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Fleeing shoplifter charged with murder www.privateofficer.com
Birmingham Police, in a statement to FOX6 News, said Christopher Mitchell, 21, of Hayden, had been charged with the murder of Pamela Cupps, 51, of Birmingham.
Cupps died Saturday when a car carrying Mitchell hit her vehicle at the intersection of Daniel Payne Drive and Coalburg Road in Birmingham. Prior to the crash, Mitchell and another suspect had been chased by Fultondale Police in connection with a shoplifting incident at Best Buy.
In addition to murder, Mitchell was also charged for assault for injuries suffered by a second victim during the accident. Mitchell was being held in the Jefferson County Jail on $150,000 bond.
Monday, Fultondale Mayor Jim Lowery called the deadly crash “unfortunate” and said his officers followed proper procedure.
“They chased until a certain point,” Lowery said. “The gentleman came off the interstate. It was going to be congested area.”
The mayor said an officer still followed the suspects. But, at the intersection of Daniel Payne Drive and Coalberg Road, the suspects hit Cupps vehicle, killing Pam Cupps and critically injuring her husband, David.
“Even when you are following procedure and policy, no way you can express your to that family that lost a loved one,” Lowery said.
David Cupps was being treated Monday at UAB. The two suspects were also taken to University Hospital for treatment.
Two women held after robbing Wal-Mart www.privateofficer.com
According to a police news release, a store security officer saw a woman put items in her purse and then leave without paying for them. She was stopped by a security guard outside the store.
“It was during this struggle that store security personnel suffered several scratches and abrasions,” police records state.
Another woman got out of a parked car and came to the first woman’s assistance, assaulting the security guard, the report said.
The two women drove away, but police were given the vehicle license plate number and a description by witnesses, police reports state.
A police officer stopped a vehicle matching the description and plates in the 2300 block of North Street; inside were two women and four small children, police reports state.
Synda Manning, 24, of San Angelo, and Tonya Manning, 28, were arrested.
Police reports state that goods recovered are suspected to have come from various stores around San Angelo.
“This is a great example of what can be accomplished when citizens and police work together to stop crime in our community,” San Angelo Police Chief Tim Vasquez said. “I would like to personally thank those citizens that took a stand against crime and for their willingness to help us do our job.”
A detective has been assigned to the case.
Synda Manning posted bond and was released from Tom Green County Jail on Monday. She was charged with robbery, and her bond was set at $10,000.
Manning said after her release that the security guard who stopped her was not in uniform and did not initially identify himself as a security officer before detaining her.
“That man, a grown man — I didn’t know he was a security guard — just came up and grabbed my arm. I felt like I was being attacked,” she said.
“People were standing out there yelling, ‘Let her go,’” she said.
Manning said she was scratched, bruised and bleeding from the encounter, and drove away.
Her sister Tonya Manning was charged with Class A assault and criminal trespass. She was released Saturday on $1,500 bond.
Robbery is a second-degree felony punishable by two to 20 years in prison and a fine up to $10,000; assault is a Class A misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in jail and a fine up to $4,000; criminal trespass is a Class B misdemeanor punishable by up to 180 days in jail and a fine up to $2,000.
TN teen charged with arson at K-Mart www.privateofficer.com
Clarksville police arrested a 17 -year-old teen today after their investigation revealed he set fire to toilet paper in the aisle K-mart.
According to a news release from Officer Jim Knoll, spokesman for Clarksville Police, the 17-year-old was charged with aggravated arson for starting the fire at K-mart located at 2780 Wilma Rudolph Boulevard.
A joint investigation between Clarksville Police Department and the Clarksville Fire Department uncovered the teen set the fire in the bathroom supply aisle on Saturday at about 8:30 p.m.
Detective Mike Patterson located the teen after receiving information he was on his way to Bowling Green Ky., the release said.
The juvenile gave no reason for the arson, the release said.
