Kimball Mason and his cronies almost got away with it
Idaho Falls has had the wool pulled over our collective eyes by the liar, thief, and cheat that is Kimball Mason and his gang of cronies. I sat at his sentencing hearing, watched his children grieve over their father, heard the great things Kimball has done over his lifetime, and I too felt this was an isolated incident and Kimball Mason’s sentence was fair.
Then the revelations came out that people were removing guns and stolen property from Kimball Mason’s home on Hartert Dr. The police raided his home, and found numerous guns that Kimball had taken but swore up and down he had destroyed. Kimball also swore up and down that he acted alone and not a single other person had knowledge of his actions.
Now, I am now angry.
Idaho Falls is now collectively questioning who we can trust? I think we can trust our Idaho Falls Police Chief Kent Livsey, because he is the one who initially started the investigation against Kimball and he is the one who appears to have initiated yesterday’s search of Kimball’s home.
However, there are several others whose trust Idaho Falls has reason to question in light of this new development. The Post Register listed several local lawyers and cops a few days ago that had ‘unknowingly’ bought or were given weapons from Kimball. They all ought to be questioned and warrants served to search their properties. How many more local lawyers and cops could be implicated in this?
A local gun business that has stood for numerous years was listed as having received several weapons from Kimball. That business, the owner, the employees, and patrons of that gun business ought to be questioned and warrants served to search their properties.
It is boggling to everyone’s mind why the state Attorney General’s office apparently never searched Kimball Mason’s home in the first investigation. There were 33 guns still unaccounted for, and they apparently took Kimball Mason at his word that he destroyed the guns, even after he admitted lying several times during the investigation? The only three possible conclusions are that our state investigators lack an ounce of common sense, they incompetently performed their jobs, or they played the good old boy game and didn’t push hard enough. Either way, the state’s investigation of Kimball Mason needs to be investigated itself.
Idaho Deputy Attorney General Jay Rosenthal was quoted in the Post Register as saying finding the missing guns in Kimball Mason’s home was “… obviously unexpected.” No, it would be obvious to have searched his home earlier in the investigation when 33 guns were still unaccounted for. What is obviously unexpected is the state’s failure to search the home earlier.
What we have here in Idaho Falls is turning out to be our largest official cover-up ever. Kimball Mason is turning out to have been the biggest fraud, liar, and arrogant corrupt prosecutor ever in Idaho Falls history. His extreme arrogance is exemplified by the fact that he kept numerous stolen weapons in his home during and after the investigation. One gun is even reported to have still had an evidence sticker on it. Kimball was not stupid, he was so confident his home would not get searched that he brazenly left them where they should have been found immediately.
I liked Mayor Linda Milam and I like Mayor Jared Fuhriman. However the corruption, lies and cover-ups are appearing widely across Idaho Falls, and the Mayor’s office may have information they are not giving up. I think Jared Fuhriman did an awesome job as an Idaho Falls detective, however even he should be subject to the wider investigation since he was in a position of being close to Kimball Mason for a long time. When the case first broke, I recall Mayor Fuhriman surprisingly defended Kimball Mason in the media, which raises more suspicions now.
I am not confident we can trust anyone in Idaho Falls (besides Kent Livsey) or from the state Attorney General’s office now. I demand either Mayor Fuhriman or the state AG’s office appoint a special investigator from out of state, preferably a few states away, to come in here and conduct a full investigation.
Mayor Fuhriman’s letter to Judge Woodland that was read during sentencing acknowledged the embarrassment and damage Kimball Mason had inflicted on the city of Idaho Falls, and that it would take years to rebuild the trust. If this case is not investigated the right way, that trust is at risk of never returning, and many careers will soon be over at the next election.
Once the whole story comes out I think you’ll be somewhat eased about your concerns with the initial investigation. I channeled one of my sources that would know the story and found out what happened. I’m not at liberty to tell it right now as they don’t want the whole story out til charges are filed next week. But suffice it to say you’ll be mollified quite a bit when you find out. There were mistakes made by the AG but the mistakes were believing Kimball.
Without a doubt there is going to be a lot of new charges filed next week and when that happens the whole story will come out. There still could be some issues as far determining if anyone else was helping Kimball. There is at least one person who definitely should be charged as it sounds like he was Kimball’s partner in crime. Its a big name and its going to create quite the stir.
Apparently there are some very angry AG people right now. I think Kimball is going to be staying in prison for a long long time. There isn’t going to be any plea bargains this time.
Sorry to be cryptic on this but until charges are filed I’m not sure whats available for the public and whats not and I don’t want to lose my sources. Also, I think at the end of the day you’ll find that you can trust the police and Dane Watkins. They both have been very open and determined to bring this whole thing to the light. Perhaps it may be found that an individual officer or prosecutor (I’m not saying there is so don’t read into this) was involved but if there was it was isolated and not endemic of the either department as a whole.
My temper flared after hearing of the guns found at Kimball Mason’s home after he was sentenced to prison. I’ll likely be ashamed of myself for reacting so strongly with so little information, but hey I’m human and that was my honest reaction.
Chiasm left this chatbox message that indicates Kimball may still be the sneaky loner (or only one of two crooks) rather than widespread ineptness or corruption:
chiasm : And the PR made the same mistake I did and others I’ve talked to did. They assumed that AG screwed up by not searching Kimball’s house. Suffice it to say the house was searched and the guns weren’t there at the time of the search. But when the guns were brought back from where they were being hid it was quickly discovered. There was no screw up at all at least in this aspect.
(Hope you don’t mind me adding that as a comment, Chiasm, it seemed to fit with my, well, my fit I threw about it.)
I have a question if Kimball Mason’s wife is culpable and a potential accessory to his crimes? I find it hard to believe he had so many weapons in his home and she never questioned why he never payed for them?
Suppose even he kept them somewhere in the house that she didn’t know about, if they were removed and then brought back in the last few days, someone in the household knew about it.
Who lives in Kimball Mason’s home or has unfettered access to it? Someone must be an accessory to this crime.
I’m in pure speculation mode here and could be wrong but this is how I think things will play out from here on.
