Police officers injured during shoplifting arrest www.privateofficer.com

FT.Wayne IN. July 28 2008

By: Rick McCann

Ntl. Assoc. Private Officers

 

http://www.privateofficer.com/
A routine shoplifting arrest sent two Fort Wayne police officers to the hospital this week, according to city police reports..
Police said that officers Michael DeLong and Everett White were dispatched to to Kroger at 6002 St. Joe Center Road shortly before 6:30 p.m. Monday when loss-prevention officers stopped a shoplifter.
According to dispatch logs and court records, Veronica A. Ogunsusi, 34, was charged Friday with two felony counts of resisting law enforcement and one misdemeanor count of shoplifting. She was released from the Allen County Jail on a $3,250 bond.
Ogunsusi had two young children with her and was being held in the store manager’s office after she put two items in her bag and passed all points of sale without trying to pay for the items.
Because Ogunsusi refused to sign the store’s shoplifting paperwork and refused to allow loss-prevention officers to look in her purse, police were called to the store, according to a probable cause affidavit written by loss-prevention officer Jon Fawcett.
When DeLong and White tried to arrest Ogunsusi, she began to struggle and bit one of the officers and scratched and kicked the men, court documents said.
During the struggle, which involved the officers and store personne who helped the officers get Ogunsusi in handcuffs, White’s thumb was cut and DeLong was scratched and bruised on his arms, legs and groin, court documents said.
Both officers were treated at Lutheran Hospital, and Ogunsusi was taken to the Allen County Lockup.

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Alert cashier stops fraud suspect at Fla. Wal-Mart www.private

Alert cashier stops fraud suspect at Fla. Wal-Mart www.privateofficer.com

PORT ST. LUCIE FLA. July 28 2008— Chandrea Harden needed something to divert her customer, so she lied.
There was something wrong with the $423 laptop he had just bought, Harden told him Tuesday afternoon. He needed to stick around so she could straighten things out.
Harden’s quick thinking helped nab Garvin Arthur of Aventura, who showed up at the U.S. 1 Wal-Mart with 10 fake credit cards in his wallet, according to police.
When police confronted Arthur, he said the cards had been altered, Detective Tom Nichols said Wednesday.
That way, a checkout register would charge an unknown account number pulled from the card’s magnetic strip instead of the 16 digits embossed with Arthur’s name on the front, police said.
Arthur, 29, faces two felony charges of trafficking in counterfeit credit cards and grand theft. He was being held in the St. Lucie County jail Wednesday on $35,000 bail.
Detectives will check all of Arthur’s cards to see what other accounts they’re tied to and notify account holders, Nichols said.
Although Arthur did not tell police where he had his cards recoded, Nichols said the information is obtained with devices called credit card readers that can copy the data stored in the magnetic strip. The cards usually are swiped into a reader after the owner has handed them over during what seems like a normal transaction, Nichols said.
Card owners should read their monthly statements carefully to make sure there are no surprise transactions to avoid being scammed, Nichols said.
Recoding credit cards is considered a more lucrative venture for some offenders because they carry less risk than other crimes, such as drug deals, he said.
But Arthur’s purchase didn’t turn out so easy with Harden around.
Harden, 20, said she became suspicious when Arthur’s first credit card was denied. Following her training, the electronics department manager double-checked that the last four numbers printed on the purchase receipt matched the ones on Arthur’s card after his second card went through.
They didn’t.
So Harden, who has flagged three other people for what she considered suspicious transactions during her two years with the retail giant, distracted Arthur. Unlike those other suspects, who fled the store, Arthur remained.
Store security personnel whisked him away for questioning, and when police arrived, she said they told her it was a pretty big bust.
“I was like, wow,” said Harden, beaming. “That’s all I could say.”
Her shock continued Wednesday, when she spent part of her day talking with television news reporters, recounting what she remembered. Arthur was talkative, and she tried to keep calm, she said.
Now her co-workers tease her and call her a celebrity.
“That’s what I’ve been getting all day,” she said.

