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Three Memphis cops busted by FBI for corruption www.privateofficer.com
Source: myeyewitnessnews.com – Three Memphis cops were busted by the FBI on Friday, February 26, 2010, in a police corruption case that took MPD Director Larry Godwin by surprise.
Three of his officers, including a veteran of the force, are charged with taking thousands of dollars in bribes from a local nightclub owner in exchange for information and protection.
The FBI picked the officers up Friday for questioning. During their interviews, all three admitted to taking payoffs from the club owner. They accepted the bribes from last September up until this week, grabbing the cash while on duty and in uniform.
“I’m fed up with it,” Director Godwin said during a news conference at the U.S. Attorney’s office just hours after he received word of the arrests. Godwin says he was at a retreat with other top law enforcement officials when he got the news, and he was both shocked and angered by it.
Lt. Tim Green, a 24-year veteran of the department, along with Patrolman Chris Crawford and Patrolman Mike Young face federal bribery and extortion charges.
“I’ve said that before I retire,” Godwin told reporters, “I will rid this department of criminal activity and thugs. And I’m sick of it because it overshadows the hardwork of every good officer in this county.”
U.S. Attorney Lawrence Laurenzi says Crawford and Young were paid $100 a pop and Lt. Green received more than $1,000 every time they paid a visit to the club.
Laurenzi says the officers would get paid for “cleaning the lot”, forcing patrons to leave the parking lot after the club closed. They also notified the club’s owners about police raids and an ongoing OCU investigation. And Lt. Green is accused of falsifying police reports to cover up crimes at the club.
The information and money were usually traded in the club’s bathroom or office, and most exchanges were recorded by the FBI on audio and videotape.
Federal investigators say Lt. Green received 11 payments since October, totaling $8,000.
Officer Crawford accepted 14 payments, totaling more than $1,400.
Officer Young received 27 payments, adding up to more than $2,600.
The cops’ bribery scheme was discovered while the FBI and an MPD task force were conducting an investigation into the club’s activities. Their source inside the club, according to investigators, was an individual who was brought in for questioning in September. This person claimed to be a silent partner in the nightclub with a $15,000 to $20,000 investment in the business. That source then began working as a manager at the club and provided federal investigators with most of the information contained in the criminal complaint.
With the arrests of Green, Crawford and Young, this brings the number of Memphis Police Officers accused of wrongdoing in recent months to 23. A total of 55 local law enforcement officers have been charged with crimes in the last six years.
“We understand that the community expects and they demand,” says Laurenzi, “that there not be corruption in law enforcement. Everybody up here understands that good and effective law enforcement starts with honest law enforcement.”
“I’ll tell you this,” says Director Godwin, “you can send this message: you come on the Memphis Police Department and you think you’re going to commit criminal activity, we will lock you up.
Lt. Green is suspended from the MPD with pay. Officers Crawford and Young both resigned. All three have bonds set at $10,000. Saturday evening, an MPD spokesperson said the trio was still behind bars at the federal facility in Mason, Tennessee. When released, the officers will be subject to home detention and electronic monitoring.
The club owner faces no charges at this time and federal investigators won’t identify the nightclub involved, saying it’s an ongoing investigation.
Law Firm, clinic accused of illegal practices www.privateofficer.com
Source: jounel-courier.com Injured when another car struck hers in June 2008, Sharon Langford of Louisville went to see the law firm of Winters Yonker & Rousselle.
She said the firm told her that her health insurance wouldn’t cover injuries suffered in car wrecks and that she should get all medical care at 1st Physician Rehabilitation Inc., a clinic on Crums Lane.
When Langford needed surgery, the firm flew her to another clinic in Florida.
She only discovered later, she said, that both clinics are owned by Gary Kompothecras, a chiropractor who also owns the heavily advertised referral service 1-800-ASK-GARY 1-800-ASK-GARY which refers clients to Winters & Yonker, as the firm is now known, in Louisville and Florida.
RelatedIn a suit filed last month against the law firm and Kompothecras’ Louisville clinic, Langford said the relationship between the two — and their alleged deception — deprived her of the right to treatment by her doctors and cost her money.
Sam Carl, one of her lawyers, said Winters & Yonker settled her accident case for $200,000, then paid itself $70,000 and the medical providers $64,518, leaving her the smallest share, $62,738. (The balance covered medical expenses before she hired the firm.)
“I felt they weren’t honest with me,” Langford, a former state corrections officer, said in an interview.
The law firm and medical clinic call the suit frivolous and say they will prevail.
Marc Yonker, a partner in Tampa-based Winters & Yonker, declined to answer questions about his firm’s relationship with Kompothecras’ companies, and Kompothecras also had no comment, said Gregory Zitani, one of his lawyers.
Lawyers who defend auto wreck cases say Winters & Yonker isn’t the only firm that seems to routinely refer clients to the same medical clinics.
But Langford and her lawyers say the case reveals an interconnected network that is rife with potential conflicts of interest.
Carl said the relationship between Winters & Yonker and the Kompothecras clinics raises “disturbing questions” about whether clients are getting the best medical care.
Other lawyers say the arrangement creates an incentive for the clinics to say injuries are accident-related and to run up medical bills.
And ethics experts say that the reciprocal referrals violate ethics rules in Kentucky and Florida, which bar lawyers from giving anything of value in exchange for referrals.