There is one prominent person who is looking at possible prison time right now besides Kimball. Ordinarily I’d say he would be offered a deal in exchange for full disclosure on Kimball but given his position that may not be an option. He might get a partial deal which will keep him out of jail but no matter what he’s going to lose his job I’m sure.
Kimball is going to get hit with a bunch of new charges this week and I think he’ll plead guilty to all of them before trial. Thats because they will also either charge or threaten to charge his wife and / or adult children since some if not all of them will be shown to have committed crimes as well. I doubt the wife and kids knew what Kimball was doing when he committed the thefts but after the fact and during the trial some if not all of them clearly assisted in concealing stolen property. I’m guessing that in exchange for a guilty plea by Kimball they’ll let the wife and kids off the hook. I can’t imagine any husband or father who would let his wife and kids go to jail to save himself. But the more I learn about Kimball the more I wonder.
I was also very upset to hear that Kimball Mason had been playing the system for fools all along. But the more I thought about it the better it made me feel that he finally got recognized for what he is, an arrogant, self-important criminal. I hate to think that somebody else’s misfortune would make me feel better but in this case it does. He almost got away with practically coming off as the victim until the new search of his home this past Friday. I do feel sorry for his family and I really would like to think they weren’t involved. I hope not.
By the way, on the website of the Idaho Attorney General’s office it doesn’t have the newest information as of Monday 6/5 at 1:30 pm local time. It still addresses Kimball Mason’s original sentencing from last week. There is a quote from Lawrence Wasden as follows:
“The sentence in this case is, as it should be, harsher than that usually received by offenders with no prior criminal record,†Attorney General Lawrence Wasden said. “It is a just punishment that holds accountable, and imposes serious consequences on, a public official who abused the public trust. It is important that Idahoans have confidence in their government, and, as this case reflects, I am committed to insuring that the citizens of Idaho have government they can trust.â€
I wonder how long it will be before they change that. It appeared to me that the AG office dropped the ball in this case but I hope the new information will prove me wrong.
Another thing I am wondering about is why Kimball Mason could do so much business with Ski’s Gun Shop without them having some kind of idea of where he was getting all these guns. And don’t they have some kind of accountability as a gun dealer to do anything about it? And not only Ski’s but some of the other attorneys, police, etc. that Kimball Mason was dealing with. Does anyone else have any thoughts on that?
Suzanne Hobbs on Channel 6 just broke a new Kimball Mason story with many of the details I’ve been hinting at so for those that didn’t see it here is what happened last week. Also it appears I was incorrect in one small detail that I’ll mention.
Kimball gave a LOT of guns to John Stosich who is also a Bonneville County Public Defender. Stosich was already involved because Kimball allegedly sold a gun (Stosich’s explanation) to Stosich about four years but to date no money exchanged hands. Wish I could buy things like that and never have to pay.
When this whole thing started to go to trial Kimball turned over (i.e. hid) a bunch of guns (all the ones seized last Friday) to Stosich who claims it was because Kimball would now be a felon and couldn’t possess them. Curiously though Stosich turned them all over to Kimball Mason’s adult son the day after Mason was sentenced and brought them back to the Mason residence. IFPD received a tip (I know how they got it but that wasn’t mentioned so I still can’t comment on that)that there were guns in the house. They got a search warrant and you all know the rest.
Where I was incorrect was that this was actually the first time the house had been searched. Apparently they wanted to search but Kimball refused permission and a search warrant was denied back when they tried to get one before the sentencing. I was under the impression they had searched it.
There are also new allegations that Kimball has been accepting money in exchange for dismissed charges. I kind of wonder where the person claiming this was when all this was going down. Not saying I’d put it past Kimball given everything else but the timing is weird. If you read all original reports you’ll see that others claimed this as well but I still have to wonder why someone would wait til now to come forward.
This is going to be very ugly though. Stosich was already implicated with the gun he “bought” but never paid for. Now he’s very implicated. So basically you had the prosecutor on one side and possibly the public defender on the other colluding in cases to get money and guns. I can smell the appeals being written already.
I’d bet money that when the dust settles Stosich loses his law license and is charged. As I mentioned earlier though it wouldn’t surprise me if he get some sort of plea bargain in exchange for info on Kimball. And going by the news at least one of Kimball’s son’s is implicated - I didn’t know which family member it was
As I said they would, the police and Dane Watkins office came out clean in this. I personally despise Kent Livsey (for reasons having nothing to do with this) but in this case I think he is completely clean and is guilty of only the same thing so many were - trusting Kimball. He and Watkins are also not holding back on mistakes they made and they are both trying to make sure that everything is brought to light.
One ironically funny thing I learned from the news is that odds are that Kimball Mason has no clue whats going on. Apparently new prisoners get no phone calls or visitors during processing which takes 10-14 days. I’d love to be a fly on the wall when he learns that his six month vacation is going to turn into 5 years or so and that his good buddy Stosich and his son could be rooming with him.
How Ironic that the man who has spent most of his life prosecuting others to jail or prison time, should now be spending most of the last part of his life being prosecuted and punished.
Mr. Mason was an arrogant and ignorant man. They say give the man a break he made a mistake. Look at all the good things he has done for the city. How about all of the hundreds of lies and law violations, I bet they out weigh the good he has done. Even worse he knows more then the average person that they were illegal actions. He spent his career prosecuting many people who do lots of good for the community, but made one mistake. Did he have sympathy for them because of one mistake? NO, We already know the City of Idaho Falls Police department is corupt because of this. How can we now respect there authority?
Just curious - how are the Idaho Falls Police corrupt because of this? Please explain.
It wasn’t illegal for Kimball Mason to take all those guns out of evidence. Most if not all had legally been forfeited to the city. It was standard operating procedure in fact to take those guns and then sell them or destroy them. Where Kimball broke the law is that he is required to bring back any proceeds he made to the police which he didn’t do as he lied saying he destroyed them. If Kimball had traded guns for new guns and brought those to the police no crime would have been committed. Or if he had just actually destroyed them again no crime would have been committed.
