Archive
Man charged in burglaries of multiple K-Mart stores www.privateofficer.com
Now police say he’s also been charged in six other similar break-ins after a string of other Kmart break-ins all over the city.
Frank Edward Johns, of the 6100 block of Virgil Lane, was booked into the Duval County jail on $75,000 bail, other charges including dealing in stolen property, possession of burglary tools and giving false verification of pawned items, according to jail records.
Police said they caught Johns inside the Mandarin Kmart just after 1 a.m., after he broke a front window to get into the store and tried to steal a jewelry case. Interviewed by a detective after his arrest, burglaries (two each) at Kmarts at 1501 Normandy Village Parkway and 4645 Blanding Blvd., as well as two other unnamed Kmarts. Security camera video from the Normandy Village parkway store shows someone breaking out the front door and heading straight to the jewelry counter, police said.
In all cases, only jewelry in display cases was stolen and pawned, the cases themselves thrown away within minutes of each break-in.
Source:Florida Times-Union
Woman sues K-Mart in “slip and fall” accident www.privateofficer.com
WINFIELD, W.Va. Aug 22 2010– A Culloden woman is suing Kmart after she said she slipped and fell on the floor of the Scott Depot store.
Charlotte Thomas, of 229 Kingswood Estates, was walking through the Scott Depot Kmart on Aug. 11, 2008, when she slipped and fell on a wet floor, according to a lawsuit filed in Putnam County Circuit Court.
There were no warning signs posted in the area where Thomas fell, according to the lawsuit.
Thomas suffered injuries to her hip, thigh, shoulder, wrist, hand and back. Thomas had to undergo medical treatment as a result of the fall, the lawsuit states.
Jefferson Parish 911 operator arrested for shoplifting www.privateofficer.com
New Orleans LA Aug 22 2010 A Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office 911 operator was arrested and accused of shoplifting on Wednesday after she was caught on a security camera stealing several shirts, JPSO reported.
Jay’da Jackson, 23, of 1500 Lorene Ave. in Harvey, was booked with one count of theft and one count of possession of stolen property, said Col. John Fortunato, a Sheriff’s Office spokesman.
Jackson turned over several shirts worth a total of $45 to police after they confronted her at work about the theft.
Fortunato said Jackson stole the merchandise while at a department store in the 1700 block of Manhattan Boulevard.
She has been employed by the Sheriff’s Office since 2007.
The charges are misdemeanors.
Source:NOLA.com
Police identify murdered Florida security officer www.privateofficer.com
Miami Fla Aug 22 2010 -Miami Dade police on Saturday identified the security guard who was found dead a day earlier at a Kendale Lakes shopping plaza.
A homeless man found Gerardo Leal, 61, bleeding from a gunshot at about 2:30 a.m. at the Colonial Shopping Plaza, 9590 SW 160th St., where Leal worked as a security guard.
Miami-Dade Fire Rescue was called, and declared him dead.
The department’s Homicide Bureau asked anyone with information about the shooting to call police detective M. Littlefield at 305-471-2400 or Miami-Dade County Crime Stoppers at 305-471-8477
Hominy High School teacher charged with rape www.privateofficer.com
Had Shelly Fry not been a teacher, she would not have been arrested on second degree felony rape charges. In Oklahoma there’s a law if a teacher has sex with a student between 16and 20 years-old, they go behind bars.
Monica Singmaster is one of many hominy residents surprised at the charges Shelly Fry’s up against.
“You know everybody in a small town so you just don’t think of this stuff happening and I’m really shocked to hear it.”
Fry, a 35 year old former special ed teacher, turned herself in Wednesday afternoon.
“She seemed somber as she was brought into the sheriff’s office by her attorney,” Criminal Investigator Charlie Cartwright said.
Fry resigned last year; coincidentally around the time she’s alleged to have had sex with the victim. Some think Fry’s just someone who got caught.
“Hominy’s a good town, I don’t think it will hurt us every school district has probably had it happen at one time or another,” Hominy resident Shirley Horton said.
Singmaster wants the hominy school district to take a closer look at who is teaching local kids.
“I think they should look into every teacher they’ve hired . . . They’re there to teach our kids, not to victimize them.”
The Hominy Superintendent says student safety is a priority for the district, he says as soon they heard these allegations they investigated fry. He wouldn’t comment any further. Fry’s bail was set at $10,000. She will be allowed to return home after positing that money, because she turned herself in she is not considered a flight risk.
Source:Fox23 News
Utah teacher faces sexual abuse of student www.privateofficer.com
James D. Stokes appeared for an initial appearance hearing in 2nd District Court in Farmington on Wednesday on two second-degree felonies. He is accused of fondling the girl on two separate occasions.
