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Veteran police officer commits suicide www.privateofficer.com
Police say it appeared Francisco Lopez died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
They would not say whether the wound was suffered accidently or whether it was suicide. Investigators were on the scene through-out the week-end gathering evidence.
The incident is being investigated by the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office and no further details about the shooting is being released at this time.
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Memphis security officer critical after being shot www.privateofficer.com
Memphis Police are investigating the overnight shooting of a security guard.
Early Friday morning, a security guard at the University Commons warehouse on Chelsea Avenue called police and said he had been shot. When officers arrived and found the man, he was rushed to The MED in critical condition.
According to officers, the guard said he was shot while making his usual rounds.
Police are still trying to piece together exactly what happened.
If you know anything that could aid the investigation, call CrimeStoppers at 901-528-CASH.
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Comedian Katt Williams arrested in Georgia www.privateofficer.com
By: Rick McCann-Staff
Private Officer News Network
http://www.privateofficer.com/
Comedian Katt Williams found that breaking the law in Georgia is no laughing matter.
Williams who is a well-known comedian and has appeared on numerous cable shows has been charged with burglary and criminal trespassing and remains in custody Monday morning in the Coweta County jail.
A deputy at the jail confirmed the comedian is being held at the jail, and that a magistrate was expected to set bond at an arraignment Monday afternoon.
Williams real name is Micah Williams.
The sheriff’s office did not release any further details in this arrest.
He is known for his appearances on BET and HBO, including his HBO special Katt Williams: Pimp Chronicles Pt. 1, which was shot in Atlanta.
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Shoplifting News www.privateofficer.com
Lancaster PA
City police on Wednesday arrested three people on retail theft charges in two separate incidents at Park City Center.
A fourth person was cited for retail theft at a downtown retailer.
According to police, Michael E. Rivera, 49, of 607 W. Orange St., tried to steal two queen-sized comforters worth a total of $400 from the JCPenney at Park City.
Store security tried to stop Rivera after he left the lower level of the store and entered the food court, city police Lt. Todd Umstead said. They detained him in the parking lot.
Rivera, who was cited for retail theft, also faces a drug paraphernalia possession charge after he was found with a syringe, Umstead said.
In another incident at Park City Wednesday, police arrested Hanna Amare, 22, of 241 N. Queen St., and Thomas Behailu, 23, of Harrisburg, for trying to steal $188 worth of jewelry from Kohl’s.
According to the suspects’ arrest warrant affidavit, they removed the jewelry from a display.
Police said Amare wrapped the jewelry in a sweater and handed it to Behailu, who took the sweater and a pair of pants into a changing room.
When he came out of the changing room, police said, all Behailu was carrying was the sweater and the pants. Police said he returned to a display with the pants, where security officials later found the tags for the missing jewelry.
Behailu and Amare were arrested outside the store with the merchandise and charged with retail theft, police said.
In downtown Lancaster, police said James A. Beaty, 52, of 438 E. King St., tried to steal three tubes of Krazy Glue from the Family Dollar at 923 S. Duke St. by concealing them in his waistband.
A clerk who saw Beaty stopped him.
Beaty was cited for retail theft. The total value of the three tubes of Krazy Glue was $6.
HOUSTON TX—It doesn’t matter if you’re a small-business owner, supervisor, retail manager or president of a Fortune 500 company – there’s a good chance you’ll be personally affected by an employee who steals.
Employee theft costs businesses an estimated $52 billion a year, according to some reports, but tracking down the thieves can be tricky.
“A good percentage of the thieves are the most trusted and hard-working employees that a business may have,” prosecutor Joni Vollman said.
Take Michael Robin Deese, for example. In September, he was sentenced to 35 years in prison for stealing $1 million from two companies he worked for: John Daugherty Realtors and Lansdown Moody.
Deese took care of the books, apparently without anybody looking over his shoulder. He was writing checks to himself to the tune of $40,000 a pop, prosecutors said.
“It could have gone on forever,” Vollman said.
But then Deese went on vacation, and another employee caught on to what he was doing.
Linda Hargrove worked for a doctor in the Medical Center for six years. She was recently arrested after allegedly stealing more than $300,000. The DA’s office said she took checks coming in from patients and insurance companies and deposited them into her own account.
The doctor was considering filing for bankruptcy until Hargrove got caught.