If Kimball brings down a lawful court order to release the guns that is signed by a judge are the police supposed to call the judge and ask “Hey judge, did you really mean to sign this order?” If a judge signs a legal court order the police are expected to follow it not question it. The oversight on Kimball was through the judges not the police.
Where the police were negligient to a degree was that Kimball was able to slip a couple of forged releases past the evidence custodian (this is ONE officer not the whole IFPD). But again when your getting countless documents from a person in authority who you have no reason to distrust your probably not going to closely inspect every single one.
If you can show how the police colluded with Kimball to do all this please do so. If you can show how the police were in fact corrupt please do so. Or perhaps you should just explain what your real bias against the police is - did you get arrested one time, get a ticket you don’t think you deserved, or what?
Joe V. — you need to relax and learn more about the situation before you start typing away — –all of your misinformed opinions.
News Ch. 6 I believe — has the entire State investigation available — PDF files. Check out this link: http://www.kpvi.com/ and look on the right side — a little folder with Kimballs Picture. Read the interview transcripts. Pay close attention to the interviews of IFPD Administration. Some of these illustrate classic examples of what you have serving in that Department now — at the upper admnistration levels. This may open some eyes as to how this was overlooked for so long — Sometimes Barney Fife is too busy drinking coffee, eating donuts and pulling in a rather decent paycheck for really not doing much at all. Check it out
Oh, and one last thing — John Stosich once looked down from his high horse at me with discust . Sat in judement of me over something he knoew nothing about. Guess what John … I am kicking back — waiting for the show to begin.
ex IF Cop, I admit I may be wrong, but that was the passion of the moment and that’s life, man 8^) I admit I probably am entirely misinformed, but several others have expressed they agree with me so we’re likely a misinformed city. We beg to be informed about this episode.
Good comments, look forward to hearing more from you.
Hey exIFPDcop
Someone sure didn’t look very “smart” did they in that investigation. :))
LOL!! You got it chiasm!! Its that mentality — and that lack of “staying sharp and focused” that let this happen for so long. There are a number of those folks down there. Most really are honest and trying. They have just risen one notch (maybe 2 in some cases) above their actual level of ability — and can’t leave a good paying job where they really are not required to do much — if anything. so they sit down there — drink coffee — and do not really much at all.
Idaho prosecutor caught with stolen guns…
While we’re looking at Arbitrary and Capricious: it has a link to interesting events in Idaho Falls. It seems a city prosecutor was caught with a load of guns he stole from the evidence locker. What’s particularly unlucky for him……
It’s unfortunate that cases adversely affected by Kimball’s behavior will likely not be re-visited.
I wonder how many families were negatively impacted by the absolution of those who were truly guilty.
Perhaps that’s the real travesty in this whole ordeal.
I’ll likely have to eat some words about questioning who we can trust after the Kimball Mason scandal fallout, especially regarding Mayor Fuhriman. I know he’s a good guy, it’s just I and many other residents are boggled this episode has dragged out and the truth seems to sputter out. I’m waiting to see the charges brought first (hopefully this coming week).
I can see I wasn’t alone in questioning the depth and breadth of this scandal. Today’s opinion page of the Post Register featured Mary Beckman also questioning who we can trust and how far this scandal will go.
Wasn’t John Stosich fired from the Bonneville County Public Defender’s office a few years back
for accepting illegal payments or something along those lines? Also, what about all the
lawyers that had their clients forfeit guns? Didn’t they know what was going on?
I can’t believe you’re all still buying the city and county’s official position that nobody knew anything and that Chief Livesey is personally responsible for the city’s investigation. Livesey didn’t begin his investigation until after Jimmy Caudle complained that his gun was missing from the property room. Seems his attorney was the only defense attorney willing to fight for his clients rights to retain his gun rather than forfeit it to the city. There have been allegations of sex and money in exchange for dismissals for years. Just so happens that no one in a position of authority wants to go after another in authority for fear the microscope would be turned on them. Believe me, they knew then and they know now. If you are all under the delusion that Kimball was the only corrupt official on our community roster, you’re in for a rude surprise when the iceberg hits. Kimball is only the tip of that iceberg. The best is yet to come if you are all willing to ask the tough questions and listen to answers you may not want to hear.
Chiasm wants to know where the people who are making allegations of money in exchange for dismissals were when this whole thing started. If you know anything about the Jimmy Caudle case, you’ll know the answer. After Jimmy blew the whistle on his missing gun, he couldn’t leave his house without being arrested. The misguided powers-that-be downtown blame him for this mess instead of blaming Kimball. The folks who were asked to exchange money for a dismissal could not have possibly believed that anyone in a position of power would believe them. Before this started, would you have believed them? I still can’t fathom that Livesey expects us all to believe that he initiated the investigation. He paid no attention to what was going on downstairs until Jiimy refused to be silenced about his missing gun. Jimmy threatened to sue, which he eventually did anyway, and the police were forced to investigate. Dane could have brought the charges himself but he’s too much of a pansy to bring charges against anyone in power so he passed it off to the AG. In the long run, that would prove to be the right decision but it was made for the wrong reason. When his officers are caught lying, he covers it up by bullying the defendant rather than pressing charges. The corruption goes way beyond Kimball’s office.
Jimmie Caudle got arrested because of many things none of which were police harassment as you imply. He was arrested many many times for violating a restraining order between he and his now ex wife, A_______ (leaving out her whole name but putting an initial just to make it clear I know what I’m talking about - if you actually know anything about Jimmie you know who I’m talking about). She was likewise arrested many times for the same thing. He was arrested once when a gun was fired by him during an argument, probably a drug deal, gone bad - and it wasn’t self defense. He was arrested for DUI at least once. He was arrested many times for driving while suspended and he was arrested for evading police. This is all public record if anyone cares to check. The paper makes a big deal about how he was arrested 30 times and only convicted 10 as if that means the other 20 were invalid arrests. Thats not the case. The arrests were valid but many of those 20 were dismissals in regards to the mutual violations of the restraining order that he and his ex-wife were committing. Police HAVE to arrest if there is evidence of a violation, they cannot give warnings on these. But when both parties are mutually violating the order it makes it hard to convince a jury you have a real victim. And when you have two professional victims like Jimmie and A______ its doubly difficult since any jury is going to end up thinking they both are at fault (which they were). Thus many of these charges were dropped or consilidated (i.e. we’ll dismiss three violations of the civil protection order if you plead guilty to one - a common legal practice to save the expense of a trial). Again even though the police knew full and well that both Jimmie and A_____ were equally at fault they are REQUIRED by law to arrest if they can prove a violation even if they know that Jimmie or A______ would turn around a violate it themselves the next time.
