They don't care there fishing and there prolly people who they have thought was users when infact they aren't so the officer gets frustrated and tried to make it happen by planting drugs...........CONSTITUTION I do believe dealers and drug users should pay the penalty but not like that
Arrest records will still be available forever also. If not to the public, and that's a big if, definitely to all law enforcement in perpetuity. He committed social homicide on these people. This dude wasn't fit to have a hall pass, much less a badge. he should be under the jail.
One that really bothers me was he planted drugs on a couple who were recovering drug addicts and that completely broke their trust in each other and that is absolutely essential to their sobriety. This man should never get out of jail honestly.
He should be sued for millions per false arrest. The police department should have to pay half of the lawsuits and maybe they'll hire better cops, if every officer becomes a liability
I know people it has happened to. This happens all the time. Any police dept will do it to whoever they don`t like. There`s no "freedom" in this country.
NOT EVEN CLOSE! HE RUINED THESE PEOPLE'S LIVES!! And how many relationships were destroyed when the driver assumed it was their partner or their son/daughters drugs since they knew it wasn't theirs.
@@luvmenow33I mean tbf....these ppl would be millionaires if they were smart they could sue the socks off him and the police. But regardless yeah...this is horrible
As a recovered addict, it hurts to hear that he was planting drugs on recovering/recovered addicts vehicles, making family and friends think they’ve been lying.
@leighleigh8725that is an incredible stretch of the imagination cut from whole cloth just to try defend a guy because..what?? He had a uniform? That is psychological conditioning. The only difference between him & any other felon is he convinced society to give him authority. He's a sociopath. Someone who could ruin lives he knew full well were innocent with no empathy or remorse is the worst kind of criminal. Imo he should be placed in gen pop in the worst prison in FL.
@@apinunluksanachindamawson4805 do you really think it’s not as bad to mess up someone’s life for drug use that has NEVER used drugs vs someone who was a junkie for years? You need to screw your head back on straight
They should. But if they do that, the department will be the one that pays, not the man. They should have to both pay half, not all the taxpayers money
@@walkingdeadman4208 The so-called "taxpayers" need to learn what actual reasonableness is, figure out how to get most of the majority to do the same, and work together to end the entire control and rule scheme/scam for an actual reasonable way of life.
@@walkingdeadman4208That tax payer money would be used properly then. Alot of those people can't go back to their careers. Their reputation tarnished. They can't get time back. Taxes are for just such a situation.
That Zach Wester only got 12 years, that was a huge crime in itself. He should've got the combined sentences of all his victims to be served consecutively.
It seems to be small towns will either be COMPLETELY CORRUPT (Trinidad CO.) or will have a Sheriff of impeccable integrity like the fictional Mayberry. Entrusted with Authority and a Badge, having the ability to DESTROY LIVES and he did so liberally. Does ANYONE believe he came up or is/was the only Officer running this horrific dirty scheme. (Charged with RACKETEERING implies CONSIRACY being AIDED and ABETTED). Who are his ABETTERS? They must also be charged and incarcerated!
The fact that he had an ENTIRE STASH of illegal narcotics and wasn't charged with felonies is astounding. Just ONE person who he did this to would have suffered for FAR longer than 12 years for having not even a fraction of that stash. And he did this to AT LEAST 30 people. Absolutely disgusting. Justice system failed extremely hard here.
Yeah, that's exactly what I was wondering, he either stole evidence, stole while taking evidence, or likely had more than enough to rise far above simple posession.
He should be jailed for the rest of his life. He ruined so many people’s lives with bogus felony drug charges just so he could get ahead in his career. It’s despicable behavior. For every false drug charge he tried to put on an innocent person, he should get the maximum years in prison for that charge. So if totaled up all those charges equaled 150 years in prison then that’s what he should serve.
Makes me wonder if he was taking drugs from people he actually did find drugs on so he could turn around and use them against people loke this. Easy way to supply yourself... I am an addict in recovery, been sober for three years on new years. But when I was using I had a friend that was dealing to some of our local police force members and members of the court system like judges and lawyers. It's unfortunate that no matter where you are there will be corrupt people that get away with their sins for far too long.
They really are rotten cops every where in the world, uses there power to make innocent civilians go to prison, they act above the law that’s why pple cnt trust most cops
@@charleshuguley9323 it should be double that. Planting evidence on an innocent soul and framing them for a crime they didn’t commit is much worse than if it were a legitimate drug user with a small baggie.
Equal to double, want to know why military service members mess around so much less then off duty officers? It's called accountability. Military police should have jurisdiction in all police internal charges.
Why is this shocking? I remember the poor woman in Texas who had melted cotton candy in the car that field tested positive for meth. She spent months in prison while the cotton candy was tested in a lab. It was cotton candy!
Broke my heart when he arrested the mom with her kid in the car. He knew exactly what devastation he was causing and didn't care a single bit. 12 years is by no way enough punishment
It’s incredibly cruel. Meth is a terrible drug that’s not only highly addictive but literally rots your brain. To overcome that & with your past record, be automatically considered guilty, shows just how evil Wester is. 12 years is not near enough for the lives he potentially destroyed!
Totally agree. The ripple effect of his actions is so vast. A man lost custody of his kids. People lost friends and family. Everyone believed the officer.
If this doesn’t convince you to never consent to a search, I don’t know what will. Over and over again it has been shown a cops goal is to put as many people as possible in jail. It’s a career move.
Never consent to a search and keep my car free of trash and debris, but must importantly organized. It seems he took advantage of people whom possessed disorganized vehicles.
I used to travel and play in a band. They will search you regardless and pull you over for no reason....well...reasons like, "We had some suspicious activity around here a few weeks ago. How do we know it wasn`t you?" Or, "Someone tried to break in a home in this town last month..." Or, "What are you doing driving in this area at 3 am??"
Not questioned, but thrown out without any question. We can't trust any arrest that he made, NONE OF THEM! I don't care if he stopped a U-haul with a 1000 pounds of meth in it. It must be overturned and thrown out.
@@LiL.Pixxie Those would have been pending cases. It did nothing for those who had either plead guilty or been convicted already. Only the three cases in which he was found guilty would be expunged if they had already been tried. The sad thing about the "justice" system is once a person is deemed guilty either by conviction or guilty plea, it takes a miracle and a lot of work to be exonerated. There have been cases of someone convicted of a crime erroneously then someone else confessing or also being found guilty of the same exact crime later yet the person first convicted might never be freed unless granted an appeal. If their appeals have been exhausted, they are usually screwed.
The arrogance/cockiness of this criminal cop is just downright sickening. Singing, "We wish you a Merry Christmas", while planting narcotics on these folks right before Xmas is absolutely diabolical.
Wester wanted a promotion, and he didn’t care what he had to do to get there. And he was confident he would get away with it. I think even as he was being investigated he never expected to face any consequences, at all. In fact I think he’s probably not alone in his department doing the same thing.
She's prob one of the ones who's kid went into the system bc of this evil "cop". This infuriates me ugh! My heart breaks for all those kids loves that were impacted by this 💔
This man is pure evil he even made some people lose custody of their children not to mention their jobs due to being in prison for so long. He should have gotten a much longer sentence.
Read about the sheriff's son that killed his wife she was like 21 and the dad and his uncle also a st John's sheriff helped him get rid of the body and evidence. Son got 7 years and dad and uncle got nothing. The son threw wife who was already dead over one of the bridge in St Augustine at 3 am while dad and uncle closed off bridge at both ends with cruisers lights on. Luckily the tide was coming in instead of out and a fishing boat hit body on the way in from fishing and called it in . So they started investing immediately. If tide was going out probably would have gotten away with it.
dont, keeping faith influences your actions. your actions are examples for others. law and order isnt held in place by the police but by ordinary peace seeking citizens.
Where is the prosecution for all the drugs that were in his possession? This was not justice, it was a cover up by the State Attorney's Office, 4th Judicial Circuit.
@brandicoley482, the fact that something happened about this should give you faith. It may not be what you like, or to the extent you like but a lot of people were cleared for what this guy did. There is still faith to be had, the system isn't broken, blah, blah. The world really isn't as dire as it seems especially in the United States. The prosecution caught this and did the right thing. Most prosecutors like most law enforcement officers and defense attorneys will do the right thing.
Seriously, dude is clearly a sadist. He got enjoyment knowing he was hurting innocent people, and watching them squirm. I mean man, how heartless do you gotta be?
