Man charged after videotaping police

Man charged after videotaping police
By ANDREW WOLFE, Nashua NH Telegraph Staff Published: Thursday, June 29, 2006
awolfe@nashuatelegraph.com


This story was linked to from the popular technology news site Slashdot at 3:30 on Thursday, June 29.

NASHUA – A city man is charged with violating state wiretap laws by recording a detective on his home security camera, while the detective was investigating the man’s sons.

Michael Gannon, 49, of 26 Morgan St., was arrested Tuesday night, after he brought a video to the police station to try to file a complaint against Detective Andrew Karlis, according to Gannon’s wife, Janet Gannon, and police reports filed in Nashua District Court.

Police instead arrested Gannon, charging him with two felony counts of violating state eavesdropping and wiretap law by using an electronic device to record Karlis without the detective’s consent.

The Gannons’ son, Shawn Gannon, 18, is charged with resisting detention and disorderly conduct, and his wife also was cited for disorderly conduct, she said.

Janet Gannon said the family plans to hire a lawyer, and expects to sue the police department.

The Gannons installed a video and audio recording system at their home, a four-unit building at 22-28 Morgan St., to monitor the front door and parking areas, family members told police. They installed the cameras about two years ago, buying the system at Wal-Mart, Janet Gannon told the police, according to reports filed in court. The Gannons have owned the property, which is assessed at $382,700, for the past three years, city records show.

Janet Gannon spoke with The Telegraph by phone Wednesday afternoon, before going to bail out her husband. She said they installed the system in response to crime in the neighborhood, and at their house.

“We’ve had two break-ins. One guy came right up our stairs and started beating on my husband, and we called the cops,” she said. Another time, after someone broke into a camper on their property, Janet Gannon said an officer suggested they were “too rich” for the neighborhood, and should move.

The security cameras record sound and audio directly to a videocassette recorder inside the house, and the Gannons posted warnings about the system, Janet Gannon said.

On Tuesday night, Michael Gannon brought a videocassette to the police department, and asked to speak with someone in “public relations,” his wife said and police reported.

Gannon wanted to lodge a complaint against Karlis, who had come to the family’s house while investigating their sons, Janet Gannon said. She said Karlis showed up late at night, was rude, and refused to leave when they asked him.

“He was just very smart-mouthed. He put his foot in the door, and my husband said, ‘Excuse me, I did not invite you in, please leave,’ and he wouldn’t,” Janet Gannon said. “We did not invite him in, we asked him to leave, and he wouldn’t.”

After the police arrested the Gannons’ sons, Janet Gannon said, they “secured” the house, and told her and her sister-in-law they had to stay out of it from around 8:45 p.m. Tuesday until about 4 a.m. Wednesday.

Police said they were waiting to get a warrant to search the house, Janet Gannon said.

“They were waiting for a warrant to seize the cameras and the tapes in my house . . . because they said having these cameras was against the law. They’re security cameras,” she said, adding, “They said they could do that. They could seize my apartment.”

Karlis went to the Gannons’ home at about 11:30 p.m. Friday night and again at about 7 p.m. Tuesday, police reported. Karlis was investigating the Gannons’ 15-year-old son in connection with a June 21 mugging outside Margaritas restaurant, for which two other teens already have been charged, according to police reports. The boy also is charged with possessing a handgun stolen three years ago in Vermont, and resisting detention, police said.

The boy wasn’t home when Karlis went there, and the Gannons were “uncooperative” regarding his whereabouts, police reported.

The Gannons felt police were harassing the family, Janet Gannon said.

“There were six cops in my yard,” the first time police came, she said. “My husband was very upset. How many cops does it take to talk to a 15-year-old.”

Karlis didn’t know about the security camera until his second visit, when Michael Gannon told him to “smile” for the camera, police reported.

Janet Gannon said her husband explicitly warned officers of the camera, later adding “smile,” as a joke.

“I heard him say it,” she said. “He said, ‘Gentlemen, there’s a camera right there.’”

According to police, however, Janet Gannon told officers she didn’t remember her husband warning police about the security camera.

Police reported that Gannon “has a history of being verbally abusive” toward police, and that after his arrest, he remarked that the officers “were a bunch of corrupt (expletives).”
Andrew Wolfe can be reached at 594-6410 or awolfe@nashuatelegraph.com.
*************************************************************************************

Wiretap charges may face review Published: Saturday, July 1, 2006
By ANDREW WOLFE, Telegraph Staff
awolfe@nashuatelegraph.com

NASHUA – Police have asked the Hillsborough County attorney’s office for a second opinion on wiretapping charges against a Nashua man, and police also will review the man’s videotape to investigate his complaint that a detective was rude, Police Chief Timothy Hefferan said Friday.

Michael Gannon, 39, of 26 Morgan St., was arrested Tuesday on two felony violations of state wiretapping law, for using his home audio and video security system to record conversations involving city police detectives investigating his 15-year-old son.

Though Gannon told police to “smile” for the camera, it wasn’t the video recording that landed him in trouble.

