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North Carolina security officer shot during robbery www.privateofficer.com
Roanoke Rapids Police Chief Jeff Hinton told the Daily Herald this morning with the help of the Halifax County Sheriff’s Office Andrew Bell, 17, of Roanoke Rapids, turned himself in last night.
Hinton said RRPD appreciates the efforts of Deputy Fred Whitaker getting Bell to turn himself in at the Roanoke Rapids police station around 11 p.m. Tuesday.
While members of Roanoke Rapids Police A Squad were on routine patrol Monday, they came in contact with an unknown person matching the description of a suspect wanted in a Saturday night shooting of a security guard near the old Bibb Plant Mill, explained Roanoke Rapids Police Deputy Chief Adam Bondarek.
Officers observed a small caliber pistol in his waistband. Bondarek said the subject ran and during the chase he stole a bicycle from a youngster, then escaped capture by police. Although officers were unable to apprehend him, they were able to identify him as Bell. (After the pursuit, Capt. Andy Jackson proceeded several hundred yards on foot down a nearby railroad track to retrieve the abandoned bicycle stolen during the chase. Jackson returned the bike to the youngster, Bondarek said).
It was around 11 p.m., Saturday when an on-duty security guard “in the area of 13th Street and the old mill parking lot was approached by a male on an orange bicycle demanding his wallet,” Bondarek stated. The victim identified himself as a security guard and said he didn’t have any money. “The unknown black male pulled a small caliber handgun from his person and fired at the security guard at close range, striking him one time,” Bondarek stated.
The security guard is listed in good condition.
Bondarek said Bell has a history with law enforcement.
Bell faces charges of attempted robbery with a dangerous weapon, assault with a deadly weapon inflicting serious injury, fleeing the police and larceny of a bicycle.
Bell is in jail on $50,000 bond and has a Dec. 19 court date.
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The professional side of private security www.privateofficer.com
Black iron gates and private driveways are commonplace in Greenwich, a town that values privacy and can afford to keep outsiders at a distance.
But with hedge fund chief executives worth billions and swarms of celebrities calling Greenwich home, many people have the option to take their personal security to a completely different level.
From bodyguards packing pistols to teams of private security officers surveying backcountry estates, security companies in the area say Greenwich is a prime location for thieves to target, which also makes it a hub for wealthy clientele.
“Obviously, you have law enforcement that are there as a deterrent,” said Michael Wanik, vice president of consulting and investigation for SSC Inc., a private security company based in Shelton. “However, they can’t be everywhere at all times.”
Wanik said that while any community can be at risk in today’s world, Greenwich and the Fairfield County area in general may be a target to some because of the perception of wealth.
“In Greenwich, there may be a different kind of opportunity, maybe a different level of threat or wealth, or many times just the perception of wealth,” said Wanik.
A prime example of how Greenwich residents can become targets occurred in 2003 when billionaire Edward Lampert, the chairman of Kmart and ESL Investments, was kidnapped at gunpoint from the parking garage of his Greenwich office and taken to a Days Inn in Hamden. He was released unharmed
two days later after promising to pay his captors $40,000, federal prosecutors said.
Greenwich Police Chief David Ridberg said Lampert’s kidnapping revealed a unique threat to Greenwich because of the wealth and stature that some people in the community hold.
“That’s an example of someone who had a life event occur and now security is more of a priority,” said Ridberg, noting that retired Greenwich cops were once heading up Lampert’s security team. “I think wealthy people do need to be concerned that they might be targets, especially if they are high-profile, whether celebrity or business.”
Due to the high concentration of wealth in town, Ridberg said the department often has to provide assistance on security details, such as when dignitaries come to town. Many people in the community also hire off-duty police officers for security.
“If a corporate executive is threatened, they may hire officers to be up on the property for a week or two,” said Ridberg. “If it’s a full-time gig, we would have to assign an officer who would run the job.”
One of the newer private security companies in the area is Executive Protection Associates, a company based in Greenwich that contracts out former military and law enforcement personnel for security assignments.
Stephen McLeod is executive director of the company and said he felt Greenwich was very much in need of having additional security options.
