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Cincinnati police officer killed in Afghanistan www.privateofficer.com
Hundreds attended the visitation Tuesday morning for Tech Sgt. Anthony C. “Tony” Campbell, who was killed while trying to disarm an improvised explosive device last week. The Air Force Tech Sgt. was serving in Afghanistan as an explosive ordinance disposal specialist.
Campbell, 35, had been serving as a Cincinnati police officer for just a few weeks before he was deployed.
“He was my best friend and a wonderful husband and father,” said his widow, Emily Campbell.
Campbell’s statements came from a program given to those who attended the visitation at Florence Baptist Church at Mt. Zion.
“He dedicated his life to his country,” Campbell’s statement continued.
Hundreds upon hundreds stood in line for a chance to express their sympathy for the family.
The 1992 Boone County high school graduate had his mother sign his enlistment papers at the age of 17 so he could join the Air Force.
In 2009 he became a Cincinnati police officer and served at downtown’s district one headquarters before he was deployed to Afghanistan.
In an additional statement Emily Campbell thanked the community for their support at this most difficult time.
“On behalf of the Campbell family I would like to express my deepest gratitude and appreciation for the outpouring of love and support we have received over the last week. The love that has been shown for my husband, Anthony, myself, and our grieving family has gone beyond my imagination,” Campbell said.
Campbell also leaves behind three children.
His 2-year-old son saluted his father before the service began.
During the funeral, Campbell was remembered by his best friend, Chris Webster.
“Anthony Campbell Junior was a father, a husband, a son, a grandson, a brother, an uncle and a friend,” said Webster, Campbell’s Best Friend. “He was a union brother to two of the biggest families in Cincinnati. The Cincinnati Police Department and the Plumbers and Pipe fitters Local 392 and a member to an even bigger family the United States Air Force. I’ve known Tony for 24 years and trust me when I say Tony was doing exactly what he wanted to do.”
Cincinnati Police Chief Tom Streicher also paid tribute to Campbell.
“Tony put himself in harms way so that other people could be protected. Other people in a community much larger that what we experience here in the Greater Cincinnati area in fact his community was the entire world and I think that’s something that speaks volume about his character, his tenacity and about his commitment to duty,” said Chief Tom Streicher of Cincinnati Police. “In my estimation, each and everyone one of us owe him a debt of gratitude for his loyal service to his community and to his country.”
Air Force commanders posthumously awarded Campbell the Bronze Star, the Purple Heart, and the Combat Action Medal.
Tech Sgt. Campbell was escorted to the Veterans Cemetery in Williamstown where he was laid to rest.
“Tony Campbell was a great American, Tony Campbell is a hero in our minds, and he will live in our hearts forever,” said Streicher.
Pot store guard fired for being “over aggressive” www.privateofficer.com
The dispensary owner said he was let go for being “over-aggressive and scary.” The dispensary’s owner said Earth Cann has hired two new guards who are “nice and professional.”
Former security guard George Covarrubias was hired to keep an eye on the parking lot of Earth Cann Wellness Center in Lake Forest Here he’s shown outside the dispensary in October.
Club owner Shannon Saccullo immediately posted warning signs – telling club members that marijuana prescriptions must remain in a sealed bag until they are taken home – and hired Covarrubias to enforce the dispensary’s rules.
In a short time Covarrubias made sure there was no smoking and loitering around Earth Cann or other businesses. He stopped “drug deals,” he said. He also developed a rapport with nearby businesses and introduced himself, asking for their worries and input.
Covarrubias said he suspended about eight people from use of the club – including one he characterizes as a good customer.
Covarrubias said he also called police when it seemed that violations of the zero tolerance policy were taking place outside his area of patrol.
In one case Covarrubias said he caught a club member packing a bowl of marijuana and smoking it.
“He buys a quarter pound at a time and at $300 an ounce, he spends $1,200 each time,” said Covarrubias. “I set high standards for the place and was professional,” he said. “They treated me like I was an old gang banger. I got spit on, almost got knocked down by speeding cars and got flipped off.”
Covarrubias said he is disappointed by his removal.
Saccullo said she received countless complaints about Covarrubias’ aggressive behavior.
“People were coming into the club saying ‘your security guard is really obsessed,’” she said. “I told him to mellow out and be nice to people. He was not approachable and polite. I want people to have a positive experience in the club and not to be hassled.”
Since November police have not gotten reports of any problems associated with the dispensary.
Vickie Simpson, executive director of Us Too Center which focuses on special needs children, is familiar with the dispensary and located in the neighboring business park.
“Before the security guards people would speed through the parking lot and we saw multiple drug transaction right in front of our door,” said Simpson. “Now we have no problems at all.”
Earth Cann’s membership has grown to more than 2,500 now, almost 1,000 more since late October.
In November the dispensary won a lawsuit against its landlord, which tried to evict the business, when a judge rejected the landlord’s argument that the dispensary should be forced to close because it allegedly violated a city zoning rule.
David Welch, an attorney who represented Earth Cann, called Superior Court judge’s ruling a victory in the medical marijuana battle.
