Archive
Female shoplifter steals beer, fights the police www.privateofficer.com
Female shoplifter steals beer, fights the police http://www.privateofficer.com
A Cape Coral woman who was thirsty and just had to have a couple of cold beers in a hurry and free decided to stop by her local 7- Eleven and help herself to those quenching cold brews. According to police, the clerks became suspicous of her and snatched her up and called police. Officers arrived and she was arrested.
But her not so smart adventure doesn’t end there. She decides to take on the law fand is accused of attacking a police officer after a shoplifting arrest, according to police reports.Kori Henegar, 28, was arrested on a charge of battery on a law enforcement officer Thursday.Clerks at a 7-Eleven on Santa Barbara Boulevard said Henegar and Candice Trofa were drinking unpurchased beers in the bathroom of the store, reports show. So police arrested both women on charges of petit theft.
But as police were processing Henegar at the Cape Coral Police Department, reports show she attacked an officer while she was in a holding cell. Police said she was kicking at the cage door of the cell and struck an officer in the knee.
The officer is fine, the woman a little less thirsty and now a guest of the gray bar hotel in Cape Coral.
adminassist@privateofficer.com
Joiu us at www.myspace.com/privateofficernews
Come be part of our social network! http://www.privateofficer.com
Bank robbers flee into medical center causing lock-downs, massive police response www.privateofficer.com
Bank robbers flee into hospital, causing lock-downs, massive police response http://www.privateofficer.com
Tossing money from their getaway car, two suspected bank robbers led police on a high-speed chase through East Meadow on Friday that virtually shut down Nassau University Medical Center and nine schools, Nassau police said.
As the suspects turned right on Front Street, they threw loose bills from the windows, police said.The suspects then drove onto Hempstead Turnpike and tossed more money as they turned onto hospital grounds.
Joiu us at www.myspace.com/privateofficernews
Come be part of our social network! http://www.privateofficer.com
Shoplifting gang busted in South Carolina www.privateofficer.com
Shoplifting gang busted in South Carolina http://www.privateofficer.com
A news release states the off-duty officer pursued two of the suspects into the parking lot, but that they fled in a vehicle driven by a fourth suspect.
Columbia police were called for back up and now have arrested 32-year-old Dreama Denise Miller, 28-year-old Latresha Renee Hughes, 29-year-old Ken Suduan Proctor and 43-year-old Jennifer Young.
Sgt. Dana Oree said they came down from Spartanburg to the mall with the intent to steal items.
“They hit several locations up there in the Harbison area, including the Dillard’s, JCPenney, and The Gap,” Oree said.
The off-duty officer chased the suspects as they left the store where they jumped into a car driven by Young.
A police report says Proctor saw what was happening, dropped merchandise he was about to steal and ran after his co-conspirators yelling, “Don’t leave me!”
After being taken into custody, a surprise awaited officers when they began searching their vehicle — it was full of stolen goods. Police say the value of the items exceeds $10,000.
“I’m not sure of their technique but they had their own tools to remove some of the security devices from the clothing,” Oree said.
Oree added that the suspects had trash bags full of merchandise in the car along with a box of trash bags.
Miller, Hughes and Young have been charged with shoplifting, receiving stolen goods and conspiracy.
Proctor has been charged with shoplifting.
Three of the suspects have been arrested for shoplifting before. As of Friday night, the four of them were out on bond.
Joiu us at www.myspace.com/privateofficernews
Come be part of our social network! http://www.privateofficer.com
Church security shoots, kills armed man www.privateofficer.com
Church security shoots, kills armed man http://www.privateofficer.com
An off-duty Garland police officer working a private security job at a church shot and killed a man on Thursday night in the church parking lot.
Witnesses told police that the man who died, 31-year-old Royse City business owner Troy Van Pool, pulled a gun on the officer first.
Police say Mr. Pool got into an argument with another driver along Interstate 30. They both pulled onto an off-ramp near Lake Pointe Church.
