Archive
Cherokee County GA teachers arrested for duct taping child www.privateofficer.com
Cherokee County officials said Woodstock High School teacher Laurie Peavy and her paraprofessional, Nancy Cheek, duct taped a special education student to a chair in 2008. During the investigation, police said another allegation surfaced that Peavy confined another student under a desk in the classroom.
Monday, the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office arrested Peavy, 44, and charged her with two counts of false imprisonment and two counts of cruelty to children in the first degree.
Cheek, 49, was charged with one count of false imprisonment and one count of cruelty to children in the first degree.
Peavy was released on $60,000 bond and Cheek is being held on $30,000 bond.
Follow Us On Twitter/privateofficer
Join Us At MySpace/privateofficernews
Join The National Association of Private Officers
New York teacher arrested for bank robbery www.privateofficer.com
Police say he carried a camouflaged colored shotgun and took an undisclosed amount of cash. The time of the robbery matches the approximate time school officials realized Gurniak was missing from the school.
“We know that he did not leave in an authorized manner on Thursday afternoon. In fact, his house principal was looking for him at approximately 2:10-2:15,” said Jerome Melvin, superintendent of the North Syracuse Central School District.
C-NS executive principal James Froio spent much of Monday morning telling students in Gurniak’s class what had happened
I’ve gone from classroom to classroom and I’d say the best way to characterize their mood has been solemn over the news,” said Froio.
Both Melvin and Frio acknowledge they were aware Gurniak had been previously arrested. In January, he was charged with criminal possession of stolen property in the Town of Clay and will answer to those charges next week. Melvin also commented on an arrest last summer.
“To my understanding, the June 2008 arrest ended in an adjournment in contemplation of dismissal, so there was no decision as far as he was not found guilty,” said Melvin.
Even though Gurniak has been previously arrested, school officials say this latest arrest still comes as a shock.
“If those allegations are true, that’s a pretty big leap from the things that we previously knew about,” said Froio.
We also discovered published records that show several judgments were filed by creditors against Gurniak in the last year and a half. Those judgments totaled more than $9,000.
Gurniak was jailed at the Onondaga County Justice Center on $150,000 bail.
Follow Us On Twitter/privateofficer
Join Us At MySpace/privateofficernews
Join The National Association of Private Officers
Florida music teacher arrested for student molestation www.privateofficer.com
Marion County – A music teacher in Marion County has been arrested on lewd and lascivious molestation and battery charges after inappropriately touching two young female students, Marion authorities said.
John E. Morrison, 62, of Ocala, is charged with one count of lewd/lascivious molestation and two counts of battery.
The music teacher at Romeo Elementary School in Dunnellon was accused of the inappropriate touching by a 7-year-old student and an 8-year-old student, the Marion County Sheriff’s Office said.
The 7-year-old said Morrison moved his hand up her pants leg to the middle of her thigh, according to a report. The other victim told authorities that Morrison touched her buttocks for about 10 seconds while he was showing a movie to the children in class with the lights off. One other time, Morrison placed his hands under the the girl’s shirt and touched her chest, the report states.
Morrison admitted “to inserting his hand in the pants leg” of the 7-year-old victim and to “moving his hand up to the middle of her thigh.” He also admitted to touching the 8-year-old girl’s buttocks and placing his hand on her chest, but not inside or under the shirt, the report states. He also said that the touching was inappropriate.
Morrison was held on $27,000 bond, authorities said.
Follow Us On Twitter/privateofficer
Join Us At MySpace/privateofficernews
Join The National Association of Private Officers
LA transit security under investigation for excessive force www.privateofficer.com
Los Angeles commuters have been improperly detained, pushed, choked and struck by Metropolitan Transportation Authority security guards, according to interviews and internal law enforcement memos obtained by The Times.
Alleged assaults over the last two years have prompted at least 11 investigations by the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department, which has repeatedly complained to MTA officials about abusive security officers, as the guards are called within the MTA.
Three incidents were captured on surveillance cameras at subway and light-rail stations.
Although the 97 MTA security guards carry guns, batons and pepper spray, they are not legally authorized to act as law enforcement officers. Their main responsibilities are protecting MTA property, guarding revenues and closing subway stations when daily service ends.