1 year for fabricating evidence as a police officer? WTF? That should be one of the most serious felonies, and sentenced by at least 10-20 years in itself.
Absolutely!! The public pretender has no intention on taking anything all the way to trial and are ill prepared if they do. The public defenders are only looking for a plea bargain and the prosecution wants some kind of conviction period!
Definitely. Unfortunately in our legal system it's guilty til proven innocent even tho supposedly it's supposed to be the other way around. Once accused, the person is pretty helpless at least initially.
Not only should these innocent people get back their stolen property by this criminal but they deserve serious momentary compensation. This guy deserves life in prison for ruining all these people’s lives.
He should be banished from the United States forever. After taking a sworn oath to protect and serve. Framing the innocent people who pay his fkg salary. Edit: Yes I agree
This happened to me back in 2004. I watched the cop thoroughly search my truck then walk to his vehicle and pop the trunk, reach in and grab something and then go straight back to my truck and pretend to find a small bag of heroin. This was before bodycams were implemented. I spent 9 months in jail before finally having the charges dropped. They do this all the time.
@@albe7292 I responded to you yesterday but the UA-cam police constantly hides my comments. I think he got promoted to detective to the narcotics division that's obviously what he was bucking for.
Two very valuable lessons to be learned here: 1. Do NOT consent to searches under ANY circumstance! 2. ALWAYS exercise your right to remain silent! Answer no questions without the presence of an attorney!
Yeah same here. watch the video again...at the beginning with first guy he pulled over, look at the other cops body language and facial expressions 🧐 to me he seems really uncomfortable...its like deep down he knew or suspected something wasn't right.
I think a few officers came forward during the investigation of him and said they didn't feel good about his 'finds'. I live in Florida and this was HUGE news all throughout the state.
It's disgusting how casually he just decides to ruin lives and him talking about not trusting the people you think you should is just so wild and really says a lot.
@@peterfitzpatrick7032 you're right on about that. I think he should've gotten the amount of time that he could have and did take away from everyone plus some more time for all the people he got fired, made homeless and the families he tore apart. Total scumbag. I'm sure they're teaching him some valuable lessons in prison though. Hopefully he's unemployable when he's out.
This is why you NEVER voluntarily allow the police to search your car!! This is *DIGUSTING!* Absolutely unforgivable! The fact he did that to a mother with her child in the car… ugh smh 😤
@@user-mf5pt2bv4qthey're not allowed to make you wait for a dog to show up any longer than the stop would already take absent an attempt to search the vehicle. Unless they happen to have a K9 unit available right around the corner, you have every right to demand they complete the process of the traffic stop and let you go on your way if they don't have probable cause or a warrant to search your car.
They literally don’t care until it blows up and the city gets angry then they push it all on one person, a patsy usually! America is broken and we the people have to fix it for anything to happen sadly.
Christina Pumphrey is the real hero here. It's a shame she resigned when she is precisely the sort of person we need in the criminal justice system; a person of conscience and integrity.
She did her job as it's supposed to be fine, at least for this. The goal isn't supposed to be about winning or losing, it's supposed to be about finding the truth, real justice, and a fair trial and sentencing.
It seems to be small towns will either be COMPLETELY CORRUPT (Trinidad CO.) or will have a Sheriff of impeccable integrity like the fictional Mayberry. Entrusted with Authority and a Badge, having the ability to DESTROY LIVES and he did so liberally. Does ANYONE believe he came up or is/was the only Officer running this horrific dirty scheme. (Charged with RACKETEERING implies CONSIRACY being AIDED and ABETTED). Who are his ABETTERS? They must also be charged and incarcerated!
When he locked up the young mother in front of her child for drugs my heart sank , what a sociopath, psychopath emeffer , life in solitary confinement isn’t enough
Did CPS come take her children because of that demon??? I can't imagine. I would lose my mind if my children were taken from me because of that evil man.
At the end it said prosecutors dropped charges on 119 cases he worked on. 30 people he arrested agreed to a $1 million dollar settlement too. It’s just that the cop was only officially found guiltily for his actions in 3 of the 12, but hopefully all 12 of those people mentioned in the video are part of the 119 whose charges were dropped.
What I REALLY wish they talked about more was the corrupt nature of excessive plea deals. It is VERY common for an innocent person to plea guilty to avoid jail time because it feels much worse going to jail than simply admitting to something and going home. It’s a huge flaw in our system and it should be fine tuned somehow
Plea bargains are the epitomy of injustice. DA need to clear their case load. If your going to fight the charge they threaten you with excessive jail time. People are scared of jail and probation seems not that bad when threatened with years of jail.
They just held me in jail for 9 months for a domestic I didn't do. My girlfriend even told the police 6 months in she lied. They didn't let me go. So I copped out to a charge and got two years of probation. It's an evil system.
Planted drugs on a woman with a kid in the car? He is SICK AND EVEN WORSE than an actual drug deal. He should be in PRISON FOR LIFE!!! He does not deserve to be free
Agree. Even when on trial, he was belligerent & cocky & still hadn’t considered the misery he’d caused others. 12 years isn’t enough. This guy’s a complete psychopath, one who sang Xmas songs while ruining others’ lives. He’s disgusting!
The folks in uniform almost always gets some sort of an exemption even when it comes to horrid crimes such as this unfortunately. But like said here, there’s bad eggs in all industries law enforcement is almost comically gets the limelight quite often. Just imagine being in this rotten cop’s shoes in prison in which he very likely is in there with other prisoners he had a hand in or worst
I’m so sorry that happened to y’all. I wouldn’t even know what to do. Y’all are some strong individuals again I’m so sorry this happened to y’all! y’all deserve better.
Likely he will get his in prison. Prison populations tend to dish out their own punishments to certain types of criminals. This prisoner is going to be very unpopular and lots of other inmates will be interested in real justice.
Very chilling. None of these people even looked like or acted like narcotics users. He just indiscriminately picked people and ruined their lives. This is terrible and very frightening!
17:47 not true this young lady does look like she's "partied" in the past just maybe not currently anymore Majority weren't though. The dude before with the beard was very clean cut even the officer admitted that he didn't look like he used drugs, maybe it would have helped the corrupt cops case if he made it look like they sold drugs and not used drugs
The way he was continuously twitching his nose and clenching his jaw made him look like the user. As well as appearing nervous and acting cocky I wouldn't be surprised if HE is a Meth Head!! He obviously bought plenty and stuck with his drug of choice every time 😬🤥😡
Why aren't these POS's prosecuted to the FULLEST extent of the law?? I 100% believe that if they're caught doing stuff like this it should be WORSE than a normal conviction
This guy was. The fullest extent of the law is charging people for a crime and if/when they're convicted by a jury, forcing them to serve a prison sentence. What more do you want?
@@Y0uEnj0yMyself since you wanna jump on MY opinion you might wanna see what the average person gets when they do 50% of what your buddy in blue did podnuh. Shoooo!
I think the fact that many of the victims plead guilty while innocent highlights how broken the whole criminal justice system is and not just one dirty cop.
Honestly, Innocent people pleading guilty is not a reflection of a broken system, they're just trying to spend as little money and time in jail as possible, because it costs lots more to defend against it (more than them or they're family have to put towards the system) and dirty cops know this. The system is broken for many reasons, but innocent pleading guilty is not one of them. This type of bad cop activity predates camera's. What cameras have done, in addition to many other things, is bringing to light that when minorities said they didnt do it or that isn't mine.... Then others saying RIIGHT, it just appeared out of no where didnt it.
@@U.S.ArmyVeteran yeah it’s not the reason it’s broken but it’s a symptom of the problem for sure. If we truly live in a constitutional republic, then the punishment for breaking the law should be fairly consistent across the board and your socioeconomic status should have absolutely no impact on how justice is handed down. When government starts to revolve around finance, whether it is the lobbying system or the cash bail system then it is broken and needs to be overhauled. None of the founding fathers really believed in career politicians or government being someone’s main source of income because money corrupts. There was a sense of doing your civic duty because it was the right thing to do and not because it made you rich. Now that it has become very apparent to all of us the prison industrial complex is pulling strings to influence legislation like the Clinton/Biden Crime Bill in the 90s, that was probably the worst thing to happen to minority communities since segregation. Forcing mandatory minimum sentences for non violent drug offenses for crack that are far harsher than cocaine despite being the same exact drug shows there was clear intention from the “war on drugs” to hurt minority communities that are usually in a lower tax bracket which means family doesn’t have lawyer money so the innocent are taking a plead deal. I have been under the supervision of TN DOC the past decade and the majority of the decade before that in and out of jail. Luckily I come from a more affluent family from an affluent community with affluent friends and I got a bunch of second chances I wouldn’t have otherwise. It’s kind of like taxes where you will take advantage of any loopholes and shortcuts until they don’t exist and I hope that is someday soon.
