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Woman use stun guns in series of robberies www.privateofficer.com
Source: SeattlePI Three women, including two charged Monday, are facing robbery counts after police say they committed a series of North Seattle robberies targeting women with stun guns.
Georgetta M. Jones, a 17-year-old tried charged as an adult, Tiffany Renfro, 25, and Shelyce Kinchen, 21, are scheduled to be arraigned June 15.
During the five robberies — the first happened May 17, the last May 24 — police say robbers preyed on women who were loading or unloading items from their vehicles, and in four were armed with a stun gun or similar device.
Jones also was charged with possessing a Honda stolen May 13 from the LA Fitness near the Seattle-Shoreline border. Renfro is a member of that club and a guest register shows Jones and Kinchen as guests there on the day the vehicle was taken, according to court documents.
The car theft victim, who left his keys on the side of the indoor basketball court, left his wallet in the car. Police say his Visa card was used at a 76 gas station, and someone attempted to use it at the Northgate Target the night it was stolen. Police suspect Jones, Renfro and Kinchen may have attempted to use the card at Target, but they have not been charged for the card use.
On May 17, a woman told police she was unloading her car at her residence in the 4200 block of Phinney Avenue North when she was confronted by a man on her right side. He stunned her, pushed her toward her open trunk then grabbed her purse.
Police say the suspects fled in a stolen car.
Jones, Renfro and Kinchen have been charged with first-degree robbery in that incident. A 22-year-old man was arrested in connection to the robbery string, but was released June 2 pending further investigation.
On May 19, a woman in the 9300 block of 22nd Avenue Northwest was attacked by two people. Police said one tried unsuccessfully to use a stun gun on her, and she had her Coach purse, iPhone and Nordstrom bag stolen after being pushed down. The woman, who had surgery two days earlier, had two sutures in her neck ripped open during the attack.
Jones, Renfro and Kinchen have been charged with first-degree robbery in that incident.
The following day, a 74-year-old woman was attacked by two people while unloading groceries in the 700 block of North 102nd Street. The attackers tried unsuccessfully to use a Taser-type device on her neck, according to police. They stoke her purse, which included her iPhone and $12.
A possible suspect vehicle was seen by a patrol officer driving away from the scene. The officer lost sight of the vehicle and found it unoccupied in a nearby church parking lot. Workers at the church said people parked the car and jumped out, then climbed over the fence adjacent to the lot.
Police believe video surveillance captures Jones and Renfro trying to use the victim’s JCPenny card at the store. Renfro and Kinchen have been charged with robbing the 74-year-old.
On May 22, a woman was unloading her car from in front of her grandson’s house in the 11200 block of Lakeside Avenue Northeast when a black man in his early 20s stole her purse and either fell or was pushed to the ground as he ran back to a light colored car. Court documents show at least one of the victim’s credit cards was used for a $700 purchase at Just Sports and additional purchases at the Northgate Mall food court.
Renfro and Kinchen have been charged with second-degree robbery in that incident.
Two days later, a woman in her 60s, was walking home from a store in Greenwood when a young man stole the purse off her shoulder. The woman, who walks with a cane, said that after being attacked form behind she watched the suspect run to a nearby red car.
Her stolen credit card also was used at the Northgate Mall Just Sports and other Northgate area businesses.
Renfro and Kinchen have been charged with second-degree robbery in that incident.
Court documents state police have video surveillance that appears to tie Renfro, Kinchen and Jones to some of the stolen credit cards. An anonymous call to police named Renfro, Kinchen and “Georgie” as those involved in publicized stun gun robberies.
On May 28, the man who was arrested and released told police Renfro had the stun gun and that Renfro, Kinchen and “Georgetta” had been targeting women for their purses, according to court documents.
“His statement included that he heard these female suspects talk about using 2 different stolen Hondas in these recent robberies,” Detective Tom Healy wrote in a probable cause statement. He “admitted that recently, more than once, these suspects came to his apartment and looked through victim’s wallets and stolen credit cards and gift cards. He said he knowingly went to the Just Sports store a few days ago in the Northgate Mall — where he purchased 2 baseball caps with a stolen gift card — proceeds fro ma robbery of a woman.”
