Archive
Man charged with $20,000 K-Mart jewelry heist www.privateofficer.com
Investigators said Robert Poppe stole more than $20,000 worth of jewelry from the K-Mart at 191 Outer Loop. Police arrested Poppe after he was spotted on the security camera.
Poppe is charged with burglary in the third degree.
Three charged in shoplifting incident www.privateofficer.com
The suspects were arrested at Walmart off Route 1 by police and store security around 8 p.m. Sunday.
Police say they recovered around $300 in merchandise allegedly stolen from Walmart and around $500 of merchandise allegedly stolen from the Burlington Coat Factory in South Attleboro.
The suspects were identified as Maria Xavier, 44, and Lucilia Dias, 56, both of 683 Weedon St. in Pawtucket, and Ana Gomes, 62, of 69 Broad St. in Centrals Falls, R.I.
They were released on bail after booking and face arraignment June 22 in Attleboro District Court on charges of shoplifting more than $100 worth of merchandise and receiving stolen property. They were arrested after an investigation by officers Craig Chapman and Joseph Turner and Lt. David Dawes.
School assistant prinicpal charged with shoplifting www.privateofficer.com
Greenville police said 63-year-old Elaine Hitch was arrested at Belk in the Haywood Mall.
Sgt. Jason Rampey said, “They observed Miss Hitch take some items from a discounted clothing rack, if you will — select some merchandise, take it out of that area and later choose some merchandise valued at a greater value. She did not pay the full value for the items she left the store with.”
Police said she exchanged the tags so she could get the more expensive items at the wrong price.
According to the report, she had the repriced items gift wrapped before leaving the store.
In a statement issued Tuesday, Oby Lyles, with the Greenville County School District, said, “We were informed late this afternoon that Mrs. Elaine Hitch was charged with shoplifting less than $1,000.
“Mrs. Hitch, assistant principal at Northwest Middle School, has been placed on administrative leave pending further investigation.”
Hitch has been with the school district for more than two decades.
Lyles said, “People have a lot of questions we cannot answer. It is a personnel matter for us so we will just release that she is on administrative leave right now.”
Investigators said they don’t think this was Hitch’s first time stealing from the store.
Rampey said mall security “observed a person before who they believed to be Mrs. Hitch doing similar things in nature.”
She has since bonded out of jail.
Drug runner uses fake police vehicle www.privateofficer.com
Drug traffickers are getting so much bolder and creative that a man recently was snared in South Texas dressed as a sheriff’s deputy and driving a pickup outfitted with emergency lights and painted to look convincingly official.
Almost.
The truck caught the attention of border agents last week who noticed the decals were a bit different than those used on the Webb County Sheriff’s Office vehicles, said Jason Darling, spokesman for the Border Patrol’s Laredo Sector.
“There were subtle differences,” Darling said. “They were able to take one look at it and know something was out of place.”
Stuffed in the cab of the four-door F150 pickup were 1,000 pounds of marijuana, according to the Border Patrol, which made the arrest northeast of Laredo.
The driver, Oscar J. Garcia, was headed to Houston wearing a security guard badge with his uniform but no gun, according to the arrest affidavit. He has been charged with drug trafficking in federal court in Corpus Christi.
“I have nothing to say to you all,” he reportedly told agents when arrested.
The words “Webb County Sheriff” and “911” blazed from the side of the truck, complete with a fake serial number on the tailgate. Authorities confirmed their suspicions that the truck was a fake by contacting the Sheriff’s Office, which said it didn’t have any trucks in the area.
“This was not only a cloned vehicle, but a uniform was part of this,” said Webb County Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Maru De La Paz, adding that there’s no way to know how many other fake police ruses traffickers might be using.
“It could be a sheriff, could be (Department of Public Safety), could be anything out there. Law enforcement agencies are paying attention,” she said.
Previous smuggling attempts have included disguising drivers to look like express-mail company employees, oil field workers and Texas state government employees.