If convicted, Stokes could be sentenced on each felony to serve one to 15 years in Utah State Prison.
Centerville police arrested Stokes on Tuesday and booked him into Davis County Jail, where he is being held on $50,000 bail.
Centerville Police Sgt. Von Steenblik said his department received a call from the Division of Child Protective Services. A 14-year-old girl who is a student at Legacy Preparatory Academy in North Salt Lake reported that Stokes, who is a drama teacher at the school, had given her rides home in January.
“There are two incidents where (Stokes) drove her to what we call The Lower Pipeline Road, which is by the marshes, and fondled her,” Steenblik said.
Steenblik said his office investigated the girl’s claims and arrested Stokes at his home in Farmington. Stokes refused to talk to police and asked for an attorney, Steenblik said.
The state Office of Education’s records show Stokes was a drama teacher in Weber School District from July 2005 to June 2008 and has been at Legacy Preparatory Academy since July 2008.
Calls to Legacy Preparatory Academy, which is a charter school, were not immediately returned.
Davis School District does not have jurisdiction over charter schools, said Christopher Williams, the district’s community relations director.
Teachers aide charged with sex crimes with student www.privateofficer.com
Redding CA Aug 22 2010 A former teacher’s aide at Shasta High School was arrested this week for allegedly having sex multiple times with a minor, the Glenn County’s Sheriff’s Office reported.
Laura Michelle Gallegos, 38, of Redding turned herself in to authorities at the Glenn County Jail in Willows on Tuesday afternoon.
Glenn County investigators said Gallegos allegedly had sex with a 17-year-old Orland High School male student in Red Bluff, Corning and in the stands during the high school wrestling finals in Bakersfield in March.
Gallegos is charged with one count of oral copulation, two counts of unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor, exhibiting lewd material to a minor, and three counts of contacting a minor to commit lewd acts, according to the Glenn County District Attorney’s Office.
She was released after posting $110,000 in bail, the sheriff’s office said. Gallegos is scheduled to appear in Glenn County Superior Court on Sept. 21.
In April, the Glenn County Sheriff’s Office got a call from an Orland mother who said she believed her 15-year-old son was receiving explicit text messages from a woman.
The mother had just returned from a wrestling tournament in Reno and while there had viewed her son’s cell phone contact list and noticed a number for ‘GF’, according to investigators.
By chance, the mother of another wrestler at the tournament had received a text message from the same number, which belonged to another mother of one of the wrestlers, sheriff’s investigators said.
The number was determined to be Gallegos’, investigators said.
Investigators obtained search warrants for the cell phones allegedly involved.
Glenn County Sheriff’s Det. Greg Felton also visited the Shasta High campus and was told that Gallegos had since resigned as a teacher’s aide.
Gallegos had worked as an instructional aide at Shasta since September 2006, said district Superintendent Jim Cloney, adding that Gallegos didn’t give a reason for resigning.
Meanwhile, a 17-year-old Orland High student told investigators that he met Gallegos for the first time in Red Bluff at lunch before missing the last two periods of school that day. This occurred in mid-March.
Sheriff’s investigators said Gallegos and the 17-year-old boy allegedly had sex inside a vehicle that day.
School records revealed that the boy had two unexcused absences after lunch on the same day, sheriff’s investigators said.
The 17-year-old also told investigators that he and Gallegos allegedly had sex in early March during the high school state wrestling finals in Bakersfield. The state meet was held inside Rabobank Arena.
An additional meeting for sex allegedly occurred in Corning, sheriff’s investigators said
Source:Redding News
Ohio teacher sentenced to prison in student sex case www.privateofficer.com
Cincinnati OH Aug 22 2010 Today a former religion teacher has learned he will spend four years behind bars for having sexual contact with a teenage girl. 51 year old Salvatore Magro was facing up to five years in prison after pleading guilty to charges of gross sexual imposition in June.
Magro was also arrested a second time after trying to contact the 15 year old Delhi Township girl while out on bond after his initial arrest.
Magro taught at Our Lady of Victory from 2000 until 2008. The victim was not his student… she went to Oak Hills high school,. But during sentencing today, it was learned that he and the victim exchanged wedding vows and that Magro told the girl he did not love his wife-and that he would drug his wife to make her fall asleep so he could see the victim.
Magro’s wife asked for leniency in the sentence-telling the court that Magro had a stroke last year which has affected his judgment. She also said Magro is”a small, white man who might not be able to defend himself against other prisoners… I know a long prison term will do nothing to help anyone’s feeling. Both he and the young lady need counseling. They need to understand the absurdity of their deeds.”