One was a New York Yankees hat, the other was a Boston Red Sox cap, according to police.
Jones was arrested at the man’s apartment that same day. She allegedly admitted to being present at two of the robberies, according to court documents. She allegedly admitted to being at the LA Fitness the day the Honda was taken from that parking lot, but denied being present when it was actually stolen.
Healy said Jones gave details of the robberies from May 17 and May 19, and signed a photo of herself in a surveillance photo from QFC, where a stolen car was used.
Police say Kinchen provided detailed accounts of five robberies. She told investigators Jones was responsible for stealing the Honda from the LA Fitness parking lot, according to court documents.
“Kinchen’s statement provides her detailed accounts of each of the listed robberies in this pattern investigation; that she was fully aware and part of the planning of robbing these woman; and that she used the victim’s credit cards after the robberies to purchase items at stores; primarily at the Northgate Mall in Seattle,” Healy wrote in the probable cause document.
Renfro was arrested June 2 in Burien.
She ‘admitted that she ‘was there, in the car’ when Jones and Kinchen ‘would jack’ people; that she did have a stun gun and that Jones and Kinchen would borrow the stun gun to commit ‘some jacks’ (robberies),” Healy wrote in the probable cause document. “Jones stated that she used multiple stolen credit cards … at stores, to include Sheikh Shoes in Northgate Mall, Just Sports in Northgate Mall and QFC.”
Renfro denied committing the actual robberies and denied using the stun gun on a victim, according to police.
Jones is being held on $250,000 bail; Renfro is being held on $500,000 bail and Kinchen is being held on $507,600 bail for the robberies and a separate Lynnwood case.
U.K. researchers find traits that lead to shoplifting www.privateofficer.com
One group is classified by researchers at the University of Leicester as “unpleasant and antisocial.” Best Buy Loss Prevention Specialist Will Cisneros says he can believe this. He says many shoplifters he’s seen don’t like being talked to.
“Those are usually the ones that are going to go off and hide in the shadows and just kind of not want to be seen,” he says.
Personality characteristics•Being male
•Unpleasant and antisocial
•disorganized and unreliable
Source: University of Leicester, England If these rude and antisocial guys just happen to wander too close to certain items in the store, security guards watch them like hawks.
“We have a list of things that are high-theft products,” Cisneros says. “If we see them with one of those, we are definitely going to watch that.”
Rude men aren’t the only ones shopkeepers need to pay attention to. Cisneros says he’s spotted shoplifters who come into the store trying to look poor or even homeless. They think sales associates will just assume they can’t afford a big ticket item, so they’ll move on.
“They figure, ‘I come in looking like this, nobody is going to talk to me. Everybody is going to leave me alone,’” he explains.
The authors of the study say young men are more likely to try to claim a five-finger discount, but they don’t put a lot of thought into the thefts. They just get caught up in the moment and make an irrational decision.
Cisneros says that was especially true for its St. George location. But in the South Salt Lake store, Cisneros says it’s mostly middle-aged men who try to walk out without paying.
Researchers also say “disorganized and unreliable” men are prone to shoplift. But Cisneros says he’s heard about sophisticated rings of shoplifters with several people working as a team.
“One person will be a lookout and distract people while the other person is stealing the product or taking the product,” he says.
Elderly woman kills disabled son, commits suicide www.privateofficer.com
The bodies of Patricia A. Corder, 65, and her son, Tracy A. Corder, 39, were discovered about 8:30 a.m. Monday when a neighbor in the 1600 block of Clarion Terrace in Fort Washington called to ask police to check on the family because something seemed amiss, authorities said. Officers found both bodies inside and a crime scene consistent with a murder-suicide, said Deputy Chief Kevin Davis, who heads the Bureau of Support Services for Prince George’s County police.
He said that officers recovered a handgun from inside the house and that they think it was used in the killings, which investigators say occurred in the 24 hours before the bodies were discovered.
