US Airways flight forced to land after bomb threat www.privateofficer.com

Charlotte NC July 10 2008

By: Rick McCann

Ntl. Assoc. Private Officers

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BREAKING NEWS

There has been a reported bomb threat that forced a plane to be grounded at Charlotte-Douglas International Airport in Charlotte North Carolina late Wednesday night.

According to airport spokesperson Haley Gentry, US Airways 1285 from Baltimore to Charlotte had reports of a bomb threat while in flight. The plane was rushed to Charlotte and landed and was immediately taken to a secure location at the airfield.

Authorities including the Airport Police, the Charlotte Mecklenburg Police, fire and rescue personnel and the FBI responded and a bus was brought in to unload the passengers from the plane. We know there were 104 passengers and 5 crew members on the flight at the time the plane landed.

The flight was scheduled to land at 9:18 pm, but didn’t land until around 10:20 pm. The flight left Baltimore nearly an hour late.

The airspace over the airport was also ordered closed during this incident.

The mid-air scare caused a massive response of emergency workers to the Charlotte Douglas Airport and put the wheels in motion. Questions of terrorism immediately surfaced and Homeland Security was notified of the threat.
Investigators have not released how the threat came in or where it was received.

Charlotte Mecklenburg Police and FBI officers say that no explosive device was found and that they are still investigating.

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Investors out millions, stockbroker attempts suicide www.privateofficer.com

Nashville TN July 11 2008

By NAOMI SNYDER • Staff Writer
Tennessean.com

A 41-year-old bankrupt stockbroker tried to commit suicide this week amid mounting questions about the whereabouts of millions of dollars taken from investors, many of them wooed at the exclusive Governors Club in Brentwood.Most of the questions have yet to be answered by Brentwood stockbroker Michael Jinyong Park, who was in a hospital Wednesday with self-inflicted knife wounds to his wrist and a stab wound to his abdomen, Metro police said.Park sent some of his investors a letter last week saying their account with Park Capital Management Group “has no current liquid value.”What investors do know is that Park seemed a smart, successful stockbroker who drove around in a Mercedes and a Porsche and who offered, in many cases, as much as a 20 percent annual return during a time when the stock market was sinking.

“He seemed to have an answer for everything,” said Michael Siriyutwatana, a 37-year-old who invested his retirement account with Park. “All of this has happened so fast. One day you think you have this much, and suddenly you don’t.”Siriyutwatana and his family own Royal Thai restaurants in the Nashville area. He said Park was a regular customer, and they seemed to have things in common. For instance, Park said he attended Father Ryan High School, just like Siriyutwatana.

“He’s a pretty friendly guy and he had good charisma,” Siriyutwatana said.Plus, when Siriyutwatana had questions about his account and the better-than-average returns, Park seemed to have plausible explanations, saying he was investing in stock options. Siriyutwatana got regular account statements that listed his holdings from a real brokerage house, 1st Discount Brokerage in West Palm Beach, Fla.But Siriyutwatana said he also wrote checks to Park Capital Management Group in Brentwood, which isn’t listed as a registered firm with FINRA, the brokerage industry’s regulatory arm.Park’s letter to clients said money held in accounts with 1st Discount Brokerage still is available but that money with Park Capital is not.Representatives of 1st Discount Brokerage could not be reached for comment. Park also couldn’t be reached.Park ended his letter to investors with the words: “I want you to know that it was not my intention nor did I ever think that things would come to this end. … If you allow, I hope to be able to speak with you at some point in the future to explain.”Case may be delayedHis lawyer, John McLemore, said Wednesday that he didn’t have enough information to talk about the case.

He said he might ask a judge for a delay in Park’s bankruptcy case after the attempted suicide of his client.The case recalls last summer’s investment scandal, when Murfreesboro philanthropist Robert W. McLean committed suicide after investors claimed his Ponzi scheme had robbed them of close to $50 million.

That case still is winding its way through the federal bankruptcy system.Park, who is married and has two children, called a family friend to tell her he was taking his own life Monday night, said Metro Nashville police spokesman Don Aaron.Police were called to his $1.7 million home at 133 Woodward Hills Place in Brentwood after 9:30 p.m. Monday, where they found Park with cuts to his wrist and a stab wound to his abdomen, apparently made with a kitchen knife, Aaron said.Park, who lives in a gated subdivision in Davidson County near Williamson County, was taken to Vanderbilt University Medical Center, where he is expected to survive, said McLemore. The hospital wouldn’t release details about Park’s condition.Federal investigators have been asking questions about the case. Park’s letter to investors said “compliance officers” had shut down his office, although he didn’t elaborate.