Paul Wade Arnold was in court just last week, charged with stealing more than $200,000 from his employer, the Heights Church of Christ.
Security guard Richard Bostic allegedly falsified his weekly timecard sheets to the tune of 4,966 additional hours. He admitted to “being creative in paying himself additional hours at ABM Security,” which resulted in the alleged theft of more than $102,000.
Blanca Grimes is accused of stealing thousands from her employer, Alamo Thrift Bail Bonds. She’s currently out on bond.
Walmart employee Steven Fielder and Kroger employee Tanu Uppal were recently arrested after surveillance cameras caught them stealing more than $3,000 each from cash registers. Both admitted guilt, saying they needed money to pay bills.
The problem for consumers: you’re paying higher prices as a result of employee theft. But the good news: thanks to technology, more and more employee thieves are being caught.
During KHOU’s investigation, we learned the most common employee theft right now involves false refunds. Some employees are giving refunds to themselves for items they said were returned, but they weren’t.
Others have been caught on tape checking out their friends, but only scanning a couple of the items that left the store.
If you own a business, you’ve been warned.
Walnutport PA
A Walnutport man was arrested Thursday for stealing $427 worth of DVDs from the Target store in Hanover Township, Lehigh County, police said.
The Target at 912 Airport Center Drive also reported that $573 worth of merchandise was stolen last month by an unidentified thief.
Joseph Sasdi, 23, of Walnutport was charged with retail theft for allegedly taking DVDs from the store shelves at 9:55 a.m. Thursday. When Sasdi was confronted by store security as he tried to leave, police said, he got rid of the DVDs and ran.
Sasdi was stopped in the Target parking lot and arrested, state police at Bethlehem said.
Target officials told police that a shoplifter on Oct. 23 took other items, but also dropped the items at the door and ran. Police are investigating that case.
Pemboke MA
An Abington man was charged with larceny after he allegedly attempted to steal two drills from Lowe’s in Pembroke last weekend.
Michael Evans, 28, of Abington pled not guilty on Monday in Plymouth District Court to one charge of larceny over $250.
Police were called to Lowe’s around 5:40 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 31 after a store security guard observed a man start to walk out the door without paying for two drills. The guard reportedly shouted for the man to stop and he dropped the drills and took off running. Police later found him in the woods and brought him back for identification.
Evans was arrested and bailed that night.
Casper WY
A Glenrock woman charged with shoplifting and use of a controlled substance told police Friday she was seven months pregnant and had used crystal meth earlier in the day, according to a police affidavit.
Nicole Marie Durham pleaded not guilty in Natrona County Circuit Court on Monday to using a controlled substance.
Asked by Judge Steven Brown how she wanted to plead to the charge of shoplifting, the 24-year-old said, “guilty.”
She faces six months in jail for each of the misdemeanor charges.
Casper police responded late Friday morning to a shoplifting call from Kmart. A security guard told officers Durham had stuffed several items under her jacket and beneath her clothes and attempted to leave the store with them. The guard, after confronting Durham, found two needles inside a pink plastic bag, according to an affidavit.
When questioned by police, Durham admitted to stealing several items, including shampoo, mineral sheers, sunglasses and bras from the store.
Asked about the needles, she started to cry and said they contained methamphetamine, according to police. At that point, she said she was pregnant — due at the end of December — and had used meth earlier that morning.
The substances inside the needles were later tested by officers and found to be methamphetamine.
The visibly pregnant Durham told Brown on Monday that she was unemployed and living with her grandparents.
Her bond was set at $250. She remained jailed Monday afternoon.
Marion IN
A shoplifter at Kohl’s on McMahan Boulevard ran from sheriff’s deputies Friday afternoon but was caught about half an hour later, said Marion County Chief Deputy Al Hayden.
Michael D. Farmer, 31, 555 Silver St., was arrested on charges of petty theft, disorderly conduct and resisting arrest.
He ran across U.S. 23 while trying to get away from the deputies.
Farmer was out on parole for domestic violence, assault, ethnic intimidation and having weapons under disability, according to the Ohio Department of Corrections Web site.
Farmer was imprisoned beginning in 2002 and was released in 2008 on parole.
His parole officer was riding with deputies when the theft incident at Kohl’s was reported, Hayden said.