“It’s just a tragedy,” Davis said. “It’s just, you look back on it, and was there an opportunity to cry out for help in a way that’s different from this?”
Davis said that the mother was “recently” given a diagnosis of a terminal disease and that her son had been in a wheelchair for several years.
“All that apparently played into this tragic murder-suicide,” he said.
A law enforcement source said that the mother had cancer and that the son was paralyzed from the waist down. The source said detectives think that the mother feared that no one would take care of the man if she fell ill or died.
Federal court records show Tracy Corder was paralyzed in 1994 when he attempted to do a flip off a lifeguard stand into the shallow end of a motel swimming pool. Tracy, who had been drinking with friends and was in the pool area after hours, hit his head on the bottom of the pool, according to the records. Afterward, he sued the motel chain, but federal courts in Maryland determined that he was negligent and dismissed the case.
The two lived alone but had relatives in the area, Davis said. Efforts to reach family members, including a brother of Tracy Corder’s who neighbors said lives nearby, were unsuccessful.
Horace Brown, 67, a neighbor, said that Patricia Corder had been given a breast cancer diagnosis more than a decade ago and that it had apparently returned. He said her husband had died of an illness, possibly cancer, 17 years ago, leaving Patricia to care for their two sons. Brown said that one of those sons eventually moved out and that Tracy continued to live with his mother after he was paralyzed.
Brown said Tracy Corder relied on his mom for care but had a lucrative job. At one time, Brown said, Tracy worked for the U.S. Census Bureau, though he had since taken another federal job. He drove to work every day in a van with special controls, Brown said.
Brown said Patricia Corder did not appear to have a job, although she might have invested her husband’s retirement money after his death. He said she never showed any signs of unhappiness about her illness or her son’s injury.
Frances Swann, 73, another neighbor, said Patricia Corder was well known in the neighborhood for her beautiful landscaping — she could almost always be spotted working in the yard — although she had recently talked about feeling sick.
“She had the most beautiful yard in the neighborhood,” Swann said. “She will be missed by all the neighbors.”
Swann said that she talked to Tracy’s brother Monday morning and that he told her what had happened. She said she last talked to Tracy a little more than a week ago; he said he was going to take his mother to the doctor.
The deaths shocked the quiet community off Livingston Road. Some neighbors stood on their porches, peering at the two-story brick home with a silver van in the driveway, which was roped off with yellow crime scene tape and swarming with homicide detectives and police commanders.
Doris Dixon, 54, who lives up the street, walked down to see what all the commotion was about and was surprised to hear that a woman who was “always pleasant” had apparently killed her son and herself.
“I’m just overwhelmed because she seemed like a really nice lady, and I never saw anything out of the ordinary,” she said. “I cannot believe that.”
Davis said police had never been called to the house for any reports of trouble.
Armored car held up in Maryland www.privateofficer.com
The courier was leaving the store on Hamilton Street — a little more than a half mile east of the West Hyattsville Metro stop — when two armed robbers confronted him about 1 p.m. and took the bag and his handgun. They fled toward Gallatin Street. No one was injured and the amount of money was not disclosed.
Both were described as African American men. The first was described as 25 to 30 years old, tall, with a medium build and wearing a black hooded shirt and dark pants. The second was said to be 25 to 30 years old, short, heavy and wearing a green reflective traffic vest over a dark hooded shirt, blue jeans and dark shoes.
Police asked anyone with information to call Sgt. Suzie Johnson at 301 985-5060.
Shoplifter tried to run down security agent with her car www.privateofficer.com
Theresa Drew, 57, of Quincy was trying to avoid being detained by a Wal-Mart security guard Friday when she almost hit the guard with her car, police said.
In addition to larceny of property valued at $250 or less, she is charged with assault and battery with a dangerous weapon – the car.
She was arraigned Monday in Quincy District Court. She pleaded innocent and was released on personal recognizance. She is to return to court July 23 for a pretrial session.
Drew allegedly tried to take a shopping cart full of goods out of the Wal-Mart on Falls Boulevard at about 2:45 p.m. Friday, by going through the lawn and garden section.