“I’ve got everything from an individual investing more than $40,000 to someone investing more than $1 million (with Park),” said attorney Will Cheek III, who said he had been contacted by seven investors seeking representation. “There are a lot of smaller investors who had their life savings tied up with Mr. Park.”Cheek and Bill Norton, another attorney who has been contacted by Park’s investors, said several clients met Park at The Governors Club in Brentwood.”The fact he attempted to commit suicide means he’s at the end of his rope,” Cheek said.

“He may not have any more assets than what you see when you go to his house.”Investors’ hopes fallCheek said a lot of investors were hoping for hidden assets somewhere, but the attempted suicide dampens that hope.Park has a 19-page public record littered with complaints over more than a decade from customers and brokerages filed with FINRA, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority. He also has had at least one lawsuit filed against him.

The complaints accuse Park of trading clients’ money without their authorization or of taking loans from customers in violation of securities laws.

Ohio barred him from selling securities in 2000.Brokerages Edward Jones and Raymond James Financial both fired him, in 1998 and 2000, respectively, according to FINRA’s records.

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Georgia State University student kidnapped www.privateofficer.com

ATLANTA GA. July 10 2008 Police said two men kidnapped a 28-year-old Georgia State University student in the parking garage of an Auburn Avenue apartment complex and sexually assaulted her.
The kidnapping happened in the 200 block of Auburn Avenue in downtown Atlanta and the kidnappers later dropped the woman off on Delmar Avenue in southeast Atlanta.
She knocked on a stranger’s door pleading for help, according to authorities.
“Yeah, she was knocking, she was beating and it got my attention and I came to the door,” said Mecca Holland.
Holland said what she found at her door at 3 a.m. Wednesday shocked her. She said she found a hysterical Ethiopian woman in tears begging to get inside.
Holland said the woman repeatedly screamed for her to call police, which she did. The student told Holland she had been kidnapped.
“She just said they took her car and they raped her and she said they were going to kill her,” said Holland.
Atlanta police said around 10:30 p.m. Tuesday two men kidnapped the student from a garage at the Bethel Towers Apartments.

“It was her vehicle that they forced her into,” said Officer Schwartz with the Atlanta Police Department.
Police said the two men picked up a third person and that’s when the Georgia State student was sexually assaulted. She was then dropped off in a southeast Atlanta neighborhood.
The victim’s SUV was later found near some railroad tracks in southwest Atlanta.
After five hours of being held against her will and violated, Holland allowed the frightened victim to stay in her garage until police arrived.
“When I saw her I was like, ‘Seriously, is this happening?’ Then I just called police. I just wanted to help because she seemed very scared,” said Holland.
Even though the incident did not happen on the Georgia State University campus, school officials said they are providing counseling services to the victim.
Tenants at the apartment complex said the victim had moved there five months ago and was trying to make a better life for herself.
Police are still looking for the three men.

DVD theft leads to mans arrest www.privateofficer.com

Alexandria LA. July 10 2008

By:Bryan Hill

Ntl. Assoc. Private officers

http://www.privateofficer.com/
Alexandria police responded to assist store loss prevention agents and a 37-year-old man was arrested and charged with shoplifting three men’s shirts and two DVD box sets Sunday afternoon at Target, Alexandria Police reported.
LeMichael Johnson, 37, of 404 Entrance Road, Leesville, was arrested and charged with shoplifting $300-$500, authorities said.
Police were told Johnson had been observed selecting three men’s shirts and “I Love Lucy” and “Sex and the City” DVD box sets, according to the police report. Johnson is accused of concealing the items inside a tote bag and trying to exit the store without paying for them, police said.
Johnson was charged with theft and transported to the county jail.

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Shoplifters nabbed at TJ Maxx www.privateofficer.com

Rome GA. July 10 2008

By: Bryan Hill

Ntl. Assoc. Private Officers

http://www.privateofficer.com/
Retail security investigators apprehended two shoplifters at a local store according to police and the arrest revoked the probation of one of the suspects.
After allegedly being observed and videotaped by store security officers, as they tried to conceal clothes at the TJ Maxx store at Riverbend Center on Tuesday, they were arrested.
Police identified the woman who were arrested as Sheddreka Nicole Woodley, 25, of 204 B Tolbert St., and Tarika Lachelle Riley, 27, of 6 Lester Lane.
Both were charged with theft by shoplifting Riley was released on $1,350 bond, while Woodley was being held without bond due to a probation violation.
The reason for Woodley’s probation was not immediately known.

