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Archive for June 24, 2010

Cobb County police officer arrested for child porn www.privateofficer.com

COBB COUNTY, Ga. June 24 2010
Source:WSBTV – Cobb County police said a former officer was arrested after officials found child pornography on his computer.

According to detectives from the Cobb County Crimes Against Children Unit, they were initially contacted by investigators from the Department of Public Safety Internal Affairs Unit regarding a complaint of a Cobb County police officer having pornography on his personal computer.

Police said after interviewing the officer Wednesday, investigators secured a search warrant for his home and seized “numerous pieces of electronic media.”

Officials said Jeremy Christopher Potts, 24, of Kennesaw, was arrested and charged with possession of child pornography.

Potts resigned his position with Cobb County and is being held at the Cobb County Adult Detention Center on $20,000 bond.

Couple tries selling baby at Wal-Mart www.privateofficer.com

SALINAS, Calif.June 24 2010 AP – A California couple faces child endangerment charges after police say they tried to sell their 6-month-old baby for $25 outside a Walmart store.

Salinas police spokesman, Officer Lalo Villegas, said Thursday that Patrick Fousek, 38, and Samantha Tomasini, 20, were arrested early Wednesday, hours after Fousek allegedly approached two women outside Walmart and asked if they’d like to purchase his child.

The women initially thought Fousek was joking, but when he became persistent, they became suspicious and reported it to police, Villegas said.

“They did an outstanding job and gave our officers good information. I don’t know if they’re mothers but they definitely had that instinct to help,” Villegas said.

Fousek and Tomasini were arrested at 1 a.m. Wednesday at their home. Officers said the couple appeared high on methamphetamine and the house was in disarray. A police report also claimed that Tomasini told Child Protective Services, who took the baby, that she had breast-fed the infant while under the influence, Villegas said.

The couple was also booked on charges of being under the influence of narcotics, and Fousek was also served with an extra charge of violating probation. Villegas did not have details of Fousek’s previous brush with the law.

The couple was expected to be in court for an arraignment Friday, at which time they would be assigned public defenders.

Categories: police

Wal-Mart employee dies from injuries sustained in shoplifting incident www.privateofficer.com

Fort Worth TX June 24 2010
Source:Star-Telegram

Bruce Florence’s family was his motivation for working hard.

For more than a decade, he was a regular sight at the Walmart in Westworth Village, greeting customers, ringing up purchases and stocking merchandise, his wife, Cathey Florence, said.

He also frequently worked a second job to further provide for her and their 14-year-old daughter, Kelsey Bernae Florence.

“He didn’t want his daughter to go without anything,” Florence said. “Life was about her. He wanted her to go to college. He wanted her to be somebody.”

But on June 14, Bruce Florence was knocked to the ground when he tried to stop a man who was trying to walk out without paying for a $348 TV. Florence was hospitalized with a head injury until he died on Father’s Day.

“Bruce was a good man who left behind a loving family and good friends,” said Darrell Bartell, a Walmart co-worker. “He didn’t die defending his country or saving someone’s life. He died because a coward wanted a television set.”

William Alan Kennedy, 37, of Fort Worth, was already in the Tarrant County Jail, charged with aggravated robbery in the Westworth Village case. He is a suspect in six similar Fort Worth thefts, police have said.

The Tarrant Count medical examiner’s office has not yet ruled on the cause and manner of Florence’s death. If it is ruled a homicide, Westworth Village police say, it will be up to the Tarrant County district attorney’s office whether new charges are filed against Kennedy.

“If the police present us with additional facts, then we will consider additional charges at that time,” Assistant District Attorney Kevin Rousseau said Tuesday.

The incident

About 2 p.m. June 14, Bruce Florence, working in the lawn and garden department, spotted a man carrying a 26-inch Vizio television and heading toward the exit.

Florence stepped in front of the man, but he barreled right over him, dropping the TV in the process, Westworth Village police Detective John Moore said.

“It was kind of like a football player where you bull rush somebody,” Moore said.

The man ran out the door and got into a waiting white sport utility vehicle, whose driver has still not been identified.

That night, Kennedy was arrested by officers looking for a suspect in a similar shoplifting case that occurred June 10 at the Walmart at 3851 Airport Freeway in Fort Worth. Lt. Paul Henderson, a Fort Worth police spokesman, said a Walmart employee got the license tag number of the white SUV used as a getaway vehicle, and investigators determined it had been rented by Kennedy, he said.

Kennedy is a suspect in five similar Fort Worth thefts, four involving Walmarts, Detective Leslie McGee said.

