Omaha Police Officers

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Pitmon Foxall was down in an article as Larry King's cousin:

Obituary: pioneering officer Pitmon Foxall III
(OMAHA, Neb.) -- Pitmon Foxall II broke many barriers during his time as an Omaha police officer.
After starting his career in 1953, Foxall went on to become the department's first black patrol sergeant and the first black lieutenant in charge of the homicide unit. He also was the city's first black public-safety director.

He died Thursday at age 70.

He was born May 8, 1930, in Milwaukee. When he started with the Omaha Police Department 23 years later, black officers worked only with each other and their assignments were restricted to the black community.

In addition, their pay and rank were lower, even though they did the same work as white police officers.

"There might have been obstacles that would have stopped some people," said son Pitmon Foxall III. "He was able to transcend those difficulties."

The Foxall family has a history of serving in law enforcement.

Pitmon Foxall III is a captain with the Omaha Police Department and his brother, Mark, is community-services program coordinator with the Douglas County Department of Corrections. Mark has also worked for the Omaha Police Department and the FBI in Los Angeles.

Pitmon Foxall II was a military policeman during the Korean War and while stationed in Germany.

A late uncle, Pitmon Foxall, spent 35 years as an Omaha officer and detective. He helped inspire Pitmon Foxall II to become a police officer, family members said, and the two worked together in the Police Department.

Throughout his 39-year law-enforcement career, Pitmon Foxall II was able to deal with challenges and remained optimistic.

"I think he used the adversity to his advantage." said Pitmon Foxall III.

Pitmon Foxall II retired in 1992 as public-safety director.

He oversaw the police, fire and 911 communications divisions. The Public Safety Department was dissolved the same year.

Before that, he spent almost 20 years working in department and community relations.

During an interview in 1992, he said community policing can help improve the city's racial climate.

Family members said he worked to improve relations within the department and in the community as a whole.

"He knew so many people and was so well-liked," Mark Foxall said. "In the 1960s and 1970s, it was fashionable to say negative things about the police and I don't know of anyone who was negative to him."

Pitmon Foxall II also worked with young people in the city through camps.

In an interview in 1968, he said the camps were a learning process for both kids and officers.

He also was involved with a basketball league for youngsters and a ride-along program through which citizens could witness police work firsthand.

During retirement, he enjoyed hunting and fishing. He was an outdoorsman, his sons said.

He is also survived by wife Martha J. Foxall; brother Collins Foxall, three grandchildren and nieces and nephews.

A service is scheduled for 10 a.m. Tuesday at Clair Memorial United Methodist Church, 5544 Ames Ave. A wake will be held from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. Monday at Thomas Mortuary, 3920 N. 24th St.

(iSyndicate; Omaha World-Herald; Nov. 18, 2000). Terms and Conditions: Copyright(c) 2000 LEXIS-NEXIS, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights Reserved.

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article that references Foxall being King's cousin:


THE FRANKLIN COVER-UP -- CHILD ABUSE, SATANISM, AND MURDER IN NEBRASKA


CHAPTER 4: COVER-UP PHASE 1: THE POLICE

In July 1988, Omaha police officers in the Robbery and Sex Unit received an unexpected visit from their boss, Chief of Police Robert Wadman. According to the officers' own account, related by Nebraska Foster Care Review Board official Dennis Carlson in testimony to the Legislature's Executive Board, they took precautions to keep Wadman out of their work on Larry King.

Excerpts of Carlson's remarks, from the Executive Board minutes of December 19, 1988, show that the officers feared a police cover-up of King's activities, from within the department:

[Officer Carmean] told me some things which I found to be somewhat startling. I asked if he was interested in information regarding Larry King and he said, yes we are, we're conducting what he called a supersensitive investigation of Larry King and he said this investigation was so supersensitive that they were not even using the steno pool in the Omaha Police Department.

They were handwriting their police reports, and he also told me that Chief Wadman had come to their unit and directly asked if they were investigating Larry King. ... Investigator Carmean told me, we lied to the Chief and we said, no, we are not investigating Larry King. OK, so that conversation took place on July 20th of 1988.

After we were presented with that information we had some concerns as to what was going on in the Omaha Police Department. We were concerned about if we gave this information to the Omaha Police Department what would they do with it?

***

The investigation of Loretta Smith's charges did not go far, in Wadman's department. Neither did the career of Officer Carmean.

