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Florida security officer killed, found executed www.privateofficer.com
A decorated retired Miami police captain working security at a boatyard on the Miami River was shot in the back of the head Friday. Detectives are investigating whether his tips to federal agents in ferreting out smuggling on the waterfront played a role in his murder.
Sources identified the man as Robert Yee, 61. He appears to have been shot multiple times execution-style.
Yee was taken in critical condition to Jackson Memorial Hospital’s Ryder Trauma Center, where he was pronounced dead.
He had been driving a golf cart through the Hurricane Cove Marina, 1884 NW North River Dr., about 12:45 p.m. Witnesses reported hearing a number of shots.
Police arrived quickly and issued a bulletin for a short, white, balding man with a goatee and a silver late-model Toyota Corolla. They spent much of the afternoon interviewing workers and other potential witnesses at the marina.
Police released little information late Friday.
However, sources told The Miami Herald that Yee might have been killed because he was sharing information with law enforcement about drug or migrant smuggling along the Miami River.
Yee, who retired from the Miami Police Department in 1995, after 25 years on the force, decided on a career in law enforcement after a New York City police officer saved the life of his infant daughter.
Diana Yee had suffered an allergic reaction to penicillin. The New York officer drove the baby to the hospital against one-way traffic — and then ran the last half block with the baby in his arms.
Yee was inspired to quit his job as a Volkswagen mechanic and moved to Miami in 1969.
Four years later, Yee was shot in the foot during a gunfight at a Little Havana Burger King. He had arrived to find two employees tied up — and an armed robbery in progress. He thwarted the robbery, shot the suspect and was hailed as a hero the following day. He was 25.
Yee rose through the ranks, and in the late 1990s served as head of the department’s horse force.
”He was a very good officer and a good servant of this community,” said Miami City Commissioner Angel Gonzalez, who knew Yee from his days as a patrol officer. “He was a very polite person, very friendly.”
Added Sgt. Armando Aguilar, president of the Fraternal Order of Police: “He was well respected by everyone, a very good man. `We’re all very saddened by this.”
The police captain suffered tragedy of his own.
In 2001, daughter Diana was killed by her ex-boyfriend after the two argued about their child.
Luis Aviles killed Diana Yee in a Fort Lauderdale motel room and then put her body in the back of a Chevrolet Impala and drove to Miami-Dade. Firefighters found her charred body inside the car, after extinguishing the fire at Northwest 146th Street and Seventh Avenue.
Aviles pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and was sentenced to life in prison.
Bill Matthewman, a defense attorney and former Miami police officer, represented Yee in a divorce in the 1990s. He called Yee a ”salt-of-the-earth type guy” who was devastated by his daughter’s murder.
”He was greatly affected by that,” Matthewman said. “Having known him for a long time, his family and his kids were very important to him. Family came first.”
A second daughter is an officer with the Miami-Dade Police Department in Doral.
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Former deputy threatens suicide at Florida airport www.privateofficer.com
Authorities said Robert Lauf was distraught after being evicted from a mobile home lot at the airport. He was armed with a handgun when the standoff began about 12:30 p.m. on Thursday.
Police Chief Tim Hatch said Lauf allowed police close enough to talk, but resisted their efforts to take him into custody. Hatch said officers distracted Lauf using an explosive device, then got close enough to subdue him with a Taser.
Hatch said Lauf was taken to a St. Marys hospital for a mental health evaluation.
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NC sheriff’s deputy discovers murder victim during traffic stop www.privateofficer.com
Investigators said Lisa Damron, 31, was driving the van on Interstate 77 in Wythe County, Va. Her husband, Jerry, 42, was in the passenger seat. A deputy pulled over the van for speeding and charged Lisa Damron with driving under the influence shortly after 8:30 a.m. Friday.
The deputy then searched the van and found the body of a woman. Investigators said she was shot to death.
Authorities identified the woman as Kelly Cully, a former neighbor and friend of the couple.