Ironically, it was Magro’s wife who introduced the victim to her husband. She teaches at Rapid Run middle school and met the girl when she was an 8th grader there. Last fall, the girl moved into the Magro’s home while her mother was recovering from surgery.
An attorney for Magro’s victim read a letter the girl wrote aloud in the court. It read, in part, “Now that this is over, I’m very confused, hurt and depressed. I am 15 years old now and I was Sam’s wife. It made so much sense at the time but now it makes no sense. I do not understand how this happened.”
And Magro himself made a statement, saying, “In the months that I have already spent incarcerated have been a time of deep reflection, a time of great loneliness, anguish, and very frightening. I have learned a horrible lesson.”
Magro will also be labeled a Tier Two sex offender and will have five years of post-release supervision.
Source:WKRC.com
Yellowstone Club guard charged with killing bear www.privateofficer.com
BUTTE MT Aug 22 2010 – Charges are pending against a security officer at the ritzy Yellowstone Club who allegedly killed a black bear sow earlier this month.
The Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks plans to cite Shane Barstad with one count of taking a bear out of season, said Pat Flowers, the agency’s Region 3 supervisor.
Flowers said the agency mailed the charge to the Madison County Courthouse on Friday. An employee in Madison County Justice Court said the charge hadn’t yet arrived, but would likely be filed early next week.
Barstad, when contacted on the job Friday at the Yellowstone Club, declined to comment. A spokesman for the club was not immediately available to comment on the allegations.
Flowers did not know the sow’s age, but said the bear was accompanied by at least two cubs. Barstad turned himself in and told wildlife officers he accidentally shot the bear with a shotgun slug while attempting to haze the animal, according to Flowers.
FWP captured one cub, which will be taken to the agency’s wildlife rehabilitation center in Helena with hopes of eventually returning the animal to the wild, Flowers said.
No further details were available Friday about the case, he said.
NYC Schools settle lawsuits against security staff www.privateofficer.com
The family of Stephen Cruz, a senior at Robert F. Kennedy High School in Flushing, Queens, sued the city a year ago after a school safety agent, Daniel O’Connell, allegedly kicked open the door of the bathroom stall Cruz was in. The door swung, hitting Cruz and cutting his face. The New York Civil Liberties Union also filed a complaint against O’Connell last year with the police department’s Internal Affairs Bureau on Cruz’ behalf.
NYCLU spokeswoman Jennifer Carnig said that to her knowledge, the police department has not taken disciplinary action against O’Connell, who was transferred to a middle school following the incident. A police department spokesman did not return request for comment on the complaint.
The settlement comes less than a week before a scheduled City Council hearing on the Student Safety Act, a law introduced by education committee chairman Robert Jackson in August 2008. The legislation, which is currently sponsored by 33 of the council’s 50 members, would require the Department of Education to submit reports four times a year on safety incidents and the activities of the school safety agents at each school. It would also require 311 operators to direct complaints about the agents to the police department’s Internal Affairs Bureau.
The NYCLU is planning a rally on the steps of City Hall before the hearing. Cruz’s family members and attorney will also testify at the hearing.
Critics of police presence in schools have long complained that the 5,000 school safety agents assigned to the city’s public schools but employed by the police department treat students too aggressively and get involved in disciplinary cases better handled by educational staff.
At a town-hall style meeting earlier this month, a parent raised this criticism with Deputy Mayor for Education Dennis Walcott. The parent, Susan Crawford, argued that incidents that should be handled by principals are now being handed over to police and that children end up with unnecessary criminal records that follow them for years to come.
Walcott disagreed, saying that the city never took disciplinary power away from principals and that the security policies have resulted in a significant decrease in safety problems in schools.
Campus security officers locked out during contract talks www.privateofficer.com
The university and the Association of Employees Supporting Education Services, which represents 27 security staff, failed to come to an agreement during talks that began at 2:30 p.m.
U of M spokesman John Danakas said negotiations will begin again on Monday. Until then, a private firm will be in charge of security services on both campuses.
The 11th-hour talks came after over a year of negotiations left the two sides still at loggerheads over issues including wage and disciplinary procedures. One of the union’s biggest concerns was the university’s request to drop staffing levels, allowing security guards to patrol alone instead of with a partner. In a statement after the vote, AESES said the union feared that move could put guards, students and “all persons on university grounds in jeopardy.”
“We’ll be setting up picket lines starting Monday morning,” said John Urkevich, business agent for AESES.
