Archive
OFFICER DOWN-Police Officer Christopher Matlosz
New Jersey
End of Watch: Friday, January 14, 2011
Biographical Info
Age: 27
Tour of Duty: 7 years
Badge Number: 317
Incident Details
Cause of Death: Gunfire
Date of Incident: Friday, January 14, 2011
Weapon Used: Handgun
Suspect Info: At large
Police Officer Chris Matlosz was shot and killed by a man he had stopped to talk to on August Drive at approximately 4:00 pm.
Officer Matlosz was on patrol when he stopped his patrol car to speak with a man walking along the road. As they spoke, the male took one step back, drew a handgun and shot Officer Matlosz three times, killing him.
The suspect fled the scene and remains at large.
Officer Matlosz had served with the Lakewood Police Department for five years. He had previously served with the Englishtown Police Department for two years and had also served as a special police officer with the Freehold Township Police Department, Long Branch Police Department and Manasquan Police Department.
He is survived by his fiancee, mother, and brother.
Agency Contact Information
Lakewood Police Department
231 Third Street
Lakewood, NJ 08701
Phone: (732) 363-0200
Please contact the Lakewood Police Department for funeral arrangements or for survivor benefit fund information.
OFFICER DOWN-Police Officer Rogerio Morales
Florida
End of Watch: Thursday, January 13, 2011
Biographical Info
Age: 27
Tour of Duty: 2 years
Badge Number: 887
Incident Details
Cause of Death: Heart attack
Date of Incident: Monday, January 10, 2011
Weapon Used: Not available
Suspect Info: Not available
Officer Rogerio Morales suffered a fatal heart attack while participating in tryouts for his agency’s SWAT team.
He was participating in the tryouts when he suddenly collapsed. He was transported to a local hospital where he remained in a coma until passing away three days later.
Officer Morales had served with the Davie Police Department for two years. He is survived by his wife.
Agency Contact Information
Davie Police Department
1230 South Nob Hill Road
Davie, FL 33324
Phone: (954) 693-8200
Please contact the Davie Police Department for funeral arrangements or for survivor benefit fund information.
US Border Patrol Agent Arrested For Hiding Felon Father www.privateofficer.com
SAN DIEGO CA Jan 15 2011 — A U.S. Border Patrol agent in San Diego hid his father, a twice-deported illegal immigrant, in his house and lied about it, authorities allege.
Marcos Gerardo Manzano Jr., 26, was arrested Monday at the Border Patrol station in Imperial Beach, Calif., the FBI told the Los Angeles Times.
When an FBI Swat team raided his home in the border neighborhood of San Ysidro Tuesday, his father, Marcos Gerardo Manzano Sr., 46, was gone. Another illegal immigrant there was arrested.
Manzano Sr. was convicted of a marijuana offense in October 2006 and deported to Mexico, a criminal complaint filed in San Diego federal court states. The FBI is seeking him as a fugitive.
Starting in September 2009, Manzano Sr. was seen regularly coming and going from his son’s home, the complaint said. Manzano Jr. allegedly told a federal investigator he had had no contact with his father, although he admitted knowing he was a deported felon.
Manzano Jr. is charged with harboring illegal aliens and lying to federal investigators and is to be arraigned Wednesday.
Source:UPI
Armored car guard disarmed and robbed www.privateofficer.com
St. Paul MN Jan 15 2011 An armed robber fought with an armored car employee in St. Paul this morning, disarmed him and got away with cash, police said.
No one was injured. Police aren’t reporting the amount stolen, but local television stations have said it was about $70,000.
Police were called at 5:43 a.m. to the SuperAmerica at 950 N. Lexington Pkwy. A Dunbar Armored car worker was filling an automated teller machine at the gas station when a man approached him and pulled out a handgun, said officer John Keating, a police department spokesman.
“They got into a physical altercation in the store,” Keating said. “During that time, the suspect took the driver’s gun and some cash.”
The robber fled the store and got into a dark sports-utility vehicle thought to be a 2000-2005 model and drove away.
He is described as a black man in his 30s, about 6 feet to 6 feet 2 inches tall with a medium build. He was wearing a black stocking cap, dark pants and a black jacket.
St. Paul police were on scene this morning, along with the FBI. No one has been arrested in the case.
Another Dunbar employee was in the armored car at the time of the robbery, Keating said. It wasn’t clear whether the victim was the driver or the passenger.
