Florida guard charged with burglarizing business www.privateofficer.com

Stock Island Fla Dec 26 2010 – A man who worked as a Security Guard at a Stock Island marina has been arrested for burglarizing a business he was supposed to be guarding.

The incident took place on August 24th at the Old Island Marina on Shrimp Road, Stock Island. A witness told Deputy Todd Jones and Detective Juan Llera he saw 32 year old Peter Ortiz leaving a business at the marina carrying a Rubbermaid tub. When the witness confronted Ortiz, he returned the tub to the business he took it from.

The owner of the business told Detective Llera he keeps several guns in a Rubbermaid container. He said the container was inside his business when he checked it, but he could tell it had been rummaged through.

Ortiz worked as a nighttime security guard, and had access to keys for the business. A warrant was issued for his arrest and on Wednesday, he was arrested and charged with burglary and grand theft. He was booked into jail.

Small town shocked by Christmas murder-suicide www.privateofficer.com

Baxter County AR Dec 26 2010 Three people were found dead Friday morning from gunshot wounds in what Baxter County Sheriff John Montgomery said appeared to be a murder-suicide.
Montgomery said Baxter County deputies and an Arkansas State Police trooper responded to a residence at 124 Forest Hills Drive in the Robinson Point area just after 9 a.m. Friday after 911 dispatchers received a call from a concerned neighbor.
Montgomery said the neighbor checked on the house and saw someone lying on the floor in a pool of blood and then called 911.
The officers made forced entry into the residence and found three bodies, each of whom appeared to have suffered gunshot wounds.
Preliminary investigation determined that the three were a man and his wife, who lived at the residence, and the woman’s son, who was visiting from out of state.
Montgomery said evidence at the scene suggests that the husband shot and killed his wife and her son, and then shot and killed himself. The investigation, however, is still continuing, Montgomery said.
A handgun was found at the scene, as well as spent shell casings and other items, the sheriff said.
“There were no signs of forced entry.” Montgomery said. “We’re still early in the investigation, but it does appear to be a murder-suicide.”
Montgomery said the bodies have been sent to the State Medical Examiner’s Office in Little Rock for autopsy.
Authorities identified the victims as Harry D. Svensson, 52, of 124 Forest Hills Drive, his wife, Louise Svensson, 56, and her son, Victor A. Robles, 20, of Villa Parks, Ill

Alabama city stops paying into pension fund www.privateofficer.com

Prichard AL Dec 26 2010 While Prichard Alabama may have been one of the first but it certainly won’t be the last municipality in this country to see its pension fund run out of money. For Prichard, it happened last year and the small city was forced to stop paying its retired workers.

Living without those checks became extremely difficult and according to the New York Times, 11 retirees died, while others have declared bankruptcy. Today, the rest of the 150 retired workers are struggling to get by and although they’ve sued the city of Prichard, the suit was unsuccessful. There just isn’t any more money.

As public pension funds across the nation suffer from years of underfunding, and from assets that lost value in the financial crisis, experts say similar scenarios are fast approaching for a number of other towns and cities across America.

After years of putting off the inevitable, financially strapped municipalities across the nation are facing a huge problem. State laws require that retirees be paid. Cities and towns like Prichard that can no longer pay their retired works the pension they promised them are in effect, breaking the law. But there seem to be few legal requirements that governments actually put the money behind their promises.

In the years leading up to the financial crisis, many cities delayed funding their pensions, as assets were seeing high returns and governments expected good times to last. But as the crisis hit, from the end of 2007 to the beginning of 2009, pension funds lost nearly one third (29%) of their value.

Experts estimate city pension funds are short more than half a trillion dollars ($574 billion). Fund analysts expect a number of pension funds to run dry in the next ten years.

Under-funded pension funds are plaguing some of the nation’s largest cities. The Pittsburgh firefighters union has filed suit to prevent a state takeover of the city pension fund, urging city officials to raise taxes, if necessary, to shore up the under-funded pension fund. Union attorney Joshua Bloom says a state takeover would deprive firefighters of the local pension control guaranteed by their contract and put the city on a course to insolvency. Bloom adds that Pittsburgh will “go from the most livable city to the most bankrupt city.”

The financial troubles in South Burlington, Vermont have gotten so bad the city might have to borrow money to pay its employees. City Manager Sandy Miller has discovered a $9 million shortfall in the pension fund and an undetermined deficit in the general fund that he says resulted from unconventional accounting practices. Now, the city is strapped for cash.

In a previous article Municipal Default Crisis On the Horizon, we told you about a warning issued by a leading finance guru that over 100 US cities could face bankruptcy in 2011.

Meredith Whitney, who’s known for predicting the financial crisis, says the coming municipal crisis is now the biggest threat to the U.S. economy.

Detroit has reportedly reduced police, lighting, road repairs and cleaning services affecting as much as 20% of the population. The state of Illinois is about six months behind on creditor payments, while potential defaults threaten the state of Florida.

Moreover, many cities and states are fighting an uphill battle to keep their pension plans adequately funded. New York City is planning to put $8.3 billion into its pension fund next year, which is twice what it paid five years ago. Along with New York, Detroit, San Francisco and Los Angeles are among the cities that risk bankruptcy in 2011.