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Police seek mother and son crime duo www.privateofficer.com

BOUNTIFUL UTAH July 28 2008

By: Rick McCann

Ntl. Assoc. Private Officers

www.privateofficer.com — A family that thieves together, stays together? Bountiful police say they’d like to put one mother and son, together or not, behind bars — for a rash of burglaries.
Police have reported that the pair are suspected in a number of brazen crimes along the Wasatch Front. The duo allegedly kicked in doors in broad daylight and then made off with a fortune in electronics and jewelry.
And, police say, the mystery mom and son are suspects in the theft of a van, a Lexus and another car they used to commit other crimes.
Wal-Mart security cameras caught a glimpse of them this week when the duo tried using a stolen credit card taken in one of the burglaries.
Police aren’t saying how they know that they’re related only that the two have been seen together frequently.
If you have any information on these two please call the police department.

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Mothers use children to shoplift www.privateofficer.com

Mothers use children to help shoplift www.privateofficer.com

CLAY COUNTY, FL July 28 2008

By: Bryan Hill

Ntl. Assoc. Private Officers

http://www.privateofficer.com/ Police responded to a report of a shoplifting at an area store and say that wo mothers are accused of using their children to help them shoplift almost $700 worth of clothes from a Kohl’s department store in Fleming Island.
Deputies say 30-year-old Alicia Metcalf and 22-year-old Melinda Blankenship were spotted by loss prevention agents as they removed clothes from hangers and then put the items under their children who were sitting in shopping carts.
The moms attempted to leave the store without paying for the merchandise was quickly stopped by security agents and taken into custody.
Deputies say they also found stolen clothes inside a diaper bag inside the mothers’ car.

Both women were arrested on felony theft charges and may face other charges as well. Both were taken into custody and transported to the county jail pending a bond release.

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Applicants for ThyssenKrupp scammed www.privateofficer.com

Daphne AL. (Metro Mobile) July 28 2008

The offer went something like this — give me $110, and I’ll get you a job doing construction work at the future site of the ThyssenKrupp steel mill.
That was the pitch that dozens of people reportedly heard at the Daphne Hampton Inn this week.
Except it wasn’t true, say law enforcement and ThyssenKrupp officials

The man making the pitch said he worked for Halliburton, the giant oilfield services contractor based in Houston, said Daphne Police Lt. Jud Beedy and ThyssenKrupp spokesman Scott Posey. Going by the name Jamie Hewitt, the man claimed Halliburton was to displace MACTEC, the Atlanta-based engineering firm that manages the Calvert construction site for ThyssenKrupp, Posey said. People interested in jobs filled out paperwork, and then the man asked them to give him $110 in “union fees.”
“He said, ‘Our company will be in touch with you at a later date,’” Beedy said.
It’s not clear how many people fell for the scam. Beedy said a person who filed a complaint with the Daphne Police Department Friday said seven had given money, but Beedy said as many as 50 people may have met with the man. The man who filed the complaint figured out it was a scam after calling Halliburton and ThyssenKrupp, Beedy said.
Spokespersons for the FBI and Alabama State Troopers said investigators for Alabama Attorney General Troy King’s office are leading the inquiry. Chris Bence, a spokesman for King, refused to confirm or deny an investigation.
Beedy said Daphne Police are just beginning to look into the situation. However, Posey said ThyssenKrupp officials had been told that an arrest had been made Friday. No one named Jamie Hewitt was being held in the Daphne, Baldwin County or Mobile Metro jails Friday night, according to Beedy and county jail records.
An employee at the Hampton Inn said many people had been calling about the supposed recruiter, but said she knew nothing else about it. When asked if the man had rented a meeting room, she said she wasn’t allowed to give out that information. Beedy said Daphne Police were told the man was meeting with prospective employees in an individual hotel room.
ThyssenKrupp has many contractors on its site, and the construction workforce, recently at 800, is growing toward a peak of 7,000. To help fill those needs, the Mobile branch of the Associated General Contractors is setting up a plan to sign up workers for jobs. People who want to become one of the 2,700 permanent employees are being recruited by the company and by Alabama Industrial Development Training, a state agency. None of those groups charge fees of job applicants.
Posey said the company was not very happy about the scam, considering the warm welcome that the $3.7 billion project has received in the area.
“We encourage people, anytime they’re contacted by someone claiming to be from ThyssenKrupp, to call us and check,” Posey said.

