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Packages explode at Md. government building www.privateofficer.com
The devices — similar in construction to ones recently mailed to embassies in Rome and in Greece — carried the statement: “Report suspicious activity. Total bulls..t! You have created a self fulfilling prophecy,” sources told ABC News.
The devices in this case were described as powered by a small battery linked to an electric match and a switch.
In the immediate aftermath of the incident, a spike in suspicious activity reporting was seen in Baltimore and Washington. In Baltimore, two suspicious packages were found at around 3:30 p.m., according to Baltimore Police spokesperson Anthony Guglielmi. One at the courthouse turned out to be unfounded. Another that was found in the mailroom of a building that houses the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene is still under investigation.
In New York City, meanwhile, authorities issued a report on what to look out for when investigating suspicious packages or activities.
The eruptions in Maryland earlier today triggered evacuations and a federal probe into who might have sent what appears to have been incendiary bombs, which looked like a small padded envelope or a book.
The first device exploded at 12:30 p.m. at the Jeffrey Building in downtown Annapolis, which is home to several departments, including the Maryland Secretary of State and the Maryland Office of Homeland Security. It also handles mail sent to the governor’s office and the package was addressed to Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley.
The second device erupted 15 minutes later at the Department of Transportation headquarters, located near the Baltimore airport.
“When package was opened by a mailroom employee, it triggered a reaction involving smoke and a sulfur-like smell,” Maryland state police said in a statement. “The employee sustained minor singing to his fingers, but refused further medical treatment.”
State police spokesman Greg Shipley said there was “brief flash of fire,” and the release of a sulfuric odor, but there was not a significant explosion. Shipley said “no explosive material has been found.”
“This is not to be compared with a significant explosion when you think of when you say that word,” Shipley added. “There was no property damage and there was obviously no serious physical harm inflicted on the employees as a result of this action.”
Both packages are expected to have been connected. One of them had a return address of an empty parking lot in Washington, D.C. and was posted with five holiday stamps.
Five people were being treated for minor injuries and there were no fatalities, Ed McDonough, a spokesperson for the Maryland Emergency Management Agency, told ABC News.
All the mailrooms at other Maryland state buildings were locked down, refusing to accept any deliveries and checking the packages that were already inside the buildings, he said.
In addition, 550 people were evacuated from the two buildings, Maryland state police said. They were allowed to return to the building at about 2:30 p.m.
It is too early to tell who may have planted the devices. However the incident bore strong resemblance, including size and packaging, to a series of recent bombings in Rome and an earlier string of similar attacks in Greece. Anarchists groups claimed credit for those attacks.
Sources told ABC News that the devices that exploded in Rome were addressed to the Swiss, Chilean and Greek embassies and bore correct postage. The packages listed the sender as a cultural association, for example the Cultural Association Italy Greece, or the Cultural Association Italy Andes. They also had a return address of via Mameli 44, 00177 Rom, a nonexistent address.
The packages in Italy were described by authorities as cushioned yellow envelopes containing an interior soft envelope with a zipper that held a pyrotechnical mixture as well as metal balls for shrapnel. The devices were powered by a battery and activated when the packages were opened.
These characteristics were similar to those of devices that had exploded in Greece recently as well.
In November, book bombs were mailed to government offices and heads of state across Europe. One was found at the Chancellor’s office in Berlin. Several were found in Athen’s Greece where one small firebomb ignited, injuring a shipping clerk and leading police to the discovery of three more devices as well as the arrest of two bombers.
The incendiary bomb in a hollowed out book went off in the hands of a shipping clerk at Swift Mail in Athens on Nov. 1 as she was preparing to ship it to a Mexican Embassy.
According to a police report from Greece, the explosion at Swift Mail triggered a rapid police response that led to the arrest of two young men about two blocks away from the shipping firm as they were entering a metro station clad in bullet proof vests and wearing wigs. Two nine millimeter Glock pistols and five full magazines were recovered. According to the report in addition to the bomb that exploded the men admitted to attempting to mail other bombs and appeared to have been carrying one in a plastic bag when approached by police.
The recovered bombs were addressed to Nicolas Sarkozy, a Belgian embassy and a Dutch Embassy. The one to Sarkozy was also recovered at Swift Mail. The one to the Beligan Embassy was recovered at a second shipping firm — ACS. And the one in their possession was addressed to a Dutch Embassy.
