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Napa High School teacher charged with sending sexual texts to student www.privateofficer.com
NAPA, Calif.Nov 7 2010 — Police have arrested a Napa High School substitute teacher on suspicion of sending sexually explicit text messages and photos to a 15-year-old male student last year.
Linda Antanina Vass, 41, of Napa, was arrested Wednesday for allegedly annoying or molesting a child under age 18, sending harmful matter with intent to seduce a minor, and contacting a minor with intent to commit sexual offenses, Napa police said.
Vass and the boy began exchanging text messages on their cell phones last year, and the messages eventually became more personal in nature, police said.
On Oct. 14 and Oct. 15 of this year, Vass exchanged sexually explicit text messages and photos with the boy, Cmdr. Jeff Troendly said.
The boy’s family became aware of the text messages shortly after Oct. 15 and notified police, Troendly said.
Police investigated the incidents and got an arrest warrant. Vass was booked into the Napa County jail.
The Napa Valley Unified School District said Vass is no longer working as a substitute teacher.
Source:ABC NEWS 7
Worthless check writer pulls gun-drops bomb at Wal-Mart www.privateofficer.com
Las Vegas NV Nov 7 2010 A southwest valley Walmart store was evacuated Saturday after a man trying to pass a bad check pulled a gun on a security officer and dropped a backpack containing what appeared to be an explosive device, Metro Police said.
The incident happened about 4:45 p.m. at the store at 7200 Arroyo Crossing Parkway, near Interstate 215 and Rainbow Boulevard.
Metro Lt. Steve Herpolsheimer said store personnel recognized the man from a previous incident when he tried to pass the check, and a loss-prevention officer asked the man to accompany him to an office in the back of the store.
The man refused and left the store, he said. Once outside, the man pulled a gun and hit the store officer in the head with it, Herpolsheimer said. The gun went off, firing one round into the air, he said.
Nobody was struck by the round, police said.
As the gunman fled, he left behind a backpack. When Metro officers responding to the shots-fire call arrived at the store, they found what appeared to be an explosive device in the bag and called the bomb squad, police said.
Police evacuated the store, which was crowded with Saturday-afternoon shoppers, and the parking lot. The store remained closed for roughly two hours while police removed the device and swept the premises with a bomb-sniffing dog to make sure nothing else was left behind, Herpolsheimer said.
Police took away the device to be dismantled, Herpolsheimer said.
Police are searching for the suspect, who left behind a fake ID with his picture on it, Herpolsheimer said.
The store loss-prevention officer did not suffer any serious injuries and was not taken to the hospital, police said.
Source:Las Vegas Sun
Wisconsin prosecutor masturbated in hotel business center www.privateofficer.com
Wood County District Attorney John Henkelmann will not be charged with a crime because no one — except resort employees watching a surveillance camera — could see inside the publicly accessible room, the Sheboygan County Sheriff’s Department concluded.
The department’s report said Henkelmann refused to answer questions about his behavior Nov. 6, 2009, two months after Gov. Jim Doyle appointed him to his position. Henkelmann has said he had been drinking, did not commit a crime and “was shaken” when deputies found him in the room.
THonline.com
Reward offered in murder of Texas security officer www.privateofficer.com
San Antonio TX Nov 7 2010 Reward Offered for Clues in Security Guard’s death.
He was just trying to do his job when he was shot and killed. Now, police ask for your help solving the murder of a local security guard.
Last July, Lyle Kastner was walking a woman to her car at a Bingo parlor on I-35 North near Eisenhauer.
A masked man tried to rob the woman, and when Kastner tried to help, he got shot.
Crime Stoppers and the victim’s family are offering over $6,000 for information leading to an arrest.
Call Crime Stoppers at 224-STOP with any information.
Florida man caught hiding guns in airport luggage www.privateofficer.com
ORLANDO, Fla. Nov 7 2010– Police say a Florida man tried to hide two handguns in his luggage for a flight to Puerto Rico.
The guns were found Wednesday morning at Orlando International Airport in Felix Davila’s checked luggage for AirTran flight 9 to San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Police say a Transportation Security Administration officer found disassembled guns and six ammunition magazines inside a music amplifier.
Davila was arrested on a city code charge of violating aviation personal-conduct rules that prohibit anyone from transporting weapons without the airport’s permission. TSA rules allow guns in checked luggage if the owner declares them at check-in and stores them in TSA-approved packaging.
Davila also was given a trespass warning prohibiting him from returning to the airport. He was released on $250 bail.
Source:www.miamiherald.com
Memphis strip club employee arrested for shooting at manager-security privateofficer.com
Memphis TN Nov 7 2010 A strip club employee, accused of shooting at two of her bosses and a security guard on Wednesday night, remained in jail today.
Sabrina Hatcher, 24, of Memphis, faces three counts of aggravated assault. Hatcher is lodged in Shelby County’s Jail East on $45,000 bond.
About 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, the general manager of Babes of Babylon strip club at 1575 East Brooks told police that Hatcher fired several shots from the passenger seat of a Pontiac. The targets were the general manager, the manager and a security guard in front of the club, according to a court affidavit. No one was injured.
