by Derek Gilna

West Palm Beach Sheriff's Deputy Jason Cooke was arrested for burglarizing the home of a terminally-ill Boynton Beach, Florida man who had been transported to a hospital by paramedics for a medical emergency on September 12, 2017.  Cooke used information obtained by misusing the privileges of his office to get the alarm code off the paramedic incident report to bypass the now-vacant house's security, but failed to take into account that one of the man's adult children noted his presence on the still-functioning video feed from  security cameras and informed police. He was arrested in late October of 2017 for burglary and grand theft.

That adult son, Jay Rosoff of North Carolina, was disgusted by what he saw on that video feed, while he and his family dealt with the death of their aged father, Moe Rosoff. "It’s appalling that this officer was taking advantage of elderly people. The fact that there was a hurricane, that Florida was in a state of emergency and he was using his authority for bad reasons.”

“When I first saw the video, I was thinking it was a cop sent to the house to check on medication,” he said. “After looking at it again, he was going through stuff he shouldn’t have gone through.” When the family went through the house later, they found jewelry and other valuables missing, and turned video of Cooke's action over to the Sheriff, who called in Cooke for a statement.

Cooke denied wrongdoing, but further investigation revealed illegal drugs in his car, and  he was placed on administrative leave. According to the sheriff, " In a statement, the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office said it “holds its employees to the highest standards and never forgets about its duty to preserve the public’s trust. Unfortunately sometimes an employee makes a bad decision, which leads to misconduct. This misconduct was reported, investigated and subsequently determined to be criminal in nature, resulting in the charges.”

After his arrest, Cooke posted bond, and the criminal case is still pending in West Palm Beach criminal court.

Source: www.sun-sentinel.com.

Subscribe today

Already a subscriber? Login