woodland to relinquish jurisdiction over Mason and order Mason to serve the remainder of the one to five year sentences imposed on May 30, 2006.
The new complaint, filed in Seventh District Court in Bonneville County, Magistrate Division, charges Mason with seven counts of grand theft by possession of stolen property and six counts of forgery or, alternatively, falsifying a public record. Senior Seventh District Magistrate Judge Robert Brower, of Blackfoot, issued a warrant for Mason’s arrest. Bond was set at $500,000. Idaho Department of Correction officials, who currently have Mason in custody, are expected to surrender him on the warrant to answer the new charges soon. If convicted, Mason faces a maximum penalty of 14 years in prison on each of the 13 counts.
On April 19, 2006, Mason entered a plea of guilty to two felony counts of grand theft and one felony charge of falsifying a public record. The charges related to Mason’s unlawfully taking possession of firearms from the Idaho Falls Police Department evidence custodian and to Mason falsifying a court order authorizing the release of a firearm to himself. Pursuant to the plea agreement, Mason admitted in court that he had stolen 16 other weapons from the Idaho Falls Police Department. He also agreed to truthfully disclose the disposition of other weapons that had been turned over to his possession and that could not be accounted for in the investigation.
On May 30, 2006, Judge Woodland sentenced Mason to three concurrent one to five year prison sentences. The court retained jurisdiction and Mason entered a 180-day evaluation program at the North Idaho Correctional Center in Cottonwood. The effect of the motion filed by the Attorney General today, if granted, would be that the court would release its retained jurisdiction over Mason and he would immediately serve the remainder of the one to five year prison sentences imposed by Judge Woodland.
Seven of the new charges in the complaint allege Mason was in possession of four of the missing guns from the initial investigation as well as three other guns taken from Idaho Falls Police Department evidence. Mason is now charged with seven counts of grand theft by possession of stolen property relating to those weapons.
The additional six new felony charges allege that Mason used two judges’ signature stamps on orders forfeiting firearms to the Idaho Falls City Prosecutor’s Office. The complaint alleges that Mason used the signature stamps without the authority or approval of the judges.
The memorandum filed with Judge Woodland today also states that the Attorney General is addressing, in a separate and ongoing investigation, allegations that Mason used the signature stamps of magistrate judges in other cases he handled as a contract attorney for various counties within the Seventh Judicial District.
The Attorney General noted that a criminal complaint is merely a formal accusation of a crime and that defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
The Attorney General’s Criminal Law Division is serving as special prosecutor in the Mason cases at the request of Bonneville County Prosecuting Attorney Dane Watkins, Jr.
John
You need to ask the defendant’s attorney to re-open the case, it sounds like. Have you tried that?
Observer,
I’m not sure what motivation the defendant’s attorney would have to re-open the case as his client walked away from a vehicular manslaughter charge with a clean record and small fine (recall the driver/defendant killed a bicyclist). Either way, it sounds like KM is in more trouble, I can only hope others involved will also be held accountable too (not betting the farm on this one though).
John,
Have you considered suing in the civil courts?
Just so I’m clear, where does the Mayor and City Council fit into all of this? It would seem to me they were Mason’s “supervisor or boss.” But, I might be wrong.
The mayor and city council appointed Kimball Mason to be the city prosecutor. He had an annual renewable contract for this position. No one has been able to get their hands on a copy of his contract. But somewhere in that contract should be a provision regarding the oversight of his work.
No one who works for the government would work without some sort of oversight, at the very least.
Without the contract, no one would have any way of knowing who on the council was responsible for monitoring his work.
Ok, here’s my question… How did KM get hold of two different judges signature stamps? He HAD to know that it was wrong to use them. Furthermore, are our local judges implicated in this crime ring too? I agree with the statement made earlier that someone from far away needs to come in and ferret through the whole mess. The more it gets looked at the more questions come up. I agree with many people here that they need to throw the book at Kimball. There’s nothing worse than corrupt government officials. They should make an example of him, and anyone else involved with this issue.
He had magistrate court judge stamps, not district court. I suppose it’s possible that he either took them from the clerk’s stations or maybe he even ordered them from the stamp-maker.
I doubt the judges had any idea. There has been no evidence, directly or otherwise, that they were remotely aware of what was happening.
The police chief and county prosecutor are another story.
We did file a suit against the defendant and there was a small settlement but due to ‘legal issues’ (as per our attorney..who was a part-time prosecutor) our options were limited. I had another attorney look at the case out here and his comments were that we were the victims of small town politics (what a surprise!). Unfortunately, hind sight is always 20/20 and unless you deal with these things on a daily basis it’s impossible to have the perspective to know better. I guess we would need clear and convincing evidence that KM or others were negligent in their duties wrt to our case (this might be coming). I can only hope there is a higher court of justice that will deal with these issues. It’s frustrating that although we contacted all the right people, we were brushed aside and told to go away.
John,
Was Drew Pendlebury your attorney?
No, it was another attorney that works at bigger Idaho Falls law firm.
I would think it would have been a tremendous conflict of interest for a prosecutor to have taken a civil case in this matter. Whether or not he worked part-time or full-time, he was conflicted. I feel bad that he didn’t make you aware of that. Time issues can be waived in an appeal of the findings which should include this conflict.
