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 PRESS RELEASES
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 GWINNETT COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY DANNY PORTER'S HIDDEN CAMERA
On January 15, 2003, officials from the Gwinnett County Police Department executed three search warrants at Mr. Cooper's Lawrenceville, Georgia home. Lead detective Stephanie Morrison completed all required property sheets, but admitted during court testimony that she drove Mr. Cooper's property around metropolitan Gwinnett County in the trunk of her police car for three days before placing the items in the police department's property room.
Police officers removed from Mr. Cooper's home boxes and bags full of Mr. Cooper's and children's personal property, and photographed nearly every square inch of Mr. Cooper's home while executing the search warrants. Upon Mr. Cooper's return home, he discovered his safe containing $17,000 cash, handwritten letters from his deceased grandmothers, and other collectibles was missing. Mr. Cooper's attorney notified Detective Morrison and her superiors of the loss, but no one admitted having seen or removing the safe from Mr. Cooper's home.
Following Mr. Cooper's acquittal at trial, Mr. Cooper requested the return of all of his personal property stolen from his home by police. Some items were returned before Mr. Cooper's trial. Other items were returned after Mr. Cooper's trial. But many items remained missing, lost, or otherwise stolen.
Mr. Cooper filed a lawsuit naming the Gwinnett County Police Department responsible for the loss or theft of his personal property. Georgia law requires the State, counties, and its agencies including police departments be provided notice of any litigation one year in advance of filing a lawsuit. Georgia's statute of limitations limits the time period in which a lawsuit may be filed for a tort (i.e., theft). Mr. Cooper's lawsuit against the Gwinnett County Police Department was summarily dismissed due to the one year pre-lawsuit notice required.
The Superior Court of Gwinnett County, Georgia, ordered the Gwinnett County Police Department and Gwinnett County District Attorney's Office return all of Mr. Cooper's personal property to him immediately. Neither the Gwinnett County Police Department nor the Gwinnett County District Attorney's Office complied with the Court's Order.
In addition to Mr. Cooper's private battle for the return of his personal property, Mr. Cooper filed an Open Records Act request to examine the District Attorney's files. Mr. Cooper was convinced, and later proved, the Gwinnett County District Attorney's Office violated Georgia's Rules of Criminal Procedure by withholding exculpatory information and other discovery items required for disclosure prior to trial. Mr. Keeton provided Mr. Cooper many of his personal property items kept by the D.A.'s office for use against Mr. Cooper at trial. However, other personal items, including Mr. Cooper's safe and its contents, remained missing. Weeks following Mr. Cooper's personal visit to the D.A.'s office, he received copies of the documents he requested under the Open Records Act. Mr. Cooper never received the remainder of his personal property.
On March 2, 2006, Mr. Cooper received an unexpected package by mail from Gwinnett County district attorney Danny Porter. The package contained a letter from Porter, an alleged inventory of Mr. Cooper's property seized by police, and a video tape. Mr. Porter's letter was written in response to Mr. Cooper's repeated attempts to obtain his personal property seized by police from Mr. Cooper's Lawrenceville, Georgia home during execution of a search warrant.
Mr. Porter initially commissioned a member of his staff, as evidenced by the initials "DK" on the draft letter, possibly prosecuting attorney David Keeton, to draft a letter to Mr. Cooper in answer to his request for his personal property. Mr. Cooper never received Mr. Porter's letter, but the draft was discovered in the Clerk of Court's public access file.
Mr. Porter's letter denies any knowledge of Mr. Cooper's missing property. Mr. Porter claims his District Attorney's Office returned all of Mr. Cooper's property to him when Mr. Cooper visited the District Attorney's Office to examine the prosecutor's case file under Georgia's Open Records Act.
Most disturbing, Porter disclosed that his investigator, Jeff Smith, and assistant district attorney David Keeton, video taped Mr. Cooper's visit to the District Attorney's Office using a micro camera hidden inside a fake plant on a bookshelf in the District Attorney's conference room. Mr. Porter alleged the videotape proved the District Attorney's Office had already returned Mr. Cooper's property to him. Instead, Danny Porter's hidden video revealed the unscrupulous practices of the Gwinnett County District Attorney's Office.
Mr. Cooper has never received the return of many items of his personal property, including valuable collectibles, cherished letters from his deceased grandmothers, and $17,000 in cash.
To read our PRESS RELEASE, click here.
To view a portion of DANNY PORTER'S SECRET VIDEO using a hidden camera, click here.
To view DANNY PORTER'S LETTER TO MR. COOPER, click here.
To view DANNY PORTER'S DRAFT LETTER sent to the Judge, but not Mr. Cooper, click here.
 GWINNETT COUNTY DFACS DIRECTOR SAYS AGENCY IN "CRISIS MODE"
On March 4, 2006, Lisa Lariscy, director of the Gwinnett County Department of Family and Children Services, told a newspaper reporter the agency was operating in "crisis mode" about two years ago (2003).
In 2003, former foster parent Erik A. Cooper was brought to trial in Gwinnett County, Georgia, for nine counts of child molestation involving six of his former foster children. Before Mr. Cooper's arrest and prosecution, he was an outspoken child welfare advocate and criticized corruption and mismanagement within the Gwinnett County Department of Family and Children Services.
Mr. Cooper reported his concerns for corruption and mismanagement to Georgia Governors Barnes and Perdue, former DHR Commissioner Jim Martin, and former DFACS Director Juanita Blount-Clark. Mr. Cooper's concerns were ignored. Lisa Laricy's admission confirms Mr. Cooper's allegations. An independent child welfare advocacy group also affirmed Mr. Cooper's claims.
To read this press release, click here.
To view the Atlanta Journal-Constitution article, click here.
To view Mr. Cooper's Letter to the Editor of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, click here.
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