Friday, March 26, 1999
Mother, son sue over searches
Pair claim drug cops 'over line'
BY BEN L. KAUFMAN
The Cincinnati Enquirer
A Butler County mother and son sued Union Township authorities this week, saying their home and car were searched illegally by drug-seeking deputies.
Repeated searches so frightened Sandra Lamping that she sold her home and moved from the township, family attorney Robert New man said Thursday.
Ms. Lamping's suit says township Police Officer Bradford Walraven lied to a judge to obtain the warrant to search her home.
Her son, Jason Wilson, 21, sued Officer Charles R. Murphy and three unnamed officers, saying they had no justification for ordering a drug-sniffing dog to jump through the driver's window and search his car during a traffic stop.
Officers were “super-aggressive,” Mr. Newman said, “and they went over the line here more than once.”
Police Sgt. Jeff Niehaus said he had not had time to review Ms. Lamping's complaint, but he had pulled re cords on Mr. Wilson's complaint. He said Officer Murphy was not at the traffic stop, but the officer who pulled over Mr. Wilson said he smelled burned marijuana when he stood by the driver's window. That was sufficient reason to search the car with the dog and other officers, Sgt. Niehaus said.
Mr. Newman attributed the family's troubles to Ms. Lamping's boyfriend, Nicholas Risilio, who is serving a drug-related sentence in an Ohio prison.
In 1996, a raiding party broke into Ms. Lamping's home and she was charged with drug possession and child endangering after officers found less than a gram of methamphetamines, Mr. Newman said.
After one hung jury, Butler County prosecutors dropped the charges, he said.
The June 14, 1998, search found nothing in Ms. Lamping's home but she was charged with possession of methamphetamines because Officer Walraven said he found drug traces in garbage set out on the curb.
Grand jurors refused to indict Ms. Lamping and charges were dropped again, Mr. Newman said.
Mr. Wilson shared the home with his mother and teen-age sister. He said he was stopped by Officer Murphy on Sept. 2 because he lacked a county stick er on his license plate and his exhaust pipe was hanging low. Mr. Newman said Mr. Wilson refused to let Officer Murphy search his car and the policeman called for a drug-sniffing dog.
Over Mr. Wilson's objections, officers “encouraged the dog to jump through the open window,” Mr. Newman said, and when the dog indicated the presence of drugs, officers found butts of two marijuana cigarettes.
Mr. Wilson was convicted of misdemeanor marijuana possession and not having a county sticker. He was fined $250 and his driver's license was suspended for six months, Mr. Newman said.
Both suits say Union Town ship officers violated the family's Fourth Amendment freedom from unreasonable searches: a search warrant obtained by perjury is invalid, and no probable cause existed to search the car.
Mr. Newman said Officer Walraven's allegedly false testimony June 11, 1998, included these assertions:
• An anonymous complaint of “heavy short-term traffic” at their home “can be indicative of drug trafficking.”
• “Residents ... have been arrested and convicted of various drug abuse and drug trafficking charges.”
• Officer Walraven and a colleague found three small clear bags containing amphetamines in the family trash.
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