Source:ABC
OFFICER DOWN- Chief of Police Ralph Painter
Chief of Police Ralph Painter
Rainier Police Department
Oregon
End of Watch: Wednesday, January 5, 2011
Biographical Info
Age: 55
Tour of Duty: Not available
Badge Number: Not available
Incident Details
Cause of Death: Gunfire
Date of Incident: Wednesday, January 5, 2011
Weapon Used: Officer’s handgun
Suspect Info: Apprehended
Chief Ralph Painter was shot and killed after responding to a local car stereo shop in which a man was attempting to take a car that did not belong to him.
When Chief Painter made contact with the man a struggle ensued. The subject was able to disarm him and then fatally shot him.
The man then exchanged shots with responding officers before being wounded and taken into custody.
Chief Painter is survived by his wife and seven children.
Agency Contact Information
Rainier Police Department
106 West B Street
Rainier, OR 97048
Phone: (503) 397-1521
Please contact the Rainier Police Department for funeral arrangements or for survivor benefit fund information.
OFFICER DOWN -Deputy Sheriff John Norsworthy
Fort Bend County Sheriff’s Office
Texas
End of Watch: Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Biographical Info
Age: 39
Tour of Duty: 2 years
Badge Number: Not available
Incident Details
Cause of Death: Automobile accident
Date of Incident: Monday, December 27, 2010
Weapon Used: Not available
Suspect Info: Not available
Deputy John Norsworthy succumbed to injuries sustained in an automobile accident on December 27, 2010.
He was en route to backup another officer on a traffic stop when his patrol car left the roadway and struck a tree near the intersection of FM 762 and Benton Road. Deputy Norsworthy was trapped in his vehicle for almost an hour before rescue crews could free him. He was flown to a hospital in Houston where he remained until succumbing to his injuries.
Deputy Norsworthy had served with the Fort Bend County Sheriff’s Office for two years and had previously served with the Rosenberg Police Department.
Agency Contact Information
Fort Bend County Sheriff’s Office
1410 Williams Way Boulevard
Richmond, TX 77469
Phone: (281) 341-4704
Please contact the Fort Bend County Sheriff’s Office for funeral arrangements or for survivor benefit fund information.
Student kills Omaha school principal-commits suicide www.privateofficer.com
OMAHA, Neb.Jan 6 2011 — An angry online posting from the 17-year-old boy who opened fire at a Nebraska high school, killing an assistant principal before later fatally shooting himself, offers some clues about why the son of a police detective turned violent a couple of months after transferring there.
As authorities work to sort out what may have led to Wednesday’s shooting, those who knew Robert Butler Jr. are struggling to reconcile his final actions with their memories of the fun, outgoing student who liked to make jokes and sometimes got into trouble for talking in class.
The gunman, who had attended Omaha’s Millard South High School for no more than two months, also wounded the principal before fleeing from the scene and fatally shooting himself in his car about a mile away.
“It’s just unreal,” said Robert Uribe, Butler’s stepgrandfather. Uribe said nothing appeared to be wrong when he talked to Butler briefly when he last saw him a month ago. He said the polite young man he knew didn’t seem like a likely gunman.
“I don’t know what would possess him to do that,” Uribe said.
Assistant Principal Vicki Kaspar, 58, died at Creighton University Medical Center Wednesday evening, hours after the shooting. Principal Curtis Case, 45, was in serious but stable condition.
Butler posted a rambling message on Facebook shortly before the shooting about his unhappiness with his new school, but he didn’t supply many details. Instead, the expletive-laced note predicted Butler’s friends would hear about the “evil things” he was about to do.
He wrote that the Omaha school was worse than his previous one, and that the new city had changed him. He apologized and said he wanted people to remember him for who he was before affecting “the lives of the families I ruined.” The post ended with “goodbye.”
Butler had transferred in the fall from a high school in Lincoln, about 50 miles southwest of Omaha. A former classmate of Butler’s from Lincoln confirmed the Facebook post to The Associated Press and provided AP with a copy of it.
Conner Gerner recalled Butler as being energetic, fun and outgoing. Gerner said Butler sometimes got in trouble for speaking out too much in class, but he did not seem angry.
“He just seemed like he had a lot of energy. He liked to talk to people. He was always moving,” Gerner said.
Another friend, Jacob Edward Rinke, said he and some others had exchange Facebook posts with Butler the night before the shooting. The discussion was about cars and included what Rinke described as normal ribbing between friends.