When she tried to flee in her Hyundai sedan without the merchandise, she shifted into reverse and almost hit the security guard, who had to jump out of the way, police said.
She was stopped at Caddy Park on Quincy Shore Drive a short time later by police officer John Grazioso and other officers.
Grazioso saw Drew’s car pass him on Sea Street after her plate number had been sent out on an alert. Drew was identified by the Wal-Mart security guard.
Woman accused of string of car thefts www.privateofficer.com
ource: Statesman.com A 29-year-old woman is accused of stealing 17 vehicles after taking the keys out of unsecured gym lockers or driving the vehicles off of dealership parking lots, according to an arrest affidavit.
Last month, Austin police arrested and charged Cynthia Huster-Forrest with felony theft in what they say was a crime spree from March 17 to May 27.
She remains in the Travis County Jail with bail set at $200,000.
Her arrest affidavit said she went into several gyms in the Austin area and took purses or keys from unlocked lockers. She took the cars from the lot of the gym or found addresses from the driver’s licenses she stole, the affidavit said.
Forrest also stole two vehicles from dealerships after asking to test-drive cars and not returning them, the affidavit said.
Police said they began to notice the trend of stolen vehicles and of stolen purses and other items from women’s lockers in fitness centers in March.
Huster-Forrest left the stolen cars in random places, the affidavit said, including at a hotel, a comedy club, other fitness centers, dealerships, neighborhood streets and a San Antonio apartment complex.
The affidavit said all 17 vehicles were recovered, but it was unclear if any were damaged.
Police said the case’s turning point was when photos of Huster-Forrest were taken when she tried to cash a stolen check at a Money Box.
Huster-Forrest has had previous run-ins with police, including convictions for unauthorized use of a vehicle and charges of drug possession, according to open records.
Police said the retail value of all the stolen vehicles was about $203,875, which classifies the thefts as a first-degree felony. She could face up to life in prison if convicted.
Basketball coach faces sex crime charges www.privateofficer.com
WNDU.com A former Washington High School basketball coach accused of having sex with a former teenage student is due in court Tuesday.
Twenty-seven-year-old Stephen Rokop of South Bend is charged with three counts of sexual misconduct with a minor and two counts of child seduction.
Rokop is a former freshmen boy’s basketball coach at Washington. He’s accused of having sex with a former student at the school, who was 15-years-old at the time. The teen has since transferred to another school.
Rokop is scheduled to appear in court Tuesday morning for his initial hearing.
Man burys aborted fetus after raping teen www.privateofficer.com
Police say 30-year-old Michael James Lisk buried the body on Saturday in woods near his home in Kunkletown in eastern Pennsylvania. Police say Lisk told them he suspected he got the girl pregnant.
The girl told investigators she had attempted an abortion on herself days earlier and the baby was stillborn. She went to a hospital, and medical workers contacted police.
Lisk was arraigned Monday on charges of rape of a child, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, concealing the death of a child and abuse of a corpse. He is being held in lieu of $50,000 bail.
An autopsy is scheduled for Tuesday.
Minneapolis police officer commits suicide www.privateofficer.com
Source:Fox9.com – Duy Ngo, a Minneapolis undercover police officer shot by a fellow officer in 2003, committed suicide Monday at his Mendota Heights home.
According to Mendota Heights police, Ngo’s wife called 911 at 12:15 p.m. Monday to report her husband had killed himself. It was the first service call of any kind to the Ngo residence.
Attorney Michael Padden was set to cross examine Ngo Monday afternoon, in a disorderly conduct case, in which Ngo is also a defendant in a civil suit.
In 2007, the Minneapolis City Council voted 11-1 to settle a lawsuit with Ngo for $4.5 million. The settlement is the largest settlement with the city of Minneapolis involving a Minneapolis police officer.
On Feb. 25, 2003, Ngo, was on gang surveillance when he was shot in the side during a confrontation with a man. Ngo’s life was saved by his bulletproof vest. Ngo called for help and described the suspect who fled on foot. Responding Officer Charles Storlie arrived on the scene while Ngo knelt under a streetlight waving his arms. Storlie got out of his car and almost immediately began firing his semiautomatic machine gun, shooting Ngo six times.