“They are not meant to be acting as police officers,” said Sheriff’s Cmdr. Dan Finkelstein, who oversees the department’s transit bureau, which has a contract with the MTA to police local rails and buses. ” ‘Observe and report’ here has become ‘observe and take action.’ “
MTA security officers operate separately from the Sheriff’s Department. The security officers used to report to a Sheriff’s Department supervisor, but that was changed two years ago and guards now report directly to the MTA.
An MTA consultant, retired Sheriff’s Department commander Charles “Sid” Heal, recently found that the relationship between sheriff’s deputies and security officers was strained, in part because their roles were not clearly delineated.
In a report to the MTA board, the consultant said security officers sometimes engaged in police activities even though they lack the legal authority and liability protections that sworn law enforcement officers have.
A new contract between MTA and the Sheriff’s Department is under negotiation, and it is expected to return security officers to Sheriff’s Department supervision, said MTA spokesman Marc Littman.
“That should provide better communications, integration and oversight,” Littman said in an e-mail to The Times.
Sheriff’s officials have written letters to MTA officials over the last year alerting them to improper conduct by their security officers.
In one such letter, a Sheriff’s Department captain complained that MTA Officer Miguel De La Cruz had attacked a “near comatose and intoxicated” man without provocation at a downtown subway station. The Sheriff’s Department sent its findings to prosecutors, who filed criminal charges against De La Cruz. Last month, a jury convicted him of battery, false imprisonment and filing a false report. He was sentenced to 90 days in jail and was fired by the MTA.
Art Leahy, newly appointed chief executive of the MTA, said in an interview with The Times that he only recently learned of allegations of misconduct by security officers and that he is adopting a zero tolerance approach to verbal or physical abuse.
“We are not going to tolerate any employee abusing a passenger or a member of the public,” Leahy said.
Leahy said he is asking Mike Gennaco, head of the Office of Independent Review, the county’s civilian watchdog of the Sheriff’s Department, to immediately advise him of ways to overhaul policies and procedures.
Under the California Public Records Act, The Times requested copies of letters between the Sheriff’s Department and MTA.
The Times also obtained confidential memos on some of the incidents. Among the cases:
* A security officer used his baton on an incoherent man in an elevator who was in diabetic shock. The man suffered two broken fingers and numerous bruises on his arms. The officer said the man grabbed his shirt with both hands, so he struck him once with a baton. A Sheriff’s Department investigation found that the injuries were “indicative of being struck several times” and that the officer used “potentially excessive” force, then failed to render medical aid. The officer was the subject of three other excessive force complaints and has recently been removed from field duties to be retrained, an MTA official said.
* A security officer was captured on closed-circuit TV cameras pushing a transient against a ticket vending machine. As a result, the person fell to the ground, cut his head and lost consciousness.
* A security officer said he used pepper spray on a drunk man who was belligerent during a train sweep at Union Station. Footage from a surveillance camera, however, showed the officer pushing the man out of a train onto the platform floor. When the man stood up, the security officer hit him across the chest and legs with a baton and then pepper-sprayed him in the face.
It was a video camera at the Metro’s 7th Street Station that convinced a jury that De La Cruz battered Carl Gutierrez and filed a false police report accusing the young man of assaulting him.
On the video, De La Cruz is seen discovering the intoxicated young man sleeping on a bench in a subway station, taking a quick look around and then nudging the 22-year-old to try to wake him. Unable to stir the man, De La Cruz put him in an arm hold and tried to pull him upright off the concrete bench.
When that failed, he kicked the man in the back and then put his hands around his neck, choking him from behind.
When the man tried to remove the officer’s clamped hands, De La Cruz slammed him to the ground.
De La Cruz, 55, filed a police report on the Aug. 21 incident, saying the young man had approached him in a threatening manner. He said he acted because the young man tried to bite him.
According to a Sheriff’s Department memo, an MTA security manager initially suggested that De La Cruz — a tactical instructor — needed additional training, noting that he had been “very aggressive” in several prior incidents.
Leahy said he reviewed the video of the incident and agreed with the jury’s verdict.
“When he is tapping on the unconscious person’s foot, I don’t think that crosses the line. It is when he violates the rules and tries to pull the guy up, he goes too far,” Leahy said. “He should have called for backup.”
The man who was assaulted by De La Cruz said the guard’s conduct was uncalled for.
