Skipism Wednesday ~ Some Government Employees Don't believe in America

 

 BREAKING: Jamaican illegal alien was wearing a badge and carrying a department-issued gun on the streets of Maine

A Jamaican man who was in the U.S. illegally was found to be working as a cop in Maine, carrying a gun issued by the police department. It turns out that 29-year-old Orville “Ricky” Johnson, whose tourist visa expired a long time ago, had been hired by the Lewiston Police Department in 2022. He was given a Glock to carry on duty, and no one bothered to check his citizenship status or run the required background checks through E-Verify.

What's even crazier is that this whole situation came to light when Johnson tried to buy another gun for himself. He walked into a gun store in Lewiston, filled out the ATF Form 4473 claiming to be a U.S. citizen, and that's when the NICS (National Instant Criminal Background Check System) flagged his application. Two days later, on June 27, 2024, federal agents from HSI/ICE (Homeland Security Investigations/Immigration and Customs Enforcement) Boston task-force arrested him in the parking lot of the police station. ICE Boston Field Office Director Todd Lyons had some strong words about the incident, saying, "We have a police department that was knowingly breaking the very law they are charged with enforcing."

Johnson's story is a wild one. He used a photocopy of a fake green card to get the job, listing his status as a "Permanent Resident" with the number "000-000-000." The real kicker is that genuine green cards start with three letters, not numbers. The HR department never requested to see the actual card, and the background check they did was only within the state of Maine, so it didn't catch his expired B-2 visa.

Maine is a state where you can carry a gun without a permit, but the police still need to follow a federal law called LEOSA (Law Enforcement Officers Safety Act). LEOSA says that an officer needs to be legally allowed to be in the country to carry a gun. Since Johnson was an illegal alien, he couldn't lawfully have the authority to do his job.

This whole mess came to light because the HR department ignored warnings. On May 4, 2022, a sergeant from the Records Division emailed them about an NCIC (National Crime Information Center) hit on Johnson that showed he was an overstay from Jamaica. The HR director just told everyone to ignore it. The city attorney even told them to delete the emails, but the sergeant had already copied them to a personal Gmail account, and now they're evidence in the ICE investigation.

When Johnson tried to buy the Glock 43X at a gun store in New Hampshire, NICS denied the sale and alerted the ATF, which led to the joint HSI/ATF operation that caught him. They found his service weapon, two extra-large ammo magazines that weren't issued by the department, a fake driver's license under the name "Richard Jay," and a bunch of cash in his possession.

Governor Janet Mills (D) has had to step in, saying, "Cities do not have authority to nullify federal immigration law." The state's Attorney General is now looking into all the other towns in Maine that might have done the same thing. And the Legislature is working on a new law (LD 2312) that would require police departments to check citizenship for all job applicants.

As for the people who hired him, the HR director has resigned, and the police chief is on paid leave while the city looks into it. The grand jury has started to bring charges against not just Johnson, but also the HR director and the police chief for their roles in this.

And the fallout? There are 47 active cases where Johnson was involved in, from traffic stops to more serious crimes. Those cases are all now up in the air, and there's a good chance that anyone he arrested might be able to get their conviction thrown out because he wasn't legally allowed to be a cop. The first civil suit has already been filed by a woman who was arrested for a DUI based on Johnson's testimony back in 2023. Plus, the city's $750,000 COPS grant from the Department of Justice is now on hold while they figure out if the police department broke the rules.

The city council is set to vote on July 16 whether to bring in an independent monitor from the Attorney General's office to look into the hiring mess. But given their history, who knows if they'll even check that person's citizenship.

The bottom line is that a guy who had no right to be in the country was walking around with a badge and a gun for two years because the people in charge didn't do their job right. Now, all the work he did as a police officer is being questioned, and it's a serious legal mess for the city of Lewiston.

Thanks Skip