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Police, store security injured making shoplifting arrest www.privateofficer.com
BRISTOL CT July 4 2010 – A police officer was injured Saturday capturing a Plainville man suspected of the mid-day robbery at the local Home Depot.
At 12:02 p.m., officers were detailed to the Home Depot, 1149 Farmington Ave., on a complaint of a robbery in progress.
Security personnel from the store said they saw a man attempting to leave the store with merchandise that had not been paid for. The perpetrator became combative, police said, when store personnel they tried to restrain him. One of the store security officers was assaulted in the struggle.
The suspect escaped and fled the scene. He was described to police as a large white male, wearing green cargo shorts and a blue baseball style cap.
While checking an area several blocks from the suspect. Officer Gary Vincent found a male fitting the description.
The man fled and a foot pursuit began, police said. The officer caught the perpetrator and a Taser stun gun was used, police said, with minimal affect.
Inn a struggle with the male. Vincent received injuries to his left arm, left wrist, face and torso area.
The perpetrator was taken into custody with the help of several other officers.
Vincent was treated at Bristol Hospital for his injuries and released, police said.
The suspect, Michael Barracliff, 44, of 50 Linden St., Plainville, was charged with robbery 3rd degree, larceny 6th degree (shoplifting), criminal mischief 3rd degree, resisting arrest, assault in the 3rd degree, assaulting a police officer, possession of cocaine, possession of marijuana, and interfering with an officer. He was held on a $500,000 surety bond pending arraignment in Bristol Superior Court on Tuesday.
K-Mart shoplifter shoots 2 police officers www.privateofficer.com
Burbank CA July 4 2010 The routine arrest of a shoplifting suspect at a Kmart in Burbank went badly awry Friday when the man grabbed a gun and shot two police officers, bouncing three shots off one officer’s bullet-proof vest before being subdued, authorities said.
Neither of the Burbank Police officers suffered life-threatening injuries in the shooting, which broke the quiet of a routine lunchtime as shoppers prepared for the holiday weekend. Authorities did not immediately identify the suspect or the officers, one of whom underwent surgery after being shot in the hand and leg.
One witness to the shooting, Burbank resident Joseph Hoage, said he had just walked out of the Kmart store at 1000 N. San Fernando Blvd. when he saw a handcuffed man with two police officers.
Suddenly, he said, he heard someone say, “He’s got a gun!” Hoage said he dove behind a car and heard four or five shots fired. When he looked up, one of the officers was holding his right hand, which was bleeding profusely. The other officer was struggling with the suspect, wrestling until he finally pinned him down. Hoage said the second officer emptied his Taser weapon in the struggle, but that didn’t immediately subdue the suspect.
Another witness, Frank Galuppo, 50, of Burbank, said he saw the first officer stagger backwards, and the second officer struggle with the alleged gunman. Galuppo, who owns a nearby Curves Fitness center, said the suspect was wrestled to the ground and then shot with the Taser.
A Burbank police spokesman, Sgt. Robert Quesada, confirmed that a Taser was used, although he could not say who fired it. He said the second officer is the one who was shot three times in the chest, with the impact absorbed and deflected by his vest. That officer also sustained a minor gunshot wound to his leg, for which he was treated at a hospital and released. “If he was shot, he’s a pretty brave guy,” said Hoage. “He never stopped fighting.”
Source:LANOW.com
Cleveland Browns Robaire Smith arrested for gun at airport
The Flint Journal reported that Smith had a loaded gun in his carry-on bag at Bishop Airport in November. Airport security reported finding the weapon while Smith’s bag went through an X-ray machine.
Smith was charged with possession of a firearm in a sterile area of a commercial airport. He faces a maximum sentence of a year in jail and a $1,000 fine.
A county prosecutor told the paper that Smith’s gun had 15 to 17 rounds in the gun’s magazine, but no bullet in the chamber.
Charges were brought Thursday on a local level instead of being issued federally.
Smith’s agent told the newspaper that the NFL was notified of the indiscretion and issued its discipline.
Smith’s teammate, Shaun Rogers, was arrested April 1 after a loaded gun was found in his bag at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport. He pleaded not guilty and is awaiting a court date.
Source:Ohio.com
Boca Raton Resort security’s actions stops fire www.privateofficer.com
BOCA RATON FLA July 4 2010
Firefighters extinguished a fire in the second-floor store room early Saturday morning at the Boca Raton Resort.
Security officers saw smoke around 4:30 a.m. and called 911, according to Boca Raton Fire-Rescue.
Firefighters extinguished the blaze quickly with help from the building’s fire sprinkler system. The fire was in the Mizner Center, a convention hall at 495 E. Camino Real, which is separate from the main hotel.
High-powered fans were used to remove smoke from the building.
No injuries were reported. As of Saturday morning, firefighters had not estimated damages or determined the cause of the blaze.
