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Archive for February 5, 2009

Security officer injured during classroom explosion www.privateofficer.com

Security officer injured during classroom explosion http://www.privateofficer.com

‘AIEA HI Feb 5 2009 — Two ‘Aiea High School students and two adult campus employees suffered minor burn, skin and eye irritation injuries following a small chemical explosion at the campus around 9:10 a.m. yesterday.
No one required hospitalization.
“They’re complaining of burning, skin irritation, real minor stuff,” said Bryan Cheplic, spokesman for the city Emergency Medical Services Division.
One male and one female student, both underclassmen, were near the device when it exploded. A male campus security guard and a health aide were burned when they went to help.
The explosion appears to have occurred from the improvised mixing of two different chemicals that turned into an acid, although police declined to speculate on what the mixture may have contained.
Principal Mike Tokioka said the two students injured were not involved in the making of the chemical.
The incident happened near the end of the “passing period” between the first and second classes of the day in a stairwell of Building D, Tokioka said.
The bottle appeared to be an ordinary drink container, said Capt. Terry Seelig of the Honolulu Fire Department. He described the explosion as “a chemical reaction process that takes place in a sealed container.”
The explosion resulted in a small spill of the chemicals and HFD personnel neutralized it, Seelig said.
“This is an example of extremely risky and dangerous behavior,” Seelig said. “It’s very unpredictable when messing with chemicals in this manner to create something that has the ability to detonate and spread dangerous substances … so I caution people not to play around with creating these homemade devices.
“There’s been dire consequences on the Mainland. We’re fortunate nothing worse happened today than what did happen,” he said.
The results could be worse than when powder from fireworks are mixed together, Seelig said.
Both Tokioka and Honolulu police Lt. Glenn Maekawa said they are taking the incident seriously.
“We’d like to find the people that did it,” Tokioka said. “There will be consequences if we find the people.”
Manufacturing an explosive device is a federal offense and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives will be notified, Maekawa said. Police are also investigating the case as reckless endangerment.
The school was locked down for more than an hour.
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Senior citizen kidnapped, thrown off bridge alive www.privateofficer.com

Senior citizen kidnapped, thrown off bridge alive http://www.privateofficer.com

Pineville KY Feb 5 2009
Kentucky State Police have not yet recovered the body of 70-year-old Paul Slusher, a Fourmile, Kentucky murder victim.
Troopers said they plan to bring in cadaver dogs and divers on Thursday or Friday, depending on weather conditions.
The people charged in the case were in court Tuesday.Lora Amburgey and Joshua Parsons face robbery, kidnapping, murder, and tampering with evidence charges.
The lead investigator in the case, Detective Doyle Halcomb, laid out a timeline for the judge based on evidence collected and statements from the accused.
He said Amburgey and Parsons told different stories to Kentucky State Police, each blaming the other for hatching a plot to rob Paul Slusher.
According to police, Amburgey and Parsons cleaned out a safe in Slusher’s garage, bound him with duct tape and boot laces, drove him in a van to Amburgey’s apartment, and unloaded the van.
Then one or both of them drove to the Page bridge and tossed a struggling Slusher over the side.
The next day, police were looking for Amburgey’s van, and they found it.
Police say she and Parsons were inside, along with a suitcase bursting with old, rare coins from Slusher’s safe and Slusher’s wallet.
Police say evidence shows they tried to cash in the coins using a machine at a Kroger.
The judge found probable cause and sent the case to a Bell County grand jury.The two suspects will stay in jail without bond.
Slusher’s family’s focus is recovering his body, so they can lay him to rest.
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3 Woman charged in felony theft incident www.privateofficer.com

3 Woman charged in felony theft incident http://www.privateofficer.com

ALBION NY Feb 5 2009
dailynewsonline.com — Three Rochester women, including one who is a three-time convicted felon, were arraigned in Orleans County Court Monday on a grand jury indictment warrant and charged with stealing more than $3,000 worth of items from Wal-Mart.
The three also face charges in other counties, including Niagara, where the investigation began.
Florence M. Copp, 44, Priscilla Gumpton, 42, are charged with grand larceny and criminal possession of stolen property.
Williams has three previous felony convictions and served two terms in prison for drugs and grand larceny. If convicted again she could face life in prison.

