WTF?

SEFFNER, Fla. - The Hillsborough County sheriff says a school resource officer pawned his service weapon and then reported to work with a pellet gun, instead.
Sheriff Chad Chronister said the officer, Leroy King, who was assigned to Mango Elementary School, has been arrested.
The sheriff said the discovery was made when a supervisor performed a standard, random officer check at the school. The supervisor noticed King was not wearing a holstered weapon and began to ask questions.
King allegedly gave excuses to investigators about why he did not have his weapon, but later confessed he pawned the gun, as well as a ballistic vest and weapon-mounted light assigned to him by the sheriff's office.
"It wasn't being fixed. It wasn't broken. It wasn't left someplace where he was taking target and shooting practice," Chronister said. "He had pawned that school security issued firearm... assigned to him to protect the children at Mango Elementary."
King apparently pawned the weapon and other items six times between the beginning of the school year and the end of November.
King was charged with eight counts of giving false info to a pawnbroker.
"He was charged with the duty of protecting our most valuable and precious resource, and that's our children," Chronister said. "As a parent, I am disgusted that we have an individual that we have spent time training, that our school security system spent time hiring, with one sole purpose, and that sole purpose was protecting our young people."

https://www.fox13news.com/news...s-pellet-gun-to-work

Disgusting. I was going to post his booking photo, but I think that we all know what we would see.

I remember not long ago,another leo did this. What makes them think they won't get caught? It kills me when people throw away a good job for being stupid. I can't imagine if something would happen at the school that turned violent and your school officer only has a pellet gun. I don't get it.

The fool thought he could get away with it. Years ago as a young detective I spotted some stolen jewelry in a pawn shop. The pawn shop ticket had the name of another officer on the department. He had taken a burglary report, then found the stolen jewelry and pawned it. When we asked him what the hell were you thinking? He said he had been eating nothing but popcorn for a week and needed money for food.

What an idiot. We would have gladly extended him a loan since at that time we were all eligible for food stamps at the salary we were paid. He lost his job, his career and spent time in the county jail.

quote:

Originally posted by az4783054:
The fool thought he could get away with it. Years ago as a young detective I spotted some stolen jewelry in a pawn shop. The pawn shop ticket had the name of another officer on the department. He had taken a burglary report, then found the stolen jewelry and pawned it. When we asked him what the hell were you thinking? He said he had been eating nothing but popcorn for a week and needed money for food.

What an idiot. We would have gladly extended him a loan since at that time we were all eligible for food stamps at the salary we were paid. He lost his job, his career and spent time in the county jail.

Holy CRAP! While it in no way justifies what either of these individuals did, something is seriously wrong if we are paying law enforcement officers a wage that leaves them eligible for food stamps.

quote:

Originally posted by slosig:

quote:

Originally posted by az4783054:
The fool thought he could get away with it. Years ago as a young detective I spotted some stolen jewelry in a pawn shop. The pawn shop ticket had the name of another officer on the department. He had taken a burglary report, then found the stolen jewelry and pawned it. When we asked him what the hell were you thinking? He said he had been eating nothing but popcorn for a week and needed money for food.

What an idiot. We would have gladly extended him a loan since at that time we were all eligible for food stamps at the salary we were paid. He lost his job, his career and spent time in the county jail.

Holy CRAP! While it in no way justifies what either of these individuals did, something is seriously wrong if we are paying law enforcement officers a wage that leaves them eligible for food stamps.

Hillsborough County Sheriff salaries are among the top in the state

Unbelievable. Imagine if he's pawning his weapon, what else he must be doing.

He's actually not a deputy; he's a non-sworn guard working under the "Guardian" program.

And he's still an asshat no matter what his job is.

I suspect there is an addiction here. Gambling, alcohol, drugs etc. I would hope there is enough screeening at the outset to catch outright sociopaths. Of course with cutbacks some of these guys get through because screening is expensive.

An addiction does not excuse behavior, it merely provides a motive. Pawn shops have a very interesting clientele.

What an idiot.

quote:

Originally posted by ZSMICHAEL:
I suspect there is an addiction here. Gambling, alcohol, drugs etc. I would hope there is enough screeening at the outset to catch outright sociopaths. Of course with cutbacks some of these guys get through because screening is expensive.

An addiction does not excuse behavior, it merely provides a motive. Pawn shops have a very interesting clientele.

BBC has ruined many a cops. BBC = Booze, Broads (or Boys depending on gender and/or preference), and Car Crashes. I would not be surprised if strippers (maybe even a redhead stripper named Tiffany from the Danger Zone in the Hot/Crazy Matrix), dope, and booze or even baby mama drama.

I also worked with a guy who would pawn his duty weapon (personal owned) on his days off for some weekend cash. He would also keep his cuffs in his back pocket because he was too cheap to purchase a cuff case. Dont get me started on his champagne glass gold tooth....

quote:

Originally posted by DennisM:
He's actually not a deputy; he's a non-sworn guard working under the "Guardian" program.

And he's still an asshat no matter what his job is.

I was just thinking that.

Asshole. Glad they got wind of this now and not after some tragic event where this fool should have been doing his duty. I’m betting this guy wouldn’t have performed anyway with an attitude like that.

quote:

Originally posted by DennisM:
He's actually not a deputy; he's a non-sworn guard working under the "Guardian" program.

Yeah... Despite the news report, he's not a "School Resource Officer", who are sworn/certified Law Enforcement Officers. (Imagine that... The media got something wrong!)

He's a "Security Officer".

https://www.sdhc.k12.fl.us/doc...ty/employment/9-638/

Apparently, only the middle schools and high schools there gets actual LEO SROs, from Tampa PD and Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office. Elementary schools just get security guards.

quote:

Originally posted by DennisM:
He's actually not a deputy; he's a non-sworn guard working under the "Guardian" program.

And he's still an asshat no matter what his job is.

I am chagrined that I missed that, I allowed myself to be misled by the reporting and I know better than to expect them to get it right

In the army I saw an Air Force SP who skipped weapons draw and was pulling people over unarmed so he could get off work 15 mins. Sooner.. I was in his flight chiefs office shooting the shit when he found out and boy I’ll tell ya. I didn’t think Airmen actually got yelled at but this guy got an ass chewing that had to do some emotional damage

For a short while, I lived on Lime ave, just a few blocks from there. It was culturally rich, vibrant, diverse neighborhood, as they would say on the news. We used to call it either “upper Mogadishu” or “lower Somalia,” depending. I wished I had body armor and a sidearm when I lived there. That was a spooky place to be a white guy walking down the sidewalk twelve years ago. Can’t be any better now.

The more ominous question for me is, what do you suppose a man who would pawn his gun would do once the shooting started.......even if he had a gun? I'll bet he's not running toward the shooter. Seems to me the very well paid and bloated school admin bureaucracy could give up a little pay to buy a better security officer's services.

He’d give them the stone cold thug sneer he had on for his booking photo. Of course, since everyone in that neighborhood has that look on their face, I’m not sure it would be that effective. He’d have to resort to cocking his head at weird angles and heaving his shoulders around in prep for the perfect sucker punch.