Mr. Pool steered his late-model Ford Mustang into the church’s parking lot behind the other man, then pulled up beside him, Rockwall police Lt. Carl Alsabrook said. He “had his windows down and was getting into some type of verbal altercation,” Lt. Alsabrook said.
The off-duty, plainclothes officer, Brandon Hernandez, was in the parking lot and tried to step in.
“The officer asked him to leave the scene, basically, ‘Hey, this is over – why don’t you leave?’ ” Lt. Alsabrook said.
Witnesses said Mr. Pool raised a gun at the officer and Hernandez drew his weapon and fired several times killing the man, police said. Mr. Pool died at the scene
Mr. Hernandez has been a patrol officer with Garland for about 10 years. He also serves on the agency’s SWAT team.
Mr. Pool lived in Royse City with his wife and 12-year-old son. He ran a business wiring homes for security and entertainment systems.
Joiu us at www.myspace.com/privateofficernews
Come be part of our social network! http://www.privateofficer.com
Man finally convicted in security officer murder www.privateofficer.com
Man finally convicted in security officer’s murder http://www.privateofficer.com
Philadelphia PA. June 22 2008
A grandmother was acquitted yesterday of witness intimidation, but her grandson didn’t have it so good.
At his third trial, Tashan Bundy, 19, was convicted of first-degree murder in the 2004 shooting death of a security guard outside a North Philadelphia club.
The retrial, involving four defendants – including Bundy and his grandmother, Joyce Harris, 54 – gave a Common Pleas jury a peek into the world of how inmates make three-way phone calls from prison. That’s a no-no.
Bundy’s half-brother, Terry “Smitty” Johnson, and friend David Gindraw, both 27, were also charged with intimidation.
Inmates get around the phone system by blowing into the receiver so that the computer monitoring the calls doesn’t pick up the sound of the buttons pushed by the person on the other phone to make the three-way call.
In court, the prosecution played calls that Bundy made to his grandmother’s landline phone. While he blew into the phone, she or someone else in the house dialed another number so that Bundy could speak to a third person who was not on his prison-call list.
Assistant District Attorney James Berardinelli alleged outside court that Harris had “served largely as the conduit, an enabler for Mr. Bundy and his brother, Mr. Johnson,” so that they could speak on the phone to “discuss intimidating witnesses.”
The calls were made primarily around the time leading up to Bundy’s first trial in May 2007.
Bundy, who lived with his grandmother on Parrish Street near 16th in the Francisville section of North Philadelphia, was 15 when he shot victim Robert Smith, 29, outside Dowling’s club on Broad Street near Thompson about 2:28 a.m. Dec. 19, 2004.
Smith, a security guard for a rap group playing at the club, happened to intervene in an argument that Bundy’s group was having with a club security guard, Berardinelli said in his closing argument Monday. So, Bundy shot Smith twice, killing him.
Three of Bundy’s friends, who were there that night – Robert Gray, Joseph Harville and Carnall Combs – eventually told police that Bundy had shot Smith.
That had Bundy concerned. He also wasn’t pleased that Gray’s mom apparently was telling her son to tell authorities the truth.
In a conversation Bundy had during a three-way call to “Smitty” Johnson on April 19, 2007, Johnson assured Bundy that he had gone to talk to Gray and Harville, and that Gray wasn’t going to do what his mom wanted.
“He [Gray] was like, ‘Smit, I know better, dawg,’ ” Johnson told Bundy. ” ‘You ain’t got to tell me nothin’ like that. I won’t, I don’t want to see him in there [jail].’ “
In another call, on April 24, 2007, Bundy spoke to Gray and Harville during a three-way call. He didn’t want them to show up in court for a pre-trial hearing.
Talking to Gray, Bundy said: “You gotta like spend the night over somebody’s house or something.” He added: “You can’t even go to school on Thursday.”
Gray subsequently did not show up in court for that hearing.
The prosecution also contended that Harris, according to her cell-phone records, had called Gray’s house that month, also to tell him to not appear in court.
