Archive
OFFICER DOWN
Puerto Rico
End of Watch: Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Biographical Info
Age: Not available
Tour of Duty: 30 years
Badge Number: Not available
Incident Details
Cause of Death: Gunfire
Date of Incident: Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Weapon Used: Gun; Unknown type
Suspect Info: At large
Lieutenant Jose Cordova-Montañez was shot and killed when he attempted to take action while off duty. He was at a local business on PR-183, in San Lorenzo, when several armed men announced a robbery.
Lieutenant Cordova-Montañez identified himself and attempted to intervene but was shot four times in the chest. The suspects then stole his service weapon and fled the scene.
He was transported to a local hospital where he died a short time later.
Lieuteannt Cordova-Montañez had served with the Puerto Rico Police Department for 30 years and was going to retire the following year. He is survived by his wife, four children, and several grandchildren.
Agency Contact Information
Puerto Rico Police Department
PO Box 70166
San Juan, PR 00936
Phone: (787) 792-1234
Please contact the Puerto Rico Police Department for funeral arrangements or for survivor benefit fund information.
OFFICER DOWN-CAPTAIN GEORGE GREEN
Captain George Green
Oklahoma Highway Patrol
Oklahoma
End of Watch: Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Biographical Info
Age: 56
Tour of Duty: 31 years
Badge Number: Not available
Incident Details
Cause of Death: Automobile accident
Date of Incident: Monday, October 25, 2010
Weapon Used: Not available
Suspect Info: Not available
Captain George Green succumbed to injuries sustained the previous day when his patrol car was struck by a dump truck at the intersection of Highway 97 and Turner Turnpike in Sapulpa.
Captain Green was attempting to turn left from the Turnpike onto the highway when his patrol car was T-boned by the truck.
Captain Green had served with the Oklahoma Highway Patrol for 31 years and was six months shy of retirement.
OFFICER DOWN- ODELL MCGUFFIE JR
Texas
End of Watch: Monday, October 25, 2010
Biographical Info
Age: 43
Tour of Duty: 17 years
Badge Number: Not available
Incident Details
Cause of Death: Automobile accident
Date of Incident: Monday, October 25, 2010
Weapon Used: Not available
Suspect Info: Not available
Deputy Odell McDuffie was killed in an automobile accident on FM 770 in Saratoga.
He was returning from transporting a juvenile to the Hardin County Detention Center at approximately 1:00 pm when his patrol car left the roadway. He over-corrected, causing the vehicle to strike a grove of trees and burst into flames. Deputy McDuffie suffered severe injuries and died at the scene.
Deputy McDuffie had served with the Liberty County Sheriff’s Department for 17 years. He is survived by his wife and three daughters.
Agency Contact Information
Liberty County Sheriff’s Department
2400 Beaumont Avenue
Liberty, TX 77575
Phone: (936) 336-4500
Please contact the Liberty County Sheriff’s Department for funeral arrangements or for survivor benefit fund information
OFFICER DOWN-JOHN ABRAHAM
Police Officer John AbrahamTeaneck Police Department
New Jersey
End of Watch: Monday, October 25, 2010
Biographical Info
Age: 37
Tour of Duty: 17 years
Badge Number: 257
Incident Details
Cause of Death: Automobile accident
Date of Incident: Monday, October 25, 2010
Weapon Used: Not available
Suspect Info: Not available
Police Officer John Abraham was killed in an automobile accident on Teaneck Road at approximately 2:00 am.
Officer Abraham was on patrol on Teaneck Road between Holland Terrace and Bennett Street when his patrol car collided with a utility pole, causing him to suffer fatal injuries.
He was transported to Holy Name Hospital where he succumbed to his injuries a few hours later.
Officer Abraham had served with the Teaneck Police Department for 17 years. He is survived by his wife and son.
Agency Contact Information
Teaneck Police Department
900 Teaneck Road
Teaneck, NJ 07666
Phone: (201) 837-2600
Please contact the Teaneck Police Department for funeral arrangements or for survivor benefit fund information.
Security company charged with failing to safeguard employee www.privateofficer.com
CALGARY Oct 28 2010 - A private security company has been charged with failing to ensure the safety of a female employee who was raped while working alone two years ago.
Garda Canada Security Corp. has been charged with one count under the province’s Occupational Health and Safety Act for not ensuring, as far as reasonable, the health and safety of a worker.
It is the first time a company has been charged because of a sexual assault, said Occupational Health spokesman Chris Chodan. Usually, the charge is connected to other workplace incidents, such as an accident.