“We were hazing each other about car stuff. He seemed fine and everything. He seemed happy,” Rinke said.
Rinke said Butler had lived up the street from him and they used to play sports and video games together.
“He didn’t seem like a kid who would go out and do this. When I first heard about this in school I didn’t believe it. I was pretty much in denial about it,” Rinke said.
Another acquaintance from Lincoln, 15-year-old Justin Reynolds, said he and his older brother used to hang out with Butler at a local skate park.
“He was always trying to make a joke,” Reynolds said. “No matter what mood someone was in, he was always trying to make them feel better.”
Lincoln school officials declined to provide details about Butler’s student record there, but they described him as a “fairly normal, average student. Lincoln Southwest High School Principal Rob Slauson said Butler was involved in few, if any, activities.
Omaha Police Chief Alex Hayes provided no details on the weapon Butler used or how he obtained it. Butler’s father is a detective for the Omaha Police Department. Investigators were interviewing the seven-year veteran Wednesday to learn more about what may have led to the shooting.
Authorities first received reports of the shooting around 12:50 p.m. The school was immediately locked down.
Sophomore Jessica Liberator said she was in the cafeteria when another administrator “rushed in to tell everybody to get in the back of the kitchen.”
She said she started to cry when students heard a knock on the kitchen door and a cafeteria worker yelled for everybody to get down. It was a false alarm. Nobody came in.
She huddled with Brittany Brase, another sophomore. Asked whether they were best friends, Brase said, “No, not really.” But, she added: “She’s my best friend now. These things bring you together.”
Within two hours of the shooting, students were being released in groups, and when the first group emerged from the school, parents began applauding. Some students smiled, raised their hands in the air and flashed a V for victory sign.
John Manna, who lives two blocks from the school, called Assistant Principal Kaspar a wonderful person who had worked as a counselor and teacher before becoming an administrator. Manna said he knew Kaspar because his older son graduated from high school with her son in 1996.
“I was just shocked. I can’t think of a nicer person. I can’t see how anyone would be cross with her,” Manna said before her death.
The school on the west side of Omaha has about 2,100 students. District officials said Millard South would be closed Thursday.
Security guard arrested for selling crack to homeless www.privateofficer.com
Parrish Lee Wright, 45, was arrested in November and charged with felony drug distribution. An undercover officer said Wright sold drugs to him on two occasions, once on the property of the Colorado Coalition for the Homeless.
Employees at the nonprofit were tipped off when a homeless client came forward and reported Wright.
According to an arrest affidavit, Wright specifically sold to homeless clients who were addicts being treated in the drug rehabilitation program.
“I’ve been working here for 25 years and this is the first time anything like this has happened,” said Colorado Coalition for the Homeless Chief Executive Officer John Parvensky. He said when the coalition was first tipped off, they immediately reported Wright to police, asked police to investigate and later terminated him.
A background check by 7NEWS revealed that Wright did not have a criminal record. 7NEWS tried contacting Wright for comment but there was no answer at his last known address.
Parvensky said the Colorado Coalition for the Homeless receives both public and private funding. He said Wright’s alleged criminal activity has not affected the organization’s efforts.
“There’s no way the actions of one individual, no matter how despicable they are, can counter the tremendous work that over 400 employees do,” he said.
Source:The Denver Channel
Gary Collins-TV Personality arrested for unpaid restaurant tab www.privateofficer.com
BILOXI, MS Jan 6 2011(WLOX) – TV personality Gary Collins was arrested in Biloxi Tuesday after employees at Jazzeppi’s Restaurant said he left without paying his bill.
Collins is charged with defrauding an innkeeper. Biloxi Police say he refused to pay his bill of $59.35. Anything more than $25 is a felony in Mississippi.
Employees at the restaurant told police they reminded Collins about the bill as he left the restaurant. They said they even followed him to the parking lot, but he refused to stop.
Collins was being held at the Harrison County Adult Detention Center on a $5,000 bond.
Las Vegas cop indicted in murder plot www.privateofficer.com
LAS VEGAS NV Jan 6 2011 – A former Las Vegas police officer has been indicted on charges of plotting to kill his girlfriend.
A Clark County grand jury indicted William Ronald Webb in the murder plot aimed at local construction defect attorney Nancy Quon.