As for Gindraw, he was seen intimidating Harville after Harville testified at Bundy’s first trial.
“Literally in the hallway . . . after Joseph Harville testified, defendant David Gindraw jumped up out of the defense side of the gallery . . . got right up in Mr. Harville’s face,” prosecutor Berardinelli said after the verdicts yesterday. Police in the hall noticed that Harville was shaken.
Authorities confirmed this intimidation after later reviewing a conversation that Bundy had with Gindraw on a three-way call that night. Although Harville recanted on the stand, Gindraw apparently didn’t like what he said.
Gindraw told Bundy on the phone: “I ain’t like that work Zazz [Harville] was puttin’ in, man. . . . I didn’t like the way he was . . . they was catching him in the lie. Like if you’re gonna lie, make it seem like a lie’s the truth.”
Gindraw added that when Harville “walked out and he seen me, he damn near fainted.”
After the verdicts, Thomas Fitzpatrick, Harris’ attorney, said that Harris, who was acquitted of intimidation, “was vindicated as we expected her to be all along.”
Harris had worked in Philadelphia for Youth Advocate Programs (YAP), Inc., a Harrisburg-based organization that helps keep kids off the street. She was immediately suspended from her job after her arrest last August.
Martin J. D’Urso, chief of legal and corporate affairs for YAP, said this week that Harris ended her employment in September 2007. He said that policy dictated that he not comment on whether she was fired or had resigned.
Fitzpatrick said of Harris: “Now, unfortunately, she’s placed in a position where she has to continue to work to repair her reputation in the community.”
Fitzpatrick and attorneys Perry de Marco Jr. and Derrick W. Coker, who represented Gindraw and Johnson, respectively, contended in the trial that authorities didn’t prove that their clients were the ones who were actually speaking to Bundy in the calls.
Judge Shelley Robins New set sentencing for Sept. 8. Bundy faces mandatory life in prison.
Jurors returned mixed verdicts on the other men. Johnson was convicted of only intimidating Gray, while Gindraw was convicted of only intimidating Harville.
Juries in Bundy’s first two murder trials had deadlocked.
Join us/myspace.com/privateofficernews
Be part of our social community! http://www.privateofficer.com
Correction officer arrested for theft www.privateofficer.com
Corrections officer arrested for theft http://www.privateofficer.com
Join us/myspace.com/privateofficernews
Be part of our social community! http://www.privateofficer.com
Alert security officer helps nab vandals www.privateofficer.com
Alert security officer helps nab vandals http://www.privateofficer.com
Two spray painters caught defacing a downtown building early yesterday morning are believed to be among the city’s most prolific vandals, police said.
Justin Frost, 19, of Manchester, and Derek Gagnon, 20, of Goffstown, were arrested yesterday after a Verizon Wireless Arena security guard spotted them on a security camera, according to Capt. Richard Valenti. Police officers tracked the men to Central Street, where they were allegedly found with wet paint on their hands and aerosol paint cans in their possession.
Police believe Gagnon and Frost are two of the most active graffiti “artists” in Manchester, Valenti said. Their tags, according to police, include the phrases “DKRANE” and “Hostyle Fam,” both of which can be found throughout the city.
Yesterday, Gagnon bragged to police as he and Frost were placed in a transport wagon, according to police prosecutor Stephen Reardon. “You guys just arrested legends!” he reportedly said.
Both men were charged with felony criminal mischief and violations of prowling and possession of graffiti tools. They were arraigned yesterday in Manchester District Court, where each pleaded innocent to the violations. The court did not accept pleas for the felonies.
Probable cause hearings were set for July 2.
Anti-crime activists celebrated the arrests yesterday. Tracy Degges, a member of the mayor’s anti-graffiti task force, called the bust a “big one.”
“I mean, these guys’ tags are all over our city,” she said.
Yesterday, police found fresh “tags” on six businesses: Athens restaurant, TJ’s Sports Bar, The Elm Street Shop, La Cage Boutique, The Beauty Salon and Greg’s Place. The tags included “DKRANE,” “DK” and variations on “Hostyle Fam.”