Kennedy was in the Tarrant County Jail on Tuesday night with bail set at $55,000. He has been charged in one of the Fort Worth shoplifting cases and on the Westworth Village aggravated robbery charge.

Tarrant County court records show he has previous convictions for theft, evading arrest and possession of a controlled substance.

Cathey Florence said that her husband had been awaiting a liver transplant, but he had been able to work at Walmart and serve as a deacon at his church.

While in the hospital, he remained conscious and talking, she said.

“They told me they had got the bleeding [in his brain] and everything under control,” she said.

But on Thursday, Cathey Florence said, she arrived to find her husband with a runny nose and slurring his words.

“He was up walking. I said, ‘You need to put your shoes on. You’re going to catch a cold. It looks like you’re getting sick,’” Cathey Florence said. “He said, ‘I’ll be all right. I’ll probably be coming home this week,’ but it never happened.”

By Friday, Bruce Florence wasn’t talking at all and was in what doctors called a “sleep mode” brought on by a high ammonia level, she said.

“I kept talking to him. I would put lotion on his feet and hands, talking to him and reading Scripture to him, but there was no response,” Cathey Florence said.

“On Sunday, the doctor came out and told us he wasn’t going to come out of this. It was just a matter of time before he would code.”

That night, just minutes before midnight, Bruce Florence was pronounced dead.

“We keep expecting him to walk through the door, but it’s not going to happen,” Cathey Florence said.

Hilda Ferris, manager of the Westworth Village Walmart, said Tuesday: “Our thoughts and prayers are with Bruce’s loved ones during this difficult time. We’ve lost a valued member of our family, and he will be missed.

“Bruce was an outstanding associate who never met a stranger; but, most importantly, he was our friend.”

Security Officer Russell Hines captures murder suspect www.privateofficer.com

PENSACOLA FLA JUNE 24 2010
Source:PJC

A security guard is being credited for the arrest of a murder suspect after a man was gun downed at an Escambia County apartment complex.

Alberto Leslie, 28, is facing a homicide charge for the Monday night shooting death of Brandon A. Stovall at the Twin Oaks Apartments in the Warrington community.

Escambia County Sheriff’s deputies were dispatched to a shots fired disturbance at the Twin Oaks Drive apartment complex. When they arrived, they found the victim lying in the street and a Vice Security Officer holding the suspect at gunpoint. Stovall was pronounced dead on the scene by Escambia County EMS.

“According to Vice Security Officer Russell Hines, he heard gunshots and stepped outside the office which is located at the Twin Oaks Apartments. Hines stated he observed the suspect shooting the victim at which time he had the suspect get on the ground and held him at gunpoint until the arrival of deputies,” Sgt. Ted Roy, spokesperson for the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office, said in a prepared release.

Roy said investigators are still working to establish a motive, but they were advised by the suspect that the victim had been harassing him. Leslie was a resident of the apartment complex, according to jail records.

Leslie is being held in the Escambia County Jail on no bond.

Ga. man charged with having sex with horses www.privateofficer.com

Covington GA June 24 2010
 Source:AJC

A 37-year-old man has been arrested for allegedly having sex with several horses, police said.

 Newton County Sheriff’s Office said that  Byron Christopher Jordan was arrested and charged with bestiality. He is accused of having sex with several horses.

Byron Christopher Jordan was apparently caught in the act Tuesday morning by the owner of the horses, who called Covington police. Jordan was charged with bestiality, a felony in Georgia, and with giving an officer a false name.

Lt. Wendell Wagstaff told the Covington News that Jordan was wearing only dirty pajama bottoms with the fly open. He also reportedly had a strong odor, according to the report.

Jordan, from Covington, was transported to the Newton County jail, where he is being held without bond. He was previously arrested on May 7 for DUI, according to jail records.

“It was just another arrest,” Covington Police Chief Stacey Cotton told the AJC.

Cotton declined to release further details, stating that the public information officer does not work past 5 p.m.

Security officer rescues two from pool www.privateofficer.com

Conway SC June 24 2010 A security guard who rescued two people in a pool makes our Carolina Spotlight.

Officer Richard Johnson of Carolina Forest was working at the Palace Resort on Ocean Boulevard on June 11th when he saw a teenage boy and his aunt struggle in the hotel swimming pool.

He jumped into the pool to pull out the boy and then rescued his aunt.

Officer Johnson was awarded a special commemorative coin, pen and watch for his bravery. But Johnson says his greatest award was finding out that the two were okay.

“When we got out of the pool, she was spitting water and when I saw her airway get clean and she actually started settling down, it was great relief because I was really fearful for her.”

The company Johnson works for honored him Wednesday.

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