Haltom City Police SCANDAL - 12/5/2002 http://www.wfaa.com/localnews/investigates/stories/ wfaa021205_am_haltomjailfolo.7567d383.html 888 Investigation into Haltom City police widens 12/06/2002 By BYRON HARRIS / WFAA-TV Over the past several months News 8 has investigated reports of alleged sexual abuse of inmates in the Haltom City jail. Tonight, our investigation widens to the hiring and procedures in the Police Department as a whole. Byron Harris reports that questions begin with a death and a grieving family. But at its heart is the behavior of the Haltom City Police Department. It was a September night two years ago. Paula Beggs found her 21 year old son Adam dead in his bed, upstairs in his room at her house. "He was lying there on his back with his shirt off and his hands on his chest," Beggs said. "I probably won't ever stop seeing that picture of him in my mind - of him just laying there." Also Online Video: Byron Harris reports Earlier coverage Years before, Adam Beggs had had a drug problem. His autopsy said he died of a heroin overdose, and reported two needle marks in his left arm. Haltom City Police Investigator Dennis Ochs got the case. The family said he was blunt in his assessment: "'I'm not planning on doing anything'," Paula Beggs said Ochs told them. "'I'm just assuming it's another junkie that's overdosed. Isn't that what you're assuming?'" But the family said Adam could not have injected himself in his left arm - because his right arm was seriously deformed from surgery. In essence. it was useless. "He couldn't pick up a pen," Paula Beggs said. "He couldn't pick up a fork." Adam Beggs was visited in his room by two acquaintances the night of his death. Family members said those two should be suspects. In fact, one of those men left them a phone message describing the death. "I called the cops. I got the dope. I shot (Adam) up," the voice on the tape said. The family gave Corporal Ochs a copy of the tape, which identified the caller. Ochs' report discounted the tape as evidence. "(Ochs) hollered at me and told me to quit doing his damn job for him," Adam's brother-in-law Derrick Williams said. The family says Ochs' report on the investigation distorted their testimony, and that the entire department, Ochs included, berated them. The family complained about Ochs - and documents obtained by News 8 show others have, too. Two complaints against Ochs by citizens were filed last year. One said he was demeaning and arrogant. Another said he was intimidating and overbearing. The Haltom City Police would not allow Ochs to speak to News 8. The department closed, then re-opened, its investigation of Adam Beggs' death. But more than two years have passed. "All I ever asked for was to do a real investigation into my brother's death," Adam's sister Nancy Williams said. Haltom City is investigating another officer, Jason Hathcoat. Last spring Hathcoat was stopped for allegedly driving under the influence of a controlled substance, but was not arrested. Records obtained by News 8 under the Open Records Act show Hathcoat was hired by Haltom City after he was terminated by the Mansfield Police Department, where his superiors were concerned about his use of very potent painkillers. Hathcoat resigned instead of being fired in Mansfield. He is still on the Haltom city force, but is currently suspended. Most police departments, including Dallas, routinely investigate an officer's record when he's hired from another department - especially if he's been fired or resigned. That leads to questions of how thoroughly Haltom City checked out another former officer, J.R. Ewing. Ewing quit the force last August, but he was arrested last month on charges of sexually molesting a 16-year-old boy while he was still a policeman. News 8 has learned J.R. Ewing was not his given name. In the late 1990s, he quit using his birth name John Dunn. Records show he was arrested for unlawful possession of a deadly weapon. Haltom city officials again declined to be interviewed. So far, the city said its police problems are isolated to the jail. But questions about police drug use, conduct and the criminal background may indicate otherwise. 88888888888888888[ 7:37am ct 12/6/2002 MLM/mlm ]88888888888888888 Search wfaa.com Contact Us Terms Privacy Advertising Site Map About Us ©2002 Belo Interactive Dallas Web Sites: DallasNews.com | TXCN.com | DentonRC.com | GuideLive.com | Community This site is best viewed with Internet Explorer 5.0 or higher.