Police said the words “Hostyle Fam” were scrawled on the screen of Frost’s cell phone. An arrest affidavit says Gagnon’s tag is known to be “DK.”
Gagnon, 260 Goffstown Back Road, appeared before a district court judge for an altogether different reason earlier yesterday, when he pleaded no contest to unrelated charges of unauthorized use of a vehicle and resisting arrest. He was sentenced to 12 months in jail, with 11 months suspended.
Frost, of 480 Auburn St., also faces unrelated charges. Authorities allege he failed to appear in Merrimack District Court on June 30 to face a charge of driving after suspension. He is also accused of failing to appear in Manchester District Court on charges of speeding and conduct in public, as well as an outstanding stop sign violation.
The Manchester charges will be addressed July 2.
Police were alerted to the vandalism yesterday when a Verizon Wireless Arena security guard called at 3:05 a.m., saying he saw the men on security surveillance of the area, according to Valenti. When officers arrived, Valenti said, they spotted two men dressed in black in the footpath between TJ’s Sports Bar and the Athens Restaurant.
The men fled but were found on Central Street, he said.
The criminal mischief charges are felonies because the damage exceeded $1,000. The penalty is a sentence of 3 1/2 to seven years and a fine of up to $4,000.
Bail for both men was set at $10,000 cash/surety, with a no-contact condition and overnight curfews. Frost’s curfew is 8 p.m. to 6 a.m., but the start time for Gagnon was changed to 8:30 p.m. because he said he does litigation review for a Salem law firm until 8 p.m. on Monday and Tuesday. Frost is unemployed.
Dozens of readers who left comments on UnionLeader.com yesterday applauded the Manchester Police for making the arrests.
“People make mistakes, but these kids should be punished in the hope that they will grow up to be men some day,” said one reader, identified online as Bob Kratz, of Manchester.
“This is not art … it’s criminal,” said another reader, identified as Ann Richards, of Manchester.
62 Yr old man exposes self to child at Walmart www.privateofficer.com
62 Yr old man exposes self to child at Walmart http://www.privateofficer.com
Authorities were notified at Walmart by a customer who complained that a man had exposed himself to a child.
Police say that a 62-year-old man is in custody after he exposed himself to an 8-year-old girl at Wal-Mart, Gadsden Police Capt. Troy Higdon said.
Join us/myspace.com/privateofficernews
Be part of our social community! http://www.privateofficer.com
Myrtle Beach mall shooting leaves some worried about safety www.privateofficer.com
Myrtle Beach mall shooting leaves some worried about safety http://www.privateofficer.com
A shooting at a local mall has some customers worried about safety.
According to the Myrtle Beach Police, they responded to 911 calls of shots being fired at the Coastal Grand Mall .
According to Lieutenant Doug Furlong, 17-year-old Jesus Diaz of Myrtle Beach and 25-year-old Milton Mendez of North Myrtle Beach were arrested after the incident.
An incident report states two men were in a car in the parking lot between Bed, Bath and Beyond and the Cinemark Cinemas when they say Diaz and Mendez pulled up beside them in their car, and Mendez pointed a handgun at them. The victims tell police they then pulled closer to the Cinemas entrance because they normally see a police officer nearby, but while they were en route, they say someone fired a shot at their truck. The bullet punctured a gas tank and gas spilled out onto the pavement.
According to Lt. Furlong, Diaz faces one count of assault and battery with intent to kill, while Mendez is charged with pointing and presenting a firearm.
Police gave few details about the dispute itself but said that both men remained in jail Friday afternoon, and bond had not been set.
Join us/myspace.com/privateofficernews
Be part of our social community! http://www.privateofficer.com
Lingerie thief hit with felony charge www.privateofficer.com
Lingerie thief hit with felony charge http://www.privateofficer.com
Join us/myspace.com/privateofficernews
Be part of our social community! http://www.privateofficer.com
Two students charged with intimidation, rapes at school www.privateofficer.com
Two students charged with intimidation, rapes at school http://www.privateofficer.com
Star Tribune staff writers
Minneapolis MN June 23 2008
Between classes, police say, the two students worked the halls at Henry High School in Minneapolis, scouting out their next victim. Through persistence, cunning or intimidation, they would lure a girl to an isolated stairwell.
