Police Officer's Civil Rights Were Not Violated in Steroid Case | steroid.com

Lincoln Police investigator Tim Cronin was falsely accused of using steroids. But his constitutional rights were not violated in steroid search.

Tim Cronin, currently employed as an investigator with the Lincoln Police Department, had been waiting over three years for his day in court. Cronin was seeking justice for what he thought was a violation of his 4th, 5th and 6th amendment constitutional rights.

Cronin and his colleague Josh Fullerton were falsely accused of buying and using anabolic steroids by their bosses in 2015. This false information was used to launch a joint investigation by the LPD Narcotics Unit and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).

DEA agents and LPD investigators obtained and executed a search warrant to search not only Cronin’s home residence and sports utility vehicle (SUV). They also obtained a court order demanding that Cronin deliver a blood and urine sample. If he refused, police threatened to have a catheter shoved up his penis to obtain urine.

Tim Cronin only purchased dietary supplements from the Supzilla sports nutrition store.

DEA and LPD investigators did not find any illegal anabolic steroids at all during their search. The blood and urine test results came back negative for steroids and did not uncover any hormonal abnormalities.

It turned out that the entire basis for the investigation of Cronin and Fullerton was the mere fact that they purchased dietary supplements at a sport nutrition store called Supzilla. Since the Supzilla store owner was under investigation for steroid trafficking, Cronin and Fullerton were presumed to be steroid users.

Cronin alleged that LPD Narcotics Unit Capt. Chris Peterson targeted him under false premises as an act of retaliation. Cronin had filed a discrimination and harassment complaint against Peterson in the fall of 2014.

Unfortunately for Cronin, Senior United States District Judge Richard Kopf did not see any evidence that Cronin’s civil rights were violated. He ruled against Cronin on each and every alleged civil rights violation.

Source:

Johnson, R. (December 8, 2018). Judge: Rights of LPD officer investigated for steroid use weren't violated. Retrieved from journalstar.com/news/local/911/judge-rights-of-lpd-officer-investigated-for-steroid-use-weren/article_23490ea8-5246-5f3f-8531-62fba8182648.html