Officer Santa Claus is Ben Ward

by Greg Miler - Investigative Reporter

PARKERSBURG, WV. The Parkersburg police officer who improperly identified himself as "Santa Claus" is Officer Ben Ward badge #50. The officer is accused of conducting an illegal search of Mr. Libert's home and not having probable cause, consent to search or a search warrant issued by a judge. Furthermore, a PCC investigation into the incident also indicated the officer had no other circumstance that would give a police officer authority under the law to enter and search Mr Libert's home.

What makes the incident more aggravating is the fact the officer improperly identified himself nor gave a justifiable reason for his actions. The Parkersburg Police Department refused to provide Mr Libert any relief in this matter thus resulting in a court order to provide information about the identity of Officer Santa Claus. So far the lawsuit seems to be progressing in favor of Mr Libert.

With further investigating by the Police Complaint Center, Mr Libert should have restitution and closure in this matter. The following documents will provide evidence about the Santa Claus incident.

Parkersburg Police Department Under Investigation

by Greg Miller - Investigative Reporter

PARKERSBURG, WV - This is an ongoing PoliceAbuse.com investigation involving a Parkersburg police officer who identified himself as “Officer Santa Clause”. Doug Libert filed a federal lawsuit claiming an illegal search occurred at his residence when Officer Santa Clause entered into Libert’s home without probable cause, search warrant or consent of Libert.

The Parkersburg Police Department has been guilty of not complying with a court order requiring the true identity of Officer Santa Clause to be revealed. Furthermore, the Parkersburg Police Department is also guilty of obstructing an investigation by failing to comply with the West Virginia State laws that require the department to release public documents relating to important government activities. The police department refuses to give up facts about the department’s personnel; especially, the name and rank of police officers who are employed with the department.

In the end, Libert wishes the true identity of the officer to be know and that the police department takes corrective action to help better it’s professional standards.

2009 Crime Statistics - FBI

FBI Press Releases

According to the figures released today by the FBI, the estimated number of violent crimes in the nation declined in 2009 for the third consecutive year. Property crimes also declined in 2009, marking the seventh straight year that the collective estimates for these offenses dropped below the previous year’s total.

The 2009 statistics show that the estimated volumes of violent and property crimes declined 5.3 percent and 4.6 percent, respectively, when compared with the 2008 estimates. The violent crime rate for the year was 429.4 offenses per 100,000 inhabitants (a 6.1 percent decrease from the 2008 rate), and the property crime rate was 3,036.1 per 100,000 persons (a 5.5 percent decrease from the 2008 figure).

These and additional data are presented in the 2009 edition of the FBI’s annual report Crime in the United States. This publication is a statistical compilation of offense and arrest data reported by law enforcement agencies voluntarily participating in the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program.

The UCR Program collects information on crimes reported by law enforcement agencies regarding the violent crimes of murder and nonnegligent manslaughter, forcible rape, robbery, and aggravated assault, as well as the property crimes of burglary, larceny-theft, motor vehicle theft, and arson. (Although the FBI classifies arson as a property crime, it does not estimate arson data because of variations in the level of participation by the reporting agencies. Consequently, arson is not included in the property crime estimate.) The program also collects arrest data for the offenses listed above plus 21 additional offenses that include all other crimes except traffic violations.

In 2009, there were 17,985 city, county, university and college, state, tribal, and federal agencies that participated in the UCR Program. These agencies represented 96.3 percent of the nation’s population. A summary of the statistics reported by these agencies, which are included in Crime in the United States, 2009,follows:

Nationwide in 2009, there were an estimated 1,318,398 violent crimes reported.


Each of the four violent crime offenses decreased when compared with the 2008 estimates. Murder and nonnegligent manslaughter and robbery had the largest decreases: 7.3 percent and 8.0 percent, respectively. In addition, aggravated assault decreased 4.2 percent, and forcible rape declined 2.6 percent.


Nationwide in 2009, an estimated 9,320,971 property crimes were reported.


Each of the property crime offenses also decreased in 2009 when compared with the 2008 estimates. The largest decline was for motor vehicle thefts: a 17.1 percent decrease from the 2008 figure. The estimated number of larceny-thefts declined 4.0 percent, and the estimated number of burglaries decreased 1.3 percent.


Collectively, victims of property crimes (excluding arson) lost an estimated $15.2 billion in 2009.


The FBI estimated that in 2009, agencies nationwide made about 13.7 million arrests, excluding traffic violations.


The 2009 arrest rate for violent crimes was 191.2 per 100,000 inhabitants; for property crime, the rate was 571.1 per 100,000 inhabitants.


By violent crime offense, the arrest rate for murder and nonnegligent manslaughter was 4.1; forcible rape, 7.0; robbery, 42.0; and aggravated assault was 138.2 per 100,000 inhabitants.


By property crime offense, the arrest rate for burglary was 98.1; larceny-theft, 442.3; and motor vehicle theft, 26.8 per 100,000 inhabitants. The arrest rate for arson was 4.0 per 100,000 inhabitants.


In 2009, there were 14,614 law enforcement agencies that reported their staffing levels to the FBI. These agencies reported that, as of October 31, 2009, they collectively employed 706,886 sworn officers and 314,570 civilians, a rate of 3.5 employees for each 1,000 inhabitants.

Parkersburg Police Department Professional Cop

by Greg Miller - Investigative Reporter

PARKERSBURG, WV – PCC News is conducting an ongoing investigation about an incident with a Parkersburg police officer who refused/failed to identify himself. The police officer allegedly went to Mr. Libert’s home, identified himself as Santa Claus and conducted an illegal search on the home. There is a federal lawsuit pending against the police department.

PCC News conducted surveillance outside the Parkersburg Police Department in attempts to identify the Santa Clause cop and was later stopped by a Parkersburg Police Detective. Unlike the Santa Clause cop, the police detective conducted himself in a professional manner.

Here is the raw footage of the traffic stop.

Parkersburg Police Department, WV - Who is Officer Santa Clause?

by Greg Miller - Investigative Reporter

PARKERSBURG, WV - Mr. Libert has filed a lawsuit against the Parkersburg Police Department following an alleged illegal search and invasion of privacy against an officer who identified himself as "Santa Claus". Libert was granted a court order requiring the police department to disclose the actual name of the Santa Claus cop. The police department has not responded to the court order.

On September 29, 2008 a Parkersburg police officer showed up at Libert's home and stated "We have an emergency situation, child endangered". Libert asked the officer for his name, the officer responded "this is Santa Clause" and demanded to enter the home. Without permission or a search warrant the officer went into the rear bedroom and ordered Libert to remove a security security camera that was pointing towards a fence on his property.

Libert advised us that he installed a security camera because of problems of vandalism and trespassing by juveniles. He has reported complaints to the police department several times with no success at stopping the problems.

A lawsuit was filed against the police department along with a court order signed by a judge ordering the police department to identify the Santa Claus police officer. The deadline to answer the order has passed with no response from police department or the city attorney's office.

PCC staff spoke to Capt K.D. Roberts who said a police officer is required to identify themselves by their actual name upon request by a citizen. The city attorney, Joe Santer, was not available to comment as to why they failed to answer the court order.

Any professional police officer should be required to disclose their real name to a requesting citizen and not give a false name to prevent a citizen from making a complaint against them. Additionally, a police officer should be an effective communicator and not misuse their authority in issues involving a citizen's right to privacy.