Webb also faces drug related charges. Prosecutors say he planned to drug Quon in order to get insurance money.
The man he bought the drugs from, Robert Justice, was also indicted.
Man arrested for impersonating police at mall www.privateofficer.com
Spartanburg SC Jan 6 2011 Officers responded to a report of a man impersonating a police officer at an Upstate mall on Sunday, and now that suspect is in jail.
Spartanburg Public Safety officers responded to West Gate Mall at about 6:30 p.m. Officers spoke to a couple who told them that when they were walking to their car, a man, later identified as 22-year-old James Howell, had approached them. The woman said that she knew Howell and had dated him a few years ago.
The couple said that Howell was staring at them, so the woman’s boyfriend asked Howell what was wrong. They said he started toward them and said, “I am a bench warrant officer and I can arrest you.”
The couple said that Howell appeared to reach for a gun, and the man said he asked him, “Are you going to shoot me at the mall?”
The couple said at that point, Howell took off his hat and threw it on the ground and said, “I will whoop your ass.” The couple then left the area and called police.
Officers said that the couple confirmed Howell’s identity through a photo of him from Detention Center records.
Investigators said that mall security told them that Howell is a regular at the mall who walks around with security officers all through the week.
Howell is charged with impersonating a police officer.
Source:WYFF
Teen charged with firearms trafficking-immigration violations www.privateofficer.com
GULFPORT MS Jan 6 2011 — A local high school graduate has been accused of living in the country illegally and trafficking in weapons.
Harrison County deputies arrested Hector Miguel Novela-Tapia on a federal arrest warrant early Saturday after they saw him entering Eltoro De Oro lounge on Tillman Road in Long Beach.
Sheriff Melvin Brisolara said Novela-Tapia, 21, was arrested at the lounge at 18009 Tillman.
Novela-Tapia was denied bond Tuesday in a hearing in U.S. District Court.
He has been living here since he was 15 and is a graduate of Gulfport High, said his attorney, Rufus Alldredge.
Court records show a confidential informant told a Homeland Security Investigations agent Sept. 10 that Novela-Tapia was believed to be in the country illegally and was selling firearms.
An undercover agent made arrangements by telephone to meet him in a fast-food parking lot to establish a business relationship for buying firearms, court documents show.
The agent met Novela-Tapia at a McDonald’s at U.S. 49 and Creosote Road on Sept. 14 and allegedly paid him $250 for a Kel Tec 9mm semi-automatic handgun, an HSI agent testified.
Federal agents said the handgun would have traveled across state lines to reach Mississippi, making the transaction a federal crime.Novela-Tapia is charged with unlawful alien in possession of a firearm.
He signed court papers as Hector Novela but told the court his correct last name is Novela-Tapia.
His attorney said he could be deported and could face prison time first.
“I plan to do everything I can to give him fair representation,” Alldredge said.
Novela-Tapia waived the right to a preliminary hearing. He is held to await further court action.
Court records show Novela-Tapia’s mother is also in custody, on an alleged immigration violation.
source:www.sunherald.com
University police-security officers suspended for revealing gun memo www.privateofficer.com
Zachary Wellman has been a security officer at the U. for six and a half years. Wellman and a campus police officer were put on leave Dec. 30 after sharing internal protocols with state lawmakers and gun advocacy groups.
He said he leaked the memo months ago because he believes carrying a firearm is a right that should be protected.
“They’re creating rules for their campus that go above and beyond what they should be doing,” Wellman said. “I understand that people are uncomfortable with displayed firearms, and this isn’t saying everyone should go out and openly carry a firearm, but it should be a right that is protected.”
Documents from University of Utah President Michael Young and campus police officers, meant as internal guidelines outlined a concern about weapons seen in plain sight and how U. police should respond to such situations.
Campus guidelines allow campus officers to cite and arrest anyone who openly carries a firearm without a permit.
If the person has a permit, they must conceal the weapon or leave campus. If they refuse, they can be cited and arrested.
“The University is not anti-gun. That’s somewhat of a misconception,” said U. spokesman Remi Barron. “Our gun policy is posted online and it’s available to anyone. What’s not available to the public are internal protocols.”
A university gun rights advocacy group called Students for Concealed Carry leaked the internal memo online. The group said the memo infringed on students’ rights.
Crystal Perry is the campus director for Students for Concealed Carry. She was one of the first people to see the leaked policy. She said because the university can’t ban guns outright, it’ll do what it can to limit them.