“A lawyer has the obligation to send the client to the best place, not the place from which the lawyer is getting business,” explained Northwestern University law professor Steven Lubet.
There are no publicly available complaints pending against the firm’s lawyers at the Kentucky Bar Association, said Linda Gosnell, chief bar counsel, but the suit has been brought to the bar’s attention.
Firm’s use of clinic
The Courier-Journal’s review of Jefferson Circuit Court records found more than a dozen other auto accident and slip-and-fall cases in which Winters & Yonker clients were treated at 1st Physician, including several in which clients said they were sent there by the law firm.
Louisville trial lawyer Chris Meinhart, who has challenged Winters & Yonker’s relationship with another Florida medical clinic, said other personal-injury attorneys occasionally recommend doctors to clients — in part because many family doctors don’t want to get involved in the legal system.
But Meinhart said Winters & Yonker “systemically” refers clients to a few providers.
In her lawsuit, Langford said that she was examined at the Crums Lane clinic by Dr. Francisco Gomes, who is licensed in Kentucky but is listed as an “inactive physician” by the Kentucky Board of Medical Licensure.
Gomes, who is licensed in Florida and works in one of Kompothecras’ clinics there, said Langford needed surgery, and she was flown to Florida, where in September 2008 he removed a disc from her neck and fused two vertebrae, according to her lawsuit.
Lloyd Vest, general counsel for the Kentucky Medical Licensure Board, said it is investigating Gomes, but he couldn’t elaborate.
Gomes didn’t respond to calls and e-mails.
Kompothecras’ clinics don’t accept health insurance, according to their Web sites.
Instead, they first bill their patients’ auto-insurance carriers to recover from the personal-injury protection all drivers must carry. The mandatory coverage — which must be at least $10,000 — pays for medical bills and lost wages without suing the at-fault driver.
The clinics also obtain a “letter of protection” from Winters & Yonker, in which the law firm promises to cover medical expenses from any settlement or verdict the patient wins in the legal case.
Langford alleges that neither the law firm nor Kompothecras’ clinics disclosed that they give each other business “in consideration for receiving client referrals.”
In the suit, she seeks compensatory and punitive damages, as well as the forfeiture of the law firm’s fee, claiming the medical costs deducted from her settlement would have been far less if they had been covered by her Humana policy.
Langford is the only former client who has sued Winters & Yonker, according to Jefferson Circuit Court records. But auto-insurance companies and their lawyers have, in other cases, attempted to alert juries to what they say is a cozy relationship between the firm and medical providers.
For example, after another Winters & Yonker client, Elsia Clay of Louisville, sued over injuries she claimed she suffered in a rear-end accident on Feb. 5, 2008, attorneys for the other driver and Allstate Insurance Co. questioned Dr. Gregory Bronner, the medical director at 1st Physician, where Clay was treated.
Bonner acknowledged that the clinic is paid in part based on how much Winters & Yonker recovers for its clients.
A jury awarded Clay only $10,320 of the $120,000 in damages that lawyers at Winters & Yonker sought for her. That included bills from 1st Physician and from an MRI clinic in Jeffersonville, Ind., that is owned by one of Kompothecras’ employees, according to state records.
800 referral line
That link is further demonstrated by the “1-800-ASK-GARY.
According to its Web site, the line promises to connect auto-accident victims with injury attorneys and doctors “who are uniquely suited to your situation.”
Stephanie Portman of Louisville said that when she called the referral line last month, the operator put an intake specialist from Winters & Yonker on the line, who recommended that she seek treatment at clinics owned by Kompothecras.
Kompothecras owns a chain of 40 clinics in Florida and Minnesota, as well 1st Physician, and has spent as much as $4million a year in advertising and marketing expenses for 1-800-ASK-GARY , according to a suit he filed in Florida a few years ago against some of his competitors.
His company is private and doesn’t disclose its profits.
Winters & Yonker clients do see other medical providers, according to court records.
But former employees, including Brian Clear, who worked for the firm for about a year signing up clients, said in interviews that there was an expectation clients would be sent to 1st Physicians Rehab or a few other clinics that referred business to the law firm.
He said the firm kept records on where clients were referred.
In a Jefferson Circuit Court case settled in December, a Tampa-based clinic that has treated Winters & Yonker clients, Laser Spine Institute, was forced to accept only $10,000 of its $124,850 bill after attorneys challenged the clinic’s relationship with the law firm.
Debbie Lynch initially hired Winters & Yonker to represent her in her car-accident suit. But after she fired the firm and hired other lawyers, she claimed in court papers that the law firm set up surgery for Lynch at the Florida clinic while she was still being treated by her doctors in Louisville.
One of her new lawyers, Meinhart, said Lynch’s accident was a “fender bender,” but the clinic and the law firm allowed her medical bills to escalate so high that “there is no way the case could have been settled or tried to a verdict” in an amount sufficient to pay them.
Meinhart said Lynch was never told about the clinic and firm’s “outstanding relationship.”
Winters & Yonker and Lynch declined to discuss the case.
Dotty Bollinger, an attorney for Laser Spine Institute, said that the company has “acknowledged and addressed Lynch’s concerns” and that her case was settled “in a fair manner.”
University of Tampa security help make robbery arrests www.privateofficer.com
By: Rick McCann/Staff
PRIVATE OFFICER NEWS
http://www.privateofficer.com
Tampa police have arrested two people in the robbery of a University of Tampa student because of good work by university security personnel.
