Ex-cop accused of subverting jail protocol to contact victim

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A former police officer who was recently sentenced to up to 19 years in prison for repeatedly stalking and harassing a woman called her nine times from the Polk County Jail after his latest arrest, in violation of a no-contact order, according to court records.

Walter Pacheco, 29, of Pleasant Hill, has asked a judge to reconsider that sentence, claiming its imposition last month “has impressed upon him the importance of living a lawful lifestyle,” according to the request.

He had already repeatedly violated no-contact orders that stemmed from his criminal cases related to the woman in the past two years, including by passing her the draft of a letter to send to county prosecutors in an effort to escape punishment, court records show.

The victim emailed the letter to Thomas Tolbert, an assistant Polk County attorney. In it, she describes herself as “very jealous” and “insecure,” according to a copy of the letter that was filed recently in court.

It’s unclear whether the victim knew the full contents of the letter because she speaks Spanish and Tolbert has requested a translator to assist her testimony at trial, court records show.

“He is actually a good guy, and those who really know him can vouch for him,” the letter said. “Hearsay got the better of me, please do not let it get to you too.”

Pacheco initially received suspended prison sentences for his convictions of burglary, stalking, tampering with a witness and willful injury. Despite subsequent warnings to cease his contact with the woman or face prison time — including one that resulted in a jail stint last year for violating a no-contact order — Pacheco was arrested in October for allegedly approaching her at a public gym and following her in his vehicle.

He was charged with felony stalking. While at the Polk County Jail, Pacheco called the victim nine times in October, November and December, most often using the phone accounts of other inmates, court records show.

The jail’s phone system is equipped to block calls from inmates to those who are the subject of a protective order, said Lt. Steven Courtney, an administrative captain at the jail.

The system uses voice recognition to ensure inmates are not using someone else’s account, but “the technology is only so good,” Courtney told the Iowa Capital Dispatch. “Once the conversation is going, it doesn’t pick it up as well.”

He said inmates sometimes initiate calls on their own account and then pass the phone to another inmate. There were nearly 900 inmates in the Polk jail on Friday.

The victim declined to answer each of Pacheco’s calls, court records show. In addition to the stalking charge, Pacheco now faces nine more criminal charges for those calls for contempt of court, which were filed this week. His trial has been delayed to July.

A court hearing to discuss Pacheco’s request to reconsider the prison sentence was delayed to next week. He is still held at the county jail.

Pacheco — also known by the surname Pacheco Belen — was a briefly a police officer in Carroll and Eagle Grove, even though another woman had alleged he threatened to kill her and her daughter. Pacheco was forced to resign from the Carroll job and was fired by Eagle Grove. He is no longer a certified peace officer.

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