This was in my county. Wester was the son of a member of the brass and wanted very badly to be on the Drug Task force team. He would target people with prior drug arrests in order to make it look more legitimate! He was cocky and a disgrace to the rest of the agency! Lots of cases were dismissed (even legitimate ones because he had his hands on them) .
My son and his girlfriend at the time, and arrested them for meth. He told them he smelled marijuana, so he had a reason to search. My son told me when he was in jail, that everyone in jail was arrested by Wester. Its crazy that this happened in our county, a small town in North West Florida. When the prosecutor from Tallahassee came and started looking at all of his cases, and they dropped 120 cases that were questionable. He was not arrested for a couple of years, he had moved out of this county, but when he was arrested he had a meth pipe on him
As a cop he should have been held to a higher standard... ruined all these people lives...so him having the drugs in his hand prior to the search or even having his gloves on wasn't a smoking gun!???
This is one of the scariest things I have ever seen in my life. It makes my skin crawl to think of the terror this police officer caused so many innocent people. He didn't care that he was destroying lives. A true psychopath. This is truly horrible.
No, he is a true SOCIOPATH Psychopaths do wrong but do not see what they do as wrong. When confronted, they won't try to deny it because they see it as right. Sociopaths KNOW what they do is wrong, that's why they take steps to conceal it and gaslight, obfuscate, and lie to and on those attempting to confront and/or expose them.
It is absolutely diabolical what he did. Ruining good people's lives like it's nothing, and for what? A couple of steps up the career ladder? 12 years is RIDICULOUS. I only hope he gets put into general population in prison, but he won't. They KNOW he'll be killed almost instantly if that happens.
@@victorlassiter8827 Theres a chance the prison guards might "slip up" and let him mingle. Prison guards sometimes are psychopaths too, it takes some to be around other psychopaths after all.
It seems to be small towns will either be COMPLETELY CORRUPT (Trinidad CO.) or will have a Sheriff of impeccable integrity like the fictional Mayberry. Entrusted with Authority and a Badge, having the ability to DESTROY LIVES and he did so liberally. Does ANYONE believe he came up or is/was the only Officer running this horrific dirty scheme. (Charged with RACKETEERING implies CONSIRACY being AIDED and ABETTED). Who are his ABETTERS? They must also be charged and incarcerated!
Why? Things like this happen all of the time. Maybe you should be less quick to believe authority figures and the dominant social narrative that people are always treated fairly.
What a disappointment to law enforcement. What a disgusting man. I reallt dont think 12 years in prison is enough. What he did to each of these people is so beyond wrong. I feel terrible for the people he came across
He really needs life in prison!!! He didn't care about those innocent people's lives having a "felony" now on their record for the rest of their lives! He needs to be in there for life, no parole!
I just lost all respect for law enforcement after this video and another one I watched last night where cops left minors alone in a vehicle after arresting the driver.
This is exactly why you don’t consent to searches and don’t answer questions. They’re not ur friends and not out there to help you 99.9% of the time. Give no consent, request a lawyer, shut up.
@@Joe-by4ty Let them get the warrant or dog. A dog's response has been questioned many times in court and dismissed, and to obtain a search warrant you need probable cause. They just don't hand out warrants. It is best to NEVER consent to searches of any kind, regardless of the threats law enforcement make.
While I completely agree with you, the sad part is, it most likely would not have changed the course of any actions or outcomes in any meaningful way. ...but you're definitely still right.
@@charlesmayhew2387 The bad thing is these were poor folks who chose to do right, they didn't run,they stopped, you want to search,go ahead, they were clean and had nothing to hide. Role models being punished for doing the right thing!
This makes me physically sick. To think these people were going about their day, living their lives, and suddenly these cops decide to completely destroy their futures for no reason.
Not no reason, it was to bump up his numbers so he could get on a narcotics task force...he ruined people's lives for his own career...and now he is a convicted criminal. Karma.
If you are outraged by this video, you should see the videos of his family and friends talking about what s great, honest, Christian guy he is, and that he shouldn't get any punishment. This guy is not only scum in its purest form, everyone he is related to and knows that spoke up on his behalf is, too.
Not just their homes jobs and cars, think about their kids!! That one woman had her little boy with her! And when you get arrested with your kid in the car, guess who gets involved to take the kid? Child Protective Services. She may have lost custody of her son over this. Not to mention all the other people he did this to who may have had children... imagine losing your children over something you didn't even do. He deserves LIFE IN PRISON with no parole!!!
This guy is the worst nightmare to the public, definitely pure evil to do what he did to those poor people. That fake nice demeanor makes it even worse to me just shows he no remorse for what he was doing. Any member of law enforcement caught doing this should be put in prison for life in my opinion.
Oh the trial was spooky! If you ever get a chance to see Zachary Wester on the stand, make sure you check it out. He's the Elizabeth Holmes of police officers. SBF-level sociopath
I am confident this happens every day all over the US and has been happening forever. There is a considerable amount of people in jail/prison that did absolutely nothing wrong.
Great point. The dark figuring of crime = the multiple of unknown crime above the known crime and there will be a dark figure of dirty cop multiple just the same.
I don't believe that. There would be more videos of it. Not saying it doesn't happen but probably not that much. The majority of cops don't want to put innocent people in jail. I agree it used to happen a lot more in the past.
Dont forget about people whose hard earned money was seized under false accusations of drug running. Florida cops were guilty of doing this "legal" crime too.
We had a cop in Baltimore who didn’t realize that the body cams continue running and start before they believe. They caught a POS planting drugs. This monster featured should have been found guilty on each and every case. Monster!
This cop had a near 100 % hit rate on drug searches where the common cop would find drugs once or twice in a hundred searches. That hit rate is impossible without planting drugs.
Right, just based on statistics they should have known there was a problem. It's all wrong too. The scene just seems so forced. Every time it's one pristine needle and a small single use baggie. No variation. Not all meth is used by needle. Most smoke it. Many of the victims don't even seem like tweeakers. Usually there's going to be stolen property, fake IDs and documents.
Imagine how many times cops have gotten away with this very same thing before body cameras....this sort of thing has been going on for a long time and is still going on.
@@kevinlue4756 There absolutely are many great and decent police out there. All it takes is a few bad ones over the course of their career to completely ruin hundreds of lives if not more.
We just had a Deputy and a State Trooper arrested for trafficking here in NE Florida also. Using informants to bust people when it was him all along. I’m a paralegal who watches bodycam as part of my job. Please know that these kind of officers are not just one bad apple here and there. It’s a culture that’s pervasive within departments across the nation!!
@@danielkinney3286 I cannot exactly remember the name of the State Patrolman but I think it was Jones. The local Deputy arrested in connection with the case was Hickox.
Look up ... just recently, a town with 249 population had 50 police officers on their payroll. Chief was worse than Al Capone or John Gotti and EVERY LEO was a dirty cop. Most of them had been fired from other places and found their way to this guy. Check that one out.
33 people he did this to. 33 lives ruined. He should serve minimum 33 years. A 12 year sentence for this level of corruption is baffling.
It's evidence of a corrupt cabal
13 years only needs to be in for 6 blue lives are more important than yours
He should get life placing false stuff on people and being a cop is crazy
He should never ever be released. Ever
The feds should be after him for civil rights violations.
Bro planted drugs on that lady with a kid? What a scumbag
They don't care there fishing and there prolly people who they have thought was users when infact they aren't so the officer gets frustrated and tried to make it happen by planting drugs...........CONSTITUTION I do believe dealers and drug users should pay the penalty but not like that
What do you , even planting to a normal person... deserves something worse than prison...
Assuming is a real problem in this country
The fact he did it for years & had it not been one person from the states attys office, he would still be doing it.
Scumbag is way too nice a word to describe him
all those falsely arrested people should have their property returned, refunded their monies, and compensated for their loss of life and employ.