“I think the local law enforcement is the best in the country,” said McLeod. “But I also think there were security breaches that needed to be tended to.”
McLeod said his company offers a variety of services from trained bodyguards and drivers to surveillance and corporate espionage investigators.
“This is regarded as the nicest town in the country,” said McLeod. “People have money and they want to keep it.”
Simon Oram is a top-tier agent with the company and has his own New York-based security consulting firm as well. Oram was trained as a sniper in the military and ran security operations for a hedge fund.
“Generally what you are finding is people getting services depending on the threat,” said Oram. “Entry level is putting an alarm on your house and security cameras. The next level is to have a driver that is trained in both defensive and offensive driving techniques.”
Oram said the levels continue up to having a force of private security officers who are tactically trained to blend in and whose No. 1 goal is to protect their “principal,” or client.
“Law enforcement are trained to take cover and return fire,” said Oram. “Executive protection’s job is to get the principal out of the way. So it’s a little bit of a different mindset.”
Ridberg said he knew of a “fair amount” of private security teams employed by people in town and was hoping to put together an official list in the future. Private officers, who are mainly retired cops and former military men and women, are not required to register in the town. However, according to state law, private security companies must register themselves and all their employees with the state Department of Public Safety. If they are armed, the officers must obtain a “blue card.”
Ridberg said law enforcement officers are always in charge at the scene of a crime, no matter if private security officers are employed at the property or not. While Ridberg said he did not know of any instances when private security officers clashed with law enforcement, a recent string of incidents at the estate of print magnate Peter Brant put the issue of private security officers on the radar.
Police responded to Brant’s North Street estate several times in June after Brant’s estranged wife, supermodel Stephanie Seymour, and members of Brant’s private security operations were involved in a scuffle.
One security officer, Joseph Babnik, a retired cop from Carmel, N.Y., was charged with disorderly conduct after Seymour alleged he shoved her during a dispute. Babnik has pleaded not guilty. The incident revealed that Brant, who is estimated to be a billionaire, had several officers working on his property around the clock.
Ridberg said he had to call a meeting between the lawyers for Seymour and Brant because the department was expending too many resources responding to calls.
“We just felt it was not a good circumstance and endeavored to work something out,” said Ridberg, noting that there had not been any problems since that time.
Another incident that sparked attention was when a bodyguard for television and film star and former Greenwich resident Rosie O’Donnell, a staunch gun-control advocate, applied for a gun permit to be authorized to carry a weapon while dropping her son off at school in 2000. O’Donnell responded by saying it was necessary to protect her son and later moved out of town after the incident ignited a firestorm of criticism.
Wanik said private security is an ever-expanding business that is continually changing with the times and becoming increasingly sophisticated.
“Now there are more professional officers who provide greater service than the old stereotype of a watchman with a thermos by his side sleeping at a guard desk,” said Wanik. “It’s an exciting time in the industry.”
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Man faces felony charges in underwear theft www.privateofficer.com
On 20 August 2009 at approximately 11:10 hours members of the Nashua Police Department patrol division responded to the Pheasant Lane Mall, 310 Daniel Webster Highway for a shoplifting complaint. A male subject entered Victoria’s Secret and placed a large amount of items in a shopping bag and left the store without paying for these items.
Bail was set at $10,000 cash or surety. The suspect will be arraigned at the Nashua District Court on Friday, 21 August 2009. A Class A Felony offense is punishable by imprisonment up to fifteen years exclusive of fines. Each Class A Misdemeanor is punishable by up to one year imprisonment, exclusive of fines.
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Some police agencies appreciate the work of security www.privateofficer.com
Raynham Police Chief Louis J. Pacheco isn’t complaining. He knows that money is tight everywhere, especially money to fully staff his police force and pay detectives the overtime needed to investigate and catch criminals.
“As you cut a police department it shrinks down to its basic role,” he said. “If it’s cut enough, it’s just answering calls. Any of that proactive stuff is expensive. You can’t work it on an 8 to 4 schedule, you don’t get the results.”
That’s why he doesn’t shirk help from the private sector, like the assistance he recently received from CVS security professionals in a sting operation that cracked a Taunton-based shoplifting crime ring.