Armored car guard shot in robbery www.privateofficer.com
Police were called at 12:51 p.m. to the Town Centre shopping complex after shots were fired, said Riverside police Sgt. Jaybee Brennan, a department spokeswoman.
The officers found a white Pendum armored car parked with a back door open in front of the bank’s main entrance. One of the vehicle’s guards had been shot three times in the torso, police said.
Witnesses said they heard several gunshots, Brennan said.
The guard was taken to Riverside Community Hospital, Brennan said.
His condition was not available and a phone call seeking information from the hospital was not returned.
Police said the guard got out of the armored car and walked into the bank. As he was coming back out, at least two men wearing hoods walked up to him and demanded money, police said. One then shot the guard.
The men fled with cash in a blue Chevrolet Astro van that police said had been stolen. It was found abandoned on El Cerrito Drive, on the west side of the shopping center.
Police do not know whether the robbers got into another vehicle or ran away.
The only description police would provide was that the men wore hoods. Only one was believed to have been armed.
Customers were in the bank at the time but were not hurt, Brennan said.
A police helicopter circled the neighborhood just south of the shopping center while investigators, including Riverside police and FBI agents, cordoned off the parking lot in front of the bank with yellow crime-scene tape. They said they expected the bank and lot to be closed for several hours during the investigation.
Marjorie Lierz, 25, of Riverside, was having lunch at Subs & Spuds in the same building as the bank when the shots were fired. A half-dozen people sitting by the window fled to the other side of the room, she said.
It was the fifth time in 10 years that the bank branch has been robbed, news reports in The Press-Enterprise indicate.
Man arrested for making bomb threat at Tulsa airport www.privateofficer.com
Timothy Harlow Hathaway was booked into the Tulsa County Jail on a complaint of threatening a violent act with an explosive. He is being held without bond pending a mental evaluation.
The incident happened around 8:20 p.m. Airport Spokesperson Alexis Higgins says Hathaway approached a checkpoint carrying a duffle bag and told a Transportation Security Administration representative that he had a bomb and would detonate it. 8 Talkback:
The TSA employee advised a guard nearby and when the guard approached Hathaway, officials say he threw the bag at the guard and again threatened to detonate a bomb before running away.
Hathaway was arrested a short time later.
The area was closed down while the bomb squad was called in to check the bag. Inside the bag was a gym bag. No explosives were found.
The FBI arrived and took Hathaway into custody. Higgins says there were no delays to passengers and the checkpoint was very slow at the time and about to be closed down.
Higgins praised the TSA employees, saying they followed protocol exactly.
Fire Chief Paul Barth arrested for embezzlement www.privateofficer.com
Source:Courier-Journal.com Paul Barth, the longtime McMahan Fire chief who chaired the Crusade for Children’s board of directors, has been indicted on federal charges of embezzling at least $189,000 in Crusade funds.
Barth, 53, faces 16 charges accusing him of taking the money from a fire district account earmarked for the Crusade for Children to pay himself extra salary, make cash withdrawals for himself and pay other personal expenses, according to the indictment issued Monday.
The charges carry up to 150 years in prison and a $4 million fine.
Barth, who was removed in January as the Crusade’s chairman after the allegations surfaced, is expected to appear voluntarily before a federal magistrate, though that has not been set, according to the U.S. Attorney’s office.
He resigned from the fire district in January, offering to repay any debts “real or perceived.” At the time, he was serving a suspension because the district’s board had leveled administrative charges of financial mismanagement against him, including allegations that he used a department credit card to pay personal expenses.
He had been on unpaid suspension since a Nov. 24 board meeting. No hearings against Barth were held because he resigned.
Barth has not commented to the newspaper. And his attorney, Charles Ricketts, who has repeatedly said that Barth did nothing wrong, did not return calls Monday seeking comment.
McMahan officials also declined to comment on the indictment Monday.
Mike Harlamert, president of the McMahan fire district’s board, said the organization is continuing to review and revise all financial policies and several new policies have been put in place, he said.
“We’re trying to make sure that we do have everything in place so we can catch something like this,” Harlamert said.
