Archive
OFFICER DOWN- OFFICER JOHN ZYKAS
United States Department of Homeland Security – Customs and Border Protection – Office of Field Operations
U.S. Government
End of Watch: Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Biographical Info
Age: Not available
Tour of Duty: 15 years
Badge Number: Not available
Incident Details
Cause of Death: Heart attack
Date of Incident: Thursday, September 2, 2010
Incident Location: California
Weapon Used: Not available
Suspect Info: Not available
Officer John Zykas suffered a fatal heart attack while participating in a departmental training course while assigned to the Otay Mesa Port of Entry. He was transported to a local hospital where he underwent major surgery. He remained hospitalized until passing away six days later.
Officer Zykas was a U.S. Navy veteran and had served with the Office of Field Operations and legacy Customs Service for 15 years. He is survived by his wife and two sons.
Agency Contact Information
United States Department of Homeland Security – Customs and Border Protection – Office of Field Operations
1300 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Room 3.4A
Washington, DC 20229
Phone: (202) 344-1770
Please contact the United States Department of Homeland Security – Customs and Border Protection – Office of Field Operations for funeral arrangements or for survivor benefit fund information.
OFFICER DOWN—–Sergeant Thomas Alexander
Rayville Police Department
Louisiana
End of Watch: Saturday, September 11, 2010
Biographical Info
Age: 57
Tour of Duty: 20 years
Badge Number: Not available
Incident Details
Cause of Death: Gunfire
Date of Incident: Saturday, September 11, 2010
Weapon Used: Gun; Unknown type
Suspect Info: Apprehended
Sergeant Thomas Alexander was shot and killed while responding to a burglary in progress in Richland Parish.
A woman had called 911 to report the sound of breaking glass. Sergeant Alexander, who was the closest officer to the location, responded to the scene despite the call coming from outside of the city limit.
Sergeant Alexander was the first officer to arrive at the scene and began searching the home. The three suspects were hidden inside and opened fire as he conducted the search. Responding deputies heard the shots as they arrived on the scene and took one of the suspects into custody inside the home. The two other suspects were apprehended a short time later.
Sergeant Alexander had served with the Rayville Police Department for 13 years and had previously served with the Richland Parish Sheriff’s Office for seven years. He is survived by his wife and two daughters.
Agency Contact Information
Rayville Police Department
900 Harrison Street
Rayville, LA 71269
Phone: (318) 728-4431
Please contact the Rayville Police Department for funeral arrangements or for survivor benefit fund information.
Police Officer James M. (Jimmy) Johnson Jr dies of gunshot wound
Police Officer James M. (Jimmy) Johnson Jr.
Carrollton Police Department
Georgia
End of Watch: Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Biographical Info
Age: 55
Tour of Duty: 3 years, 8 months
Badge Number: Not available
Incident Details
Cause of Death: Gunfire
Date of Incident: Tuesday, November 11, 1980
Weapon Used: Handgun; .38 caliber
Suspect Info: Not available
Officer Jimmy Johnson succumbed to a gunshot wound sustained almost 30 years earlier as he and two other officers questioned an armed man.
The suspect had come into town with $20,000 in cash in preparation to conduct a large drug deal. As the man and a female acquaintance were watching a movie prior to the drug deal someone broke into the man’s truck and stole the money.
The female alerted a gas station clerk that the man was armed with a shotgun and asked the clerk to call the police. Officer Johnson and two other officers located the suspect behind a the First Tuesday Mall and blocked his truck in with their patrol cars.
Both occupants of the truck exited the vehicle and the officers recovered the shotgun from inside the truck. After speaking for a few moments the man pulled out a .38 caliber revolver and attempted to escape, holding Officer Johnson hostage.
The man retook possession of the shotgun and started walking Officer Johnson away from the scene. A struggle ensued and the suspect shot Officer Johnson in the back with the .38 caliber revolver, severely wounding him. The suspect was shot and wounded in the ensuing shootout with the other officers and taken into custody.