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Man sues hospital over assault by security www.privateofficer.com

Toledo OH July 28 2008 A Temperance man who claims security guards at St. Vincent Mercy Medical Center dragged him out of the hospital and used a Taser gun on him has filed a lawsuit against the hospital and the two guards involved.

Al Poisson filed the lawsuit in Lucas County Common Pleas Court asking for monetary damages deemed appropriate by a jury.The lawsuit was assigned to Judge Frederick McDonald and lists the hospital as well as Bradley Friess and Joshua Shepler as defendants.

According to the complaint, Mr. Poisson, who is referred to in the complaint as a minister, was visiting a friend at the hospital on July 21, 2007, when he engaged in “lighthearted conversation” with two guards.The lawsuit said the guards became “outraged” and followed Mr. Poisson into an exam room where they told him to “shut up or leave.”

“Witnesses clearly indicate that Reverend Al was not offensive, but instead the security guards responded in an irrational and malicious manner when they entered the exam room and grabbed Reverend Al by the arms and told him to leave,” the lawsuit said.”The security guards then dragged Reverend Al by his arms outside the hospital.

At that point, one of them used a Taser or stun gun on him and this immediately dropped the 66-year-old reverend to his knees,” the lawsuit said.

It further states that the guards “kicked, Tasered, and stunned the reverend for several minutes.”

Among the allegations charged in the complaint were negligence on the part of the hospital, assault and battery, and false imprisonment because Toledo police were called and Mr. Poisson was arrested.

The charges were dropped, the lawsuit said.

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Shoplifters get their day in court www.privateofficer.com

ANDERSON SC July 28 2008

Kyle T. Greene

Ntl. Assoc. Private Officers

http://www.privateofficer.com/ — Two Anderson women were accused of more than petty theft after one of the women was accused of becoming violent during a shoplifting incident at Wal-Mart.
April Lee Davenport, 32, and Monica McAdams, 28, were charged with shoplifting about 4:40 p.m. Thursday.
Friday, McAdams pleaded guilty to shoplifting in Anderson Municipal Court, receiving a fine of $1,092.50 or 30 days in jail plus $24.56 restitution for a can of baby formula that she opened and was feeding to her baby inside the store.
Davenport, who reportedly has no prior criminal record, was allowed to apply for pre-trial intervention in spite of being charged with the assault and battery of a Wal-Mart employee.
Both women were put on permanent trespass notice from the 3812 Liberty Hwy. store.
Davenport fled from Wal-Mart to a nearby Sam’s Club, where she is accused of striking the mouth of a pursuing Tiffany Mattress during a struggle, according to a report. Anderson police Officer James Shelton used his Taser to subdue Davenport, the report states.
“I was assaulted and bruised,” Davenport said. “I never hit anyone.”
According to testimony, McAdams and Davenport stuffed a pair of pants into a diaper bag and were feeding a 4-month-old boy from the can of baby formula.

McAdams was arrested when her credit card was rejected when she attempted to pay for the formula and leave the store.
McAdams faces trial in Anderson County General Sessions Court after Shelton charged her with possession of methamphetamine when about half a gram of the drug was found in her purse, according to authorities.

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Security officer, bank customers battle bank robber www.privateofficer.com

