By Alicia Cruz
The Black Urban Times
Marcus Ramon Jackson, the former Charlotte-Mecklenburg police officer arrested and fired earlier this year for sexually assaulting women during routine traffic stops in Charlotte, North Carolina pleaded guilty Thursday.
Jackson's plea means he will spend approximately two years and four months in prison and will have to register as a sex offender upon his release.
Assistant District Attorney Samantha Pendergrass said she offered Jackson a plea deal because the low-level felonies and misdemeanors the Charlotte native was charged with could be punishable by probation for a defendant like Jackson, with no prior criminal record.
Pendergrass said she made a plea offer that would put him in prison versus allowing him to walk away unscathed by his actions.
The 26-year-old
former Harding High football player was charged with six felonies and 10 misdemeanors in December 2009 after eight women and two men alleged that Jackson, while in uniform and on duty, sexually assaulted and harassed them.
Here is a Breakdown of Jackson’s Charges: Felonious sexual assault by force/against the will of victim in the second degree, felony extortion, felony kidnapping, and three counts of felonious restraint; eight misdemeanor counts of sexual battery by force/against the will of victim, indecent exposure, and interference with an emergency communication.
Four of the victims are Hispanic, and four are African American. One of Jackson's victims stated that Jackson fondled her while conducting a "search" of her person, then forced her boyfriend, who was with her during the "traffic stop," to perform a sexual act while the salacious officer watched. Another victim was stopped and assaulted by Jackson on two separate occasions.
Another boyfriend of Jackson's victims told
NewsChannel 36 he was with his girlfriend when she was stopped by Jackson the second time on Dec. 29.
On Dec. 29, the man, who asked not to be identified, said he was with his girlfriend when Jackson pulled her over a second time.
"He stuck a flashlight down her chest and he was sticking his hands in her pockets," said the man. "When he saw I called 911 he grabbed my phone and arrested me."
Jackson arrested the couple on resisting arrest charges and both remained jailed for a week. The boyfriend says he lost his job as a result of the bogus arrest. Many of the victims say they feel they were racially profiled and Jackson preyed upon Latinos because he believed they would be less likely to report the assaults.
Charlotte Police Chief Rodney Monroe said the first incident occurred on December 18, 2009 when Jackson - on duty
and in uniform - pulled over the 17-year-old victim, then forced her into his car before driving off to another location where he forced her to commit sex acts.
A relative of the victim contacted police and Internal Affairs Division and Sexual Assault Unit began an immediate investigation against
Jackson.
Within a week of the first complaints, seven other women came forward accusing the sadistic officer of sexual abuse. One victim stated that Jackson offered to waive her traffic ticket in exchange for oral sex. According to the
Charlotte Observer, a warrant indicated that Jackson and the victim
"did engage in the sex act."
Within 24 hours of identifying Officer Jackson as the suspect, he was questioned, charged and terminated.
Court documents revealed that before Jackson joined the
Charlotte-Mecklenburg police department, he had two arrests for attacking and threatening two females he dated. His first arrest, at age 19, came in May 2003 after the mother of his 15-year-old girlfriend accused Jackson of threatening her daughter.
Jackson, then a student at
UNC Charlotte, allegedly told the defendant that she was going to
"get hers and catch one," according to the statement her mother wrote while pursuing a restraining order against Jackson.
The mother's complaint further alleged that Jackson tried to hit her daughter with a car and pushed the Harding High School teen into a locker. Jackson was later accused of violating that restraining order, but was found not guilty in August 2003 and had the arrest expunged from his record.
In 2005, while still attending UNCC,
Jackson was working at Off Broadway Shoes in Charlotte when his 21-year-old girlfriend sought a restraining order against him alleging that the 5-foot-11-inch, 200-pound student slapped her face, hit her in the back of her head and grabbed her by the face several times, "screaming and yelling."
"He pushed me down in the floor, forcing (me) in (a) walk-in closet," the young woman's complaint read.
The presiding judges in both cases granted the restraining orders, but Jackson was not convicted of a crime in either case. The judges forbade Jackson to contact or go near either victim, and one judge prohibited him from owning or carrying a firearm during the two weeks of the restraining order.
Three years later, in September 2008, Jackson joined the
Charlotte police department, and reported to the Eastway Division patrol in east Charlotte. A criminal and civil background check was conducted, and revealed Jackson's 2003 domestic complaint, but officials were
not aware of the 2005 complaint.