Shortly before the drive-by shooting, Hatcher had returned to the club asking for her job back after she had been fired, according to the court document.
She argued with managers about money and was temporarily detained by the security guard, according to a police report. When released, Hatcher angrily left as a passenger in the Pontiac, it said.
Police found four .22-caliber shell casings in front of the club, but did not recover a gun.
Confronted by investigators, Hatcher told them that a man she only knew as Randy drove the car and fired the shots.
Source:MemphisAppeal
Student charged with bringing explosives to school www.privateofficer.com
VENTURA, Calif.Nov 7 2010 —Police say a 15-year-old student planted two homemade explosive devices at a Southern California high school, one of them blowing up in the cafeteria and slightly injuring a fellow student.
The injured girl was treated by the school nurse for redness on her leg and wasn’t hospitalized.
Ventura Sgt. Jack Richards says officers arrested the teenager after Wednesday’s explosions at Buena High School. The youth was cited for investigation of causing an explosion with intent to injure or intimidate and he was released to his parents.
Investigators told the Ventura County Star on Thursday that it was apparently a prank.
The bombs were made of chemicals and placed inside plastic bottles. While a school resource officer was investigating the cafeteria explosion, a second device blew up in a planter nearby.
Source:Mercury News
High raking Philadelphia police official faces federal charges www.privateofficer.com
Philadelphia PA Nov 7 2010 A high-ranking Philadelphia police officer seen as one of the department’s rising stars was arrested Friday on federal charges of extortion and bribery, bringing a stunning end to the career of an ambitious 25-year veteran.
The accusations against 47-year-old Inspector Daniel Castro, detailed in an indictment unsealed Friday, stem from a real estate deal that failed, causing Castro to lose a $90,000 investment. He is accused of asking someone to hire an enforcer to use threats of violence to recoup the money.
Castro sought help from the wrong man: a witness who was cooperating with the FBI, the indictment states. The witness told Castro he would find someone to forcibly collect the debt, and the FBI arranged for an undercover agent to pose as that enforcer. The FBI witness acted as a go-between for Castro and the “enforcer,” which Castro believed would protect him from getting caught.
As Castro and the FBI witness planned the scheme last July, Castro said the enforcer shouldn’t be too aggressive. “I can’t get myself in trouble,” Castro said, according to the indictment. “I want to be police commissioner.”
Some in the department had long speculated that Castro had a chance at becoming the city’s top cop. Castro, who this year was appointed head of the Traffic Division, was ranked three levels below Commissioner Charles H. Ramsey and was paid a salary of more than $90,000.
He served as captain of some of the city’s roughest districts, and has worked in Internal Affairs. He has two master’s degrees and was the recipient of an international fellowship, on which he studied community policing in Scotland.
And when Sgt. Stephen Liczbinski’s killer, Eric DeShawn Floyd, led police on a five-day manhunt in 2008, Castro was in charge of the operation that reeled him in.
“Prior to this, people looked at him as having a bright future in the department,” Ramsey said at a news conference Friday.
Later, Ramsey said, “He ain’t that . . . bright if he did this.”
Castro has been suspended for 30 days with intent to dismiss. He is charged with attempted interference with interstate commerce by extortion, attempted extortionate collection of credit, making a material false statement to the FBI, and related offenses. If convicted, he faces a sentence of up to 80 years in prison.
Dressed in a gray sweatshirt, with his hands cuffed behind him for part of his brief court appearance Friday, Castro said he had not yet retained an attorney. He was released on house arrest until Monday, when lawyers will seek a permanent bail arrangement pending trial.
Castro said he was not sure he could afford an attorney and asked that one be appointed, but Magistrate Judge M. Faith Angell denied that request after reviewing his financial records.
Ramsey, who has vowed to root out corrupt officers, informed his commanders of the arrest in a citywide conference call Friday morning, shortly after Castro was taken into custody.
Mayor Nutter said the arrest was particularly disturbing, given Castro’s rank.
“I could not be more angry, be more disappointed, if not furious,” Nutter told reporters outside his City Hall office.
Castro is the 15th police officer to be arrested since March 2009, a figure that includes two officers charged with murder in off-duty shootings. Castro is the highest-ranking officer in recent memory to be arrested, Ramsey said.
Officials would not say where Castro was taken into custody, but law enforcement sources said he was arrested at his home.
The alleged shakedown was not the only way Castro tried to recoup his losses. In June he sued local businessman Wilson V. Encarnacion as well as a local law firm and several real estate companies, asking for the return of his money.
Encarnacion, who owned the Old City restaurant Cebu, could not be reached for comment.
The real estate deal was arranged in the spring of 2006, when Castro made an agreement with Encarnacion and several others to invest $90,000 in a project to build single-family homes in Millsboro, Del.
In his lawsuit, Castro claims he was told that his money would be safe, and that he would be given dividends and regular statements. A lawyer involved with the deal predicted that Castro could make as much as $400,000, according to Castro’s suit.
In May 2007, after the land sale fell through, Castro began asking for his investment back, according to his lawsuit.
