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Archive for August 19, 2009
OFFICER DOWN
August 19, 2009
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Deputy Sheriff Stephen (Mike) Gallagher
Lewis County Sheriff’s Office
Washington
End of Watch: Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Lewis County Sheriff’s Office
Washington
End of Watch: Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Biographical Info
Age: 34
Tour of Duty: 6 years
Badge Number: Not available
Incident Details
Cause of Death: Automobile accident
Date of Incident: Monday, August 17, 2009
Weapon Used: Not available
Suspect Info: Not available
Deputy Mike Gallagher succumbed to injuries sustained the previous night when his patrol car collided with an elk on Highway 12. He was responding to backup another deputy at the scene of a domestic disturbance when the accident occurred near Packwood at approximately 8:30 pm.
After striking the elk, his patrol car ran into a storage shed and then into a utility pole. He was transported to Harborview Medical Center, where he succumbed to injuries the following evening.
Deputy Gallagher was a U.S. Army veteran and had served with the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office for six years. He is survived by his wife and two young children.
Agency Contact Information
Lewis County Sheriff’s Office
345 West Main Street
Chehalis, WA 98532
Phone: (360) 748-9286
Please contact the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office for funeral arrangements or for survivor benefit fund information.
OFFICER DOWN
August 19, 2009
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Agent Jorge Sanchez-Santiago
Puerto Rico Police Department
Puerto Rico
End of Watch: Sunday, August 16, 2009
Puerto Rico Police Department
Puerto Rico
End of Watch: Sunday, August 16, 2009
Biographical Info
Age: 37
Tour of Duty: 17 years
Badge Number: 18715
Incident Details
Cause of Death: Gunfire
Date of Incident: Sunday, August 16, 2009
Weapon Used: Gun; Unknown type
Suspect Info: At large
Agent Jorge Sanchez-Santiago was shot and killed as he and the director of the Vehicle Theft Division transported a prisoner to jail. The prisoner was somehow able to obtain one of the officers’ weapons.
Agent Sanchez-Santiago was shot once in the head and the lieutenant was shot three times in the chest and critically wounded.
The suspect fled the scene and remains at large.
Agent Sanchez-Santiago had served with the agency for 17 years. He is survived by his wife and two children.
Agency Contact Information
Puerto Rico Police Department
PO Box 70166
San Juan, PR 00936
Phone: (787) 792-1234
Please contact the Puerto Rico Police Department for funeral arrangements or for survivor benefit fund information.
Security officer shoots 15 yr old robbery suspect www.privateofficer.com
August 19, 2009
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HOUSTON TX Aug 19 2009 — A 15-year-old boy who was shot by a security guard during a robbery at a Dollar Store in Southeast Houston on Tuesday is expected to survive.
The guard, Archie Paige, told police that the teen was holding a gun to the clerk’s head and ignored his orders to drop the weapon.
“I told him to drop his pistol and turned his pistol toward me and I fired a shot,” said Paige.
The guard said he fired three shots.
“He kept reaching for his gun. I told him, ‘Don’t reach for the gun or I’m going to shoot you.’ He reached for his gun and I shot him again on his shoulder, and still no reaction,” said Paige.
Two bullets hit the teen. He is expected to survive.
The store, located in the 7400 block of Cullen, had hired the guard after being robbed several times in the last few months.
They were robbed again last week.
The guard, Archie Paige, told police that the teen was holding a gun to the clerk’s head and ignored his orders to drop the weapon.
“I told him to drop his pistol and turned his pistol toward me and I fired a shot,” said Paige.
The guard said he fired three shots.
“He kept reaching for his gun. I told him, ‘Don’t reach for the gun or I’m going to shoot you.’ He reached for his gun and I shot him again on his shoulder, and still no reaction,” said Paige.
Two bullets hit the teen. He is expected to survive.
The store, located in the 7400 block of Cullen, had hired the guard after being robbed several times in the last few months.
They were robbed again last week.
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Categories: recognition, security made app/arrest, security shoots
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Police shoot-kill armed hospital patient www.privateofficer.com
August 19, 2009
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OLYMPIA, Wash.Aug 19 2009 — Why did 43-year-old Joseph Burkett carry three guns into Olympia’s Providence St. Peter’s Hospital, and why did he have a head injury?
Those are two questions which may go unanswered after an Olympia Police officer shot and killed Burkett inside the hospital emergency room early Saturday.
“He had become a little unruly,” said Olympia Police Lt. Jim Partin.
Partin says Burkett was brought to the hospital at roughly 2 a.m. by a family member who said Burkett had a head injury. Nurses searched hi body and found two handguns. Security and police were able to take those guns without incident.
But Partin says that after Burkett was moved into another room for a test, he became upset with the nurses and pulled a third gun. An Olympia officer was asked to assisst, a struggle ensued, and the cop fired his gun one time.
The wound killed the 43-year old man.
Law enforcement sources say Burkett was just arrested in Elma Thursday morning. He was booked for disorderly conduct around 3:30 a.m., and released that afternoon.