Security officers responded and followed the suspects to an apartment and kept them under surveillance while notifying Tampa police.
Security officer shoots man in head www.privateofficer.com
Ryan Corrin Harbert, 20, was taken to University Hospital with a single gunshot wound, a police report states. He was booked by proxy at the hospital and charged with aggravated assault of a security officer, a first-degree felony. His bail was set at $140,000.
The shooting occurred when Harbert and another man were seen driving at a high rate of speed around the parking lot of the Lincoln Village Apartments in the 1700 block of Jackson Keller Road. A security guard, Raymond Arroyo, confronted the pair. He told police they tried to hit him with their vehicle and when he told them to stop, the passenger pointed a gun in his direction.
The passenger fled after the vehicle crashed, the report states.
Police are investigating. Arroyo, 28, isn’t expected to face any charges, officers said.
K-Mart employee charged with felony theft www.privateofficer.com
Kristine Anne Wyse of Madisonville was arrested on a felony theft charge Wednesday.
She stole cash, jewelry and computer equipment valued at $14, 992 from the store located at 4150 Hunt Rd., police wrote in court documents.
She admitted to selling the items for cash at several pawn shops. Store security officers also spotted her stealing.
Wachovia Bank employee charged with fraud www.privateofficer.com
A Wachovia Bank employee stole almost $140,000 from customer accounts in the past three years, specifically targeting elderly or dead customers, the Sarasota Sheriff’s Office said.
Murphy Investigators say Nadia C. Murphy, 50, would run lists showing the maturation date of certificate of deposit accounts at the bank branch at 3625 Bee Ridge Road, the sheriff’s office said in an affidavit.
The accounts, known as CDs, are products similar to savings accounts.
Murphy picked accounts to steal from off of the list, and manufactured checks in the customer’s names to deposit in her own account, the affidavit said.
The checks had a false signature from a customer, and the living victims did not give her authorization to remove the funds, the sheriff’s office said.
Murphy told the bank’s corporate fraud investigator in November that she had stolen the money because she had financial difficulties, the affidavit said.
The sheriff’s office arrested Murphy on Wednesday on one count of scheme with intent to defraud, a felony.
She posted $15,000 bail on Thursday.
Mall Security Officer Shot-Killed www.privateofficer.com
By: Brett DAvis/Staff
PRIVATE OFFICER NEWS
www.privateofficer.com– A security officer has been shot dead at the Southland Mall in Whitehaven.
Investigators say that the 29 year old security officer was trying to break up a disturbance with a group of males inside the mall. The security officer had one man detained when another man pulled a handgun and shot the officer and then fled the scene.
The security officer was rushed to the Regional Medical Center in critical condition and later died.
His name has not been released pending the notification of family members.
Police are still looking for the shooter and the homicide unit is working some leads.
The Private Officer International association is offering $5000.00 for information leading to the arrest and prosecution of the person responsible for this murder.
Shoplifter given prison time www.privateofficer.com
By: Brett Davis/Staff
PRIVATE OFFICER NEWS
http://www.privateofficer.com/
— A minor shoplifting incident has landed one Moses Lake woman in prison for trying steal beer, soda and party supplies from Walmart.
Dora T. Quintero, 60, pleaded guilty to burglary in the second degree in Grant County Superior Court and was sentenced to more than three years behind bars.
Grant County Superior Court Judge John Antosz, followed the prosecutor’s recommendation, sentencing the woman to three years and 2.25 months in prison, the low end of the state-mandated sentencing range.
Walmart loss prevention officers stopped the woman as she tried to leave the store with a cart full of beer and soda along with a bag of party supplies, according to a Moses Lake police report. The woman admitted she intended to steal the items.
Tampa cop helps arrest son www.privateofficer.com
Officer Audrey Peterson was called into work on Thursday to identify a familiar suspect on survelliance video. It was her son, Paul McDonald.
McDonald, 18, is charged with attempted armed robbery after police say he held up a couple in a Channelside garage at 12:30 a.m. Sunday morning. A man – believed to be McDonald – was caught fleeing the garage on-camera.
Police didn’t have many leads before one of McDonald’s teachers at East Bay High alerted the School Resource Officer. The teacher saw McDonald looking at the police alert on the Tampa Police Department website.
Police and deputies then took McDonald into custody, and his mother helped confirm he was the one in the video.
“She immediately identified the suspect as her son,” said Laura McElroy with the Tampa Police Department. “She was beyond consolation…very shocked to see her son involved in such an offense.”
Officer Peterson works in the gang unit at the Tampa Police Department and that unit is ironically investigating the case. But right now, there’s not any information that the incident was gang-related.
Tampa Police say there is, however, the possibility that a second suspect could have been involved in the attempted armed robbery.
McDonald was released Friday on $15,000 bond.
NJ police director commits suicide www.privateofficer.com
Source:centraljerseynews.com — A former Edison police director was found dead in a Bergen County park Saturday morning in an apparent suicide, according to a statement from Hillsdale Police Chief Chip Stalter.
The statement said the body of Brian Collier, a Hillsdale resident, was found just before 10 a.m. Saturday in a “secluded, undeveloped section” of Wood Dale County Park in Hillsdale.
The statement said a preliminary investigation suggests that Collier, 53, took his own life. Police did not reveal how he died or if a note was left.