Like many retailers, CVS took crime fighting into their own hands because the network had infiltrated many stores in the region. In last week’s bust, a shoplifter confessed to CVS security guards that he was stealing in order to sell the goods to a man at the Raynham Flea Market.
On four occasions between Aug. 2 and Aug. 12, CVS employees went undercover to sell stolen store merchandise to a Taunton man who then sold the goods online and at flea markets.
The transactions took place at a booth at the Raynham Flea Market, twice in the parking lot of Ryan Amusement Center on Route 44 and at the Pep Boys also on Route 44. In at least one of the exchanges CVS employees used an undercover company surveillance van to observe and record the transaction.
Last Tuesday, police raided the suspect’s apartment on Monroe Street, finding a $100,000 cache of razor blades, pain relief pills and diet aides. The quantity of goods was so large officers had to leave half of the merchandise behind. Due to manpower and logistical issues, Pacheco said, he didn’t arrest the suspect, Michel Brennan, but left him at his apartment until he was charged the following day with nine larceny and conspiracy offenses.
CVS officials declined to comment on the scope of their policing unit, but as incidents of shoplifting and in particular, organized theft, continue to climb while police budgets shrink, retailers are relying more on internal crime prevention.
“It’s normal,” Pacheco said of the partnership between retailers and police that includes sharing video surveillance and information regarding identity fraud.
If he had a full staff of policemen, Pacheco said he would have had two or three officers working on the shoplifting investigation and perhaps arresting some of the shoplifters working with Brennan.
“That was a result of budget issues too,” he said. “Had it been two years ago that arrest would have been 20 people.”
After budget cuts last year, the police budget is down about 10 percent this year, he said, cutting out much of the overtime detectives would earn for going on stakeouts or responding immediately to major crimes when odds of solving a case are the best.
For retail crimes, stores like Wal-Mart are beefing up security on their own. Bert Cabral, manager of the Wal-Mart Supercenter on Paramount Drive, said he recently hired a private security guard to patrol the store’s parking lot at night. He won’t say how many security officers work in the store, but he said his crime prevention staff has grown considerably in recent years to include a full-time manager and a crew of asset protection associates.
Citing the quick arrest of two brothers posing as police officers outside the store in a March robbery, Cabral said sharing information and security photos with police helps solve crimes. “We work really close with law enforcement.”
It’s conventional police wisdom that during bad economic times, property crimes like shoplifting tend to increase. The added wave of identity thefts has also put pressure on retailers. But a more sophisticated type of crime, called organized retail crime, has some retailers fighting back.
In the CVS raid, Pacheco said the haul of loot and network on shoplifters, called boosters, was unusual, because it gave a glimpse into a crime network that has local origins but a global reach.
Erin Trabucco, an attorney for the Retailers Association of Massachusetts, said organized retail crime networks, which are often driven by drug addicts, work all over the east coast. “They are highly sophisticated criminals.”
The boosters, she explained are adept at stealing retail goods like razor blades, baby formula and diet supplements that have a high street value. Using lined bags that block surveillance devices, the boosters often roll out the front door of a store with a cart filled with stolen goods. The items are then sold easily to a “fence,” or seller, for about 25 cents on the dollar. The booster gets quick cash, often used to support a drug habit. The fence, like Brennan, then sells the items online or at public markets for about half the store price.
“These crimes are getting worse, not better,” said Joe LaRocca, an asset protection specialist for the National Retail Federation in Washington, D.C. In a recent survey conducted by the NRF, 92 percent of retailers reported an increase in organized retail crime. “It’s a low-risk and high-reward activity for these groups and individuals,” he said.
And the thefts cost retailers about $30 billion a year in lost merchandise, LaRocca said, which means less tax revenue for some states and higher prices for shoppers.
Often, competitors like Walgreens and CVS, will work together to infiltrate and bring down the networks. “I think the stores are getting smart. They know what’s going on,” Trabucco said.
A national computer database is already being used by retailers and police departments to track retail crime networks. And several states have already passed laws banning the lined bags used for shoplifting. A bill is also under consideration in Massachusetts.