Officer Johnson was partially paralyzed from the gunshot wound. He worked for months to learn to walk again but was only able to return to work as a Police Officer for a short time due to the extreme pain he suffered from the gunshot. He left the
force in August 1983 and was awarded the departments two highest medals, the Medal of Valor and the Purple Heart.
Officer Johnson passed away from the wound on May 26, 2010. His death was ruled a homicide by the county coroner from the effects of the gunshot wound sustained on November 11, 1980.
At the time of the shooting, Officer Johnson had served with the Carrollton Police Department for just under four years. He is survived by his wife.
Three charged in Louisiana officer’s murder www.privateofficer.com
Alexander, 57, was shot and killed while responding to a burglary-in-progress call at a home on U.S. 80, east of Rayville, around 9 p.m. Saturday night.
State police said Robert J. Walker, 52, of Rayville, was arrested at the scene. Anthony D. Oatis, 30, of Monroe, was arrested two hours later in Richland Parish. The final suspect, Richard L. Long Jr., 33, of Monroe, was arrested Sunday morning in Monroe. Long was booked at the Ouachita Correctional Center as a fugitive from Richland Parish, but was later transferred to the Richland Parish Detention Center.
Sheriff Charles McDonald said Alexander, who was a 13-year veteran with the Rayville City Police Department, responded to a 911 call received at 9:04 p.m. Saturday night. An elderly woman, who was home alone, reported that she had heard glass break.
He noted that the sheriff’s office usually handles incidents such as this one, that happen outside the city limits. However, Alexander was closest to the scene and quickly responded.
Once there, Alexander made sure the victim was safe and then entered the home to wrangle the suspects.
As he approached a closet, Alexander was shot “about four times.”
“Basically, he got ambushed. He told (the victim) to run,” McDonald said. “He basically saved her life.”
Other officers soon arrived at the scene, when gun shots were heard coming from inside. Alexander, found in the back room of the home, was pronounced dead at the scene.
Officers found Walker lodged under a bed, hiding.
McDonald said the murder weapon has not yet been recovered, and the department is waiting on a pathology report to determine the type of weapon used.
Because the department receives calls of a similar nature on a frequent basis, Alexander entered the home without backup, McDonald said.
“Protect and serve: That’s exactly what Tommy did,” McDonald said. “He went out of his jurisdiction to help us.”
McDonald and Rayville Police Chief Willie Robinson Jr. said numerous agencies and departments including the Rayville Police Department, the Louisiana State Police Crime Lab, the United States Marshall Service and the Richland, Ouachita, Franklin and Morehouse Parish Sheriff’s Offices and police departments, assisted with the investigation and arrests of the suspects.
“I’ve never been in this kind of position,” Robinson said. “But I appreciate their working together to bring these suspects to justice. Anything me or any of my staff could ever do for them, we will. I believe in giving credit where credit is due.”
All three suspects have been booked into the Richland Parish Detention Center on first-degree murder of a police officer and aggravated burglary charges and are currently being held without bond.
An arraignment date has not been set, and Louisiana State Police are conducting an investigation into the murder.
Source:thenewsstar.com
NC rapper had stolen gun at airport www.privateofficer.com
Raleigh NC Sept 13 2010 A local man known in the music world as rapper Petey Pablo was arrested at Raleigh-Durham International Airport on Saturday after security officials found a gun in his luggage.
Moses Barrett III, 37, of Knightdale, was arrested by RDU Airport police, and charged with carrying a concealed weapon, possession of a firearm by a felon, and possession of a stolen firearm.
Arrest warrants show the gun was a Smith and Wesson 639.
Barrett was apparently planning to catch a flight to Los Angeles for MTV’s Video Music Awards.
He has been released on a $50,000 bond, and is due in court on Monday
Source:WTVD.com
Five Wackenhut employees charged with racketeering www.privateofficer.com
The arrest warrants issued this week for Nathan Holmes, Robert Alvarado, William Acosta, Roberto Pereira and Elijah Pendleton have been sealed as part of the ongoing probe, according to documents filed in Miami-Dade Circuit Court.