And you might wish to check your case history. Jimmie Caudle didn’t start the Mason investigation. As has been reported pretty much by all the media the whole thing blew up over an SUV that Mason took. The issue with Caudle and his gun came up not long after and further blew it up. Caudle just gets all the attention because of his so called starvation protest at the jail. Its funny though that Caudle lost no weight while in jail - can you say lying for attention? He was a closet eater - he pretended to not eat but would binge on many occasions or so those in the jail say.
But back to the my original question.
I asked about the new allegations that Mason was accepting money in exchange for dismissing cases. I wondered where the guy claiming this and others like him were during the investigation and during the run up to the trial. No one says a word and no one comes forward. But suddenly after the trial people come out with these claims.
It certainly wouldn’t surprise me to learn that Mason did this. One thing I’ve never done here is defend Mason. I think he was a crooked SOB. I’ve just argued against ridiculous allegations of favortism - watch the Derek Tingey case out of Rigby - he’s the school employee who embezzled at least $40,000 and maybe up to $100,000 from the school - much more money that Mason took - and then compare as they are very comparable cases - both Mason and Tingey were trusted employees who stole - both were essentially public servants. If I’m wrong I’ll admit it but I’ll bet Tingey gets less than Mason got. And if I’m right I wonder if all those crying “Mason got favoritism” will be willing to eat their words. I’ve never said that this is all Mason should get as I think he should have got more and I think Tingey should spend time in prison. But reality is that non violent embezzlers with no criminal history rarely do prison time.
And now I’m arguing that Jimmie Caudle isn’t Mother Teresa.
One other thing about Caudle which I should have brought up in the last post, Caudle was arrested 30 times according to the Post Register. How many of these arrests happened BEFORE the Mason thing came to light? Nearly all of them were, thats how many were BEFORE. That alone blows the whole harassment thing out of the water unless the police were preemptively harassing him because they knew that at some point in the future, thanks to their precognitive powers, he would make allegations against Mason.
Inside Observer,
Are you trying to prepare us for other offices of judicial system being involved, more private or prosecuting attorneys, law enforcement or more people in all of those categories? Or, something entirely different.
What I don’t understand at all, and perhaps either you or Chiasm (or someone else) could give me some insight about, is Mayor Fuhriman. My memory may be faulty, but I thought Mayor Fuhriman was often the spokes person for the IFPD. Would it be conceivable that Mason would work with Mayor Fuhriman (prior to him becoming mayor) on any cases to issue press releases, or not? Or, would Officer Fuhriman’s information come from within the IPD and thu comments to the media were made with no interaction with Mason?
And while I’ve read Chiasm’s post about Jimmie Caudle, and it’s clear he and the wife Chiasm wrote about, were having DV issues (and violations), is there some other original crime with Jimmie Caudle that landed his gun into the evidence area? I seemed to have missed that. Can Jimmie Caudle’s attorney be named publically, becaue if I understand both Chiasm and Inside Observer, it sounds like this lawyer wasn’t part of the “club” or didn’t want to play ball with those who routinely did.
How would Mason have accepted $$$$ in a plea bargain? I guess you can tell I’ve had no interaction with criminal and prosecuting attorneys. It may sound like a simple question, but to those of us who don’t know the specifics of how things are done, I don’t understand how $$$ could be given for a plea bargain. Or, is the implication that between the Mason and the defendent’s attorney there was $$$$ as an “arrangement.”
For those who are ordered to pay restitution for their crimes, how do they pay that money (to whome, or how is it collected etc.). It’s my understand those kinds of restitution dollars often go to the Crime Victims Reparations fund. But, I might be wrong.
And I’m curious about one other thing. Given all that has happened with Mason, then the questions about Stosch, which group or groups of the following professionals, do you think is struggling with all this information the most: IFPD, Bonneville County Sheriff’s Office, the public defenders, Bonneville County prosecutors or the private practice lawyers-or others that I haven’t named, are the hardest hit by what has been determined about Mason to date? It seemed to me that Mason, through the various stages of his career, has worked with all or most of these sub-groups of law enforcement. Which of the above groups do you think are probably handling all this information the best? I do realize these are your personal opinions and I appreciate you and potentially others, sharing your honest beliefs.
Experts, please help me out with all that I don’t understand. And, unfortunately, I do believe Inside Observer that there is a lot more to come.
Great questions! I would refer most of your questions back to the KPVI website where the entire report from the AG’s office is available.
To answer your questions about how did people “pay” their restitution, read the transcript from Kelly Mallard’s interview. Kelly was formerly a prosecutor but left when Dane got elected. Kimball was born and raised here and has been a “public servant” since the early 1980’s, so of course he knows everyone.
It was interesting in the report how when the county told the police department they could no longer apply for forfeiture due to time restraints, the police department immediately turned to Kimball. So don’t tell me they didn’t know he was willing to “bend” the law. The report makes it quite clear that the issue of Caudle’s gun came up BEFORE the issue of the Suburban. As Chiasm stated so eloquently, Caudle is no mother terea but the majority of his problems weren’t with his ex-wife but many were. As for not having been arrested a bunch of times since he reported the gun, well, it would be hard to be arrested when you’re sitting in jail already.
The AG did name CAudle’s attorney, and it should be noted that they rarely mentioned anyone else’s defense attorney. I truly do not know why. But I suspect that may have more to do with the fact that his attorney was already disclosed when the media released copies of the order signed by the district judge to return Caudle’s gun. The order had his attorney’s name on it. His attorney only lived in Idaho Falls for five or six years so he would not have been a member of the “club”. He is reputed to be the only attorney in Idaho Falls who will take a case to trial. Unfortunately, he moved away but he comes in to take the tough cases every now and again. Good for him. Hopefully his efforts will keep the justice system on their toes.