City officials – who on Sept. 1 announced that complaints had been filed against 35 people associated with 14 dispensaries.– said the tenant-landlord dispute will have no affect on the city’s legal efforts to close down dispensaries citywide.
“If the landlord takes action to remove the tenant and they are removed, that’s one less dispensary the city would have to close,” said Jeff Dunn, a partner with Best, Best & Krieger, representing the city in its legal action against the dispensaries.
“The city has taken legal action to close all storefronts in Lake Forest. But if the landlord doesn’t do it, it won’t change what the city will do. Nothing has happened that will affect the city’s process to move forward.”
Dunn said all dispensaries – now more than 20 – could be shut down by early next year.
But Saccullo remains optimistic and hopes the city will agree to regulate a few of the dispensaries that a re running legitimate businesses.
“Things are great,” said Saccullo adding that club members are bringing in cans for the needy for the holidays. “I have a book of 100 testimonials of what medical marijuana is doing for people. I’ll be the poster child for how a business liker this should be run. I’m very proud of it.”
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Blufton teacher charged with sexual misconduct with minor www.privateofficer.com
The 36-year-old former Bluffton-Harrison schools teacher Tracey Pace faces sexual misconduct charges.
Police in Bluffton say Pace performed sexual acts on a teenager from January to March in 2007.
She was not a teacher at the time.
Pace is also charged with sending pornographic pictures to a minor in 2007.
Pace has been arrested and is being held in the Wells County Jail on $30,000 bond.
Pace is on administrative leave from her teaching position.
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Florida cop busted for DUI accident www.privateofficer.com
But that goal and his law enforcement career were endangered by his arrest this weekend on charges that the off-duty officer drunkenly crashed into two different vehicles, then drove away.
Green, 30, was arrested early Saturday on charges of driving under the influence/crash, DUI involving property damage and two counts of leaving the scene of a crash involving property damage.
Both incidents took place on Fourth Street N about 10 p.m. Friday, according to St. Petersburg police.
The first crash took place as Green attempted to pass a vehicle near the 3500 block of Fourth Street.
Both vehicles were headed north. Green drove over the raised concrete median while passing a 2009 Honda sedan, police said, and struck the driver’s side mirror of that vehicle.
The Honda’s driver was not injured, but police said the officer didn’t stop after the collision.
Instead, Green continued north on Fourth. Police said Green’s vehicle struck another vehicle at 38th Avenue N and Fourth Street. Police said no one was injured in that crash, but that Green kept going.
After the incidents, officers searched the area and found Green’s damaged vehicle parked outside his Shore Acres home.
Green, who was off duty, was still inside the vehicle, according to police. His blood-alcohol level tested at 0.179 and 0.173. Florida law presumes a driver is impaired at 0.08 or greater.
He was arrested and booked into the Pinellas County jail about 3:30 a.m. Saturday. He could not be reached for comment Monday.
Green, a graduate of Lakewood High School and the University of South Florida, has been a patrol officer since November 2005. His personnel file shows nothing but positive reviews.
His file also showed that he has never been disciplined by the department. Green was involved in three crashes while driving his police cruiser, according to records, but only one incident was declared “preventable.” He received a warning for that incident.
According to police, he was placed on administrative duty pending an internal investigation. After the investigation, a chain-of-command board will determine any disciplinary action.
Shoplifter captured after stabbing Wal-Mart agent www.privateofficer.com
Officers learned that a security guard, Terry Edward Counts, of Vanceboro, had been cut by a man trying to take shoes from the store. Counts told officers he followed the suspect out of the store, and the man turned around and attacked him, cutting his arm repeatedly.
The suspect fled the scene on foot, and thanks to citizens who provided officers with information on his movements, police pursued him across Highways 17 and 70 to Egret Circle in the Woodland Crossing Apartment complex. As part of the New Bern Police Department’s Holiday Task Force, numerous officers were already in the immediate area, which allowed for a rapid response time. The suspect, Randolph Jones, Jr., of 728 Cedar St., was apprehended within 10 minutes of the call to police.
Counts was taken to Carolina East Medical Center and then airlifted to Pitt Memorial Hospital for treatment.
Jones has a criminal history that includes larceny, assault, trespassing, common law robbery, shoplifting and felony breaking and entering. He was charged with Larceny and Assault with a Deadly Weapon with Intent to Kill Inflicting Serious Injury.
He was placed in the Craven County jail under a $150,000 bond and scheduled to make a first appearance in court December 28, 2009.
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$5 Million taken in armored car robbery www.privateofficer.com
The spokesman for the FBI office in San Juan, Harry Rodriguez, said that the six or seven criminals came on Monday morning to the company facilities, where they overpowered several guards charged with the custody of the vehicle’s shipment.
The robbers unloaded the money and fled in the vehicle they arrived in without injuring any of the Ranger American employees.
Police chief Jose Figueroa Sancga said that he will cooperate with the FBI to solve the case as quickly as possible, noting that practically 100 percent of armored car robberies in Puerto Rico end with the arrests of the criminals.
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