Police said that Collier had been missing since Friday and that a
missing person investigation was opened and searches were conducted throughout the day with no results.
With the help of other state and Bergen County police agencies, a more extensive search was launched on Saturday, the statement said.
Former Edison Mayor Jun Choi, who appointed Collier to the position of police director in early 2008, praised Collier for the work he did in Edison.
“It’s very tragic,” said Choi. “Brian was a cop’s cop with a big heart, a gem of a human being. He was a cop that every other cop looked up to.”
Edison Police Chief Thomas Bryan said Collier was a “very private”
person and was “”shocked” when he learned of Collier’s death.
“Working side-by-side with Brian was a very good experience,” Bryan said. “He was very committed and very dedicated to his work. He brought a lot of professionalism and resources to the police department.”
Collier began his career as a patrol officer for the Hillsdale Police Department in 1979. About five years later, he joined the Drug Enforcement Administration as a special agent. Stationed in Newark, he worked with local police in breaking up drug rings.
He later became a narcotics liaison and worked with international police
to curb the trafficking of illicit drugs.
Upon retiring from the Drug Enforcement Administration, he served as Edison’s police director until resigning at the end of last year.
Police said Collier’s death remains under investigation.
Security agency finds niche with frat houses www.privateofficer.com
Pittsburgh-based St. Moritz Security Services operates in 20 states, the District of Columbia and the Canadian province of British Columbia. It had $48 million in gross sales in fiscal 2007, its Web site says.
Since the Interfraternity Council passed a new social monitoring program, St. Moritz has been busy deploying employees throughout the week and on weekends to all 49 fraternities.
Roving patrols are sent out from 10 p.m. to midnight Sunday through Wednesday to make sure social events are within council guidelines — for example, snacks and non-alcoholic beverages must be available, and signs for emergency exits and bathrooms must be posted.
Depending on how many fraternities are having socials, four to five two-man patrols could be sent out.
Thursday through Saturday nights, St. Moritz supplies the guards for the front and back doors of each fraternity that has an invitation-only party.
Advertisement“Fourteen fraternities could be having a party. That’s two guards at each house, plus roving patrol. We usually have 30 to 36 guys out a night,” said Rick Payton, security consultant for all Pennsylvania St. Moritz branches.
The local office at 255 E. Beaver Ave. has 50 employees, most of whom work part time.
St. Moritz employees must be 18 years of age or older. Their basic training consists of reading and signing a handbook of rules, Payton said.
“We mostly just do on-the-job training,” he said. “And our guys are constantly being checked up on.”
At the fraternities, the front-door guard is in charge of the guest list and identification, while the back-door guard is to stop anyone from entering or from leaving with alcohol and can watch the party for rules violations.
Payton noted that the guards will stop anyone leaving with alcohol but are not bouncers.
“(The guards) are not there to verify age or to intercede with fights,” he said.
Payton also said the guards are not there to make friends. “We do not send same guard to same frat on a regular basis,” he said. “They are on a rotation so they don’t make friends with brothers and start stretching the rules.”
The costs are $16 an hour for each guard and $17.50 an hour for each roving patroller.
Max Wendkos, council president, said he couldn’t accurately predict what the overall fraternity spending would be.
According to Payton, employees working as guards take home $9 an hour and roving patrollers earn $10 per hour.
The Fraternity Purchasing Association, the supplies co-op involved in the contract, takes a percentage, and a percentage goes for liability insurance for St. Moritz employees.
“We may get less than 5 percent,” Payton said.
“Thus far, our experience with St. Moritz Security has been a positive one,” said Wendkos, a senior majoring in marketing and psychology. “I have been very encouraged by St. Moritz’s dedication to providing quality service.”
The firm also works with local hotels and restaurants.
During football season, Payton said, it works with the Ramada Conference Center at nights, “usually to monitor the halls and activity in the hotel to prevent problems that would disturb the guests.”
Red Lobster and Olive Garden are some local companies that call St. Moritz to provide a guard after closing if maintenance or repairs are being done.
St. Moritz also works alongside Penn State Police to provide a variety of services.
Security guard beat, robbed while on duty www.privateofficer.com
Source:dothaneagle.com Dothan police have arrested a man on charges he beat a 75-year-old hospital security guard during an armed robbery.
Officer Thomas Davis said police investigators arrested David Keith Johnson, 33, of East Burdeshaw Street, and charged him with felony first-degree robbery. Davis said the robbery happened around 7 p.m. on Dec. 9, 2009, in the parking lot of the Doctor Center at Flowers Hospital.
“He was armed with what appeared to be a gun, but it was a wrench wrapped up in a rag,” Davis said.
Davis said the 75-year-old security guard, who was not armed, suffered a broken nose, cheek bone and orbital bone during the robbery. The security guard’s assailant demanded his wallet, and then struck him at least once with what police later found out to be a wrench. Davis said Johnson was charged with stealing the guard’s wallet. Davis said the security guard’s injuries were not life threatening.
Police investigators also charged Johnson with two felony counts of first-degree theft of property. Police charged him with stealing a purse from a woman on Dec. 16, 2009, in the Wiregrass Commons Mall parking lot. He was charged with stealing a second woman’s purse three days later in the parking lot of a Kmart located in the 2200 block of Ross Clark Circle.
Davis said it’s unclear what led to Johnson’s arrest, but he was picked up by police on Wednesday.