“Usually, when it’s violence, it’s a straight-up criminal offence,” he said. “In this case, it was a criminal act by the person who committed it and there was a work-related issue on top of that.”
The charge was laid Oct. 31 – just under the two-year time limit – in the Nov. 1, 2006, attack on a woman working overnight and alone at a construction site.
The victim had only been on the job a few days when she working at the site, which was secured by only a tarp.
She called 911 when she heard banging and shouting, and police were dispatched to the site. Before they arrived, Renno Allen Lonechild attacked and raped the 34-year-old woman.
During court proceedings, it was learned the woman – a former teacher in an African country – was new to Canada, had limited English, only one day of training and had been one week on the job.
Lonechild, 21, was sentenced to eight years in prison in September for sexual assault and unlawful confinement after pleading guilty in court.
Chodan said investigators often wait for any criminal proceedings to be completed before examining the incidents and forwarding the files to the Crown to determine if charges can be laid.
Joe Gavaghan, spokesman for Garda World Security Corp., confirmed the company’s attorneys have received the documents outlining the charge, but he would not say anything further.
“Because the matter is in litigation, we’re not able to comment at this time,” he said.
The president of the Alberta Federation of Labour said he was surprised to hear charges had been laid against an employer in this case, especially in light of the federation’s ongoing fight to improve working-alone legislation.
“Given they’ve laid charges, it shows there is a recognition at some level in government that a problem exists,” Gil McGowan said.
The essential problem in this case – that an employee was harmed while working alone – reinforces the need for more aggressive legislation to ensure it doesn’t happen again, McGowan said.
Since it falls under Occupational Health legislation, the charge is vague, he said.
“What is the specific failure of the employer?”
The matter is expected to be heard in Calgary provincial court.
Source:security canada
High school student sues mall, security company after sheriff deputy rapes him www.privateofficer.com
NAPLES FLA Oct 28 2010 — A former Naples High School freshman who told police he was forced to perform sex acts by a Collier sheriff’s deputy at Coastland Center mall has sued the mall and its security and management companies.
The teen and his mother, named only as Jon Doe and Mom Doe to protect their identities, filed the lawsuit in Collier Circuit Court last week against the mall, Mydatt Services Inc., which does business as Valor Security Services, and Service Management Inc., a mall management firm formerly called Service Management Systems Inc.
The boy, now 16, whose identity is protected in the lawsuit, told Naples Police he was molested and forced to fondle Charles “Chuck” Bullock, 51, a veteran deputy terminated after his arrest April 19, when he was charged with lewd and lascivious battery and official misconduct. Time sheets show he was on duty Feb. 17, when the boy said he was last accosted and threatened by Bullock. Bullock was tracked down and confronted by Naples Police Master Officer Steve Walden and Valor Security Director John Casciano.
Mall security cameras show Bullock, a civil process employee who wasn’t in uniform, loitering in the food court bathroom between Dec. 17, 2009, and Feb. 17, sometimes more than an hour — and for three hours and seven minutes Feb. 5, police reports say. The lawsuit alleges the boy, then 15, was accosted three times between Nov. 1, 2009, and Feb. 17.
“They would have been able to see his face,” the plaintiffs’ attorney, Jason Turchin of Weston, said of security guards patrolling the mall and monitoring videos. “They could have said, ‘There’s a sexual predator in our bathrooms. … You think your kids are safe at the mall. This is a fear, especially for parents.”
“… They have a private security company on staff that’s supposed to be monitoring videos and they destroyed videos past a 60-day period,” said Turchin, whose firm has handled many security and molestation cases. “… We have no idea how long he’d been doing it. (Bullock) was in that bathroom at least 20 of those 60 days. (The custodian said) he was pretending to wash his hands, pretending to use the urinals.”
The boy told police there was at least one other incident prior to the two videotaped, Turchin said, adding that the lawsuit is about whether the incidents could have been prevented, if they were foreseeable.
Glen Harrell, the mall’s general manager, could not be reached for comment Wednesday. Officials with Valor Security Services and Service Management Inc., both in Nashville, also could not be reached.
The boy told investigators that in late January, Bullock pulled him into a stall in the food court restroom, held his legs and forcibly performed a sex act on him. A few weeks later, he said Bullock accosted him again in the bathroom. In February, a custodian witnessed Bullock standing on a toilet looking into the teen’s stall.
“There were tears afterward, crying,” Turchin said of the boy, who immediately told two friends he’d been sexually assaulted in the bathroom.
