Cracker Jacked

By Lawrence Sterling III

Cracker Jacked tells the story of a Baylor University graduate and Navy Veteran from East Oakland, California. Lawrence Sterling tells his story of how he fought to receive his honorable discharge, the negative adversity he received from top administration at Wyotech Automotive, racial profiling, racism, excessive force administered by the City of Hayward Police Department, and deceit from the attorney he employed to obtain justice from those very crooked cops. Take a daunting journey with Lawrence Sterling as he tries to explain the chaos that he had to endure from his through his eyes.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Gatekeeper Press
• Release date: Aug 5, 2021
• ISBN: 9781662917585

Book preview

Chapter 1

THE UNITED STATES V. LAWRENCE STERLING III

A snowy view of the Island from the flight deck onboard the USS Abraham Lincoln

When: Wednesday, August 6, 2008 4:15 a.m.

Where: Home Depot parking lot - Livermore, California

I’m a good guy…you know, so I’m mindin’ my own business, headed to the Expedition after a long night of stocking paint at Home Depot in Livermore, California, where I was working at the time.

I was approaching my truck in the parking lot, when all of a sudden, out of the shadows of the night, the Livermore Police Department, with pistols drawn, tells me to Freeeze!!! and to get down on the ground!!

Scared shitless, I follow their commands, placed my hands behind my back, and was handcuffed. Hell, I was happy it was just the police!

One of the police asked if I was Lawrence Sterling and if I had any problems with the military? I told him I was Lawrence. And then he asked me where my Glock was.

My Glock? I asked.

He said yeah, I know you keep a Glock in a black case in your Expedition wherever you go. I said Damn, how do you know that!?

He said, We got good computers… LOL

…if by computers, he meant snitches.

I was then placed in the back seat of a police car. While I sat handcuffed, tired and confused as the police searched my truck, I noticed that the police officer forgot to conceal the information on his computer screen that shows who the caller was, the nature of the complaint, the number called from, the time they called, and any extra notes that the police may feel are useful for their safety when apprehending a suspect. For instance, i.e., ‘Suspect may be armed and dangerous’. In this case, my complainant felt it was necessary to inform the police that my Glock was on me.

Turns out, my soon to be ex-wife thought it was a good idea to call the police on me and inform them that I was AWOL from the Navy because she was mad. She thought that telling the police I kept a pistol on me wherever I go was a nice touch.

She overheard a conversation that my supervisor and I were having about females, divorce, and life in general a couple of hours earlier after my phone accidentally butt dialed her.

After eavesdropping for over 20 minutes, she called the Livermore Police Department and would have them waiting in the parking lot for me after I got off work that morning at 4am.

I had been AWOL for six months from the Navy and working part-time at Home Depot trying to figure out what my next move would be.

The conversation between me and my supervisor really pissed her off, so she thought she would get back at me by turning me over to the police for being AWOL since February 2008.

As I rode in the back seat on my way to Santa Rita County Jail, I knew that I would be in for the most difficult time of my life…up to that point. There was certainly more to come after that.

Prior to going AWOL, I was a 2nd Class Petty Officer. I made it to E-5 in 3 years. I was the Weapons Department Junior Petty Officer of the Quarter for the first quarter of 2006.

As Ordnance Team Leader, I was a major contributor in ensuring the safe and expeditious offload of over 4.5 million pounds of ordnance valued at over $187 million, with no mishaps. (I.Y.A.O.Y.A.S.)

As Administrative Assistant for G-3 Division, I was responsible for creating and implementing an efficient filing system for over 110 divisional records, resulting in a 35% reduced turnaround time and 100% accurate accountability of personnel records.

After crossing the three year mark in the Navy, I was awarded the Good Conduct Medal in recognition of faithful, zealous, and obedient naval service.

Before joining the Navy, I received a Bachelor’s Degree in Speech Communication from Baylor University in Waco, Texas. Baylor is the largest Baptist university in the world. Baylor is also the oldest university in the state of Texas, and the only private school in the Big 12.

To describe Baylor as the ‘Stanford of Texas’ would be wrong. To say that Stanford is the ‘Baylor of California’ is more accurate.

After graduating in 2001, I worked as a substitute teacher at my alma mater, Bishop O’Dowd High School in Oakland, California.

I had an excellent naval career and record to match, but once word got to the chain of command that I was being investigated for fraud, they treated me very bad. In other words, I was guilty before I even stood trial.

Hell…it began six months before I was to go on terminal leave September 30, 2007, to be honorably discharged, when the ship’s NCIS investigator Michael DeFamio informed the Captain, my chain of command in the Weapons Department, and the Security Department (72nd Precinct) that he was conducting an investigation on me.

Both departments that I was working in started to treat me as if I had been convicted already. I had to appear at captain’s mast for some trumped-up charges conspired by my supervisors. Following mast, the Captain put me on Ship’s restriction for 30 days, a month prior to me going AWOL, and reduced my rank from E-5 to E-4.

Ship’s restriction was annoying because I had to muster four times a day in my inspection-ready ‘Dress Blue’ uniform and recite the ‘Sailor’s Creed’ with the other individuals who were on restriction in the hangar bay. I also could not leave the ship when it was in port.

I wasn’t even supposed to be there in the first place. I was extended involuntarily for an investigation led by special agent Michael DeFamio that exceeded three months after the date I was supposed to be discharged from the Navy.

DeFamio informed my superiors that I was suspected of fraud and may have stolen up to $45,000 from the Navy in the course of a year.

I only stayed 6 days in Santa Rita County Jail while I waited for the Navy desertion transporters to escort me from Santa Rita County jail, to Naval Brig Kitsap in Silverdale, Washington.

They had me handcuffed to my waist as if I were a murderous felon. I was escorted through the Oakland International Airport and flown back to SeaTac Airport in Seattle. I’m not a huge fan of flying, and to be handcuffed on an airplane is twice as disturbing.

Since I was apprehended instead of voluntarily turning myself over to the proper authorities, I was checked into Transient Personnel Unit Puget Sound at Naval Base Kitsap.

Soon after meeting with the administration, comprising of the guards, counselor, family liaison, Priest and the Warden, I was introduced to my appointed lawyer, LT O’Brien.

LT O’Brien and I didn’t get along at all. He had this look about him that I didn’t trust, and it was obvious by his attitude and body language that he made up his mind before actually looking into my case.

LT O’Brien really didn’t believe anything I said, and eventually, I dismissed him as my counsel. LT David Fowler volunteered as lead counsel. At the first meeting with LT O’Brien is when I was presented with the case of ‘The United States v. Lawrence Sterling III’. This was the first time I was able to see what charges the Government had against me. There were six charges in all:

Charge I

Violation of the UCMJ, Article 86 - accused me saying that I did on active duty, on or about 5 February 2008, without authority, absent myself from