Those same sources say he also had some sort of contact with police on Friday at a home in McCleary. It’s unclear what that contact was about, but hours later he was in the hospital in Olympia.
A spokesperson for St. Peter’s says this is the first fatal shooting in the building’s history.
Olympia police say the officer involved is a 13-year-veteran of the department and has been placed on paid administrative leave.
Those are two questions which may go unanswered after an Olympia Police officer shot and killed Burkett inside the hospital emergency room early Saturday.
“He had become a little unruly,” said Olympia Police Lt. Jim Partin.
Partin says Burkett was brought to the hospital at roughly 2 a.m. by a family member who said Burkett had a head injury. Nurses searched hi body and found two handguns. Security and police were able to take those guns without incident.
But Partin says that after Burkett was moved into another room for a test, he became upset with the nurses and pulled a third gun. An Olympia officer was asked to assisst, a struggle ensued, and the cop fired his gun one time.
The wound killed the 43-year old man.
Law enforcement sources say Burkett was just arrested in Elma Thursday morning. He was booked for disorderly conduct around 3:30 a.m., and released that afternoon.
Those same sources say he also had some sort of contact with police on Friday at a home in McCleary. It’s unclear what that contact was about, but hours later he was in the hospital in Olympia.
A spokesperson for St. Peter’s says this is the first fatal shooting in the building’s history.
Olympia police say the officer involved is a 13-year-veteran of the department and has been placed on paid administrative leave.
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Teacher re-arrested for student relationship www.privateofficer.com
August 19, 2009
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Orange County Aug 18 2009
Orange County Sheriff’s detectives have re-arrested a former Orangefield Middle School coach on charges she continues having inappropriate relations with a 14-year-old student.
Orange County Sheriff’s detectives have re-arrested a former Orangefield Middle School coach on charges she continues having inappropriate relations with a 14-year-old student.
40-year-old Jennifer Burton is in the Orange County Jail on $180,000 bond on three charges of sexual assault of a child and three charges of having inappropriate relations with a student.
Burton resigned her position after her original arrest in April just hours before the felony charges were filed against her.
Orange County Sheriff spokesman detective Chad Hogan says Burton now faces additional charges.
Burton turned herself into authorities following a court hearing Monday after information surfaced that she had met the 14-year-old again at least twice.
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Categories: School Employee Arrested
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Government informant charged with largest case of credit card thefts www.privateofficer.com
August 19, 2009
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Miami Fla Aug 19 2009
Federal prosecutors on Monday charged a Miami man with the largest case of credit and debit card data theft ever in the United States, accusing the one-time government informant of trying to gain access to 130 million accounts.
Albert Gonzalez, 28, broke his own record for identity theft by hacking into retail networks, according to prosecutors, though they say his illicit computer exploits ended when he went to jail on charges stemming from a previous case.
Gonzalez is a former informant for the U.S. Secret Service who helped the agency hunt hackers, authorities say. The agency later found out that he had also been working with criminals and feeding them information on ongoing investigations, even warning off at least one individual, according to authorities.
Gonzalez, who is already in jail awaiting trial in a hacking case, was indicted Monday in New Jersey and charged with conspiring with two other unnamed suspects to steal the private information.
Prosecutors say Gonzalez, who is known online as “soupnazi,” targeted customers of convenience store giant 7-Eleven Inc. and supermarket chain Hannaford Brothers, Co. Inc. They also targeted Heartland Payment Systems, a New Jersey-based card payment processor.
Gonzalez is awaiting trial in New York for allegedly helping hack the computer network of the national restaurant chain Dave and Buster’s. Trial in that case is due to begin next month.
He faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted of the new charges.
The Justice Department said the new case represents the largest alleged credit and debit card data breach ever charged in the United States, beginning in October 2006.
Gonzalez allegedly devised a sophisticated attack to penetrate the computer networks, steal the card data, and send that data to computer servers in California, Illinois, Latvia, the Netherlands and Ukraine.
Also last year, the Justice Department announced additional charges against Gonzalez and others for hacking retail companies’ computers for the theft of approximately 40 million credit cards. At the time, that was believed to be the biggest single case of hacking private computer networks to steal credit card data, puncturing the electronic defenses of retailers including Barnes & Noble, Sports Authority and OfficeMax.
At the time of those charges, officials said the alleged thieves weren’t computer geniuses, just opportunists who used a technique called “wardriving,” which involved cruising through different areas with a laptop computer and looking for accessible wireless Internet signals. Once they located a vulnerable network, they installed so-called “sniffer programs” that captured credit and debit card numbers as they moved through a retailer’s processing networks.
Gonzalez faces a possible life sentence if convicted in that case.
Restaurants are among the most common targets for hackers, experts said, because they often fail to update their antivirus software and other computer security systems.
Federal prosecutors on Monday charged a Miami man with the largest case of credit and debit card data theft ever in the United States, accusing the one-time government informant of trying to gain access to 130 million accounts.