The two, a girl, 17, and boy, 15, told police the boy was visibly upset after walking out of the bathroom. Police reports say a Subway manager saw Bullock twice loitering in the restroom, staring at men and boys while urinating, so he alerted a janitor, who saw Bullock peering into the boy’s stall on Feb. 17. The janitor told a security officer and police.
The lawsuit alleges the defendants were negligent because they knew or should have known of the presence of a sexual predator from November 2009 through Feb. 17. The lawsuit alleges they failed to: provide proper and adequate security; warn the boy the mall had inadequate security; adequately monitor security cameras; prevent sexual assaults; properly train and supervise staff about enforcing security and preventing excessive loitering.
It also alleges they voluntarily accepted a duty to prevent such actions in a code of conduct, which is posted at mall entrances. The lawsuit alleges they failed to prevent violations of that code and state laws and activities that threatened patrons, disrupted the “pleasant, family oriented shopping environment” and those inconsistent with shopping, dining, and mall business.
The lawsuit seeks compensation for the boy, who experienced pain and suffering, mental anguish, loss of capacity for the enjoyment of life and lost wages. It also seeks reimbursement for past and future hospitalization, medical and nursing care and treatment and legal bills.
Turchin said the boy, a freshman at the time, is undergoing private counseling and was taunted at school when others found out.
In June, Turchin filed a notice of a possible lawsuit against the sheriff’s office, but by law, can’t sue for six months.
Bullock, who is married with at least one child, is set for trial Nov. 16, but it’s expected to be delayed. Pornographic images were found on his home computer and he may face further charges.
His resumé shows he took training classes in child abuse and crimes against children. He worked for Hubbard Twp. Police in Ohio from 1991-1994, when he got a job with Youngstown, Ohio, Police. In 1996, the Collier sheriff’s office hired him, but he left Nov. 4, 1998, after a dispute over vacation time. He was rehired Feb. 25, 1999.
M.E. assistant stealing drugs nabbed by security www.privateofficer.com
Oklahoma City Ok Oct 28 2010 An administrative oversight allowed a former employee of the state medical examiner’s office to get back into the agency’s headquarters and take drugs that were connected to an overdose case, officials said Tuesday.
Former Oklahoma medical examiner employee arrested in morphine theft An Oklahoma City police report states that former medical examiner employee Michael W. Griffin, 39, used an electronic pass card he had kept to gain entry into the state agency late Saturday.
The pass card should not have been in the man’s possession, agency spokeswoman Cherokee Ballard said.
Employees reported the incident, and Oklahoma City police later arrested Griffin on five second- degree burglary complaints, the report states.
Griffin, a former pathology assistant, resigned from the medical examiner’s office Sept. 30, Ballard said. He left to take a job at a company that facilitates organ donations.
The police report states agency employees think Griffin’s new job would have given him knowledge about what kinds of bodies would be at the medical examiner’s office, including those of people who died from drug overdoses.
In those cases, the drugs thought to be used in an overdose are sent to the medical examiner with the body, Ballard said. They are then sealed in an evidence bag and stored in an investigator’s office.
The morphine pills that had been reported stolen were from an overdose victim whose body had been taken to the medical examiner’s office, Ballard said.
About 11:25 p.m. Saturday, Griffin told a security guard that he was at the agency visiting another member of the security staff, the police report states.
Ballard said the security guard became suspicious of Griffin’s presence and called an agency investigator about it. The investigator confronted Griffin, who then admitted to taking the drugs, Ballard said.
A police detective reported that Griffin admitted to using the pass card four other times to get into the building to steal pills since Sept. 30 but couldn’t find any more to take.
A woman who answered the phone Tuesday evening at Griffin’s home said Griffin’s attorney told him not to make public comments.
The theft marked a breach in security, Ballard said.
“It was an oversight on many levels,” she said, adding that no one took the pass card from him when he resigned.
“It should have been deactivated. We’re changing the way we’re doing things.”
One of those changes: When employees leave the agency, anything issued to them by the state — including pass cards — must be returned. Ballard said managers will use a checklist to make sure such items don’t leave the agency when an employee resigns or is terminated.
newsok.com
Nashville police bust team selling stolen vehicles to scrap yard www.privateofficer.com
Each time a car is sold to the La Vergne scrap yard, $200-$500 goes to whoever brings it in. Police said Rodney Dobson, his sister, Shequitta, and their father, Nathaniel, made a lot of money turning in cars to scrap yards. The problem is, police said, most were stolen.
“They’ve turned in, in upwards of 28 vehicles,” said auto theft Detective David Hazzard of Metro police.