“Some people shouldn’t be hired to do the job they are doing,” Gutierrez said, “and that was the case here.”
Follow Us On Twitter/privateofficer
Join Us At MySpace/privateofficernews
Join The National Association of Private Officers
New Orleans band teacher arrested for sexual misconduct www.privateofficer.com
Patrick Williams, 33, is charged with felony carnal knowledge of a juvenile, four counts of indecent behavior with juveniles, three counts of contributing to the delinquency of a juvenile and sexual contact between educator and student.
Deputy Superintendent Marlon Defillo said Williams and a group of students that included two 14-year-old girls, a 15-year-old boy and a 17-year-old young man left school together on October 24, 2008 and went to a home in New Orleans East where they all began having sex.
“That’s pretty sad, if that’s really true because it could have been anybody’s kid; it could have been mine,” said Benitha McCraney, a parent.
According to Defillo, Williams is believed to have engaged in sex with one of the 14-year-old girls.
“This information was brought to light on Sunday by the parent of one of the juveniles regarding possible sexual assualt. This information was brought to the child abuse detectives and as a result we began a criminal investigation with respect to the incident that happened last year,” said Defillo.
Defillo said police investigated over the weekend and found enough evidence to arrest Williams Monday night.
“It is believed that the 33-year-old male,” said Defillo, “volunteered to bring the three juveniles and the adult male to a home in New Orleans East.
“We believe once at the home, the juveniles had engaged in sexual activity amongst themselves as well as the 33 year old male we believe engaged in sexual activity with one of the 14 year old females.”
He said the 17-year-old male could also face charges depending on the age difference between he and the girl with whom he allegedly had sexual relations.
A statement from the Orleans Parish School Board said the board is cooperating with the investigation.
The statement also described Williams, who they did not name, as a ‘non-staff member who was hired to assist the McDonogh 35 High School band director’ and said that McDonogh 35 had interviewed the students involved and discussed the allegations with them and their parents. Counseling was also being offered to those affected.
Follow Us On Twitter/privateofficer
Join Us At MySpace/privateofficernews
Join The National Association of Private Officers
Charleston police officer on trial for double dipping www.privateofficer.com
wvgazette.com — Keith Peoples, the fifth Charleston Police Department officer accused of double dipping by working an outside security job while on the clock for the city, allegedly racked up hundreds of hours of overlapping time, prosecutors said Monday.
But defense attorney Dwane Tinsley, calling Peoples “a policeman’s policeman,” said during his opening statement in Kanawha Circuit Court that recordkeeping by the city and Charleston Town Center Mall was “a comedy of errors.”
Peoples’ trial on charges of obtaining money by a fraudulent scheme and computer fraud, both felonies, began Monday, one year after he was indicted and placed on paid administrative leave,
In 2007, the Police Department launched an investigation into allegations that some officers had been double dipping while on duty, Kanawha County assistant prosecutor Scott Reynolds said.
The probe uncovered 478 overlapping hours between Peoples’ police shifts and overtime and his security job at the mall, he said.
According to a spreadsheet prepared by department investigators, Peoples, 45, was repeatedly paid for working for both employers at once, he said.
The investigation did not determine where Peoples was at any given time, Reynolds said.
“The only thing we can be sure of is that he couldn’t have been both places at the same time,” he said.
Tinsley maintained that Peoples tried to account for the apparent overlaps, but that the investigators weren’t interested in the truth, only in turning the department’s 2003 Officer of the Year into a scapegoat.
“They turned a blind eye to the truth,” he said. “They didn’t want to hear it.”
The investigation focused solely on officers who worked second jobs at Town Center Mall and not at other locations, he said.
Peoples, a 17-year veteran of the force, was a dedicated, hardworking officer who would use a magnetized card to swipe out of the mall’s electronic timekeeping system when he would follow up on a tip as a member of the department’s warrants division, Tinsley said. He diligently swiped out every time he left until the mall’s security officer told him he was swiping so often that he was messing up the system, he said.
After that, Peoples would call in whenever he left the mall to return to his police duties, he said.
“Police work was priority — that was number one, and the businesses knew that,” Tinsley said.
The defense intends to call a forensic accountant who will use the state’s own evidence to rebut the charges against Peoples, he said.