Bank security officer, customers battle bank robber www.privateofficer.com

VAN NUYS CA July 28 2008 – A bank security guard and several customers engaged in a “knockdown fight” with an armed bank robbery suspect Saturday, wresting his gun away and subduing him until officers arrived, police and witnesses said.
At least one shot was fired during the confrontation at the Wells Fargo Bank at 6800 Van Nuys Blvd., apparently grazing the guard on the arm.
Police described patrons’ actions as “heroic” and credited them with possibly saving the guard’s life.
“We don’t recommend people engaging armed suspects but that’s a decision made by individuals at the time,” Los Angeles police Capt. Jim Miller said. “It’s a good chance they saved the guard’s life.”
The suspect, described only as a white male around 40 years old, walked into the bank shortly after noon and was soon confronted by one of the unarmed security guards, police said.
Some witnesses said he appeared to be wearing some kind of disguise, possibly a wig, fake beard and an oversized coat.
He was about 20 feet inside the bank when the struggle began, Miller said.
“When he was confronted … the gun came out, and then there was a scuffle,” LAPD Capt. Kelly Mulldorfer said.
Rafael Lara, 18, of North Hollywood, said the suspect pulled a gun from a bag and pistol-whipped the guard, cutting his forehead.
The two men wrestled, and the suspect shot off one round, Lara said.
“I was walking in right behind the robber, and I thought he was looking all suspicious,” Lara said. “I thought robbery, but it’s too rare to see one.”
At least three men and one woman rushed to help the guard, and one of the patrons managed to wrest control of the weapon away from the man, witnesses said.
“The people inside the bank jumped on the robber and were hitting and beating him, trying to get the gun,” Lara said.
Another customer, Napoleon Moreno, 35, of Van Nuys, was in line when he heard a gunshot.
“I turned around and said, `What is happening?”‘ Moreno said. “I saw three or four people on the floor fighting. The guys were yelling, `Put the gun down!”‘
Jesus Orozco, 55, of Panorama City, said one man grabbed the suspect from behind. Orozco said he grabbed the suspect’s legs.
Orozco said he saw a gun magazine fly out during the scuffle.
“People were crying. There were three to four kids there,” Orozco said.
The guard suffered lacerations to his head and a possible gunshot graze wound to an arm, Miller said. The suspect also was injured, although it did not appear serious, Miller said.
Both men were taken to area hospitals and were reported to be in stable condition, Miller said. The suspect’s identity was not released.
“The customers were very instrumental in bringing about arrest of the suspect,” Miller said. “It was a good, knockdown fight between the security guard and the suspect. It appears the suspect was beginning to gain the upper hand, and the customers came in to assist.”
Orozco said the suspect was wearing a wig and a big jacket. Another witness described him as wearing a fake beard. Police could not confirm reports of a disguise.
Bank officials declined to comment. A representative from the security company also did not want to comment, saying, “We haven’t spoken to the family.”
Orozco, who was talking to a bank staffer in the loan department at the time of the incident, marveled that he played a part in apprehending a criminal.
“To be all of a sudden involved in a crime, that’s amazing,” Orozco said. “It’s not only amazing, it’s pretty scary.”

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Police investigate murder at Colorado State University www.privateofficer.com

Police investigate murder at Colorado university www.privateofficer.com

FORT COLLINS CO. July 28 2008

Kyle T. Greene

Ntl. Assoc. Private Officers

http://www.privateofficer.com/ Police are investigating the apparent murder of an unidentified man whose body was found in the parking lot of a Colorado State University residence hall late Fiday night.

CSU Police Chief Dexter Yarbrough said police were called to the parking lot of Summit Hall at 11:08 p.m., Friday, on reports of a man suffering a bullet wound.”The officer arrived on the scene at 11:10 p.m. and found an unresponsive male,” said Yarbrough. Efforts to revive the man, by police and rescue personnel were not successful. He was taken to the Poudre Valley Hospital by ambulance where he was declared dead.
Foul play is suspected,” said Yarbrough. “We will treat this situation as a homicide investigation, until this scenario can be ruled out.

“Summit Hall was occupied Friday night by members of a police explorers conference which had accounted for about 3,500 people being on the CSU campus this week.

However, those conferees were all scheduled to depart Saturday morning, and Yarbrough and CSU officials said they believed they had all been accounted for and determined to be safe.The police investigation appeared soon to encompass the Lake West Apartments on Lake Street, immediately south of Summit Hall.

Although the victim had been found in the Summit Hall parking lot immediately west of the Lake West Apaprtment’s north parking lot, the Lake West lot was also marked off by crime scene tape, and police could be seen coming and going from the apartment building throughout the afternoon, while there was no police activity at the nearby Summit Hall.

But management of the Lake West Apartments professed not to know investigators’ interest in their property, or whether a tenant was either a suspect or a victim in the case.Yarbrough, asked about police activity at the apartments, said only, “This is an ongoing investigation, and the investigators have determined that they needed to expand the crime scene.

“He said the victim was apparently shot once in the upper left side of his chest, that he carried no identification, and that he did not appear to be a current CSU student.This marks the third violent death to strike the CSU community in less than a week.