Albert Gonzalez, 28, broke his own record for identity theft by hacking into retail networks, according to prosecutors, though they say his illicit computer exploits ended when he went to jail on charges stemming from a previous case.
Gonzalez is a former informant for the U.S. Secret Service who helped the agency hunt hackers, authorities say. The agency later found out that he had also been working with criminals and feeding them information on ongoing investigations, even warning off at least one individual, according to authorities.
Gonzalez, who is already in jail awaiting trial in a hacking case, was indicted Monday in New Jersey and charged with conspiring with two other unnamed suspects to steal the private information.
Prosecutors say Gonzalez, who is known online as “soupnazi,” targeted customers of convenience store giant 7-Eleven Inc. and supermarket chain Hannaford Brothers, Co. Inc. They also targeted Heartland Payment Systems, a New Jersey-based card payment processor.
Gonzalez is awaiting trial in New York for allegedly helping hack the computer network of the national restaurant chain Dave and Buster’s. Trial in that case is due to begin next month.
He faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted of the new charges.
The Justice Department said the new case represents the largest alleged credit and debit card data breach ever charged in the United States, beginning in October 2006.
Gonzalez allegedly devised a sophisticated attack to penetrate the computer networks, steal the card data, and send that data to computer servers in California, Illinois, Latvia, the Netherlands and Ukraine.
Also last year, the Justice Department announced additional charges against Gonzalez and others for hacking retail companies’ computers for the theft of approximately 40 million credit cards. At the time, that was believed to be the biggest single case of hacking private computer networks to steal credit card data, puncturing the electronic defenses of retailers including Barnes & Noble, Sports Authority and OfficeMax.
At the time of those charges, officials said the alleged thieves weren’t computer geniuses, just opportunists who used a technique called “wardriving,” which involved cruising through different areas with a laptop computer and looking for accessible wireless Internet signals. Once they located a vulnerable network, they installed so-called “sniffer programs” that captured credit and debit card numbers as they moved through a retailer’s processing networks.
Gonzalez faces a possible life sentence if convicted in that case.
Restaurants are among the most common targets for hackers, experts said, because they often fail to update their antivirus software and other computer security systems.
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Security officer nabs destructive DUI driver www.privateofficer.com
August 19, 2009
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GRAPEVINE TX Aug 18 2009 — A man suspected of driving drunk is accused of ramming three cars early Sunday on a service road and a parking lot, making a U-turn on the road and attacking one car with his pickup truck, police said today.
No one was injured in the attack, police said.
Police arrested the driver after his truck became disabled and he got out of it, punched himself in the face and sat down.
Police identified the driver as Emilio Fernandez, 18, of Keller. He was free today after posting $30,500 bail shortly after his arrest, according to Grapevine jail records.
He is expected to be charged with three counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and one count of driving while intoxicated, Grapevine police Lt. Todd Dearing said today.
The attacks happened shortly after 2:30 a.m. Sunday on a Texas 114 service road near Sam’s Club.
A motorist told police that he was driving his 2006 Hyundai on the service road when he encountered a truck going the wrong way. The truck made a U-turn, drove up behind him and struck his car.
After passing the Hyundai, the truck drove up behind a 2007 Nissan Murano and hit that car, police said.
Finally, the truck driver pulled his vehicle into a parking lot, police said. But he then targeted a 2003 Ford Taurus driven by a woman, smashing into the driver’s side door, police said.
“The collision smashed her window,” Dearing said. “She told officers afterward that she was scared for her life.” Shortly after that collision, the truck was disabled, police said.
The truck driver was detained by a security guard who had observed the vehicle traveling at a high-rate of speed in the parking lot, police said.
No one was injured in the attack, police said.
Police arrested the driver after his truck became disabled and he got out of it, punched himself in the face and sat down.
Police identified the driver as Emilio Fernandez, 18, of Keller. He was free today after posting $30,500 bail shortly after his arrest, according to Grapevine jail records.
He is expected to be charged with three counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and one count of driving while intoxicated, Grapevine police Lt. Todd Dearing said today.
The attacks happened shortly after 2:30 a.m. Sunday on a Texas 114 service road near Sam’s Club.
A motorist told police that he was driving his 2006 Hyundai on the service road when he encountered a truck going the wrong way. The truck made a U-turn, drove up behind him and struck his car.
After passing the Hyundai, the truck drove up behind a 2007 Nissan Murano and hit that car, police said.
Finally, the truck driver pulled his vehicle into a parking lot, police said. But he then targeted a 2003 Ford Taurus driven by a woman, smashing into the driver’s side door, police said.
“The collision smashed her window,” Dearing said. “She told officers afterward that she was scared for her life.” Shortly after that collision, the truck was disabled, police said.
The truck driver was detained by a security guard who had observed the vehicle traveling at a high-rate of speed in the parking lot, police said.
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Categories: security, security made app/arrest
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Surgeon performs officer’s surgery on Fla. highway www.privateofficer.com
August 19, 2009
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Miami Fla Aug 19 2009
A predawn crash Tuesday on the Don Shula Expressway left a Miami police officer trapped in his car with a sign pole piercing his leg.