Here is the question for the innocent community victims now, how many innocent community victims are not innocent anymore because KM? Could his better judgment and code of ethics allow him to forge or doctor evidence? If you’ll forge a judge’s stamp and steal evidence, will you fabricate, falsify or tamper with evidence that will work solely in your favor? No probably not I am sure that is where he drew the line. Ya right. I met KM once and had one personal dealing with him, it was in traffic court in 2000, I wanted to discuss a speeding ticket with KM. KM said come before court I will talk with you then. I came 30 minutes early and discussed what he called a “bail forfeiture” of $100. I paid the speeding ticket it was cheaper, I knew the 100 bucks would never find its way into Bonneville County. KM’s selling point to me was that it will stay off your driving record and your increased insurance rates will easily offset the $100. You think that was his first time he had offered anything like that? I knew to talk to him, I knew there was something that could be done. He was a Member of the church so you can count on him right? My father’s attorneys gave me the advise to see KM, their office is less than a football field away. I grew up in IF, my father was a Bishop in a local ward for years, and a farmer with ties to the community for generations. I used to see the good old boy network everyday at it’s peak performance. If I so desired I could be a ranking member, I moved from IF to a city where the good old boy network doesn’t run crap. NOW PEOPLE – what about the surrounding circumstances and others involved, like some high level PD personel, Public Defenders and court officials? Do you think in a criminal proceeding with KM as prosecutor and JS as Public Defender anything close to the level of representation by JS would have met the minimal of standards and ethics outlined by the Idaho State Bar? JS hides/holds guns for the prosecutor? Doesn’t anyone find that crazy even after KM was arrested? IF cops and government needs a reality check. You have got to hand it to our officials, after the public investigation was started and the cream just started rising to the top, they stopped when Lee Harvey Oswald aka KM showed up. Why stop churning we almost have butter. Why have they not investigated more? Who is driving that bus, check his references? In IF a witch hunt was easy to find, my fellow townspeople ,please don’t fail me now! This one will pan out. Can one man have that much universal control and access to our county courthouse? Come on.. you think this was all him all alone? If you do, let me ask you this; how would you explain to your wife, family and friends your rapidly growing gun collection? More questions that have answers to bring more questions. And what about the wife? How could there not be an investigation into her or the oldest son that was video taped taking guns from the house to two different vehicles. So if the cops took 40 firearms from KM how many came out before the cops got there? How many guns does a person have before someone says, “hey whats with the guns?” You would think that your wife would want to know or knew. The IFPD Sheriff’s Dept. is the oldest of the good old boy networks. IF needs a New Orleans style clean up. The Feds should actively investigate all the people involved and investigate branched off questions that trail off into cans-o-worms. One more important thing, now that a prosecutor has been found guilty of evidence theft/tampering and forging several judges’ stamps/signatures, same thing, are all the cases with KM as prosecutor going to be examined again to make sure that the found guilty are truly guilty or are the hypocrites in IF going to say,”wow that costs so much and we don’t know for sure he did that, too” and the true victims, the ones he may have falsely convicted of crimes they didn’t commit, what of them, because you have to wonder. Really, would you put it past him? As concerned citizens of Idaho Falls, the self proclaimed victims in this case, are you going to demand that all his cases involving the loss or suspension of any right, privilage and item of value be reexamined. There may be people whom have been or are incarcerated now because of KM? Don’t you think that would be a whole lot worse than just reading or watching something that tells you that some prosecutor you don’t know whom sends criminals to prison is now a criminal? Wow, how painful I am shocked, poor me I am a victim, “I want justice.” Well put your money where your mouth is, make sure anyone he has dealt with was not taken advantage of, take focus on the cases he prosecuted, you will find more victims I promise. Do you think if the prosecutor, KM, a admitted gun addict, wanted the defendant’s gun in evidence which is KM’s personal gun give away extravaganza, would the defendant be more likely to be found guilty? Add JS for support and The President of the LDS Church would place that bet. A defendant must be found guilty to add guns to the KM collection or the state would have to return the property to the rightful owner. Demand an investigation by an outside federal agency, the Blackfoot cops aren’t going to find anything on the IF cops nor Pocatello, Moscow nowhere in the state will you find a true investigation. Time is important here, the structure of the Good o’le Boy network is changing and the paperwork trail to find it are growing cold or shredded because they have had plenty of time. I have nothing to gain from writing this, but it touches on a subject that needs to be addressed in Idaho Falls and smaller communities like ours, spring cleaning needs to happen occasionally or you’ll never get the cockroaches out.
Anonymous,
I think you would find Part II and Part III of the KM investigation interesting. I noticed none of the media have offered links this time.
True about this Dane Watkins Jr. fellow, as stated in an article on this website how can you not know your boss is screwing with evidence? He did in my opinion, and he is just a guilty. But nope we wont chase him because of family connections. His father is a joke, I voted for Dane Sr. and Dane Jr., i will never again. Dane Sr screwed us in the Senate and I’m not to sure he knows that this community hates him and his family. Everything from his father wanting to have the appearance of richness so he sews his brother, and now his son in the spotlight turning a blind eye to total corruption. It would be no wounder if they have always been like this because of the way they were raised. But this is all just opinion and at least we can voice it. I would give anything to take back my vote for the Watkins in the world. And to have the old days of politics return when they wrote there own speeches, like FDR, I loved to hear him on the radio. But all this is my opinion from 28 years of legal work as a lawyer. My son sometimes has have contact with Dane Jr office and he is a power monger. I doubt Dane Sr or Jr have the guts to run again and if they do pray they will be themselves because if they do they don’t have a shot in hell of making it.
How does everyone feel about JS getting out of this?
After Mason got sentenced the first time in late May 06, the first things the AG investigator should have done was pull the phone recordings at the Bonneville COunty Jail. Mason would have been calling Stosich and others to move the guns around. This would have given the evidence to implicate Mason further and nail Stosich too.
Stosich and Mason collaborated on another contract to deal with mental health commitments, i.e sanity hearings. Stosich covered for Mason quite often at hearings and they made a nice chunk of change. Mason stamped orders committing people, and got money to handle the commitments. Nice little arrangement he and JS had going on!
if you are accused of a crime,you will not have to sit in jail for a long time before you go to court because you have the right to a s—y y trail.
Where is KM these days? Have they released him on parole yet? Where’s his family?
Haven’t heard a single peep about continuing investigations.