Johnson was taken to the Dothan City Jail where he will later be transferred to the Houston County Jail on a $450,000 bond.
If convicted of the first-degree robbery charge he faces 10 to 99 years or life in prison for the class A felony crime. If convicted of the theft charges he faces two to 20 years in prison for the class B felony crimes.
Belk’s LP make felony arrest www.privateofficer.com
Hospital security officer murdered by employee
Patricia Belizaire, 25, was murdered on Sunday in North Brunswick, Jim O’Neill, spokesman for the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office said.
Dwayne Jackson, 25, of Edison, was charged with her murder Thursday at 10:30 p.m.
He is alleged to have driven her body to Rockland County, N.Y., and set it ablaze shortly before 5:22 a.m. Monday in Manny Welder Town Park in Ramapo. The young woman’s burned corpse was found less than 20 minutes later.
Related
Edison man now charged with murder in connection with abandoned toddler, slain mother
UPDATE: Probe links Edison man to toddler abandoned in Delaware, burning body in NY
Earlier Thursday, Jackson drew charges of kidnapping and abandoning his and Belizaire’s daughter Hanna in the bathroom of a gas station off Interstate 95 in Delaware.
Jackson is being held in Middlesex County Adult Correction Center in North Brunswick in lieu of $2 million bail on the murder charge and $750,000 bail on endangering and kidnapping charges.
O’Neill declined to discuss a motive, exactly where Belizaire was killed or whether Belizaire was strangled.
Jackson worked at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick as a night security guard, his Edison neighbors said.
Belizaire had also worked at Robert Wood Johnson, a hospital spokesman said Friday.
Belizaire is listed as a former employee, said spokesman Peter Haigney. Employee privacy policies prevented him from saying what job she held, how long she worked there or when she left, Haigney said.
Jackson is married to another woman, Lizette Jackson. Neighbors said the couple lives on Weldon Road in Edison with their two young sons and Lizette Jackson’s daughter, who a neighbor said was 12.
Jackson has also been charged by police in Delaware with a count of first-degree reckless endangering. Authorities said Jackson left the girl at a Shell service station on South College Avenue in Newark, Del. She was found crying in the locked room Sunday.
The child had been living with her mother in North Brunswick, authorities said. The baby is now in the custody of Delaware authorities.
Rural NC hospital locked down after incidents www.privateofficer.com
By: Rick McCann/Staff
Police say that Covington survived the shooting and officers arrested Simmons outside the hospital and charged him with attempted murder and seven other charges.
Jones did not say what started the family feud or who was responsible for stabbing Covington.
Nightclub security detain man with bogus cash www.privateofficer.com
Source newsok.com A Chickasha man was arrested on a complaint of using counterfeit bills to buy beer at a northwest Oklahoma City strip club, police said.
Richard Montgomery, 24, was arrested about 8 p.m. Feb. 20 outside the Red Dog Cafe, 6417 NW 10, according to a police report.
Club security officers told police a man bought beer using four counterfeit $5 bills. All four bills had the same serial number.
Police said they also found five counterfeit $1 bills with the same serial number that were very faded and two genuine $1 bills in Montgomery’s pants pockets when he was arrested.
A man who went to the club with Montgomery was arrested on a complaint of possessing a hypodermic syringe and on an outstanding felony warrant.
Police said they found the syringe in the jacket of Larry Lee Carter Jr., 36, of West Milton, Ohio. He told police the syringe belonged to his girlfriend.
Woman jailed for assault on security during theft www.privateofficer.com
That’s how Kane County Judge Bruce Lester described Julie Newberry’s activities when Newberry appeared in Elgin bond court Friday morning for the second time in as many days.
“I can tell I made a serious impression on you the first time,” the judge said.
Newberry was before the judge this latest time on a felony charge of attempted escape. She is accused of dashing into an elevator at the Elgin Police Department on Thursday and trying to flee from the department’s processing area.
Newberry, 22, of 1141 Chippewa Circle, Carpentersville, initially was arrested Wednesday after she and Evan V. Becker, 22, of Chicago, attempted to steal spools of wire from a hardware store, police said.
Becker and Newberry, with a small child in tow, grabbed two spools of copper wire and hid it under a blanket in their shopping cart while in the Menard’s on South Randall Road, a police report said.
The pair then attempted to leave the store, passing the final point of sale without paying for the wire, according to police.
When store security stopped Becker and Newberry, a police report said, Becker gave Newberry the child and cooperated with the security officer. Newberry left the store, then re-entered and attempted to leave again, a police report said.
When a security officer tried to stop Newberry from leaving the second time, Newberry pushed the security employee to the ground, a report said.
“I pushed her but I couldn’t have pushed her to the ground, I had a baby in my arms,” Newberry contested during her bond court appearance on Thursday.
“Well ma’am that doesn’t make it any better,” Judge Lester replied.
Newberry was charged with felony retail theft, aggravated battery and misdemeanor resisting arrest. Becker was charged with felony retail theft.
Becker’s bond was set at $35,000 and Newberry’s was set at $15,000. Becker’s bail was higher because the 22-year-old had been arrested 31 times before the most recent arrest, according to court documents.
After her bond call appearance on Thursday morning Newberry was taken to the Elgin city jail to be processed, Deputy Chief Jeff Swoboda said.
“While in custody she was allowed out of her cell to make a phone call in the processing area,” Swoboda said. “During that time she was able to enter an open elevator just as someone was getting off of it.”