As for what I’m trying to “prepare you for”, I din’t know anything specific but I am a student of human nature. No one will convince me that Kimball acted alone or that others weren’t participating. If not by commission, by ommission. Again read Mallard’s interview. He had to know what was going on and never said a word to anyone. He just watched. Shame on him. The local government has been controlled by a small group of people for decades. Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. When we don’t turn over our elected officials every so often, we invite the kinds of problems we’re experiencing now.
In the last three elections we had the opportunity to balance the power, put fresh faces in office and we chose to go with the name we knew (not necessarily trusted, but knew). They’ve all been there so long, they can’t possibly think they’re not autonomous, and they are as long as we don’t do our part by going to council meetings, voting, asking questions, etc. The hardest part for many of us will be accepting that we all share responsibility by not asking questions and choosing to just go about our lives without paying any attention to what was going on downtown.
I am however personally aware of other cases that will be breaking into the news soon and it isn’t going to be pretty. It’s time to clean house, folks. I can’t remember who said it, but it was great. When any politician turns his eye to his reelction, his focus is NOT on his job and it’s time to send him home. We have another chance this fall and I hope we take better advantage of it than we have in the past.
As for your question about who has been hit the hardest, I think they’re all carrying a portion of the shame. The prosecutor’s weren’t coordinating their cases with the city (see Jimmie Caudle, his misdemeanor case should have been wrapped up with his felony case), the police department wasn’t following procedure on releasing things from the property room (the city prosecutor would NEVER take things out of the property room except for trial. If a gun was to be traded or destroyed, that transaction would be handled by a member of the police department, not the city prosecutor - EVER!), the public defender’s and defense attorneys are looking bad because they apparently weren’t fighting for their client’s rights (just rolling over when Kimball wanted whatever had been seized, maybe so they could share?), the city mayor and council because they weren’t doing their jobs in overseeing Kimball’s work (ALL public officials are subject to some sort of scrutiny), and on and on.
And finally, we as the public for again, not paying attention. When a defendant is charged with a crime, it’s too easy (convenient?) to say, well, he deserves whatever he gets. But in reality, if we don’t fight for their rights, we’re next in line to lose ours. Soemtime, they are NOT guilty, and sometimes they’re being overcharged to make room for a plea. We just choose not to worry about it until we find ourselves or someone we love in the gun sights of the justice system. And I’m sure the head of every department is wondering about the integrity of everyone underneath him, and those who DID know what was going on and said nothing are surely having some sleepless nights. The comment that there are many good people downtown is correct and that not everyone is corrupt, but if we turn a blind eye to what is happening, aren’t we just as guilty?
Inside Observer,
Thanks for taking the time to answer my questions. Ironically, after I had written what I had here, I did start to read some of the KPVI documents. Among them being the transcripts of interviews with John Stosich and Kelly Mllard. WOW- - what an eye opener.
I did learn that attorney’s name who was representing Jimmie Caudle. Unless I’m confused in what I read, or information was wrong in the local media, isn’t this the same attorney who is now representing the mother charged of involuntary mansluaghter, S.B., in the terrible tragedy that ended her son’s life? I might be wrong,but I thought it was the same person.
Time is a factor for me, so I’m pro-rating how much I read on KPVI at a time. For whatever reason, I’ve decided to read all the transcripts other than Kimball Mason’s first. It interesting to read the difference in what read like straight-forward answers from some people (like Dale Storer) compared to others interviews.
I didn’t know the Ron Swafford originally represented Kimball Mason. I think I got that correct from the transcripts. I probably haven’t gotten far enough to find out why Kimball either got told or thought it might be a good idea for him to get an attorney other than his landlord (Swafford), if I read that correctly.
No, he is not the same attorney representing the mother. His name did appear in the PR because he is representing a defendant on drug charges in Jefferson County that made front page news for a day or two. Our media is so quick to move in and destroy someone’s reputation but when the facts start rolling in and that person is not what they were made to appear, the media is nowhere to be found. I think Rush calls that drive-by media, doesn’t he? I heard a rumor that Kelly Mallard lost his contract with the county to do the conflict public defender’s cases. Does anyone know anything about that?
All of you people who have posted comments are crazy!!! I have been friends with Kimball Mason for over 25 years and I have known him well. He is not the kind of person that would do something like that. So you can all —- — ——– — —-!!!
Of course you are right. Kimball Mason (and you) are the only normal ones. The rest of us are all crazy.
Mr. Ericsson … the man was caught red-handed. Good people sometimes do rotten things, and while I’m in no position to speak about Mason’s person, he did some bad things then tried to cover the whole thing up.
So good person or not, he did those things. It’s time you accepted that. Let the law judge him just like it would judge anybody who committed the crime.
Well, if that really was Todd Ericsson commenting above, did you ever report back on that serial number of the gun you bought from Kimball Mason that you gave to your son? http://www.kpvi.com/mason/document041.pdf
Otherwise, the other comments are on target. He admitted his guilt, said nobody else was involved, then other guns that he swore were destroyed were found IN HIS HOME, one even with the evidence tape still on it.
And your last comment is edited, I would hope you could communicate with others without reverting to sounding like an old drunk in a bar.
I am suprised at how cold you people are. I, personally, do not know Mr. Ericsson, but all he tried to do was protect his friend and you went after him like hungry dogs. And what do you people know about Kimball Mason? How do you know he is such an evil and sinful man? If all your information comes from the media…well, that explains it. I mean, come on. You went after his family. Do you really have to kick the dead dog? This mistake has ruined his life, partly because of all the horrible things the newspaper and news stations have said. I kow Kim Mason, and he would not have given the guns away to other people if he had known it would get them in trouble. He is a good man, and the media and you play him out to be a greedy, horrible man with no morals or standards. And some of the guns that the police confiscated from his house (while his children were home alone) are his grandfather\’s that he had given to his son. He wants to know when the police are going to return his possessions to him.