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Shoplifting incidents leads to felony charges www.privateofficer.com

Shoplifting incidents lead to felony charges www.privateofficer.com

EARLY TX July 10 2008 For the second day in a row, shoplifting suspects face felony charges after incidents in local stores.

Orelia Munoz, 36, and Yvonne Romero, 46, both of Brownwood, were arrested Monday after a shoplifting at JC Penney at Heartland Mall involving more than $1,300 worth of merchandise, Early Police Chief David Mercer said. One of the suspect’s two children were detained.Both women were booked into the Brown County Jail on charges of engaging in organized criminal criminal activity — filed as state jail felonies — and theft, jail records state. Munoz was also charged with solicitation of a minor.
Officer Reese Shaffer was dispatched to the store on a report that shoplifters had just fled, Mercer said. An employee gave a vehicle description and license plate number, and Reese saw the vehicle on C.C. Woodson. He stopped the vehicle on Carnegie Street in Brownwood. Numerous items taken from the store were in the vehicle, Mercer said.“Both of the females admitted to the theft and all the items were recovered,” Mercer said.

Store employees said two adult women had entered the store with two juveniles. Employees became suspicious of the people and watched them as they shopped, Mercer said. Employees saw them place items including jewelry and clothing in a bag.

When the bag was full, one of the women went to the home department, picked up a comforter and began walking to the west entrance.An employee followed her outside and asked her for a receipt for the comforter, Mercer said. She led the employee to her vehicle and said the receipt was in the car. The woman got in the car, and the employee grabbed the comforter, wrote down the license number and went back into the store to call the police.

The other woman then left the south entrance with the two juveniles — a 13-year-old boy and a 9-year-old girl — and other items, Mercer said. The four drove away.The boy was released to his father at the request of the juvenile probation department pending charges, and the girl was also released to her father, Mercer said.In an unrelated case, Vanessa Miller, 28, of Brownwood remained jailed Tuesday on a robbery charge.

Miller was arrested Sunday at Wal-Mart after an attempted shoplifting. Police said the suspect became violent with an employee who detained her.

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Police officer charged with drug distribution www.privateofficer.com

Marksville LA July 10 2008
A Marksville police officer was arrested Tuesday night and is facing a drug distribution charge, authorities said Wednesday
Authorities said that Officer Victor Greenhouse, 40, who’s been with the department for about five years, was charged with possession of marijuana with the intent to distribute and malfeasance in office, Marksville police Chief Newman Greenhouse said.
The two are distantly related, Newman Greenhouse said

.The Marksville Police Department worked in conjunction with State Police and the Avoyelles Parish Sheriff’s Office on the investigation into the officer which came about after a package coming across the U.S.-Mexico border was flagged for containing drugs, Newman Greenhouse said.

A release from the Sheriff’s Office said a little more than seven pounds of marijuana was seized from 159 Little California Road, Marksville, with a street value of $10,000 to $12,000 after officers searched the home.Also arrested and charged with possession of marijuana with intent to distribute was Monica Hampton, 29, who lives in the Little California home.

Newman Greenhouse said Victor Greenhouse often stayed at Hampton’s home and that’s where the package of marijuana was delivered.Victor Greenhouse was immediately placed on administrative leave without pay after the arrest pending the outcome of his charges, Newman Greenhouse said.

Victor Greenhouse and Hampton remained in the Avoyelles Parish Jail this morning pending a bond hearing, jail officials said.

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Republican National Convention brings many agencies together www.privateofficer.com

Minneapolis MN July 10 2008

Minneapolis-St. Paul area retailers aren’t alone in expecting additional business from the Republican National Convention (RNC).Between 3,000 and 3,500 security officers, both private and sworn officers and personnel from state, county or cities also expect to ring up some overtime as Republican delegates gather to nominate Arizona U.S. Sen. John McCain as their presidential candidate.

On Tuesday, the Hennepin County Board entered a joint powers agreement with the city of St. Paul approving a resolution obligating St. Paul to repay the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office for providing security during the Sept. 1-4 RNC.

The board vote clears the way for 262 sheriff’s office deputies and staff to be paid for securing the RNC site in addition to booking and detention fees and other law enforcement efforts related to the convention.Funding for Hennepin County’s role in the security detail will come from a $50 million federal security grant to cover costs related to the RNC.

Congress also approved $50 million for security during the Democratic National Convention.Tom Walsh, public information officer for the St. Paul Police Department, said a total of 60 city, county and state government units are providing security forces for the RNC. To be paid, all governmental entities must approve joint-powers resolutions with St. Paul

Besides St. Paul and Hennepin County, major personnel contributors for the RNC security effort are the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office, Minnesota State Patrol, and police departments in St. Paul, Minneapolis and Bloomington.
According to one private security company, agencies are being hired to protect businesses and direct traffic and assist with crowd controll while law enforcement officers will tend to disturbances and incident response.