On the afternoon of June 28, 1988, immediately after Carmean's interview with Loretta, his supervisor, Sgt. Ken Bovasso, spoke by telephone with Dr. Kay Shilling, Loretta's psychiatrist at the hospital. According to Bovasso's write-up, Shilling

told this Reporting Officer that she has spoken with LORETTA SMITH since LORETTA'S discussion with Officer CARMEAN. ... LORETTA told DR. SHILLING that she only gave Officer CARMEAN general information, ... [but) that she had no problem talking with Officer CARMEAN. Reporting Officer told DR. SHILLING that sometime during the week of 04 July 1988 this Reporting Officer will assign Officer CARMEAN to revisit Loretta at the hospital in order to build up some rapport and possibly obtain more specific information.

Carrnean never came back to interview Loretta Smith again. As Loretta volunteered more horrific, detailed allegations during the summer, Richard Young Hospital and FCRB personnel were concerned about the lack of police interest. Dennis Carlson recalled, in his Executive Board testimony:

Loretta was making more allegations against Larry King and others and these were allegations of the most serious nature. She was reporting that she had witnessed homicides. Investigator Carmean was contacted by myself on one, possibly two or three, occasions. ... I'd tell him that this girl's making more allegations, that she's opening up, she's telling additional information, she's beginning to relate better to her case workers and social workers, would you please go out and re-interview this girl? ...

After Investigator Carmean received the information from the Foster Care Review Board, the information that I hand delivered to him, he never went back to interview Loretta Smith. In one of my telephone conversations with Investigator Carmean, I remember telling him that this girl was now reporting homicides, and he said, yes, I need to get out there and re-interview this girl. ...

[O)ne of my concerns Senator is the conduct of the Omaha Police Department. I don't know what's going on up there, I'm not familiar with the players in the Omaha Police Department, but I know that I hand delivered material to an investigator. ... Investigator Carmean and Investigator Hoch left my office and they seemed sincere, they seemed that they were going to investigate these allegations and later it was as if air had been let out of a balloon, that all of a sudden they had no interest in even re-interviewing a girl who was saying that she had witnessed homicides and I just don't understand it. ...

FCRB Executive Director Carol Stitt testified:

I would like to add something that was highly unusual in this case. Loretta's psychiatrist contacted the police in Omaha and asked them to come, Loretta's personal care worker, Ken Stoner, contacted the police, [Richard Young employee] Kirstin Hallberg contacted the police, as well as Adrienne Hart, who is Kirstin's supervisor. All those people had made contact and nothing was being done. ...

Not long after after his interview with Loretta, Officer Carmean was transferred out of investigations altogether, into a section called Research and Planning. At the same Executive Board meeting, Senator Ernie Chambers recounted a phone conversation with Carmean:

When I called [the sexual assault unit], they said he's no longer here and that's when they told me that he was with Research and Planning. ... I finally ... got him and I mentioned his enthusiasm at the outset, and that from what I had developed in terms of creditable information being given to me, I felt he'd been transferred because he was getting too close to something and his superiors did not want him to continue. So there was a silence, then he kind of chuckled, he said, well, no, uh, I wanted this transfer. I've known of Carmean for years and he's not the type of officer who'd want to be put into an office where he's the only one there, in fact that might have been the creation of the department. Didn't even have a secretary.

Carmean himself testified before the legislative Franklin committee in June 1989, that, although he had been pulled off the case, he thought Loretta's charges were "credible" and deserved follow-up.

Less than two weeks later, on July 5, 1989, Chief Wadman tried to get Carmean declared crazy. In a lengthy "Inter-Office Communication" to Omaha Public Safety Director Pitmon Foxall (a cousin of Larry King!), Wadman announced that Carmean needed a mental health evaluation:

[chiggerbit]

Wow!!!

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Interview with King and Wadham:

In August 1989, Chief Wadman dismissed out of hand the criminal, satanic horrors that Loretta Smith and other children had described to authorities. On Omaha radio station KKAR, the city's chief law enforcement officer chalked up concern about these allegations to the fact that some Omahans have a "prurient interest of child abuse, of child sexual abuse, those kinds of things. ... I think that the media attention to that element of things is inappropriate."

Regarding Loretta Smith, Wadman said, "The primary witness was ... making statements that were very bizarre and were not founded in reality."

Wadman concluded his KKAR interview by stating that the OPD and other agencies had conducted a thorough investigation, but the allegations led to "a dead end."