Newberry then allegedly started to push buttons inside the elevator, Swoboda said.
“An alarm sounded and there was no way she would have been able to make the elevator move,” Swoboda said.
The elevator Newberry had chosen for her escape was a special police elevator which requires a security code to access and command, he said.
Newberry said during bond call Friday she knew that when she got into the elevator.
“I knew I wasn’t going anywhere,” she told Lester.
Newberry said she could clearly read a sign on the elevator that informed a pass code was needed to operate the elevator. Newberry said she got on the elevator just so she could have a place to “get out of her head” and “to think.”
Newberry claimed her charge of attempted escape was not fair because there was no way she would have gotten out of the jail on that elevator. After that Newberry asked the judge for a low bond because she has children — not her own — that rely on her.
“You being here is not the fault of the system,” Lester said in denying the request.
Newberry’s bail for the attempted escape charge was set at $35,000. She is to appear in court on the week’s worth of charges at 9 a.m. on March 5.
Dopehead looses drugs, calls security for help www.privateofficer.com
Yolo County Sheriff’s Sgt. Lance Faille said someone found the bag on the casino floor and turned it over to the facility’s lost and found unit shortly after 4 a.m. Tuesday. About 15 minutes later, George Bowers contacted the casino’s security staff to report his bag missing.
Bowers told authorities he had left it at a slot machine, Faille said.
By then, security guards had looked inside the bag to try to find information that would help them identify and find its owner. Instead, they found a bundle of white crystalline substance and suspected it to be narcotics. A preliminary test determined the substance to be methamphetamine, but investigators are awaiting the final analysis from the California Department of Justice, Faille said.
When Bowers contacted the casino’s security staff, he described the bag that had been turned over to sheriff’s deputies.
Officials said Bowers told them that he bought the suspected narcotics earlier in the week and gave some to his friend, 51-year-old Jinny Dixon of San Jose, who had accompanied Bowers to the casino. Deputies found five bags of crystalline substance inside Dixon’s bag.
The suspected methamphetamine that Dixon and Bowers were allegedly carrying weighed 13 grams and had a value of about $600, authorities said.
Dixon and Bowers were arrested on suspicion of possession of a controlled substance, possession of a controlled substance for sale and transportation of a controlled substance. They were both booked in the Yolo County Main Jail, officials said.
Mans bathroom needs land him in jail www.privateofficer.com
By: Rick McCann/Staff
PRIVATE OFFICER NEWS
www.privateofficer.com
Sometimes you just gotta go and there’s just no two ways about it.
Such was the case with Juan Medina, 27, of Philadelphia, who police say attempted to enter the Philadelphia Park Casino four times without proper identification.
When stopped by casino security, Medina was told not to enter the casino but he insisted that he had to use the restroom.
After numerous attempts to make it through the doors of the casino, Medina was taken into custody and charged with criminal trespass.
Casino officers said that Medina did not have proper identification and was defiant.
There was no word as to if he was allowed to use the restroom facility of the casino.
OFFICER DOWN FRESNO
Deputy Sheriff Joel Wahlenmaier
Fresno County Sheriff’s Department
California
End of Watch: Thursday, February 25, 2010
Biographical Info
Age: 48
Tour of Duty: 12 years
Badge Number: Not available
Incident Details
Cause of Death: Gunfire
Date of Incident: Thursday, February 25, 2010
Weapon Used: Gun; Unknown type
Suspect Info: Deceased
Deputy Joel Wahlenmaier was shot and killed as he and another deputy assisted officers from the California Fire Marshals Office serve a warrant on a suspected arsonist in Minkler, California.
As the deputies and officers entered the suspect’s mobile home the man opened fire on them, fatally wounding Deputy Wahlenmaier and wounding a second deputy. A responding officer from the Reedley Police Department was also shot and critically wounded.
The suspect was found dead inside the home after a standoff that lasted several hours.
Deputy Wahlenmaier had served with the Fresno County Sheriff’s Department for 12 years. He is survived by his wife, son, daughter, and parents.
Agency Contact Information
Fresno County Sheriff’s Department
PO Box 1788
2200 Fresno Street
Fresno, CA 93717
Phone: (559) 488-3121
Doug Rose, LP Investigator dies unexpectedly www.privateofficer.com
Death Notice
36-year-old Doug Rose, an LP investigator for Barnes & Noble, passed away February 15 of natural causes.
Based primarily in Southern California, the young professional had spent his entire 18-year career in loss prevention working for a number of major retailers.
According to Paul Bos of HSN, a friend and coworker, “Doug was a tenacious investigator, a skilled interviewer, and a leader who always thought about his team first.
Passionate about investigations, he had an amazing ability to sniff out and successfully close cases at an impressive rate.
Both in and out of work, Doug was a fun-loving, compassionate, kind person, and a great friend to many.”
Rose leaves behind his mother Diane, brother David, and fiancee Tiffany.
Security company closes after employee charged with rape www.privateofficer.com
By: Rick McCann/Staff
PRIVATE OFFICER NEWS
http://www.privateofficer.com/
The security company that employed a security g
uard who is accused of raping a shoplifter has closed down.“We relied on the fact that he had an active license from the state of Tennessee to be a guard,” said Akins, who said he found out about the previous charge when news of the current arrest broke. “It shut me down. I have no business.”
Hill was charged with rape after detaining a woman on shoplifting charges at the Poplar Plaza Kroger.
