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Police officer arrested for attempted murder www.privateofficer.com
Joshua Gearhart, 27, an auxiliary police officer with the Whitehall Police Department, was spotted near Leona Lane and Ohio 725 about 6 a.m. Sunday by sheriff’s deputies after witnesses reported a woman in the road, Maj. Scott Landis said.
Deputies found the woman covered in mud and grass clippings and soaking wet at a Shell Gas Station at Ohio 741 and Ohio 725, Landis said.
The woman said Gearhart, a former Columbus police officer, drove from there and the two went out Saturday night, Landis said. At some point, Gearhart requested she “do something for him,” and made threats that he would harm her if she didn’t, Landis said.
An argument ensued and the woman grabbed the keys from Gearhart’s truck and fled on foot, Landis said. Gearhart caught up with her, tried to drag her back to his truck and the two wrestled in a ditch full of water, Landis said.
Gearhart allegedly tried to drown the woman in the ditch, but failed, Sheriff Phil Plummer said. The woman is physically OK, Plummer said.
County prosecutors today approved a felony abduction charge against Gearhart, which allowed deputies to get a warrant that will keep him in jail, Landis said.
Gearhart was fired from the Columbus Police Department last fall after an internal investigation, the Columbus Dispatch reported at the time.
As a Columbus officer Gearhart was involved in the fatal shooting of a man who pointed a gun at officers, the newspaper reported.
He now serves as a part-time officer with the Whitehall Police Department, investigators said
Nashville nightclub, security company sued over Taser incident www.privateofficer.com
Anderson, a Florida resident, said the Taser shock led to major surgery on his knee from the injury. He filed a lawsuit Friday in Davidson County Circuit Court against the owners of Fuel and Eagle Eye Security, alleging that they fired the Taser at him without provocation and left him unable to work as a commercial truck driver.
A number for Eagle Eye Security was temporarily disconnected. A message left at Fuel nightclub was not returned Monday afternoon.
Buford Tune, who teaches firearm and Taser safety courses, said Taser safety makes up about four hours of the coursework for a security guard license.
“They are becoming more popular, but a lot of (the security companies) are not carrying them because of the cost,” said Tune, who said he could not speak about the lawsuit itself. “Security officers have to make a quick judgment in a crowd and, to me, the Taser is one of the most logical tools that could be used.”
Fight broke out at club
According to the lawsuit, a fight broke out in the nightclub in November 2008 while Anderson and a friend were inside, and everyone was ordered out of the club. Anderson said he realized he left some belongings inside and talked to several people to get back everything but the phone.
When he approached the security officers at the front of the club to ask about the phone, their Tasers were already drawn and they used one on him, according to the suit. When he panicked, got up and attempted to run away, the lawsuit alleged, he was struck in the back with another Taser shot and fell on his knee.
He underwent major knee surgery and was fired from his job since he was unable to drive, Anderson said in the suit.
Anderson’s attorney, Hugh Garrett, did not return a call seeking comment.
Knoxville teacher charged in sex case www.privateofficer.com
The Marion County Sheriff’s Office arrested Justin Mikels Friday.
Knoxville Schools’ superintendent Randy Flack says Mikels has been on paid leave since early October when the school received a report of inappropriate conduct with a student. Flack would not say what the conduct was or the student’s age.
He did say the district is considering more serious punishment
Art teacher arrested for sex assault on student www.privateofficer.com
Groton CT Nov 20 2009 – An art teacher at Robert E. Fitch Senior High School was arrested Thursday on sexual assault charges after a police investigation found he had engaged in “inappropriate conduct” with a female student.
Timothy Riendeau, 29, of 31 Fleming Court, was charged with two counts of second-
degree sexual assault, said Lt. Bob Martin of the Groton City police, who investigated the case. He was released Thursday afternoon on a $150,000 bond and is due to appear in court at 10 a.m. on Dec. 2.
The investigation into Riendeau’s conduct began on Nov. 9, when school officials notified police they were suspicious that he was engaging in an inappropriate relationship with a female student. Police obtained a warrant on Wednesday and arrested him at his home about noon on Thursday.
Riendeau posted a $150,000 bond and was released from police custody Thursday afternoon. He did not speak to a reporter as he left the Groton City police department.
Neither police nor school officials would provide the age of the student or her grade. Police said the assaults occurred within the City of Groton, not at Fitch.
He has been on paid administrative leave since the police investigation began, Groton Superintendent of Schools Paul Kadri said. Administrators took immediate action to protect students once they learned of Riendeau’s alleged involvement with a student, he added.
“In this case, I think everything was handled appropriately,” Kadri said. “What every parent should know is the school district does everything it can to protect its students, and if anything happens we move as fast as we can to thoroughly take care of the situation.”
Fitch students will be able to talk to counselors today, Kadri said.
Riendeau was in the middle of his first year teaching at Fitch, and had previously worked at Catherine Kolnaski Magnet School. Kadri declined to discuss Riendeau’s personnel file or say if he had been disciplined in the past, citing privacy concerns.
While police were investigating Riendeau’s conduct, school administrators quickly took steps to ensure any impacted students received assistance, Kadri said.
“Whenever there’s a situation like this, aside from whatever’s going on with the police, there’s also the necessity of making sure parents are involved, that guidance counselors are involved, that we address any issues that are out there,” he said.
Early this year, a teacher’s aide at Fitch allegedly had sex with a 16-year-old student and was charged with second-degree sexual assault, two counts of providing alcohol to a minor and risk of injury to a minor.
Shonna Couture, 31, was arraigned in January then sent to jail in February after violating a court order against contacting the victim
Hospital security nabs purse snatcher www.privateofficer.com
DAYTON OH Nov 20 2009 - A Miami Valley Hospital security officer helped arrest a man who was seen walking near the hospital with a black purse belonging to a sleeping patient.
The officer noticed Richano V. Fisher, 34, carrying the bag about 2:45 a.m. Thursday, Nov. 19, and approached the man, asking what he was doing with the purse, according to a police report.