It is my opinion that the KM situation helped make this site what it has become. Lots of people came here to read what was happening. I know I did. Seems a shame to have this thread die out before the final hurrah. Or has the AG just abandoned ship and Dane Watkins, Blake Hall, Dale Storer and the other powers-that-be in this town finally got the wool pulled tight down over our collective eyes?
I think Kimball is up for a parole hearing in 2010. As I remember, he was re-sentenced, and has to serve 5 years befor a hearing. He is either serving his time here or in Twin Falls, as I recollect, but I also think there was some talk about sending him to Boise; if so, I’m pretty sure that some arrangement was made, because he wouldn’t be safe in Boise at all.
After reading into this again, I realized there’s no upstanding officials left in Idaho Falls anymore, which is why I am glad I moved out of that town three years ago.
The police harass kids and pull people over without cause, they profile daily, and arrest people and issue tickets with absolutely no reasoning other than being bored.
Meanwhile the meth and gang situation is getting out of hand and they choose to turn a blind eye and just go up and down 17th street looking to pull some kids over in their honda because the exhaust is too loud, yet let the truck go by that is roasting tires and bellowing black smoke and is 10 times louder?.
Then there’s this whole thing about Mr. Mason. When is something going to change? When is the integrity going to return to this town? It’s sad. It really is.
I have to disagree with you Alex. I moved to IF 3 years ago and I haven’t seen any of the problems you noted with the police. I moved here from a very large metropolitan area where the officers REALLY harrassed the younger kids in their tricked out Honda’s and where REAL profiling happened on a daily basis. Not to mention officers hiding behind bushes with their radar guns waiting to nab speeders every chance they got. And don’t even get me started about all the instances where officers would steal weapons, drugs and cash from drug dealers. That kind of thing doesnt happen here. And I don’t see meth and gang activity as being out of hand either, but maybe that’s because I’m used to seeing crack dealers peddling their goods on so many street corners and drug deals going down in the strip mall parking lots. That kind of thing doesn’t happen here and if it does, it’s certainly not as bad as you’re making it out to be. (with the exception of your buddy Kimbal Mason) Sure there’s a drug problem and a certain amount of gang activity just about anywhere you go these days, but it’s not at the level you seem to think it is here in IF.
The men and women that protect and serve this community do an outstanding job in my opinion.
I’m sorry your buddy Mason got busted and maybe he was a good person deep down, but that doesn’t excuse the fact that he broke the law and attempted to cover it up. Good people do bad things, we all know that. But that doesn’t excuse his behavior and he’s not above the law just because he put a bunch of criminals behind bars. He got what he deserved, end of story.
As for this town, it’s a great place to live and I’m glad to be a part of this community.
You have a nice day now.
“Alex Bowman: I realized there’s no upstanding officials left in Idaho Falls…
I am glad I moved out of that town…
The police harass kids and pull people over without cause…
They arrest people and issue tickets with absolutely no reasoning other than being bored.”
Heh heh heh,
Alex, you’re on drugs – or just real confused, disorganized, mixed up, screwy. No, boyo, or law enforcement persons don’t just chase down teens on 17th street. Hell, law breakers, regardless of their age typically avoid that street. They KNOW it’s a better than good place to get picked up. Matter of fact? It’s the best place to get your sorry, law breaking back-end hauled off to jail.
Oh, well.
Alex, you’re not familiar with Idaho Falls, otherwise you’d know we have one of the lowest crime rates in the Country. That’s not just because of effective law enforcement. It’s also, and mostly because of good citizens, with good values raising fabulous families with the same attributes.
Hey, Alex, we’re not sad you’re gone. Anyone who had such a poor opinion of our city and it’s society needed to be gone. Don’t let the speed limit sign stop your quick exit.
I’ve known lots of people that thought the law was “out the get them” and “never gave them a break”. The funny thing was that these people never stopped doing stupid things long enough to see what it would be like to NOT be in trouble.
Luckily, most of them grew up and realized that their actions had consequences. Sadly, some of them are still blaming “the man” when they get caught doing something stupid.
Excellent comment Alice. I totally agree. It is so much easier to point fingers at others rather than look in the mirror long enough to see what one is really doing.
Many of the attorneys in town pointed fingers at Mason to avoid their own actions…..they (like Stosich, Mallard, Robbins and other) were lucky that time by snitching out their good buddy and tearing up on the stand about how Mason duped them when they were in on it the whole time. It will catch up with them in some other area of their life. I get the impression that many of them still think they are above the law.
Sylar,
In your post (#59) you state “That kind of thing doesnt happen here.”
Sorry, but you couldn’t be more wrong. It has and it does. If it hasn’t touched your life, yet, it will. Through a friend, family member, co-worker or even yourself. Simply because it hasn’t touched your life, yet, does not give you the right to denigrate someone else for being unhappy that it has touched theirs. I hate to be the one to burst you and Wendyjo’s bubble, but not everyone arrested is guilty. Not every cop or public official is a good guy. For the most part, yes, but not 100%.
Some of us have lived here our entire lives and have noticed the difference. It is still a good community, but it was a better community and could be again if the 95% of the force who are good cops and community leaders would grow some hair on their b@*ls and turn in the 5% who need to be taken out into the desert and staked to an anthill.
As for me, I’m sorry folks like Alex have left our community. We need folks who can see what is happening and are willing to work to make this a better place, like it used to be.
Another Guest
It is easy to throw out unsubstantiated claims like, “…5% who should be taken out in the desert and staked to an ant hill”, without any verifying facts. I challenge you to give the details of any incidents in which any IFPD Officers acted in such a way to deserve your accusations. If you do not feel that this public forum is the appropiate place to discuss the matter you are free to contact me at the PD and I would be happy to hear your “facts”.
Sgt. Frei,
Pardon my ignorance, but I am unfamiliar with your name. I assume you are an employee of the Idaho Falls Police Department. May I ask, in what capacity? How would sharing my facts and evidence with you personally be of benefit? The facts which substantiate my statement are well known within the police department, but I am unaware if they are well known to you personally.
