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Teacher blames cough syrup for her criminal acts www.privateofficer.com
“It’s beyond my belief,” said Young. “I don’t know why I did it.”
Young said she started drinking in 1994 and that her drinking led to divorce. She lost custody of her three sons, and then got three DUIs.
“It went downhill from there,” Young said.
Her teaching career was resurrected as a Kindergarten to second grade special ed teacher at Oakmont Elementary School in 2003.
But this summer, she admitted to stealing steaks at a Kroger in east Nashville.
This fall while on lunch break in Dickson, she stole wrinkle cream from Wal-Mart. She said she did it under the influence of dextromethorphan, an ingredient found in a certain cough syrup coveted by people suffering from anorexia.
“As long as I’m not taking that drug, I won’t do that again, ever ever ever,” said Young. “You just don’t know what my life has been like knowing I did these things. It’s been awful.”
Young said she wants all Dickson parents to know that she is dedicated, loving teacher, fully realizing that she has lost their trust.
“I’m very sorry. I made many mistakes. I’ll never do it again, and I’ll always teach their children to the best of my ability,” she said.
Young’s medical leave ends Jan. 1. She said she hasn’t asked about her job status. Right now, she is being treated for anorexia and has two separate shoplifting court dates this week.
Dept of Human Services worker fondled teenager www.privateofficer.com
Police indicted Michael Monix, 48, on two counts of sexual battery and one count of sexual battery by an authority figure. Monix also owns a day care.
Police said Monix supervised the girl in some capacity.
Neighbors said Monix’s home was constantly filled with young children.
In 2007, he applied for a zoning change so he could run an assisted-living center for autistic children out of his home. That didn’t happen, but Monix has been running a day care center out of his home for years.
Police told Channel 4 Tuesday that Monix’s day care is supposed to be closed. But neighbors said they saw Monix’s wife escorting kids onto a school bus Tuesday morning. Channel 4 knocked on the Monixes’ door, and the woman inside wouldn’t open it and told Channel 4 to go away.
A few years ago, Melissa May took her 15-year-old daughter to Monix’s home to apply for a baby-sitting job that didn’t pan out.
“Makes me want to cry just to think that she could have been in that situation,” said May.
DHS representatives said they are aware of Monix’s case and are investigating to determine whether disciplinary action is needed. Monix is currently taking personal vacation time.
Chicago Water and Sewage police saga www.privateofficer.com
Seventy officers comprise a private police force for the Metropolitan Water
Sept. 11 has caused us all to think twice when we looked up at jets flying over the city, or down at what’s happening in the subways.
Most buildings now check ID’s. There are security cameras everywhere.
We just can’t be too careful – or can we?
CBS 2 Chief Correspondent Jay Levine reports that millions of our tax dollars are being spent in the name of homeland security.
A police force as big as departments in major Illinois cities and suburbs is guarding suburban sewage plants and a high-priced headquarters. A stone’s throw from the Magnificent Mile on some pretty pricey real estate sits the headquarters of the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District.
A member of its own $5 million police force guards the front door. He’s one of 70 full-time officers of a department established 116 years ago to deal with disputes among ethnic groups building Chicago’s first sewage channels. Now, it’s justified by another alleged ethnic threat.
“We are a high priority in Homeland Security’s plans,” says Jill Horist, spokeswoman for the district.
Not exactly. Homeland Security rates threats to wastewater plants well behind landmarks like the Willis Tower, transportation systems and other public utilities.
At the district’s main plant in Stickney, the officers behind the lights and the signs and the gates are called, by one security expert, a misuse of resources. Others go even further.
“Armed guards who watch the perimeter and make sure no one trespasses — this is way too much, it’s overkill for what’s required,” Cook County Commissioner Tony Peraica said.
“We actually clean over almost 2 billion gallons of waste water every day,” Horist said. “If someone was of a mind to wreak havoc in some way shape or form … there’s a possibility.”
One member of the $5 million police force was seen on a surveillance tape allegedly manhandling a major real-estate developer when he refused to produce identification. The district has spent more than $1 million in tax dollars battling the developer over an alley.
“It’s abuse of taxpayer dollars just because they can,” Peraica said. “It’s the old ‘OPM’ principle — ‘other people’s money.’”
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Man charged in assault on security, police officers www.privateofficer.com
Duane B. Williams of the Bronx was taken into custody Sunday afternoon after refusing to leave the property, then assaulting a Pemberton security guard and a police officer during the arrest.
Officers were called to the apartment complex on the West Side after a complaint that Williams was disorderly and would not leave.
He was charged with two counts each of assault on an officer and second-degree assault, disobeying a lawful order, resisting arrest and disturbing the peace, the SPD said.
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Middle school student raped at school www.privateofficer.com
“We’re taking this very seriously,” said Marin Trujillo, spokesman for the West Contra Costa school district. “We’re shocked and dismayed that a sexual assault could happen on our campus during school time.”