The trio were arrested after an investigation into thefts at Wal-Mart in Lockport, Orleans County Sheriff’s Investigator Corey Black said.”

They were suspected in a shoplifting in Lockport and they went back into the store and were apprehended by the store’s loss prevention team,” Black said.
“A search of their car found property they established was stolen from the Wal-Mart in Albion.”Albion security reviewed tapes and found the three stealing, he said. The woman stole mostly video games at Wal-Mart locations in Albion, Lockport and in Ontario County, where they also face charges.
A fourth woman is still being sought.Also in County Court Monday, a former Red Cross official pleaded guilty to stealing nearly $14,000 from the Orleans County chapter.
Darla McGill, 44, of Medina pleaded guilty to attempted third-degree grand larceny and could face up to four years in prison.McGill worked as an administrative assistant at the Medina branch of American Red Cross and was in charge of client assistance cards, similar to credit or gift cards.
Investigators said McGill issued cards to herself, totaling more than $13,500.
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Mall security officer stabbed during shoplifting incident www.privateofficer.com

Mall security officer stabbed during shoplifting incident http://www.privateofficer.com

Hanover MD. Feb 5 2009
An Arundel Mills Mall security officer was stabbed in the buttocks during a shoplifting incident in Hanover, Anne Arundel police said Wednesday.
The 37-year-old security officer, whose name was not released, was attacked Monday while confronting two suspects accused of assaulting another officer in a shoplifting incident moments earlier outside Baja Fresh Mexican Grill on Arundel Mills Boulevard, police said.
During the confrontation, the security officer fended off one suspect with pepper spray, but in doing so, he was stabbed in the buttocks by the second suspect, police said.
The officer used pepper spray on both suspects before they ran away, police said.
Officers searched the area in a helicopter and found the first suspect near Wachovia Bank on Ridge Road. They couldn’t find the second suspect, but he was later identified, police said.
Police are withholding the suspects’ names because first-degree assault charges are pending.
The victim was treated and released from the Baltimore Washington Medical Center for the non life-threatening wound.
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Pranksters hack electronic road signs cause safety concerns www.privateofficer.com

Pranksters hack electronic road signs cause safety concerns http://www.privateofficer.com

COLLINSVILLE, Ill. Feb 5 2009– Pranksters in at least three states are messing with electronic road signs meant to warn motorists of possible traffic problems by putting drivers on notice about Nazi zombies and raptors. And highway safety officials aren’t amused.
The latest breach came Tuesday during the morning rush hour near Collinsville, Ill., where hackers changed a sign along southbound Interstate 255 to read, “DAILY LANE CLOSURES DUE TO ZOMBIES.”
A day earlier in Indiana’s Hamilton County, the electronic message on a board in Carmel’s construction zone warned drivers of “RAPTORS AHEAD — CAUTION.”
And signs in Austin, Texas, recently flashed: “NAZI ZOMBIES! RUN!!!” and “ZOMBIES IN AREA! RUN.”
Officials in Illinois are concerned the rewritten signs distract motorists from heeding legitimate hazards down the road. The hacked sign on Tuesday originally warned drivers of crews replacing guardrails.
“We understood it was a hoax, but at the same time those boards are there for a reason,” said Joe Gasaway, an Illinois Department of Transportation supervisory field engineer. “We don’t want (drivers) being distracted by a funny sign.”
Authorities haven’t figured out how pranksters access the signs. Gasaway believes the Illinois sign was changed remotely, and Austin Public Works spokeswoman Sara Hartley suspected the hackers there cut a padlock to get into the signs’ computers.
Some Web sites, such as Jalopnik.com have published tutorials titled “How to Hack an Electronic Road Sign” as a way to alert security holes to traffic-safety officials. Jalopnik urges its readership of 2.6 million a month not to put its lesson to practice.
“Hacking generally is about showing where there are holes in security systems, and I think this is a great example of that,” the site’s editor-in-chief, Ray Wert, told The Associated Press by telephone Wednesday. “I’m sure there are all sorts of ways to use that information in a way that’s inappropriate, but we’re trying to make clear this is an issue that needs to be confronted by traffic safety and transportation officials.”
Wert said he had no immediate plans to take down Jalopnik’s how-to guide.
In Illinois, tampering with an official traffic control device is a misdemeanor punishable by up to a $250 fine — half what a culprit might have to pay in Texas if caught. If convicted in Indiana, a culprit faces up to a year in jail and $5,000 in fines.
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Security agent injured by shoplifter www.privateofficer.com