The FBI investigation began in April, shortly before Castro filed the suit. Investigators have not said how Castro came into contact with the witness who was cooperating with the FBI, but said that at some point Castro approached that person about hiring a “collector” who would recoup Castro’s investment, plus $50,000 in interest, from Encarnacion.
Investigators said Castro emphasized that he did not want to be in direct contact with the enforcer because of his position in the Police Department. In return, Castro said he would pay the FBI witness 10 percent of the money collected.
According to the indictment, Castro provided Encarnacion’s home address in New Jersey so that the enforcer could go there, saying Encarnacion had a wife and child and would “get scared.”
“Get my money,” Castro said, according to the indictment. “That’s all I care about . . . I’ve waited too long . . . I just want, I want my money.”
Several times over the next few months, the witness gave Castro money, purportedly after it had been collected from Encarnacion. According to the indictment, the witness implied at least once that the enforcer had used violence to get it.
Last month, Castro grew leery that authorities were onto him. FBI agents questioned him about his efforts to collect his debt, but Castro denied any involvement with extortion, according to the indictment.
In addition to the extortion plot, Castro is charged with bribery for accepting a 42-inch television from the FBI witness in exchange for looking up a license plate number in a police database.
Castro is also accused of referring another person who needed the help of an enforcer to collect an unpaid debt. According to the indictment, Castro told a friend, “I know a guy that’ll get your money back.”
Castro’s years on the force have not been free of controversy. In 1999, as captain of the 16th District, he got into trouble for pressuring subordinates to doctor incident reports so his West Philadelphia district would appear safer.
The incident got Castro moved into a night-shift command, then viewed as an undesirable position. Then-Police Commissioner John F. Timoney also issued Castro a written reprimand, though there was never a formal probe.
A year later, Timoney gave Castro a job at Police Headquarters, helping overhaul the department’s disciplinary system. Timoney said that Castro had “suffered enough” and that he deserved a second chance.
“I believe in redemption,” Timoney said then. “While you may screw up and be punished, unless it’s something of a criminal nature, that will not be the end of your career.”
Castro’s personal life has also been troubled. His son, Daniel Jr., was sentenced to 10 to 20 years in prison for an attempted murder a judge called “egregious and calculated.” Castro’s son and two accomplices were sentenced in 2002 for luring a Philadelphia man to a deserted area, shooting him twice in the head, and leaving him for dead.
At his son’s sentencing, Castro asked the judge for fairness.
“I don’t know where things went wrong,” Castro told the judge, according to an Inquirer story. “It’s so easy to say Danny hung out with the wrong crew, but I must put blame on myself.”
Source:www.philly.com
Man convicted for cutting bouncer’s throat www.privateofficer.com
In a verdict returned Monday, a 2nd Circuit Court jury found Raymond Tasini guilty of second-degree assault.
He had been facing the more serious charge of first-degree assault for what Deputy Prosecutor Carson Tani described as a “false crack with a beer bottle” to bouncer Henry Stant.
“Henry had no chance to block the blow, and Henry had no chance to prepare for the blow,” Tani said in his closing arguments to jurors Oct. 28.
The assault occurred shortly after 1 a.m. Nov. 10, 2007, while Stant was working as a bouncer at Lulu’s bar in Kihei Kalama Village.
He testified the bar was nearly empty when a customer he knows as “Louie” came to the door and asked if he could go in to talk to his uncle who was sitting at a table. Later, when he saw another customer at the uncle’s table hitting Louie over the head with a beer bottle, Stant said, he moved toward the two.
Stant said he had separated Louie and the other man and had turned his attention to Louie to see if he was injured. That’s when Stant said he felt what he thought was a punch to the right side of his neck.
He felt a “twinge of pain that goes down to the center of your mass when something bad is happening to you inside,” Stant said. He felt something wet and hot on the side of his shirt and when he touched his neck, his hand was covered in blood.
The 50-year-old identified Tasini as the man who struck him and was still holding the bloodied beer bottle. “I turn and I look at the guy,” Stant said. “He’s got this sick twisted smile.”
Stant said he became dizzy and lay down until medics arrived and took him to the hospital.
An emergency room doctor testified the injury put Stant at substantial risk of death through blood loss if it hadn’t been treated, Tani said.
Testifying in his defense, Tasini gave a different account of how Stant was injured.
Tasini intervened when he saw that a conversation between his uncle and Louie wasn’t going well, said Deputy Public Defender Adriel Menor. He said Tasini and Louie ended up in a struggle for a bottle on the table.
Tasini said he was being grabbed on the shoulder when he turned and struck Stant in a backhand motion, Menor said. “This happens in a matter of seconds,” he said. “It was completely accidental.”
During closing arguments to jurors Oct. 28, Menor said Tasini felt he had to act to protect himself and felt threatened by two other men in the bar with Louie.
Tasini, who lives in Pittsburg, Calif., is scheduled to be sentenced Dec. 28 on the charge, which carries a penalty of up to five years in prison.
Judge Joseph Cardoza presided over the trial.
In another case, Tasini is awaiting trial on a charge of second-degree assault for allegedly striking a man with a bottle outside a Lahaina nightclub in 2008.