In 2007, a Kanawha County jury convicted James L. “Chip” Nowling, a former juvenile detective, of felony double dipping. During his trial, Nowling maintained that double dipping was common practice in the department, an impression that was repeated by former Charleston Police Chief Dallas Staples, who is expected to testify during Peoples’ trial.
The jury found that Nowling illegally earned at least $20,000 by working more than 1,700 conflicting hours over a two-year period.
A judge placed Nowling on three years’ probation and ordered him to perform 300 hours of community service.
Nowling, who is black, argued that he was being singled out because of his race. Peoples also is black.
In the wake of Nowling’s conviction, three other officers were convicted of misdemeanor obtaining by fraudulent schemes for double dipping.
Each of the three former officers who accepted plea deals to misdemeanors — Eric L. Eagle, Lola Hart and James Sands — is white. Sands was next in line to be promoted to captain when he resigned prior to his guilty plea in November 2007.
Prosecutors said Nowling and Peoples both were offered the same plea deal as the others, but chose to go to trial instead.
Peoples’ trial continues Tuesday in front of Kanawha Circuit Chief Judge Jim Stucky
Follow Us On Twitter/privateofficer
Join Us At MySpace/privateofficernews
Join The National Association of Private Officers
Bedford police officer kills himself and woman www.privateofficer.com
The Lawrence County Coroner said 35-year-old Kyle Brown and 29-year-old Kathryn Tucker died of apparent gunshot wounds Monday morning and that Brown’s wound appeared to be self-inflicted.
Police were called to the woman’s about home at about 8:30 a.m. after they received a 911 call about shots being fired. Investigators said Brown had been a Bedford police officer for less than five years and was an officer in another town before that.
Join Us At MySpace/privateofficernews
Join The National Association of Private Officers
Armored car robbed in California www.privateofficer.com
pressdemocrat.com
An armed man forced a Brink’s guard to lie on the ground during a lunchtime robbery Monday that shocked onlookers gathered near a downtown Sebastopol bank
One witness described the robber walking toward the Brink’s truck parked outside the Bank of America on Healdsburg Avenue pointing what appeared to be a black handgun and yelling, “Get down! Get down! Get down!”
The unidentified guard reached for his own weapon but complied with the robber’s demands and got down on the ground, Sebastopol police said.
The witness, a Bodega Bay man who asked that his name not be used, said he gave chase as the robber fled with an orange bag filled with an undisclosed amount of cash.
Shoppers outside the Safeway store adjacent to the bank watched as the chase passed them by. The robbery occurred at about 11:50 a.m.
The suspect, described by police as a white man in his late 40s or early 50s, hopped into the passenger seat of a silver Toyota or Honda sedan parked on Keating Avenue south of the store and was driven away. The pair remained at large Monday.
Sebastopol Police Officer Dennis Colthurst said the armed robbery involving a bank was only the second he could recall in 30 years with the city. The other occurred earlier this year, on February 27 when a Westamerica Bank was robbed.
But the fact Monday’s robber targeted a Brink’s guard who also was armed and wore a bulletproof vest had police particularly worried.
“You have to bring different cards to the table when you rob a Brink’s truck,” said Colthurst, the lead investigator on the case.
He said the suspects likely planned the heist in advance given their knowledge of when the Brink’s truck was making the delivery and their use of a getaway car.
Police and Sonoma County sheriff’s deputies cruised the downtown area and kept watch on roads leading out of Sebastopol for any sign of the suspects. The FBI also is involved in the investigation.
Investigators said they were planning to release a composite sketch of the robber using witness descriptions.
One woman in Safeway buying groceries for dinner said she came out and saw all of the police activity at the bank:
“Everybody’s desperate. It’s the economy. We’re not surprised it’s finally happening in Sebastopol,” said town resident June Hazelton.
Because the robber was believed to be heading out of town, officials at nearby Analy High School didn’t take any measures and the school was not locked down.
Principal Chris Heller spoke with police about the robbery and they determined there wasn’t any danger for the students.
Police described the suspect as between 5 foot 10 and 6 feet tall, wearing shorts, a cream-colored baseball cap and gray-hooded sweatshirt.
Police believe he was armed with a 40-caliber Smith and Wesson handgun.
Armored cars routinely go to banks, stores and other businesses, but there have been few such robberies in recent history.