Exactly
Lol
Cops are criminals with badges
Arrest records will still be available forever also. If not to the public, and that's a big if, definitely to all law enforcement in perpetuity. He committed social homicide on these people. This dude wasn't fit to have a hall pass, much less a badge. he should be under the jail.
That was rough to read but I get it.
Taking a child away from their parents should carry a life sentence. Monster.
for every arrest he's made...
One that really bothers me was he planted drugs on a couple who were recovering drug addicts and that completely broke their trust in each other and that is absolutely essential to their sobriety. This man should never get out of jail honestly.
This cop knew exactly who to target on those traffic stops. That's why he was able to get away with planting drugs.
NEVER OUT OFF JAIL !!!
He knew. This when he pulled up there records, absolutely insane. I hope that he admitts everything
Just goes to show, there are bad apples in every profession, disgrace to the uniform
That cop is NOT a Man.
He had no issue with ruining peoples lives. That’s disgusting.
That man was pure EVIL & DARK.
This happened to my son in texas
@@mladventures1935it happens in a lot of states. Don’t ever consent to a search of your car at any time.😊
That's basically every cop.
@@clutchboi4038Let’s be real, that’s not the case. You are saying over 700k people are all identical.
This cop should never get out of prison.
He has a target on his back for sure.
He should be sued for millions per false arrest. The police department should have to pay half of the lawsuits and maybe they'll hire better cops, if every officer becomes a liability
Thank you. This is honestly how I feel. This is an insidious betrayal of the public trust and should carry extremely steep penalties.
I feel the same. He ruined dozens of lives. He should rot in jail.
He'll never make it out, in once piece that is. One year in general population is all it would take. Hed be outed immediately and bitchified.
Just imagine the amount of people this has happened to in other places that were never sorted out.
I know people it has happened to. This happens all the time. Any police dept will do it to whoever they don`t like. There`s no "freedom" in this country.
This is so evil. He should be charged for possession for every time he did this. I think 12 years isn’t enough.
NOT EVEN CLOSE!
HE RUINED THESE PEOPLE'S LIVES!!
And how many relationships were destroyed when the driver assumed it was their partner or their son/daughters drugs since they knew it wasn't theirs.
He should be sentenced to life for every life he ruined.
Jail sentence isn’t harsh enough.
Oxygen depravation.
@@luvmenow33I mean tbf....these ppl would be millionaires if they were smart they could sue the socks off him and the police. But regardless yeah...this is horrible
As a recovered addict, it hurts to hear that he was planting drugs on recovering/recovered addicts vehicles, making family and friends think they’ve been lying.
Not just people with a past. He was messing lives up of perfectly sober living people. That itself is even worse.
Omg that’s horrible 😢
@leighleigh8725that is an incredible stretch of the imagination cut from whole cloth just to try defend a guy because..what?? He had a uniform? That is psychological conditioning. The only difference between him & any other felon is he convinced society to give him authority. He's a sociopath. Someone who could ruin lives he knew full well were innocent with no empathy or remorse is the worst kind of criminal.
Imo he should be placed in gen pop in the worst prison in FL.
@@kdugg u really think thats worse? Are you still a child
@@apinunluksanachindamawson4805 do you really think it’s not as bad to mess up someone’s life for drug use that has NEVER used drugs vs someone who was a junkie for years? You need to screw your head back on straight
Charged with 67 crimes and only gets 12 years….all those people need to lawyer up and get real justice!
12 years of 🍑💩🍆
They should. But if they do that, the department will be the one that pays, not the man. They should have to both pay half, not all the taxpayers money
They received a federal settlement so that door is probably closed
@@walkingdeadman4208 The so-called "taxpayers" need to learn what actual reasonableness is, figure out how to get most of the majority to do the same, and work together to end the entire control and rule scheme/scam for an actual reasonable way of life.
@@walkingdeadman4208That tax payer money would be used properly then. Alot of those people can't go back to their careers. Their reputation tarnished. They can't get time back. Taxes are for just such a situation.
This sick dude should never get out of prison. He's a sick dangerous person who doesn't care about anything but himself.
That Zach Wester only got 12 years, that was a huge crime in itself. He should've got the combined sentences of all his victims to be served consecutively.
It seems to be small towns will either be COMPLETELY CORRUPT (Trinidad CO.) or will have a Sheriff of impeccable integrity like the fictional Mayberry.
Entrusted with Authority and a Badge, having the ability to DESTROY LIVES and he did so liberally.
Does ANYONE believe he came up or is/was the only Officer running this horrific dirty scheme.
(Charged with RACKETEERING implies CONSIRACY being AIDED and ABETTED).
Who are his ABETTERS? They must also be charged and incarcerated!
Hopefully he gets his due in prison at some point.
He didn't get his f---king head kicked in, whilst in prison! What's up with the criminal world these days. Peace be unto you.
Agree
@@martinwarner1178 probably PC'D up immediately.
The fact that he had an ENTIRE STASH of illegal narcotics and wasn't charged with felonies is astounding. Just ONE person who he did this to would have suffered for FAR longer than 12 years for having not even a fraction of that stash. And he did this to AT LEAST 30 people. Absolutely disgusting. Justice system failed extremely hard here.
Yeah, that's exactly what I was wondering, he either stole evidence, stole while taking evidence, or likely had more than enough to rise far above simple posession.
He should be jailed for the rest of his life. He ruined so many people’s lives with bogus felony drug charges just so he could get ahead in his career. It’s despicable behavior. For every false drug charge he tried to put on an innocent person, he should get the maximum years in prison for that charge. So if totaled up all those charges equaled 150 years in prison then that’s what he should serve.
Makes me wonder if he was taking drugs from people he actually did find drugs on so he could turn around and use them against people loke this. Easy way to supply yourself... I am an addict in recovery, been sober for three years on new years. But when I was using I had a friend that was dealing to some of our local police force members and members of the court system like judges and lawyers. It's unfortunate that no matter where you are there will be corrupt people that get away with their sins for far too long.
They really are rotten cops every where in the world, uses there power to make innocent civilians go to prison, they act above the law that’s why pple cnt trust most cops
What he didn't get jail????
The penalty for planting evidence should be a prison term equal to the maximum sentence the victim might have received.
Times the number of victims!
@@charleshuguley9323 it should be double that. Planting evidence on an innocent soul and framing them for a crime they didn’t commit is much worse than if it were a legitimate drug user with a small baggie.
Equal to double, want to know why military service members mess around so much less then off duty officers? It's called accountability. Military police should have jurisdiction in all police internal charges.
@@rekker2688 I suppose you're right.
No it should be life without bond, this is worse than having drugs.
Why is this shocking? I remember the poor woman in Texas who had melted cotton candy in the car that field tested positive for meth. She spent months in prison while the cotton candy was tested in a lab. It was cotton candy!
or the guy who had glazed donut flakes on his seat and the cops said it was meth!
absolutely disgusting...
Being accused of something you didn't do is one of the worst feelings in the world
It really is and defending yourself over and over just makes you look more guilty sometimes
And being convicted is the worst
Yes it is the worst feeling in the world. I lost my job due to being convicted but I know I was innocent
Amen to that..I'm working on an expungement case for myself..even tho the case was dismissed by state it shows up on my states case website still
@@carollaupouri3969And that is why you DON’T trust ANYONE! Especially the police because no matter the issue, their word will trump yours.
could you imagine the amount of innocent people who are behind bars for police planting evidence. This is unbelievable
I'm willing to guess most. At least in the US
There are quite a few evidence-planting videos online, so...the numbers are a lot.
@@Nonono7226 All inmates are completely innocent. Everybody knows that.
No, it is not unbelievable, it is routine on the part of crooked, lazy or otherwise motivated police, who want a quick and simple conviction.
Happens all the time
Broke my heart when he arrested the mom with her kid in the car. He knew exactly what devastation he was causing and didn't care a single bit. 12 years is by no way enough punishment
It’s incredibly cruel. Meth is a terrible drug that’s not only highly addictive but literally rots your brain. To overcome that & with your past record, be automatically considered guilty, shows just how evil Wester is. 12 years is not near enough for the lives he potentially destroyed!
That's exactly what he got off on, most of us would think arresting a mother at Christmas for a made up crime is horrible, for him it was fun.
He's either a psychopath or sociopath. Neither kind could give a damn about anybody except for themselves.
