After police seize license plates; citizens see them on car of police officer

KPLR 11 St. Louis, kplr11.com
BYLINE: Chris Hayes

St. Louis County, MO



ST. LOUIS COUNTY, MO (KPLR) – A police officer, who in the past has been accused of drugging and raping women, appears to have used license plates seized by his old police department. Steve Blakeney no longer polices for Pine Lawn, where he was commander. The city fired him in December, but he remains licensed.

During our ongoing investigation of Steve Blakeney, we found a Crown Vic parked in the driveway of his South County home. We traced his license plate to this North County Woman.

Danielle Pettis looked at a picture we showed her and said, ‘And that would be them, right there. They don`t expire till the end of this year.’

Pettis says the plates were on her utility vehicle, until Pine Lawn police seized them.

She said, ‘I wonder if they even made it to the evidence room.’

She read from her registration paperwork saying, ‘My plate is WJ6 J1E.’

Police took them because the DMV reported they weren`t paid for. Pettis said her check bounced after someone hacked her bank account. She quickly cleared it up and the DMV gave her new plates. She added, ‘So I just assumed that Pine Lawn would send my plates back to the DMV to destroy. Well as we found out, they did not do that.’

A man in North City tells me that another plate, exposed in our recent Fox Files investigation- is his old plate.

A September 2014 St. Louis City Police report says Steven Blakeney had it on his car the night Billy Baker saw Blakeney in an unmarked car, with lights and sirens. Baker said Blakeney was parked near the Flamingo Bowl on Washington Avenue. Baker said, ‘At first I was sure he was a cop. Then after that I thought he was an impersonator or whatever, but regardless, the guy was obviously out there to prey on women that he thought were drunk.’

The North City man who recognized Blakeney`s plate, which we showed in the earlier report. The man didn`t want to talk on camera, but said he was surprised. He said police took his plates after Pine Lawn booted his vehicle for unpaid traffic tickets.

Now the North City man and Danielle Pettis both wonder who could come knocking on their doors. Pettis said, ‘(The plates) are coming back to the wrong people. Just like I was found. You know what I`m saying? And I didn`t commit a crime.’

Steven Blakeney texted me “I can’t even remember ever going to the Flamingo Bowl.” Later the same day he texted “I was in a city (of Pine Lawn) car with those plates.” Regarding the car in his driveway, Blakeney provided a letter, sent by his civil attorney to Pine Lawn after his termination.

The letter says in part, “a box of items was placed on the step of (Blakeney’s) house,” including a license plate that Blakeney thought was his personal plate.’

No one at Pine Lawn would answer my questions.

St. Louis Police and the FBI are currently investigating officer Blakeney. Coming soon in the Fox Files, we`ll explain how Blakeney got his police license and kept it despite warnings from police officers and police trainers.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
International Association for Property and Evidence
"Law Enforcement Serving the Needs of Law Enforcement"
www.IAPE.org