The district placed Portola Middle School Principal Denise Van Hook and Vice Principal Matthew Burnham on paid leave for at least a week while it investigates Thursday’s breach of campus safety, Trujillo said.
The Contra Costa District Attorney’s Office, meanwhile, charged the 14-year-old suspect with felony sexual assault in Juvenile Court, El Cerrito police said.
Police declined to name the suspect, an eighth-grader, because of his age. They say he cornered the victim, a seventh-grader, shortly before 2:45 p.m., during the last period of the school day, police said.
The two knew each other, but not romantically. Detectives say the suspect forced a sex act upon the victim in a stairwell. At least two students witnessed the assault while passing by; one found an adult, while another physically interceded to stop the attack.
Police arrested the suspect at his home just a few hours after the attack. But how the rape happened — and what it says about school security — has rekindled fear and frustration in a community long concerned about a campus with a rough reputation.
“What’s making the kids do what they’re doing? What can we do to get them to know that this is not acceptable?” said Michelle Jawad, longtime school safety activist in El Cerrito. “I don’t think it’s going to be fixed unless everybody takes it from the middle of the list of things to be done and puts it to the top.”
On Monday morning, district Superintendent Bruce Harter attended an emergency staff meeting at Portola where teachers were told that all students had to be escorted when out of class for bathroom breaks or similar reasons.
“How could this occur? Is it safe at Portola? Those are the kinds of questions we’re hearing,” El Cerrito police Chief Scott Kirkland said. “It is interesting, the criminal mind. When a situation like this occurs, to actually do something like this … you have to be a little sick.”
Van Hook notified parents about the assault via e-mail about 11:45 p.m. Friday: “Our investigation is ongoing. All of us at Portola are committed to making sure our school is a safe place for all our students,” her note read in part.
Van Hook could not be reached for comment Monday.
Portola is being run this week by former El Cerrito High School administrator Mike Aaronian and Brenda King Randle. Students will be on break for two weeks starting next week.
The assault left the victim otherwise uninjured, police said. Both students attended school Thursday, but each was out of class for reasons still under investigation, Kirkland said.
The rape, Portola’s second high-profile safety breach in eight months, came just a few weeks after the group sexual assault of a 16-year-old girl outside the homecoming dance at neighboring Richmond High School. Police say that attack continued for about two hours before anyone reported it to authorities.
Jawad said she was “very encouraged” that students reported Thursday’s assault immediately.
“Maybe one of the good things that came out of (the Richmond High School rape) is that someone was brave enough to speak up,” she said. “Some of the students are seeing this and thinking, ‘Maybe this is not OK, and I need to report that.’”
But an upswell of campus violence last spring in El Cerrito prompted the district to sign a contract with the city police department to place an officer at Portola full time this school year, supplementing the campus’s four site supervisors. It already placed two city police at El Cerrito High School, beyond its own in-house security.
That deal came after a large group of students knocked down a teacher and threw rocks at her during a lunch period in May. Police arrested five students in connection with that attack.
“It’s like night and day,” Kirkland said of the improvement to campus safety brought about by the daily presence of a police officer. “This is very unusual.”
Last week, the school board got a lengthy presentation from district staff, county officials, police and community activists about improving safety throughout the district following the rape at Richmond High School in October. The board received various recommendations, and the district will work to prioritize and implement them in the coming months.
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School security injured by trespassers www.privateofficer.com
Police arrested two teenagers following an incident at Oliver High School.
School security noticed a student let two teenagers into the building.
The teenagers are not students at the school.
When security confronted the teenagers, a struggle broke out and the officer suffered minor injuries.
The two teenagers were apprehended and are facing charges.
The student who let them into the building is facing disciplinary action.
A gun was also discovered in some bushes outside the school.
Officials believe it belonged to one of the teenagers.
Four cops indicted in hate crimes, fatal attack on Hispanic www.privateofficer.com
Derrick Donchak and Brandon Piekarsky were charged with a hate crime for the fatal beating of Luis Ramirez while shouting racial epithets at him in July 2008.
Separate indictments accuse Shenandoah police chief, Matthew Nestor, and three officers under his command with a variety of charges, including witness tampering and lying to the FBI. The indictments were announced Tuesday at the Justice Department.
Nestor, Lt. William Moyer, and Officer Jason Hayes were charged with conspiring to obstruct justice during the investigation into the Ramirez beating. Moyer was charged with witness and evidence tampering, and lying to the FBI.
The police chief and his second-in-command, James Gennarini, were charged with extortion and civil rights violations in a separate case. The two are accused of extorting cash payoffs from illegal gambling operations, and demanding a $2,000 payment from a local businessman in 2007 to release him from their custody.
Four youths — including Donchak and Piekarsky — were previously charged in state court in connection with Ramirez’s death. A jury cleared two other teens of all serious charges, and a fourth pleaded guilty to federal charges.