Hazzard said the Dobsons would target apartment complexes and cars abandoned on the side of the interstate, mainly on Interstate 40 near Briley Parkway.
“You’re looking at a 15- or 20-minute window that this victim was gone away from their vehicle to get assistance and someone pulled up with a tow truck,” Hazzard said.
They took the cars to the scrap yard in La Vergne, police said. Since all the ones they turned in were at least 10 years old, by law, they didn’t have to show a title, said police.
Police said Shequitta Dobson admitted to the thefts along with her brother once they were confronted. Their father has not been charged.
Officers said they are urging scrap yards to wait a couple days before crushing cars because in several cases, the cars were located at the scrap yards within hours of them being stolen.
“It’s disappointing to call a victim. Not only have you had your vehicle stolen, but now I’ve got to be the one to tell you, you no longer have a vehicle at all,” said Hazzard.
Police said that in the last six months, the Dobsons turned in 28 cars; however, detectives have only been able to confirm that eight were stolen.
Rodney Dobson has pleaded guilty and will serve two years. His sister will be in court later this month.
Source:WSMV.com
Indy unemployment offices arm security officers www.privateofficer.com
INDIANAPOLIS IN Oct 28 2010 – Thirty-six unemployment offices around the state, including Fort Wayne, will now have armed security guards on hand to protect employees and clients.
Marc Lotter, spokesman for the Indiana Department of Workforce Development, said the state agency has had security at its WorkOne centers for nearly two years.
But it was handled on a regional basis, meaning some offices had armed guards while others did not. The price for the armed guards also varied dramatically around the state.
Lotter said the Department of Workforce Development is trying to be more consistent and will now employ armed guards in all 36 offices where unemployment insurance benefits are handled. The price for the guards will be at the same rate – $16 an hour.
Two area offices are included among the branches to receive armed guards: Fort Wayne, 201 E. Rudisill Blvd., and Auburn, 936 W. 15th St. The initiative is being implemented, and it is unclear when each office will have the new security in place.
Other offices around the state that provide job training or are not full-service branches will continue to have unarmed security.
An upcoming deadline marking the end of unemployment benefits for many Hoosiers and the slow economic recovery were two reasons cited as reasons for the security measures.
“Given the upcoming expiration of the federal extensions and the increased stress on some of the unemployed, we thought added security would provide an extra level of protection for our employees and clients,” Lotter said.
The overall cost for the security is $1 million, paid for with federal funds designated for administration of the unemployment system, Lotter said.
No specific incidents prompted the action, he said, just an overall increase in hot tempers.
And Lotter said that unless Congress acts, thousands of Hoosiers will stop receiving benefits starting in early December. That’s because they will have exhausted the maximum 99 weeks of benefits provided through multiple federal extension periods.
Lotter said state employees in the affected offices have also recently gone through stress-management training in which they learn to identify stressors and how to act appropriately.
Source:post- Gazatte
Mass. man poses as cop to get sex www.privateofficer.com
LYNN Ma Oct 28 2010 - A Lynn man who allegedly impersonated a police officer in 1999 was up to the same tricks Friday night when he terrorized a woman and repeatedly threatened to arrest her unless she had sex with him.
The suspect, John Reis, 51, of 10 Parker Hill Ave., was arrested at his home on a warrant Wednesday night and charged with attempted extortion and impersonating a police officer. He is expected to be arraigned today at Lynn District Court.
According to a police report, officers spoke with the 28-year-old victim at Union Hospital Friday night around 10 p.m. She said she had been walking on Union Street earlier that day, when a man, later identified as Reis, pulled his dark-colored pick up truck over and told her to get in.
She said when she hesitated, Reis said he was a cop and sternly told her to get in his vehicle, which she did. As Reis drove away, the victim said he again said he was a cop and that he was going to arrest her for common street walking if she didn’t have sex with him at her home.
Saying she was fearful, the victim asked Reis for his badge number or identification, but he allegedly told her that if he showed her his badge, he would have to arrest her. She claimed that he dropped her off at her residence on Alice Avenue and said that if she didn’t “get rid” of her husband and her mother-in-law (whom she lives with) so that they could have sex, she would be going to jail.
30 minutes after she was dropped off, the victim said Reis showed up again and her and her mother-in-law ran outside to confront him. After arguing back and forth about Reis’ badge, the victim’s mother-in-law said she was calling the police and Reis was said to have jumped in his truck and left the area. A description of Reis was given to police along with his license plate number and both women stressed that they would be able to recognize him if they saw a picture.
