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S.C. Trooper killed in memorial ride www.privateofficer.com
Kershaw County Sheriff’s Capt. David Thomley said 41-year-old Jonathan Nash was driving the lead motorcycle on a memorial ride for Trooper H. Merl Godbold.
Six Highway Patrol motorcycles and two HP patrol cars with their lights activated, escorting a group of motorcycles from Camden Middle School to Bishopville and back to Camden.
Thomley said Nash was hit by a car pulling out of a parking lot onto Highway 1 in Camden, and was killed.
“L/Cpl. Nash was an excellent trooper who had earned the distinction of serving on the motor unit,” said Highway Patrol Col. Kenny Lancaster, Jr. “Trooper Nash was well-loved and would be the first to step up and help anyone. This is a tragedy compounded because L/Cpl. Nash was killed during a charity ride to honor another trooper killed on the same roadway.”
Nash, a resident of Union County, joined the Highway Patrol in 1994. He served in the United States Marine Corps from 1986-1993. He is a native of Manatee, Florida.
He is survived by his parents, Dan and George-Ann Nash, both of Anderson, SC, and a 14 year old daughter.
The collision is being investigated by the Richland County Sheriff’s Department at the request of the Kershaw County Sheriff’s Office. Thomley wasn’t sure about the possibility of any arrests in the wreck.
Trooper H. M. Godbold was killed in the line of duty by a drunk driver in February 1992. Godbold’s family has organized the ride in his honor since 2006.
Funeral arrangements for Nash will be released by the Highway Patrol at the wishes of his family.
On The Job: Mall Security Maryland www.privateofficer.com
With thousands of visitors each day, malls are a hub of everyday life. But they can also be a place where thieves and other criminals prey on unsuspecting victims
Anne Arundel County is home to three malls – Westfield Annapolis, Marley Station and Arundel Mills – that boast millions of visitors each year. Each has its own security system and has had its own share of police calls in recent years.
In most categories, Arundel Mills outpaces the other two malls for reports of crime, with Westfield Annapolis second and Marley Station third.
But police and mall officials said despite the high-profile nature of crimes that happen at malls, they’re safe places to come and shop.
The layout and the sheer number of people who visit malls can present a challenge to police, but the department has a good working relationship with each of the malls, said Justin Mulcahy, a county Police Department spokesman.
Each mall employs officers who work there as a second job, and the added police presence helps to reduce crime, he said.
Also, alert officers can help stop a serious crime before it happens.
“The volume of people is somewhat of a challenge, but I feel like they are well-covered” with police protection, Mulcahy said.
Police ratchet things up during holidays, he added, with extra patrols and enforcement correlating with the holiday rush. Officers also man educational booths, offering safety tips to customers on preventing theft and securing their vehicle properly.
For coverage, the malls use a combination of bike and foot patrol, officers in cars and undercover details, when necessary. Segways also are used in the Westfield Annapolis and Arundel Mills malls.
Scott deGraffenreid, marketing director for Westfield Annapolis, said shoppers should feel safe and comfortable there.
“The safety and security of our shoppers is always a top priority for us,” he said.
Highly visible security guards and county police officers are part of the mall’s comprehensive security plan, which also includes surveillance cameras and foot and vehicle patrols.
“There’s no question, you should always see a security guard or a police officer,” he said. “They’re visible everywhere. It’s part of their job to be visible.”
Security guards frequently give employees and customers rides to their car. Additionally, on some Sundays before Westfield opens to shoppers, the mall holds drills in which employees practice for emergencies, deGraffenreid said.
Police also said they wanted to remind people they also can take their own safety steps to help reduce crime. Always lock your car, park in a well-lit area, and keep valuables out of sight, in the trunk if possible, Mulcahy advised. It also helps to have a companion with you; if you don’t have one and feel uncomfortable, ask mall security for an escort, he said.
Steve Andrews, manager of Marley Station mall, said the mall is staffed with security 24 hours a day.