The crash, which happened just north of Kendall Drive, occurred when Officer Rolando Rodriguez lost control of his patrol car while driving south on wet roadways, according to Florida Highway Patrol spokesman Lt. Pat Santangelo.
The injury, along with the complication of getting Rodriguez out of his cruiser, led paramedics to do something unusual: Instead of immediately putting him on a helicopter to the hospital, they flew a surgeon to him.
The procedure worked. Rodriguez is now recuperating at Jackson Memorial Hospital’s Ryder Trauma Center, according to Dr. Louis R. Pizano, the surgeon who performed the operation.
It was the first time in Pizano’s nine year career at the hospital that he performed surgery on a patient trapped in a car on the highway.
“And I hope never to do it again,” a tired Pizano told reporters Tuesday morning.
Pizano, who started his 24-hour shift at 7 a.m. Monday, had just finished performing an emergency operation on a patient at the hospital when he heard about the 3 a.m. crash from a message on his pager.
A nurse immediately informed him a police officer was stuck in a smashed cruiser on the side of the highway in Kendall — with a construction sign in his leg.
But Miami-Dade Fire Rescue paramedics wouldn’t be able to get him out in time to stop the bleeding, meaning the doctor would have to go to him.
As the helicopter neared, Pizano quickly assembled his kit: Gigli wire saw, scalpels, clamps, bandages, painkillers and sedatives.
Air Rescue South’s pilots kept the chopper’s long rotor blades spinning when they landed it at Ryder’s helicopter pad at 3:10 a.m. They took off with Pizano onboard 15 minutes later, according to fire rescue records.
As the helicopter raced southwest, Pizano ran four different scenarios in his head as he planned how he would treat Rodriguez. When they landed near the crash at 3:30 a.m., the scene was brutal.
“One of the poles that was holding up the construction sign pierced the driver’s door of the patrol car, went through the leg of the officer and came out the window,” Santangelo said.
The car had come to a rest on the left shoulder facing side ways.
Undaunted, Pizano had paramedics suit him up, and he got to work.
Fire rescue personnel tore off the driver’s side door, giving Pizano enough room to stop the bleeding, apply what he called “lots of morphine” and surgically remove the sign from Rodriguez’s leg.
“His police car became an operating room,” said fire rescue spokesman Lt. Eddy Ballester.
For exactly one hour, Pizano and the firefighters surrounding the car took turns performing tasks — Pizano operating on Rodriguez and firefighters cutting away at the car’s metal roof. The most difficult part, Pizano said, was to avoid hurting Rodriguez further while keeping him alert by not applying enough pain medication to knock him out.
“It’s a fine line,” Pizano said.
By 4:30 a.m., they were done freeing Rodriguez from his cruiser and loading him onto the chopper, Pizano at his side.
“Without a doubt, it worked,” Ballester said of the procedure.
Rodriguez is now recovering at Ryder. When asked if the officer was all right, Pizano responded gleefully: “He should be.”
Florida Highway Patrol is now investigating the cause of the crash.
Miami police are holding a blood drive for Rodriguez until 7 p.m. Tuesdaty at their downtown station, which is located at 400 NW 2 Ave.
A predawn crash Tuesday on the Don Shula Expressway left a Miami police officer trapped in his car with a sign pole piercing his leg.
The crash, which happened just north of Kendall Drive, occurred when Officer Rolando Rodriguez lost control of his patrol car while driving south on wet roadways, according to Florida Highway Patrol spokesman Lt. Pat Santangelo.
The injury, along with the complication of getting Rodriguez out of his cruiser, led paramedics to do something unusual: Instead of immediately putting him on a helicopter to the hospital, they flew a surgeon to him.
The procedure worked. Rodriguez is now recuperating at Jackson Memorial Hospital’s Ryder Trauma Center, according to Dr. Louis R. Pizano, the surgeon who performed the operation.
It was the first time in Pizano’s nine year career at the hospital that he performed surgery on a patient trapped in a car on the highway.
“And I hope never to do it again,” a tired Pizano told reporters Tuesday morning.
Pizano, who started his 24-hour shift at 7 a.m. Monday, had just finished performing an emergency operation on a patient at the hospital when he heard about the 3 a.m. crash from a message on his pager.
A nurse immediately informed him a police officer was stuck in a smashed cruiser on the side of the highway in Kendall — with a construction sign in his leg.
But Miami-Dade Fire Rescue paramedics wouldn’t be able to get him out in time to stop the bleeding, meaning the doctor would have to go to him.
As the helicopter neared, Pizano quickly assembled his kit: Gigli wire saw, scalpels, clamps, bandages, painkillers and sedatives.
Air Rescue South’s pilots kept the chopper’s long rotor blades spinning when they landed it at Ryder’s helicopter pad at 3:10 a.m. They took off with Pizano onboard 15 minutes later, according to fire rescue records.
