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Houston security officer shoots-kills burglar www.privateofficer.com
A southeast Houston nightclub security guard shot and killed a car break-in suspect early this morning, police said.
According to Houston police Detective Brian Harris, the guard was told three men were trying to burglarize a car in the parking lot of a club in the 8200 block of the Gulf Freeway when he went to investigate.
The men jumped into their car and began to drive out of the parking lot. Harris said the suspected thieves drove toward the guard, who yelled at them to stop before firing his pistol repeatedly as they passed close to him.
The car came to a rest a short distance away on the northbound Interstate 45 feeder road between Broadway and Park Place. One suspect fled, one was apprehended by the guard and the driver was slumped over dead in the car, Harris said.
Police closed the frontage road during the morning commute as the investigation continued. Inbound I-45 was backed up as motorists slowed to look at the scene.
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Boy makes up story of kidnapping because of poor report card
The student said he escaped by jumping out of the car but wasn’t able to grab his bookbag, which contained the report card.
He ran to his grandparents’ house and later confessed to lying. His grandfather called police to apologize.
Sgt. Mark Roberts said police were suspicious that the boy was able to “escape” with his band instrument, but not his bookbag.
Roberts said the boy faces no charges at this time.
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Grant community teacher arrested for supplying drugs to students www.privateofficer.com
Kym A. Krocza, 41, of 36300 N. Wilson Road in Ingleside, was charged with two counts of contributing to the criminal delinquency of a juvenile, a Class 4 felony punishable by up to six years in prison.
She taught algebra and calculus.
The Lake County Sheriff’s Office began its investigation after a concerned parent reported that her child had been to Krocza’s home and was given alcohol and marijuana. Another student also had been given alcohol, marijuana and Zoloft, according to a news release. Both students were 14-year-old female freshmen, Sheriff Mark Curran said.
“She befriended them before they were even students of hers,” Curran said. “She enticed them with Zoloft, marijuana and alcohol, and they would come over and do favors in terms of cleaning up her house.”
The incidents are believed to have taken place between January and August. Additional charges are possible. Curran said Krocza had no previous criminal record.
“Everybody was victimized by a person with an immoral worldview that shouldn’t be educating our youth,” he said.
The Sheriff’s Office encourages parents to talk with their children about the incident, and the office continues to investigate whether there were other children involved.
According to the school’s Web site, Krocza was arrested Tuesday morning at her home. She has been suspended and is not allowed on school grounds, nor is she authorized to contact students.
Superintendent John Benedetti said that whether Krocza’s suspension will be with pay has not been decided. He declined to comment further, other than to say she was hired in 2000.
Raedel Munster, whose son is a senior at the school, said she was notified of the arrest Tuesday via e-mail. Her son did not know about the accusations and did not have Krocza as a teacher, but two of her older children did, Munster said.
“They never had anything bad to say about her,” she said.
Munster said that she was pleased with how administrators were handling the situation.
“I think the superintendent contacted the parents by the best means possible to let them know that something was going on,” she said. “I commend them for it; many school districts would try to cover these things up.”
Had the situation arisen when her firstborn was in school, she probably would have been upset, Munster said.
“But you realize that there are all kinds of people in this world, and some of them become teachers,” she said. “There are some circumstances a school district can’t control.”
Krocza’s bond was set at $50,000. Her next court date is Friday.
“Gypsy cop” arrested in porn investigation www.privateofficer.com
Now, Michael Meissner has been arrested in Arlington, charged with seven felony counts, including possession or promotion of child pornography; promotion of prostitution; and engaging in organized crime in Dallas and Tarrant counties, authorities said.
After search warrants were issued, police investigators intercepted electronic messages that were part of the evidence.
“These were very sexually graphic messages, including information regarding a pornography operation that he was engaging in as well as the aggravated promotion of prostitution,” said Combine police detective J. Hoskins.
Meissner, 39, had most recently been a police officer in Little River-Academy, Texas, about 150 miles south of Dallas. He was featured in a series of News 8 Investigates reports in 2007. At the time, he was police chief in Caney City, a small town in Henderson County.
The veteran of 17 small-town law enforcement jobs in the past 18 years seemed to operate under his own rules, spending much of his time working off-duty security jobs 60 miles away in Dallas.
The News 8 report found that Meissner had used a phony college diploma for certification and failed to let his employers know that he had been arrested twice.