Though they don’t have a traffic count, he estimated close to 3 million people visit the mall each year to shop at its 120 stores.
Because it’s a regional mall, bringing in visitors mostly within a 10-mile radius, the crime problems it has reflect those of the area, Andrews said.
“The biggest concern securitywise is sometimes we have elderly customers who forget where they park their car,” he said. “It’s really indicative of the neighborhood.”
Marley Station has reported three robberies and 11 assaults so far this year. Thefts, a perpetual problem for malls, were low compared to the other malls in the county: Marley Station reported 163, compared to more than 300 at the other locations.
“We’re very much a local mall that gets the local customer,” Andrews said. “We don’t really see an influx of serious, reportable crime.”
Wendy Ellis, Arundel Mills spokeswoman, said she wishes more people knew what the facility offered in terms of crime prevention. The mammoth shopping center is ranked as one of the top destinations in Maryland, and it sees 14 million to 16 million visitors each year.
Public safety is “a No. 1 priority,” at the mall, Ellis said. It has an extensive closed-circuit camera system that shoots both interiors and exteriors of the building, and 24-hour-a-day monitoring. The mall also hires county police officers as a second job and has patrols on bike, foot, Segway and car.
But people don’t always know that they can get a security escort to their car if they feel uncomfortable going alone. There are pay phones throughout the mall that can directly link customers to mall security employees.
And it’s not too late to change your mind when you get to the parking lot, Ellis said.
“If something doesn’t look right, or feel right, go back in,” she said.
Mall employees, which number 2,000 to 5,000 depending on the time of year, are aware of the safety measures and regularly attend awareness meetings, she said.
What it comes down to is this: Malls have what thieves want – people with money and merchandise, Ellis said.
Arundel Mills has seen a slight uptick in robberies – as of last month, the facility had already seen one more robbery than it had in all of 2008. Difficult economic times may be responsible for some of the uptick, but it’s hard to say for sure, Ellis said.
But the 15 robberies the mall had up until Aug. 19 represents a tiny percentage of shoppers who went to the mall and didn’t get robbed, she said.
“Shopping malls get a bad reputation, and it really isn’t deserved,” Ellis said.
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Vegas US Justice Associates raided www.privateofficer.com
The counseling company raided this week in an extortion investigation had run its business plans past Metro Police several times in the past two years, and in 2007 a uniformed department spokesman even briefly starred in the company’s marketing video.
“I never heard a negative thing about it. I thought I was doing a great thing for the community,” the owner of the company, Steven Brox, told the Sun on Thursday.
Two days earlier Metro detectives had spent about eight hours searching the office of Brox’s United States Justice Associates, 1212 South Casino Center Blvd., for records and other material connected to a moneymaking program authorities now say amounted to an end-run around the justice system.
Brox’s program worked like this: When casino security guards detained people on misdemeanor charges — such as trespassing, disorderly conduct and petty theft — they would attempt to route the detainees into the program as an alternative to calling police to arrest them. While the people were detained, they were shown a video that presented them with the “option” of enrolling in the program to avoid a criminal record. The detainees were charged $500 to enroll, and Brox paid $100 to the casinos for each person who completed the program.
In spring 2007, Brox was able to get one of the department’s public information officers, Jose Montoya, to appear as the program’s spokesman on the video Brox intended to use to pitch the program — until Sheriff Doug Gillespie saw the video and instructed the department not to become involved in the private enterprise.
Brox said he replaced Montoya with an actor, and then distributed the video to casinos in his effort to recruit the people detained on the minor charges.
Brox showed the Sun copies of both videos, and they use the same script. He said the production company simply superimposed the actor over Montoya on the video.
Police now say in court documents that the video was “very threatening” toward program participants because it implies that people being detained will go to jail if they don’t enroll and complete the program.
Brox, however, said the program provided a service to not just the casinos but the police, their overcrowded jail and the overloaded court system. He said his confidence in the legality of the program was bolstered by the support of District Judge Doug Smith who, as a Las Vegas justice of the peace, had endorsed his company’s efforts.