Fisher said he was getting the purse for his “baby’s momma” and was walking back to the hospital to give it to her, the report stated. The security officer asked Fisher to look inside the purse and noticed the identification inside belonged to a different woman, the report stated.
The officer determined the purse belonged a patient at the hospital and called Dayton Police officers to assist him with detaining Fisher, the report stated.
Inside the hospital, Dayton officers found the owner of the purse, who said it went missing about 11 p.m. after she and her husband fell asleep in her room, the report stated.
Outside Fisher became combative with officers, who transported him to Montgomery County Jail. Fisher is expected to appear in court Friday, Nov. 20, on a felony charge of receiving stolen property, according to jail records
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Ws. teacher aid charged with sexual assault of student www.privateofficer.com
River Falls WS Nov 20 2009 Former River Falls teacher’s aide Rebecca Ann O’Malley-Tietz has been arrested and charged with first degree sexual assault of a child.
The boy, a student of River Falls School District’s Harbor Program, where O’Malley-Tietz worked, was 12 years old at the time of the alleged assault.
KSTP reported that, in court documents, the boy said the pair had sexual intercourse 30 to 40 times from 2007 to 2008, and that O’Malley-Tietz threatened him with a gun if he spoke about their relationship. He eventually went to his mother, who notified police in October.
WQOW-TV said she has since admitted to having intercourse with the boy, said that he forced himself on her.
If convicted, O’Malley-Tietz faces up to 60 years in prison.
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Oceanside teacher charged with rape of student www.privateofficer.com
OCEANSIDE CA Nov 20 2009 — A physical education teacher at Oceanside High School was arrested Thursday on allegations that he had a two-year sexual relationship with a student beginning when she was 15 years old, police said.
Corey Hogue, 37, is expected to be booked into Vista jail on suspicion of two counts of rape and two counts of lewd and lascivious acts, Oceanside police said.
The female student reported the relationship to police in late October, telling detectives that the sexual encounters took place at Hogue’s house in Oceanside, where he lives with his wife and children.
Hogue, who was placed on administrative leave on Oct. 30, is now on unpaid leave pending the outcome of the criminal case, said Steve Lombard, spokesman for the Oceanside Unified School District.
Hogue was hired in 2006 to teach physical education and health, as well as coach boys’ varsity basketball. He spent two years before that at Orange Glen High School in Escondido, where he also coached basketball.
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Off-duty Vegas cop gunned down in robbery www.privateofficer.com
Las Vegas NV Nov 20 2009 When Trevor Nettleton decided to follow in his father’s footsteps, the retired highway patrol trooper tried to talk his son out of it.
Richard Nettleton warned him about the dangers of police work, but his son insisted on serving his country and his community, first as a Marine and then as a Las Vegas police officer.
Richard Nettleton pinned the badge on his son’s uniform when he joined the Metropolitan Police Department three years ago.
“I was never more proud in my life,” he said from his home in Yakima, Wash.
But Trevor Nettleton’s dream of a long career in law enforcement was cut short Thursday when he became a victim of the kind of crime he had dedicated himself to fighting. The patrol officer had hoped to “get his 30 years in” and retire, his father said. Instead, he was gunned down in the garage of his North Las Vegas home during an attempted robbery, police said.
The officer’s violent death was the third for the Police Department this year, making 2009 the deadliest year in the department’s history.
Two North Las Vegas men and one male juvenile have been arrested in connection with the slaying: Prentice Marshall, 18, Saul Williams Jr., 20, and a 17-year-old who was not identified by North Las Vegas police.
Nettleton had just finished his shift with the Police Department’s Bolden Area Command and was at home in street clothes when he was randomly attacked about 12:18 a.m. on Emerald Stone Avenue, near Lone Mountain Road and Bruce Street, said North Las Vegas police, the agency investigating the slaying.
The 30-year-old father of two young children acted as a “hero” because he was protecting family members who were inside the home during the attack, police said. After multiple suspects entered his open garage, Nettleton fired his weapon during an exchange of bullets.
“He leaves behind two small children who now only know the greatness of their father by the stories they are told, rather than knowing firsthand,” Clark County Sheriff Doug Gillespie said.
Richard Nettleton said his son was the father of a 2-year-old boy, Tanner, and a 2-month-old girl, Quinn. The children were in the home during the attack with Trevor’s wife, Danielle, and his mother, who was visiting for Thanksgiving, Richard Nettleton said.
The male adult suspects in custody have gang affiliations and one lives on a street near the slain officer’s house, according to a source with knowledge of the investigation.
Marshall, reported to be a junior at Mojave High School, was a starting guard last season on a varsity basketball team that went 17-9. The Rattlers lost in the Sunset Region quarterfinals.
Williams, last known to attend Rancho High School, was arrested in 2008 on charges of possession of a stolen firearm and carrying a concealed weapon. According to his arrest report, he had tried to flee from officers. When officers caught him, they found a .32 caliber handgun near him that had been stolen from a Henderson residence. Williams told police he needed the gun for “protection” and had bought it for $80, according to the report.
He pleaded guilty to attempting to carry a concealed firearm and was given probation. Williams later violated that probation and was sentenced on June 22 to six months in jail, with 35 days credit for time served.
North Las Vegas police Sgt. Tim Bedwell said Marshall was being treated for nonlife threatening gunshot wounds at University Medical Center. He is under police guard and faces a charge of murder with a deadly weapon.
Bedwell said Williams is being held on the same charge at the North Las Vegas Detention Center.
The 17-year-old suspect, a North Las Vegas resident, was arrested late Thursday night and booked into the Clark County Juvenile Detention Center. He faces charges of murder with a deadly weapon, attempted robbery with a weapon and conspiracy to commit robbery.
Bedwell wouldn’t provide details about who shot the officer.
Although Nettleton was not on the clock, Gillespie said, he was technically on duty because it is department policy to consider personnel who resort to deadly force with a weapon as being on duty.