Investigators say Meissner is an embarrassment to law enforcement. They say they found evidence that he e-mailed information about a person who had wronged him to a blogger in New Hampshire. That person then wrote inflammatory remarks about that man.
Hoskins is accused of intending to harm that man.
“This all started as one investigation into the misuse of official information, but we got other evidence of other crimes in multiple jurisdictions as a result of our search warrants,” Detective Hoskins said.
Meissner is accused of engaging in organized criminal activity and retaliation, and as a result of examining phone records and e-mail messages additional felony cases were developed related to pornography and solicitation of minors.
Bond is set at $1.5 million, and officials believe they have only scratched the surface in this case.
Meissner could face 110 years in prison and a $70,000 fine, according to police in Combine, which secured and executed the arrest warrants. Combine straddles Dallas and Kaufman counties. It’s about 25 miles southeast of Dallas.
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Charlotte NC teacher charged with rape of student www.privateofficer.com
A magnet school math teacher has been charged with raping a Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools student at a language academy in south Charlotte.
John Patrick Bush, 27, was charged with first-degree rape of a victim under 13, according to Charlotte-Mecklenburg police. He was arrested about 4:30 p.m. Tuesday and released on $75,000 bond.
Police said the alleged rape took place on Sept. 1 at Smith Academy of Languages, a school on Tyvola Road near South Boulevard that offers language immersion classes for children from kindergarten to eighth grade.
The incident came to light after the student told her parents about the alleged crime, police said. Police haven’t released more details about how the crime occurred
Bush had been working at Smith as a math teacher since January 2007.
He is suspended with pay pending the results of an investigation, said Cynthia Robbins, a district spokeswoman. Robbins said she didn’t know when district officials first learned of the alleged rape.
She said Bush, who did not have a prior criminal record, passed a background check that the district conducts on all teachers
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Gang member, security guard charged in week-end murder www.privateofficer.com
Investigators spent hours at Bedsole’s home Tuesday night, trying to find the murder weapon. However, they had no luck.
Bedsole is facing murder charges over a dispute that officers say began over some motorcycles.
Eyewitness News was there when Besole was hauled off to the Seminole County jail. Police say he shot and killed Chad Brickey with the help of Holguy Loussant, a security guard who worked in the area of the bar when the dispute started.
The two arrests come after several days without leads.
“I feel a little relieved. You know, I still have mixed emotions. I am still pissed. I get sad,” Chad’s father, Kerry Brickey, said.
Investigators say the weekend murder was sparked when Brickey knocked over some motorcycles with his truck as he tried to leave Sharkey’s Pub in Apopka. Police believe, after Brickey knocked the bikes over, Bedsole jumped into Loussant’s truck and told him to follow Brickey. They followed him to a Mobile gas station on Orange Blossom Trail, where the shooting happened only minutes later.
“The Warlock gang member jumped out of the back of the pickup truck and shot our victim one time. The victim’s car crossed four lanes of traffic and ended up resting in the ditch,” said Steve Popp, Apopka Police Department.
Police say Bedsole is a Warlock motorcycle gang member.
“Mr. Bedsole was the Warlock gang member, who was actually the individual who fired the round that killed our victim, Mr. Brickey,” Popp said.
Loussant, the man who allegedly drove Bedsole to commit the crime, also faces murder charges and will face a judge sometime Wednesday. Officers say he’s charged with the crime because he knew what happened and did not come forward.
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Woman accuses hospital security of assault www.privateofficer.com
Anna Marie Hartwick said she is bipolar, has post traumatic stress disorder, and a personality disorder. She said she has been in and out of the state mental hospital and on heavy medications since she was 12 years old.
She said she’s on a cocktail of three medications: Geodon, Zoloft, and Trazodone, which led to infections and severe pain.
On Sept. 1 the pain became intolerable while she was at the Central Library in downtown Portland. Someone called an ambulance to take her to OHSU. After waiting a long time to see a doctor and three hours without her medication, she admitted she blew up at hospital staff and left the emergency room with four security guards following behind.
“That’s when they tackled me and threw me to the ground,” Hartwick said.
In the incident reports, two officers said they witnessed another officer deliver “focus blows to Hartwick”. The officer in question said in a supplemental report that Hartwick was “handcuffed, [and] struck by focused blows” on the pavement outside the emergency room. Then in a car Hartwick was struck by “a closed fist to the right side” of her face.