A 2008 county audit found that Wackenhut, which guarded Metrorail stations for decades, overbilled the county from $3.3 million to $5.8 million for work it never performed.
Documents filed in court do not detail the allegations against the five men. At least one of them, Pendleton, was removed from working on the Metrorail contract after a Miami Herald story in 2006 detailed a whistle-blower lawsuit alleging false billing practices by Wackenhut.
According to court records, a judge sealed the warrants so that Miami-Dade police public corruption detectives can “seek cooperation of one or more of the said defendants in furtherance of the investigation.”
The Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office declined to comment. A spokeswoman for Miami-Dade police said the investigation “is still open and active.”
FIRM’S RESPONSE
Wackenhut released this statement Friday:
“We have learned today that a small number of former Miami-based Wackenhut employees have been arrested. We have not received any information from law enforcement. . .
“Wackenhut does not tolerate wrongdoing on the part of its employees. In the few cases where we have identified individual wrongdoing, the employee was immediately terminated.”
Efforts by The Miami Herald to reach the defendants were unsuccessful. Four were arrested this week, and two have posted bond; Pendleton is scheduled to turn himself in Saturday.
The arrests are the latest chapter in the stormy contract dispute that spawned a series of lawsuits and cost the county millions.
Wackenhut, based in Palm Beach Gardens, began guarding Metrorail stations in 1989, and by 2009, its contract had grown to more than $20 million.
But a series of whistle-blower lawsuits alleged that Wackenhut routinely couldn’t cover shifts, forcing supervisors and roving patrols to fill the gaps and sometimes leaving “ghost posts” that stayed empty for hours.
Although Wackenhut promised to meet increased security demands after the 9/11 terror attacks, current and former employees said in sworn depositions in 2005 that the company was struggling to hire and retain enough guards to meet the contract’s demands.
Pendleton, Wackenhut’s top supervisor at Metrorail, testified in a civil deposition that the company never left posts vacant, a claim undercut by depositions of his subordinates.
SETTLEMENT
After its own audit in 2008, the county sued Wackenhut. In February, county commissioners voted to approve a settlement calling for Wackenhut to pay the county $3 million in compensation, and $4.5 million to one former Wackenhut employee and her lawyers who filed a whistle-blower suit.
“We already did our own due diligence and severed ties,” county spokeswoman Victoria Mallette said Friday. “We were the first to recognize the problem and take action.”
As part of the settlement, Wackenhut was allowed to again compete for future Miami-Dade government contracts.
Source: http://www.miamiherald.com
Shots fired at security during bank robbery www.privateofficer.com
St Paul MN Sept 13 2010 A 56-year-old man with four armed holdups on his rap sheet was charged on Friday in federal court with taking a teller hostage and shooting at a police officer after allegedly robbing a bank in St. Paul’s St. Anthony Park neighborhood.
Robert L. Russell Jr. of St. Paul is accused of holding up the Park Midway Bank on Como Avenue on Aug. 4, making off with $1,457.
According to court documents:
Russell entered the bank about 2:30 p.m., donned a mask and waved a handgun. He demanded cash and ordered a teller to leave with him. Once outside, Russell fled alone.
A bank security guard checked on the teller and then ran after Russell. During the chase, the robber fired at least one shot at the guard.
Two nearby Xcel Energy employees in a company truck saw the chase and witnessed Russell get in a van and take off.
The van’s owner told investigators that Russell had been using the vehicle all day and had called her just after 5 p.m. The phone number was traced to a Wal-Mart in Stillwater, where surveillance cameras showed him buying clothes and a backpack. Two $20 bills found in a cash register matched bait bills from the bank.
Shortly after midnight, the Wisconsin State Patrol reported it had just responded to a vehicle crash involving the van. Russell was arrested at the scene, and nearly all of the stolen loot was found in a backpack in the van.
