Monday, August 10, 2009 1:07:57 AM
Demoted Belle Glade deputy brags on Facebook about beating: 'I know the areas that hide the marks well'
By MICHAEL LaFORGIA
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Sgt. Brent Raban wore a badge and carried a gun issued by the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office, but he didn't think of himself as a crime fighter.
Instead, the seven-year sheriff's office veteran considered himself a punisher on the mean streets of Belle Glade, and he bragged in Internet postings about his prowess in battering the people he arrested, according to an internal investigation released Monday.
Update: Glades deputy who bragged about beatings given 'last chance' deal but subordinates were fired
Sgt. Brent Raban wearing his camouflage skullcap emblazoned with the word 'PUNISHMENT.'
Together with two subordinates, Deputies Gregory Lynch and Michael Woodside, Raban would work the streets of the county's western communities, sometimes sporting a camouflage skullcap emblazoned with the word "PUNISHMENT," the investigation determined.
In a region long suspicious of law enforcement, the trio would confront people on street corners and was known to barge into bars, grabbing patrons' drinks and sniffing them for liquor - which was prohibited in some drinking holes, investigators said.
The behavior, which the deputies alluded to in Internet postings on the Facebook social networking site, which they often updated while on duty, earned a demotion for Raban and cost Lynch and Woodside their jobs.
It also led to a criminal investigation, though Chief Assistant State Attorney Paul Zacks ultimately decided not to prosecute, citing a lack of evidence.
"During his time in Belle Glade for calendar year of 2008, Sergeant Brent Raban, through his actions and writings, has shown a general disregard for the PBSO mission as well as for his responsibilities as Road Patrol Supervisor," internal investigators noted, before finding him in violation of 11 department rules and regulations.
Lynch and Woodside each were found to have broken four department rules and recommended for firing.
Screenshots of Raban's Facebook page figured in the investigators' findings.
In a prominent place on Raban's page, the former sergeant typed, "It's not crime fighting ... It's dealing out PUNISHMENT!"
Questioned by internal affairs investigators, Raban said the statement was inspired by his fondness for Batman and The Punisher comic books and had nothing to do with his work as a deputy sheriff.
In other places on his Facebook page, Raban crowed about dealing harshly with the people he arrested, writing in one instance that he roughed up one suspect. "But like a good batterer," he added, "I know the areas that hide the marks well."
"It was a comment I made in extremely bad taste," Raban told investigators later. "It was meant as a joke."
In another instance, he lamented that he was losing his cool because he had gone 14 days without hitting someone.
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/localnews/content/local_news/epaper/2009/07/28/0728punishment.html?imw=Y
By MICHAEL LaFORGIA
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Sgt. Brent Raban wore a badge and carried a gun issued by the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office, but he didn't think of himself as a crime fighter.
Instead, the seven-year sheriff's office veteran considered himself a punisher on the mean streets of Belle Glade, and he bragged in Internet postings about his prowess in battering the people he arrested, according to an internal investigation released Monday.
Update: Glades deputy who bragged about beatings given 'last chance' deal but subordinates were fired
Sgt. Brent Raban wearing his camouflage skullcap emblazoned with the word 'PUNISHMENT.'
Together with two subordinates, Deputies Gregory Lynch and Michael Woodside, Raban would work the streets of the county's western communities, sometimes sporting a camouflage skullcap emblazoned with the word "PUNISHMENT," the investigation determined.
In a region long suspicious of law enforcement, the trio would confront people on street corners and was known to barge into bars, grabbing patrons' drinks and sniffing them for liquor - which was prohibited in some drinking holes, investigators said.
The behavior, which the deputies alluded to in Internet postings on the Facebook social networking site, which they often updated while on duty, earned a demotion for Raban and cost Lynch and Woodside their jobs.
It also led to a criminal investigation, though Chief Assistant State Attorney Paul Zacks ultimately decided not to prosecute, citing a lack of evidence.
"During his time in Belle Glade for calendar year of 2008, Sergeant Brent Raban, through his actions and writings, has shown a general disregard for the PBSO mission as well as for his responsibilities as Road Patrol Supervisor," internal investigators noted, before finding him in violation of 11 department rules and regulations.
Lynch and Woodside each were found to have broken four department rules and recommended for firing.
Screenshots of Raban's Facebook page figured in the investigators' findings.
In a prominent place on Raban's page, the former sergeant typed, "It's not crime fighting ... It's dealing out PUNISHMENT!"
Questioned by internal affairs investigators, Raban said the statement was inspired by his fondness for Batman and The Punisher comic books and had nothing to do with his work as a deputy sheriff.
In other places on his Facebook page, Raban crowed about dealing harshly with the people he arrested, writing in one instance that he roughed up one suspect. "But like a good batterer," he added, "I know the areas that hide the marks well."
"It was a comment I made in extremely bad taste," Raban told investigators later. "It was meant as a joke."
In another instance, he lamented that he was losing his cool because he had gone 14 days without hitting someone.
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/localnews/content/local_news/epaper/2009/07/28/0728punishment.html?imw=Y
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