“I think it’s very unfair to the students who are lawfully carrying there as a state law,” Perry said.
She said the policy does more harm than good and the officers who leaked it should be praised.
Clark Aposhian, chairman of the Utah Shooting Sports Council, said he knew about the memo for some time. He said his gun advocacy group planned to take the issue up with the Legislature until the student group posted it online.
“They believe from their interpretation, although it differs from the ‘if’ the firearm is displayed, you are in violation of code,” he said, “but we don’t see it that way, nor does anyone else.”
University officials said they would not discuss internal protocols.
Career School Teacher Gets 25 Yr Prison Term www.privateofficer.com
GREENEVILLE, Tenn. Jan 6 2011 (AP) — A federal court in Greeneville has sentenced a longtime school teacher to prison for 25 years in a child sex sting.
Joseph Wayne Jennings was arrested when he showed up a Morristown motel in June 2009, lured by an Internet exchange with a Knoxville police officer posing as a woman who offered her 8-year-old daughter for sex. Investigators said the 54-year-old former Claiborne County school teacher carried sex toys and a Hannah Montana poster.
The Knoxville News Sentinel reported U.S. District Judge Ronnie Greer told Jennings on Tuesday he couldn’t risk endangering other children by imposing a lesser sentence.
After teaching school for 30 years, Jennings worked as a toy store clerk.
In court, he offered no explanation for his actions.
Winston-Salem teacher charged with student rape www.privateofficer.com
Investigators said they were called to Thomas Jefferson Middle School in response to allegations of sexual misconduct by a teacher.
Officers said the teacher was identified as 23-year-old Mark Mercer. Officials said Mercer taught math at the school.
Police said Mercer was taken into custody after detectives interviewed some female students.
Investigators said they do not have any information that leads them to believe the alleged incidents happened on school property.
Officers said Mercer is charged with statutory rape, indecent liberties with a minor and sexual activity with a student by a teacher. He is being held on a $1.2 million bond.
Superintendent Don Martin suspended Mercer without pay. Officials also said Martin will recommend that Mercer be dismissed.
“These charges are disturbing and directly contradict our core mission of educating our students,” Superintendent Don Martin said. “I hope the actions of one teacher will not reflect poorly on all the teachers who do their best for their students every day.”
Anyone with information about this case is asked to call the Winston-Salem Police Department at 773-7700 or call Crimestoppers at 727-2800.
Source:WXII
Heroic security officer injured trying to help crash victims www.privateofficer.com
He was on his way home to spend the holiday with his wife and five kids when he drove by the accident at I-275 Rt. 747 in Springdale. Being a security guard, Smith says his instincts told him to stop.
“If you drive by, then you’re left wondering: what if there was somebody in that car?” Smith said.
Seconds after pulling over, an on-coming Toyota Corolla slammed into the crashed car, clipping Smith’s lower left leg. He was transported to University Hospital where doctors inserted two titanium rods and four screws into his leg.
Smith says he’s lucky to be alive and thankful his kids won’t have to grow-up without a father, but now he’s facing his toughest challenge.
Smith provided the only income for his family, and doctors say it could take as long as six months before he can walk again and another six months before he return to work.
“I’ve lost all of my salary, and now we get into the litigation process. It’s going to be a matter of insurance companies fighting back and forth on who’s going to pay what, and what’s a fair price?” Smith said. “It’s going to be time before we see anything coming in.”
First Choice is in the process of creating a relief fund for Smith and his family. Once the fund is created, details on how to contribute will be posted at WCPO.com
Plainfield dance teacher arrested for student sexual abuse www.privateofficer.com
PLAINFIELD ILL Jan 6 2011 — A high school teacher was arrested Tuesday night after police allegedly caught her having sex with a 16-year-old student in a parking lot.
Ashley M. Blumenshine, 27, was charged with aggravated criminal sexual abuse after police reportedly found her and the boy inside a vehicle at 6:19 p.m. outside Kohl’s, 11860 S. Route 59.
Blumenshine is a dance teacher at Plainfield North High School, where the boy is a junior.
Police Chief William Doster said officers were on patrol checking the parking lot when they saw two vehicles parked next to each other. One was unoccupied while Blumenshine was in the driver’s seat of the other vehicle with the minor in the back.