@@jeffmead4670
absolutely
@@KC-rt4hp
both
Any officer found doing this should get life in prison. Also, body camera's should be out of police department control.
This man should BE SENTENCED TO LIFE! These cases are UNFORGIVABLE! 🤬🤬🤬
Not just that, when he gets out expect trouble from this guy.
Hope he gets his just dues in prison
Totally agree. The ripple effect of his actions is so vast. A man lost custody of his kids. People lost friends and family. Everyone believed the officer.
Or no life is better
a whole st was aware, just the fall guy
If this doesn’t convince you to never consent to a search, I don’t know what will. Over and over again it has been shown a cops goal is to put as many people as possible in jail.
It’s a career move.
Word
Never consent to a search and keep my car free of trash and debris, but must importantly organized. It seems he took advantage of people whom possessed disorganized vehicles.
@@thaflat8371 agreed
I used to travel and play in a band. They will search you regardless and pull you over for no reason....well...reasons like, "We had some suspicious activity around here a few weeks ago. How do we know it wasn`t you?" Or, "Someone tried to break in a home in this town last month..." Or, "What are you doing driving in this area at 3 am??"
never consent to a search and use your right to remain silent by not answering their questions.
Every single drug arrest needs to be called into question with this guy. This is unbelievable.
119 of them were
Not questioned, but thrown out without any question. We can't trust any arrest that he made, NONE OF THEM! I don't care if he stopped a U-haul with a 1000 pounds of meth in it. It must be overturned and thrown out.
Exactly
Not just his drug busts. Every single arrest he has made is now suspect.
@@LiL.Pixxie Those would have been pending cases. It did nothing for those who had either plead guilty or been convicted already. Only the three cases in which he was found guilty would be expunged if they had already been tried.
The sad thing about the "justice" system is once a person is deemed guilty either by conviction or guilty plea, it takes a miracle and a lot of work to be exonerated. There have been cases of someone convicted of a crime erroneously then someone else confessing or also being found guilty of the same exact crime later yet the person first convicted might never be freed unless granted an appeal. If their appeals have been exhausted, they are usually screwed.
He pulls over innocent people, plants the drugs, ruins there life and does it while being cheerful. SICK SICK SICK.
He's a monster
We need to find this guy and not allow him to live anywhere without the community he lives in knowing who he is
The arrogance/cockiness of this criminal cop is just downright sickening. Singing, "We wish you a Merry Christmas", while planting narcotics on these folks right before Xmas is absolutely diabolical.
Hope he gets therapy while in the joi5.
Definitely a sociopathic personality. I'm pretty corrupt but I couldn't do this to an innocent person.
@beeman7711 Dang, u look scary, Beeman so i believe you
@@beeman7711 but someone whom you just don’t like makes it okay?
Do they bonus for making bigger fined arrests?
This honestly is the next level of EVIL, how a person deliberately destroys lives like this is beyond me
That's literally the cops job description.
That's why you don't trust the police and just comply with what they say, they're allowed to lie to us, unlike us, if we lie we get a charge.
I bet everyone here won’t consent to search or seizure
Still suffering from this same thing still can't vote or own a firearm, still viewed as a criminal in my hometown so moved to another state
This is why people hate them prime example
That one guy was on parole. He begged, pleaded, and then was emotional to the point of crying. That humiliation was worth 20 years alone.
And then had the nerve to sit there and talk condescendingly towards him, lecturing him.
Nobody gives a crap what you have to say!
@richardellis8076 he lacks all empathy! Psychopathic for sure. I bet he has done worst things but hasn't been caught...
Wester wanted a promotion, and he didn’t care what he had to do to get there.
And he was confident he would get away with it.
I think even as he was being investigated he never expected to face any consequences, at all.
In fact I think he’s probably not alone in his department doing the same thing.
And at least $20 million in punitive damages.
That cop should have a life sentence for the lives he ruined.
Amen to that
He even arrested a mom with her kid in the car after planted drugs! That’s unforgivable.
She's prob one of the ones who's kid went into the system bc of this evil "cop". This infuriates me ugh! My heart breaks for all those kids loves that were impacted by this 💔
Heartless SOB.
@@Ang_This2shallpass If you listen in at 41:23, it implies she lost custody of her kids for it...
I'm sure plenty of people did have drugs and will use this as an excuse
Yeah that's a lot to explain 😕
This man is pure evil he even made some people lose custody of their children not to mention their jobs due to being in prison for so long. He should have gotten a much longer sentence.
12 years? This is sick, this monster should be locked up for the rest of his miserable life.
Check this out he'll be out in four years with good behavior.
They don't even punish illegals that attempt murder....
That female prosecutor should go to jail too...she said she couldn't see the bag in his hand in the video... shameful
My brother was a deputy in St.Johns County FL. He quit out of disgust for so many crooked deputies who should have been imprisoned.
Meaning: He was an honest Cop, and there is no such thing.
A friend in Miami also quit for the same reason
I’m noticing Florida cops are bad in general, it’s a cesspool of corruption down there.
Read about the sheriff's son that killed his wife she was like 21 and the dad and his uncle also a st John's sheriff helped him get rid of the body and evidence. Son got 7 years and dad and uncle got nothing. The son threw wife who was already dead over one of the bridge in St Augustine at 3 am while dad and uncle closed off bridge at both ends with cruisers lights on. Luckily the tide was coming in instead of out and a fishing boat hit body on the way in from fishing and called it in . So they started investing immediately. If tide was going out probably would have gotten away with it.
Then why not do what they joined the department to do in the first place. Protect the community
This is heartbreaking... It's pure evil. Most people can't afford to prove their innocence 😢. I keep losing faith in our system
He got off incredibly lightly considering his crimes.
dont, keeping faith influences your actions. your actions are examples for others. law and order isnt held in place by the police but by ordinary peace seeking citizens.
Where is the prosecution for all the drugs that were in his possession? This was not justice, it was a cover up by the State Attorney's Office, 4th Judicial Circuit.
You haven't lost faith YET? OMG😆
@brandicoley482, the fact that something happened about this should give you faith. It may not be what you like, or to the extent you like but a lot of people were cleared for what this guy did.
There is still faith to be had, the system isn't broken, blah, blah. The world really isn't as dire as it seems especially in the United States. The prosecution caught this and did the right thing. Most prosecutors like most law enforcement officers and defense attorneys will do the right thing.
This should be mandatory life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. You're no longer welcome in our society.
Especially with that many cases
Seriously, dude is clearly a sadist. He got enjoyment knowing he was hurting innocent people, and watching them squirm. I mean man, how heartless do you gotta be?
She has a little kid in the car and he still pulled this crap, utterly disgraceful.
1 year for fabricating evidence as a police officer? WTF? That should be one of the most serious felonies, and sentenced by at least 10-20 years in itself.
Agreed! You have ruined someone’s life and all you get is 1 year? Ridiculous.
He should be serving a minimum of each charge he conducted of which he made
Yeh, it sucks but he's serving 12 years.
He should do life but...
quite a good risk. 1% chance of getting caught. 99% of a salary increase.
Should be at least the sentence of the crime he planted on someone
What a terrifying situation. As a victim, nobody would ever believe you.
Exactly! I went through it.
Absolutely!! The public pretender has no intention on taking anything all the way to trial and are ill prepared if they do. The public defenders are only looking for a plea bargain and the prosecution wants some kind of conviction period!
Definitely. Unfortunately in our legal system it's guilty til proven innocent even tho supposedly it's supposed to be the other way around. Once accused, the person is pretty helpless at least initially.
This guy is so cheerful as he frames up random people and ruins their lives. This utter happiness as he does this is the sign of a real sicko.
a true psychopath...
I think any good psychogist would quickly find a personality disorder.
@@markr.devereux3385 Absolutely.
Sociopath for sure
I wouldn't be surprised if he's responsible for a few disappearances.
They need probable cause. They had none. Never give permission for them to enter your car. Never.
To ruin someone's life to enhance your career or your ego is PURE EVIL.
Kamala and other prosecutors do this all the time. The prisons are probably full of innocent people.
This is Americas motto though, ant business from healthcare to pharmaceuticals to manufacturing to food it's an evil world we live in.
IMO, anyone who spoke in his sentencing favorable to him should be harrassed till the day they die. This guy was a POS psycho.