“We take it as desperation from smugglers,” Darling said, “the lengths smugglers will go to move their contraband into the United States.”
School bus driver gets life in prison for sex crimes www.privateofficer.com
A former Wichita school bus driver has been sentenced to life in prison for sex crimes against a young girl.
A Sedgwick County District Court Judge sentenced Billy Reynolds to four life terms in prison today. The judge ordered the sentences to run concurrently.
Reynolds, 75, admitted to abusing a six-year-old girl who was a passenger on his bus route. Reynolds lost his job last year after the reports surfaced.
Reynolds was sentenced under “Jessica’s Law” which imposes tougher penalties for sex offenders who prey on children. He won’t be eligible for parole for 25 years.
Fugitives can safely surrender at local churches www.privateofficer.com
It’s open to people wanted on nonviolent misdemeanors and felonies who want to clear their name without ending up in handcuffs. In return for your surrender, prosecutors say they will do what they can, within reason, to keep you out of prison.
It’s to be held June 16 through June 19 at New Baptist Metropolitan Church on McCulloh Street, the idea being a place of worship is a non-threatening environment. It is not an amnesty program in sense of the word,” stressed Assistant State’s Attorney Patricia Deros. “All we can say that we will offer favorable consideration. We will do what we can to not incarcerate people.” (above is a pile of unserved arrest warrants in Baltimore, some dating back two decades).
People want on warrants charging them with shootings, handgun violations and other violent crime don’t qualify. But for others on old shoplifting cases, here’s a chance to get that old baggage all cleared up.
In Washington, officials hailed the program, which they did in 2007, as such a success they wished it had last longer. It’s sponored by the U.S. Marshals Service and they do only one per city. So this is the last change. Officials plan to move everything from office furniture to high-speed copy machines to the church, as well as generators to ensure there’s enough power.
They’ll be prosecutors, judges, public defenders and clerks on hand. Judges will work out of a community center across the street — they objected to rendering justice inside a church. Some people not happy with what they’re offered will no doubt demand trials and will be put back into the regular system. But the program is designed to get people through the system without handcuffs, without jail, and in the quickest way possible.
Over the past several weeks, Deros (left) has been working hard to examine many the 40,000 open arrest warrants still lingering in the system, and to throw out ones that can’t be prosecuted. In some, police officers or even the crime lab chemist have died. A full account of how she’s doing this seemingly impossible task is the subject of Sunday’s Crime Beat column in the Baltimore Sun.
DC officials have a great web site on the program that explains it in more detail and even offers up testimonials from suspects who went through it. The U.S. Marshal’s Office also has a site that offers information.
In DC, 530 people surrendered over the course of three days, and officials there said had it gone a week, they could’ve gotten more than 1,000. For more information, here’s a flier explaining the program:
Supreme Court backs off strict Miranda Rights rules www.privateofficer.com
In the past, the court said the “burden rests on the government” to show that a crime suspect had “knowingly and intelligently waived” his rights. Some police departments tell officers not to begin questioning until a suspect has waived his rights, usually by signing a waiver form.
But in Tuesday’s 5-4 decision, the court shifted the balance in favor of the police, saying a suspect has a duty to speak up and say he does not want to talk.
Moreover, the police are “not required to obtain a waiver” of the suspect’s “right to remain silent before interrogating him,” Justice Anthony M. Kennedy wrote.
In her first strongly written dissent, Justice Sonia Sotomayor said the ruling “turns Miranda upside down” and “marks a substantial retreat from the protection against compelled self-incrimination.”
Some experts on police questioning said the court’s subtle shift would be felt in station houses across the country.
“This is the most important Miranda decision in a decade. And it will have a substantial impact on police practices,” said Charles Weisselberg, a law professor at UC Berkeley. “This decision approves of the practice of giving the warnings and then asking questions of the suspect, without asking first whether he wants to waive his rights.”
