Delco Cop Gave Taser To Publisher Who Faked Racist Email: DA

CHESTER, PA — A Delaware County police officer is facing criminal charges for allegedly giving a taser to a local publisher who is accused of faking a racist email. That publisher is legally prohibited form possessing the taser due to previous convictions.

District Attorney Katayoun Copeland announced the arrest of Donald Jackson, Jr., 44. Jackson is a Chester City Police Officer.

He is accused of taking a police taser from the police department and unlawfully gave it to Nikolaos Hatziefstathiou, who is not lawfully permitted to possess it, the DA's office said. A taser is a prohibited offensive weapon that delivers an electrical current that temporarily incapacitates people.

Jackson is charged with theft by unlawful taking, theft by receiving stolen property, and criminal conspiracy to possession of an offensive weapon, all misdemeanors of the first degree.

On June 24, detectives executed a search warrant at the residence of Hatziefstathiou, also known as "Nik the Hat," in Broomall. Hatziefstathiou is facing charges after allegedly doctoring an email from county officials to drum up a "news" story for Philadelphia-based online publication YC News, for which Hatziefstathiou serves as the publisher.

During execution of the search warrant, detectives located a police taser with the number "14" carved into it, along with two firing cartridges and a cell phone. Firing logs for the Taser show it was last discharged in June 2019.

Detectives determined that the taser belonged to the Chester City Police Department and was purchased by the department in October 2011 for $804.95.

The taser was last assigned to a retired Chester Police Captain, who upon retirement, returned the Taser to Chester City Police Officer Donald Jackson, Jr., who was assigned as the Chester Police Department’s Special Project Officer, according to the DA's office.

The Chester City Police confirmed that the recovered taser was missing from their inventory and was considered stolen, the DA's office said.

A forensic examination of Hatziefstathiou’s cellular telephone showed text messages between Hatziefstathiou and Jackson.

According to the DA's office, at about 11:09 p.m. on Jan. 24 Hatziefstathiou sent a text message to Jackson’s cell phone asking, “Know anyone I can borrow a taser from? I’m going to be in some bad areas while I’m down there this weekend.” Jackson replied, “I have one. You can’t tell anyone where you got it though.”

The DA's office said other texts show that Hatziefstathiou came to Jackson’s house in Delaware County just after midnight on that same date and obtained the taser from Jackson. Text messages show that at 9:51 p.m. on April 15 Jackson sent a text message to Hatziefstathiou asking, "How did you make out with that taser?" Hatziefstathiou replied, "Oh yeah! We have one more shoot was gonna use it just in case." Later Hatziefstathiou text messaged Jackson, “Didn’t use it luckily lmao."

On July 25, detectives interviewed Jackson about the taser. Jackson admitted that he took the police issued Taser from the Chester City Police Department to his home and later delivered the police Taser to Hatziefstathiou after being confronted with the text messages, the DA's office said.

Jackson was released on $20,000 unsecured bail and is slated for a preliminary hearing on Sept. 3.

"Donald Jackson, Jr., used his position of trust and authority as a law enforcement officer to obtain a police issued weapon and then illegally transferred it to a convicted criminal, violating his sworn oath to uphold the laws of our Commonwealth," Copeland said.