Archive
Students beat bus driver, breaking leg www.privateofficer.com
Students beat bus driver, breaking leg http://www.privateofficer.com
On Friday afternoon on the bus ride home, a Rutherford County Tennessee teenager said that she witnessed several students severly beat the bus driver. According to the student, who mother did not want to be identified, it all started when a high school student took off his belt.
“The bus driver, without the microphone, he said, “Put back on your belt,’” said the girl.
The students said the bus driver pulled the bus over along a stretch of Blaze Drive in Rutherford County and again ordered the student to put his belt back on. From there, witnesses said the argument escalated into a fight.
Austin Elliott was also aboard that bus and said the driver seemed more serious after he stopped the vehicle.
“The bus driver goes back there and tells him to get off the bus. Then another kid comes up and says, “Just get out of his face,’ and then they start cussing at the bus driver,” said Elliott.
From there, the witnesses’ stories differ. Some said the high school students struck the first blow, while others blame the bus driver.
One thing that all the children agreed on was that the boys eventually dragged the driver off the bus and beat him. “He pushed the bus driver out and started punching him,” said the girl, whose mother asked that she not be identified
“One of the kids was sitting down and they started kicking him. The bus driver started bleeding because he got kicked in the face and then the back,” said Elliott.
“Me and my friend, we were banging on the back window and screaming at the people behind us (to call 911,)” said the girl.
Elliott was able to call 911 and Rutherford County deputies responded to the scene in Blackman as well as emergency medical personnel.
“When I pulled around the street there were police everywhere,” said Elliott’s mother.
Rutherford County Board of Education and the sheriff’s department is investigating the assault and both of the juviniles have been arrested and are scheduled to appear in court.
The bus driver, whose name the authorities have not made public yet suffered a broken leg in the fight.
Fake bail agent arrested for playing cop www.privateofficer.com
Fake bail agent arrested for playing cop http://www.privateofficer.com
Ex-convict Patrick Jabbour had already done prison time for burglary, robbery and impersonating a police officer, according to records.
Jabbour was nabbed Friday at the Department of Motor Vehicles in Bethpage, police said. Earlier, he had flashed a phony shield at the Massapequa DMV to try to cut in line, said Investigator Gary W. Bedell of the State Police in Valley Stream.
Get news alerts, officer down, weather emergency news in your mailbox! Sign up;
adminassist@privateofficer.comJoin us at www.myspace.com/privateofficernews
Come be part of our social network! http://www.privateofficer.com
Atlanta area shoplifting gang arrested www.privateofficer.com
Atlanta area shoplifting gang arrested http://www.privateofficer.com
Get news alerts, officer down, weather emergency news in your mailbox! Sign up;
adminassist@privateofficer.comJoin us at www.myspace.com/privateofficernews
Come be part of our social network! http://www.privateofficer.com
Man apprehended passing bogus money www.privateofficer.com
Man apprehended passing fake money www.privateofficer.com
A Sun Prairie man was charged with two counts of forgery for allegedly passing forged bills at two Wal-Mart stores to buy money orders, and with several related charges which came after authorities searched his Wyndwood Way home.
Cash bail of $4,000 was set for Adrian B. Farrow as he appeared in court Thursday on two counts of forgery, four counts of possession of firearms by a felon, possession of marijuana and possession with intent to deliver ecstasy.
The cash bail can revert to a signature bond if Farrow gets in to the bail monitoring program.
Farrow is alleged to have used 17 $50 bills to buy an $800 money order at the Wal-Mart at 1905 McCoy Road in Sun Prairie on April 6, then used 38 $50 bills to purchase an $1,800 money order at the Wal-Mart at 7202 Watts Road in Madison on April 8.
In both cases, the complaint says, the bills appeared to be doctored $5 bills. The 17 bills at the first store shared four serial numbers and those numbers were not yet used, the Secret Service said. In addition the security strips on the bills read “USA Five,” not “Fifty,” the complaint says, and none of the bills had colored ink which would change from copper to green.
Security cameras at the bank showed a man with a Cincinnati Bengals football jersey with the number 85 on it leaving the store and getting into a maroon Cadillac. After police established Farrow as the suspect, they went to his Wyndwood Way home in rural Sun Prairie with a search warrant on April 11.
That search turned up four guns, which the complaint says Farrow could not legally possess because he was previously convicted of a felony welfare fraud charge.
Also found at the residence were money orders and receipts which showed Farrow had purchased slightly more than $18,000 of money orders, mostly at Wal-Mart stores, in the months before his arrest. Police also found about $11,000 in cash, along with 10 grams of marijuana and nearly 102 grams of ecstasy.
Farrow told police he was given the $50 bills by a man from Detroit who wanted him to buy money orders for him, and he insisted he did not know the bills were phony.