As the helicopter raced southwest, Pizano ran four different scenarios in his head as he planned how he would treat Rodriguez. When they landed near the crash at 3:30 a.m., the scene was brutal.
“One of the poles that was holding up the construction sign pierced the driver’s door of the patrol car, went through the leg of the officer and came out the window,” Santangelo said.
The car had come to a rest on the left shoulder facing side ways.
Undaunted, Pizano had paramedics suit him up, and he got to work.
Fire rescue personnel tore off the driver’s side door, giving Pizano enough room to stop the bleeding, apply what he called “lots of morphine” and surgically remove the sign from Rodriguez’s leg.
“His police car became an operating room,” said fire rescue spokesman Lt. Eddy Ballester.
For exactly one hour, Pizano and the firefighters surrounding the car took turns performing tasks — Pizano operating on Rodriguez and firefighters cutting away at the car’s metal roof. The most difficult part, Pizano said, was to avoid hurting Rodriguez further while keeping him alert by not applying enough pain medication to knock him out.
“It’s a fine line,” Pizano said.
By 4:30 a.m., they were done freeing Rodriguez from his cruiser and loading him onto the chopper, Pizano at his side.
“Without a doubt, it worked,” Ballester said of the procedure.
Rodriguez is now recovering at Ryder. When asked if the officer was all right, Pizano responded gleefully: “He should be.”
Florida Highway Patrol is now investigating the cause of the crash.
Miami police are holding a blood drive for Rodriguez until 7 p.m. Tuesdaty at their downtown station, which is located at 400 NW 2 Ave.
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Dale City teacher charged with inappropriate touching www.privateofficer.com
August 19, 2009
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Dale City VA Aug 19 2009
A Dale City middle school teacher has been charged with inappropriately touching one student and sending improper text messages to another.
Shannon Arnold Patterson, 32, of 14306 Franklin St. in Woodbridge, turned himself in Monday after detectives obtained warrants charging him with one count of taking indecent liberties with a child while in a custodial relationship and use of a communication system to facilitate offenses involving children.
Police said the first victim, a 15-year-old boy who attends Beville Middle School, was touched inappropriately between November and July. The next victim, another 15-year-old boy who goes to Beville, received inappropriate text messages during the same time frame, said Prince William County police spokeswoman Erika Hernandez.
Patterson is a language arts teacher at Beville, located at 4901 Dale Blvd., and has been employed with Prince William County Public Schools since 2000, said schools spokesman Ken Blackstone.
Detectives launched their investigation last month and obtained arrest warrants for Patterson earlier this week.
None of the inappropriate contact took place on school grounds, said Hernandez. Investigators would not say if the child was believed to have been touched more than once during the nine-month time frame.
Patterson has been suspended without pay pending the results of the investigation, said Blackstone.
“When someone has been charged with something like this and they have been through the legal process, then if they are found guilty…they are terminated,” said Blackstone.
Students across the county return to school on Sept. 8, and so far, Blackstone said he was not aware of any parents who have contacted Beville about the arrest.
School administrators may send out a letter to parents informing them of the arrest. Blackstone said the school system continues to assist police in their investigation.
Beville Middle School opened its doors in 1991 and currently has more than 1,000 students enrolled.
A Dale City middle school teacher has been charged with inappropriately touching one student and sending improper text messages to another.
Shannon Arnold Patterson, 32, of 14306 Franklin St. in Woodbridge, turned himself in Monday after detectives obtained warrants charging him with one count of taking indecent liberties with a child while in a custodial relationship and use of a communication system to facilitate offenses involving children.
Police said the first victim, a 15-year-old boy who attends Beville Middle School, was touched inappropriately between November and July. The next victim, another 15-year-old boy who goes to Beville, received inappropriate text messages during the same time frame, said Prince William County police spokeswoman Erika Hernandez.
Patterson is a language arts teacher at Beville, located at 4901 Dale Blvd., and has been employed with Prince William County Public Schools since 2000, said schools spokesman Ken Blackstone.
Detectives launched their investigation last month and obtained arrest warrants for Patterson earlier this week.
None of the inappropriate contact took place on school grounds, said Hernandez. Investigators would not say if the child was believed to have been touched more than once during the nine-month time frame.
Patterson has been suspended without pay pending the results of the investigation, said Blackstone.
“When someone has been charged with something like this and they have been through the legal process, then if they are found guilty…they are terminated,” said Blackstone.
Students across the county return to school on Sept. 8, and so far, Blackstone said he was not aware of any parents who have contacted Beville about the arrest.
School administrators may send out a letter to parents informing them of the arrest. Blackstone said the school system continues to assist police in their investigation.
Beville Middle School opened its doors in 1991 and currently has more than 1,000 students enrolled.
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Million dollar jewelry heist at J.C. Penney www.privateofficer.com
August 19, 2009
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COVINGTON, La Aug 19 2009. – St. Tammany Parish Sheriff Jack Strain says deputies are looking for two men who stole more than $1 million in jewelry from the J.C. Penney in Covington late Saturday night.
