Bad cop

My name is Robert L. Keller and I have lived at 6134 Route 9n in Corinth NY since 1998.

On August 31 of this year my wife was driving with a friend who had recently filed a complaint on Deputy Salisbury. The complaint was about how he was treated by the Deputy. The complaint was taken seriously, and my friend thought it had been handled well.

Deputy Salisbury decided to pull her car over after waving her through on to turn because he saw our friend in the car. We started a petition to have him investigated at this time and made an appointment with one of the states best polygraph technicians, who is also police polygraph certified. His other clients include but are not limited to the N.Y. State Police and The drug enforcement administration.

After we went to the first Town Board meeting the deputy's wife stalked and harassed my wife and on that night the first sign appeared. While my wife was in the parking lot of the town hall she was assaulted by Deputy Salisbury. In case you doubt her word, my wife passed a polygraph that showed she was telling the truth, yet undersheriff Woodcock who handled this investigation refused to do anything about this.  This was because we would not turn over the names of the other people on the petition until he took what had already been done seriously.

We needed to be sure that this kind of bully tactics against people who complain are not tolerated. As of this date nothing has been done about any of this. Until then we refuse to turn over any other names because we know they would only be bullied into submission.

Later undersheriff Woodcock turned in his investigation determining that no wrong doing had been done. The signs or stalking had not been addressed nor was the assault. I believe that had a even remotely decent investigation been done he might have noticed the shipping label with an address on the back of the sign, That was even pointed out to him at the time he picked it up.

That my wife passed a polygraph exam about the assault was not even brought up. Also undersheriff Woodcock was aware that he did not have the overwhelming majority of the signatures asking for an investigation at the time he gave the village board the results. The second sign appeared the night after the village board meeting that undersheriff Woodcock cleared Deputy Salisbury. This appeared the day before the law making the display of a noose a felony.

As of yet the sheriff does not seem interested in taking a complaint about this. Neither did the Village board when I gave them pictures of all the signs that had been left. I also asked that the minutes from the Oct 3rd meeting be changed to show the fact that 1. I had spoke and 2. That myself and my friend Mike Vasquez were both silenced by the gavel. 

Then came election day which was also the day before my wifes trial for running the stop sign. My wife was dropping off the sealed copy of her polygraph for the Judge, before she went to vote. She was harassed by Deputy Salisbury's partner before she could get into the voting area. Here is a copy of the letter I sent to the superviser that night. I also read the letter to the Town board as well as provided a tape of the incident to them. As of today the sheriff has again not expressed an interest in investigating this. After this meeting my friend was harassed and sworn at by Deputy Salisbury in the Town Hall. This is nothing new for us for we have been accused of being criminals and having multiple arrests. Despite the fact that only one of us has a recent criminal charge and that's Deputy Salisbury. 

Rumors began to be circulated amongst the folks we were looking for signatures from…We were libertarians out to overthrow the government because we met and became friends with Chris Schuh (a local constitutionalist who is also having issues with the Town Board -- his issues -  You may disagree with his methods but he does have some good points). When that didn't discourage people from signing our petition we were accused of being sex offenders that have not registered.

All of these issues have been brought to the town boards attention yet they still remain uninvestigated. What we would like to see from the Town Board is a request to the sheriff be issued to investigate these concerns. We would also request that this investigation include a polygraph exam for Deputy Salisbury. I and my wife remain available to join him in a polygraph administered by the State police at any time or place. On December 5th 2007 my wife's trial continues for her running the stop sign on Aug 31st when the Judge returns he will rule whether or not the exam is admissible in court. It may or may not be admitted, I'll leave that to the discretion of the Judge. I'll also add that I and my wife find the Corinth Judges to be fair.

Whether or not its admitted I hope the Judge takes into consideration the actions of Deputy Salisbury when the sealed results were about to be opened by the Judge. Salisbury went to the Assistant District Attorney attending her trial and asked him to object to it being admitted into evidence BEFORE it had been opened despite the ADA obviously waiting for the results to be read before he objected. I hope the Judge takes into consideration that only a guilty police officer publically accused of misconduct objects to a polygraph being admitted BEFORE its opened.

If you ask about this and are told that we are full of crap, ask then what harm would a good investigation be. And then really teach us a lesson and take us up on a mutual polygraph test. No public officer should be afraid of the truth. And the right to complain without fear of retribution should be a right taken seriously by the people elected to ensure the Town and Village citizens may live in peace. If you have any questions or comments please feel free to contact me at corinthnow@gmail.com. If you would like your name added to our petition and you didn't get a chance due to police harassment during the time we were publically obtaining them also please email me. You have our word that your name will not be turned over to the Sheriff's until we see the retribution that we have suffered taken seriously first or until an outside agency intervenes.

Also I'd like to add that I find Sheriff Bowen to be a good man, if there was a Hall of Fame for Sheriffs he certainly belongs in it. But when investigations like Undersheriffs Woodcocks get accepted despite obvious and numerous flaws, its obvious that just like Joe Torre he's just too old to get the job done right anymore.

Thank you;

Robert L. Keller Jr.

6134 Rt 9n

Corinth NY.

12822