Crusade officials issued a statement Monday, saying they were “disappointed to learn” about the charges against Barth and the potential “negative impact that such actions have had on the Crusade.”
The organization stressed that the account involved in the criminal allegations was not managed by the Crusade or part of its accounting system.
Barth was chairman of the Crusade’s board of directors when those charges surfaced, but he was removed from that position in January.
“We want to assure our donors that we make every effort to safeguard all contributions that we receive,” the Crusade statement said.
“As a result of what we have learned from the Barth case, we have examined and strengthened our procedures with our partner agencies to ensure that all donations reach the Crusade and the children of Kentuckiana.”
According to the indictment, Barth used a McMahan fire district business account he opened in 1998 at National City Bank that was labeled for the Crusade for Children in a “scheme” to defraud the public, the fire district and the Crusade. He was the only signer on the account.
Over the years, money solicited through the Crusade by McMahan firefighters was deposited in that account — including $218,995 from 2004 to 2009, according to the indictment.
Bank records show that from 2004 to 2009, Barth fraudulently withdrew $104,371 from that account, the indictment states. During that time, Barth also transferred about $51,670 from the account to McMahan’s general fund to pay himself salary he was not entitled to and to pay credit card bills that included personal expenses, the indictment alleges.
The indictment also details a sampling of personal expenses made from the McMahan Crusade account, including $300 to Hikes Point Optimist and four payments totaling more than $6,400 to Miller Print Group.
About $25,783 also was taken from the department’s Crusade account to pay credit card bills that included personal expenses, the indictment says.
The indictment says Barth fraudulently obtained 13 additional paychecks from McMahan.
Some of the counts in the indictment stem from Barth’s use of the department credit card for personal use, totaling nearly $40,000 in charges.
The cited charges include an April 14, 2009, payment of about $10,800 to Jefferson County for vehicle property taxes.
Twelve of the charges against Barth involve money laundering through the department’s Crusade account, according to the indictment.
Security officer thwarts store robbery www.privateofficer.com
By: RICK MCCANN/Staff
The two suspects walked into a drug store on 20th Street in The Heights and were surprised by the security guard who confronted them.
Investigators say that the security officer struggled with the suspects, but the duo managed to escape with the guards gun.
The robbers left the store without anything other than the security officer’s gun and the security officer received minor injuries police say.
OFFICER DOWN
OFFICER DOWN
Montgomery County Police Department
Maryland
End of Watch: Sunday, April 4, 2010
Biographical Info
Age: 31
Tour of Duty: 7 years
Badge Number: Not available
Incident Details
Cause of Death: Automobile accident
Date of Incident: Sunday, April 4, 2010
Weapon Used: Not available
Suspect Info: Not available
Officer Hector Ayala was killed in an automobile accident while responding to backup another officer at the scene of a fight in Wheaton. He was driving on Randolph Road when his vehicle left the roadway and struck a tree, causing fatal injuries.
Officer Ayala had served with the Montgomery County Police Department for seven years and was assigned to the Fourth District. He is survived by his expectant wife and 14-month old son.
Agency Contact Information
Montgomery County Police Department
2350 Research Boulevard
Rockville, MD 20850
Phone: (240) 773-5200
TN. Deputy Sheriff Dies In 100 Foot Fall www.privateofficer.com
Deputy Chad Pritchard was searching for a body in a cold case homicide Tuesday morning. He was on Rocky Mound Road in Hilham near Standing Stone State Park when he fell 100 feet into a sinkhole.
It was unclear if the sinkhole opened up where Pritchard was standing, or if he was looking over the edge and fell in.
Officials said Pritchard suffered head trauma. He was apparently in the hole for about an hour before being discovered.
When crews first arrived on scene around 11 a.m. Pritchard was responsive. Just after noon emergency workers were able to extablish visual contact, but Pritchard was no longer communicating with them.
Rescue crews were called in to pull the deputy’s body out of the hole.