“If he wasn’t acting in a capacity of a police officer out there this morning, I would like for someone to convince me otherwise,” Gillespie said.
Richard Nettleton said his son’s death was senseless.
“I can understand if it (happened) on the street,” he said. “But not in his house. … Not in his house. I wish it had been me and not him.”
Trevor Nettleton was one of several officers recognized for saving residents from a burning apartment complex in 2007. Thursday, Emerald Stone Avenue residents remembered Nettleton as one of the best neighbors on the block and said he knew most of the children in the neighborhood.
“He was a good officer, a good father and a good friend,” said Margarita Luna, who has three children. “I’m going to miss him terribly.”
Luna, 36, said her husband works nights. Nettleton also got off work late. He had told Luna that he would check the outside of her house when he came home to make sure she was safe.
“When I’d see him come home, I’d sleep better,” she said.
He also helped tutor her 9-year-old son in math sometimes, she said.
Neighbors said they rarely saw Nettleton’s patrol car. Some didn’t know he was an officer. The street his family lives on is dotted with vacant homes and “for sale” signs. Neighbors blamed the recession for several crimes that have plagued the neighborhood and the surrounding area recently.
After midnight Wednesday, 39-year-old Ursula Adedje said she heard a car with a loud muffler pull up in front of her house, which is near Nettleton’s home. She heard a car door open and then slam, as if someone was being dropped off.
Then she said she heard four loud booms, which sounded like gunshots. She said she heard several other shots that sounded as if they were from a smaller gun. She then heard a car speed away.
“It hurts my heart,” Adedje said of what happened.
North Las Vegas police wouldn’t comment on whether additional suspects are being sought.
Richard Nettleton said his son served for nine years as a Marine and spent the last two years of his duty working in communications at the White House. On his final day of work there, Trevor invited his dad to Washington, D.C., to meet President George W. Bush.
“I got a photograph with him and the president in the Oval Office,” said Richard Nettleton, who last spoke with his son last week. “That picture will always be on my wall. That will always be a memory.”
Shortly after he was discharged from the Marines, Nettleton moved to Las Vegas to work as a police officer, his father said.
Nettleton’s body was transported from his home to the Clark County coroner’s office by a procession of about 15 police patrol cars and motorcycles.
The motorcade reached its destination about 11 a.m. Officers formed rows from the receiving garage to the van and saluted as Nettleton’s body was lowered onto a stretcher and moved into the building.
Once the body was inside, the grieving officers comforted one another.
Joseph Forti, North Las Vegas police chief, described the distress that follows a late-night phone call involving a slain officer.
“When you hear something like this, your heart sinks into the pit of your stomach,” Forti said. “All of us who are in law enforcement will feel this loss as one.”
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Casino officers detain man taking lewd pictures www.privateofficer.com
The casino’s security officers detained David Hiroshi Oda, 39, Monday night after witnesses spotted him aiming the recording device up the skirt of a woman standing in a buffet line, the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department said in a news release.
Sheriff’s deputies arrested the Los Angeles County man, and the subsequent investigation revealed that Oda may have made similar Peeping Tom recordings in shopping malls in the Los Angeles area, the Sheriff’s Department said.
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Retired police Captain dies in crash www.privateofficer.com
Burgess, 58, died at the scene, at Lakeland and River Oaks drives in Flowood. The driver of the car, whose name was not released, was not harmed.
Burgess retired from the Pearl Police Department in 2001 and worked as security director for Southern Farm Bureau Insurance. He lived in Ridgeland with his wife of nearly 20 years, Gwen.
“He was a very careful and very experienced rider and would never do anything to endanger himself or anybody else,” Gwen Burgess said Wednesday, her voice shaky with emotion.
The accident happened around 6:30 p.m., according to Flowood police. Burgess was traveling east when the car turned in front of him, police said.
The accident is under investigation, Flowood Police Chief Johnny DeWitt said.
George Burgess joined Pearl police in 1974, a year after the agency formed. He was one of the first motorcycle patrol officers there, said Pearl police Lt. Butch Townsend, who worked with Burgess for 12 years.
Burgess worked his way up through the department and retired as second in command, Townsend said.
“He was just here visiting us not that long ago,” Townsend said.
Pearl Mayor Brad Rogers and his family were close to the Burgess family. Burgess was a “by-the-book” cop and always took an interest in other people, Rogers said.
“George always had time for anybody. He will be missed for sure,” Rogers said.
Burgess enjoyed cooking, deep-sea fishing, motorcycles, his family and reading, his wife said. “He was thoroughly enjoying his new job,” Gwen Burgess said.
Burgess also is survived by two sons, Marty and Jake.
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TSA names Kimberly Herrea Officer of the Year www.privateofficer.com
Herrera, who has been with the TSA for seven years, in 2008 launched an initiative that provided outdated TSA uniforms and jackets to homeless veterans in the Capital Region. She then assisted 30 other airports nationwide in starting similar programs.
“Kim’s work ethic, positive attitude and professionalism are exemplary,” said Brian Johansson, TSA’s federal security director at the Albany airport. “This award is very well deserved and TSA Albany is incredibly proud that one of our own officers is being recognized by TSA Headquarters for her contribution to this agency and Albany International Airport.”
Before joining TSA, Herrera served eight years in the U.S. Army and was deployed to Saudi Arabia, Bosnia and Afghanistan. She also earned a degree in business management from the University of Maryland (European division).
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New laws won’t allow clothes to dry on clotheslines www.privateofficer.com
Froehlich is among the growing number of people across America fighting for the right to dry their laundry outside against a rising tide of housing associations who oppose the practice despite its energy-saving green appeal.
Although there are no formal laws in this southeast Pennsylvania town against drying laundry outside, a town official called Froehlich to ask her to stop drying clothes in the sun. And she received two anonymous notes from neighbors saying they did not want to see her underwear flapping about.