When troopers found Russell, he appeared drunk, according to the FBI, adding that he had gone to a liquor store after leaving the Wal-Mart.
Russell’s criminal history includes convictions for the 1992 armed robbery of the First Federal Savings of La Crosse in Hudson, Wis., and three armed heists in 1981, two of them in St. Paul and another in Fridley.
Source:Star Tribune
Casino security make major drug arrest www.privateofficer.com
Payson AZ Sept 13 2010 Here’s a hint: If you are going to do a drug swap, don’t do it under a security camera.
That was the lesson learned on Thursday, Sept. 2, after Tonto Apache Tribe officers intercepted a major drug deal, arresting four individuals on drug related charges.
Officers easily found 2.5 pounds of marijuana and 26 grams of cocaine in the back seat of a vehicle after casino security witnessed a drug swap happen below one of their large parking lot surveillance cameras.
Reportedly, Olajuwon Myers, 25, Vanessa Martinez, 23, and Michael Martinez, 21, drove to the Mazatzal Hotel and Casino from the Valley in a 2002 Acura carrying drugs for a swap, said Tonto Apache Officer Carlos Garcia.
At the casino parking lot, Olajuwon met his father, Freddie Myers, 58, who had traveled from Holbrook.
As the Martinezes acted as lookouts, the drugs were transferred from the Acura to Freddie’s Dodge Durango.
“Casino surveillance caught it all on film,” Garcia said.
It is unclear, but either before or after the swap, the whole group entered the casino and gambled for some time.
Meanwhile, casino security notified Officer Winter Burdette of the situation.
When the group had returned to their vehicles, Burdette approached and asked what was going on around 6 p.m.
Burdette said the group acted suspicious and nervous. When he asked to search their vehicles, they refused. Burdette called Payson Police Officer John Huss and his K-9 Dex to the scene.
Dex alerted officers to the back seat of the Durango, where the marijuana and cocaine was found wrapped in plastic, coated with either vanilla extract or syrup and placed inside freezer bags. Officers also found $2,000 in cash.
The Myerses were arrested without incident and charged with possession of drug paraphernalia, possession of narcotic, possession of marijuana for sale and possession of narcotics for sale.
The Martinezes were arrested on conspiracy charges.
Both Myerses were on parole for previous drug violations, Garcia said.
The Payson drug task force assisted with the investigation
Fort Smith educators charged in sex crimes www.privateofficer.com
Fort Smith AR Sept 13 2010 Two Fort Smith educators were arrested Thursday during an undercover police investigation targeting people who solicit prostitutes on social networking sites.
Darby Junior High Principal Christopher Lee Rink, 32, and Darby social studies teacher Brian Patrick Rincon, 44, were arrested in separate incidents Thursday on suspicion of misdemeanor patronizing a prostitute, according to police reports and a jail log.
“We don’t want to take the bad actions of two individuals and extrapolate that to all the great educators who are out there because we have many great educators who are doing a good job and are great role models every day,” said Fort Smith Public Schools Superintendent Benny Gooden. “It’s just unfortunate when these things occur.”
Rink resigned his position at Darby following his arrest, Gooden said.
Rincon has been suspended with pay in accordance with Arkansas law, Gooden said.
“I’ll be recommending to the Board of Education his termination,” Gooden added.
Rincon allegedly contacted an undercover officer he thought was a prostitute on a social networking site and set up a time to meet her at about 6:30 p.m. in the 900 block of Rogers Avenue, according to a Fort Smith police report.
He said he was uneasy because “there’s cops all around here (and it) makes me nervous,” according to the report.
Rincon said he had $75 and wanted at least 30 minutes, police said.
Rink contacted the undercover officer on a social networking site as well and arranged to meet her 5:40 p.m. in the 900 block of Rogers Avenue, according to a police report.
He asked the undercover officer to tell him a little about herself “just in respect to the fact that we’re right on top of the police station,” according to the report.
The two agreed on $175 for an hour, the report states
Source:The Times Record