As criminal defendants (who are supposed to be presumed innocent) are routinely tried in the press, without the opportunity to rebut or respond to press releases by law enforcement, your challenge to “out” the information in this forum is tempting. Do you think that would be what it takes to get an appropriate response from IFPD? This forum would be unlike the newspaper or television where those accused could easily respond.
Tempting.
I shall ponder the matter while I await your response.
Speaking for Sgt Frei, he is a patrol Sgt at the IFPD. If in fact there are things that IFPD officers have done which are illegal or unethical the first place to start in making a complaint is with a supervisor like him. If there appears to be any merit to the claim it will be forwarded to Internal Affairs. Contrary to some people’s opinion (usually the opinion of those who have in fact done wrong) police do take misconduct seriously. I can a number of officers at the IFPD who have been fired or put out to pasture (forced to resign) for misconduct. Two of which occurred in just the last two years.
Posting on an anonymous forum is useless because its anonymous and you could be making everything up. This forum has already seen several examples of this where people have come in all fire and brimstone on officers about how horrible they were only to have egg on their face when the facts were released (facts like an audio recording of the entire incident).
Just like the public is presumed innocent so are cops accused of misdeeds. It goes both ways. I could make up all kinds of claims against “another guest” with every bit as much credibility (i.e. none) that any claims by Another Guest would have posting here.
Another guest
Anonymous, post # 66, said it better than I did. Thanks
If you have a legitimate complaint and facts and evidence to back it up, I would be happy to hear them. It would probably yield better results than the unsubstantiated “bombs” you throw out here.
I can be reached at 529-1200.
Sgt. Frei;
It is commendable of you to acknowledge the whiner(s), and remind them that you are available to hear and take their complaints. Now why in the world would they have not been aware that our local police force does take complaints against the police actions of their officers seriously, and does investigate all complaints? Not only that, why would their all knowledgeable minds not have been familiar with your name?
I guess thoughts of the holidays, candy canes, the economy and our NEW President have caused some short and long term memory loss. Happens to the best of whiners.
Anyway, Sir, and I don’t mean to criticize, b u t, you really didn’t need to list the number. The phone companies, several of them, give out phone books for free to every house and apartment in Idaho Falls and Bonneville County once or twice a year! That number is listed in every single one of them free books! EVERY ONE!
I could build myself a house of paper made from phone books with all the phone books those phone companies give me every year – for the past — whole bunch of years.
Anyway, what I’m trying to say, Sgt. Frei, is thanks. You go over board to keep this community safe. Oh, and tell your officers thanks too. I’m really grateful.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I’m kissing up. So what?
Sgt. Frei, the Idaho Falls Police, but mostly the Bonneville County Police and Detectives helped extensively, a couple of years ago, when my daughter was missing for 4 1/2 months. She returned safely home. They came to my home often for additional information. I went to their offices often to give them more information. I handed out more than 4000 fliers in Idaho Falls, and Bonneville County, with her photo, and announcing she was missing. Another 2000 fliers were mailed out to businesses like Walmart in other Western States. The contact number listed in case of sightings was the same one Sgt. Frei listed. A number close to my heart, as is our local police force.
Thanks, you guys and gals in blue.
Wendyjo from Idaho
Wendyjo
Thanks for your comments. I am glad that your daughter came home and things turned out well for you. We do take our responsibilities seriously and work hard to serve and protect our citizens. We aren’t always able to make them all happy, but that comes with the territory. Have a great weekend.
You betcha, Sgt. Frei!
Listen, I know ALL about trying to keep the peace, but not being able to please all the people everytime they make a demand. And that’s not just because I’m a mom.
I started out as a waitress. Yes Sir, I did. Ever heard of Jerry Hong? He’s like a Chamber of Commerce person now, or something like that. He use to be my High School math teacher and one of my bosses at my after school job.
His Dad, Bill Hong, owned the Cathay Cafe in Blackfoot, ID. Now I’m not trying to be prejudice, but you’ve never had a more angry boss than a china man who wanted you to pick up an order RIGHT NOW, and you didn’t have time cause you were taking another customer’s order.
Angry Chinamen aren’t pretty. Still, I worked 4 and with Bill and Jerry for four years. I have the patience of a saint; that or I’m brain damaged (did I tell you I was in a terrible car accident, in a coma for 2 months and had to have brain surgery? — true story, but let’s not drift this story).
Anyway, after working with Bill and Jerry for 4 years, I learned a lot of patience. Oh, also I worked the “drunk shift” on Friday and Saturday nights. That taught me even more patience. So I went to college and became a nurse.
I’m sure I’ve helped a whole bunch of folks while being a nurse. That’s what nurses do, right? But more important is what I’ve learned.
Some sick people are a pain in the @$$. Matter of fact, you just want them well so you don’t have to see them again; and that’s the truth. Unfortunately, they’re the ones that keep getting sick. JACKWHOLES!
Sgt. Frei, I imagine you and your officers encounter similar circumstances. OUCH! And my sincere thanks for your patience.
If you have a job opening? Do NOT call me.
But hey, Happy Holidays!
Sgt. Frei is a well known name among people who are privy to or those that know anything at all about the IFPD. I guess this shows “Another Guests” knowledge of what he is talking about. Dare I say that another crackpot has been exposed on this site?
So, has anyone heard anymore about if the City of IF is going to hire a new prosecutor to replace Mason? It seems that Dane Watkins office can only keep covering this for only a little while longer. Is there anyone in the running to take his place….i.e. any attorneys like Kent Whittington and John Stosich and some of the good ole boys hooked up down there?
Well, after those ringing endorsements of Sgt. Frei’s absolute integrity, it is my turn to put my money where my mouth is so that he can do likewise.
First, as I stated earlier, I am unfamiliar with Sgt. Frei. In actuality, it was Captain Brown who declared war on my family, not one of whom has committed a crime nor ever been arrested. Having said that, if Sgt. Frei would prefer to stay out of this, that would be fine with me.