“They said it made the place look like trailer trash,” she said, in her yard across the street from a row of neat, suburban houses. “They said they didn’t want to look at my ‘unmentionables.’”
Froehlich says she hangs her underwear inside. The effervescent 54-year-old is one of a growing number of Americans demanding the right to dry laundry on clotheslines despite local rules and a culture that frowns on it.
Their interests are represented by Project Laundry List, a group that argues people can save money and reduce carbon emissions by not using their electric or gas dryers, according to the group’s executive director, Alexander Lee.
Widespread adoption of clotheslines could significantly reduce U.S. energy consumption, argued Lee, who said dryer use accounts for about 6 percent of U.S. residential electricity use.
Florida, Utah, Maine, Vermont, Colorado, and Hawaii have passed laws restricting the rights of local authorities to stop residents using clotheslines. Another five states are considering similar measures, said Lee, 35, a former lawyer who quit to run the non-profit group.
‘RIGHT TO HANG’
His principal opponents are the housing associations such as condominiums and townhouse communities that are home to an estimated 60 million Americans, or about 20 percent of the population. About half of those organizations have ‘no hanging’ rules, Lee said, and enforce them with fines.
Carl Weiner, a lawyer for about 50 homeowners associations in suburban Philadelphia, said the no-hanging rules are usually included by the communities’ developers along with regulations such as a ban on sheds or commercial vehicles.
The no-hanging rules are an aesthetic issue, Weiner said.
“The consensus in most communities is that people don’t want to see everybody else’s laundry.”
He said opposition to clotheslines may ease as more people understand it can save energy and reduce greenhouse gases.
“There is more awareness of impact on the environment,” he said. “I would not be surprised to see people questioning these restrictions.”
For Froehlich, the “right to hang” is the embodiment of the American tradition of freedom.
“If my husband has a right to have guns in the house, I have a right to hang laundry,” said Froehlich, who is writing a book on the subject.
Besides, it saves money. Line-drying laundry for a family of five saves $83 a month in electric bills, she said.
Kevin Firth, who owns a two-bedroom condominium in a Dublin, Pennsylvania housing association, said he was fined $100 by the association for putting up a clothesline in a common area.
“It made me angry and upset,” said Firth, a 27-year-old carpenter. “I like having the laundry drying in the sun. It’s something I have always done since I was a little kid.”
Judge rules TSA went to far in porn search www.privateofficer.com
HONOLULU HI Nov 19 2009 – A federal judge in Hawaii on Tuesday threw out all the evidence against a man caught with child pornography at Hilo Airport.
The judge ruled that screeners went too far in searching the man’s luggage.
In a ruling that could affect the way the Transportation Security Administration screens luggage. The evidence thrown out on Tuesday included video of the suspect having sex with at least three young boys, prosecutors said.
”You have to let that person off because his rights were violated,” defense attorney William Harrison said.
Harrison represented Simon Jasper McCarty, 37, whom prosecutors said had hundreds of child porn items in his luggage, including videos of his encounters with boys.
Judge J. Michael Seabright ruled that the airport screening that caught McCarty was improper.
While going through McCarty’s luggage the screener said some suspicious photos fell out on the table. She then called over another screener, who happened to be her daughter. The judge said that was wrong. To make it worse, the screener could not remember later what they would seen in the first place to make them suspicious.
The law does allow screeners to report illegal contraband, but only if it is in plain sight while they look for weapons or bombs.
The judge wrote, “that the screeners did not confine their search as required and instead began their own criminal investigation into the nature of the photographs.”
”Once she had determined there was no safety factors in the items in the luggage she had no right to go beyond that and violate my client’s right to privacy,” Harrison said.
College security officer attacked, injured www.privateofficer.com
contracostatimes – An Antelope Valley College security guard nursed a sore arm on Wednesday after she was attacked on a campus parking lot by a guy with an apparent beef against cops, authorities said.
The incident, initially reported as a possible stabbing, occurred at 9:14 p.m. Tuesday, according to Los Angeles County sheriff’s officials.
“An unknown male assailant used an unknown object to scratch her left arm and ran off,” said Lt. Stefanie Fredericks of the sheriff’s Lancaster Station. “It was not a stabbing. No sutures were needed.”
Deputies, college police, and contracted security officers fanned out over the campus, but the assailant eluded them, Fredericks said, adding that his motive was not immediately clear.
“He made some comments with reference to her being a cop,” Fredericks said. “That’s all we know at this point.”
The security guard — who works for Regional Patrol Services, a contractor, according to Antelope Valley College police — was treated at a hospital for abrasions and released, Fredericks said.
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Criminal charges against security guard dismissed www.privateofficer.com
On Friday, charges were dropped against now-former Habersham Medical Center Security Officer Jerry Lee Hunnicutt.
Hunnicutt was charged Wednesday with false public alarm, a felony, after a suspicious package he allegedly placed in the vestibule of the new emergency department resulted in implementation of the hospital’s emergency response plan.
After being checked by a bomb detection dog from Hall County, an apple pie carton bearing a note that stated “Look inside” was determined not to be a threat.
A dismissal of warrant document filed Friday and signed by Chief Assistant District Attorney Eddie Staples states the warrant was dismissed because “the state cannot make out a case.”
Sheriff Joey Terrell isn’t happy that the charges filed by his officers were dropped, because he believes Hunnicutt’s actions created a public alarm. However, after conferring with Mountain Judicial Circuit District Attorney Brian Rickman, he said he understands that case law won’t support the charge.
“I’m frustrated, but I’m not trying to be critical,” Terrell said shortly after learning of the dismissal on Friday. “The courts changed the laws the legislators passed.”
“In today’s times, we have to take things like this seriously,” Terrell said.
“We had three fire trucks, four deputy cars, three investigators, the GBI bomb squad, an ambulance and basically the emergency room shut down,” Terrell said. “If that’s not a public alarm, I don’t know what is.”