The case decided Tuesday involved Van Thompkins, who was arrested a year after the shooting of two men outside a mall in Southfield, Mich. One of the men died.
A police detective read Thompkins his rights, including the right to remain silent and to have a lawyer. Thompkins said he understood, but did not sign a form.
For about two hours and 45 minutes, Thompkins said almost nothing in response to questions. The detective asked Thompkins if he believed in God and then asked: “Do you pray to God to forgive you for shooting that boy down?”
“Yes,” Thompkins said, and looked away. He refused to sign a confession or to speak further, but he was convicted of first-degree murder, based largely on his one-word reply.
The U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals overturned Thompkins’ conviction on the grounds that the use of the incriminating answer violated his right against self-incrimination under the Miranda decision.
The Supreme Court reversed that ruling and reinstated the conviction.
A suspect who wants to invoke the right to remain silent must “do so unambiguously,” Kennedy said. “Thompkins did not say that he wanted to remain silent or that he did not want to talk with the police. Had he made either of these simple, unambiguous statements, he would have invoked his right to cut off questioning.”
Joining Kennedy to form the majority were Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and Justices Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas and Samuel A. Alito Jr.
Kennedy has played a key role in the last decade in preserving the core Miranda rule, while also narrowing its practical effect. For example, he joined with the liberal bloc for a 5-4 ruling in 2004 that rejected the police tactic of questioning first and then warning a suspect of his rights only after he made an incriminating comment.
The same day, he joined a 5-4 ruling by the conservative side that said physical evidence, such as a gun or cash, could be used against a suspect even if he revealed it during questioning without Miranda warnings.
In the case decided Tuesday, Kennedy emphasized that the suspect had been warned of his rights and eventually chose to speak.
The California-based Criminal Justice Legal Foundation praised the justices for paring back the “artificial rule” set in the Miranda decision. The court “recognized the practical realities that the police face in dealing with suspects,” said Kent Scheidegger, the group’s legal director.
But Steven Shapiro, legal director for the American Civil Liberties Union, said the case “demonstrates the power of custodial interrogation to wear down the defendant’s willpower, which is what Miranda was designed to prevent.”
In her dissent, Sotomayor faulted the majority for announcing a “new general principle of law” that will be confusing in practice.
“Criminal suspects must now unambiguously invoke their right to remain silent — which, counterintuitively, requires them to speak,” she said.
Joining her in dissent were Justices John Paul Stevens, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen G. Breyer.
The majority ruling is in line with the position taken by the Obama administration and Solicitor General Elena Kagan, who has been nominated to the Supreme Court.
In December, Kagan filed a brief on the side of Michigan prosecutors and argued that “the government need not prove that a suspect expressly waived his rights.”
Armed men arrested for impersonating security officers www.privateofficer.com
Lake and Park and San Angelo police were called to Horseshoe Bend Drive about 6 p.m. Monday about men displaying weapons on a boat, which was causing concern among the lake crowd. Officers arrived to find a black and red Malibu boat stopped along the shore with three men and a woman in it.
Randy Harris, commander of the Lake and Park Police, said one of the men told officers that they were security officers with Black Hawk Security, a company that contracts security guards and provides temporary security in Colorado.
The company provides armed and unarmed uniformed security guard services on a temporary or long-term basis, according to Black Hawk’s website.
A representative of the company declined to comment until he had more information.
Cory Scott Spurlock, 23, of Manitou, and Curtis Ryan Lillie, 53, of Colorado Springs were taken into police custody on charges of impersonating a security guard and a weapon charge.
No phone number was found for Lillie or Spurlock.
The two were not in uniform, which is another requirement of an on-duty security guard, Harris said.
Spurlock and Lillie told officers they were hired to protect the owner of the boat, Matthew James Awtrey, of Odessa.
Awtrey, 31, was charged with unauthorized employment of a private security agency, a Class A misdemeanor.
No one could be reached at a phone number listed for Awtrey.