In September 2007, a Loomis armored truck courier was robbed at gunpoint while he tried to deliver a bag of cash to an Exchange Bank branch in west Santa Rosa.
Prior to that, an armored car heist in Sonoma in 1995 led to a shootout and the deaths of a guard and a robbery suspect.
That holdup was in March 1995 at a Bank of America on the Sonoma Plaza. Loomis guard Richard Price was shot and killed as he was taking money from the bank to the armored truck.
Suspect William Crouch was shot and killed by Price’s partner.
In 1984, armed men escaped with $3.6 million after using two pickups to force a Brink’s armored car off Highway 20 near Lake Mendocino.
The men were later identified as part of The Order, a group of neo-Nazi white supremacists.
A former Brink’s employee and 10 other people were later convicted of crimes related to the robbery, according to news accounts.
Follow Us On Twitter/privateofficer
Join Us At MySpace/privateofficernews
Join The National Association of Private Officers
Security aids police in burglary arrests www.privateofficer.com
Just after 7:40 Sunday morning police responded to the mall where security staff members were chasing five teens. Police say the teens had just stolen a number of items from the mall.
Officers caught the teens, all with backpacks filled with stolen items. Among the items found in the backpacks were t-shirts, socks, rosaries, sun glasses, belts, and deodorant. Some of the items were taken from the mall, but police say they believe the t-shirts, socks, and deodorant were stolen earlier in the day from an eastside Walgreen’s store.
All of the suspects are male. Three are 15-years old and the other two are 14-years old.
Follow Us On Twitter/privateofficer
Join Us At MySpace/privateofficernews
Join The National Association of Private Officers
Alaska teacher arrested for abusing minor www.privateofficer.com
ktuu.com — A teacher, coach, mentor and youth group leader is behind bars, charged with 14 felony counts of sexually abusing a minor.
Police arrested 25-year-old Jenson Eugene Seifert on Friday at Birchwood Christian School.
And because of his close contact with so many children, police fear there could be more victims.
According to police Seifert used his role as a teacher and mentor to gain the trust of children, and in at least one case took advantage of that trust.
“The report was that a child had disclosed that a youth pastor teacher at the school had sexually molested him,” said Sgt. Cindi Stanton with the Anchorage Police Department.
Friday police headed to Birchwood Christian School and the Crossing Church where Seifert works. He was taken in for questioning and police say he later admitted abusing the 14-year-old boy on several occasions.
“These people gain the trust of the family — it’s family friends, relatives,” Stanton said.
That’s exactly what happened in this case. Seifert was close with the family.
But according to charging documents the boy’s mother noticed her son had become withdrawn around Seifert and asked him if something had happened.
The 14-year-old told her, “… that Seifert had touched him in a private area during an overnight youth trip to Alyeska …”
And when police questioned Seifert he broke down, saying, “… I just want to help fix what I did wrong …,” eventually admitting “… there were several times when he touched the victim and ‘did what he did,’” according to court documents.
Police are urging parents to talk with their children.
“But generally speaking there is not just one victim when someone actually comes forward with crimes of this magnitude,” Stanton said.
Calls to the school were not returned. This, a lesson, no one here likely wanted to learn.
Seifert is charged with two counts of sexual abuse of a minor in the first degree and 12 counts of sexual abuse of a minor in the second degree.
Follow Us On Twitter/privateofficer
Join Us At MySpace/privateofficernews
Join The National Association of Private Officers
Hard Rock Casino displays $5 million in cash www.privateofficer.com
The Seminole Hard Rock and Casino in Tampa is unveiling a new exhibit Monday morning— the largest amount of money ever publicly displayed at a casino.
Several armed guards and casino employees escorted the cash through the back hallways and to the lobby at 4 a.m. The display consists of $100s, $50 and $20 bills encased in a 1,300-pound in a custom-made $90,000 bullet-resistant showcase.
Members of the Seminole Players Club will have the chance to opportunity for a photo with the money, and a chance to win $1 million.
“All you gotta do is swipe your card and you never know it might be yours,” said Gina Morales, Hard Rock Public Relations Manager.
The display will be unveiled at 11 a.m. and will remain at the Hard Rock through May 25.
****
Fun Facts about the $5 million display
• It took 120 total man hours to design the architecture for the $5 Million Display.