Farrow also told police that he earned $70,000 per year and his wife, Latrina, earned another $45,000 in her day care business.
Also seized from the home were a money counting machine and several computers, which Farrow denied using to print money.
“He offered no explanation as to why he would have a cash counting machine or legitimate reason why he would have so much cash on hand,” the complaint says.
Get news alerts, officer down, weather emergency news in your mailbox! Sign up;
adminassist@privateofficer.comJoin us at www.myspace.com/privateofficernews
Come be part of our social network! http://www.privateofficer.com
Couple charged with trading 5yr old for apartment, car www.privateofficer.com
Couple charged with trading 5yr old child for apartment, car http://www.privateofficer.com
Jennifer Richards, 25, and her married boyfriend, Sean Michael Block, 40, appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Nancy Stein Nowak on Friday. Richards is charged with using interstate facilities to transmit information about a minor. Block is charged with distributing child pornography.
Nowak ordered Block held. Richards’ detention hearing was delayed until Tuesday, the San Antonio Express-News reported Sunday.
According to an affidavit, the investigation began when an informant told the FBI about a text message allegedly sent by Block reading: “Nice piece 5 yrs old belongs to my gf and she wants to sell it.”
Richards and Block crafted a deal that, in addition to the apartment and used car, included child care for Richards’ 10-month-old daughter, whose sexual service the couple intended to sell later, Rex Miller, the FBI’s lead agent on the case, testified.
The couple had also hoped to blackmail the informant, Miller said.
Richards “was of the belief that these sexual interactions would be a positive experience for (her daughter) and that Richards would receive sexual gratification” from watching, according to the affidavit.
Authorities said both children are no longer in Richards’ custody and that neither child was sold for sex.
After reviewing computers the couple used and listening to taped conversations, Miller determined Block and Richards were making further plans to abduct, rape and “carve up” a teenage runaway.
Block allegedly sent an e-mail with a link to a Russian child pornography site, according to the affidavit.
Ronald Guyer, Block’s lawyer, acknowledged the severity of the charges. But Guyer told the judge that there was no evidence that the behavior progressed beyond Block’s fantasy.
“There has been no action on his part,” Guyer told Nowak.
Richard’s attorney did not return a call or e-mail left Sunday.
The couple worked at the Cheesecake Factory at North Star Mall, where he was a bartender and she was a waitress.
Court records show that Block’s now-estranged wife Sarah Block filed for a protective order earlier this week on behalf of the couple’s 14-month-old child. Her lawyer said she filed for divorce Friday.
Get news alerts, officer down, weather emergency news in your mailbox! Sign up;
adminassist@privateofficer.comJoin us at www.myspace.com/privateofficernews
Come be part of our social network! http://www.privateofficer.com
Man accidentally stabs self to death www.privateofficer.com
Man accidentally stabs self to death http://www.privateofficer.com
Police say that a father died in what authorities are calling a tragic accident while trying to free his children from inside a hot car.
It happened at an apartment complex on Flagstaff Drive in south Charlotte just after 3:30 p.m.
Officers investigating the stabbing say that 22-year-old Miguel Angel Rivera Lemus accidentally locked his two children inside the car. Lemus and his wife were getting ready to run errands when they realized they had closed the car doors with the keys and their two young children inside.
The children’s mother went to find spare keys and Rivera grabbed a large butcher knife to pry open the car window.
Investigators said that as he was maiking his way back to the vehicle, he tripped down six stairs in front of his apartment, fell on the knife and stabbed himself in the chest. Lemus was able to get back into the apartment while his wife freed the children from the car and called authorities.
He was taken to Carolinas Medical Center, where he later died.
Get news alerts, officer down, weather emergency news in your mailbox! Sign up;
adminassist@privateofficer.comJoin us at www.myspace.com/privateofficernews
Come be part of our social network! http://www.privateofficer.com
Man sentenced to prison for security guard murder www.privateofficer.com
Man sentenced in security guard murder http://www.privateofficer.com
The family of Verne Jenkins, who was shot to death last year at the Sapp Brothers Truck Stop where he worked as a security guard, wept uncontrollably Monday at the sentencing for the man who killed Jenkins.
A jury found Roger Allen Malcolm guilty of first-degree felony murder in June for the Dec. 26, 2007, slaying of Jenkins, who was shot in the neck while the two struggled at the truck stop after Jenkins had ordered Malcolm out of the building at 1953 W. California Ave.
Third District Judge Paul Maughan sentenced Malcolm to 15-years-to-life in prison on Monday.
“When you killed him, you killed me, too,” Nora Jenkins, the victim’s mother, tearfully told Malcolm in court during the victim impact portion of the hearing.
She said the death of her only son has broken the hearts of her family, including husband Vernell and daughter Olympia. They now weep, fight among themselves and suffer sleepless nights, overcome with grief.