Harris said he asked for the men’s licenses to serve in Texas. Spurlock had no ID and was placed in handcuffs. Lillie showed officers a Colorado security officer license. Both were arrested and booked into the Tom Green County Jail on bonds of $500. Both also were charged with disorderly conduct, discharge/display of a firearm.
Impersonation of a security officer is a Class A misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in state jail and a fine up to $4,000.
Displaying a weapon is a Class B misdemeanor punishable by up to 180 days in state jail and a fine up to $2,000.
Harris and assisting officers secured a Smith & Wesson MP40 and Springfield XD-9, along with three magazines and nearly 40 rounds of ammunition from Spurlock and Lillie.
Officers said after they took the two into custody, several people thanked him in the parking lot. According to the report, one man said that he had been scared when they saw the weapons, and was grateful the situation ended peacefully.
Harris said weapon arrests aren’t common at the lake. The last incident was a month ago when officers found a stolen handgun and marijuana during a traffic stop.
Law enforcement officials arrested five boaters on boating while intoxicated charges over the weekend.
NY Parole Agent arrested for rape www.privateofficer.com
CBS — State Police have arrested a state parole officer for allegedly raping a 23-year-old parolee while conducting a curfew check at her Guilderland home in January.
The investigation began Jan. 13, 2010, when hospital staff at Albany Medical Center contacted police after the woman walked in and reported she’d been raped by her parole officer, 50-year-old Nicholas Kordas of Clifton Park
DNA evidence and sample were sent to the state forensics lab for analysis, State Police said.
Kordas was arraigned in the Town of Guilderland Court on a charge first-degree rape. He has posted bond in the amount of $75,000.
State Police are asking anyone with further information to contact their New Scotland office.
Virginia teen commits suicide after being bullied www.privateofficer.com
“All I remember is looking into my son’s eyes, because he had the most beautiful blue eyes, and he was staring and he was cold,” said Alise Williams.
She said Taylor, 16, hung himself at the family home Monday.
The military family had moved to York County from Fort Hood, Texas, in December and Taylor’s step-father is currently deployed to South Korea with the Army.
Williams said she first learned two weeks ago that her son was being harassed by a classmate. Taylor was an avid skateboarder and dressed differently than some of his fellow students, she said.
“I got an indication it started when Chris started school here in January,” Williams said. “It’s not clear when it started, but this kid started picking on my son.”
About two weeks ago, the student said something to Taylor and he got so angry he told a school official and called his mother to say he was going to retaliate.
“He didn’t want to get in trouble because my thing is don’t fight, take it out and tell an adult so it can be handled on a different level,” Williams said. “That happened on a Monday, then on Tuesday this kid said to my son you need to just go commit suicide and get it over with. Not only that, but said something to my son’s girlfriend, who had her head down on the table at lunch. I don’t know how my mood was, but he told her to just go slit her wrists and die.
“I’m stunned by what I’m being told. I never had that happen to me when I was in school; we never said stuff like that. I was floored.”
Williams said she contacted the York-Poquoson Sheriff’s Office about filing charges against the student, but officials refused to take her report.
The situation appeared to escalate, though Williams only heard bits and pieces.
“(Taylor) would tell me that he would get to him, he wouldn’t tell him what he was saying,” Williams said.
The family had a fun weekend and celebrated Memorial Day Monday as it does all military remembrances, Williams said. Taylor had a headache and at one point went to lie down in his room.
“I was next door and he didn’t feel like eating, and it was really hot so I came in to cool down and see if I could talk to a friend of mine on the Internet,” Williams said. “I sat on my bed and thought he was still asleep, but he had gotten up and gone in the kitchen and gotten the dog leash.
He went back in his bedroom. I have no idea.”
Williams’ girlfriend and his best friend found him hanged in his room, Williams said.
“I heard one of the kids scream and I immediately got up, and I heard (the friend) say I don’t know how long he’s been there,” Williams said. “He started CPR and I tried to feel for a pulse.”