Investigators said the woman was killed at the couple’s home in Taylorsville, N.C. According to a warrant, Lisa Damron said the couple got into an argument while drinking with the woman and she heard several shots fired. She said she helped her husband wrap the woman’s body in a blanket and put it in the van. She said they were on their way to West Virginia to dump the body.
Jerry Damron was charged with driving while impaired and felony death by motor vehicle in a crash that killed his son last fall.
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Church security charge gay couple for kissing www.privateofficer.com
saltlaketribune.com
A gay couple says they were detained by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints security guards after one man kissed another on the cheek Thursday on Main Street Plaza.
“They targeted us,” said Matt Aune, 28. “We weren’t doing anything inappropriate or illegal, or anything most people would consider inappropriate for any other couple.”
Aune and his partner, Derek Jones, 25, were cited by Salt Lake City police for trespassing on the plaza, located at 50 East North Temple, according to Sgt. Robin Snyder.
In a written statement, church spokeswoman Kim Farah denied the two were singled out for being gay.
“Two individuals came on church property and were politely asked to stop engaging in inappropriate
behavior — just as any other couple would have been,” she said. She declined to comment on what is considered inappropriate behavior, and on the rules governing the plaza.
Though Salt Lake City sold the property to the church in the late 1990s, it remains a popular pedestrian thoroughfare, and a site where couples often pose affectionately for photos.
The Salt Lake Police Department on Friday denied a Salt Lake Tribune request for a full police report on the incident, citing Utah laws giving them five business days to respond to records requests.
Snyder refused to name the reason security guards gave for alerting police, saying it is “irrelevant.”
“If a person is asked to leave private property for whatever reason and refuses to do so, that is technically trespassing,” she said.
Aune said the incident started when he and Jones were walking back to their Salt Lake City home from a Twilight Concert Series show at the Gallivan Center. The couple live just blocks away from the plaza in the Marmalade district of the Capitol Hill neighborhood.
The pair crossed the plaza holding hands, Aune said. About 20 feet from the edge of the plaza, Aune said he stopped, put his arm on Jones’ back and kissed him on the cheek.
Several security guards then arrived and asked the pair to leave, saying that public displays of affection are not allowed on the church property, Aune and Jones said. They protested, saying they often see other couples holding hands and kissing there, said Jones.
“We were kind of standing up for ourselves,” Jones said. “It was obviously because we were gay.”
The guards put Jones on the ground and handcuffed him, he said. Aune said he was also cuffed roughly, and suffered bruises and a swollen wrist. The injuries did not require medical treatment, Snyder said.
Farah said the two men “became argumentative,” refused to leave, and used profanity.
Aune said he felt “upset” and “affronted” during the approximately five-minute exchange.
“When I was handcuffed, I was very pissed and I unleashed a flurry of profanities,” he said.
Police arrived about 10:30 p.m. They spoke with the couple and two security guards before issuing the citations, Snyder said. The pair was banned from LDS Church Headquarters’ campus for six months, Farah confirmed. That does not include the City Creek or any other properties.
The kiss happened on a former public easement given up by city in 2003 in a controversial land-swap deal. The easement became private property, allowing the church to ban protesting, smoking, sunbathing and other “offensive, indecent, obscene, lewd or disorderly speech, dress or conduct,” church officials said at the time. In exchange, the city got church property for a west-side community center.
Aune said he was one of those who protested the transfer at the time.
“They claimed in 2003 this would never happen, they were never going to arrest anyone,” he said. “It’s clear now they do have an agenda.”
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Juvenile detention guard arrested in drug bust www.privateofficer.com
Roy D. Clark, 26, a security officer at Green Hill School in Chehalis, was one of four people caught in the act of weighing and packaging marijuana apparently for sales, Centralia police allege.
Clark was booked into jail for investigation of delivery of a controlled substance and possession of marijuana with intent to deliver, said Detective Chris Fitzgerald of the Centralia Police Department.
The raid took place Thursday evening at a home at 506 S. Cedar Street in Centralia following a three-week investigation and the issuance of two search warrants.
Officers found Clark and the three other suspects weighing and packaging marijuana in a detached garage at the rear of the residence, Fitzgerald said.