“We live like zombies in a house because we don’t know what to say,” Nora Jenkins said. “We don’t understand.”
She said her husband has had to take on two jobs because she has lost several positions due to her inability to concentrate
Verne Jenkins also left behind a wife and 3-year-old son who will not see him again, she told the court.
Olympia Jenkins, the victim’s sister, was passionate in her grief, lashing out angrily at Malcolm. “I am mad at you, I hate you, I will never forgive you — never!” she exclaimed.
Stephanie Jenkins, the widow of the victim, cried as she told the judge she wanted to let people hear the positive things about her husband rather than having him simply characterized as “the security guard who got shot.”
“He was patient, kind and giving,” she said. “He was thoughtful, loving and affectionate.”
Stephanie Jenkins expressed puzzlement at Malcolm’s court demeanor, stating that she has seen no remorse and heard no apology. “All I see is a man who seems to feel justified in what he has done.”
Malcolm at first had no comment but later offered a somewhat rambling series of remarks. “To the family, I can assure you this was a tragedy,” he said.
Malcolm said he was carrying a gun because of previous incidents in the neighborhood, but as far as the shooting of Jenkins, “It was nothing personal. Things got out of hand.”
Maughan denied a defense motion to sentence Malcolm to a second-degree felony charge, noting that the jury has spoken on the first-degree murder charge.
The judge also urged the Jenkins family to “do Verne honor” by trying to direct their emotions toward healing, for their own benefit and also for Verne Jenkins’ little boy.
Prosecution witnesses testified that Jenkins told Malcolm to leave the building after Malcolm began yelling at cashiers because he apparently thought they were not waiting on him fast enough when he wanted to buy a pack of gum before riding his bike to work. A fight erupted between the two men and Malcolm shot Jenkins.
Malcolm’s defense attorney, Rudy Batista, however, argued that Malcolm fired only because he thought his own life was in danger because he thought Jenkins was going for a gun of his own.
Police discovered later than Jenkins was unarmed
Get news alerts, officer down, weather emergency news in your mailbox! Sign up;
adminassist@privateofficer.comJoin us at www.myspace.com/privateofficernews
Come be part of our social network! http://www.privateofficer.com
Police Captain Charged With Theft Attempt www.privateofficer.com
Police Captain Charged With Theft Attempt http://www.privateofficer.com
Get news alerts, officer down, weather emergency news in your mailbox! Sign up;
adminassist@privateofficer.comJoin us at www.myspace.com/privateofficernews
Come be part of our social network! http://www.privateofficer.com
Mall employee charged with theft of $3000 merchandise www.privateofficer.com
Mall employee charged with theft of $3000 merchandise http://www.privateofficer.com
Authorities say that they received a complaint from a local mall about thefts and a woman who worked as part of a cleaning crew at Old Navy at Alameda Towne Centre has admitted stealing merchandise from the business on up to 25 occasions, police said.
The Oakland resident, 19, was arrested Thursday at the store after she was caught stealing clothing worth about $95, police said.
She then admitted stealing other merchandise during her shifts as a cleaner, hiding the items in bags before she would exit the business, police said.
In all, the woman allegedly stole about $3,000 worth of goods.
Get news alerts, officer down, weather emergency news in your mailbox! Sign up;
adminassist@privateofficer.comJoin us at www.myspace.com/privateofficernews
Come be part of our social network! http://www.privateofficer.com
Security officer overcome by fumes www.privateofficer.com
Security officer overcome by fumes http://www.privateofficer.com
Daytona Beach Fire Department spokesman Lt. Fred Godawa said in a news release that employees put bleach down a drain Saturday morning to try and get rid of a sour odor.
The security officer was taken to a hospital for observation after crews started medical treatment at the scene.
Police did not release the security offcier’s name.
Get news alerts, officer down, weather emergency news in your mailbox! Sign up;
adminassist@privateofficer.comJoin us at www.myspace.com/privateofficernews
Come be part of our social network! http://www.privateofficer.com
OFFICER DOWN..Off. Mel Dyer www.privateofficer.com
OFFICER DOWN..Officer Mel Dyer Duxbury MA. http://www.privateofficer.com
Get news alerts, officer down, weather emergency news in your mailbox! Sign up;
adminassist@privateofficer.comJoin us at www.myspace.com/privateofficernews
Come be part of our social network! http://www.privateofficer.com
Off-duty Opelika police officer killed in crash www.privateofficer.com
Off-Duty Opelika police officer killed in crash http://www.privateofficer.com
Opelika Mayor Gary Fuller said 37-year-old Corporal William Belk III died at the scene of Sunday’s accident. He was 37.
Police said Belk’s black Jeep collided with a green Ford Explorer around 2:30 p.m. on Sandhill Road.