Ummm: “Mr. Ericsson … all he tried to do was protect his friend and you went after him like hungry dogs.”
Ever hear those in glass houses shouldn’t throw rocks?
I linked to the record that he had one of the stolen weapons. The last reported was he would look into returning it. Is Todd Ericsson still holding onto stolen property? The city of Idaho Falls would like it back.
I also had to edit Mr. Ericsson’s comment because it was below adult discussion standards.
“…you went after him like hungry dogs.” He wrote an out of line rude comment and won’t acknowledge what he did with one of the stolen weapons he has in his possession.
No, we didn’t go after him like hungry dogs, but we ought to.
I’m going to both say “I told you so” and admit “I was slightly wrong” in this post.
Derrick Tingey was sentenced today to 3-10 years for stealing $600,000 (THATS SIX HUNDRED THOUSAND FOLKS) from the Jefferson county school district.
Worst case scenario for Mason is that he stole much less than $100,000 and probably less than $50,000. Mason got 1-5 years. Tingey got 3-10.
Given the relative disparity of dollar amounts they stole the sentences are pretty equal. Both were in positions of trust in the community (Oh woe the public trust - a much overrated concept IMO). Both screwed the public. Both are going to prison.
I’d say this proves that Mason got an appropriate sentence in terms of what others get who do similar crimes.
You are still free to argue to that such people should be punished harsher. But stop with the insane arguments of favorable treatment.
I’ll have to admit you were right (and wrong I guess) on that.
You know, I’d have to say Derek Tingey should get a harsher sentence because stealing from a school district is like stealing from a charity.
You have to wonder how a poor school district could not notice $600k missing, though? How long a period were his crimes spread over? Schools are so strapped, how could they not notice the missing money?
What does that say about their controls, their district administration?
None of you have so far asked the question of how Mason happened to have possession of two different district court judges personal signature stamps. Obviously he had to know that it wasn’t exactly kosher to have something like that. What about the judges themselves? Are they in on this crime ring too? I agree with the statement made earlier that this needs looked into much deeper. It will be interesting to follow this & see how many skunks we can dig up from our burrow of officials here in town.
That’s a great point, did he just slip into the judges’ offices to use the signature stamps or did he have his own versions?
Sounded in the report like he had his own copies. Most clerks have a copy of the MAGISTRATE judge stamps so he could have just snatched one of those when the clerk wasn’t looking. More than one person admitted having seen him use the stamps. Why the heck didn’t anybody say anything? Are we that trusting?
How long do we have to wait to see what will happen to John Stosich? Does anybody really think he’ll be appointed to judge?
Trusting or just stupid?
Obviously John Stosich really thinks he could be appointed, that alone is something to be very concerned with
Sorry, I don’t take the paper or get to read the news regularly. What’s up with the Stosich-judge thing? You can’t be serious intimating that he’s looking for a judgeship while being implicated in the KM thing. From what I’ve heard, i.e. shuffling stolen weapons (ok ALLEGEDLY shuffling & and proven stolen) back & and forth between his house & Mason’s, how could this happen? I’m incredulous. If this is true, I will say again that we need to point a longer finger at our current judges, their clerks, and the whole process whereby our judges are selected, as well as how justice has been done in the last few years that Mason has been doing his thing. Something here still doesn’t smell right.
Yeah, the PR reported John Stosich had applied for a judge position. It was somewhere in southeast Idaho, but I don’t know the specifics.
I think it was also reported that Stosich applied before his name got attached to Kimball Mason’s delightful aura. So it’s not likely he’ll actually get it.
The mayor of ST Anthony hired a police chief from out of state. His reasoning was to many times the police would let someone get out of a speeding ticket, or a DWI charge because they were his neighbor/cousin/friend ect. He thought bringing in new people would stop the “good old boy” behavior. He was rewarded with an attempted recall.
Its to bad the state prosecutor had to come in to Idaho falls to set things right re Kimball.
Wow — I wonder if that was really Todd Ericsson who posted above. Hi Todd! Long time no see. From what I read recently — on the AG’s web site — someone was not 100% truthful when questioned by State Investigators! Then, from what I read — more stolen guns were found in the home of your daughter — in Utah. Not sure whats gona happen now — but waiting on “pins and needles” to find out…. If you and/or Stosich go to trial I am taking the day off to come watch!
Oh Todd — one more thing — Kiball was my friend too — and I support him as a person, but hey — he did screw up x 2 and he needs to pay the price. And it sounds now as though he is. I am sorry for he and his family… but he shouldn’t have done the crime — if he couldn’t do the time….
It probably wasn’t Todd that posted.
Todd is currently working overseas and has been for a long time. He, like quite a few other formerIFPD cops, quit to take a job where they train police in developing nations and make much more money than they can ever make at the IFPD. He occasionally comes back to the states so possibly he was here when that was posted.
Ok,Chiasm, but that still doesn’t clear Todd’s name from potential charges of hiding stolen guns. The facts remain that he has been questioned and possibly lied, and/or attempted to hide these stolen weapons from the investigation into misconduct. If he’s been gone that long, then how did the AG’s man question him? Maybe he took off & got out of here while the getting was good. If so, then “HE’LL BE BAACK”…. LMAO !!!!
I think the media/AG’s office hinted that they were still investigating the situation and more charges could be filed?
So who else is still in play here?
I count John Stosich and Todd Ericsson as the biggest potential indictees right now, anyone else?
And what number of smaller players may be indicted or slip through the cracks? Kimball’s son and spouse, who must have known about the stolen weapons in their home? Other lawyers or cops Kimball may have given weapons to? What about those court clerks who saw Kimball using those signature stamps but did not even question it, let alone report it?
Perhaps at the least, the city should send workers to a 1-day ethics seminar at the civic auditorium. If it was good enough for the White House staff, it should be good enough for our city employees.
Did Kimball have much of a budget he controlled? Given his ethical lapses, shouldn’t his budget be audited to see if he was skimming there, also?