Walsh said all peace officers involved in RNC security must receive training for the event, which will focus the national political spotlight on the Minneapolis-St. Paul area.Walsh said the only other security detail comparable to the massive RNC effort was the June 3, 1990 visit to the Twin Cities by Soviet Union President Mikhail Gorbachev and his wife, Raisa.

But the Gorbachevs’ six-hour visit did not demand the round-the-clock attention over nearly a week-long period spanning the RNC, when many nightclubs in St. Paul and Minneapolis will be open late for convention-goers.

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Teen arrested after police officers get sick from tainted cookies www.privateofficer.com

FORT WORTH, Texas July 10 2008
A teenager is suspected of delivering baskets of drug-laced treats to about a dozen police departments in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, according to police who charged him Tuesday with LSD possession. At least three officers have gotten sick.
The 18-year-old man was arrested after taking cookies to the Lake Worth police station, said Brett McGuire, the suburb’s police chief. Officers there had been tipped off that someone was falsely claiming to deliver treats on behalf of Mothers Against Drunk Driving.
“Our officers took a good whiff and thought they smelled like marijuana,” McGuire said, adding that preliminary tests instead detected traces of LSD.
Christian Phillips was taken into custody and later charged with possession of the powerful hallucinogen, although the charge may be changed, McGuire said.
The suspect denied trying to contaminate the goodies or harm anyone and said one of his friends might have been smoking pot while Phillips was baking, McGuire said. The suspect is not affiliated with MADD, the chief said.
Phillips remained jailed in Lake Worth pending an arraignment Wednesday. Bail had not been set, and he did not have an attorney yet, McGuire said.
In Fort Worth, at least three officers got sick after eating some cookies and candy from a basket delivered to that police station Monday night, authorities said.
Police there are conducting tests and plan to file charges if LSD or another drug or chemical is found in the food, said Lt. Paul Henderson.
Lake Worth investigators found that Phillips had a list of about two dozen police departments in north Texas, with 13 checked off, McGuire said. It’s unclear whether anyone else got sick because some deliveries were made in the past week.
Police in Blue Mound found traces of marijuana in the treats, he said. Blue Mound police tipped off Lake Worth after receiving a call from MADD that no one was delivering cookies on its behalf.

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Needle wielding shoplifter subdued by police www.privateofficer.com

MILFORD CT July 10 2008

Kyle T. Greene

Ntl. Assoc. Private Officers

http://www.privateofficer.com/ A Hartford woman is being held in lieu of $100,000 bond after police nabbed her yesterday for alleged shoplifting and threatening to stab people with a needle.
Gwendolyn Chambers, 32, of Raymond Street in Hartford, allegedly stole $202 worth of merchandise last night from the Gap clothing store in the Westfield Connecticut Post mall and, when approached by store staff, turned over one item and left with the rest.
Mall security officers followed Chambers, keeping city police, who were responding to the mall, informed about her whereabouts. While they were following her, she allegedly threatened to stab them with a needle.
She crossed Boston Post Road, police said, and entered the car of a woman waiting to pick up a relative at the Vitamin Shoppe, 1260 Boston Post Road. The driver told police she didn’t know Chambers, but she’d asked her for a ride.
Chambers refused to leave the woman’s car and resisted arrest, police said. After officers arrested her about 9:23 p.m., they allegedly found her with stolen property and a screw driver, but no needle.
She was charged with second-degree robbery, second-degree threatening, breach of peace, second-degree reckless endangerment, interfering with an officer, sixth-degree larceny and possession of shoplifting tools.
She will be arraigned later today in Milford Superior Court.

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Casino offers $1.40 gas, draws huge crowd www.privateofficer.com

Casino $1.40 gas draws huge crowd www.privateofficer.com

Bossier City La. July 10 2008

By: Bryan Hill

Ntl. Assoc. Private Officers

http://www.privateofficer.com/

Chaos and crowds jammed the area around a Bossier City gas station where a casino staged a $1.40-a-gallon gasoline promotion on Wednesday police said.
Hundreds of motorists took advantage of the cheap gas — filling the parking lots of a church across the street from the station and a school just down the street.
Police and casino officers directed traffic and tried to keep some sense of order to the promotion by Horseshoe Casino, which began at 10 a.m. and ran until 2 p.m. at the Raceway at Old Minden Road and Interstate 20. Many people waited a couple of hours to get their cheap gas.
People could buy up to 10 gallons of regular unleaded gas at $1.40 per gallon. It was limited to the first 1,000 vehicles, and payments had to be in cash.
The promotion was part of Horseshoe casino’s 14th anniversary in Bossier City. Horseshoe held the event in conjunction with KTBS and Cumulus radio.
Motorists paid in advance at the parking lots and then pulled into the station to get their cheap gas. Overflow parking was handled at Horseshoe.
Casino security said although things got a bit crazy at times, things moved along and some people went home very happy.