“I think they’re absolutely wrong,” he said of the university’s decision to lock out staff.
Urkevich is unhappy the university wants the option to reduce staff from what he believes is already a bare minimum level.
“They want to have the ability to have even less (staff) on. It’s hard for us at the union to fathom that.”
Students are upset at the proposed cuts to security as the fall semester approaches, University of Manitoba Students’ Union president Heather Laube said Friday.
“The flexibility proposed by the University to have only a single Patrol Officer on duty for each campus for over 30,000 people is completely irresponsible. This jeopardizes the safety of students, staff, faculty and the officers themselves,” she said in a news release.
She said a lockout would jeopardize the availability of non-violent crisis intervention training for students and staff on campus, such as nursing students and resident advisors. Nursing students require the training to prepare for training placements. Resident advisors act as the first line of response for personal safety, mental health, emotional counseling and general welfare issues for residence students.
“We understand the provincial government and university want to cut their budgets, but that burden should not be placed on students and the public-sector workers that keep us safe,” Laube said in the release.
In June, professors in the plant sciences department organized security patrols in their building after a graduate student was attacked in her office one night and in October 2009, a first-year student was stabbed in the chest outside Frank Kennedy Centre on the University of Manitoba’s Fort Garry campus.
Ga Sonic Restaraunt swallowed by sinkhole www.privateofficer.com
NJ Highway patrol chief gets speeding ticket www.privateofficer.com
State police spokesman Capt. Gerald Lewis says Fuentes was going 75 mph in a 65 mph zone.
Lewis says the veteran trooper who stopped Fuentes didn’t realize he was pulling over another officer and didn’t issue a ticket. He says Fuentes later contacted his department’s Office of Professional Standards to report the stop and request a ticket, which will cost him $160.
Fuentes also will receive a written reprimand.
Cedar Park police officer dies in motorcycle crash www.privateofficer.com
Cedar Park TX Aug 22 2010 A police officer died yesterday while conducting motorcycle training with a senior officer, according to KVUE-TV.
Officer Leonard Reed, 41, suffered massive internal injuries in the motorcycle crash and was pronounced dead at St. David’s Round Rock Medical Center.
“This individual rendered outstanding service and protection to our community,” Chief Henry Fluck told the news station. “He always did it with a happy heart. He was a positive and cheerful officer who gave outstanding service to anyone that needed it.”
The crash occurred on Arrow Point Drive at approximately 3:18 p.m. when he lost control of his motorcycle and hit the curb before the motorcycle went airborne and collided with a utility pole, according to the report.
Reed was training to be a motorcycle officer. He is a four-year veteran of the department and leaves behind a wife and two sons.
He was named the Cedar Park Officer of the Year in 2008.
Funeral services are pending.
Mn. security bouncer won’t face charges in shooting death www.privateofficer.com
MINNEAPOLIS MN Aug 22 2010 Hennepin County prosecutors have decided not to charge a bouncer who shot and killed a man outside a bar last month.
The attorney’s office has concluded the bouncer acted in self-defense in the July 11 shooting.
Minneapolis police had agreed. The day after the shooting they said the bouncer had been trying to defend himself.
Police Sgt. Bill Palmer says 24-year-old Tirso Cruz Gomez of Columbia Heights pulled a knife on the bouncer, whose name hasn’t been released. The bouncer tried to wrestle the knife out of Gomez’s hand but couldn’t.
The medical examiner says Gomez died of multiple gunshot wounds to the chest.
WCCO-TV says the bouncer suffered a cut that required stitches.
Police have said the bouncer has a permit for his gun.
Source:KTTC
Police investigation leads to $80 million in drugs www.privateofficer.com
GILROY, Calif.Aug 22 2010 — After a year-long investigation, deputies in Gilroy, Calif. swarmed a house and found nearly 500 pounds of drugs worth $80 million. They say it’s the biggest drug operation they’ve ever seen.
Scattered across the kitchen, living room, bedrooms and garage, they found hundreds of pounds of meth and 20 kilos of cocaine. Investigators wore gas masks and hazmat suits to stay safe from the chemicals as they investigated the home.
“They were taking powder methamphetamine and using solvent to convert them into a smoking form which is known as ice,” Special Agent Cooke told the Central Coast News.
A year ago, an undercover agent made a low-level street buy that eventually led three police departments and the Department of Justice to the home.
Hector Salazar Borrayo, Fabian Figuero Ayala and Felimpe Naraja Mora were arrested. All three are from Mexico, which leads authorities to believe the drugs are connected to a smuggling cartel.