• The case that houses the $5 Million is made of bullet-proof Lexan, the same material used to make the bubble enclosure of fighter jet cockpits.
• It took a manufacturing facility an excess of 100 employees working ten weeks to build the $5 Million Display case.
• The unit will be protected by a 24-hour armed guard.
• The entire unit weighs a whopping 1,300 lbs.
• It takes 30 – 60 minutes for a trained technician to gain access to the contents of the display.
• It would take a person 115 days of non-stop counting to count to 5 million anything, including dollars.
• The $5 Million Display is the first of its kind and is set to break a world record for Most money on display in a casino.
• A million dollars stacked on top of each other is 1,000 feet tall. The Empire State Building is 1,250 feet tall
Follow Us On Twitter/privateofficer
Join Us At MySpace/privateofficernews
Join The National Association of Private Officers
Student shoots self in head during class www.privateofficer.com
Lafourche Parish Sheriff Craig Webre said a backpack found at the scene contained a journal that included writings about how he was going to kill people and a diagram of the area he was planning to occupy.
The student wrote in the journal that he planned to go to art class and then excuse himself to go to the bathroom, where he would “gear up” before heading to the back of the main building and into the first classroom to begin his attack.
At the end of the note, Webre said the student wrote, “I am King. F— you all. All will die.
The student’s parents told Webre they had no indication that their child had any issues, telling the Sheriff he had not been a discipline problem at the school.
The gunman was dressed in an AC/DC Highway to Hell T-shirt and, despite the elaborate plans in the journal, was armed only with a lone gun and four bullets, two of which were used in the school.
Also in the journal was a drawing of the gunman in camouflage pants, which he apparently changed into before going into the classroom.
Authorities have not released the name of the student, who attended Larose-Cut Off.
Webre said the student brought a .25-caliber semiautomatic handgun to the school, where he walked into an English class taught by a teacher he had never had before.
According to three students who were in the English class, the 15-year-old walked in before 9:20 a.m., ordered everyone down on their knees and told the teacher to bow to Marilyn Manson.
Webre said the student first pointed the gun at a whiteboard before pulling the trigger. The gun failed to go off, though, and he pointed the gun at the teacher before he fired a shot into the ceiling.
The shooter then called a fellow student by name to come with him, but the student didn’t follow and the shooter immediately left the classroom, heading for a boys bathroom where he shot himself in the head.
Students at Larose-Cut Off were escorted out of the classrooms with their hands over their heads as a security precaution, Webre said.
They were taken to a safe location where school board officials said crisis counselors would be available to help them.
The shooter has been taken to a second hospital where he is listed in stable but critical condition as of Monday night.
Webre said the school has more than 500 students and that parents are asked to call the VFW Hall to arrange for pickup of their children.
According to the Associated Press, the middle school has metal detectors but they weren’t in use.
Follow Us On Twitter/privateofficer
Join Us At MySpace/privateofficernews
Join The National Association of Private Officers
NC Teacher indicted on rape of child www.privateofficer.com
Gina Marie Watring, 40, now faces charges she raped a child, first-degree kidnapping, felony child abduction, and indecent liberties with a child. A Durham grand jury also indicted her on the previous charge she was arrested on: sexual offense with a student
Durham investigators say Watring had intercourse with the child on at least two occasions in April. A source told Eyewitness News the victim is a 10-year-old boy.
According to search warrants in the case, school administrators first became suspicious of Watring – who taught drama and dance at the school – after intercepting a note written by the boy.
“Gina, I love you so much babe. I’m so lucky to have you. I’m glad you feel the same way. I want to be with you forever. I’d never do anything to hurt u,” it read.
Also according to the warrants, the school contacted the boy’s mother who said Watring and the child had been communicating with each other via text message, and she had asked that the relationship stop because she thought it was inappropriate.
School officials said they found a cell phone in the child’s possession, and text messages between him and Watring.
During questioning by detectives, the boy told them that he was in love with Watring and that they had had sex on two separate occasions in her home.
After her arrest, an attorney temporarily representing Watring told Eyewitness News that she is innocent and that the case stems from “the infatuation of a 10-year-old boy.”
Follow Us On Twitter/privateofficer
Join Us At MySpace/privateofficernews
Join The National Association of Private Officers