“It’s the audio portion, not the videotape,” Hefferan said. “People video people all the time. In fact, the police videotape people.”

Police have given records of the case, including a copy of the Gannons’ videocassette, to First Assistant Hillsborough County Attorney Roger Chadwick and asked him to review how the charges should be handled, Hefferan said.

“We don’t get it right all the time. Although I am not condemning the officers . . . I don’t have all the facts. If it turns out when I do have them all that we erred, then I will be the first to admit it,” Hefferan said.

“We wanted to be confident, early on. . . . We wanted a prosecuting source to look at it objectively,” Hefferan said. “Technically, the charge is an accurate one, but sometimes what’s technical and what’s good common sense is not necessarily mutual.”

If prosecution isn’t warranted, Hefferan said, it’s best to find out sooner rather than later.

“I don’t want to run him through the wringer here,” Hefferan said of Gannon. “If it isn’t there, I want to know about it and I want to know about it early.”

Neither Chadwick nor Hillsborough County Attorney Marguerite Wageling could be reached for comment Friday. Chadwick has yet to report back to police, Hefferan said.

Police also will be investigating Gannon’s complaint against Detective Andrew Karlis, Hefferan said. Gannon was arrested after he brought a videotape to the station, citing it as evidence that Karlis was rude toward the family while investigating their son.

“There was some suggestion that we dismissed his complaint out of hand and merely took the tapes to keep it quiet. That is not the case at all,” Hefferan said.

Sgt. Frank Bourgeois filed a report on Gannon’s complaint, which Hefferan has reviewed and referred to Detective Capt. Scott Howe for further investigation, he said.

“This was documented on the normal complaint forms,” Hefferan said.

“The substance of this allegation, from what I understand, is on tape,” Hefferan said, and police will review it with that in mind.

Gannon’s arrest has generated reaction worldwide, as news spread via the Internet.

“I’ve had a tremendous amount of telephone calls, e-mails and so forth,” some from as far as Australia, Hefferan said.

Detective Karlis charged Gannon with violating wiretap laws after learning that Gannon had been recording police while they were at his home looking for his 15-year-old son.

Gannon’s video camera was mounted in plain view, on a beam supporting the porch roof, and Gannon had a warning sign posted outside his home, but the audio recording ran afoul of state law, police charge.

Under state law (RSA 570-A:2), it is a crime to use any sort of electronic device to eavesdrop or record conversations without the consent of everyone involved. It’s a felony to record other people’s conversations, and a misdemeanor to record one’s own conversations without the other person’s consent.

Gannon is charged with recording a conversation between Karlis and Detective Thomas Bergeron, while they stood on his front porch late on the night of June 23. He also is charged with recording a conversation between himself, his wife and Karlis on June 26. It’s not clear why police charged the latter incident as a felony, since the Gannons knew of the recording.

Gannon was freed Wednesday after his wife posted $10,000 bail, and a probable cause hearing is scheduled for July 12 in Nashua District Court.

Police got a warrant and searched the Gannons’ home Wednesday and seized all of the cameras, tapes and recording equipment, court records show. The Gannons didn’t make any extra copies of the tapes, Gannon’s wife, Janet Gannon, said Friday.

Police kept the Gannons out of their home for about seven hours overnight while they applied for the warrant and searched the premises, Janet Gannon said.

Other residents of the four-unit building knew about the security camera. Michael Gannon told them about it when they moved there, Trisha Lessard and her daughter, Kristen Lessard, both of 22 Morgan St., said Friday.

“He let everyone know. We were all fine with it,” Kristen Lessard said.

Trisha Lessard pointed out a warning sticker affixed to the cable junction box on the side of the building, reading: “Warning. Homeland Security Cameras. Closed circuit television and audio monitoring on premises.”

Police had come to the building repeatedly while looking for the Gannons’ son, the Lessards said.

“They said they were going to keep coming back every night. They were keeping us up,” Trisha Lessard said. “They scared me, and I have two police officers in my family.”

Police always work hard to find people suspected of crimes, Hefferan said. It’s expected of them.

“I am always pleased when the officers don’t give up on trying to find someone. They went back a number of times,” Hefferan said, adding, “The officers were dogged in trying to locate someone who was implicated in a fairly serious crime.”

The Lessards said the police could have been more politely persistent, however.

At one point, a young pregnant woman who lives in the building arrived home with her child and couldn’t get into her parking space because police cruisers were blocking it, the Lessards said. A resident asked an officer if he could move the cruiser, Trisha Lessard said.

“He was trying to be nice about it,” and used the word “please,” Lessard said.

The officer refused, she said.

“He said, ‘I’ll move when I’m done,’ ” she said.

Trisha Lessard said she leaned toward another officer to try to read his nametag or badge number during the incident and was rebuffed.

“He said, ‘What are you looking at?’ ” she said. “I said, ‘I’m looking for your badge number.’ He said, ‘It’s none of your goddamned business,’ ” and turned away, she said.

“I was just taken aback by their rudeness,” Trisha Lessard said.
Andrew Wolfe can be reached at 594-6410 or awolfe@nashuatelegraph.com.