:3 its evil hopefully changes@@vegas7023
The fact that he sat there and LIED under oath should have been added as another charge, for each and every single answer, aka perjury.
he was charged with perjury
@@ICRangerT No he wasn't
@@Olter_ did you actually watch the video?
@@ICRangerT The point was to get him convicted of perjury which didnt happen
Not only should these innocent people get back their stolen property by this criminal but they deserve serious momentary compensation. This guy deserves life in prison for ruining all these people’s lives.
He should be banished from the United States forever. After taking a sworn oath to protect and serve. Framing the innocent people who pay his fkg salary. Edit: Yes I agree
He did commit treason.
He should be put in prison for life
Omg! This is absolutely cruel torture!!! Brings tears to my eyes what he did to these innocent people! This should truly be a life sentence!
This happened to me back in 2004. I watched the cop thoroughly search my truck then walk to his vehicle and pop the trunk, reach in and grab something and then go straight back to my truck and pretend to find a small bag of heroin. This was before bodycams were implemented. I spent 9 months in jail before finally having the charges dropped. They do this all the time.
What happened to the cop who stopped you?
@@albe7292Bet, nothing happened.
That sucks! I know someone that suffered something similar to this too. There are MANY cops doing this kind of stuff and getting away with it.
@@jujutrini8412they haven’t gotten away with anything,God has the last word
@@albe7292 I responded to you yesterday but the UA-cam police constantly hides my comments. I think he got promoted to detective to the narcotics division that's obviously what he was bucking for.
Two very valuable lessons to be learned here: 1. Do NOT consent to searches under ANY circumstance! 2. ALWAYS exercise your right to remain silent! Answer no questions without the presence of an attorney!
Absolutely correct
So very true.
warrant yes
And ALWAYS Record the Police.
I'm getting cameras in my car!!!
It’s hard for me to believe that no other officers knew he was dirty
Yeah same here.
watch the video again...at the beginning with first guy he pulled over, look at the other cops body language and facial expressions 🧐 to me he seems really uncomfortable...its like deep down he knew or suspected something wasn't right.
How often do you guys search your officers for drugs?
I think a few officers came forward during the investigation of him and said they didn't feel good about his 'finds'. I live in Florida and this was HUGE news all throughout the state.
That's why they're all bad cops as long as there is the code of silence.
@@dubbschultz1Not often enough, his trunk was full of drugs and paraphernalia!! 🤬
He should have to pay the 30 million dollar law suit.
It's disgusting how casually he just decides to ruin lives and him talking about not trusting the people you think you should is just so wild and really says a lot.
1 year for "fabricating evidence" which would RUIN someones life... disgustingly lenient...
@@peterfitzpatrick7032 you're right on about that. I think he should've gotten the amount of time that he could have and did take away from everyone plus some more time for all the people he got fired, made homeless and the families he tore apart. Total scumbag. I'm sure they're teaching him some valuable lessons in prison though. Hopefully he's unemployable when he's out.
he sounds like a sociopath
Wester is a sociopath.
That poor woman with her child!!!
This is why you NEVER voluntarily allow the police to search your car!! This is *DIGUSTING!* Absolutely unforgivable! The fact he did that to a mother with her child in the car… ugh smh 😤
But the dog is gonna hit Everytime
@@aaronf5346better to say no and risk you odds of the dog signaling than to say yes and have a 100% chance of getting searched.
@@TheDancelover4ever but the dog never says yes. They walk the dog around and come back and say he hit. The dog gonna tell you different?
but the dog would go to his cop car first!
@@user-mf5pt2bv4qthey're not allowed to make you wait for a dog to show up any longer than the stop would already take absent an attempt to search the vehicle. Unless they happen to have a K9 unit available right around the corner, you have every right to demand they complete the process of the traffic stop and let you go on your way if they don't have probable cause or a warrant to search your car.
imagine someone waking up knowing he is going to destroy some innocent person's life.
That's just disgusting
right :))?@@charlottevantomme6441
Psychopath
Over & over & over.
Cop, judges and prosecutors do this every day.
This calls all his cases into question. Grounds for review of all his cases.
It’s very suspicious he was finding drugs on so many of the cars he stopped. They should’ve investigate this from the start.
Are you aware of Florida 😂
....Not unusual
@@yeetmamalmao true. sadly :/
They literally don’t care until it blows up and the city gets angry then they push it all on one person, a patsy usually! America is broken and we the people have to fix it for anything to happen sadly.
Christina Pumphrey is the real hero here. It's a shame she resigned when she is precisely the sort of person we need in the criminal justice system; a person of conscience and integrity.
Wager she was threatened
She did her job as it's supposed to be fine, at least for this. The goal isn't supposed to be about winning or losing, it's supposed to be about finding the truth, real justice, and a fair trial and sentencing.
They probably bullied her to such an extent she had to leave. That what they do to good cops.
He really got charged with the drug not for falsifying arrest
It seems to be small towns will either be COMPLETELY CORRUPT (Trinidad CO.) or will have a Sheriff of impeccable integrity like the fictional Mayberry.
Entrusted with Authority and a Badge, having the ability to DESTROY LIVES and he did so liberally.
Does ANYONE believe he came up or is/was the only Officer running this horrific dirty scheme.
(Charged with RACKETEERING implies CONSIRACY being AIDED and ABETTED).
Who are his ABETTERS? They must also be charged and incarcerated!
When he locked up the young mother in front of her child for drugs my heart sank , what a sociopath, psychopath emeffer , life in solitary confinement isn’t enough
Did CPS come take her children because of that demon??? I can't imagine. I would lose my mind if my children were taken from me because of that evil man.
Sociopath is an accurate definition. Most cops involved in crime and corruption are sociopaths. Google it, you will find many stories on the subject.
@@Brenda-tr3sj I think a couple people lost out because of him , he pulled this one too many times, at least he will never be a cop again
It would be a very short life sentence in general population.
Cops that do this need to go to prison forever
So what? Only 3 people of the 12, get their names cleared ?!!!!! OH THIS MADE ME SOOOO ANGRY!!!!!
You should know, perhaps better than most people, that this is not an anomaly. Only him getting caught is.
I thought they said one hundred and nineteen cases were dropped.
watch 42:00
At the end it said prosecutors dropped charges on 119 cases he worked on. 30 people he arrested agreed to a $1 million dollar settlement too. It’s just that the cop was only officially found guiltily for his actions in 3 of the 12, but hopefully all 12 of those people mentioned in the video are part of the 119 whose charges were dropped.
@@jerseybred732 You live in fantasy land
Only 12 years in jail? For faking charges against only one person should be life in jail. Come on ppl!
He was in possession of enough to get a life sentence. But because he speaks in oinks he only gets 12 years.
@@AW-ln7usLucky for him the second amendment is useless in the hands of cowardly Americans
Yes. He knew better, yet sent that poor person through the wringer.
"I knew I had nothing to hide so I agreed to let them search." Mistake number one!
Unfortunately too many sheep… the system definitely encourages sheep behavior
Just the chickens coming home to roost. FBAs have been saying this for over a century. Y'all didn't care, so now it's happening to you.
"I do not consent to searches, and I do not answer questions." This should be taught in school.
Never, never, never consent to search !!!
Never let cops search you or your property!
Ridiculous sentence. Should have got 60 years, minimum.
What I REALLY wish they talked about more was the corrupt nature of excessive plea deals. It is VERY common for an innocent person to plea guilty to avoid jail time because it feels much worse going to jail than simply admitting to something and going home. It’s a huge flaw in our system and it should be fine tuned somehow
It should be illegal. We have a right to a trial by jury of our peers yet the pressure is so intense to just plea
Plea bargains are the epitomy of injustice. DA need to clear their case load. If your going to fight the charge they threaten you with excessive jail time. People are scared of jail and probation seems not that bad when threatened with years of jail.
Absolutely! This is such a huge problem. Glad you brought it up!
They just held me in jail for 9 months for a domestic I didn't do. My girlfriend even told the police 6 months in she lied. They didn't let me go. So I copped out to a charge and got two years of probation. It's an evil system.
I agree. It's a VERY big problem.
Planted drugs on a woman with a kid in the car? He is SICK AND EVEN WORSE than an actual drug deal. He should be in PRISON FOR LIFE!!! He does not deserve to be free
Agree. Even when on trial, he was belligerent & cocky & still hadn’t considered the misery he’d caused others. 12 years isn’t enough. This guy’s a complete psychopath, one who sang Xmas songs while ruining others’ lives. He’s disgusting!