Assistant Will County State’s Attorney Mary Fillipitch said both occupants admitted they had just engaged in consensual sexual intercourse and a condom was taken as evidence from the vehicle.
“(Blumenshine) told police she knew he was a student at Plainfield North High School,” Fillipitch told Judge Marzell L. Richardson during a bond hearing Wednesday.
Blumenshine has taught at the school district since 2006. She choreographed several dances for the spring show in May, according to the district’s website.
She coached golf at Plainfield North, serving as head coach last school year and assistant coach in the 2008-09 school year. She also taught driver’s education in the summer in 2008. She was also an assistant cheerleading coach at Plainfield South High School in the 2006-07 school year.
District spokesman Tom Hernandez said a substitute teacher has taken over Blumenshire’s classes.
“District administration and the board of education will take appropriate action promptly after Blumenshine is released from custody,” he said in a statement.
On Wednesday, administration and counselors reached out to students most likely to be affected by the allegations, such as her students and dance club members.
Today, “the counseling will be more generally available in the auditorium,” Hernandez said.
Plainfield North Principal Ray Epperson sent an automated phone message to parents Wednesday afternoon, alerting parents that additional support services will be available for students.
“Counselors and social workers will be available to speak with any student who may need support. Also, please speak with your child about appropriate ways to deal with this situation and all of the misinformation that will be circulating for the next several days,” Epperson said. “If you or your child have relevant information, please share that with either the Plainfield Police Department or a trusted adult here at school.”
Court appearance
Blumenshine said only a clear “good afternoon” while appearing via videolink in bond court Wednesday. Fillipitch asked Richardson to set bond at $200,000 for the Class 2 felony, an amount defense attorney George Lenard called “extremely excessive.”
“(Blumenshine) has no prior criminal record and is a graduate of Eastern Illinois University and has a master’s degree from Olivet,” Lenard said. “The state indicated she made admissions to the officers, which shows she has been cooperative with (this investigation).”
Richardson set Blumenshine’s bond at $75,000 and said she is not to have any contact with students at Plainfield North or minors she is not related to if she is able to post bail.
Her case is scheduled for a hearing Jan. 26.
Son beats paraplegic mother to death and burys her www.privateofficer.com
MOBILE, Alabama Jan 6 2011– After beating his paraplegic mother in the head with a hammer, Christopher Salter waited days before dragging her lifeless body out of their Wilmer trailer home down a wheelchair ramp and burying her in a shallow grave, an investigator said in court today.
Marquis Parsons, lead investigator with the Mobile County Sheriff’s Office, said Salter later told authorities that he killed his mother because he had enjoyed the thrill of assaulting his neighbor about a month earlier.
Salter, 29, has been charged with murder in the death of his mother, Nancy Dickens, who he lived with in Wilmer. Dickens was first reported missing to police on Dec. 9, although police said the killing occurred about a week earlier.
Parsons said Dickens’ body was later found in a 3 to 5-foot grave outside the Wilmer home. Inside the grave were several pairs of her underwear and her pants were down and around her ankles, the investigator said.
Sheriff’s deputies arrived at the home on Dec. 9 after Dickens’ sister told authorities that every time she tried to contact her sister, Christopher Salter told her she wasn’t available for different reasons, according to Parsons.
Deputies noticed that the sheets were removed from Dickens’ hospital-style bed, and there was blood splattered on the nearby floor and wall, according to Parsons.
Salter agreed to be interviewed by investigators, he said, although he asked that they promise to seek the death penalty against him.
Parsons said Salter still agreed to talk after they told told him that they couldn’t promise him anything.
Salter then said he and his mother were smoking crack cocaine together, and he went to the living room to get a hammer, according to Parsons. He paced in the living room for a half-hour before deciding to kill her, Parsons said, and he hid the hammer behind a pillow before striking her three times.
Salter said his mother’s body laid there for days before the smell forced him to bury her outside, according to Parsons.
Investigators also said that there was an open investigation into the Nov. 7 beating of Salter’s next door neighbor, who was bludgeoned with a brick.
The neighbor had identified Salter as the perpetrator, but Salter had initially denied any involvement, deputies said.
The Sheriff’s Office was in the process of setting up a polygraph test for Salter when Dickens’ death was discovered.
Mobile County District Judge Bob Sherling after the hearing ruled that there was enough evidence to send the case to a grand jury. The judge also said Salter should remain in jail with no bail.