Strain said the heist at the store located on Highway 21 was the fourth in a series of five large scale burglaries at J.C. Penney stores around the country that are believed to have been committed by the same group.
Strain said the first of the burglaries was committed in June in Indiana, two in July in Texas and now the two in Louisiana in August (one in Lafayette Sunday in addition to the one in Covington).
Strain said the thieves are sophisticated in their methods, entering the buildings through the rooftops.
Deputies received a call from store employees after they discovered the break-in while opening the store for business Sunday morning.
Two suspects in the case are visible on surveillance video. One is a black male wearing a red t-shirt, blue jeans and black and white Nike tennis shoes. The other is a black male with a dark t-shirt with green writing, blue jeans and construction style work boots.
Store surveillance video shows the men emptying the contents of the store’s jewelry cases into large garbage bags. Investigators estimate the approximate value of the stolen items (jewelry and clothing) to be between $1 and $2 million.
The video shows that the two men spent over an hour in the store, and exited through a fire escape door in the rear of the building.
Strain said the heist at the store located on Highway 21 was the fourth in a series of five large scale burglaries at J.C. Penney stores around the country that are believed to have been committed by the same group.
Strain said the first of the burglaries was committed in June in Indiana, two in July in Texas and now the two in Louisiana in August (one in Lafayette Sunday in addition to the one in Covington).
Strain said the thieves are sophisticated in their methods, entering the buildings through the rooftops.
Deputies received a call from store employees after they discovered the break-in while opening the store for business Sunday morning.
Two suspects in the case are visible on surveillance video. One is a black male wearing a red t-shirt, blue jeans and black and white Nike tennis shoes. The other is a black male with a dark t-shirt with green writing, blue jeans and construction style work boots.
Store surveillance video shows the men emptying the contents of the store’s jewelry cases into large garbage bags. Investigators estimate the approximate value of the stolen items (jewelry and clothing) to be between $1 and $2 million.
The video shows that the two men spent over an hour in the store, and exited through a fire escape door in the rear of the building.
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Cattaraugus County Sheriff commits suicide www.privateofficer.com
August 19, 2009
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Cattaraugus County NY Aug 19 2009
Cattaraugus County Sheriff Dennis B. John, the state’s first and only Native American sheriff, sent a text message to Undersheriff Timothy S. Whitcomb minutes before taking his own life Tuesday morning on a Town of Coldspring logging road, The Buffalo News has learned.
John, 51, was found dead at about 9:30 a.m. outside of a vehicle on Sunfish Run Road in Coldspring, the victim of an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound, according to state police, the lead investigating agency for the incident.
“The investigation is continuing, but we do not believe that there is any foul play involved,” said Trooper Rebecca Gibbons, the State Police public information officer.
Whitcomb told The News he received a text message on his cell phone from John at about 9 a.m. Tuesday giving his location.
The text message gave specific directions on where to find him, including mentioning a green flag that he had placed at the side of the road along with the mile marker there. He also asked the undersheriff to “take care of my wife.”
Whitcomb said John spent Monday night at home with his wife and then drove to Coldspring in the morning. “I talked to him last night and he seemed fine,” Whitcomb said late Tuesday.
He was found outside his county vehicle, a Chevrolet Lumina.
Whitcomb, Investigator William Nichols and Capt. Robert Buchhardt rushed to the site mentioned in the message, where they found John’s body. The area is not far from Camp Li-Lo-Li, a children’s camp.
John was declared dead at the scene, the result of a gunshot wound to his chest, authorities said. The Erie County medical examiner’s office is expected to perform an autopsy today.
Late Tuesday, The News learned that John was raised in the same home with Kimberly J. Speta, the mother of Colin Speta, the 26-year-old Falconer man who is presumed to have drowned after falling from a boat Sunday evening into Chautauqua Lake.
Whitcomb said John, who has remained close with the Speta family, rushed to Chautauqua County upon learning of the accident. “He showed up to offer his support to the parents for their missing son,” Whitcomb said.
John is survived by his wife, Sharon, of Little Valley and two daughters, one son and grandchildren.
News of John’s death shocked county residents and was a tough blow for members of the Native American and law enforcement communities.
“You don’t see many Senecas succeeding as he did, getting elected to a countywide office outside the Seneca Nation,” said Maxine Black, 69, a Salamanca resident and former Seneca Nation appeals court judge who knew John since he was a young boy.
John, according to the Cattaraugus County sheriff’s Web site, became the first Native American sheriff in the state when he was appointed to the post by Gov. George E. Pataki in 2005. He then won election to the job later that year with 77 percent of the vote. John was expected to run unopposed for re-election this year.
A native of the Allegany Territory, John grew up there and graduated from Salamanca High School in 1976. He began his police career with the Seneca Nation Law Enforcement, before joining the Cattaraugus sheriff’s office in 1981. John rose through the ranks, serving as chief of detectives, undersheriff and then sheriff.
Barry E. Snyder Sr., the Seneca Nation president, called John “one of our most trusted and respected leaders.”