“We did our job,” Terrell said. “If we have another one tomorrow, we’re going to handle it the same way. It caused a public alarm – if that’s not a public alarm, I don’t know what is.”
“The right thing was done,” Rickman said. “It was taken seriously and everyone’s safety was protected.”
The circumstances of the case, however, won’t allow it to proceed criminally.
“What the guy did wasn’t smart, what the guy did wasn’t advisable, but every goofy thing that somebody does is not necessarily a crime and punishable by statute,” Rickman said.
In Hunnicutt’s case, “it’s not a crime,” because no threat was made, Rickman said. “The statute and the case law is not going to allow it to proceed.”
Prior to Wednesday’s event, Hunnicutt had been employed by the hospital for 13 years.
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Security officer helps raise funds for basketball team www.privateofficer.com
Lutter moaned and groaned.
It sounded like karma.
Lutter, 28, is a security officer for AIB College of Business. Students say he is very good at his job – it’s just unfortunate that his job is to dole out $25 tickets to parking violators on school campus.
Lutter estimates that he has written $1,000 worth of tickets since he took the job in June. That led students Bryant Blay and Brian Maruska to pose a leg-waxing challenge to Lutter: If the pair could raise $300 from students and faculty members, Lutter would painfully shed the hair from his lower legs.
Blay and Maruska collected $302 in less than a week.
“It wasn’t hard at all,” Blay said. “Everybody pitched in a couple bucks.”
Dozens of students gathered in the school’s gymnasium Wednesday to watch Sarah Lamberti, a hair stylist from Altoona, rip strips of hair from Lutter.
“The longer (the hair) is, the more painful it is,” Lamberti told Lutter that night. “I didn’t bring trimmers.”
That thought lingered for about a half hour while students held Fear Factor-style homecoming activities. They ate messy foods blindfolded and stuck their faces in cat litter.
Lutter’s legs were the main event.
He sat for 20 minutes while Lamberti and Jerry Kindhart, the school’s women’s basketball coach, went to work on his left shin and calf. The lower calf stung the most.
The single leg took so long to wax that students let Lutter’s right leg off easy. Lutter said he would shave it to match.
“I’m definitely never doing that again,” he said.
It could have been worse though:
“I’ve seen guys so hairy you can’t see their skin,” Lutter said. “It would have taken a lot more money if I was like that.”
Students will donate the $302 to the basketball team. Kindhart said he’ll put it toward a machine that catches basketballs underneath the hoop and spits them back out to players.
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Teacher accused of putting “Hit” on student www.privateofficer.com
Atlanta GA Nov 18 2009
A Georgia teacher reportedly has been placed on paid administrative leave after being charged with making terroristic threats against a 16-year-old student.
Randolph Forde was arrested last month after being accused of asking the student at Mundy’s Mill High School whether or not he was gay, threatening to hit the student and later offering another student money to kill the boy, MyFoxAtlanta.com reported.
Citing a police report, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution said Forde asked another student to “put a hit” on the teenager.
“The suspect advised the witness that he would pay him to kill the victim,” the report states.
Forde denied have any interaction with or making any statement about the alleged victim, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.
The teen’s mother is outraged.
“A teacher threatens to kill your child, that’s the most disturbing,” Marcia Killebrew told MyFoxAtlanta.com. “It could have really happened.”
Forde’s attorney, Borquaye Thomas, said his client asked the student if he was gay after seeing the boy dance inappropriately with another male student, the newspaper said.
The student didn’t seem to have a problem with the question until he got into trouble for another incident, according to the Journal-Constitution.
“All of the students knew Mr. Forde was joking. The other students said Mr. Forde always plays around with them like that,” Thomas told the paper. “The student only complained after he was getting suspended.”
Forde was released from jail on $10,000 bond and ordered to avoid the student, the Journal-Constitution said. He is waiting for his case to go before a grand jury.
School officials postponed a Tuesday employment hearing aimed at deciding whether Forde will face disciplinary action. It will now be held after Thanksgiving
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Security spots burglars, aids in capture www.privateofficer.com
TACOMA WA Nov 18 2009
Tacoma police arrested three men late Sunday on suspicion they got into a fenced Tacoma Public Utilities lot and tried to steal expensive pieces of metal, officials said Monday.
A security guard working at the utility’s main office at 3628 S. 35th St. spotted three men on surveillance cameras about 11 p.m., police said. The men got into a fenced lot and started to throw several pieces of metal back over the fence line.
Police were called and officers surrounded the area. The men were seen jumping back over a fence and going into a nearby field that is part of the old Tacoma airport.
A Pierce County sheriff’s dog was called in and tracked down and held two suspects. They were treated at Allenmore Hospital in Tacoma for minor injuries, police said. A third man gave up to police without incident.
The three men were booked into the Pierce County Jail on Monday on suspicion of second-degree burglary.
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Woodbridge teacher charged with sexual assault on child www.privateofficer.com
Woodbridge NJ Nov 18 2009
James I. Clancy, 35, of Crampton Avenue in Woodbridge proper, was arrested at Woodbridge Police headquarters on Nov. 11 and was charged with aggravated sexual assault, sexual assault, and two counts of endangering the welfare of a child, authorities said.
Jim O’Neill, spokesperson for the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office, said authorities are not revealing if the 14-year-old was a student at the middle school where Clancy taught.
Clancy, who has been an English teacher at the school for the past seven years, was suspended following his arrest, authorities said.
Police started an investigation last week after information on the matter came to the attention of law enforcement.
Investigator James Kelly of the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office and Detective Robert Ptaszynski of the Woodbridge Police Department determined that Clancy had relations with the student in Edison in June 2006, authorities said.
Through their investigation, police found that Clancy made lewd comments and sent lewd emails to the student in Woodbridge during that time, authorities said.
Anyone with information is asked to call
Kelly at 732-745-3600 or Ptaszynski at 732-634-7700.
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Wal-Mart seeks police help for holiday security www.privateofficer.com
The Town Board voted last week to allow its officers to patrol Walmart throughout Thanksgiving Day weekend. Not just traffic control in the parking lots – in-store patrols, too.