If not, I will begin my test of the IFPD’s alleged integrity involving its alleged follow up of citizen complaints against any and all of its officers.
Please review police report 200613622. Exactly one third of the evidence seized by the patrol officer in that case is missing. The investigation of the state lab has been completed and it has been determined that the problem does not lie at the laboratory. They have been cleared.
What follow up was done when this was brought to the attention of the IFPD? Was the “missing” evidence located? If so, where was it? What, if anything, happened to the patrol officer? Was he retrained in evidence handling? Was he sent back to elementary school to learn how to count? Or did someone just wag their finger in his face behind closed doors and tell him to be more careful the next time?
Re: #72 from Bundy
The city hired Watkin’s office to handle all cases. The money the city is paying them pays for an extra attorney so its not like there is a need for a special city prosecutor nor is the prosecutor’s office straining its budget to handle these cases. And given how easy it was for Mason to exploit the system its probably a good thing that an “office” is handling it rather than one person with no oversight.
This is not the place to test the integrity of anyone particularly an organization as you are trying to do Another Guest. You need to take your complaints directly to the police department, not on an anonymous blog. It is obvious to me that you are only interested in bashing the police. I suggest you read comment #66 again.
Thanks anonymous. Good to know that the good ole boys aren’t running the asylum……at least not a single person like anonymous mentioned. Better to have more people involved.
“Well, after those ringing endorsements of Sgt. Frei’s absolute integrity, it is my turn to put my money where my mouth is so that he can do likewise.
Having said that, if Sgt. Frei would prefer to stay out of this, that would be fine with me.”
Heh, heh, heh, he’s damned if he do or don’t, isn’t he “Another Guest.” Not that he’d even try to respond to an anonymous, and mostly senseless claim. Especially since you’ve already been appropriately advised that this is not the medium to discuss such private matters. You’ve been advised whom you can call, and given the number to reach that individual.
For further complaints and/or discussion, call the man.
Hope you and your family’s holidays are more than enjoyable, but also all that you hope for (except for winning the lottery – that’s all MINE!).
Merry, Merry — every day & Holidays!
I’m assuming then, Wendyjo, that you have taken the time to review the information I posted for Sgt Frei and are in a position to judge it “senseless?” From your Post #68, it does not appear that you are an officer, just a fan. Were you able to access the information through a source or did you just pass judgment on it without having reviewed it because it didn’t agree with your opinion? And I’m sorry you feel Sgt. Frei is damned if he does and damned if he doesn’t. Not at all. I’ve re-read his posts carefully. He never said he would do anything with the information, only that he would listen. I would be really surprised, actually, if they did anything at this point, as they are already aware of these “discrepancies.” My questions about what happened to the officer were merely rhetorical. The decision was already made a long time ago, at some level, to do nothing.
Thank you for the suggestion to re-read Post #66 where there is the statement “Just like the public is presumed innocent so are cops accused of misdeeds. It goes both ways.” Are you suggesting that if a citizen is accused of a crime, they should be presumed innocent until found guilty in a court of law and that cops are entitled to the same presumption? If so, I absolutely agree. However, if a citizen is accused of a crime, his photograph and the criminal charges are printed in the newspaper right after his arrest and are televised on the nightly news. Shouldn’t the cops be “entitled” to the same treatment? Or are you advocating for a double standard that favors police officers? Post #12 (not me) “People working in law enforcement should be held to a higher standard.” I don’t know if I agree that it should be a higher standard, but I don’t think they should get preferential treatment.
I believe local law enforcement has a crime tips hotline in which the tipsters are not required to give identifying information. Why should this be any different? Sgt. Frei doesn’t need my identity to do as I asked. He doesn’t need anything from me. He has what he needs in his possession right there in the office. He has the police report and the lab report. He may not have immediate access to the internal report of the investigation of the state laboratory, but he can surely access it easier than I did. Do they match or don’t they? Did this police officer claim in his report that he seized 6 baggies of meth from a suspect and then only turn 4 empty ones into the property room? Or did the missing items disappear after they were turned into the property room?
If this one was too difficult, I can certainly give you a different one to review. How about Police Report # 200702649? I believe we’re going to have the same problem in this case. The officer claims he seized five baggies of meth from the suspect, but only four showed up in the property room or disappeared after being turned in. Of course, the missing one had the most meth in it. The other four were nearly empty.
The foundation of this entire thread is about Kimball Mason and evidence being taken from the property room. If you take the time to go back and re-read the entire thread, which I suggest you do instead of just reading the last post or two, you will find that the original post itself and no less than 17 of the following posts express suspicion that KM did NOT act alone. If all these suspicions were correct, did you really think that evidence would just stop disappearing forever? Or would the others involved just wait until the dust had settled before starting again? I do not profess to know what’s going on here, I have no way of knowing that. But I do know that the citizens don’t have access to the property room. Only the police do. So it’s always been possible that someone from the police department was ignoring Mason, looking the other way, or helping him, and it appears to me that it may be happening again. As a citizen and taxpayer, I am entitled to ask.
I realize this thread has turned into a blog for the fan club of the IFPD. But you really shouldn’t be making this about me. Your personal attacks against me will not dissuade me from continuing to ask these questions. Of course, making it about me is a lot simpler than answering the tough questions, isn’t it? Sgt. Frei left it to my discretion as to whether to post the information here or call him. “If you do not feel that this public forum is the appropiate place to discuss the matter you are free to contact me at the PD and I would be happy to hear your “facts”. “(Post #64) Yes, I “heard” his sarcasm. I can’t tell you how that buoyed my confidence in his objectivity! (Yes, sarcasm intended.) He doesn’t need to hear the “facts” from me. He can pull up these police reports and check the information without me, in the officer’s own words, not mine. I chose to post the information here as I do believe a public forum is more appropriate. That way, if the preceding comments that others were involved with KM are correct, there will be no opportunity to cover up or retaliate against the whistleblower.