Piekarsky was acquitted by an all-white jury of third-degree murder and ethnic intimidation; Donchak was acquitted of aggravated assault and ethnic intimidation. Both were convicted of simple assault, which carry possible one- or two-year prison sentences.
The May verdicts were decried by Hispanic advocates who say Ramirez’s death is part of a rising tide of hate crimes against Latinos.
The incident began when a half-dozen high school football players were headed home from a block party in the coal town of Shenandoah, which has attracted Hispanic immigrants with jobs in factories and farm fields. They came across Ramirez, 25, and his 15-year-old girlfriend in a park.
An argument broke out and the football players hurled ethnic slurs, although lawyers disputed who said exactly what. Defense attorneys called Ramirez the aggressor.
Soon Ramirez and Brandon Piekarsky were trading punches. Derrick Donchak jumped in — his lawyers said to break up the fight — and wound up on top of Ramirez. Prosecutors said he pummeled Ramirez while gripping a small piece of metal to give his punches more power; defense attorneys denied he had a weapon.
The fight wound down but the argument continued. Ramirez charged the group. He was knocked out by a punch to the face. Prosecutors said he was killed by Piekarsky’s kick to the head; defense lawyers said another teen delivered the fatal blow.
Milford police officer fired in fatal crash www.privateofficer.com
The Board of Police Commissioners fired Jason Anderson, a five-year department veteran, and suspended another officer, Richard Pisani, for 30 days without pay in connection with the incident. The board also extended Pisani’s probationary period, due to end in February, for another year.
Anderson and Pisani were heading back to Milford from a mutual-aid call in West Haven on the night of the accident. A video camera installed in Pisani’s cruiser recorded both officers speeding far above the posted limit of 40 mph. Pisani accelerated up to 72 mph and was driving at about 65 when Anderson barreled by him on the right, shortly before crashing into the teens.
He has been charged with two counts of second-degree manslaughter and one count of reckless driving, and is free on $250,000 bond. Anderson is next scheduled to appear Jan. 13 in Milford Superior Court. Pisani does not face criminal charges.
Anderson was joined in the packed hearing room by Jeffrey Matchett, a retired Milford police sergeant who is now executive director of Council 15 of the Connecticut Police Unions, and Eric Brown, legal counsel for the association. After the board voted to terminate him, the officer and his brother Richard, a Milford police sergeant, moved through a crowd of family, friends and fellow officers, accepting hugs. Jason Anderson declined to comment to a reporter.
The commission’s action doesn’t change a thing, according to the lawyer for the family of David Servin, one of the 19-year-olds who died in the crash. “Whether or not they are fired or suspended is not the issue to me and my clients,” attorney Bart Halloran said before the meeting. “I think the chief and the commission have a duty to clarify what the two officers were doing that night.”
Witnesses told State Police that the two Milford officers appeared to be drag racing. A State Police investigation found Anderson was driving 94 mph when he crashed into the car carrying Servin and Ashlie Krakowski. The couple was traveling in the opposite direction and attempted a left-hand turn onto Dogwood Road in front of Anderson’s cruiser shortly after 2 a.m.
Halloran confirmed that toxicology reports show that Servin’s blood alcohol level was 0.13 when he died at the crash scene, far above the 0.02 limit for those under 21 and the 0.08 limit for adults. Although State Police have said that Servin was driving, Halloran and John Wynne, the Krakowski family lawyer, are not sure. They haven’t been able to have their experts inspect the car, Halloran said.
“But the (toxicology results) are a red herring anyway,” the Servins’ lawyer said Monday. “To have someone driving 94 miles an hour in the right lane — passing someone — is so far beyond the human experience of making a left turn. We’ve all made left turns and had it be closer than we wanted because we misjudged the speed. But this guy was going 94 miles an hour — nothing prepares you for that.”
The police commission agreed with Chief Keith Mello’s conclusion that both officers violated department policy, particularly the requirement that officers follow posted speed limits when not responding to an emergency.
“I would like to remind everyone that there are 111 police officers in this department who have and will continue to put their safety on the line to protect others,” Mello said. “With rare exception, they perform admirably and honorably and they have served this community well for decades.”
The difference in the severity of the discipline is partly due to the outcome of the incident, said Sgt. Vaughan Dumas, a department spokesman, and partly because the officers were travelling at different speeds. State statutes treat speeds above 80 mph as reckless driving violations, and below 80 as speeding infractions.
The commission voted unanimously on both officers’ discipline, spending 30 minutes reviewing the internal investigation of Anderson and nearly an hour on the report concerning Pisani. Six members voted; Chairman Carleton Giles, a Norwalk police officer, recused himself, citing his professional contact with Council 15 union officials. Labor lawyer Lawrence Sgrignari, of Hamden, represented the city on both matters.
Anderson had been on paid administrative leave since Nov. 10, the date of his arrest. Pisani had been working his regular 4 p.m. to midnight shift while the internal investigation was going on
