09-20-2016, 01:57 AM
Parents, officer sent to jail in Clarke case Victim says she was stalked after son’s death
Before sending all three of them to prison Monday, a Lucas County judge had scathing words for a South Toledo couple who tried to avenge their son’s death and the longtime Toledo police officer who helped them.
Others have lost sons tragically, Common Pleas Judge Gene Zmuda told them, but “it doesn’t lead to this kind of behavior, this criminal conduct that you three perpetrated in our community.”
Judge Zmuda sentenced 31-year police veteran Frank Ramirez to four years in prison for obstructing justice and tampering with evidence. He sentenced John Clarke, 47, of the 400 block of Danberry Street, to four years in prison for felonious assault and a firearm specification and ordered his wife, Maytee Vazquez-Clarke, 45, to spend two years in prison for retaliation.
“I think people would be astonished at what [this case] exposed,” the judge said. “It’s the underbelly of our community — that interface between law enforcement and criminal conduct and how sometimes that thin blue line is crossed.”
Ramirez, 60, of the 5900 block of Tetherwood Drive, was convicted at trial of the two felonies and a misdemeanor charge of discharge of a firearm over a roadway, while the Clarkes entered into plea agreements that required them to testify at Ramirez’s jury trial earlier this month.
The judge initially granted Vazquez-Clarke’s request to remain free until Wednesday so that she could make arrangements for the couple’s 13-year-old son, but her attorney, Jerome Phillips, said the judge rescinded that privilege and ordered her into protective custody after she threatened suicide to court deputies.
The trio’s crimes stem from the 2011 murder of Johnny Clarke, 21, and his girlfriend, Lisa Straub, 20, in Springfield Township. While one man was convicted and sentenced to life in prison without parole for the murders, investigators believe others were involved.
The Clarkes testified that Tiffany Williams, who was the last person to speak with their son before he was killed, knew more about the slaying than she was telling. They wanted her to come forward with that information, although prosecutors alleged the Clarkes wanted her dead.
On Dec. 26, 2014, with information from Ramirez, they went to a Colburn Street location where Clarke testified he fired a shot in the air to scare Ms. Williams. Prosecutors maintained he fired at least two shots in her direction in what was initially portrayed as attempted murder.
The judge called Clarke “a calculated liar” and said Vazquez-Clarke was “a vicious predator trying to seek out street justice” for the death of their son.
“His loss doesn’t give anyone the right to take the law into their own hands as the three of you did for various reasons,” Judge Zmuda said. “All three of you are each, I think, hellbent on obtaining street justice in your own way.”
Ms. Williams asked the court to send the Clarkes to prison, saying they had harassed and threatened her since Jan. 31, 2011 — the day after the younger Clarke and Ms. Straub were asphyxiated with plastic bags in an apparent home invasion.
“They harassed me in every way possible: phone calls, social media, coming by my house, and threatening the lives of my children,” Ms. Williams said. “Maytee and John would know every move I made. Your honor, I was stalked.”
She didn’t mention Ramirez and testified during his trial that she didn’t know him.
The Clarkes both apologized for their actions. Clarke said he hoped Ms. Williams still would testify about what she knows about their son’s murder. His wife said she wished Ms. Williams had called police the night she was talking with their son on the phone and heard him struggling with intruders.
Ramirez said simply that he respected the criminal justice system, the jury, and the verdict. He later said he would not appeal his conviction.
While defense attorney Jon Richardson portrayed Ramirez’s involvement as “misguided zeal,” Judge Zmuda told Ramirez that he had manipulated the Clarkes and preyed upon Vazquez-Clarke’s vulnerability.
“Some might think the hardest thing to accept is that a police officer would stoop to the level of criminals he has spent a lifetime prosecuting, unless of course this isn’t the first time that's occurred,” the judge said.
Brian Deckert, a senior assistant attorney general who served as a special prosecutor in the case, said it was clear the court took “public corruption” seriously.