“As a citizen and taxpayer, I am entitled to ask.”
Another Guest, you aren’t representing yourself, here, as a citizen and taxpayer, but as an anonymous entity. How seriously do you expect most members or visitors of this site to take you and your complaints? Sgt. Frei was good enough to afford you his contact information should you wish to seriously discuss the incident.
No, of course I didn’t look up the police report you referenced. For all I know you’re just a trouble making anon. Why waste my time? Besides, I had Thanks Giving and family matters to attend to. But thanks for asking.
Dear Sgt. Frei;
Howdy, how are you(?), wear your seat belt and Happy Holidays. Can we be Frank, Sir, and may I ask a favor of you?
Thanks
DON’T POST HERE AGAIN!
Holy crap! One or two posts by a cop and the site slows down by at least 99%. You folks, Sgt. Frei, must be a real hoot at parties.
I love you guys. You’re my heros. I adore you folks.
JUST DON’T POST HERE! STOP! NOW!
Pretty please : )
Just luffin’ and keepin’ you in my prayers forever.
-me
Yeah, me, Wendyjo! (Heh-heh-heh. Wasn’t sure if you heard me.)
Looks like WendyJo needs to lay off the eggnog.
Sgt. Frei can and should post here if he wants to. If you don’t like it, you can choose to not post in the thread or on the site. It’s a free country and Frei has not been rude, demeaning, or uncivil.
I’m sorry, Bundy. Did I offend you? : (
Another guest,
I’m sorry I have taken so long to respond to your questions reguarding the two cases you cited. I have reviewed all the case reports, lab reports and evidence reports. I have spoken with the former narcotics unit Sergeant and the Officer involved with both cases.
With your personal investment in the first case, I don’t know if my answer will satisfy you but it is the truth and applys to both cases. With that, here goes….
When we seize suspected illegal drugs, we carefully account for the quantity, by weighing all baggies that contain measurable amounts of substance. Some may only contain “residue” of a substance, which can still be sent to the state lab to be tested. We always note in the evidence section of the report how many baggies were seized and their weight. Not all of the suspected drugs need to be sent to the lab, just enough to make the determination that is a controlled substance. In other words, if we seize a pound of meth, we don’t have to send the whole pound to Boise, just a sampling, to be tested.
Whether the police report and the state lab report match (in baggie count or weight) isn’t what matters. What matters, is that the evidence sheets, showing the amounts of suspected substances seized and ultimately destroyed, match.
After the lab report returns, with the results and remaining amount of substance, it is placed back into evidence. It is kept there for all remaining court hearings.
After the case has been adjudicated, all controlled substanced must be turned over to the Idaho State Police for destruction. Paraphernalia may be destroyed and thrown away.
In both cases, The amounts of seized items and substances ,match the amounts of items either turned over to the state for destruction, or broken and thrown away.
There were no lost or stolen items.
I have worked for the IFPD for over 23 years. There are people here that I have disagreements with, or different opinions with, but there isn’t one that I believe is “dirty” or corrupt. We are people with imperfections just like people anywhere.
I hope I have answered your questions.
Sgt. Frei,
Thank you for your response to my questions. May I say that I respectfully disagree with your response.
Can the site administrator please provide the information where I can mail the actual documents to verify that it is not me who is fudging the information I have submitted above so that the reports can be posted here on the site for all to review and verify my disagreement with Sgt. Frei’s response.
Claiming that only a portion of the evidence seized would be sent to the laboratory “in Boise” doesn’t jive with my information, as it is my understanding that all drug evidence is put into a single container – by the officer – which is then sent to the lab in Pocatello by the property clerk. Are you saying that the property clerk opened the single container, took out some of the evidence and kept it in the property room, then put the stuff kept in house back in the single container when it was returned from the lab? Why would you do that? In neither of these cases were we talking about amounts like a pound of drugs.
By the way, I have no personal investment in this issue besides the obvious concern that evidence appears to be disappearing from the property room again. I have a friend who advised me that I was not the best detective in town for not considering the possibility that the evidence never existed in the first place rather than disappeared between the officer and the evidence room or from the evidence room itself. But that would be a different issue altogether, wouldn’t it?
Another Guest;
You must have a “personal investment” to suggest that a baggie of drugs meant for destruction came up missing.
Sounds to me like someone is upset they got busted with meth and is trying to take revenge by making accusations against the cop that caught him / her. And this is exactly why anonymous complaints are so useless and should not be taken seriously. I commend Sgt Frei for actually bothering to look into this. And I’m satisfied with his explanation, not that I felt one was really necessary.
Personally, I don’t think this is the proper venue in which to air his/her missing drugs/evidence issue. Perhaps you should contact the police department directly with your concerns. Because really, it’s your word as an anonymous poster against a respected officer/police dept of the community. Who do you think the general public is going to believe, a drug user or an officer of the law?
Grouse, I totally agree. This is not the forum for anonymous to have Joe post “documents”. There is absolutely no need to try your evidence issues on this site. Take it to the police station.
I have to agree with the last few comments. This post is about Kimball Mason and his jail-time, not whether or not officers in this town are corrupt or have mis-placed evidence. Either file a complaint with the IFPD or hire an attorney and take it through the proper channels. Either way you won’t get your drugs back so why bother. And I’m pretty sure you won’t find any sympathizers here either.
This thread is not just about Kimball, it is about missing evidence. They aren’t my drugs, nice try. But I also don’t want to find someone taking these drugs and trying to plant them on me or someone else in my community. Think it doesn’t happen? Were you watching Court TV last week? Another city’s drug task force took drugs from one case and kept them for drop downs in other situations where drugs weren’t found, so they were planted. Thankfully someone had the intestinal fortitude to complain and they were finally caught. Wonder how many people went to jail on that kind of a deal. And the woman they were trying to plant the drugs on? When she resisted, they shot her to death! Now those three cops are going to prison. Too cool!