Ngo returned to work after rehabilitation but was restricted to desk duty because the shooting permanently injured his left hand, making him unable to grip a gun.
A jury was to be chosen Monday in a personal injury case filed against Duy Ngo.
Lightning kills woman about to get engaged www.privateofficer.com
Thirty-year-old Richard Butler of Knoxville told the Asheville Citizen Times that he took Bethany Lott to Max Patch Bald, near Asheville. He said he wanted his 25-year-old girlfriend to think the two were on a hike but that he had a ring in his pocket and was planning to ask her to marry him.
Heavy rain let up as the two walked toward the bald, but more bad weather returned. Butler said there were three lightning strikes. The last one hit the couple.
Butler suffered third-degree burns. Paramedics declared Lott, also of Knoxville, dead at the scene.
Former police chief killed during robbery www.privateofficer.com
ST. LOUIS COUNTY, Mo. June 8 2010 — Police on Sunday were questioning a teenager in the shooting deaths of his friend and a state investigator who was the son of a former state legislator and had been a former municipal police chief.
Tyrone L. Thompson, 47, of Black Jack, a consumer fraud investigator with the state attorney general’s office, was shot to death in a robbery attempt Saturday night in the 12300 block of Jerries Lane in Black Jack, police said.
Thompson was sitting in his sport utility vehicle near his home waiting to pick up a friend when two men, both 18, approached about 11 p.m. and tried to rob him at gunpoint, police said.
Thompson and the suspects exchanged several gunshots. Police said Thompson shot Jakeem Hicks and was himself fatally shot by one of the would-be robbers.
Police said someone who lived near the shooting scene tried to revive Thompson, who was pronounced dead at Christian Northeast Hospital.
Hicks, of the 1300 block of Petite Drive, died in the street.
The other 18-year-old was wounded in the exchange but his injury was not serious, police said. He was in police custody and was being questioned Sunday. His identity is being withheld pending the filing of charges.
Police would not say if both teens were armed or how many guns they recovered at the scene.
St. Louis County Police Chief Tim Fitch said the teenagers had had no previous contact with Thompson. Fitch called Thompson a “truly innocent victim” who was “trying to protect himself in his neighborhood.”
Hicks’ family declined to comment.
Thompson was a former police chief for Pagedale and a former University City police officer. He had served as consumer fraud investigator for the state attorney general’s office for about a year. He grew up in University City and was the son of former state Rep. Betty Thompson, D-University City.
Detectives have no evidence that Thompson was targeted because of his job.
St. Louis County Police Detective John Wall, who worked with Thompson on the University City police force, said Thompson was “happy to go to work. Happy to be there. He was a great policeman, just an all-around great guy.”
Thompson, who was unmarried, had a daughter, 18, and two sons, 21 and 16.
“He was just an excellent son and a beautiful father,” said County Councilwoman Hazel Erby, a friend and spokeswoman for the Thompson family.
Betty Thompson was University City’s first African-American councilwoman and served in that seat for 18 years. She was elected to the Missouri House in 1997 and served for eight years. She has been honored for her social activism.
Erby said Betty Thompson asked her to say that “the killing has to stop. We have to come together as a community and do something about this.”
In a prepared statement Sunday, Attorney General Chris Koster said Thompson was a valued member of his staff who will be missed.
“I am broken-hearted for the Thompson family and have profound sympathy for their pain and tragic loss,” Koster said. “But I am equally angered at the absolute senselessness of this murder and the life that has been stolen by two teenagers without care for the value of human life.
Funeral arrangements for Thompson were pending.
Security officer killed by drunk driver www.privateofficer.com
Police say both the driver and his passenger were drunk when their van slammed into and killed Raphael Wilson.
The crash happened around 1:30 Saturday morning near Covington Pike and Covington Way.
Wilson’s family says he worked weekend nights as a security guard, so he could spend his days taking classes toward his college degree.
A product of a single-parent home growing up, Wilson’s sister says he wanted better for himself and was studying to become an electrical engineer.