***

Robert Wadman has sworn under oath that he barely knew Larry King, that he "had very few social contacts with Larry King." That's not what King says. In April 22, 1989 interviews with King and Wadman, Frank Brown of TV 7, Omaha, questioned them about an incident in which Wadman intervened at King's request, to order the release of a suitcase seized in a drug raid.

BROWN: King acknowledges he is a friend of Chief Wadman's. We asked King did he call the chief to get a suitcase released that had been seized in a drug investigation?

BROWN: You had that friendship where, you could. ...

KING: Yes.

BROWN: You could call the Chief of Police and get a piece of evidence released?

KING: I felt that I could call anyone in this city.

BROWN: What was that suitcase? I've always wondered what was in that suitcase and what was it about?

KING: Um, it's really nothing. It was a relative of mine and he was staying at a hotel, and I guess they had a drug bust or something. ...

BROWN: We asked Chief Robert Wadman if Larry King had ever telephoned him to get a suitcase released from police custody.

WADMAN: Yes ... I can't recall if it was this past year or the year before that he did call regarding a situation and that information was forwarded to the unit responsible for the request. ...

BROWN: That did not compromise any investigation?

WADMAN: Absolutely not. And I'm very disappointed that this situation continues to be protractive but it was a situation that was routinely handled. I receive literally hundreds of those requests and this situation was handled exactly the same way as the rest.

Switching back to Larry King, Brown raised another question about a smooth ride he seemed to have gotten from the OPD:

BROWN: The Omaha Police had an investigation last summer into an alleged pornographic. ...

KING: Uh, huh.

BROWN: And you were cleared?

KlNG: I didn't even know that they had one last summer- ... [P]eople make up these things. People make up anything, you can hear anything about anyone. If you choose to believe it you will, if you choose not to, you don't. I choose not to listen to garbage and gossip.

King had indeed been cleared, with the blessing of Robert Wadman. The legislative Franklin committee's record of Wad- man's own testimony to this effect dates from October 13, 1989. Besides Wadman, the speakers in this transcript are committee counsel John Stevens Berry and Robert Creager, and Wadman's attorney, Kent Whinnery.

BERRY: Are you aware whether or not there have been any ongoing investigations in Omaha regarding whether or not Mr. King has been involved with narcotics? ...

WHINNERY: May I just ask a point of clarification? Are you talking about ongoing but not concluded or --

BERRY: Well, I suppose I could ask a series of questions. Have there been in the past? Have there been any continuing?

Have there been any ongoing at all? Do you know anything about Mr. King or has Mr. King been a subject of a narcotics investigation? That's an area I want the Chief to address, and I'm happy to have him address it.

WADMAN: I'm unaware of any of those.

CREAGER: The answer is no?

WADMAN: The answer is no, yeah.

BERRY: Let me ask the very same broad question about Mr. King and the relationship to child pornography or pornography of any kind.

WADMAN: We had a situation where we were advised that there was a possibility of child pornography involving -- no, it came in as child pornography case. What happened is that there was a photographer who was taking photographs of young women, and in the course of that set of circumstances, a mother with her daughter called and filed a complaint with the police department, and the complaint involved a situation where her daughter was approached by the photographer to be photographed, and the photographer extended an invitation to this young woman's mother to come with her.

They went to the studio; photographs were taken; and in the course of that the mother became concerned over the photographs and some of the photographs that she observed at the photo studio and then filed a complaint of concern that this was a possible pornographic situation.

We investigated it, found the photographer to be, you know, legitimately involved in the photography business, legitimately involved in conducting the photographs, and getting signed releases and having a photography studio and so on.

The only involvement is that this individual had subleased his studio or apartment from Larry King, and that was the extent of our investigation into pornography-related activities involving Mr. King in any direct way.

This was the photographer, Rusty Nelson, described to Margo Georgiu by people who knew him as "a pervert," and proven by her to have lied about his professional experience and resume. The pictures in his studio were "frontal nudity" shots of adolescent girls. Nelson described King not as his landlord, but as his "boss." The investigating officers had com- piled and filed accounts from several people about the lavish spending by King on Nelson's and other apartments, about his comings and goings in Mercedes Benz cars, and other evidence of an unexplained leap in King's income, and about the common knowledge that King was involved with drug dealers and was a homosexual who "liked young boys." Wadman, who had approached his officers with such curiosity about any investigations of Larry King that they might pursue, swore under oath, that he knew nothing about any of that.

