JoCo Sheriff seeking seized dollars
From our weekly issue dated March 25, 2009
Gerald B. Batty booking mug shot (photo JCSO)
On March 3, the Josephine County Sheriff’s Office (JCSO) submitted a formal request to the federal Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) for approximately $62,171 seized in a Jan. 16 raid on an O’Brien residence.
That raid lead to the arrest of Gerald B. Batty, 49. He remains lodged in Josephine County Jail on charges of unlawful possession of methamphetamine, providing false information to a police officer, carrying a concealed firearm, and two counts of being a felon in possession of a firearm.
A variety of police agencies participated in the raid, under the umbrella of the Rogue Area Drug Enforcement (RADE) Team. RADE consists of the Grants Pass Dept. of Public Safety, Oregon State Police (OSP), the Josephine County District Attorney’s Office, and the county’s Community Corrections Division.
Most of those agencies once belonged to the Josephine Interagency Narcotics Team (JOINT), which was disbanded in February 2008. But the detective representing OSP on JOINT was reassigned, and JCSO later pulled out due to funding issues.
RADE was assembled in October 2008, without JCSO as a participating agency.
During the raid on Batty’s Lone Mountain Road residence, police seized approximately $82,895 in cash.
Detective Sgt. Ken Selig, who is also the supervisor for JCSO’s Major Crimes Unit, said that the agency had its eye on Batty for a long time.
“Batty has been in the county for over 20 years,” Selig said. “He has basically engaged in a lifelong pursuit of criminal activity, and I think his criminal record bears that out.”
In March 2006, Batty was arrested and charged with second-degree possession of a controlled substance, methamphetamine. The arresting officer in that case was JCSO Deputy Michael Burke.
The long arm of the law caught up to Batty again on July 17, 2008. That evening, JCSO Deputy Jim Geiger found Batty driving a motorcycle without headlights near O’Brien, and attempted to pull him over. A chase ensued, and then ended when Batty crashed the motorcycle on Naue Way.
Batty fled on foot with a backpack on his person. Geiger had a police dog with him, and the animal helped apprehend the suspect.
Selig said that police officers seized $13,000 in cash and a little more than a pound of methamphetamine from Batty during that arrest. Batty was charged with felony and misdemeanor attempting to elude, unauthorized use of a motor vehicle and interfering with a police animal.
“As a result of Deputy Geiger’s traffic stop, state charges were issued,” Selig said. “That was the event that started the Batty investigation.”
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Following that incident, Selig said that he assigned Deputy Josh White to the Batty case. At the time, White was JCSO’s liaison to the DEA, and was preparing the case for federal prosecution.
However, White was later reassigned within the sheriff’s office after having legal problems of his own. In the meantime, Batty had posted bail and failed to appear in court on his charges.
A felony warrant was issued for Batty’s arrest, and was served at his residence on Jan. 16 by an OSP Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) team. Batty is said to have exchanged gunfire with officers, who used chemical munitions and a taser in the arrest.
Selig said that JCSO’s request for 75 percent of the cash seized in that raid is justified.
“We feel our initial stop and continued investigation warranted that we share in the forfeiture money,” he said.
Sheriff Gil Gilbertson insists that even though JCSO pulled out of JOINT, “We’ve been working on drugs all along.”
“We never stopped working on drug issues,” Gilbertson said. “This was one of the many cases we were involved in.”
The sheriff points out that JCSO has maintained its participation in the Josephine County Marijuana Eradication Team (JOMET), which mostly involves marijuana grows on federal forest land located within the county. The federal Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and U.S. Forest Service also participate in JOMET, Gilbertson said.
Selig said that although it “could take months” for DEA to decide on JCSO’s request, he’s confident that it will be honored.
“We think their position is that they agree with that,” he said.
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