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NOPD officer punished for wearing wrong shirt www.privateofficer.com

Brendan McCarthy, The Times-Picayune
New Orleans La. July 10 2008

With minutes left in the last shift of his 35-year New Orleans police career, Sgt. Bobby Guidry received a call from a supervisor telling him he had been suspended for wearing the wrong uniform shirt, the veteran officer said.

The Police Department confirmed the censure Tuesday, though it quibbled with the term “suspended.” Rather, Guidry is “under investigation for wearing the wrong uniform,” said Police Department spokesman Bob Young.

Instead of the standard-issue all-black uniform, Guidry, a veteran officer in the city’s Uptown 2nd District, chose the powder-blue uniform shirt that he wore to work for more than three decades.

He viewed it as a simple statement, not an affront to rules or department leadership.”Eighteen people died in the line of duty in that powder-blue shirt while I was with the department,” Guidry said. “I went to each of those funerals.

I wore that shirt on a Saturday, on my last day, out of respect for them.”Police brass apparently didn’t appreciate the sartorial statement, which took place June 28. Young said the improper uniform complaint originated in the 2nd District.

The department’s Public Integrity Bureau then opened a formal investigation with about 15 minutes left in Guidry’s career.

The punishment will not affect Guidry’s pension or benefits, but, as it stands now, he will not receive his retired police commission and will not be accepted into the NOPD’s reserve unit, for which he had applied, Young said.

Superintendent Warren Riley, who could not be reached for comment, was apprised of the investigation, Young said.

Young said Riley stressed that “an officer has to maintain professionalism at all times, whether it is his first or last day.

“For Guidry, the whole affair turned what might have been a bittersweet day simply bitter.Guidry said a Police Department investigator called him and suggested he “write a letter to the chief and apologize.”He hasn’t done that yet.”What do I apologize for?” Guidry said. “I wore the wrong shirt. . . . I’ll take a letter of reprimand, but a suspension? T

hat’s rough.”Guidry’s attorney, Eric Hessler, said the retired officer will cooperate with investigators but appeal the disciplinary action. He called the timing of the reprimand particularly disrespectful to Guidry’s many years of service.”He was literally moving his stuff from his office into his car,” Hessler said Tuesday. “He was basically done.”On his last day, Guidry said his supervisor advised him that he was suspended and a city employee called him days later with the same news.

He has since received no paperwork or formal reprimand, and he said he hasn’t been interviewed by NOPD internal investigators.Young disagreed with the term “suspended,” but he said Guidry’s permanent record will reflect that he “retired under investigation.”The powder-blue uniform shirt had been worn by officers since the Police Department’s inception. Riley changed the uniform after Hurricane Katrina to all-black uniforms.”A lot of uniforms were displaced after the storm, and they wanted to eliminate the possibility of uniforms getting into the hands of criminals,” Young said of the change.Some officers protested the change.

Many complained that the all-black uniform was too hot and that it bucked tradition.Riley, in what some in the Police Department call a move to boost morale, recently announced that the department would revert to powder-blue shirts, probably by the first of the year.

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Security officer injured and looses gun to burglar www.privateofficer.com

Dallas Tx July 10 2008

By: Rick McCann

Ntl. Assoc. Private Officers

http://www.privateofficer.com/
A security officer who tangled with a would be burglar was injured and his gun was stolen after he tussled with a man suspected of burglarizing vehicles at a northeast Dallas apartment complex Tuesday night.
David Preasley, 41, was working security at the Firefox Apartment complex in the 5700 block of Pineland Drive when he saw a man he thought was about to burglarize a vehicle, police said.
Officer Preasley told police he approached the man and drew his gun and told the suspect to get on the ground. The suspect lunged toward the gun and they struggled and the man got control of it, according to police reports.
During the struggle, Preasley injured his elbow when it broke through a window of the vehicle. EMS was dispatched and he was treated at the scene.
The suspect ran away, police said and the security officer fired a shot at the suspect with a backup gun he carried, but there was no evidence that the shot hit, according to police.

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