Once there, they took turns sexually assaulting the girl while the other stood lookout. Working in tandem, police say, they may be responsible for at least four assaults during school hours in May and June.
Santwoine Thornton, 17, and Raevon Conner, 18, have each been charged with third-degree criminal sexual conduct in separate incidents of forcing a girl to perform oral sex. They could face more charges; police believe there are more victims at the school too afraid or ashamed to come forward.
“They were like spiders leading their victims to the spider web,” Sgt. Melissa Banham said.
It wasn’t until June 4 that police learned about the assaults at Henry, 4320 Newton Av. N. That day, a girl, 15, told a school official that another student forced her to have sex in a basement stairway near the choir and band rooms. Conner was arrested shortly afterward.
“This was taken seriously as soon as it was reported,” said Lt. Nancy Dunlap, sex crimes unit leader.
Through a series of detailed interviews, Banham learned about Thornton, who became the second suspect. The investigation led to three more victims under 17 who had been assaulted before June 4. Banham wouldn’t discuss specific evidence but said she has developed strong cases. Thornton was arrested Wednesday.
Police urged parents with students at Henry to talk with their children about the incidents and contact investigators if they know about these or other attacks at the school.
“The victims could have had a variety of reasons not to come forward right away,” Dunlap said. “But when Sgt. Banham did talk to them, her demeanor set them at ease and made it much easier to open up to her.”
Dunlap wouldn’t call Thornton, of Minneapolis, and Conner, of Brooklyn Park, serial rapists, but said three incidents is the definition of a serial rapist. She said neither teen has a criminal history. Authorities will seek to have Thornton tried as an adult.
In each incident, Dunlap said the suspects had a plan. They were alert to the locations of the school’s surveillance cameras, she said. They sometimes threatened their victims with physical harm if they told police, she said.
In a court document, the 15-year-old said she was concerned that something bad would happen when Conner led her to the basement stairwell, but didn’t feel she could stop it. He forced her to have sex for three minutes until the bell rang to change classes.
Police learned about a second victim who had been suspended from school in May, when she began skipping classes, a court document said. The girl’s mother learned that she preferred to be suspended rather than tell her or school officials that she was missing classes because of the assault, the document said.
As Thornton attempted to get the girl into a stairwell, a girlfriend whispered a warning because Thornton had tried something earlier with her. But Thornton was persistent, and the girl went with him, the document said.
He asked her for sex, but she said no. He then hugged and talked to her before assaulting her, the document said. She told him the school bell rang and Thornton and another student left the area.
In a letter to families this week, Principal Gary Kociemba said the district’s safety and security team will perform an assessment at the school. Similar reviews will occur in the district’s six other high schools this summer, said Ross Bennett, a district spokesman.
School board chair Lydia Lee said Friday she and the district are deeply concerned about the events at the school, which is consistently recognized as one of the best in the country for its rigorous academic programs.
“It certainly surprises me there’s this kind of activity over there,” Lee said. “I thought they made considerable progress addressing the climate at the school.”
Assistant principal Steve Simondet called the incidents “a real tragedy… .We hope this does not besmirch our school.”
Lee said she believes all schools in Minneapolis are safe.
“We try hard, this is really important to us that all students are safe,” Lee said. “We believed we implemented all the safety measures we needed, but somebody figured out another strategy.”
Lee said the incidents are symptomatic of what’s going on in the community.
“I don’t believe that the school is at fault in any way, nor should there be finger-pointing at the district,” Lee said. “I see this as a bigger question that needs to be addressed by all of us, the district, the police, the community and the city.”
Banham said there could be more victims “because of things I learned from the suspects.” Dunlap said Henry parents need to talk to their children about the assaults.