Smith was interviewed this week by detectives investigating United States Justice Associates, which has been offering counseling programs through the court system for a decade.
Gillespie acknowledged this week that he didn’t consider the content of the company’s video threatening when he reviewed it two years ago, but he also said he didn’t think it was appropriate for the police department to play a role in the video.
“I just got the impression this would be used as something that we, as a police department, would be saying ‘use this program,’ and I didn’t think that was our place to be doing that,” Gillespie said.
Deputy Chief Greg McCurdy, who is overseeing the just-started criminal investigation, said Montoya also had concerns about how he was portrayed in the video and wrote a letter in May 2007 asking the company to remove him. About the same time, Metro’s legal counsel sent United States Justice Associates a letter instructing the company not to involve the department in the program, McCurdy said.
But Brox said that in the weeks after he had met with Gillespie, he showed the video with the superimposed actor to at least two ranking Metro officers — Capt. Charles Hank, who handles police operations on the Strip, and Vice Lt. Karen Hughes. Neither officer had a problem with it, and Hank even voiced support for the diversion program at a casino security chiefs meeting, Brox said.
McCurdy confirmed that Brox had talked to both Hank and Hughes about the program, but the deputy chief said both officers told a police lieutenant that they didn’t express any approval of it to Brox.
“They met with him, but did not voice an opinion or do anything that should be taken as an endorsement,” McCurdy said, adding that Hank also told the lieutenant that he did not speak in support of the program at a security chiefs meeting.
McCurdy said he could not explain why police didn’t investigate United States Justice Associates two years ago. He said detectives became interested in the case this week after they spoke to a security chief at Planet Hollywood.
In an affidavit to obtain a warrant to search the office of United States Justice Associates, detectives said the security chief, Calvin Abercrombie, was concerned about Planet Hollywood’s participation in the program.
Brox said the police raid has basically shut down his business because detectives seized his computers and records, and that has left clients in limbo.
The raid occurred a week after the district attorney’s office filed a six-count criminal complaint against Brox, stemming from the alleged sexual assault of one of his relatives, a 15-year-old girl.
Brox, who said he expects to be “exonerated” on the sex charges, would not comment on the timing of the two actions.
Before the raid, United States Justice Associates had business arrangements with several other casino companies, including neighborhood gaming giants Boyd Gaming Group and Station Casinos, Brox said.
Boyd Gaming spokesman David Strow said his company had not signed a contract with Brox.
“We were in the process of determining how and when their services would be used,” Strow said.
Station Casinos spokeswoman Lori Nelson said her company no longer does business with United States Justice Associates.
“We have used this company on an occasional basis, but we recently stopped using their services,” Nelson said.
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Man charged with driving naked, flashing on I-95 www.privateofficer.com
Bunnell, Fla. Sept 20 2009— Authorities say a Georgia man was driving naked on the highway in Flagler County, where he repeatedly flashed a woman and her 11-year-old son.
A woman driving a tractor-trailer on Interstate 95 with her son in the cab Thursday reported that a naked man in a sport utility vehicle had been keeping pace with her and performing lewd acts. She told authorities that the man followed her for about 8 miles, but she was eventually able to get away by pulling into a weigh station.
The woman reported the man and vehicle to the Florida Highway Patrol, and troopers say the caught up with 45-year-old Mark Duffus about 20 miles to the north on the highway.
Duffus was charged with lewd and lascivious exhibition and indecent exposure. He was released Friday on $2,000 bail.
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Alabama security officer unpaid by company www.privateofficer.com
“I’ve lost my car, I’ve had to sell it for food, I’m losing my house right now, I’m having to move out,” says Bradford. “I can’t afford to get her medicine, all she can do is cry because she’s in pain.”
Bradford claims the owner of Guardian, Randy Crockett, owes him one-thousand dollars for unpaid work. Bradford says he worked as a security officer at a Gulf Shores apartment complex which had a contract with the now defunct Guardian Enterprise Securities. Bradford says Crockett owes other guards money as well and has contacted and attorney about the problem.