The three other suspects are being referred for possible charges of felony marijuana possession.
Officers seized Clark’s 2005 Dodge Ram pick-up, approximately $2,000 in cash, marijuana and paraphernalia.
DSHS officials say Clark will be terminated from his job.
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Georgia deputy charged with child molestation www.privateofficer.com
Michael Nix, 42, is accused of aggravated child molestation.
Officers said he molested a 3-year-old girl his wife was babysitting.
Late Thursday afternoon, Nix was arrested and charged with one count of aggravated child molestation by investigators with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.
As a result of the investigation and arrest, Nix has been terminated from the Hall County Sheriff’s Office.
Nix had been employed by the Hall County Sheriff’s Office for 20 years and had served as an investigator in the internal affairs unit.
He is currently being held at the Hall County Jail without bond.
Officials with the GBI said they continue to investigate.
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Police charge pair with theft of iPhone www.privateofficer.com
The woman told security that she had been at a blackjack pit when she last had the phone. When security reviewed video of the area they saw Mohannad H. Alahmar, 30, and Dina A. Eld, 19, approach the seat where the woman had sat. Security personnel saw Eld put the phone in her pocketbook as Alahmar attempted to conceal the action.
Eld later gave the phone to Alahmar, who took it to a hotel room and attempted to hide it. In the course of their investigation, security and state police discovered that the pair had left two children, four and 10 years old alone in the hotel room for a period of time without supervision.
They were each charged with fourth-degree larceny and leaving a child unattended.
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Police charge brothers with robbery in shoplifting incident www.privateofficer.com
union-tribune — Sheriff’s deputies arrested three teenage brothers on suspicion of robbery, burglary and assault Thursday after the trio led them on a brief pursuit and one of them was shot with a Taser, officials said.
Deputies responded to a report of a robbery at the Sears on Sweetwater Road near Jamacha Road shortly before 2:30 p.m. Security guards in the store had observed the three shoplifting merchandise and confronted them in the parking lot, where one of the employees was assaulted, said Sgt. David Pocklington.
The three brothers jumped into a silver Nissan Altima and deputies chased them for less than a mile before they ditched the car and ran away, Pocklington said.
One suspect surrendered immediately when he was confronted by a police dog. The second, who briefly hid in some bushes, was arrested after he was shot by a Taser, Pocklington said.
The third ditched some of his clothes and tried to blend in with other teens at a nearby community center before he was arrested.
One of the brothers is 18 and was booked into county jail. The other two are 16 and 17 and were taken to Juvenile Hall. All three are documented gang members, Pocklington said.
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Nashville teacher arrested for destroying drug evidence www.privateofficer.com
Undercover detectives arrested a Nashville elementary school teacher Wednesday on drug charges for allegedly flushing marijuana down her toilet so police wouldnt find it.
28 year old Jayna Binion works at A.Z. Kelley Elementary School.
She’s charged with evidence tampering, marijuana possession and possession of drug paraphernalia.
Detectives were looking for Binions boyfriend, Rahman Pugh, who was wanted on outstanding drug warrants, when they saw him leaving the area of Binions home.
While arresting Pugh, officers noticed that he smelled strongly of marijuana.
They followed up at the Ruddell Lane home and officers say they smelled the strong odor of marijuana coming from an open window.
During a search of the residence, officers say they found empty glass jars containing marijuana residue and processed marijuana was found floating in an upstairs toilet bowl.
Police say Binion later admitted to flushing the marijuana in an effort to get rid of it.
Binions bond was set at $3,500.
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Study shows federal buildings security is weak www.privateofficer.com
Federal investigators had no trouble smuggling bomb-making materials past ill-trained and poorly supervised guards at federal buildings, senators were told at a hearing Wednesday.
“This is the broadest indictment of a federal agency I have ever heard,” Sen. Joseph Lieberman, I-Conn., said at a Homeland Security Committee hearing on the performance of the Federal Protective Service, the office responsible for the safety of some 9,000 federal facilities. “This is really serious stuff.”