After Jackson was hired by the department, his violent behavior re-surfaced, forcing department officials to suspend him in 2009 after he broke into the home of his estranged wife,
WBTV reported.
Charlotte Attorney J. Neal Rodgers, who represented two of Jackson’s victims,
Esmeyda Chavez and Jorge Ouiroz, who sued the city for $225,000,
told WBTV the department was negligent in it’s hiring and retention of Jackson and therefore liable for the suffering his clients endured at the troubled officers hands.
"He had some issues in his life that probably should've have precluded him from becoming an officer," said Rodgers.
CMPD officials have acknowledged that recruiters “missed important information” within Jackson's background, such as the
domestic violence restraining order, which should have raised serious questions about Jackson's character.
Since Jackson's arrest, the department has adopted a more stringent background check and screening process of it's applicants, which will include checking applicants' social networking site pages such as
Facebook to look for potential red flags. CMPD is also considering adding civil request checks to the background process since domestic restraining orders are filed in civil court.
The Black Urban Times learned that Jackson remains incarcerated at the Mecklenburg County Jail as of Thursday night, where he has been in custody since his arrest earlier this year.
Several of Jackson's victims were present during the disgraced officer’s plea Thursday. A stoic
Jackson, clad in an orange jail suit and shackles, sat silently at a table throughout the 30-minute proceeding. After Superior Court Judge Yvonne Mims Evans pronounced sentencing upon him, she asked if he wanted to address the court, Jackson declined. Had
Jackson gone to trial, he would have faced almost 29 years in prison if found guilty of all charges.
Timeline of incidents involving Marcus Jackson:
Nov. 2, 2009: A woman driving her car is stopped by Jackson and fondled during a search.
Nov. 29, 2009: A woman alleges that while Jackson responded to a domestic violence call, he abused his authority as a police officer to "unlawfully fondle" the woman.
Dec. 18, 2009: Jackson stops a 17-year-old female while in uniform and driving his police cruiser. The victim later told officials that Jackson forced her into his car, and drove to another location where he sexually assaulted her.
Dec. 28, 2009: Two women tell police they were stopped for speeding by Jackson around 11 p.m. He orders the women to dismount the vehicle and begins "searching" them. A 21-year-old woman stopped by Jackson the same night tells police he stopped her and ordered her to "go to another location" where he sexually assaulted her.
Dec. 29, 2009: The woman involved in the Nov. 2 incident says she was stopped by Jackson a second time and fondled once again. She told police that during that incident, she was with a male companion when the attack occurred and when the male attempted to stop the officer's assault and telephone 911, Jackson arrested him.
Dec. 30, 2009: Police Chief Rodney Monroe holds a press conference releasing the first details of Jackson's arrest. Monroe adds that Jackson has been fired and lodged in the Mecklenburg County jail on a variety of charges. At that time officials only knew of two of Jackson's victims.
Jan. 8, 2010: Chief Monroe holds a press conference and announcing details of another assault by Jackson involving the two women in one car and say they have suggested the District Attorney's office file sexual battery charges against him. On this same day, a sixth victim comes forward alleging she was also assaulted by officer Jackson on Nov. 29.
Jan. 9, 2010: Jackson faces additional charges as a result of the Dec. 28 case involving the two women in one car.
Jan. 11, 2010: Jackson makes his first appearance in court by video and requests that Mecklenburg District Judge Tom Moore reduce his $423,000 bond. The request is denied and he remains in jail.
Jan. 19, 2010: Jackson is indicted by a Grand Jury on an array of sexual battery charges including felonious kidnapping, extortion and interfering with a 911 call.
Nov. 2010: Susan Weigand, the public defender representing Jackson, files a protective order to stop the release of disciplinary records of her client from being released under a new state public records law signed into effect by Governor Perdue this past summer.
Nov. 22, 2010: A judge orders the city to release documents detailing the suspensions and termination of Jackson after officials refused to do so. The ruling, which clarified that disciplinary information is public record even if a government employee is under criminal investigation, was a huge victory for open government advocates.
Dec 9, 2010: Jackson pleads guilty to all charges and is sentenced to 25 to 39 months in prison by Superior Court Judge Yvonne Mims Evans.
By Alicia Cruz
Source: Defense News