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So, I gather here, that Paul told the Omaha school counselors about the abuse who in turn told the Omaha PD...who did not do ANYTHING, because it is not their job according to this document.

962 F.2d 12

NOTICE: Eighth Circuit Rule 28A(k) governs citation of unpublished opinions and provides that they are not precedent and generally should not be cited unless relevant to establishing the doctrines of res judicata, collateral estoppel, the law of the case, or if the opinion has persuasive value on a material issue and no published opinion would serve as well.
Paul A. BONACCI, Appellant,
v.
Lawrence KING; Peter Citron; Alan Baer; Harold Anderson;
Robert Wadman; Michael Hoch; Kenneth Bovasso; Nebraska
Psychological Associates, formerly known as Nebraska
Psychiatric Institute, a non- profit corporation; City of
Omaha, a municipal corporation; Defendants, [UNPUBLISHED]
OMAHA PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICT; Appellee,
J. L. BRANDEIS, INC. and Sons, Inc., a corporation; Grand
Jury, Douglas County, Defendants.

No. 91-3849.

United States Court of Appeals,
Eighth Circuit.

Submitted: May 11, 1992.
Filed: May 14, 1992.

Before JOHN R. GIBSON, FAGG, and HANSEN, Circuit Judges.

PER CURIAM.

1
Paul A. Bonacci appeals from the district court's1 disposition of his 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and state law claims against the Omaha Public School District (OPSD) by partial dismissal and partial grant of summary judgment to OPSD. We affirm.

2
Bonacci claimed in general that numerous defendants had either sexually abused him as a child or had negligently or intentionally failed to respond when he sought their aid. In respect to OPSD, Bonacci contended that he had reported alleged abuse to his high school counselors and that OPSD "carelessly, negligently, recklessly and intentionally failed to take proper corrective actions to protect Plaintiff from suffering further abuse, violence, and threats to his safety." Bonacci sought money damages.

3
We conclude that the district court properly dismissed Bonacci's federal civil rights claims because OPSD had no constitutional duty to protect him from the alleged abuse. See DeShaney v. Winnebago County Dep't of Social Servs., 489 U.S. 189 (1989). In DeShaney, the Supreme Court held that a "State's failure to protect an individual against private violence simply does not constitute a violation of the Due Process Clause." Id. at 197. We reject Bonacci's contention that his case falls within an exception to the general rule pronounced in DeShaney; the only exception recognized in that case, arising when a state has custody over the injured individual, is not applicable in this instance.

4
We also conclude that the district court properly granted summary judgment to OPSD on the state law tort claims. Affidavits supporting OPSD's summary judgment motion showed that Bonacci's high school counselors fulfilled their statutory duty to report suspected child abuse to law enforcement officers, and Bonacci did not respond to the summary judgment motion. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(e) (once movant for summary judgment has properly supported his motion, nonmovant "may not rest upon the mere allegations or denials of [his] pleading, but ... must set forth specific facts showing that there is a genuine issue for trial"). We reject as meritless Bonacci's remaining arguments. We deny OPSD's request for costs and attorneys' fees.

5
Accordingly, we affirm.

1
The Honorable Warren K. Urbom, Senior United States District Judge for the District of Nebraska

CC∅ | Transformed by Public.Resource.Org

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Kenneth Bovasso is the supervisory cop who pulled officer Carmean off of the case. He retired and is now receiving a lot of money from the County for professional services.


