Proving to be unstable, combative and petty, an FBI agent interjected himself in a family custodial dispute on behalf of his girlfriend and her estranged husband, who was two hours late in dropping off their baby.
But FBI Agent Gerald Rogero’s intrusive attempts at heroism led to him assaulting and threatening to shoot the 15-year-old son of the estranged husband’s girlfriend.
He then threatened the teen’s mother with arrest when she tried to intervene.
The incident took place in Chevy Chase, Maryland on December 5, 2014 and was recorded on cell phone video, which is the only reason Rogero was convicted Friday for second-degree assault.
The conviction came as such a shock to the 20-year FBI veteran who serves as chief in the counterterrorism division because he had to be rushed by ambulance to the hospital after coming close to fainting.
The video, posted below, shows he is a man oozing with entitlement who is accustomed to getting things his way, even if it means attacking and threatening teenagers.
Rogero was initially charged with three counts of first-degree assault, second-degree assault and use of a handgun in the commission of a felony but because the person recording the video did not have the sense to shoot in horizontal mode, he ended up cropping out most of the potential evidence that could be played before the jury.
According to the Washington Post:
The video was played during the trial, a scenario that likely could occur in more courtrooms given the ubiquitous nature of cellphones and heightened public concern over the conduct of law enforcement officers.
The video clearly showed the agent striking the teenager with force, but the recording had its limits. The narrow borders didn’t capture actions to the left and right of frames. At times, people were talking over each other.
That left moments up for interpretation, and during the trial allowed each side to say the video supported their arguments.
The seven-minute video shows Rogero wasted no time in confronting the baby’s father, demanding to know why he was late in dropping off the child.
“You’re already two hours late,” Rogero told the father, who was still holding the little girl in his arms after stepping inside the lobby of his estranged wife’s apartment lobby.
“I’m sorry, who are you?” the father asked, bewildered at the stranger confronting him about personal family matters.
“You don’t need to worry who I am,” Rogero said before walking towards the father.
“If you come close to me, I will call the police,” the father warned, not realizing that the man was a federal agent.
The father then steps around the fed, hands the child off to a young woman, possibly his daughter, then attempts to walk outside.
But Rogero was angered that the father had threatened to call the cops on him, so he followed him outside, trying to bait him into a confrontation.
“No, call the police, you say you want to call police, call them,” Rogero taunted, figuring his badged brothers would back him up no matter what.
“He’s being disrespectful,” Rogero told the man’s girlfriend, a man accustomed to being worshipped for his badge.
“Because if you know you’re going to be late, out of courtesy, why don’t you tell her I’m going to be late,” he told the father.
“I did,” the father responded.
“No, you called after 9 o’clock,” he said. “If you know you’re going to be late, she’s a friend of mine.”
The 15-year-old boy piped in, asking Rogero how was this any concern of his anyway.
That led to Rogero shoving the boy hard in the chest, sending him sprawling.
Then he moved in to arrest the teen and the two started wrestling around as the boy’s mother tried to pull the teen away from the madman attacking him.
“If I have to shoot you, I will,” Rogero said before pulling out his gun on the teen, who then laid face down on the sidewalk.
And then he turned on the boy’s mother.
“And you’re going to jail, too” he said, pointing at her. “Assault on a federal officer. You struck me!”
“No, you’re hurting my son,” she said.
“He got in my face and threatened me,” Rogero then explains to the father, who has maintained incredible composure through the whole debacle.
“I’m in my capacity 24 hours a day,” the fed tells the father, essentially saying he has the right to get in anybody’s face and threaten them whenever the mood strikes him.
The video shows that when police arrived, he had his badge hanging from his pocket.
“He threatened me, the husband threatened me,” Rogero lied to the cop, not explaining that the father only threatened to call the cops on him because he was being threatening.
“And then he came up and told me, ‘I’ll kick your ass,'” Rogero continued lying, referring to the teen on the ground.
“That’s a lie, officer,” the teen said, still facedown on the sidewalk.
Despite his unadulterated display of sheer thuggery, the jury acquitted Rogero of the more serious charges, somehow convinced that the badge placed him above the law.
And Circuit Judge Steven Salant ruled that Rogero can still keep his guns until his sentencing date of January 20, 2016 hearing, which means he will probably get off with a slap on the wrist.
In fact, Rogero is still working as a high-ranking FBI agent, demonstrating the federal agency has the same blue code of protection as any law enforcement agency.
The post High-Ranking FBI Agent Convicted of Assault on Teen Nearly Faints in Court After Verdict appeared first on PINAC.