Meanwhile, fellow law enforcement officials regarded John as a reserved, unassuming professional and a fine man who presided over a tightly knit Sheriff’s Office. They saw no signs of any despondency.
Nine days ago, John called his longtime friend, Erie County Sheriff Timothy B. Howard, to arrange to meet for breakfast the next morning, along with State Police Maj. Christopher Cummings, to discuss the flooding emergency that struck both counties.
During a visit to the flood-ravaged areas, Howard was struck by his friend’s compassion for the people who had lost so much in the floods.
Cattaraugus County Sheriff Dennis B. John, the state’s first and only Native American sheriff, sent a text message to Undersheriff Timothy S. Whitcomb minutes before taking his own life Tuesday morning on a Town of Coldspring logging road, The Buffalo News has learned.
John, 51, was found dead at about 9:30 a.m. outside of a vehicle on Sunfish Run Road in Coldspring, the victim of an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound, according to state police, the lead investigating agency for the incident.
“The investigation is continuing, but we do not believe that there is any foul play involved,” said Trooper Rebecca Gibbons, the State Police public information officer.
Whitcomb told The News he received a text message on his cell phone from John at about 9 a.m. Tuesday giving his location.
The text message gave specific directions on where to find him, including mentioning a green flag that he had placed at the side of the road along with the mile marker there. He also asked the undersheriff to “take care of my wife.”
Whitcomb said John spent Monday night at home with his wife and then drove to Coldspring in the morning. “I talked to him last night and he seemed fine,” Whitcomb said late Tuesday.
He was found outside his county vehicle, a Chevrolet Lumina.
Whitcomb, Investigator William Nichols and Capt. Robert Buchhardt rushed to the site mentioned in the message, where they found John’s body. The area is not far from Camp Li-Lo-Li, a children’s camp.
John was declared dead at the scene, the result of a gunshot wound to his chest, authorities said. The Erie County medical examiner’s office is expected to perform an autopsy today.
Late Tuesday, The News learned that John was raised in the same home with Kimberly J. Speta, the mother of Colin Speta, the 26-year-old Falconer man who is presumed to have drowned after falling from a boat Sunday evening into Chautauqua Lake.
Whitcomb said John, who has remained close with the Speta family, rushed to Chautauqua County upon learning of the accident. “He showed up to offer his support to the parents for their missing son,” Whitcomb said.
John is survived by his wife, Sharon, of Little Valley and two daughters, one son and grandchildren.
News of John’s death shocked county residents and was a tough blow for members of the Native American and law enforcement communities.
“You don’t see many Senecas succeeding as he did, getting elected to a countywide office outside the Seneca Nation,” said Maxine Black, 69, a Salamanca resident and former Seneca Nation appeals court judge who knew John since he was a young boy.
John, according to the Cattaraugus County sheriff’s Web site, became the first Native American sheriff in the state when he was appointed to the post by Gov. George E. Pataki in 2005. He then won election to the job later that year with 77 percent of the vote. John was expected to run unopposed for re-election this year.
A native of the Allegany Territory, John grew up there and graduated from Salamanca High School in 1976. He began his police career with the Seneca Nation Law Enforcement, before joining the Cattaraugus sheriff’s office in 1981. John rose through the ranks, serving as chief of detectives, undersheriff and then sheriff.
Barry E. Snyder Sr., the Seneca Nation president, called John “one of our most trusted and respected leaders.”
Meanwhile, fellow law enforcement officials regarded John as a reserved, unassuming professional and a fine man who presided over a tightly knit Sheriff’s Office. They saw no signs of any despondency.
Nine days ago, John called his longtime friend, Erie County Sheriff Timothy B. Howard, to arrange to meet for breakfast the next morning, along with State Police Maj. Christopher Cummings, to discuss the flooding emergency that struck both counties.
During a visit to the flood-ravaged areas, Howard was struck by his friend’s compassion for the people who had lost so much in the floods.
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Categories: police suicide
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Family sues security officer for shooting incident www.privateofficer.com
August 19, 2009
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Prince George County MD Aug 19 2009
Relatives of an unarmed man who was fatally shot inside a Langley Park apartment by a Prince George’s County police corporal have filed a lawsuit alleging that the officer pepper-sprayed and beat the man, Manuel de Jesus Espina, then shot him even though he was not resisting.
In the moments before Cpl. Steven Jackson, working off duty as a security guard, fired a single fatal bullet Aug. 16, 2008, Espina’s son dropped to his knees and pleaded with the officer not to hurt his father, the lawsuit alleges.
The lawsuit, filed last week in Circuit Court in Upper Marlboro against the officer and county, seeks more than $40 million in compensatory and punitive damages. In the meantime, Prince George’s prosecutors in recent weeks have presented evidence regarding Jackson’s actions to a county grand jury, according to three sources familiar with the probe. The sources spoke on condition of anonymity because grand jury proceedings are secret.