2008 Supplier Details
Douglas County Paid Suppliers Detail Report
From Check Date January 01, 2008 to
December 31, 2008


Supplier Name: KENNETH BOVASSO & ASSOCIATES

Check Date Invoice Number Account Description Org Description Check Number Payment Amount
15-JAN-2008 11-JAN-2008 PROFESSIONAL FEES - OTHER EXECUTIVE 180334 $1,584.61
29-JAN-2008 26-JAN-2008 PROFESSIONAL FEES - OTHER EXECUTIVE 181545 $1,584.61
12-FEB-2008 07-FEB-2008 PROFESSIONAL FEES - OTHER EXECUTIVE 182777 $1,584.61
04-MAR-2008 21-FEB-2008 PROFESSIONAL FEES - OTHER EXECUTIVE 184306 $1,584.61
11-MAR-2008 05-MAR-2008 PROFESSIONAL FEES - OTHER EXECUTIVE 185087 $1,584.61
25-MAR-2008 19-MAR-2008 PROFESSIONAL FEES - OTHER EXECUTIVE 186360 $1,584.61
08-APR-2008 02-APR-2008 PROFESSIONAL FEES - OTHER EXECUTIVE 187647 $1,632.25
22-APR-2008 16-APR-2008 PROFESSIONAL FEES - OTHER EXECUTIVE 189068 $1,632.15
06-MAY-2008 30-APR-2008 PROFESSIONAL FEES - OTHER EXECUTIVE 190349 $1,632.15
20-MAY-2008 14-MAY-2008 PROFESSIONAL FEES - OTHER EXECUTIVE 191645 $1,632.15
03-JUN-2008 28-MAY-2008 PROFESSIONAL FEES - OTHER EXECUTIVE 192601 $1,632.15
17-JUN-2008 11-JUN-2008 PROFESSIONAL FEES - OTHER EXECUTIVE 195971 $1,632.15
01-JUL-2008 25-JUN-2008 PROFESSIONAL FEES - OTHER EXECUTIVE 197018 $1,632.15
15-JUL-2008 09-JUL-2008 PROFESSIONAL FEES - OTHER EXECUTIVE 197907 $1,632.15
29-JUL-2008 23-JUL-2008 PROFESSIONAL FEES - OTHER EXECUTIVE 199040 $1,632.15
12-AUG-2008 06-AUG-2008 PROFESSIONAL FEES - OTHER EXECUTIVE 200384 $1,632.15
26-AUG-2008 20-AUG-2008 PROFESSIONAL FEES - OTHER EXECUTIVE 201726 $1,632.15
09-SEP-2008 03-SEP-2008 PROFESSIONAL FEES - OTHER EXECUTIVE 202871 $1,632.15
23-SEP-2008 17-SEP-2008 PROFESSIONAL FEES - OTHER EXECUTIVE 204131 $1,632.15
07-OCT-2008 01-OCT-2008 PROFESSIONAL FEES - OTHER EXECUTIVE 205499 $1,632.15
21-OCT-2008 15-OCT-2008 PROFESSIONAL FEES - OTHER EXECUTIVE 206501 $1,632.15
04-NOV-2008 29-OCT-2008 PROFESSIONAL FEES - OTHER EXECUTIVE 207429 $1,632.15
26-NOV-2008 12-NOV-2008 PROFESSIONAL FEES - OTHER EXECUTIVE 209499 $1,632.15
02-DEC-2008 26-NOV-2008 PROFESSIONAL FEES - OTHER EXECUTIVE 209684 $1,632.15
16-DEC-2008 07-DEC-2008 PROFESSIONAL FEES - OTHER EXECUTIVE 213610 $1,632.15
30-DEC-2008 16-DEC-2008 PROFESSIONAL FEES - OTHER EXECUTIVE 214573 $1,632.15
TOTAL $42,150.76

Disclaimer | Webmaster © 2009, Official site of Douglas County, NE

[Percival]

Any idea where Carmean is these days? He really believed those kids and had his career ended because of it.

[sw]

HeyP:
I think I put that update in the where are they now thread. Both about Webbs and Officer Carmean.

sw

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wouldn't it be hard to work for a supervisor who screwed you over so badly? Both officers retired in 1998.


REQUEST FOR APPROVAL OF SERVICE RETIREMENT AND PENSION AMOUNT
BOVASSO, Kenneth L.; Police Sergeant, Police Department; Age 54;
Served 25 years 1 month. Retirement Date 03/24/1998 Monthly pension $3,014.66 (55%).


REQUEST FOR APPROVAL OF DEFERRED/VESTED PENSION
CARMEAN, Irl R. (Chris); Police Sergeant, Police Department; Age 48; Served 20 years;
Last Day of Employment: 04/03/1998
Date of 50th Birthday: 11/18/1999 Monthly Pension $2,174.49 (45%)

[Marionumber1]

Affidavits supporting OPSD's summary judgment motion showed that Bonacci's high school counselors fulfilled their statutory duty to report suspected child abuse to law enforcement officers

This detail on the court record is actually quite a damning revelation, since it proves that Bonacci reported his abuse to his counselors and they told the Omaha police, just as Bonacci claimed. In other words, he was talking about Franklin before his incarceration, and wasn't just a convicted child molester trying to shift blame away from himself, as all the "skeptics" insist.