Wallkill isn’t the only local municipality providing Thanksgiving police coverage for the nation’s largest retailer. Town of Ulster Police Chief Paul Watzka says his department will allow several officers to patrol Walmart on Route 199.
The moves are at the retailer’s request, which also asked state police to provide coverage for its store in the Town of Monroe. State police declined the request.
“For us, it’s a dangerous precedent to set,” said state police spokesman Sgt. Kern Swoboda.
A Wal-Mart Stores Inc. spokesperson would not elaborate on the company’s policy. But the move comes after scrutiny Walmart received last year when a temporary employee was trampled to death at a store on Long Island during Black Friday.
Wallkill’s police department will be an independent contractor for Walmart, according to a tentative contract. The officers would be off-duty and initially paid overtime wages by the town. Walmart would then reimburse the town for all salaries and benefit, and the shifts are voluntary.
The contract also includes language that absolves Walmart of any liability over negligence caused by the police, and vice versa.
That’s a major concern for Wallkill Councilman John King, the only Town Board member to vote against the deal; Councilwoman Nina Neighmond was absent and did not vote.
“I don’t think we should be doing private security service for any business,” King said. “I’m concerned for the safety of our officers and the possible liability.”
King also wonders if the department can spare the manpower. Walmart has requested that 10 Wallkill officers – nearly a third of the department – be available 8 p.m. to midnight on Thanksgiving Day, as well as six officers for all 24 hours of Black Friday, and five officers on both Saturday and Sunday.
Walmart “should have their own security system doing that,” King said.
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NYPD kill security guard during nightclub fracas www.privateofficer.com
They say Kevin White was a security guard at the Norwood Palace Sports Bar in Brooklyn, where patrons were smacking each other with stools. They say he was firing into the bar when plainclothes officers arrived around 3 a.m. Sunday and shot him.
The 43-year-old was pronounced dead at a hospital.
Police say they spotted a 19-year-old man with a gun in the bar’s doorway and shot him, too. He’s hospitalized in stable condition.
Bar DJ Timothy Stokes says the fight was over a spilled drink. He tells the Daily News newspaper he heard police yelling, “Put the gun down.”
Three guns were recovered at the scene.
No one answered the phone at the bar Sunday afternoon.
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Hospital melee lands 3 in jail, woman Tasered www.privateofficer.com
Police said the wife of 74-year-old Donald Thoma was being treated for excessive alcohol consumption at Excela Health in Jeannette on Sunday night.
Officers were told Thoma became irate when hospital staff wouldn’t let him in to see her.
Channel 4 Action News’ Jen Miele reported that Thoma, along with two friends — Eugene Lucas, 59, and Barbara Matta, 45 — were drunk and asked to leave by security.
“Once we had Ms. Matta and Mr. Lucas out in the parking lot, it became worse. Mr. Lucas took an aggressive stance towards me and at one point charge me. He had to be taken to the ground and placed into custody,” said Office Justin Scalzo, of the Jeannette police.
Police said Matta tried to stop the arrest, elbowing an officer in the ribs in the process. She was shocked with a Taser and taken into custody.
That’s when police said Thoma tried to push through security to get to his wife.
“He took a swing at one of the security guards, fought with two security guards,” said Lucas.
Thoma, Matta and Lucas were taken to a holding cell inside the Jeannette Police Department.
Miele reported all three had a blood-alcohol level above 0.13 percent and were charged with rioting, aggravated assault and public drunkenness.
The hospital issued the following statement:
“We are grateful to Jeannette police for their timely response and quick attention to restoring the peace, allowing us to continue caring for the medical needs of others in our care.”
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Wal-Mart arrest leads to charges of racism www.privateofficer.com
ST. LOUIS MO Nov 16 2009 — Nearly three years after Heather Ellis switched checkout lines at a southeast Missouri store and touched off what she calls a racially charged dispute with white customers and authorities, the young black schoolteacher faces a trial that could send her to prison for 15 years.
Witnesses have told authorities Ellis cut in front of waiting customers at the Walmart in Kennett on Jan. 6, 2007, shoved merchandise already placed on a conveyor belt out of the way, and became belligerent when confronted, according to court filings.
Ellis maintains she was merely joining her cousin, whose checkout line was moving more quickly. She claimed in a written complaint to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People that she was then pushed by a white customer, hassled by store employees, called racial slurs and physically mistreated by Kennett police officers.
Police say in court documents that Ellis refused requests to calm down and leave the property, allegedly kicking one’s shin and splitting another’s lip. Her trial on charges of assaulting police officers, resisting arrest and disturbing the peace begins Wednesday in Dunklin County Circuit Court. A few hundred people attended a Monday rally held on Ellis’ behalf by Syracuse, N.Y.-based Your Black World Coalition, according to a rally organizer, Boyce Watkins. Opponents also showed up, but the march remained peaceful, Watkins said.
A college student in New Orleans at the time of her arrest, the 24-year-old Ellis now teaches in Louisiana, where she is engaged to a state trooper. She has said she feels trapped by “small-town politics” in Kennett, where her family lives.
“What a shame the system can destroy a young person’s future like this because of bad cops,” Ellis wrote to the NAACP in April.
The group subsequently held a rally in Kennett. Before the June 13 event, police officers found threatening letters the size of business cards scattered along the route that said the Ku Klux Klan had paid a visit and “the next visit will not be social.”
Dunklin County Prosecutor Stephen Sokoloff said the cards were removed and the source investigated but never discovered. He said he doubts the cards actually were from the KKK; he knows of no KKK presence in the area. Calls to KKK headquarters rang unanswered.
As for Ellis’ allegations of mistreatment by law enforcement, Sokoloff said he’s “seen absolutely no evidence of any kind, apart from her statements, that those things occurred.” Kennett Police Chief Barry Tate did not return phone calls seeking comment.
