Pennsylvania Cops Accused Of Hate Crime Cover-Up - Updated

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=121576402&ft=1&f=1003&sc=YahooNews

by Robert Smith
December 17, 2009

The federal government has charged three top police officers in Shenandoah, Pa., with covering up evidence in the fatal beating last year of a Mexican immigrant.

Two white football players are in jail now for the attack, although the most serious charges against them were thrown out by a jury.

Federal prosecutors say that's because police officers in the insular town knew the boys and altered evidence in the case. One police officer investigating the case was dating the mom of one of the accused. Another cop had a son on the same football team as the accused.

Prosecutors say the Shenandoah police intimidated witnesses, coached the kids to lie and helped dispose of evidence.

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But some in the town say they could see all of this coming. Thomas O'Neill, who was mayor when the killing occurred, says he tried to take the police off the case, but the father of the chief was a local politician.

"The chief's father was on council, and he was a former policeman himself. No matter what I tried to do, they tried to stop me," O'Neill says.

O'Neill resigned as mayor and moved away from Shenandoah late last year. He claims he was being harassed.

"My tires were slashed, back window was shot out with pellets. On New Year's Eve, my front window, there was an explosive attached to the window and that was blown out," he says.

O'Neill has no proof that it was related to his battle with the police, but the incidents stopped when the prosecutors started investigating the case.

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But one Hispanic resident, Carlos Vega, says after living in Shenandoah for 19 years, he still was treated as an outsider.

"Dirty looks, not making any friends, having a lot of trouble in school, my boys," he says.

Five years ago, one of Vega's teenage sons was arrested. About an hour later, he was found hanging in a cell. Vega is suing the police department, including two of the officers arrested this week, claiming that they beat the teenager and made it look like a suicide. No one believed his claims, Vega says, until this week.

"People stopped me in the middle of the block that I don't even know and say, 'Thank you, thank you. Somebody took action on these cops,' " Vega says.

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http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/12/17/pennsylvania.hate.crime/index.html

December 18, 2009 1:10 a.m. EST
Shenandoah, Pennsylvania (CNN) -- The Pennsylvania prosecutor who failed to secure felony convictions against two teens in the beating death of a Mexican immigrant says he thought his case was "compromised" from the start.

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Early on, Goodman says his office reached out to the U.S. Attorney's Office with his concerns. Their investigation led to a federal indictment alleging that the teens, Brandon Piekarsky and Derrick Donchak, participated in a scheme to obstruct the investigation with the help of [Shenandoah Police Lt. William ] Moyer, Shenandoah Police Chief Matthew Nestor and Police Officer Jason Hayes, who was dating Piekarsky's mother.

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