Yeah, Yeah, I know, our cops here in Idaho Falls are perfect and that would never happen here. LOL I respectfully disagree. So you think I should take my complaints to the police department where they can be run through the shredder because the public isn’t aware there’s a problem and our IFPD doesn’t want them to be aware there’s a problem? Think again. How long did Jimmie Caudle have to complain that there was a problem. Three years? I can tough out three years. As for taking it to a judge, it was. He acknowledged there was a discrepancy in the amount of drugs seized and the amount which arrived at the lab. Want to know what he said? “I don’t know that that’s really reflective of anything.” So although Sgt. Frei has told you there are no discrepancies, there are. Even the judge admitted it. He just doesn’t want to do anything about it. He was both right and wrong. He could have done something, but chose to say it was a matter of fact for the jury, not a matter of law for him. That’s the coward’s way out. Like so many before him, he has passed the buck to someone else.
I have not pulled any punches here. I have been honest about my situation. Captain Brown declared war on my family. None of us has committed a crime, none of us has been arrested for a crime. No, they’re not my or their drugs. But when he declared war, at least two other individuals on the force decided to assist him and the remaining members of his force have decided to at least ignore what he is doing. Sgt. Frei said it himself. They may not always agree with one another, but they aren’t going to take action against one of their own. So, I will. I thought about this for a long time before deciding to engage in this war which was declared on us. I am not intimidated by the uniform. I have great respect for it. But the individual inside it has to earn my respect. When the officers of the IFPD opted to back Captain Brown’s play, they lost any chance of earning my respect. And I will continue to put up here any evidence I have that they’re not playing by the rules. If it will at least slow them down, then I have accomplished something worthwhile in my efforts.
I don’t doubt many of the posters don’t want to know something more may be wrong. As one wise person said on another thread, “Acknowledgement requires action.” If you are faced with irrefutable evidence that something is wrong, would you act? Is that why you don’t want to see the documents that prove Sgt. Frei’s response is inaccurate? Would you be required to act if it were true? Would he? Are you happy just living in the past, reveling in Kimball’s misery but content to let it lie? What about the rest of what Kimball did? Has it ever been reported what happened to the people he had committed without a hearing? There is just so much more there that you are not going to be told. At least not by our public officials. Stand up for yourself. Demand accountability. We’re paying their salaries. We’re entitled to know they’re doing their jobs properly.
Can I offer you like some cheese and crackers with that whine?
Another Guest: You’ve been attacked and belittled by many here. I think you make some good points. And your posts are well-written and thoughtful.
I say good for you for sticking to your guns.
Nobody is “attacking” him, merely suggesting he take his complaint through the proper avenues. I for one don’t take too much stock in what druggies say when they bash the police like Another Guest has been doing. It’s clear that Another Guest doesn’t like the police and has a bias attitude towards them. I’m sorry (well….not really) you’re missing your bag of meth, but perhaps you and your family should lay off the dope and start hanging out with a better group of friends, and find a better “recreational” activity to occupy your time.
It’s always the dope feinds that are the first ones to complain about police corruption after they get busted. Accept responsibility for your actions. The police are just doing their jobs. A police dept isn’t going to “claim war” on your family without just cause.
And I’m not surprised that Not Surprised is sticking up for you.
Guest two: You are making a whole lot of assumptions and you definitely are attacking and belittling. You have a right to your opionion and others have a right to express theirs as well. You don’t appear to have the facts yourself, so perhaps you should lay off?
There are other folks in this town who have also had bad experiences with the IFPD. Good, upstanding citizens of IF with no record, no history of drug use, etc.
Some police officers are good and upstanding people, and others not so much. Chief Roos is a friend of mine (and a wonderful human being), and I also had a bad experience with a particular officer at IFPD. So the concerns being raised by Another Guest are certainly not outside the realm of possibility
“Another Guest,” you not only appear but insist upon showing yourself to be an innocent victim of police abuse. The only evidence you offer is a number to a police report you say tells something about missing drugs in the evidence room. Then you tell us than one of the officers and a couple of his deputies harassed you and some of the members of your family — for what we have no idea; you didn’t say.
You’re not making a very convincing case, Another Guest, nor are you gaining much sympathy. Somewhere ? ? ? up there you stated you’d continue on with your diatribe with this great injustice done against you and your family by the IFPD (my summary of your words). GO BACK AND READ YOUR POSTS.
You’ve not told us one thing ANYONE, including the police have done to you or your family. You simply suggest that you have some sort of knowledge about some missing drugs from the police evidence room. Big deal. Like that’s information that’s gonna make any of our days.
Now, may I offer…
You’re a good dad with no legal record. You have always paid taxes, taken care of your family and help your neighbors out if the need a hand. So one of your children’s friends get in trouble, serious trouble. The police come around to question your kid and you get worked up, not at your kid but at the police.
You cause more problems for yourself and your family than you solve. The police need to tell you more than once that you kid isn’t in trouble but only needs to answer some questions. You continue to be angry, your voice loud and sometimes obnoxious. It takes being told several times that you can be arrested for your behavior before you close your mouth, but still you seethe.
You still seethe today. Take up your concerns with Sgt.
Frei, settle your differences (you’ll never get an apology – they were right), or go see a psychiatrist.
Happy Holidays, sincerely.
If Another Guest feels that this really warrants attention then go talk to the Idaho State Police, or the Bonneville County Prosecutors Offce (make an appt. of course). That way you can get it off your chest and let someone look at your facts. Maybe it goes no where, maybe it will. You won’t know until you try. But merely talking about it here won’t score you many points and won’t solve the problem as you perceive it.
This is a prime reason why Kimball Mason, John Stosich, Darren Robbins, Kelly Mallard, Todd Erickson and the other “officials” got away with what they did for so long….no one complained to the right people who would not only listen, but who could actually do something about it!