Chiasm — I know those guys over sees get on the Internet all the time. I chat real time with a few of them — and have told them about this site –I agree though — it didn’t sound like Todd. The vulgar outblast wasn’t his style. I would say it was a young family member or close friend…. could have been Todd from over sees though
Joe,
Kimball didn’t have a budget, per se. He was an independent contractor hired by the city to act as city prosecutor. As such, he was paid a specified amount of money per year. Out of that money, he had to pay any and all expenses incurred by him in the performance of his duties - rent, utilities, secretarial, insurance, etc.. So there would not be any skimming.
That does bring up the question of malpractice. All attorneys do, or should, carry malpractice insurance because they can be sued for not doing their jobs properly. I wonder …
Did Kimballs’ cronies get away? Take a look at this excerpt from the PR.
“Weapon: Ruger .44-caliber Super Black Hawk revolver, Serial #8396406
Who had it: Frank Sparkman, who stored it in a post office box in Idaho Falls. Sparkman was interviewed by police at the post office and was according to reports, displaying delusional behavior. The gun and a box of ammunition were taken as evidence. IFPD records indicated that they were released to Mason.
Who got it: Mason gave it to Stephen Blaser, a Blackfoot lawyer who represented Sparkman. Blaser turned it over to investigators in January.”
Why is this important? Because I was working at teh PD when all this was goingon and I remember dealing with Sparkman on sevral occasions. I know for a fact the Sparkman made numerous attempts to file a report with the IFPD about Mason stealing his gun. I know for a fact that all of the upper ups knew about it. The story was legend at the department because Sparkman told everyone he could, including the apst and present mayors, and the county prosecutor. But the department gaffed him off time and again. As time went by Sparkman began to hate the cops more and more. Whenever I dealt with him, I got along fine with him because I told him I believed him. Why? Because severel officers told me they knew Kimball had Sparkman’s gun. Were they telling the truth? I didn’t know then, but I sure know now.
In my opinion it took some big balls and little brains to give that gun to Sparkman’s lawyer. It is also insultive to Sparkman. My concern is that a backroom deal was struck between lawyers and a mentally ill person was taken advantage of. The PD wanted Sparkamn off the streets, no question about it. Especially with Kimball pushing the issue becasue Sparkman lived just one block away from him, and Kimball was hearing about in church.
But the big question now falls back to the PD and Livsey, when they say they only knew about Kimball’s thefts after the suburban incident. No they didn’t they knew long before that. But during those days you couldn’t walk by a Captian’s door, or the chief’s office and not see Mason in one of those areas joking and carrying on. By the way, if he wasn’t in one of those offices, he was downstairs working out with………
Todd Ericsson.
So it has finally come out that one of the defense attorneys did actually end up with his client’s gun. That’s more than insulting. It’s unethical. Why doesn’t Sparkman sue his attorney? If he wanted that gun, he couldn’t possibly have been representing his client’s best interests. Has he been reported to the bar?
So we’re on the war path about who will be named the next chief of police but we need to be as actively involved in who gets named the next judge. The cops can try to get away with things, but ultimately it won’t work if an honest person is presiding over the case. Anyone can write the judge and ask about his case. Did Sparkman try that, I wonder? I’m not saying the judges are involved, but we’ve had plenty of back room deals in other appointments, but we should be screaming from the rooftops over who gets named judge. It absolutely positively MUST NOT BE a crony of the department.
I can say that we tried to have Kimball sanctioned by the Idaho Bar Association and they discouraged us from following up on our allegations. I contacted them on several other instances to inquire about our complaint and they never responded. My guess is that they knew about the problems but were never going to investigate, probably because of ‘good ole boy’ politics. We also contacted the mayor’s office regarding Kimball’s behaviour and received the same type of response. None of these people can say they were unaware of Kimball’s action without perjuring themselves. I hope they all stand trail for being complicant in these crimes.
John, I would think that you would be a valuable witness for proving the above allegations. Have you been interviewed by Mike Dillon? Do you have proof of reporting the crimes to the IBA or the mayor?
Hi Paula,
I should have copies of all my correspondances with the various agencies. My complaints pertained to the outcome of my brother’s case, who was killed by a truck driver that was never charged with any crime despite breaking several laws. Does Mike Dillon work for the AG’s office? They too should have my contact information as I sent them numerous letters complaining about Kimball Mason. I would be more than happy to speak with them if asked.
So can they still arrest Ericsson even when he’s out of the country? And what’s being said about other arrests connected to the case?
Well, if Comment #28 really was from Todd Ericcson, it was quite an interesting turn of events for him to get charged for lying about some of Kimball’s guns.
This is a crying shame. The worst of Masons crimes, to include: the majority of the district court, and the gestapo mentalaty style police department “will go on”. This can be proven with certainty that prosecutorial abuse, and overzealous prosecutors have destroyed the personal lives and economic lives of the victims.
The consequences for the overzealous prosecutor is too often the sought-after fame, fortune, power and political position, but the victims (including virtually everyone in the community) are left to pay the bill for wrongful incarceration, excessive criminal proceedings, destroyed families, wrongfully-confiscated property depriving a newly-accused defendant of the funds to defend himself/herself.
Kimball is not the only bad seed…There is currently a young prosecutor (L Kermit) whom needs to be two things: Humane & Ethical and he would be a better person. This is the next bad seed. This prosecutor will have a complaint filed against him with the Idaho State Bar within the next 6 months, “peroid”
Anonymous, what are you taking about, do you not think Mason got what he deserved? the sad part here is that nothing is going to happen to Stosich cause he cried all over himself.
For one thing, the only reason Mason has been charged again is by his own misfortune. Without a doubt his entire case would have been swept, and rest assured, Mason would have had a short stay of execution (law license) and then he would have been practicing in Idaho again. Do not believe for a moment that mason is not GUILTY of more criminal acts. Money, knives, sunglasses, t-shirts, drugs etc. missing, but the real crime is the “prosecutorial misconduct”. Stosich is not free and clear yet, I assume. If you are referring to Stosich as the “other” bad seed, he is not a PA. The other PA is young, green, and namely (L. Kermit). Kermit is the second para. to the blog #58, and that is what should be investigated in regards to the Bonneville County/Mason saga, and the rest of the prosecutors office!!!