Williams was angry with York school officials Tuesday, saying she had contacted them repeatedly and nothing was done about the situation between the students.
“They still didn’t do anything—they didn’t suspend him, they didn’t do anything,” she said, adding that she plans to pursue legal action.
“They were calling (Taylor) names, calling him weird. Why … because he doesn’t dress like you? Because he just came from Texas and he likes to skateboard?”
Betsy Overkamp-Smith, spokeswoman for the York County School Division, confirmed Tuesday that a Grafton High student had died over the weekend away from the school grounds. She couldn’t provide further information.
Sonya Bishop is a military wife at Fort Hood, Texas, whose daughter was close friends with Taylor when he lived there and had stayed in touch with him.
“All the kids here in Texas are in shock, the kids here loved him,” Sonya Bishop said.
“He had a lot of friends and he loved to hang out and go skateboarding,” said Crysten Bishop. “We used to hang out all together and just mess around stuff. He was really cool.”
But she noticed Taylor had changed since relocating to Virginia.
“He was always so stressed out and I knew something was wrong, but I could never get it out of him,” she said.
If you suspect bullying
1. First, focus on your child. Be supportive and gather information about the bullying.
2. Contact your child’s teacher or principal.
3. Help your child become more resilient to bullying.
Source: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
For information, visit:
Tip leads to arrest of South Carolina child molestor www.privateofficer.com
Charlotte Observor A Rock Hill man accused of sexually assaulting young teenage boys on multiple occasions is being held in jail on a $1 million bond.
Local and federal authorities continue to investigate 45-year- old David Michael Dietrich of 734 Tysons Forest Drive.
Rock Hill police arrested Dietrich on Saturday and charged him with three counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct with a minor, police documents show. Police say he admitted to molesting two boys, ages 13 and 14, at his home.
Arrest warrants allege Dietrich molested the boys on three separate occasions in May. Two of those incidents allegedly happened last weekend. Dietrich admitted to the sexual assault, those warrants say.
Police acted on a tip from a federal agency that an assault was happening at Dietrich’s home just before midnight Friday, according to a Rock Hill police report.
When they responded early Saturday morning, police found two minors – a 14-year-old boy and Dietrich’s own child. Both were removed from the home, and Department of Social Services responded, the report said. Dietrich is not accused of molesting his child.
The case is still under investigation, Rock Hill police Lt. Brad Redfearn said. Few details are available.
Dietrich is being held on a $1 million bond at the York County detention center, a jail spokesman said. These charges are his only in South Carolina, a State Law Enforcement Division background check shows.
Nightclub security take murder suspect into custody www.privateofficer.com
Juan Manuel Arellano, 42, was arrested after the shooting and is being held in the Cassia County Jail on a charge of first degree murder. Arellano was arraigned Tuesday and had his bond set at $1.5 million.
He is also charged with aggravated battery, attempted murder and enhanced penalty for allegedly using a deadly weapon — in connection with the shooting of a man nearby, and the attempted shooting of a man who tried to intervene.
According to court documents, Juan Manuel Arellano is the victim’s husband. During a jailhouse interview, Arellano admitted to a Cassia County deputy that he was upset his wife was cheating on him and he could not take them laughing at him. The couple had been separated since December 2009.
The owner of El Paralito Bar says Arellano came into the bar for drinks around 10 p.m. Saturday. His wife arrived about a half hour later with another man.
Security guard Hector Lara told the deputy that Arellano shot the woman while on the dance floor. Arellano then fired another shot when Hector tried to grab the gun. A struggle ensued and Arellano made several threats to kill Hector. The guard was able to get the gun out of his hands and hold him on the ground until police arrived and handcuffed the suspect.
A deputy found another man with blood on his shirt and soon learned that he had been shot in the chest. The victim, Federico, Llanos-Castillo, was taken to the hospital.