Police departments seem to welcome retailers’ efforts in private police work, especially when the money isn’t there to solve the crimes. “Although they are not law enforcement officers they give us a boost,” said Gregg Miliote, spokesman for the Bristol County District Attorney Samuel Sutter, who sponsors seminars of the retail crime networks.
And until the economy improves, the private loss prevention business might be doing more of the local police work.
“I understand the town doesn’t have the money,” Pacheco said. “It isn’t there. And next year will be worse.”
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Fla teacher charged with DUI, drugs www.privateofficer.com
Peter Epstein, 38, who was arrested Aug. 7, was immediately removed from the classroom when teachers returned to work Aug. 17, more than a week before students came back to school, said spokeswoman Marsy Smith.
Aventura police say they pulled over Epstein as he was driving 80 mph in the 19100 block of Biscayne Boulevard and found a bag of marijuana in his pocket.
Later, inside Epstein’s gray Ford Mustang, police said they found a bag of what appeared to be cocaine. They also found a bag of lavender pills believed to be ecstasy inside of the police cruiser where he had been detained, according to a police report.
Epstein is charged with DUI, possession of cocaine and less than 20 grams of marijuana, and having a controlled substance.
Smith said Epstein is an exceptional teacher and the student government adviser at Flanagan and has worked as a Broward teacher for nearly 16 years. He earns about $58,000 a year.
He was placed in a position where he won’t interact with students pending the outcome of the criminal investigation, she said.
Teachers who have been administratively reassigned are typically placed at the book depository, she said.
A substitute teacher has taken over classes for Epstein, who teaches multiple grade levels at Flanagan, Smith said.
The school has made no official announcements about Epstein’s removal, Smith said.
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Missing girl walks into police station 19 yrs later www.privateofficer.com
The woman came into a San Francisco Bay area police station and said she was Jaycee Lee Dugard, a blond, ponytailed girl when she was abducted as she headed to a school bus stop 18 years ago, said sheriff’s Lt. Les Lovell of the El Dorado Sheriff’s Department.
“We’re 99 percent sure it’s her,” Lovell said. He said DNA tests were being conducted. The woman was in good health. It was not immediately clear when she had surfaced at the station.
Lovell said Concord police did an investigation after the woman surfaced, and he received a call Wednesday from investigators who had tentatively identified her as Dugard.
Her family has been contacted and they are in the process of arranging a meeting, said Lovell, who was a detective assigned to help investigate the kidnapping in 1991. “We are very confident at this point in time that it is her.”
Jimmie Lee, a spokesman for the Contra Costa County Sheriff’s Department, said FBI and El Dorado sheriff’s deputies arrested two suspects Wednesday night. They were being held in the Contra Costa County Jail in Martinez.
Lee said the two were being held for investigation of several charges, including kidnapping, but he could not elaborate.
Law enforcement sources said authorities were also searching a home in Antioch.
Dugard’s stepfather, Carl Probyn, said the news was like winning the lottery.
“To have this happen where we get her back alive, and where she remembers things from the past, and to have people in custody is a triple win,” he told The Sacramento Bee.
Witnesses reported that a vehicle with two people drove up to Dugard and abducted her while her stepfather was watching on June 10, 1991, the Sheriff’s Department said in a news release Thursday.
In media reports at the time, the girl’s stepfather said he heard Jaycee scream then jumped on a bicycle and frantically pedaled after the car in a failed effort to follow it up a hill. He then turned around and screamed at neighbors to call 911.
The case attracted national attention and was featured on TV’s “America’s Most Wanted,” which broadcast a composite drawing of a suspect seen in the car.
Probyn said his wife, Terry, had spoken with Dugard by phone on Wednesday. He said the mother and their 19-year-old daughter were flying from their Southern California home to meet with Dugard in Northern California.
Investigators first visited with his wife about three weeks ago, he said.
Probyn said he endured years of suspicion from FBI agents who believed he may have been involved in the abduction. He eventually lost hope that he would ever see his stepdaughter alive.
“Then you pray that you get her body back so there is an ending,” Probyn said.
Lovell said investigators have been working the case consistently since she was abducted and new leads had surfaced over time.
“You bet it’s a surprise. This is not the normal resolution to a kidnapping,” he said.