“This is a situation where [Ramirez] was tasked with upholding the law, enforcing it, and rather than doing that, he went and lied to his fellow officers, destroyed evidence. These are not the acts of a police officer we trust,” Mr. Deckert said.
http://www.toledoblade.com/Courts/2016/0...death.html
Before sending all three of them to prison Monday, a Lucas County judge had scathing words for a South Toledo couple who tried to avenge their son’s death and the longtime Toledo police officer who helped them.
Others have lost sons tragically, Common Pleas Judge Gene Zmuda told them, but “it doesn’t lead to this kind of behavior, this criminal conduct that you three perpetrated in our community.”
Judge Zmuda sentenced 31-year police veteran Frank Ramirez to four years in prison for obstructing justice and tampering with evidence. He sentenced John Clarke, 47, of the 400 block of Danberry Street, to four years in prison for felonious assault and a firearm specification and ordered his wife, Maytee Vazquez-Clarke, 45, to spend two years in prison for retaliation.
“I think people would be astonished at what [this case] exposed,” the judge said. “It’s the underbelly of our community — that interface between law enforcement and criminal conduct and how sometimes that thin blue line is crossed.”
Ramirez, 60, of the 5900 block of Tetherwood Drive, was convicted at trial of the two felonies and a misdemeanor charge of discharge of a firearm over a roadway, while the Clarkes entered into plea agreements that required them to testify at Ramirez’s jury trial earlier this month.
The judge initially granted Vazquez-Clarke’s request to remain free until Wednesday so that she could make arrangements for the couple’s 13-year-old son, but her attorney, Jerome Phillips, said the judge rescinded that privilege and ordered her into protective custody after she threatened suicide to court deputies.
The trio’s crimes stem from the 2011 murder of Johnny Clarke, 21, and his girlfriend, Lisa Straub, 20, in Springfield Township. While one man was convicted and sentenced to life in prison without parole for the murders, investigators believe others were involved.
The Clarkes testified that Tiffany Williams, who was the last person to speak with their son before he was killed, knew more about the slaying than she was telling. They wanted her to come forward with that information, although prosecutors alleged the Clarkes wanted her dead.
On Dec. 26, 2014, with information from Ramirez, they went to a Colburn Street location where Clarke testified he fired a shot in the air to scare Ms. Williams. Prosecutors maintained he fired at least two shots in her direction in what was initially portrayed as attempted murder.
The judge called Clarke “a calculated liar” and said Vazquez-Clarke was “a vicious predator trying to seek out street justice” for the death of their son.
“His loss doesn’t give anyone the right to take the law into their own hands as the three of you did for various reasons,” Judge Zmuda said. “All three of you are each, I think, hellbent on obtaining street justice in your own way.”
Ms. Williams asked the court to send the Clarkes to prison, saying they had harassed and threatened her since Jan. 31, 2011 — the day after the younger Clarke and Ms. Straub were asphyxiated with plastic bags in an apparent home invasion.
“They harassed me in every way possible: phone calls, social media, coming by my house, and threatening the lives of my children,” Ms. Williams said. “Maytee and John would know every move I made. Your honor, I was stalked.”
She didn’t mention Ramirez and testified during his trial that she didn’t know him.
The Clarkes both apologized for their actions. Clarke said he hoped Ms. Williams still would testify about what she knows about their son’s murder. His wife said she wished Ms. Williams had called police the night she was talking with their son on the phone and heard him struggling with intruders.
Ramirez said simply that he respected the criminal justice system, the jury, and the verdict. He later said he would not appeal his conviction.
While defense attorney Jon Richardson portrayed Ramirez’s involvement as “misguided zeal,” Judge Zmuda told Ramirez that he had manipulated the Clarkes and preyed upon Vazquez-Clarke’s vulnerability.
“Some might think the hardest thing to accept is that a police officer would stoop to the level of criminals he has spent a lifetime prosecuting, unless of course this isn’t the first time that's occurred,” the judge said.
Brian Deckert, a senior assistant attorney general who served as a special prosecutor in the case, said it was clear the court took “public corruption” seriously.
“This is a situation where [Ramirez] was tasked with upholding the law, enforcing it, and rather than doing that, he went and lied to his fellow officers, destroyed evidence. These are not the acts of a police officer we trust,” Mr. Deckert said.
http://www.toledoblade.com/Courts/2016/0...death.html