Early in the week, Rebecca Allen, a technical journalism instructor at CSU was struck by a car, along with a friend, while cycling, and died from her injuries. Thursday night, 35-year old graduate psychology student William John Szlemko was hit by lightning, while practicing karate on campus, and he also died.

“We don’t really experience these kinds of tragedies very frequently and to have three incidents in a week is pretty unexpected for us,” said Anne Hudgens, CSU’s Dean of Students.”It has really been a hard week for the CSU community,” she added. “The campus is sort of reeling from all of them I have been at CSU since 1984, and cannot ever remember losing a student to a homicide, or anybody, to a homicide on campus so this is a very unusual event.

“Police said that although the crime is currently unsolved, there is not believed to be any risk or danger to other members of the CSU community or Fort Collins at large.

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Former police officer wanted for robbery of stores www.privateofficer.com

Fomrer police officer wanted in robbery of stores www.privateofficer.com

Montgomery ALA. July 28 2008
Mississippi law enforce­ment arrested a Roanoke man who is a suspect in an Elmore County armed rob­bery.
Elmore County Sheriff Bill Franklin said the man, Jonathan Heard, is a former Roanoke police officer. Re­peated calls to the Roanoke Police Department were not returned.
Franklin said the Central Store in Central, a town about nine miles north of Wetumpka, was robbed at about 6:30 p.m. Friday night.
Franklin said the suspect came into the store several times during the day Friday, asking for “directions and things like that.”
“He came back in about 6:30 p.m. Friday armed and robbed the cashier,” Frank­lin said. “He left the scene driving a (Chevrolet) Ava­lanche pickup truck.”
He made off with an undis­closed amount of cash, Franklin said. An eyewit­ness at the Central Store got the vehicle’s tag number, which confirmed Heard was the owner. Then the sheriff got word of another robbery.
“While the investigation was going on we received in­formation that another store was hit in Shorter. Right now, we feel he is a suspect in that robbery as well,” Franklin said.
Elmore County Sheriff’s Office officials contacted the Roanoke Police Department to ask if they knew Heard, and found out then Heard was a former officer, Frank­lin said.
One of Franklin’s deputies said he knew Heard and called his cell phone.
Heard told the deputy that he would turn himself in, but first needed to speak to an attorney.
“Apparently that was a ruse,” Franklin said. “We had units on I-85 looking for him. And he was never spotted.”
Elmore County law en­forcement broadcast a re­gional lookout that included a description of Heard and the vehicle. Mississippi au­thorities arrested Heard about 4 a.m. Saturday morn­ing in Biloxi, Franklin said.
He also said that Missis­sippi officials are investigat­ing the armed robbery of a store in Moss Point, Miss., but Franklin didn’t know if that was connected to Heard.
Franklin said officials from his office will go to talk to Heard in the coming days, and will bring him back to Alabama to face the Elmore County charges if Heard agrees to waive extradition.
If Heard does not agree to come back to face the charges, the governor’s of­fice would have to get in­volved

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Girls use MySpace to carry out kidnap hoax www.privateofficer.com

STONE MOUNTAIN, Ga. (Metro Atlanta) July 28 2008

By: Rick McCann

Ntl. Assoc. Private Officers

http://www.privateofficer.com/ Authorities in DeKalb County who were notified that two young children had been kidnapped by an unknown person sometime Saturday has found two missing sisters who disappeared from their father’s Stone Mountain apartment complex . And police are not happy about it.
According to police, family members said the girls sent messages through MySpace, a popular social networking website, saying they had been abducted and held against their will. This triggered a massive police response and an all out search for two supposed kidnapped victims.
Now family members say it was all just a lie.
The two girls disappeared Saturday from their father’s apartment on Stone Mills Way after being told by an older sibling that they could not leave the apartment.

Authorities said Steib took her younger sister and left the Stone Mountain location around 10:00 a.m.
The girls soon began sending their messages via MySpace of their kidnapping and police ebegan to canvass the area and a search was launced.
Detectives actively canvassed the entire neighborhood.
The children were located a friend’s house nearby and were taken to police headquarters for questioning.
Authorities said Denesha Steib, 14, and 6-year-old Savannah Henderson were found safe Sunday just before 6 p.m. at a friend’s house where they had been all the time playing a “joke” on their family members. But police aren’t laughing and the children could face possible criminal charges.