Security agent injured by shoplifter http://www.privateofficer.com

RALEIGH NC Feb 5 2009 — A security officer was assaulted after trying to stop a shoplifter from leaving JC Penney at the North Hills shopping center in North Raleigh, police said.
“The officer approached the suspect outside the store, and the man pushed and punched him before taking off,” said Laura Hourigan, a spokeswoman for the Raleigh Police Department.
The incident occurred about 1:40 p.m. Jan. 25 at the JC Penney at 4217 Six Forks Road.
The store employee was taken to Rex Hospital and later discharged, police said.
The thief took an undisclosed amount of costume jewelry and perfume.
A detailed description of the man was not available.
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2 Nashville doctors arrested for “pushing” drugs in KY. www.privateofficer.com

2 Nashville doctors arrested for “pushing” drugs in KY. http://www.privateofficer.com

Nashville TN Feb 5 2009
tennessean.com
Two Nashville doctors were arrested Wednesday on charges they illegally supplied prescriptions to about 350 people in Harlan County, Ky.
Dr. Visu Vilvarajah and Dr. Mirielle Lalanne are being held in Nashville pending extradition to Kentucky, Metro police spokesman Don Aaron said.
The doctors, who work together at a Charlotte Avenue practice, Tennessee Professional Associates, face three counts of engaging in organized crime, one count of assault and one count of wanton endangerment in the Kentucky case.
According to indictments, they provided prescriptions for large quantities of drugs knowing they weren’t for patients’ personal use. They’re also accused of prescribing painkillers to a pregnant woman whose baby was born addicted to the drugs, said Harlan County Sheriff Marvin Lipfird.
“Driving six hours to see a doctor in Nashville is a red flag,” Lipfird said. “It just isn’t logical. These people would pass a lot of good doctors who could aid them in their ailments between here and there.”
Harlan County is home to about 32,000 people in southeastern Kentucky. During the course of the investigation, Lipfird said his office found that about 350 people carried prescriptions from the two doctors. The drugs included several types of painkillers, including Oxycontin and methadone.
It is not clear whether the pair profited from any drug trafficking.
“The doctors never set foot in Kentucky, but their actions in Tennessee had a direct impact on Kentucky in a criminal way,” said Sherif Guindi, an assistant commonwealth’s attorney in Kentucky handling the case. “They knew they were giving people large amounts of drugs and that what they were doing would facilitate drug trafficking.”
So far in Harlan County, at least three syndicate groups of five or more people have been linked to the doctors. One ring has already been indicted for trafficking in the case, but the investigation continues into the other groups, Lipfird said.
Aaron said a special unit of Metro police has been investigating the pair, but no charges have been filed in Tennessee.
If convicted in the Kentucky case, the pair could face up to 75 years in prison. Their attorney, Charles Walker, did not return calls left at his office Wednesday.
A message to patients explaining the doctors’ offices would be closed through the rest of the week due to an emergency was taped to the door of their Charlotte Avenue practice Wednesday. Employees inside refused to comment about the case.
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90,000 Sex Offenders Found On MySpace! www.privateofficer.com