Jackson is restricted to an administrative job away from the public pending the outcome of the criminal investigation by the state’s attorney’s office as well as an internal police inquiry. Jackson did not return a phone call Tuesday, nor did his defense attorney.
Maj. Andy Ellis, a police spokesman, declined to comment on the lawsuit or the grand jury investigation. John Erzen, a county spokesman, said he could not comment on pending litigation.
“This really was a coldblooded killing by this officer,” said Timothy F. Maloney, the Greenbelt attorney representing the Espina family in the civil case.
Jackson was moonlighting as a security guard at an apartment complex when he encountered Espina, 43, and his son, Manuel de Jesus Espina Jacome, then 26.
Initially, police charged Espina Jacome with second-degree assault for allegedly fighting with Jackson. Those charges were dropped.
A witness told an investigator with Espina Jacome’s defense team that the encounter began when Jackson saw Espina with a beer in or near the front of the apartment building and chased him up the stairwell.
Espina and Jackson ended up in a basement apartment occupied by friends of Espina’s. The lawsuit alleges that Jackson dragged Espina into the apartment, hitting him in the face and torso with his fists and police-issued retractable baton.
Espina Jacome saw his father being beaten and, fearing for his life, entered the apartment through a window, the lawsuit says. When Espina Jacome asked Jackson to stop hitting his father, the officer replied, “Shut the [expletive] up,” according to the lawsuit.
In the days immediately after the shooting, police provided various accounts of the events leading to it.
On the day of the shooting, police said Jackson fired after Espina had reached for the officer’s gun. The same day, a police commander said Jackson alleged that the two Espinas tried to pull him into the apartment. The next day, police issued a news release that said Jackson feared for his life when Espina reached for his baton.
The lawsuit alleges that Jackson has engaged in a pattern of brutalizing and violating the civil rights of Hispanics and others.
Police have completed their investigation of an unrelated incident in which Jackson accused a motorist of slugging and tackling him during a traffic stop. A police video showed Jackson hit and tackled the motorist, who did not throw a punch or tackle Jackson. The findings of that investigation will be sent to a civilian complaint review panel, Ellis said.
Relatives of an unarmed man who was fatally shot inside a Langley Park apartment by a Prince George’s County police corporal have filed a lawsuit alleging that the officer pepper-sprayed and beat the man, Manuel de Jesus Espina, then shot him even though he was not resisting.
In the moments before Cpl. Steven Jackson, working off duty as a security guard, fired a single fatal bullet Aug. 16, 2008, Espina’s son dropped to his knees and pleaded with the officer not to hurt his father, the lawsuit alleges.
The lawsuit, filed last week in Circuit Court in Upper Marlboro against the officer and county, seeks more than $40 million in compensatory and punitive damages. In the meantime, Prince George’s prosecutors in recent weeks have presented evidence regarding Jackson’s actions to a county grand jury, according to three sources familiar with the probe. The sources spoke on condition of anonymity because grand jury proceedings are secret.
Jackson is restricted to an administrative job away from the public pending the outcome of the criminal investigation by the state’s attorney’s office as well as an internal police inquiry. Jackson did not return a phone call Tuesday, nor did his defense attorney.
Maj. Andy Ellis, a police spokesman, declined to comment on the lawsuit or the grand jury investigation. John Erzen, a county spokesman, said he could not comment on pending litigation.
“This really was a coldblooded killing by this officer,” said Timothy F. Maloney, the Greenbelt attorney representing the Espina family in the civil case.
Jackson was moonlighting as a security guard at an apartment complex when he encountered Espina, 43, and his son, Manuel de Jesus Espina Jacome, then 26.
Initially, police charged Espina Jacome with second-degree assault for allegedly fighting with Jackson. Those charges were dropped.
A witness told an investigator with Espina Jacome’s defense team that the encounter began when Jackson saw Espina with a beer in or near the front of the apartment building and chased him up the stairwell.
Espina and Jackson ended up in a basement apartment occupied by friends of Espina’s. The lawsuit alleges that Jackson dragged Espina into the apartment, hitting him in the face and torso with his fists and police-issued retractable baton.
Espina Jacome saw his father being beaten and, fearing for his life, entered the apartment through a window, the lawsuit says. When Espina Jacome asked Jackson to stop hitting his father, the officer replied, “Shut the [expletive] up,” according to the lawsuit.
In the days immediately after the shooting, police provided various accounts of the events leading to it.
On the day of the shooting, police said Jackson fired after Espina had reached for the officer’s gun. The same day, a police commander said Jackson alleged that the two Espinas tried to pull him into the apartment. The next day, police issued a news release that said Jackson feared for his life when Espina reached for his baton.
The lawsuit alleges that Jackson has engaged in a pattern of brutalizing and violating the civil rights of Hispanics and others.
Police have completed their investigation of an unrelated incident in which Jackson accused a motorist of slugging and tackling him during a traffic stop. A police video showed Jackson hit and tackled the motorist, who did not throw a punch or tackle Jackson. The findings of that investigation will be sent to a civilian complaint review panel, Ellis said.
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Categories: lawsuit
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