The Times-News reports that a funeral service for Ramona Arellano is scheduled for Thursday.
Woman charged with punching security officer www.privateofficer.com
Police were called to the hospital parking lot where they found the 36-year-old Flint woman, who police said was uncooperative when told to stop.
Police reported that the woman’s hands were covered in blood when they saw her walking through the parking lot.
A backup officer arrived on the scene and, after the woman continued to resist, the officers reported taking the woman slowly to the ground and handcuffing her hands behind her back.
The security guard reported to police that he saw the woman punch the window in the hospital before she punched him and left the hospital. The guard was uninjured and did now press charges.
The woman was at the hospital that day for psychiatric services and was admitted to the hospital for treatment.
School security guard charged with sex crimes
Sgt. Dan Bressler says 45-year-old Marvin Cash was arrested Tuesday at his Desert Hot Springs home, some 110 miles east of Los Angeles near Palm Springs.
Cash, who worked at Desert Springs Middle School, was booked for investigation of lewd act on a child under the age of 14 using force, sexual battery and two counts of annoying or molesting a minor.
Police say at least one of the suspected crimes occurred during school hours.
Palm Springs Unified School District spokeswoman Joan Boiko says Cash has been on paid administrative leave since March 24. She says Cash was screened before he was hired.
Former GOP Chairman arrested www.privateofficer.com
Greer, of Oviedo, was booked into the Seminole County jail at 10:03 a.m., according to jail officials.
Charges have not been officially released, but according to a well-placed GOP source, Greer was charged with four counts of grand theft, one count of attempt to defraud and one count of money laundering for his role overseeing state Republican spending.
Bail has been set at $105,000, the source said.
Greer was forced to resign in January amid allegations of extravagant overspending.
Since then, he’s become the subject of a criminal investigation for income he earned from Victory Strategies LLC, a fund-raising company that kept 10 percent of all major donations it raised for the party. Greer owned a 60-percent stake of the company.
FDLE Commissioner Gerald Bailey and Statewide Prosecutor William Shepherd will have a news conference in Orlando later this morning to “announce a major arrest,” the state agency announced. It did not provide other details.
Greer was backed for the chairmanship job in 2006 by then-Gov. elect Charlie Crist, and an Orlando Sentinel analysis of party spending found Greer dramatically increased spending and the use of American Express charge cards during his three-year tenure.
The high spending, frequent national travel, and Greer’s decision to endorse Crist in his U.S. Senate primary against Marco Rubio ultimately prompted party leaders to seek his ouster.
But it was only after Greer announced his resignation that details of a secret fundraising contract came to light.
The contract for Victory Strategies to take over major donor fundraising was withheld from top GOP finance officials. It led Attorney General Bill McCollum and legislative leaders to dismiss former party executive director Delmar Johnson and hand over documentation of the contract and payments to Greer to state investigators in March.
Asked about Greer’s arrest at an unrelated press conference this morning, Crist said: “I think it’s obviously disappointing and surprising. I have faith in our judicial system.”
TN doctor arrested in road rage incident www.privateofficer.com
According to Franklin police spokesman Eric Johnson, Dr. Richard Feldman was arrested at about 12:15 p.m. along Mallory Lane near Cool Springs Galleria.
Police said a man claimed Feldman had cut him off at a traffic light near Perimeter Drive, flashed a silver pistol and yelled at him.
Officers stopped Feldman in a parking lot along Mallory Lane and arrested him.
Feldman posted his $1,500 bond and was released just before 5 p.m. Tuesday.
Feldman has been in trouble with authorities in the past. In 2008, Feldman lost his license to practice medicine over a weight loss procedure he claimed could melt fat away.
In 2007, he was charged with assault and then cleared after he tried to stop a fight between two children.
In 1996, a patient testified at a disciplinary hearing that Feldman raped her when she was a teenager.
Feldman is scheduled to go to court on the assault charges June 10.