Auburn Assistant Police Chief Tommy Dawson said the driver of the SUV fled the scene on foot. Officers responding to the scene quickly searched the area and apprehended the driver who has been identified as Jimmy Vickerstaff Jr, 31.
Vickerstaff, Jr. of Auburn was arrested and charged with manslaughter and leaving the scene of an accident.
The Alabama Bureau of Investigation says Vickerstaff is being held at the Lee County Detention Facility.
An investigation by Alabama state troopers continues.
Get news alerts, officer down, weather emergency news in your mailbox! Sign up;
adminassist@privateofficer.comJoin us at www.myspace.com/privateofficernews
Come be part of our social network! http://www.privateofficer.com
Police arrest 4 in Alabama murders www.privateofficer.com
Police arrest 4 in Alabama murder cases http://www.privateofficer.com
Four men were charged with capital murder Monday in connection with the slayings of five men found dead in a north Shelby County apartment nearly a week ago.
Each faces two counts of capital murder – murder for consideration and murder of two or more persons. All are in the Shelby County Jail under no bond.
Two persons of interest in the case are being sought, and the investigation remains open, the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release issued Monday night
Charged are Alejandros Castaneda, 31, of Birmingham; Juan Fransisco Castaneda, 25, of Birmingham; Jaime Duenas Rodriguez, 22, of San Antonio; and Christopher Scott Jones, 40, of Birmingham.
Three of the men have been identified as Armando Lopez, 24; Ezequiel Rebollar-Perrban, 23; and Jaime Echeverria, 30. Shelby County Coroner Diana Hawkins said Monday the other two men have been tentatively identified and her office is trying to reach their relatives.
The Sheriff’s Office announced the arrests after executing four search warrants in the Center Point area Monday, with the assistance of other local, state and federal investigators. The warrants were executed at the following locations:
A residence in the 1800 block of Centerbrook Lane.
A residence in the 100 block of Foxhill Court NW.
The five men found slain last week in a north Shelby County townhouse were beaten and shocked in a brutal murder for hire related to drugs, authorities said today.
The men were discovered on Wednesday in the Cahaba Lakes Apartments off U.S. 280, but investigators believe they were beaten, tortured with electric shocks and then their throats were cut on Sunday. The killings were connected to a drug organization that transports cocaine, methamphetamine and marijuana, Shelby County Sheriff Chris Curry said.
Curry said he was not certain how long the suspects had been in the Birmingham area. Three are believed to be from Mexico and are in the country illegally, he said. Curry did not say how much the men were allegedly paid to do the killings, but he said the killings may have been in retaliation for embezzling $400,000 to $450,000 from the drug organizationShelby County Sheriff Chris Curry and District Attorney Robby Owens for the first time revealed publicly details on what they believed happened in the biggest homicide case in recent history in the county.
The Sheriff’s Department said that, with the help of others, it was able to identify suspects and a motive for the slayings. Capt. Ken Burchfield declined to discuss that motive, saying the Sheriff’s Department has a news conference scheduled for 9 this morning in Columbiana.
Burchfield confirmed that shortly before 7 a.m. Monday, a Shelby County deputy asked for assistance from the Jefferson County sheriff’s office in looking for a person of interest in connection with the homicides. The report said the man would be driving a black Dodge Durango truck. Authorities provided no further information on that search.
Meanwhile, one of the men found dead was facing a drug-trafficking charge in Jefferson County, court records show.
Armando Lopez, listed in court records as a transient, was charged on June 1 in Birmingham and released June 24 from the Jefferson County Jail on $100,000 bond. His bond initially was set at $1 million. Tim Arnold, who represented Lopez in the Jefferson County drug case, declined comment, citing the ongoing investigation.
Lt. Henry Irby, spokesman for the Birmingham Police Department, said he didn’t know if the Jefferson County drug charges were related to the Shelby County slayings and declined to talk about the Shelby County case.
According to an affidavit/warrant sought by Birmingham police on May 30, Lopez “did knowingly sell, manufacture, deliver or bring into this state, or was knowingly under constructive possession of 28 grams or more, but less than 500 grams of cocaine or of a mixture containing cocaine.”
The Jefferson County district attorney’s office had filed a civil suit seeking to seize a 1989 Cadillac and $1,201 Lopez had in his possession when he was taken into custody by Birmingham police on May 29. Prosecutors say the money was drug money. That case is still pending.
.Court records also show that Lopez pleaded guilty in Marshall County on May 15 to speeding, having no insurance and driving without a license.
The news release also stated that Sheriff Chris Curry wants the “residents of Shelby County to know he is confident that the suspects in custody are responsible for this crime and that it was not a random act.”
Get news alerts, officer down, weather emergency news in your mailbox! Sign up;
adminassist@privateofficer.comJoin us at www.myspace.com/privateofficernews
Come be part of our social network! http://www.privateofficer.com