Kennett is a town of roughly 11,000 residents, about 1,500 of them black. The police department also is predominantly white, but has actively worked to recruit more women and minorities, said longtime resident Charles B. Brown, who served as mayor from 1991 to 2003.
“We’re a small country town with greater problems than racism. Our problems are economic,” he said, explaining that Kennett needs more jobs.
Some community leaders fear the “big paint roller” being used by observers of Ellis’ case has resulted in unfair portrayals of the town as prejudiced.
“They’re searching their hearts and minds, and that’s just not us,” he said.
Sokoloff said he would have filed the same charges regardless of the races of those involved. Last week, he took himself off the case, telling the Southeast Missourian newspaper he hoped it would refocus attention on the facts. A special prosecutor was appointed.
Ellis and her lawyers, Scott Rosenblum and T.J. Hunsaker in St. Louis, declined to comment on the specifics of the case. She has previously rejected plea deals.
“Why would you plea bargain if you’re innocent?” said Ellis’ father, the Rev. Nathaniel Ellis of Kennett.
“This is not a matter of justice,” he said. “It’s a vendetta.”
Ellis’ written account to the NAACP describes Ellis and her cousin getting into separate checkout lanes before Ellis switched into the faster-moving line. The woman behind them had placed items on the conveyor belt, and Ellis alleged the woman pushed her when she tried to put her own items down.
Witnesses instead told police that Ellis shoved the woman’s merchandise back, according to court filings.
Ellis wrote that a security officer and manager were called over and that although Ellis said she wanted to pay, the manager yelled at her to leave the store. Police were called and arrived.
Officers eventually followed her to the parking lot, she said, using racial slurs and telling her to go back to the ghetto. As her aunt and uncle drove into the parking lot, Ellis said, the officers “jumped” on her even though she said she was not resisting.
Officer A.W. Fisher wrote in a probable cause statement that Ellis was given “every opportunity” to comply with officers and leave the property. He said she used an expletive in telling him she would beat him if he put his hands on her.
Fisher said he then told Ellis she was under arrest, but she would not stop fighting while being handcuffed.
Following her arrest, Ellis alleged, she was thrown against doors on the way into jail and an officer later twisted her shirt with his knuckle to choke her while she was in custody.
“Incidents involving our customers are unfortunate and we take them seriously,” Walmart spokesman Lorenzo Lopez said in a statement earlier this month. “In this matter, there was a disturbance and law enforcement was contacted, in accordance with our normal procedures. The police then determined how to proceed.”
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South Ms. police go undercover to combat shopliftings www.privateofficer.com
The upswing in thefts has South Mississippi law enforcement on alert, especially D’Iberville Police with the new Promenade now built.
Jeannine Schexnayder manages Watermelon Patch in the D’Iberville Shopping center. She said it’s surprising how many shoplifters try to take stuff from the store.
“We have seen a far amount of shrinkage and theft. We cannot keep enough people in the store to watch and keep it under control,” Schexnayder said.
Schexnayder blames the rise in retail theft on the crumbling economy.
“When they don’t have money for Christmas gifts and things, they will resort to do things to make sure their little ones get things for Christmas.”
D’Iberville Police Captain Keith Davis agrees the lack of cash is a driving factor.
“The economy is in bad state right now, and people are getting desperate. The more desperate they get, the more we see shoplifting,” Captain Davis said.
Davis said police will have zero tolerance for shoplifting, and the department has a plan in place to combat the problem. The plan is called “Cop and Shop.” Police said it helps puts more eyes in shops and more police cars in the area.
“We are putting plain clothes police officers in the stores, and they are walking around the stores looking for shoplifters,” Davis said. “We are also increasing our patrols in the parking lots as a deterrent measure.”
Davis said so far there has not been a large volume of shoplifting calls at the center. He said part of the reason is all the stores also have a unified security plan.
“If someone goes into Target and gets involved in criminal activity, Target will call Dick’s Sporting Goods, and Dick Sporting Goods will call Marshalls, so that is a great partnership with these merchants.”
The extra protection is welcomed by Schexnayder because she feels shoplifting is a costly crime.
“It is taking money out of the pocket of the owner. It takes money out of the pocket of the workers, and it increases the tag on what I have to sale. The bottom line is everybody pays more in the long run.”
Security guard charged with double homicide www.privateofficer.com
Juan Huerta called 911 himself and confessed to both murders. He told police he found his wife with Juan J. Gamez and shot them both to death.
Police also learned that Huerta worked as a security guard for a company called Magnum Force Security. On top of that, he’s also a felon, convicted of criminal negligent homicide in 1998.
“Because he has a conviction for criminal negligent homicide he isn’t eligible to own a gun or possess a gun, much less be licensed by a private security company,” said Hidalgo County Sheriff, Lupe Trevino.
CHANNEL 5 NEWS searched for Huerta in the DPS database of certified security guards. There are no search results for his name and date of birth, which means he’s not accredited by the state, so we tracked down the man he was working for to find out why he hired Huerta.
“Everything is legal. His record is clean. That’s all that’s needed to work security,” said Adrian Garcia, owner of Magnum Force Security.
Garcia says he ran a background check on Huerta and he says his company never issued a gun to Huerta. Still, authorities will be referring this case to DPS. They want to know how Huerta slipped through the cracks.
Choate Hall security director retires www.privateofficer.com
But with a 15-year background in the New Haven Police Department, preceded by two years as Yale University security officer, the former lieutenant detective who also served four years in the Marine Corps quickly devised a strategy.
Prior to McCormick, the private school on Christian Street was protected by outsourced watch guards who patrolled only at night. Now, it’s guarded by a community safety department of nine officers and five parking attendants who carry out routine vehicle, bike and foot patrols.
“We go 24/7, 365; we’re on call,” said McCormick, resting in his North Main Street residence, as scanner alerts chimed in. “Our function is prevention. It really is prevention more than apprehension. The people who work for me are not police officers; they’re the eyes and ears of police and fire.”
