Disturbing Disappearances Linked to Racist Deputy
STAFF WRITER MARCH 1, 2024 https://blacknetnews.com/2024/03/01/racist_cops_from_naples/
Reprinted by Imanche Sunday Adiyoh March 19, 2024
In the quiet town of Naples, Florida, the mysterious disappearances of Terrance Williams and Felipe Santos have left families grappling with unanswered questions for nearly two decades. These unsettling events are closely tied to a former deputy sheriff, Cpl. Steven Calkins, whose actions during that period have come under scrutiny.
Terrance Williams, a hardworking man with a passion for literature, and Felipe Santos, both drivers without valid licenses, vanished after separate encounters with Deputy Calkins. Marcia Williams, Terrance’s mother, remains haunted by the inexplicable disappearance of her only child, echoing the sentiments of Santos’s friends and relatives in Oaxaca.
Doug Molloy, an assistant US attorney in 2004, spearheaded a task force investigating the disappearances as potential hate crimes, suspecting racial motivations. However, despite numerous inconsistencies in Calkins’s statements, there was insufficient evidence to charge him.
In 2019, CNN initiated an in-depth inquiry into the cases, uncovering significant revelations from Calkins’s career documents. An alarming discovery emerged: a three-year period during which Calkins ceased making arrests, a fact previously unnoticed by the sheriff’s office.
The timeline of Calkins’s career, spanning from 1987 to 2004, was meticulously reconstructed using phone records, dispatch logs, and interview transcripts. The records revealed a sudden cessation of arrests in 2001, a perplexing detail that escaped official attention. Supervisors, unaware of this unusual hiatus, continued to commend Calkins for meeting standards despite the absence of arrests.
Charles Peterson, a former deputy and colleague of Calkins, attributed the arrest drought to Calkins’s loss of trust in the justice system. Peterson acknowledged a possible bias, claiming Calkins disliked individuals without proper licenses or insurance. This observation raises concerns about the fate of Santos and Williams, both unlicensed drivers who vanished without a trace.
The accounts of Calkins’s time in Immokalee, a town with tense relations between law enforcement and residents, provide context to his career. Despite occasional confrontations, Calkins earned respect from colleagues, including Walter Solomon, a Black deputy who spoke highly of their camaraderie.
As the mystery surrounding the disappearances deepens, questions linger about Calkins’s potential involvement. Peterson, once supportive, now acknowledges the possibility of hidden motives, expressing skepticism about the likelihood of the victims being alive and suggesting Calkins’s capability of concealing bodies.
With Calkins, now 68, residing in Iowa and refusing interviews, the unresolved cases of Terrance Williams and Felipe Santos continue to cast a haunting shadow over the community. CNN’s investigation sheds light on a disturbing chapter in law enforcement history, urging a renewed examination of the evidence and the pursuit of justice for those who vanished without a trace.
Both Felipe Santos and Terrance Williams, who were both drivers without legal licenses, disappeared after having separate contacts with Deputy Calkins. Williams was an industrious man who had a passion for literature, while Santos. Similar to the feelings expressed by Santos’s friends and relatives in Oaxaca, Terrance’s mother, Marcia Williams, continues to be troubled by the unexplainable absence of her only child.