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Alabama teacher arrested in methamphetamine ring www.privateofficer.com
A teacher is among 10 suspects arrested for charges relating to methamphetamine.
An affidavit from the Holmes County Sheriff’s Office says that an officer and confidential informant went to the home of Mary Williford at 1088 Nettie Street in Noma to negotiate a deal to purchase meth.
She was arrested and gave authorities permission to search the residence.
Officers found more than 14 grams of meth, glass smoking pipes and a set of electronic scales in Williford’s freezer.
Williford told officers she got the meth from Jose Lopez and purchased several ounces form him in the past. Lopez was also at the home.
During the search officers say they found a pink make-up bag with meth and several smoking pipes inside. Shelia Long, a 47-year-old teacher of Robertsdale, AL, told officers the bag was hers and she got it from Lopez. She also stated that she was with Lopez on numerous occasions when they sold several ounces of meth.
Long taught fulltime at Bonifay Elementary School for one year only, from 2007-08. She was then used as a substitute teacher until November of 2008 when she was not back to teach further, according to Holmes County School District.
Lopez was also taken into custody after officers say he told them he has sold Williford several ounces of meth. He also told them he has sold numerous ounces of meth to different individuals in Holmes and Geneva Counties. Lopez is an illegal Mexican national who authorities suspect is a major drug supplier for the area.
Court records show that Long is facing charges of trafficking in meth and possession of drug paraphernalia. Her bail is set at $15,000 for the meth trafficking charge and $2,000 for the drug paraphernalia charge.
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Bank security shoots at would be robbers www.privateofficer.com
HPD officer P.L. Marquez was working a part-time security job at an Amegy Bank branch in the 9100 block of the North Loop East about 4:45 p.m. when two men approached the tellers, officials said.
One of the robbers turned and pointed a gun at Marquez. The officer held his fire because they were near bank employees and customers, Houston police officials said.
The robber moved toward the front door without taking cash from the tellers.
Marquez ordered them to drop their weapons. When they refused — and fearing for his safety and that of the customers and employees – Marquez opened fire at them, police said.
Police said the two robbers were shooting at Marquez as they ran from the bank.
HPD investigators were checking area hospitals Wednesday evening because Marquez – who was not injured – said he may have struck one of the robbers.
The customers and employees inside the bank were not injured, police said.
The robbers were about 6 feet tall and in their early 20s to early 30s. One had a light blue towel around his neck that was later found outside the bank.
The other was wearing a white baseball cap, police said.
Marquez is assigned to HPD’s Northeast Patrol Division. He was sworn into the department in January 2008.
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Woman charged with scamming casino patrons www.privateofficer.com
A woman charged with scamming dozens of people at an automated bank teller at the Sands Casino Resort Bethlehem will face trial in Northampton County Court, a district judge ruled this morning.
Authorities said Shoumin Chai, 56, of New York, has made a career of stealing at casinos across the country and has a 50-page criminal record and 13 felony convictions in New Jersey.
On June 19 and 20, police said Chai watched Sands patrons insert and quickly withdraw their cards at an automated teller machine. Police said Chai would pretend to help people withdraw their cash, but was secretly tapping into their bank accounts.
Only three of the 24 victims at the Sands have been identified and while investigators said the money Chai allegedly stole is around $1,000, the amount could be 10 times that if all the victims are identified.
Chai is charged with 47 felonies and 71 misdemeanors, including access device fraud, identity theft and receiving stolen property.
Chai remains in Northampton County Prison on $200,000 bail.
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Southampton police officer dies in accident www.privateofficer.com
An off-duty Southampton Town Police officer was killed in a Jet Ski accident while vacationing with his family in North Carolina on Saturday.
Michael Nemes, 37, of Eastport was riding a Honda AquaTrax F-12X personal watercraft in Brown’s Inlet in Onslow County, North Carolina, which is located about 120 miles east of Raleigh, when he was involved in a single-craft boating accident, according to a press release issued by Southampton Town Police.
Sergeant Charles Smith of the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission, the agency that is handling the investigation, said his department was still awaiting the results of a toxicology report from the local medical examiner’s office. Sgt. Smith, who said an autopsy is not being performed, added that investigators do not suspect that drugs or alcohol contributed to the accident.