Defense attorney Sid Harrell said Salter had a very serious drug problem, and for now, he agrees that it is best that Salter stay in jail.
“It’s very unfortunate,” Harrell said. “That was his mother….there’s no question he did this.”
Prosecutors said with the evidence they have now, the slaying does not meet any of the state’s definitions for capital murder.
In Alabama, a charge of capital murder can be brought in cases in which there are two or more victims or someone is killed in the course of another serious crime, such as first-degree rape or robbery.
Source:AL.com
Two dead in security guard pursuit www.privateofficer.com
San Antonio TX Jan 6 2010 A woman is dead and two men are in custody after a security guard chased three people suspected of stealing auto parts, and their vehicle crashed.
The security guard told police he gave chase Wednesday afternoon after seeing two men and a woman stealing car parts from a South Side business, firing several shots at their fleeing car. None of the bullets struck anyone, police said.
The fleeing vehicle crashed into a pickup near Texas 16 and Applewhite Road and flipped, rolling into the grassy median.
All three of the people were thrown from the truck, police said. The woman died after being transported to a hospital, police said.
The other two people were taken to a hospital for treatment but were expected to survive.
Police are continuing their investigation to determine if charges should be brought against the guard.
Oklahoma police officer accused of cattle theft www.privateofficer.com
News of Wendel Hughes’ arrest was just beginning to spread across the small town of Sallisaw by Wednesday night.
Sallisaw resident David Kellar has known the police officer for two years. He tells 2NEWS, “Wendel Hughes has been a policeman here for a long time. He has a very good reputation.”
Hughes’ reputation took a huge blow Wednesday, when the Sallisaw police officer was arrested by Sequoyah County Sheriff’s Deputies. He pleaded not guilty to 31 felony counts of larceny of livestock and was released on bond.
Kellar says, “Wendel Hughes shops at the business where I work here in Sallisaw. He’s very nice guy. Real laid back. I’ve known him for a little over two years. And I just never would have thought that he would have done anything like that.”
An investigator with the US Department of Agriculture tells 2NEWS his office was contacted by the Sequoyah County Sheriff’s Office last month, after the victim, Mark Sweeney, told them some of his cattle were sold at an auction by Hughes without his permission.
Records show that over the past three years, Hughes sold 178 cattle in his name at auctions in Stillwell and Moffett totaling more than $72,000.
Investigators believe all the cattle were stolen from Sweeney, as well as two horses that belonged to Sweeney’s father, Roger Sweeney. Hughes allegedly told Roger Sweeney he found the two horses dead and then buried them. Investigators say they located the animals in Virginia.
Sallisaw Police Chief Shaloa Edwards didn’t want to comment on the arrest, saying it’s a personnel matter. But Edwards did confirm that Wendel Hughes has been placed on unpaid administrative leave.
The Department of Agriculture says the investigation remains open because investigators must to consider the possibility that Hughes may have auctioned off other stolen animals from other victims.
If convicted, Hughes could face seven years in prison on each charge.
Source:NBC2
Teens nabbed breaking into school www.privateofficer.com
Officers got a call from a security officer for USD 259 around 11:45 of an alarm going off at Beech Elementary in the 1800 block of. S. Cypress. When officers arrived they discovered the school had been broken into and observed two people walking away from the property. One of them, a 15-year-old boy, was taken into custody. After questioning him, officers were able to arrest a 16-year-old boy. Both were booked into the Juvenile Detention Facility on burglary charges.
The boys allegedly broke a window to gain entry and stole candy and soda.
DeKalb police officer charged with rape www.privateofficer.com
DeKalb County GA Jan 6 2011 A police officer is in jail Wednesday on charges of sexual misconduct with a 15-year-old girl, authorities said.
Quevius Thornton, 29, was arrested and placed on administrative leave following an investigation by DeKalb police detectives.
Thornton is charged with two counts of statutory rape, one count of aggravated child molestation and one count of child molestation, according to DeKalb police.
DeKalb detectives began investigating Thornton’s actions based on information received earlier in the week, police said. Thornton was arrested Tuesday.
“Once these allegations were brought to light swift action was taken. This type of officer misconduct is inexcusable. It’s inherent in order to maintain the public’s trust that our officers serve with great character and honor,” Chief William O’Brien said in a statement.
Thornton joined the DeKalb police department in 2008.
Police did not provide any additional information and have declined interviews with the media.