According to police, Hill “forcefully propositioned” her for sexual favors, including putting his hand down her pants.
Authorities were alerted the next day, leading to Hill’s arrest.
Akins also said that he was unaware that state officials attempted to revoke Hill’s license in February 2009 after his plea of guilty in a statutory rape case.
That process led to a November hearing, but state officials have yet to rule on the revocation of Hill’s license.
Akins said he was relying on the fact that Hill’s license was renewed in 2005, 2007 and 2009.
Legislation has been introduced that would make it easier to revoke the licenses of guards convicted of serious crimes, said Christopher Garrett, spokesman for the Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance, which oversees security companies.
If the new legislation is approved, officials can automatically revoke a license after conviction of a serious crime, unless a hearing is requested within 30 days of conviction.
That bill is under consideration in the state House and Senate.
Akins, who is now unemployed himself said that he doesn’t know what he’ll do to support his family and blames this whole event and the closing of his company on Hill.
Marine charged with accidental shooting death of child
Colton Luman, 26, of the 800 block of Warbler Court, will be charged with involuntary manslaughter for the unlawful discharge of a firearm in a dwelling, said Commonwealth’s Attorney Nancy Parr.
Makenna Rose Luman was in the home on Warbler Court, which is part of the Navy’s remote Northwest Annex near the North Carolina border. She later died at a hospital.
Police said the shooting appeared to be accidental. According to Virginia law, a person can be charged with involuntary manslaughter if he or she unlawfully fires in an occupied dwelling – even if it is not done so maliciously.
Luman is a sergeant assigned to a training company of Marine Corps Security Force Regiment in Norfolk, said Dennis Neal, a deputy public affairs officer. He enlisted in 2002.
Luman was licensed by the California Bureau of Security and Investigative Services as a guard in San Diego from November 2006 to November 2008 and from January 2007 to January 2009, according to the agency’s Web site. He also had a firearm permit.
He will be arraigned in Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court, Parr said. She said she was not able to comment further because the case is pending.
McKinney teacher arrested for student relationship www.privateofficer.com
Ryan Staton Hufford, 28, could not be reached for comment Thursday evening. Jail records show he was released Wednesday.
He resigned from his post as an agriculture teacher at McKinney North High School this week after he was confronted with the allegation, which involves a female student who has since graduated, officials said.
“We don’t have any reason to believe at this time that there were any additional students involved,” said Cody Cunningham, a McKinney Independent School District spokesman.
Police would not say when the alleged crime occurred. Hufford worked at the school for two or three years, officials said. The investigation is ongoing, police said.
Wayne Newton pursued over numerous debts www.privateofficer.com
Guards at Newton’s house, in a 38-acre walled compound dubbed “Casa de Shenandoah,” refused to accept service of court documents, and moving vans and Clark County sheriff’s civil division deputies left after less than 45 minutes, police Officer Bill Cassell said.
“They will have to seek alternative civil remedies,” said Cassell, a department spokesman.
Police and court officials said the case will return to county district court, where Judge Michelle Leavitt found Newton and his corporate entity, Desert Eagle LLC, in default June 8 on more than $400,000 owed to his former pilot, Monty Ward.
An Oct. 23 court filing in the case listed the amount due to Ward at almost $481,000, plus almost $128 per day in interest. The Las Vegas Sun reported Thursday that a lawyer for Ward put the amount due at more than $501,000.
Ward’s lawyer, John Muije, and Newton representatives did not immediately respond to messages from The Associated Press.
Ward is not the only creditor pursuing the 67-year-old crooner widely known as “Mr. Las Vegas.” Records show Newton has a spotty financial history.
In a civil lawsuit filed Feb. 9 in Clark County District Court, Bruton Smith, the billionaire chief of Charlotte, N.C.-based Sonic Automotive Inc. and chairman of NASCAR track owner Speedway Motorsports Inc., is seeking to seize Newton’s home for repayment of a $3.35 million loan.
A Speedway Motorsports corporate official in North Carolina and Las Vegas-based attorneys for Smith did not respond Thursday to messages seeking comment.
Court documents say Newton, Desert Eagle and Newton’s wife, Kathleen McCrone Newton, pledged the 38-acre personal residence as security for the loan in May 2007.
Desert Eagle also pledged as security Newton’s personal twin-engine jet, a Fokker F28 that an airport concessionaire said Thursday has been sitting abandoned at an airport near Detroit.
Joe Borgesen, owner of Oakland Air at Oakland International Airport in Waterford, Mich., said a lien has been filed against $66,000 in parking fees owed for the aircraft, which was valued in Smith’s lawsuit at more than $2 million.
Borgesen said the aircraft has been parked for more than three years and may be inoperable, with mold in the interior and engines that haven’t run in months.
Last summer, Newton was sued over $32,000 worth of hay for his horses and $37,000 for a 2005 Cadillac Escalade. The Cadillac lawsuit was dropped, but the lawsuit over the hay is pending in Clark County.
Newton filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 1992 to reorganize an estimated $20 million in debts, including a $341,000 Internal Revenue Service lien for back taxes.
In 2005, Newton disputed IRS claims that he and his wife owed $1.8 million in back taxes and penalties from 1997 through 2000.
Newton is credited with performing more than 30,000 solo shows in Las Vegas over 40 years. His latest show, called “Once Before I Go,” began in November at the Tropicana Las Vegas hotel and is due to end in April. He has not said if he plans to retire.