“We have not completed our investigation, so we can’t really make any comment,” Sgt. Smith said on Tuesday.
On Wednesday morning, he added that Officer Nemes drowned. Investigators have no witnesses to the accident, Sgt. Smith said.
He speculated that rough waters churned by Hurricane Bill, which was a few hundred miles offshore at the time, could have been a factor in the accident.
At the time, Officer Smith was vacationing with his wife, Victoria, who is expecting a baby in October, and their 2-year-old daughter, Gabriella.
At the family’s Eastport home on Monday afternoon, a man who identified himself only as the brother of Officer Nemes’s wife said his sister was on her way back from North Carolina at the time. He also said his parents, Officer Nemes’s in-laws, were at home but too upset to talk about their son-in-law. A Southampton Town Police cruiser was parked outside the home at the time.
Officer Nemes was a five-year veteran of the Southampton Town Police Department and served in both the community response and emergency services units. Before joining the department, Officer Nemes was a member of the New York Police Department and worked out of the 90th Precinct in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.
Officer Nemes is the second local police officer to die while off-duty in the past two months. On Father’s Day, 40-year-old Richard Kappel of Speonk, an eight-year veteran of the Quogue Village Police Department, was killed when lost control of a borrowed 2002 Ferrari and slammed into a tree on Speonk-Riverhead Road. Both he and his passenger, 33-year-old Christian Gomez of New Hyde Park, who was a cousin of Officer Kappel’s wife, Tara, died in the accident.
Southampton Town Police Officer Jim Cavanagh this week remembered Officer Nemes as a man who was dedicated to the force and someone who always had a smile on his face.
“He was one of those guys you could never find anything to pick on,” Officer Cavanagh said. “He was always an outstanding guy.”
In a letter published in this week’s newspaper, Officer Cavanagh noted that many officers spend long hours away from their families and try to make up for that lost time during vacations. He lamented the fact that his friend and coworker was killed while spending time with his family.
Also in his letter, Officer Cavanagh said his friend was once involved in a standoff involving guns when he was working for the New York Police Department. On Tuesday, Officer Cavanagh said Officer Nemes had mentioned the ordeal in passing, though he did not elaborate on the incident.
Representatives from the New York Police Department could not immediately release information on Officer Nemes’s file.
When reached Tuesday afternoon, Southampton Town Police Sergeant William Sommer, who heads the department’s community response unit, said he was at a local airport awaiting the return of Officer Nemes’s body and could not comment on his death.
According to the Southampton Town Police Department’s press release, Officer Nemes was “truly a great man, an excellent officer and a true friend. He will be missed.”
Viewing was scheduled at the O.B. Davis Funeral Home in Miller Place for Wednesday, August 26, and Thursday, August 27, from 2 to 4 p.m. and 7 to 9 p.m. both days.
Officer Nemes’s funeral service will begin at 9:30 a.m. on Friday, August 28, at the Saint Anthony of Padua Roman Catholic Church in Rocky Point. Interment will follow at Holy Sepulchre Cemetery in Coram.
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Former cop charged with armored car robberies www.privateofficer.com
pressdemocraft.com A former Santa Rosa police officer charged with four armored car robberies in Sonoma and Marin counties apparently used his knowledge as a patrolman – and a former armored car company employee – to pull off the lucrative heists In court Wednesday, prosecutors filed 10 felony and one misdemeanor charge against ex-officer Robert “Steve” Starling, 35, of Santa Rosa in connection with four thefts dating to September 2007 in Santa Rosa, Novato and Sebastopol.
In addition to being a former police officer, Starling briefly worked as a Brinks armored carrier employee, police said.
His alleged accomplice, Andrew Cooper Esslinger, 26, also of Santa Rosa, was charged with six felonies, including the Sebastopol and Novato robberies.
More than half a dozen Santa Rosa police officers watched in court Wednesday as their former colleague conferred with his public defender.
The robberies netted the men more than $400,000, which Starling used to finance a carefree lifestyle and start at least two indoor marijuana gardens, according to Santa Rosa police.