“The first punch landed to the left side of my mouth,” Hartwick said. “The second punch landed to the right side of my mouth. The third punch was when I was already in the car, and it landed on my left cheek.”
OHSU Public Safety Director Gary Granger said because there is an ongoing investigation he could only talk in general terms about when an officer can punch someone they are arresting.
“Use-of-force training generally does not rely heavily on officers using blows to control people,” he said. “It’s not a controlling technique.”
Hartwick said she was already under control when she was hit.
“I was handcuffed the whole time,” she said.
She admitted to kicking and spitting at an officer but said she was defending herself from punches.
Meanwhile, the hospital is investigating the use of force and also how KATU News received internal documents. OHSU said patient information is protected by federal HIPAA laws and someone broke the law and violated hospital policies by giving the documents to a news organization.
Hartwick said she’s glad someone made the paperwork public.
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Vermont teacher charged with multiple sexual assaults on students www.privateofficer.com
An elementary school teacher, and chairman of the select board in Morrisville, was charged Monday with multiple sexual assaults on two of his students.
Police say the crimes came to light last week, when the alleged victims came forward more than six months after the suspect resigned from Morristown Elementary to start teaching this year in Colchester.
The suspect in this case, 28-year-old Shaun Bryer, had been a popular school teacher in Morristown and a community leader. He is the chair of the Morristown select board and he made an unsuccessful run for the state legislature. But as of Monday afternoon, he became an accused child molester facing charges that could bring a life sentence.
Shaun Bryer was arrested this weekend after two 14-year-old boys contacted police claiming he had sexually abused them over the past two years. Police say the boys told them it started when he was their 5th grade teacher at he Morristown Elementary School.
Last spring Bryer resigned from Morriston to take a one-year teaching post at the Mallets Bay Elementary school in Colchester, which motivated the boys to finally come forward.
“There was comments made by the victims in their interview that they were concerned of the possibility of other victims only due to the nature of his profession,” said Vermont State Police Detective Lance Burnham.
Police say the boys told them Bryer molested them at least 25 times each at Bryer’s apartment, never at the school, and he paid them $20 to $150 for each sex act.
“We are all deeply saddened shocked confused and overwhelmed,” said Lamoille South School Superintendent Tracy Wrend.
She says there were no indications that Bryer was acting inappropriately with children.
“Mr. Bryer resigned from his position in the Morristown School District last Spring. I cannot comment on the specifics of personnel matters. However, I want to be very clear that the district had no evidence of physical improprieties or sexual misconduct on the part of Mr. Bryer,” said Wrend.
“People trusted him. I can’t believe he that this happened,” said Bryer’s former neighbor Art Fluegge.
He was Bryer’s upstairs neighbor until last Spring when Fluegge moved out. Bryer still lives there. Fluegge says kids were always in the apartment, but no one suspected anything was amiss.
“They would come over and they would probably be there for until about nine o’clock or so. And then he would take ‘em home or somebody would pick them up. I think it was like I think three boys and a girl,” said Fluegge.
Bryer plead innocent to 17 felony sex charges, 10 of them carrying minimum 25-year-sentences if convicted for sexual assaults on a child under 16.
School officials in Colchester issued a statement saying they have no indications of improper behavior by Mr. Bryer at Mallets Bay Elementary. He’s only been teaching there for a couple of weeks.
The other four members of the Morristown select board met Monday night to discuss the news about Bryer. After several comments from the public suggesting Bryer be removed from his position, the board went into executive session. When it came out the board read a prepared letter.
Board members apologized to the alleged victims and their families, and passed on condolences to Bryer and his family.
“We acknowledge Shaun Bryer for his service to our community,” board member Dave Yacavone, read from the letter. “We genuinely hope he can get the treatment he needs.”
That acknowledgement of public service did not sit well with some residents.
“It sickens me the comment you just made about you commend his service to this town,” Kathy Chaffee told the board. “I want to throw up.”
Many residents are trying to keep their feelings about the accusations against Bryer seperate from how they feel about his years of service to their community. Several people who spoke at the meeting said it is right to acknowledge his service while condemning his alleged behavior.
“He has been a very positive role model in the community and that’s where that stops now and now we need to move to the other side and figure this whole incident out and work on it from there,” said Morrisville resident Tom Graves.
State law prohibits elected officials from being removed from office so the select board cannot vote to remove Bryer, nor can residents. Instead, the board is asking Bryer to resign from his position, “in the interest of moving forward.”