February 5, 2009 2 comments

90,000 Sex Offenders Found On MySpace! http://www.privateofficer.com

Atlanta GA. Feb 5 2009
About 90,000 sex offenders have been identified and removed from the social networking Web site MySpace, company and law enforcement officials said Tuesday.
The number was nearly double what MySpace officials originally estimated last year, said North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper, who along with Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal has led efforts to make social networking Web sites safer for young users.
Cooper said he wasn’t surprised by the updated numbers, and demanded that MySpace and rival online networking site Facebook _ which claim to have more than 170 million users combined _ do more to protect children and teenagers.
“These sites were created for young people to communicate with each other. Predators are going to troll in these areas where they know children are going to be,” Cooper said. “That’s why these social networking sites have the responsibility to make their sites safe for children.”
The attorneys general received agreements last year from MySpace and Facebook to push toward making their sites safer. Both sites implemented dozens of safeguards, including finding better ways to verify user’s ages, banning convicted sex offenders from using the sites and limiting the ability of older users to search members under 18.
Blumenthal, who received MySpace’s updated numbers Tuesday through a subpoena, said the information “provides compelling proof that social networking sites remain rife with sexual predators.” A preliminary number of sex offenders found on Facebook was “substantial,” but he said the company has yet to respond to a recent subpoena.
MySpace executives said they were confident in the technology they use to find, remove and block registered sex offenders. The company uses Sentinel SAFE, a database it created in 2006 with the names, physical descriptions and other identifiable characteristics of sex offenders that cross-references against MySpace members.
“Sentinel SAFE is the best industry solution to ensure these offenders are removed from social networks,” Hemanshu Nigam, the company’s chief security officer, said in a statement Tuesday.
MySpace, which is owned by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp., has more than 110 million active users worldwide.
A spokesman for Facebook, which claims more than 61 million active users, said Tuesday that protecting its users has always been a priority.
“We have a policy prohibiting registered sex offenders from joining Facebook,” said spokesman Barry Schnitt. “We are glad to be able to report that we have not yet had to handle a case of a registered sex offender meeting a minor through Facebook. We are working hard to make sure it never happens.”
Still, Cooper said more should be done.
“Technology moves forward quickly, and it’s important for these companies to stay ahead of the technology,” he said. “And they’re not moving fast enough for us.”
The push for better restrictions came during a time when social-networking Web sites were seeing exponential growth, with most of it coming in the form of younger users. But along with the younger members came sexual predators who would lie about their age to lure young victims.
Blumenthal and Cooper, who co-chair the State Attorney General Task Force on Social Networking, have led the charge for tougher restrictions to be placed on who joins online social-networking sites.
The Internet Safety Technical Task Force report, commissioned by the attorneys general in 2008, researched ways to help squash the onslaught of sexual predators targeting younger social-networking clients. Enhancing Child Safety & Online Technologies, a report by the Internet Safety Technical Task Force submitted to attorneys general in December, pointed out there was no surefire way to guarantee online child safety.
“Our law enforcement officers investigating these cases tell us that predators are soliciting children on the Internet and in social networking sites,” Cooper said. “We’re working to provide more law enforcement to protect our kids, but social networking sites and technology companies must do their part as well.”
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Armored truck wrecks in NC, 1 injured www.privateofficer.com

Armored truck wrecks in NC, 1 injured http://www.privateofficer.com

Archdale, NC Feb 5 2009
BY: Rick McCann
NTL. ASSOC. PRIVATE OFFICERS
http://www.privateofficer.com/ The NC Highway Patrol reported that an armored truck driver lost control of their vehicle on Interstate 85 and injured one of the guards.
Trooper Knox says the Brinks Security truck was traveling northbound on I-85 near Highway 62 in Archdale Wednesday when it wrecked in a work zone area.
The driver told police that he may have fallen asleep at the wheel and troopers are investigating that but no charges have been filed yet.
The N.C. highway patrol reported that the truck was loaded with money and was heading to Raleigh and that all contents remain secured during the accident.
Knox says the single-vehicle accident left the guard in the back of the vehicle with minor injuries.
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Security detains sexual assault suspect www.privateofficer.com