With that information, police ran the registration number and realized Reis had been arrested on Aug. 28, 1999 for impersonating a police officer and violation of a John law. Police say “Johns” often pose as police officers in order to get sexual favors without a cost. Based on that information and the victim’s statement, police say they became concerned that a sexual predator was out and about in Lynn.
On Monday, police put together a photo array of eight men with a similar description and showed them to the victim, who immediately pointed Reis out.
Based on the victim’s statement, police obtained a warrant Wednesday and took him into custody.
Source:itemlive.com
Virginia man charged with plotting to bomb DC metrorail stations www.privateofficer.com
Washington DC Oct 28 2010 — A Virginia man was arrested Wednesday for allegedly attempting to help others he thought were members of al Qaeda in planning multiple bombings at Metrorail stations in the Washington area, the Department of Justice said.
Farooque Ahmed, 34, appeared briefly Wednesday before federal Magistrate John Anderson at the U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Virginia. The court will appoint an attorney for Ahmed, and he was ordered to remain in custody until a detention hearing Friday, said Peter Carr, a spokesman for the U.S. attorney’s office in Alexandria.
A federal grand jury returned a three-count indictment against Ahmed on Tuesday, the Justice Department said in a statement.
“In announcing this arrest, officials emphasized that at no time was the public in danger during this investigation and that the FBI was aware of Ahmed’s activities from before the alleged attempt began and closely monitored his activities until his arrest,” the statement said. “The public should be assured that there was no threat against Metrorail or the general public in the Washington, D.C., area.”
Ahmed is charged with attempting to provide material support to a designated terrorist organization, collecting information to assist in planning a terrorist attack on a transit facility and attempting to provide material support “to help carry out multiple bombings to cause mass casualties” at the Washington-area stations, authorities said. If convicted, he faces a maximum sentence of 50 years in prison.
An administration official said Wednesday that Ahmed has no known connections to any overseas terrorist groups or individuals. The investigation is continuing, the official said on condition of not being identified.
White House press secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters the arrest is “another important example” of work by the FBI, all levels of law enforcement and the national security team “to keep our country safe.”
“At no point was the public in any danger,” Gibbs said.
In a statement, the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority said, “This arrest reinforces the need for continued vigilance by Metro and its customers.”
Carr said Ahmed was dressed in casual clothes and had a long beard at the court appearance, where he appeared reserved and “addressed the judge respectfully.”
Ahmed was arrested at 9:40 a.m. Wednesday at a hotel in Herndon, Virginia, according to Carr.
Ahmed attempted to assist others “whom he believed to be members of al Qaeda” from April through Monday in planning multiple bombings at the stations, according to the indictment.
Federal authorities declined to provide further information on the identities of the purported al Qaeda members who allegedly were in contact with Ahmed.
On April 18, Ahmed allegedly drove to a hotel in Dulles, Virginia, and met with a courier who he thought was affiliated with a terrorist organization, the indictment said. That person “provided Ahmed with a document that provided potential locations at which future meetings could be arranged,” the Justice Department said, citing the indictment.
On May 15, Ahmed allegedly agreed to “watch and photograph” a Washington hotel as well as a Metrorail station in Arlington, Virginia, “to obtain information about their security and busiest periods,” the department said.
Ahmed, a naturalized U.S. citizen who was born in Pakistan, “allegedly participated in surveillance and recorded video images of Metrorail stations in Arlington, Virginia, on four occasions,” the statement said.
On or about July 19, in a Sterling, Virginia, hotel room, Ahmed allegedly gave a memory stick containing video images of the station to “an individual whom Ahmed believed to be affiliated with al Qaeda,” according to the indictment. That same day, he allegedly agreed to assess the security of two other Metrorail stations in Arlington as possible locations of terrorist attacks, the Justice Department statement said.
And in a Herndon hotel room on September 28, Ahmed allegedly handed over a USB drive containing images of two Arlington Metrorail stations to a person he thought was affiliated with al Qaeda, authorities said. He also allegedly provided diagrams he drew of three Arlington Metrorail stations and provided suggestions as to where explosives should be placed on trains at the stations “to kill the most people” in simultaneous attacks planned for 2011, the Justice Department said.
“Today’s case underscores the need for continued vigilance against terrorist threats and demonstrates how the government can neutralize such threats before they come to fruition,” said David Kris, assistant attorney general for national security. “Farooque Ahmed is accused of plotting with individuals he believed were terrorists to bomb our transit system, but a coordinated law enforcement and intelligence effort was able to thwart his plans.”
Source:CNN