His best-known songs include “Daddy Don’t You Walk So Fast,” which peaked at No. 4 on the Billboard charts in 1972; his 1965 version of “Red Roses for a Blue Lady”; and his signature song, “Danke Schoen.”
Bank employee arrested for embezzlement www.privateofficer.com
Authorities say they’re not sure how much money was stolen, but it’s more than $1,000.
A criminal complaint says 36-year-old Katina Dawn Sweitzer of Fairview collected money delivered by an armored car. Authorities discovered the thefts in January when West Virginia University reported several outstanding deposits.
The complaint also says Sweitzer confessed the thefts to bank security officers and led investigators to her car, where they found bank bags containing deposit slips and checks from both WVU and Lowe’s Corp.
A spokeswoman for Huntington Bank declined comment.
Sweitzer is free on $10,000 bond. It’s unclear whether she has a lawyer.
Security officer critical after robbery attempt www.privateofficer.com
Gatineau police say a mall security guard attempted to stop the man and woman who were suspected of shoplifting from one of the mall’s stores. The 51-year-old guard suffered a heart attack and had CPR administered. He was in critical condition Thursday afternoon at a Gatineau hospital.
His name was not being released at this time, said Const. Isabelle Poirier.
The woman was apprehended by the security guard’s co-workers. The man fled the Maloney Boulevard mall and was later apprehended at a nearby arena, based on descriptions from eyewitnesses, said police.
Randy Sicard, 43, of Gatineau faces charges of robbery, possession of stolen property and breaking the terms of parole. He is to re-appear in court on March 10.
Cheryl Ward, 40, of Gatineau faces charges of robbery, possession of stolen property, breaking the terms of parole and obstructing justice. Assault charges may also be laid against the suspects, police said.
Mother killed soldier daughter at Fort Bragg www.privateofficer.com
Investigators say in a criminal complaint that Linda Shannon stabbed her daughter 32-year-old Autumn Michelle Shannon in their home on base at 147 South Dougherty Drive.
It allegedly happened February 22.
Autumn Shannon was an active duty soldier and cook on base. Mother and daughter had been living together on post since a car crash involving the daughter in South Carolina in December.
The complaint said the soldier’s naked body was found on a bedroom floor with multiple apparent knife wounds and a large knife protruding from her neck.
It also said Linda Shannon was found with a large amount of blood on her arms and clothing. She also had a small knife wound for which she was treated at Womack Army Medical Center (WAMC) at Fort Bragg.
A paramedic who treated Shannon said he asked her how she was injured, and Shannon responded “a knife.” Shannon further told the paramedic that she had gotten into a fight with her daughter and” I killed my daughter.”
An FBI investigator stated in the complaint that in an interview, Shannon stated that her daughter had called her a terrible mother and “I snapped.” Shannon then stated that she had stabbed her daughter and then tried to call 911 but was unsuccessful so she ran outside to find help.
Federal officers won’t comment on Shannon’s current whereabouts.
Armed security company owner killed by deputies www.privateofficer.com
knoxnews.com- A Knoxville security company co-founded 24 years ago by a man fatally shot Wednesday by Knox County deputies will be closed for a few days as funeral arrangements are made.
Liberty Security Systems, Inc., released a statement today extending condolences to the family and friends of Robert Kelly. Kelly and his older brother Charles Kelly founded the company in 1986.
The company has been operated from Charles Kelly’s house on Lone Star Way, which is two doors down from where 56-year-old Robert Kelly was killed Wednesday. In 2007 the company noted its eight employees were all related to the Kelly family.
According to the company release, Robert Kelly had been on medical leave for the past three weeks because of “a recent severe heart attack.”
The company will be closed for service, installation and estimates until Tuesday, March 2, the release stated. Continuous monitoring of existing security systems will not be interrupted.
The company’ release stated funeral arrangements, when completed, will be posted on its Web site.
Robert Kelly was killed by Knox County sheriff’s deputies responding to a 2:35 p.m. call from his wife, Linda, that her husband was armed and suicidal. Linda Kelly told emergency dispatchers her husband had shot out a window in their home at 10633 Lone Star Way.
Linda Kelly maintained communications with E-911 dispatchers with a cordless telephone during the incident. She told dispatchers she had escaped from the house through the same window her husband had shot out. She stayed near the house, however, to keep the cordless telephone in operation.
Knox County Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Martha Dooley said when deputies arrived, Robert Kelly was outside the house and fired upon them. An undisclosed number of deputies returned fire. Robert Kelly was pronounced dead at the University of Tennessee Medical Center.
The Sheriff’s Office has not released details about how many officers fired at Robert Kelly or how many times he was struck.
No officers were injured during the shooting.
Former Alabama officer facing prison commits suicide
Source: WKRG.com – Sources tell News 5, the former Chickasaw Police Officer facing life in prison for raping his young step-daughter has committed suicide.
Bob Ingle was supposed to be sentenced tomorrow.
Ingle’s step-daughter, Rebecca McEvoy was killed in an unrelated car crash one year after she told her best friend about the alleged abuse.
Ingle was arrested in December 2006. He fought to get the charges dropped based on what his attorneys argued was his constitutional right to confront his accuser.
The case faced six delays as the judge and attorneys sorted out what evidence would be allowed.
He was finally convicted last month.