I’ve never heard of Mason being involved with drugs and I have never heard of L.Kermit, did he work with Mason? Please explain.
L. Kermit is a given nickname, to be released in the near furure. Now Mason…try investigating his dealings with Wiemer Heating and Air Conditioning.
I don’t think the AG is done yet and I believe more is yet to come. I do NOT think Stosich will be charged. There will be other areas of lawsuits and investigations that do not include the Mason issue that will help disclose some of the conduct of the prosecutors who believe they are above the law and exempt from its provisions. Just stay tuned.
Come on guys some facts would be nice. Lots of mystery here.
OK Just Me…Want a fact. Holding the name; a Lieutenant with the IF Police Dept. committed a felony, (wire fraud) and he was excused!
So were these new investigations brought about by the Mason issue. I mean since the Mason deal happened is the AG’s office now looking into the IF court system, prosecutors, cops, judges etc. I thought the only way they would do this if if they were asked to do so. Do you think Stosich will lose his license? You seem to be well informed. It seem some police officers past and present used add alot of info and have now stopped, whats that all about?
It’s funny that drugs should be mentioned. (comment 61) There are some really interesting stories involving Mason’s partner in crime Todd E.
I wonder if they’ll ever see the light of day?
You know what is all funny…This is such a shallow community we wouldn’t know something drastic happened unless it hit us in the face. My meaning is….we as reasonable/logical minded ones, are sheltered from the real crime’s around us, and has been that way for eon’s. I believe we need a TOWN GENERAL, someone that’s only job is to observe civil rights violations within the community. If one had a pile of money they could start a class action law suit that would smell to high heaven. As I stated in #58 there are others in the PA Office that need ethical evaluations, and some of the current Judges need to be relieved because of this mess. I think this story needs national attendtion inorder to receive a proper investigation, and to include where is the ATF?
I have a little story about something that happened to me years ago, which now ties in nicely with the Kimball Mason – Todd Ericcson debacle. People may or may not find this to be interesting, but I believe that it is. Back about 18 years ago I was a Police Officer on the Idaho Falls Police Department. I got home one morning after working all night, and just as I was getting into bed I received a call from a local FBI Agent. He identified himself, and I knew him. I didn’t know him well, but I knew who he was. He said that he needed to speak with me about something. Thinking that this was in regards to me being a reference for someone’s security clearance I casually said “no problem, I am going to bed now, but will be getting up around 4.†He said “no – you don’t understand. I need to see you NOW.†This sort of freaked me out and I asked “am I in some kind of trouble or something?†He said “you might be.†I threw on my clothes and drove immediately to his office, which in those days was located near Lomax and Yellowstone. I walked in and sat down, wondering what in the world could be happening. This FBI Agent threw a paper and an envelope onto the table in front of me. He said “does this look familiar?†I looked the letter over and had never seen it before in my life. It was a letter that someone had written anonymously to the FBI Office – sent to the FBI office in Montana, if I remember correctly. The letter was obviously written by a cop – by the words used and the content of the letter itself. The letter described then Idaho Falls Police Detective Todd Ericcson and it alleged some very unethical, improper and illegal activities on his part. As I read the letter, I remember thinking that this was obviously someone who had worked closely with Todd, and apparently had seen these things happen first hand. The letter described illegal searches, and some other improper investigative techniques that were illegal. It described actual crimes that were committed. Since these were crimes allegedly committed by a Police Officer against citizens, the FBI had a duty to Investigate because these were potentially Civil Rights violations – and therefore had Federal Jurisdiction. I read the letter and put it back on the table and said “so?†The FBI Agent told me that I had written the letter to defame Todd’s character, and that I was in some big trouble. I explained to this FBI Agent that personally I had heard rumors of many of the things in the letter – but that I never seen any of it first hand. I also said that if I had seen any of it first hand I would have written the letter myself – and signed my damn name to it. I told him that though I personally believed that everything in the letter was likely true, I had no first hand knowledge – and therefore was NOT in a position to write such a latter to the FBI. This Agent continued to push me for a “confession.†I could not believe how hard he was working to discover who wrote this letter against his Lil’ Buddy Todd. I told him that from an investigative standpoint it was ridiculous to devote FBI time and resources to discovering who wrote the letter in such a accusatory way. I recommended that it might be better if he used an equal amount of time and energy investigating the allegations, to see if perhaps they were true. It was just very sad that this FBI idiot didn’t care at all about the alleged violations of law. All he wanted to know was “who wrote the letter against his friend?†Now, many years later this interesting but not entirely surprising turn of events has taken place. Obviously Mr. Ericcson is innocent until proven guilty, and I certainly wish him all the best. But if he is found guilty of this crime, there was a very interesting precursor many years ago that indicated there was a problem. I also think that it is funny now to hear Chief Livsey talk about Todd and the “slap in the face†he has given the Department and all of the Officers. The truth is that Todd was always treated like the Golden Boy before Livsey arrived, and if my memory serves me correctly – even after. He had some friends in high places on the Department, and always seemed to me to be receiving special treatment. When he left the Department I remember thinking “wow – that’s a civil law suit that the city just dodged.†The fact is that the 2nd time that Todd was hired (rehired) on the Police Department it was about 1997 or 98. Livsey was there. Livsey would have likely been involved in that rehiring process in some way, and even if he was not personally involved, he is responsible for it because he was the Chief of Police. Now given some of the things that Todd was allegedly involved in – and given the questionable nature of his character and previous work history on the Department – why in the world would the Chief allow him to return to the Department? Frankly I was floored when I heard they had hired him back. It’s funny now, to read the Chiefs words in the news: “I didn’t trust him.†Well then why did you rehire him? And the Captains knew or should have known what a liability Todd was going to be. Most everyone else did. It’s a little club down there. As long as you belong to the right “group of friends†– life is good. And the “slap in the face†the city police received? That happened the day they hired Todd back. So this slap in the face wasn’t just Todd’s