Crockett would not talk to News 5 on camera but says the economy forced him out of business. Crockett promised to pay his former workers.
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Teacher arrested for giving booze, drugs to students www.privateofficer.com
A 41-year-old math teacher from Grant High School accused of providing alcohol and drugs to two 14-year-old girls was rearrested this morning after allegedly harassing the mother of one of her victims, officials said.
Kym Krocza, of the 36300 block of North Wilson Road in Ingleside, allegedly blocked the driveway she shares with the victim’s family with her car and would not allow the victim’s mother to leave, Lake County Sheriff’s Sgt. Christopher Thompson said.
According to the arrest warrant, Krocza communicated indirectly with the witness “in such a manner as to produce emotional distress or mental anguish.”
Krocza was arrested this week after allegedly giving alcohol, marijuana and Xanax to the girls from ages 11 or 12 to age 14 in exchange for household chores, authorities said.
Prosecutors asked Judge Raymond Collins to raise Krocza’s bond from $100,000 to $250,000, which the judge denied. Collins said Krocza would have credit for the $5,000 she posted Monday — the required 10 percent of her original $50,000 bond — and can now be released by posting an additional $5,000.
Sheriff Mark Curran said that since being released from jail after her initial bond hearing on Monday, Krocza has been on several radio programs claiming her innocence.
“She wrote a handwritten confession,” Curran said. “This is a really unstable human being. This woman is narcissistic off the charts.”
If Krocza bonds out of jail, she is to have no contact with anyone under the age of 21, must turn in her passport and must have no direct or third-party contact with the victim, Collins told her.
Krocza has been suspended from her job teaching algebra and calculus pending further investigation, Grant High School District 124 Superintendent John Benedetti said. She is due in court again Friday.
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Man charged in robbery of Target www.privateofficer.com
A 38-year-old man was arrested in Ventura Thursday evening after he allegedly tried to shoplift, then attacked a store security officer who challenged him, police said.
The incident began about 5 p.m. at Target, 245 S. Mills Road in Ventura.
Charles Booker, of Ventura, was allegedly trying to leave Target with a shopping cart full of stolen electronics when a store loss prevention officer confronted him in the parking lot and asked if he intended to pay for the merchandise, Ventura police said in a prepared statement.
Booker allegedly said “no,” grabbed the loss prevention officer, lifted him up and threw him back to the asphalt, causing the man to injure his knees, police said. Booker then fled the scene without the stolen goods, police said.
Police found Booker at a bus stop 300 yards away.
When officers attempted to detain Booker on a South Coast Area Transit bus, he allegedly got into a physical altercation with police. Officers stunned Booker several times with a Taser as they worked to arrest him, according to the police statement.
No injuries were reported in the incident.
Booker was booked into Ventura County Jail on suspicion of robbery and resisting arrest, police said.
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Idaho teacher charged in sexual relations with student www.privateofficer.com
The teacher, Ashley Jo Beach, 37, has been arrested on a felony charge of lewd conduct with a child under the age of 16
Officers say they caught Beach in the bushes with a 13-year-old boy Thursday night in Meridian. It started with a call from neighbors in the area of Cherry Lane and Vineyards – who say they saw something suspicious about 9:30 p.m.
When officers arrived, they say Beach and the boy were between a fence and some bushes, lying down – partially concealed from view. They questioned Beach and the child, and said there were inconsistencies in their stories.
Detectives started investigating and say they found that Beach had been involved in a sexual relationship with the boy since April. The two had also been sending photos back and forth via cell phone. They say the boy is a former student.
The Meridian Middle School website lists Beach as a math and science teacher. She is married and has three children.
Beach is being held in the Ada County Jail and was booked in yesterday afternoon.
She was arraigned this afternoon and her bond was set at $300,000.
The Meridian School District has put her on paid administrative leave.
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