Source:Palm Beach Post
Atlanta Post Office Robbed www.privateofficer.com
Atlanta GA July 4 2010
By: Brett Davis/Staff
PRIVATE OFFICER NEWS
http://www.privateofficer.com/
It’s not often that someone is brazen enough to hold up a post office but it happened in Atlanta Georgia.
Police say that a man walked into the Lakewood post office in southwest Atlanta on Friday and pointed a gun at the clerk’s head and demanded money.
Police and federal agents including the US Postal Inspectors responded to the scene and began a search for the suspect.
Authorities said that said man demanded all of the money from the post office, located in the 1500 block of Jonesboro Road.
The clerk gave the man the money, and he ran from the area but bot before pulling the trigger on the gun which did not fire.
Police said the man was last seen heading east on Thurmond Street. He was in a black Pontiac.
Police have described the man as black, 5 feet, 9 inches to 5 feet, 11 inches tall with a stock build. He was wearing blue jean capri pants, a blue shirt and a red hat.
The US Postal Inspectors are working closely with area police because robbing a post office is a federal offense.
Orlando police officer, wife charged in ticket scheme www.privateofficer.com
Investigators said he had another side business: illegal Universal and Walt Disney World ticket sales on the classified advertising website craigslist.com.
On Friday, Robey, 40, and his wife, Shaton, 35, surrendered at the Orange County jail on several felony and misdemeanor charges relating to the business, including grand theft, trafficking in stolen property and identity theft.
Court documents released Friday show Robey, his wife, two employees at the Hard Rock Hotel at Universal and an employee of another business were the subject of an undercover investigation by the Metropolitan Bureau of Investigation that lasted several months.
According to prosecution documents:
The couple began selling Wendell Robey’s free employee tickets, marked “not for sale,” about Sept. 1. Then they began buying and selling other tickets, express-line passes and parking passes. A bellman at the Hard Rock Hotel sold them room keys that could be used to avoid standing in line at Universal and to park for free at the hotel.
The Robeys resold the tickets in the parking lot of a tourist-area TGI Friday’s — which is not implicated. In at least one instance, Shaton Robey brought her twin toddlers with her, documents show.
Unknown to the Robeys, they sold items to a Universal Orlando detective and MBI investigators, from whom they also bought tickets. Shaton Robey told authorities the couple earned $10,000 to $15,000 a year from ticket sales.
Messages left on Wendell Robey’s telephone Friday were not returned. On Wednesday, when the charges came to light, he would not comment. The couple cooperated with investigators.
Robey’s base salary at the Police Department, where he has worked since December 2000, is $63,373. He has been on paid leave since his superiors became aware of the criminal investigation, said Dwain Rivers, manager of internal investigations. There will be a review of his status next week, Rivers said. Last school semester, he was stationed at Dr. Phillips High School across from Universal.
According to prosecutors, Wendell Robey paid $40 apiece for one-day, two-park tickets and sold them for $80 to $100. Express-line passes, which help customers avoid a wait, were included. A legitimate ticket retails for $109. Express passes cost between $25.99 and $55.99 depending on the season. Parking costs $14 daily.
Wendell Robey also bought 20 Universal tickets from an undercover MBI agent for $800 — $40 apiece, as opposed to a $109 retail value, investigators said.
In one transaction, Wendell Robey bought 400 free tickets for $40 apiece that were meant for or used by Orange County band students marching in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade at Universal Studios, agents said. He told investigators he thought the money he was paying a third party for the tickets would go to the students for a trip to Atlanta.
In December, the couple resold tickets that University of Central Florida had bought legitimately for $37 apiece, prosecutors said.
Also implicated is Eric Swinarski, 37, a bell captain at Hard Rock, who worked there for 10 years, documents show. He is charged with theft, trafficking in stolen property, identity theft and fraudulent possession of tickets.
Swinarski told investigators he and Wendell Robey were “hustlers” who traded, bought and sold theme-park tickets for a few months, documents state. Robey told them he bought Universal tickets from Swinarski, they said.
Another bell captain, Nicholas Borey, 29, also is implicated. He had not been arrested as of Friday night. Borey, a three-year employee, told investigators he gave the Robeys 30 Hard Rock room-key cards over six months at $5 apiece. Agents said the Robeys sold the cards for $10 each.
The couple matched the key cards by gender of the original buyer, who had either discarded them or given them to Borey to throw away, documents show. The cards no longer provided access to a hotel room, but they could be used for express-line passes and free parking at Hard Rock until they expired.
One other person, Paul Chacon, 26, also had not been arrested Friday. Documents claim he stole 46 complimentary Walt Disney World tickets marked not for sale from his employer, Bags & Cars, documents show. Wendell Robey ended up buying those, prosecutors said.
The Robeys also are charged with fraudulent possession of theme-park tickets, engaging in business without paying Orange County tax, failure to register with the Florida Department of Revenue and failing to collect sales tax. All are misdemeanors.
They were released from jail after posting $9,750 bail each shortly after they were booked Friday.
Source:Orlando Sentinel