“This wasn’t one situation where somebody made a mistake,” Dunlap said. “This is serious.”
Email us/adminassist@privateofficer.com
Join us/myspace.com/privateofficernews
Be part of our social community! http://www.privateofficer.com
Man indicted on felony for stealing a rock www.privateofficer.com
Man indicted on felony charge for stealing a rock http://www.privateofficer.com
Shaffer and a team removed what authorities say is property of the State of Kentucky from the river and for that he was charged with removing a protected archaeological object – a class D felony, punishable by up to five years in prison.
Schaffer said he was just trying to save the historic rock, which has numerous carvings of initials, names and even a face carved on it.
He plans to fight the charges and has hired an attorney to defend him.
Join us/myspace.com/privateofficernews
Be part of our social community! http://www.privateofficer.com
Father and son arrested for slashing security officer www.privateofficer.com
Father and son arrested for slashing security officer http://www.privateofficer.com
City police responded to a 911 call for help in a disturbance at a local bar where a security officer was injured during the disturbance.
Police say that a father and son from California were arrested early Friday following a brawl at a downtown Davenport bar in which the son allegedly repeatedly slashed a security officer/bouncer with a knife, police said.David Keichline, 21, of South Gate, Calif., was charged with assault while displaying a weapon and was being held this morning in the Scott County jail on $2,000 bond.
Rescue personnel responded to the scene and aided the security person who was taken for medical treatment and he received numerous stitches for cuts.
Police did not say what started the fight or why the security officer was assaulted.
Both son and father were still incarcerated at press time.
Join us/myspace.com/privateofficernews
Be part of our social community! http://www.privateofficer.com
Grocery store shoplifter faces felony www.privateofficer.com
Grocery store shoplifter facing felony http://www.privateofficer.com
A shoplifting at an area Safeway Grocery store has led to felony charges being filed against a 33 year old Culpeper man police announced Wednesday.
According to police, Scott A. Berry entered the store located in the Southgate Shopping Center and at around 8:50pm employees say him pushing a shopping cart out the front door full of items that he had not paid for.
According to reports, an employee spotted Berry behind the shopping center near the library and began following him. After one of the bags broke, spilling Safeway brand meat on the ground, the employee lost track of Berry and police were called.
Culpeper officer William Barnes located Berry minutes later on Orange Road. Another grocery bag containing more meat was found nearby, Bunker said.
Safeway employees identified him as the man that they saw fleeing the store with the merchandise. Police said Berry faces a felony theft charge because of two previous larceny convictions.
Berry is being held without bond and is due in court at 8:30 this morning.
Join us/myspace.com/privateofficernews
Be part of our social community! http://www.privateofficer.com
Fake doctor performs numerous abortions www.privateofficer.com
Fake doctor performs numerous abortions http://www.privateofficer.com
Police have been conducting an investigation into allegations that a woman was pretending to be a doctor and had performed numerous abortions.
Police say that a 48-year-old woman, who allegedly had been performing abortions while pretending to be a doctor at Clinica Medica de la Mujer in Chula Vista, was arrested and charged Thursday with 10 felonies and one misdemeanor, authorities said yesterday.
Bertha Pinedo Bugarin posed as a medical doctor to unsuspecting Spanish-speaking patients in the South Bay, charging $500 for abortions, the District Attorney’s Office said. In some cases, patients would return for repeat procedures because the operation was unsuccessful the first time.
Charges include performing medical procedures without a license and grand theft. If convicted, Bugarin could face more than nine years in prison.
At least nine victims in the South Bay have come forward. Authorities said she performed abortions there in February and March 2007 and are investigating to see how many other woman may have been victimized by this fake doctor.
Bugarin also operated five other abortion clinics in Southern California, officials said.
Anyone who believes they may have been a victim of Bugarin or has information about the case is asked to call the California Medical Board at (858) 467-6830.
Join us/myspace.com/privateofficernews
Be part of our social community! http://www.privateofficer.com