The folks in uniform almost always gets some sort of an exemption even when it comes to horrid crimes such as this unfortunately.
But like said here, there’s bad eggs in all industries law enforcement is almost comically gets the limelight quite often.
Just imagine being in this rotten cop’s shoes in prison in which he very likely is in there with other prisoners he had a hand in or worst
Being a victim of false charges my heart breaks for these victims. It literally destroys lives.
Been there..
Literally? Literally? Like, bro literally? Or just literally?
I literally regretted using the word literally. I am literally sorry. I literally hope you will literally accept my literal apology.
Each one of those victims deserve justice….
I’m so sorry that happened to y’all. I wouldn’t even know what to do. Y’all are some strong individuals again I’m so sorry this happened to y’all! y’all deserve better.
Always record any interactions and never answer questions
12.5 years is a joke. He should have got at least 100 years without the possibility of parole. Hopefully he gets the proper punishment in prison
Correct 💯💯💯. It's better than nothing.
He will don’t worry especially once what he had done becomes public knowledge.
@jewsrbad hopefully PC in Florida is like solitary confinement. That's how it is in Illinois.
12 years of 🍑💩🍆
Likely he will get his in prison. Prison populations tend to dish out their own punishments to certain types of criminals. This prisoner is going to be very unpopular and lots of other inmates will be interested in real justice.
Very chilling. None of these people even looked like or acted like narcotics users. He just indiscriminately picked people and ruined their lives. This is terrible and very frightening!
Yeah, imqgine if they "fit the description" and also didn't have any drugs? This is not such a rare occurrence.
17:47 not true this young lady does look like she's "partied" in the past just maybe not currently anymore
Majority weren't though. The dude before with the beard was very clean cut even the officer admitted that he didn't look like he used drugs, maybe it would have helped the corrupt cops case if he made it look like they sold drugs and not used drugs
I bet he didn't do it to people with money!
The way he was continuously twitching his nose and clenching his jaw made him look like the user. As well as appearing nervous and acting cocky I wouldn't be surprised if HE is a Meth Head!! He obviously bought plenty and stuck with his drug of choice every time 😬🤥😡
@@SherriRosebudwho, the cop?
The scary part is wondering how many more like him are out there! My heart goes out to the wrongly convicted ❤
Exactly
Plentiful, mostly all of them. They are cops, ofcourse they corrupt
I was a EMT for 18 years . Theres thousands of cops like him , at least in California.
Most of them are like that, and they gatekeep the force to keep it this way.
Many. You can’t trust someone with a badge
Why aren't these POS's prosecuted to the FULLEST extent of the law?? I 100% believe that if they're caught doing stuff like this it should be WORSE than a normal conviction
100%, peak scumbag
I agree.
Just like any crime against an officer carries more charges than if they were committed against a regular member of society.
Because others involved in stuff like this, (corrupt people at the top of the heap), are just the same as these pieces of trash.
This guy was. The fullest extent of the law is charging people for a crime and if/when they're convicted by a jury, forcing them to serve a prison sentence. What more do you want?
@@Y0uEnj0yMyself since you wanna jump on MY opinion you might wanna see what the average person gets when they do 50% of what your buddy in blue did podnuh. Shoooo!
I think the fact that many of the victims plead guilty while innocent highlights how broken the whole criminal justice system is and not just one dirty cop.
Yes. I haven't seen any comments about this. Innocent people plead guilty every day.
Honestly, Innocent people pleading guilty is not a reflection of a broken system, they're just trying to spend as little money and time in jail as possible, because it costs lots more to defend against it (more than them or they're family have to put towards the system) and dirty cops know this. The system is broken for many reasons, but innocent pleading guilty is not one of them. This type of bad cop activity predates camera's. What cameras have done, in addition to many other things, is bringing to light that when minorities said they didnt do it or that isn't mine.... Then others saying RIIGHT, it just appeared out of no where didnt it.
@@U.S.ArmyVeteran yeah it’s not the reason it’s broken but it’s a symptom of the problem for sure. If we truly live in a constitutional republic, then the punishment for breaking the law should be fairly consistent across the board and your socioeconomic status should have absolutely no impact on how justice is handed down. When government starts to revolve around finance, whether it is the lobbying system or the cash bail system then it is broken and needs to be overhauled. None of the founding fathers really believed in career politicians or government being someone’s main source of income because money corrupts. There was a sense of doing your civic duty because it was the right thing to do and not because it made you rich. Now that it has become very apparent to all of us the prison industrial complex is pulling strings to influence legislation like the Clinton/Biden Crime Bill in the 90s, that was probably the worst thing to happen to minority communities since segregation. Forcing mandatory minimum sentences for non violent drug offenses for crack that are far harsher than cocaine despite being the same exact drug shows there was clear intention from the “war on drugs” to hurt minority communities that are usually in a lower tax bracket which means family doesn’t have lawyer money so the innocent are taking a plead deal. I have been under the supervision of TN DOC the past decade and the majority of the decade before that in and out of jail. Luckily I come from a more affluent family from an affluent community with affluent friends and I got a bunch of second chances I wouldn’t have otherwise. It’s kind of like taxes where you will take advantage of any loopholes and shortcuts until they don’t exist and I hope that is someday soon.
It’s also bc of their lawyer telling them tk take the plea bc taking it to trail willl be bad for them that’s a huge reason why
If you've ever been to jail...it's "take 90 days and probation" or lose trial and get 10 years.
This was in my county. Wester was the son of a member of the brass and wanted very badly to be on the Drug Task force team. He would target people with prior drug arrests in order to make it look more legitimate! He was cocky and a disgrace to the rest of the agency! Lots of cases were dismissed (even legitimate ones because he had his hands on them) .
Wonder why he wanted in the drug task force...
24
The real problem is the system which gives bonuses and promotions based on arrests. There is no better way to bias and taint justice.
If he had did me wrong like this, he would have to pay me back most likely with his life.....
@@santiagoferrari1973mayoit pays more
Lowest bag of dirt ever.
My son and his girlfriend at the time, and arrested them for meth. He told them he smelled marijuana, so he had a reason to search. My son told me when he was in jail, that everyone in jail was arrested by Wester. Its crazy that this happened in our county, a small town in North West Florida. When the prosecutor from Tallahassee came and started looking at all of his cases, and they dropped 120 cases that were questionable. He was not arrested for a couple of years, he had moved out of this county, but when he was arrested he had a meth pipe on him
Wester was most likely a meth user himself.
No way!!! Wow, go figure. What a POS
I live in bay and I remember how much of an impact this had on the public perception of police around here
@@sunburntsilverado7665 it still does, I get nervous about being pulled over,even though I know I'm not doing doing anything wrong.
This is infuriating. Just imagine you know your 100% innocent and then thrown in jail and have been marked in society as a criminal. Truly disgusting.
My 100% innocent?
Imagine how many people's lives have been ruined by acts like these.
As a cop he should have been held to a higher standard... ruined all these people lives...so him having the drugs in his hand prior to the search or even having his gloves on wasn't a smoking gun!???
This is one of the scariest things I have ever seen in my life. It makes my skin crawl to think of the terror this police officer caused so many innocent people. He didn't care that he was destroying lives. A true psychopath. This is truly horrible.
No, he is a true SOCIOPATH
Psychopaths do wrong but do not see what they do as wrong. When confronted, they won't try to deny it because they see it as right.
Sociopaths KNOW what they do is wrong, that's why they take steps to conceal it and gaslight, obfuscate, and lie to and on those attempting to confront and/or expose them.
It is absolutely diabolical what he did. Ruining good people's lives like it's nothing, and for what? A couple of steps up the career ladder? 12 years is RIDICULOUS. I only hope he gets put into general population in prison, but he won't. They KNOW he'll be killed almost instantly if that happens.
@@victorlassiter8827 Theres a chance the prison guards might "slip up" and let him mingle.
Prison guards sometimes are psychopaths too, it takes some to be around other psychopaths after all.
It seems to be small towns will either be COMPLETELY CORRUPT (Trinidad CO.) or will have a Sheriff of impeccable integrity like the fictional Mayberry.
Entrusted with Authority and a Badge, having the ability to DESTROY LIVES and he did so liberally.
Does ANYONE believe he came up or is/was the only Officer running this horrific dirty scheme.