Security detains sexual assault suspect http://www.privateofficer.com

Boston MA Feb 5 2009
Two MBTA employees helped protect a woman who was allegedly being groped and verbally harassed by a man while riding last night on a nearly empty bus in the South End, according to prosecutors and transit officials. Their actions led to the arrest of Rayfield McCants, who is accused of indecent assault and battery
McCants, 28, of Cambridge allegedly sat directly next to the 29-year-old woman as the bus drove down Tremont Street at 11 p.m., positioning himself so his buttocks pressed up against her body. The bus driver, Patrick Coughlan, said today at a press conference that he could hear McCants muttering inappropriately and making the woman very upset. Coughlan decided that enough was enough.
“I can’t let this woman go through this anymore,” Coughlan said, describing his mindset as he drove his Route 43 bus. “There is no reason to be sitting right next to a woman when there are 40 open seats.”
Coughlan said he ordered McCants to move away from the woman. McCants complied, but he allegedly continued saying inappropriate things to the woman. Near Dartmouth and Tremont streets, Coughlan said, he pulled over, opened the bus doors, and ordered McCants to get off.
The woman, who struggled with English, may have misunderstood, Coughlan said, because she was the one who ran off the bus.
McCants allegedly followed, jogging up behind the woman, who screamed in terror. Coughlan said he followed in his bus, opened the doors, and got the woman to seek refuge on board.
McCants tried to walk away, but Coughlan said he followed him in his bus and called bus inspector Leon Saunders for help.
McCants was apprehended by security guards working for Longwood Security. Saunders asked the guards to hold McCants while police responded to the scene.
The woman sat in Saunders’s car while police arrested McCants. She called her husband on a cell phone and was very grateful to the T employees, officials said.
Prosecutors said the incident had begun earlier when McCants had approached the woman and intentionally rubbed against her at Park Street station before she boarded the bus.
“It’s astonishing that we’ve entered 2009 and some people still think this is acceptable behavior,” Suffolk District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said in a statement. “It’s not. And it’s not just unacceptable — it’s a criminal offense, and it’s going to be treated as such when it arrives in a Suffolk County courtroom.”
McCants pleaded not guilty at his arraignment today in Boston Municipal Court and was ordered held on $5,000 cash bail.
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Norridge Police Reports-Shoplifting Arrests www.privateofficer.com

Norridge Police Reports-Shoplifting Arrests http://www.privateofficer.com

NORRIDGE IL. Feb 5 2009
Brett Davis


Recent shoplifting and theft arrests as reported by the police.

Jennifer Tarsa, 30, of 2619 N. Newcastle Ave., Chicago, was arrested Jan. 20 and charged with retail theft and aggravated battery. Store security agents at Target, 4050 N. Harlem Ave., told police they saw Tarsa conceal 14 boxes of perfume in a pink backpack taken from a display. She left the store without paying for the merchandise, valued at $592.75, police said.

When stopped, Tarsa complained of chest pains, police said; she was transported to Resurrection Medical Center in Chicago and admitted overnight for tests and observation. Police said Tarsa fit the description of the woman who had taken five bottles of perfume, valued at $364, from Ulta, 4115 N. Harlem Ave., on Jan. 13. When an employee tried to stop her, Tarsa allegedly punched her in the face, causing swelling and bleeding. At a Jan. 22 hearing, bond for Tarsa was set at $70,000. She is scheduled to appear in court Feb. 19.
• Terry Level, 27, of 7251 N. Bell Ave., Chicago, was arrested Jan. 19 at Kohl’s, 4220 N. Harlem Ave., and charged with felony retail theft. Kohl’s agents told police they saw Level take jewelry items to a fitting room where she concealed them in her purse. She left the store without paying for the concealed items, police said. At a Jan. 20 hearing, bond for Level was set at $3,000. She is slated to appear in court Feb. 19.
Jesse Coyazo, 18, of 4121 N. Kimball Ave., Chicago, was arrested Jan. 25 at Target, 4050 N. Harlem Ave., and charged with retail theft. Bond for Coyazo was set at $1,000. He is scheduled for a Feb. 19 court appearance.
Mariana Sepulveda, 35, of 3723 W. Cullom Ave., Chicago, was arrested Jan. 25 at Kohl’s, 4220 N. Harlem Ave., and charged with retail theft. Police said Sepulveda and a female juvenile — both of whom worked in the store’s security office — took several items from the sales floor to a fitting room. According to police reports, Sepulveda left the store wearing three items, valued at $49, for which she hadn’t paid, and the juvenile had one item valued at $14. Bond for Sepulveda was set at $1,000. She is slated for a Feb. 19 court appearance. The juvenile was released to her mother’s custody. There were no charges filed against the juvenile, who had no prior criminal history, police said.
CREDIT MISUSE
Dianne Dibrito, 39, of 4424 N. Kasson Ave., Chicago, was arrested Jan. 25 at Great American Jewelry, 4158 N. Harlem Ave., and charged with unlawful use of a credit card. Police said Dibrito tried to use another woman’s identification card to purchase jewelry. According to police reports, Dibrito also had the other woman’s two Visa cards and platinum MasterCard in her possession. Dibrito is scheduled for a March 9 court appearance.
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