[1] Butler was arrested on February 16, 2011 along with Central Contra Costa County California Narcotic Enforcement Team Commander Norman Wielsch.
[2] On February 8, 2012, the Contra Costa County District Attorney's Office dropped all state charges against Butler[3] while a case against him continued at the federal level.
A number of the arrests and convictions resulting from the practice have been expunged and overturned, along with apologies from the senior deputy district attorney of Contra Costa County, Hal Jewett, whose office prosecuted the original cases.
[7] As admitted by several participants in the actions, Butler re-enacted a case to satisfy the "ride along" demand of the magazine's reporter, Peter Crooks.
The re-enactment was executed on September 11, 2010, including a convoluted journey into the Napa Valley wine country tailing a suspected cheating fiancé and his mistress.
In several subsequent emails from "Rutherford", Carl Marino laid out carefully crafted evidence for the reporter to show that he was trustworthy and that the information was valid.