In the past 32 years, the officer who served as Robert and Ted Kennedy’s official police detail during their New Haven visit, has coordinated efforts with local fire and police authorities while high profile students including the Prince of Bhutan and Ivanka Trump attended the school (both were pretty smart about being safe, he said), visitors such as former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev and Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis came and a drug incident in 1984 resulted in the expulsion of fourteen students.
However, according to McCormick, two of the most important aspects of the job are protecting students and their possessions as well as tending to campus faculty, many of whom live on campus – making the job much different from work in New Haven.
But by the end of next month, the man whom local authorities refer to as a true gentleman will be stepping down after three decades of service and leaving the position and department he created in somebody else’s hands. “I just felt it was time,” said McCormick, 73.
Police Chief Douglas Dortenzio has known McCormick since his New Haven days and has worked with him for the past 19 years.
“It’s been a great working relationship,” said Dortenzio of the Choate department’s interaction with local police. “For the most part they’re autonomous – they relieve us of a great burden in that regard.”
McCormick has led police and fire departments on walking tours of the campus and Dortenzio said there have been occasions where police have consulted with the school over security related issues, in confidence.
“They’ll tell us what to do and we’ll do it,” McCormick said.
Stephen Farrell, Choate’s dean of faculty, jokes that McCormick’s job is probably much easier now than it was in the late 1970s and 1980s when the culture was much different and perhaps a bit more intense, but other aspects such as knocking down and consolidating upper campus dorms, lowering the student population from more than 1,000 to 850 and placing markers on campus property, have also contributed. Additionally, his political skills and dealings with the mayor’s office and town officials have been among his prime assets to the school, said Farrell, who has known McCormick for 31 years.
While bittersweet, the West Haven native and second youngest of 14 children is looking forward to a new life of rest, golf, community service and whatever else comes up. “I don’t know where the time has gone,” he said.
Texas officer fired for inappropriate touching of student www.privateofficer.com
Harlingen Police Chief Danny Castillo fired Officer Jose Infante after a review hearing this week.The police chief believes Infante violated several department policies and procedures.
Civil Service Director Sheryl Reed gave CHANNEL 5 NEWS a copy of the chief’s report.
The chief says Infante worked as an on-premises security officer for the Lemoyne Gardens Housing Project in exchange for free housing.On September 16, the apartment managers asked Infante for help handling a tenant eviction.
The managers canceled their call for help.The chief writes, “Officer Infante advised he would still go by the apartment to check.”The police investigation revealed the officer went to an apartment and spoke to a 16-year-old girl who was home alone with a baby.He reportedly told her “he had to search the apartment for drugs.”She claims the search wasn’t real.
Then the teen says Infante told her he had to search her body.The chief writes, “She quickly became uncomfortable with the way he was touching her as he ran his hand down the side of her body. She said he asked her to pull her bra forward to make sure she didn’t have anything under her bra.
“He then started to conduct a search of her chest area and used the palms of his hands to press against her breasts, causing the exposure of her breasts. When he stopped, she moved away from Officer Infante. Officer Infante then asked if he could touch her breasts again.”
We learned Infante has the option to appeal to the Civil Service commission or to an independent third party.The police investigation also alleges Infante threatened to “take care” of the housing authority director “out in the streets” for terminating him.Infante hasn’t been arrested or criminally charged, but the chief writes he found cause for removal or suspension.The teen took a polygraph test and passed.
The chief writes, “Officer Infante had failed the polygraph examination and had been deceptive in his answers.”The police chief has refused to discuss details of the allegations or the officer’s firing.CHANNEL 5 NEWS will keep you updated on the investigation and let you know whether Infante files an appeal.
Man charged in death of Univ. of Alabama student www.privateofficer.com
This week, James Edward Hurn, 28, the man suspected of giving her the patch, was arrested and charged with murder, manslaughter and drug violations.
Scott, a 21-year-old University of Alabama student from Magnolia Springs, was found unconscious on the morning of Dec. 2 in an apartment rented by Hurn and his
roommate, said Capt. Loyd Baker, chief of the Tuscaloosa Police Homicide Division.
At some point in her last evening, Scott applied a fentanyl adhesive patch to her skin, Baker said.
“We believe the drug was administered through the patch to her skin,” Baker said. “Mr. Hurn is believed to be the one who provided her with that patch.”
A Tuscaloosa County grand jury indicted Hurn on Nov. 5.
He turned himself in Thursday and was released on $20,000 bail later that day, Baker said.
Fentanyl patches, available by prescription only, apply a narcotic for patients who need around-the-clock medication to treat persistent moderate to severe pain, according to information from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
The agency has received reports of deaths or life-threatening side effects from misuse of the patches, according to the FDA Web site.
Roanoke school security guard pleads guilty to porn charges www.privateofficer.com
Conrad Porter, 71, of Roanoke, made the guilty pleas in Roanoke City circuit court.
He could get up to 20 years in prison.
A realtor showing Porter’s home to a prospective buyer found a box containing child pornography back in May.
The realtor called police.
Porter admitted to having the child pornography two times, according to the prosecutor in the case.
First, he told police at his home as they gathered evidence in the case.
A few hours later, he admitted it to an investigator.
Porter will be formally sentenced on January 4, 2010.
He’s also due back in court next month on a separate charge.
Porter is charged with having sex with a girl under the age of 13.
Court records claim the alleged crime happened in Roanoke back in 1974.
Lone Grove teacher charged with lewd acts with child www.privateofficer.com
Officials with the Carter County Sheriff’s Office tell us Montgomery, who is from Springer, served as a men’s Sunday School teacher and worked with the Lone Grove Schools as an ag assistant until resigning just before his arrest Friday.
Undersheriff Anthony says Montgomery is accused of inappropriately touching the little girl below the waist.
Officials tell us Montgomery has hired an attorney and is in the Carter County Jail tonight. He is scheduled to remain behind bars until his initial court appearance on Monday