WendyJo …….. someday somehow something or some set of circumstances will come along to knock you off your high horse. I’d like to be a fly on the wall when that happens and you’re whining and complaing and wanting sympathy. You seem to have so little capacity to give even a teensy weensy portion of understanding or kindness …………..
The last thing I’m “on” is a high horse. But I’ve heard a lot of people continually whine about how the system abused them for no reason what so ever. And they whined on, and on and on. Their whining gave them and no one else anything, not even satisfaction.
Sgt. Frei has addressed “Another Guest,” offering to hear his complaints in the appropriate environment. Yet the man refuses and continues to whine. He requires no understanding, as he’s given no details allowing anyone to get the big picture. Kindness can be as shaking a little sense into someone who is blatantly ignoring his own reality.
WendyJo — “someone who is blatantly ignoring his own reality”.
And you know this how? You are making up your own so-called “facts.”
It’s kind of like tough love……..you don’t sit there and let someone keep whining on and on about a situation…..one decides that they aren’t going to be a doormat for the mouthpiece incessantly blathering off at the mouth—and encourage them to take steps to try and fix the problem rather than complain about it.
The old saying goes: You can lead a horse to water but you can’t make him drink. Another Guest is being led to the water, but seems comfortable not “drinking” and instead whining about a problem that seems pretty close to home, or at least on his/her mind alot. Posting on a blog is not going to fix the problem. While it might make Another Guest feel better…..what if he/she is right, and what if A.G. does nothing? Then what? People get away with something like Mason and Stosich did for years—until the right people are contacted and bring the House of Cards falling down.
Seems to me that is what WendyJo is saying……all talk and no action goes only so far.
I concur…..excellent comment Bundy!
Some of you people seem to think that when a cop talks it’s like hearing the “word of God.” Here’s a little realiity for you: cops lie all the time.
A link to a reality show “Kopbusters — reality show that busts cops for conducting illegal drug raids”
http://www.boingboing.net/2008/12/08/kopbusters-reality-s.html
notsurprised. We get it, we really do. We understand you don’t like cops and if it were up to you we’d do away with all of them and just live in a chaotic society. It’s quite obvious that you’re young and still at that age where you’re rebelling against law enforcement. Don’t worry, you’ll grow out of it.
Having lived in Germany for a few years, as well as travelled to other parts of the world, I can tell you that as a whole, the officers in this state and country are much more honest and friendly than in most other parts of the world. You may think you do, but you don’t have a clue. We won’t hold it against you.
Nope, you are wrong on all counts. I have friends who are cops (as mentioned in a previous post, which you obviously missed) and I’m not young.
Bet you didn”t even look at the link I included , did ya!?!
And I won’t whold your wrong-headed assumpations against you. You know what assuming does … you end up with egg on your face.
Another example which puts to rest the notion that Kimball Mason got a slap on the wrist.
http://www.kpvi.com/Global/story.asp?S=10383749
The woman in this story embezzled $150,000 over 4 years. She is going to spend 4 months in prison and then get probation.
Meanwhile Kimball Mason is STILL in prison, years later, for stealing much less. Yes there is the public trust issue but I think its obvious, as some pointed out, that Kimball was punished much harsher than your average embezzler and it was no slap on wrist.
Not really sure about this but don’t they eventually destroy the weapons in the police evidence locker. If so his theft was, although dishonest and illegal, and certainly not something for a prosecutor to do, I would be much more concerned and angered if he had overprosecuted people for purely political reasons. The latter is something which happens all the time alll over the place but no one ever complains. There are lots of prosecuting attorneys far more worthy of jail than KImball Mason.
Most weapons are to be returned to the owner. Those who had weapons stolen (in many cases) did not get them back at the end of the investigation because Mason took them.
Anonymous-Do you realize how many felonies Mason was charged with? It was quite a few more than this lady.
Base
Do you realize the lady in that story could have been charged with a separate felony for each theft she made? Instead they kept to it three felony charges. In Kimball’s case they could have charged him with many more felonies as well, instead they kept it to between 10-15 if memory serves. Embezzlement, what both of these cases are at their heart, rarely is a one time thing and instead is a series of thefts that often goes on for years as it did in both these cases. The prosecutors could have easily nailed both of them for so many more felonies than they did.
I don’t suggest for a minute that Kimball got more time than he deserved. I merely mock the notion that so many have out there that Kimball got coddled or too light a sentence when the facts show so clearly that he got nailed much harder than your typical embezzler. Beyond the position of authority that Kimball held the biggest difference in these cases is that Kimball stole chump change compared to the woman.
Maybe as bookkeeeper she knew the dirty tax evasion tricks all three businesses were doing, and when confronted by the business owners she threatened to turn them in. Maybe the first business let her go quietly until they later discovered she took more money. Maybe she robbed at least two other local businesses in the same exact way while out free because Frank did not report her to the authorities. Maybe see how those other two businesses claimed they ’settled’ her debt with them? Maybe they knew they would serve more prison time than her if she told what she found at their businesses. What is worse, the widespread accounting fraud and tax evasion in Bonneville County perpetrated by our upstanding citizens, or the media’s failure to investigate and learn the truth? Maybe!
As far as businesses not pressing charges for embessing and fraud. I really wish they would. But I DO see why they wouldn’t.
My dad had a man embessle a load of money from his business and didn’t press charges (I wish he would have) because he felt like he would be spending a load of money on attorney’s and court fees and never see the money again anyways due to the guy having already spent it. Unfortunately the court system is expensive for the victims too.
Guest–Since you seem to have the inside scoop, how about going to the media with it. I am not confident that you are just speculating.
Anonymous–The public only paid attention to Mason because there was so much media coverage. I am sure that if you ask any person on the street about Mason’s case they will know who you are talking about. If you ask them about this one, they won’t have a clue. That’s the problem with the media. There’s no equal coverage. Mason’s case was bigger and he got more time because the media made it bigger. Not the only reason, but I think that’s a big part of it.