Porkopolis Insight

The Adams County Raid – A Closer Look at the Faces Behind the Badges

​In a county of only 28,000 people, the line between "public servant" and "neighbor" is supposed to mean something. But when you look at the 2022 raid on Afroman’s house and the lawsuit currently in court this week, that line looks more like a target.
​Take Lieutenant Lisa Phillips. In a small town, you see the same people everywhere. Phillips has been seen at the local schools talking to Afroman’s kids on multiple occasions. It’s a strange kind of "community policing" when one day you’re a friendly face at school and the next you’re part of a tactical team kicking in their front door and "miscounting" the family's cash.
​Then there is Detective Sergeant Brian Newland. He’s the one who actually wrote the warrant for kidnapping and trafficking—charges that turned up absolutely nothing. More importantly, he’s the one caught on security footage reaching up to unplug the cameras. It raises a simple question: if everything being done is legal and above board, why is a high-ranking detective so desperate to kill the lights?
​Usually, the only people who disable cameras before they enter a house are the ones who don't want a record of what they’re about to do.
​This isn't just about one bad raid. It’s about a department that has been rotted from the top down. We already saw former Sheriff Rick Reigenborn and Undersheriff Tommie McLallen plead guilty to felony forgery for faking their own training records. When the leaders are caught lying about the very standards that qualify them to wear a badge, you have to look at the deputies they trained.
​The "missing" $400 discrepancy—which the department conveniently called a "miscount"—was serious enough that the Clermont County Sheriff’s Office had to be brought in for an outside investigation.
​These are the seven officers who sued a civilian for "humiliation" because their own actions were caught on tape:
​Shawn D. Cooley
​Justin Cooley
​Shawn Grooms
​Michael Estep
​Randolph Walters Jr.
​Brian Newland
​Lisa Phillips
​If you live in Adams County, these are the people tasked with your "protection." If they are "humiliated" by the truth being caught on camera, maybe the problem isn't the recording—it's the conduct. Stay tuned to Porkopolis Insight as we keep an eye on the trial results this week.
​