(Charged with RACKETEERING implies CONSIRACY being AIDED and ABETTED).
Who are his ABETTERS? They must also be charged and incarcerated!
Why? Things like this happen all of the time. Maybe you should be less quick to believe authority figures and the dominant social narrative that people are always treated fairly.
What a disappointment to law enforcement. What a disgusting man. I reallt dont think 12 years in prison is enough. What he did to each of these people is so beyond wrong. I feel terrible for the people he came across
Hopefully the other inmates will take care of him.
12 years in General Pop would be fair.
He really needs life in prison!!! He didn't care about those innocent people's lives having a "felony" now on their record for the rest of their lives! He needs to be in there for life, no parole!
I just lost all respect for law enforcement after this video and another one I watched last night where cops left minors alone in a vehicle after arresting the driver.
What is being done to clear all these victims?
Anyone who was convicted by this man’s arrest should be expunged immediately
Bless that woman who started investigating this psycho, she literally saved a lot of people's lives. Know how many lives this psycho has destroyed?
This is exactly why you don’t consent to searches and don’t answer questions. They’re not ur friends and not out there to help you 99.9% of the time. Give no consent, request a lawyer, shut up.
Even if you dont consent theyll get a search warrant
@@Joe-by4tyLet them. They could also call a dog. Let them.
@@Joe-by4ty Let them get the warrant or dog. A dog's response has been questioned many times in court and dismissed, and to obtain a search warrant you need probable cause. They just don't hand out warrants.
It is best to NEVER consent to searches of any kind, regardless of the threats law enforcement make.
@@Joe-by4ty with what probable cause? A bs suspended license? Every one of these cases depended on consenting to a search
While I completely agree with you, the sad part is, it most likely would not have changed the course of any actions or outcomes in any meaningful way.
...but you're definitely still right.
Whats even more disgusting is when he did this with children in the cars... This kind of stuff ruins families
@@charlesmayhew2387 The bad thing is these were poor folks who chose to do right, they didn't run,they stopped, you want to search,go ahead, they were clean and had nothing to hide. Role models being punished for doing the right thing!
People who are supposed to be upholding the law should be punished 10 fold if ever convicted of a crime
instead civilians are punished 100 times for anything against a cop and cops get off at worst taxpayers pay for their crimes
Max sentence no excuses.
But they barely even get in trouble! It's ridiculous
I agree, this is an inexcusable offence by a law enforcement officer.
What a surprise 12 years for ruining dozens of lives
This makes me physically sick. To think these people were going about their day, living their lives, and suddenly these cops decide to completely destroy their futures for no reason.
Not no reason, it was to bump up his numbers so he could get on a narcotics task force...he ruined people's lives for his own career...and now he is a convicted criminal. Karma.
To me it's welcome to the poor person world this happens everyday to us poor people nobody cares
Hated with a passion
These are the cops that deserve the second amendment
No reason? They tell you the reason waterhead. Why do you have to be spoonfed?
Singing Merry Christmas while planting drugs is psychotic!
I said he was a psychopath.
He’ll be singing wish you a merry Christmas in prison what a scumbag that cop is
Your right, he was happy and getting a kick out of it singing! So eerie.
U are absolutely right
Thus MF is F Up
Yeah, Merry Christmas singing is super creepy.
If you are outraged by this video, you should see the videos of his family and friends talking about what s great, honest, Christian guy he is, and that he shouldn't get any punishment. This guy is not only scum in its purest form, everyone he is related to and knows that spoke up on his behalf is, too.
😱
Thats why he must be found and given no hiding place
Where are these videos? Any public access to them?
All birds of the same feather flock together.
A great, Christian guy ruining lives left and right.
you just witness what a psychopath looks like
everything this officer has ever done should be called into question. As well as false arrest and assult
And, kidnapping charges as well
He sets up this to a mom in front of her children. What a MF.
"I won't handcuff you because your son's watching" What a guy, huh.
Jail needs to take care of him
Life without the possibility of parole should be his sentence. Not 12 years.
This should be life in prison.
Ruined so many lives and people probably lost their homes, jobs and cars- sickening. What a disgusting disgrace!
Not just their homes jobs and cars, think about their kids!! That one woman had her little boy with her! And when you get arrested with your kid in the car, guess who gets involved to take the kid? Child Protective Services. She may have lost custody of her son over this. Not to mention all the other people he did this to who may have had children... imagine losing your children over something you didn't even do. He deserves LIFE IN PRISON with no parole!!!
@@B_E4EV as a mother that has lost a son to a terrible accident… my kids and my son were/are everything to me. So sad
he'll get his
@@B_E4EV Nobody asked your opinion
@@JustinQuaid-u8v hater
This guy is the worst nightmare to the public, definitely pure evil to do what he did to those poor people. That fake nice demeanor makes it even worse to me just shows he no remorse for what he was doing. Any member of law enforcement caught doing this should be put in prison for life in my opinion.
Exactly
This cop is a diabolic monster
Oh the trial was spooky! If you ever get a chance to see Zachary Wester on the stand, make sure you check it out. He's the Elizabeth Holmes of police officers. SBF-level sociopath
I guess I missed the fake nice demeanor part cause I saw nothing but pure evil
Prison? Summary execution. This is a crime arguably worse than murder
you read my thoughts - capital offense in my opinion. This person is a toxic valueless individual @@keanudarkly9497
I am confident this happens every day all over the US and has been happening forever. There is a considerable amount of people in jail/prison that did absolutely nothing wrong.
Great point. The dark figuring of crime = the multiple of unknown crime above the known crime and there will be a dark figure of dirty cop multiple just the same.
I don't believe that. There would be more videos of it. Not saying it doesn't happen but probably not that much. The majority of cops don't want to put innocent people in jail. I agree it used to happen a lot more in the past.
@MrBigspendn that's all cops in the US want to do, is put people in jail. The US literally has for profit prisons.
@@MrBigspendnLots of people are leaving this country, over all this Fascist behavior,plus all the real violent crime.
Dont forget about people whose hard earned money was seized under false accusations of drug running.
Florida cops were guilty of doing this "legal" crime too.
We had a cop in Baltimore who didn’t realize that the body cams continue running and start before they believe. They caught a POS planting drugs. This monster featured should have been found guilty on each and every case. Monster!
This cop had a near 100 % hit rate on drug searches where the common cop would find drugs once or twice in a hundred searches. That hit rate is impossible without planting drugs.
The bad thing is they didn't recognize it until how many lives he had ruined by then.
Right, just based on statistics they should have known there was a problem. It's all wrong too. The scene just seems so forced. Every time it's one pristine needle and a small single use baggie. No variation. Not all meth is used by needle. Most smoke it. Many of the victims don't even seem like tweeakers. Usually there's going to be stolen property, fake IDs and documents.
This is why I absolutely don't trust cops
even the k9 has a 49% rate of finding drugs
They knew, they damn well knew it. The only reason this was brought to light was because they wanted to get in front it. End of.
Imagine how many times cops have gotten away with this very same thing before body cameras....this sort of thing has been going on for a long time and is still going on.
Imagine there are honest cops out there too. A lot of them.
@@kevinlue4756 There absolutely are many great and decent police out there. All it takes is a few bad ones over the course of their career to completely ruin hundreds of lives if not more.
@kevinlue4756 only takes one apple to spoil the bunch😂😂😂
@@kevinlue4756 that's difficult to imagine. With soooo may videos of them doing terrible things to people absolutly flooding youtube.
@@kevinlue4756no they're all liars
We just had a Deputy and a State Trooper arrested for trafficking here in NE Florida also. Using informants to bust people when it was him all along. I’m a paralegal who watches bodycam as part of my job. Please know that these kind of officers are not just one bad apple here and there. It’s a culture that’s pervasive within departments across the nation!!
Speak that truth!!
What are the officers names??
@@danielkinney3286 I cannot exactly remember the name of the State Patrolman but I think it was Jones. The local Deputy arrested in connection with the case was Hickox.
Look up ... just recently, a town with 249 population had 50 police officers on their payroll. Chief was worse than Al Capone or John Gotti and EVERY LEO was a dirty cop. Most of them had been fired from other places and found their way to this guy. Check that one out.
It's truly scary.
My heart breaks for all the victims. I can't imagine the trauma they've endured!
This is beyond sick and disgusting. I feel so terrible for all the innocent victims