They’re dreams that came to a crashing end in an instant.
Monday afternoon, broken glass, and twisted metal marked the spot where the 29-year-old’s life ended.
Family members say Raphael Wilson was outside a used car lot on Covington Pike, working as a security guard, when his Mercury Mystique was slammed into from behind.
Wilson died at the scene.
“He was an angel, you know,” said Latisha Wilson, the victim’s sister. “You don’t meet many people like that. Kind, just free hearted. Just whatever he could do, he did.”
Memphis Police say the driver of the van that hit Wilson, Victor Santiago, was found walking away from the scene.
According to court records, both the driver, and his passenger, Hector Santiago, had slurred speech, staggered when walking, smelled like they’d been drinking and had glass particles on them consistent with the crash.
But even more shocking to Wilson’s family, investigators say both suspects were laughing and care-free.
Upon learning that Wilson was dead; police say Victor Santiago said, “No problem.”
Nearly seven hours later, an officer wrote that both suspects were still laughing about killing someone.
“It’s like they treated my brother like he was a dog, like he was nothing but the dirt under your feet,” lamented Wilson’s sister. “How do you do that? I don’t understand that.”
Our cameras weren’t allowed in court as Hector Santiago appeared before a judge today, charged with DUI.
Victor Santiago is scheduled to face vehicular homicide, drunk driving, and other charges Tuesday.
While she knows nothing will bring Raphael back, his sister says the only true justice for her brother’s death would be to send the men accused of laughing as he died, to the same fate.
“You don’t deserve to live,” said Latisha Wilson. “If you think that the human life is nothing, you don’t deserve to live. You really don’t.”
Wilson says her brother’s death comes two years after her mother was killed in an eerily similar traffic crash.
OFFICER DOWN
New Jersey State Police
New Jersey
End of Watch: Sunday, June 6, 2010
Biographical Info
Age: 29
Tour of Duty: 6 years
Badge Number: 6397
Incident Details
Cause of Death: Struck by vehicle
Date of Incident: Sunday, June 6, 2010
Weapon Used: Not available
Suspect Info: Not available
Trooper Marc Castellano died of injuries he sustained when he was struck by a vehicle while searching for a suspect.
Trooper Castellano was on I-195 near an exit ramp in Howell Township and was searching for a person who had fled on foot after leading officers on a vehicle pursuit. As he conducted the search, he was struck by a passing vehicle. He was taken to a local hospital, where he died from his injuries several hours later.
The suspect he was searching for was located a short time later hiding in a wooded area.
Trooper Castellano had served with the New Jersey State Police for six years and was assigned to Troop C Tactical Patrol Unit. He is survived by his wife and two children.
Agency Contact Information
New Jersey State Police
PO Box 7068
West Trenton, NJ 08628
Phone: (609) 882-2000
Please contact the New Jersey State Police for funeral arrangements or for survivor benefit fund information.
Police chief reports himself for illegal parking www.privateofficer.com
Chief Gene Wilson admitted he parked in a handicapped spot at a Conyers Chik-Fil-A. Wilson told Channel 2’s Diana Davis he realized he parked illegally after getting breakfast at the restaurant on Highway 138.
“I come back outside, and there is the handicapped parking sign with my city police car sitting right in it, and I’m thinking I didn’t do this, but I did,” Wilson said.
The chief claimed he didn’t notice the markings or the posted sign. The chief told Davis the new light bar on his car blocked his view. He drove back to headquarters and had another officer write him the ticket. It carried a $280 fine. Wilson also apologized in a letter to the newspaper.
“I thought that was great. It shows that he took responsibility for his wrong action,” said Conyers resident Brian Griffith.
This was not the first time the chief turned himself in. He also received a ticket for running a red light while working in Sandy Springs.
“I hope I don’t get to the point where I have a major write me a ticket. I might have to arrest myself, I don’t know,” Wilson said.
The chief told Davis he wanted to send a message that his department takes parking in a disabled spot without a permit very seriously. According to Wilson, anybody caught doing it, including police, will get a ticket.