Both Starling and Esslinger, who are being held on $1 million bail, delayed entering pleas until a hearing set for Sept. 2 by Judge Elliot Daum.
In addition to the robbery charges, both men are charged with conspiracy and filing false police reports designed to draw police resources away from their planned robberies, prosecutor Marianna Green said.
They face decades in prison if convicted of the crimes.
Both also are charged with making a March 18 anonymous phone threat to Rancho Cotate High¬School saying there was a person with a gun on campus. The report triggered a lockdown of the school, a post-Columbine saturation response by police and near-panic among hundreds of parents worried for their children’s safety.
The apparent planned robbery was aborted because of the massive police response in Rohnert Park, police said.
Cotati-Rohnert Park Superintendent Barbara Vrankovich said she was “stunned” when she read the news reports of the arrests.
“This was two individuals basically using a school as a pawn in a crime,” said “And those police officers were serious – combing that campus with guns drawn.”
“To put at risk 1,500 students and 100 staffers – it’s just beyond really, really offensive,” she said.
Starling was a police officer for Santa Rosa and Sonoma State University between December 2000 and July 2006. Esslinger’s occupation wasn’t known.
Starling, the alleged gunman and mastermind of the robberies, worked as a probationary Santa Rosa police officer from December 2000 to April 2001. He then was hired as a Sonoma State University officer.
In May 2003, he returned to Santa Rosa as a patrol officer but quit in July 2006. Starling returned to SSU and sought his old job back, but he wasn’t rehired.
The techniques used in the robberies clued police to the possibility that the perpetrator could have law enforcement training.
Those included the uses of ruses and diversionary tactics that were apparently meant to keep police occupied while the robbers hit. The tactics hinted that the robbers had some knowledge of how police are trained to respond.
The robbers also apparently knew that armored car heists were far more lucrative than standard stick-ups inside a bank. Three robberies were from Brinks trucks and one from Loomis Armored Transport.
Police said Starling was able to reach back to his experience and training from working as a police officer and as a Brinks employee, using “a certain amount of sophistication” in his planning, Sgt. Steve Fraga said.
But Starling had never worked investigations, and may not have appreciated the ever-changing strategies and evolving technology used in investigations, Fraga said.
“I think his knowledge of operations stopped at the patrol level,” he said.
Fraga said Starling “wasn’t a good fit” with police work or with the Santa Rosa Police Department.
But he said he did leave some friends in the department who were loosely in touch and “who were shocked” when they learned of his suspected involvement in the heists.
Starling’s ex-wife, Julia, said Starling grew up in Santa Rosa but moved a lot and struggled with personal issues. Though he attended Cook Middle School, he graduated from high school in San Mateo, she said.
Unspecified difficulties that he faced growing up factored largely in his decision to become a cop and he enjoyed beat responsibilities for the opportunities it gave him to interact with young people, Julia Starling said.
The couple married in 2004 and separated in 2007.
After quitting the Santa Rosa Police Department, Starling “applied for lots of other jobs,” including positions with Recreation and Parks, she said. He worked as a security guard for two years, including a period of time at a local hospital.
He liked to gamble recreationally, she said, and was a talented poker player who played at local casinos and with friends.
Starling and his current wife had been living on the Windsor town green and just moved into a new rental on Desert Rose Lane in a neat but modest subdivision in southwest Santa Rosa, where he was allegedly growing marijuana in the garage, Fraga said.
Neighbors said Wednesday they didn’t know the couple.
Fraga said an analysis of Starling’s financial records indicated “each time that he hit he was in need of a financial boost.” His wife works for an electronics company, Fraga said, declining to name the company.
Esslinger was believed to be a lookout during the Sebastopol and Novato heists.
Starling is charged with using a gun in each robbery, which could add 10 years per charge if convicted. Though guards were ordered around at gunpoint, no one was hurt in any of the robberies.
Fraga said the call to Rancho Cotate warning of a man with a gun carried a huge criminal liability because of the thousands of students and parents who may have been traumatized by the event.
“When you turn a whole community upside down, I mean all those individual kids who may have received counseling as a result of that experience, parents rushing in,” Fraga said. “Just the whole community was affected by that.”
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