The committee, chaired by Lieberman, heard how Government Accountability Office investigators on 10 occasions carried the components for an improvised explosive device through checkpoints monitored by FPS guards. In all 10 cases the bomb-making materials went undetected.
CBS News correspondent Bob Orr reports that the components only cost $150 per bomb, and took just four minutes to assemble.
Mark Goldstein, the GAO’s director for physical infrastructure issues, said the investigators proceeded to assemble the material – made up of a liquid explosive and a low-yield detonator – in restrooms and walked freely around the facilities with the IED in a briefcase.
He said that in some cases the bathrooms were locked but employees working in the buildings opened them up for the visitors.
The IEDs, which Goldstein said contained actual bomb components but with concentrations below trigger points, were smuggled into 10 level IV facilities – buildings housing more than 450 employees with a high volume of public contact – in four major cities. They included offices of a U.S. senator and representative and agencies such as the departments of Homeland Security, State and Justice.
“In this post-9/11 world that we are now living in, I cannot fathom how security breaches of this magnitude were allowed to occur,” Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, top Republican on the committee, said.
The FPS, Goldstein concluded, “is an agency in crisis.” In addition to the smuggling operations, the GAO cited examples of a night guard being found asleep after taking the pain killer prescription drug Percocet, and a guard failing to recognize or properly x-ray a box containing handguns at the loading dock of a facility. One guard supposed to have been at his post was caught using government computers to manage a private for-profit adult website.
The report also found that 411 of the 663 guards deployed to a federal facility had at least one expired firearm qualification, background check, domestic violence declaration or CPR-first aid training certificate.
While the FPS requires that all prospective guards complete 128 hours of training, including eight hours of x-ray and magnetometer training, in one region the service had not provided the x-ray or metal detector training to its 1,500 guards since 2004.
Gary Schenkel, the FPS director, said the report “caused us all grave concern” and that within three hours of receiving the study he had ordered regional directors to increase inspections and outline steps they would take to improve guard performance. “It’s purely a lack of oversight on our part,” he acknowledged.
He also explained that the FPS’s full-time workforce had decreased from 1,400 in 2003, when it became part of the new Department of Homeland Security, to 1,236 today, and that the agency had had to reschedule training and equipment purchases to avoid greater cuts. The FPS has a budget of about $1 billion and, in addition to full-time employees, uses about 13,000 contract security guards.
Schenkel said his office would also require the FPS’s 11 regional directors to conduct more random searches of packages, increase oversight of contract guards, and carry out overt and covert inspections of screening processes.
Lieberman said the committee had originally planned to go public with the findings after the GAO issues a second report later this summer, but the conclusions “were so disturbing that we decided to air them immediately to accelerate the critical work of turning the FPS around.” He said he planned to introduce legislation responding to the service’s shortcomings.
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Parents of 16 children killed in home invasion www.privateofficer.com
CNN.com
Eight children were found in the Florida home of their slain parents, who apparently were the victims of a home invasion, police confirmed to CNN Friday
The couple were found shot Thursday night in their Beulah home, said Escambia County Police spokesman Sgt. Ted Roy. One of the parents was shot in the head, he said. Beulah is about 17 miles northwest of Pensacola.
The victims were identified as Byrd and Melanie Billings by Jeff Martin, director of the District Medical Examiner’s Office. Autopsies have not been completed, he said.
The Billings have 16 children; 12 of them adopted, some of whom have special needs, the Pensacola News Journal reported.
Nancy Markham, a relative of the family, told CNN affiliate WEAR-TV that her son was inside the Billings’ home when the shootings occurred.
“He said that Bud and Melanie had, both of them had been murdered,” Markham said.
Three men dressed in black were seen on surveillance video approaching the property in a late 1970s or early 1980s red van about 7 p.m., authorities say.
Emergency personnel and police went to the home Thursday after receiving a call just before 8 p.m. about shots being fired, Roy said. An employee of the couple found their bodies, he said.
When police arrived, they discovered the children also in the house, Roy said. The children, who ranged in age from infant to about 11 years old, were unharmed, he said
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