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2 Dead In Church Shooting, Suspect Held On $1Million Bond www.privateofficer.com

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. July 28 2008

BY: Rick McCann

Ntl. Assoc. Private Officers

http://www.privateofficer.com/ The crime scene has been cleared and the church where two parishioners lost their lives and at least five others were shot stands empty. The man police suspect of opening fire on a roomful of people during a church youth performance is in custody Monday after several church members tackled him stopping the murderous rampage.

But church members and the Knoxville community are still searching for answers as to why they were targeted by someone who was an apparent stranger to the church.
According to police, the gunman, a stranger to church members, walked in during a youth presentation and opened fire at the church Sunday, killing two people, including a man witnesses called a hero for shielding others from the gunfire.

Seven adults were also injured but no children were harmed at the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church located on the west side of the city. Members said they dove under pews or ran from the building when the shooting started.
Thankfully police say, congregants were able to tackle and subdue the gunman now identified as Jim D. Adkisson, 58, who has been charged with first-degree murder in the shooting and was held on $1 million bail, according to city spokesman Randy Kenner, who did not know if Adkisson had an attorney.

The slain man was identified as Greg McKendry, 60, a longtime church member and usher. Church member Barbara Kemper told The Associated Press that McKendry “stood in the front of the gunman and took the blast to protect the rest of us.”
Linda Kraeger, 61, died at the University of Tennessee Medical Center a few hours after the shooting, Kenner said.
Five of those injured were in critical or serious condition at a hospital Sunday. Two others were treated and released.
The gunman’s motive was not known. But Kemper said the gunman shouted before he opened fire.
“It was hateful words. He was saying hateful things,” she said, but refused to elaborate.
The FBI was assisting in case the shooting turned out be a hate crime, Police Chief Sterling Owen said.

The church, like many other Unitarian Universalist churches, promotes progressive social work, such as desegregation and fighting for the rights of women and gays. The Knoxville congregation has provided sanctuary for political refugees, fed the homeless and founded a chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, according to its Web site.
Police took statements from witnesses and collected video cameras from church members who recorded the performance.

Authorities also searched Adkisson’s duplex in the Knoxville suburb of Powell on Sunday night but refused to provide any details about what they found. A bomb squad was called in as a precaution.
“In a situation like this, we’re not taking any chances,” police Lt. Doug Stiles said.
Neighbors described Adkisson as a friendly man who would often work on his motorcycle outside and go on long rides on the weekends.
Melissa Coker, 44, said Adkisson had lived next door since she moved in four or five years ago. She said he had been a truck driver, but she didn’t believe he had steady work in the last six months or so.
“He’s just a really, really nice guy,” Coker said.
The shooting started as about 200 people watched 25 children perform a show based on the musical “Annie.”
Church member Mark Harmon said he was in the first row.
“It had barely begun when there was an incredibly loud bang,” he said.
Harmon said he thought the noise was part of the play, then he heard a second loud bang. As he dove for cover, he realized a woman behind him was bleeding. She looked like she was in shock, touching her wound, he said.
“It seems so unreal,” Harmon said. “You’re sitting in church, you’re watching a children’s performance of a play and suddenly you hear a bang.”
Harmon said church members just behind him in the second and third rows were shot. His wife told him she saw the gunman pull the shotgun out of a guitar case.

“Greg McKendry was a very large gentleman, one of those people you might describe as a refrigerator with a head,” said member Schera Chadwick, whose husband, Ted Lollis, arrived at the church just after the shooting. “He looked like a football player. He did obviously stand up and put himself in between the shooter and the congregation.”
The church’s minister was on vacation in western North Carolina at the time of the shooting but returned Sunday afternoon.
“We’ve been touched by a horrible act of violence. We are in a process of healing and we ask everyone for your prayers,” the Rev. Chris Buice said in a statement outside the church. “I will tell you we love Greg McKendry. We are grieving the loss of a wonderful man.”

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