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KY. 12 Year old girl dies in ATV crash www.privateofficer.com
Ciara Greenwell of Reidland in McCracken County died at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tenn., Sunday night.
The Paducah Sun reported the 12-year-old girl was injured Saturday night when the ATV she was riding hit a fence.
Hospital spokeswoman Barb Cramer told the newspaper Ciara died about 7:45 p.m. Sunday following surgery.
McCracken County Sheriff Jon Hayden said his office has investigated a growing number of ATV crashes. Hayden said the child’s family donated her organs.
Female Iowa officer retires after 32 yrs on the force www.privateofficer.com
Ann Meyer began her career in 1977 when law enforcement still was a male-dominated field.
Her first night on the job included a tavern fight, a car chase and a shooting death on Randall Street.
More than three decades later, she still remembers delivering the “death notification” to three of the victim’s relatives, including his 3-year-old daughter.
“She asked me if her daddy had a bad owie.” Meyer said. “That got to me,”
Those who worked with Meyer said it’s her compassion that made her stand out as an officer. It also prodded them to take stock of their own feelings in a profession where it’s easy to become cynical.
Phil Baskerville recalled working a motorcycle accident with Meyer when he was a deputy for the Black Hawk County Sheriff’s Office.
The motorcycle driver was bleeding heavily and making gurgling noises, and Baskerville was sure the man was about to die. He mentally shut that part down and went about directing traffic waiting for the ambulance to arrive.
Meyer took a different approach.
“Ann got down on her knees and grabbed hold of this guy’s hand and just with force, compassion, gentleness, told this guy he’s OK. He’s going to make it,” Baskerville said.
The motorcyclist lived. Baskerville said Meyer’s encouragement had a role in his survival.
“She made a difference in my life that day,” Baskerville said.
Meyer’s sense of compassion carried over as she worked on the police department’s Critical Incident Debriefing Team, which allows officers to talk about tragedies they encounter on the job, and the Crisis Intervention Team, which handles suicide threats and mental health problems.
After the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, Meyers was a member of the Iowa Critical Incident Stress Management Network, which traveled to New York to counsel police and rescue workers who responded to the World Trade Center collapse.
Her more recent assignment has been as a lieutenant in the police department’s training unit. She oversaw the renovation of the shooting range.
Born and raised in Cedar Falls, Meyer studied criminal justice at then Hawkeye Institute of Technology.
While in school, she worked as a security guard at Waterloo Industries. After first starting the job, employees from the paint area hid a dead rat in her desk to try to get a reaction.
Upon finding the rodent, she merely flung it in their direction and shook off her hands.
“They just tested me to see what I was made of,” Meyer said. “If I let them know they got to me, they would continue.”
After two failed attempts to join the Cedar Falls force, she was hired by the Waterloo department in 1977.
Meyer became the department’s first female sergeant in 1989, when she was promoted by then-Chief Roger Shook.
The next promotion took more of a fight. After being passed up despite top scores on her tests, Meyer filed a complaint with the Iowa Civil Rights Commission. She dropped the matter when Thomas Jennings was named chief and gave her her lieutenant’s bars in 2001.
Meyer put in for captain’s openings twice but wasn’t promoted.
She said there has been progress in the fight against gender inequality in law enforcement, but there still is room for improvement.
“I think it’s gotten better, but I don’t think it’s where it should be yet,” she said.
Now an instructor at Hawkeye Community College, Meyer counsels women studying law enforcement that they will have to work twice as hard to be accepted and that they need to have thick skin.
She also advises all new officers to not lose their humanity.
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Shoplifter uses pepper spray on security to escape www.privateofficer.com
J.C. Penney loss prevention officer Nicholas Guanciale observed 16-year-old Shameiya T. McKinney of Syracuse placing sweaters and a pair of jeans into a shopping bag and exiting the store without paying Friday night, according to a police report. When two loss prevention officers confronted her, McKinney pulled a can of pepper spray from her pocket and began spraying them. Both workers inhaled the vapor but were not severely injured.
Employees tackled McKinney and handcuffed her, according to the police report. They recovered the stolen items, a can of pepper spray and an anti-security device intended to disarm store security alarms.
McKinney provided a false name, date of birth and address to a Syracuse police officer, police alleged. She was charged with a felony robbery and misdemeanor counts of false impersonation, criminal possession of an anti-security item, and criminal possession of a weapon.
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