A Dunbar spokesman said this morning that police are investigating and the company had no comment.
At this point, the robbery doesn’t appear linked to other recent cases, Keating said.
Anyone who was in the area at the time or has information is asked to call police at 651-266-5650 or the FBI at 612-376-3200.
Several armored cars and their crews have been the targets of holdups in the metro over the last 15 years.
On April 16, 1996, six men — including the driver of the armored car — stole $1.4 million as the American Security Corp. truck made a pickup at a Champps restaurant in Maple Grove. All six men were caught and convicted of the crime.
A security guard for a Brinks truck was shot and killed Nov. 22, 1998, as he was carrying two bags of cash and receipts out of a Bloomington Target store. Richard Oslund received life in prison for the crime.
Wisconsin couple Zachary and Debra Wiegand both were sentenced for their roles in a $238,000 heist of a truck May 29, 2003, in Hudson, Wis. Zachary Wiegand got 25 years in prison for holding up two guards and taking off with the money; Debra Wiegand received a year in prison for helping her husband deposit some of the ill-gotten loot.
US Coast Guard helps police capture armed robber www.privateofficer.com
Watchstanders at Coast Guard Sector Corpus Christi received a call from an officer with the Gregory Police Department at 1:30 p.m., requesting assistance in locating an armed robbery suspect. The officer reported the suspect had allegedly burglarized a local game room, then ran into a field of thick brush and authorities were struggling to locate him.
The Coast Guard launched an MH-65 helicopter and crew from Coast Guard Air Station Corpus Christi at approximately 2 p.m. and with the aid of infared imaging devices, were able to locate the suspect. The helicopter crew was then able to direct officers to the suspect location. Once located, the suspect fled the field and was arrested by authorities.
“Today’s flight was definitely different from our normal mission as a Coast Guard unit,” said Lt. Nick Lieter. “But we were excited to use our search and rescue equipment to assist our fellow agency with this case,” he said. “It was an all around great team effort and shows how well our local partnerships work together here in South Texas.”
On the lam for 30 years, U.S. Marshals ends escapee’s freedom www.privateofficer.com
Homosassa Fla Jan 15 2011 Federal authorities say they have arrested a fugitive in rural Florida who was on the lam for 30 years after faking a heart attack to escape from prison.
A handwritten document buried in a file led cold case investigators to Ian Jackson MacDonald, 71, the U.S. Marshals Service said in a statement. They arrested him Tuesday in Homosassa, Florida.
“I was told that he just let out a big sigh and said, ‘Yeah, you’re right — you got me,’” U.S. Marshals senior Inspector Barry Golden told CNN affiliate CBC News.
Authorities allege that MacDonald, who went by the nickname “Big Mac,” faked a heart attack while he was in a federal prison in South Miami-Dade County in 1980. He later escaped from a hospital, the U.S. Marshals said.
MacDonald had been awaiting extradition on a Canadian warrant to face outstanding charges for allegedly smuggling 500 pounds of marijuana.
After less than a day in the hospital, he persuaded a security guard to unshackle his legs so he could take a shower, the U.S. Marshals said in a statement.
“The security guard walked to the nurse’s station, and when he returned, MacDonald was gone,” the statement said.
People in Pennsylvania and West Virginia knew MacDonald by a different name — Jack Hunter, CNN affiliate WTOV reported.
U.S. Marshals allege that MacDonald and his wife changed their names and moved to southwest Pennsylvania after he escaped from custody. He owned a store in nearby West Virginia, “19th Hole Used Appliances,” WTOV said.
“It’s really surprising that someone can live in your neighborhood for that long undetected,” resident Jim Lyle told WTOV.
Investigators in Pennsylvania learned that MacDonald and his wife were living in a Florida mobile home they had purchased in 2009. Authorities there arrested him outside the home Tuesday.
“I have been looking over my shoulder all these years. I wondered when this day would come,” MacDonald reportedly told investigators, the U.S. Marshals said.
According to the U.S. Marshals, Canadian authorities said their arrest warrant for importation of marijuana was still active, and MacDonald could still face charges in Canada.
Source:CNN
Take-Over bank robbers disarm security officer www.privateofficer.com
Aurora CO Jan 15 2011 Officers wounded a bank robbery suspect during a foot chase Friday afternoon, Aurora police said.
The suspect’s wounds were not life-threatening.
Detective Bob Friel, spokesman for the Aurora Police Department, described the 4:30 p.m. incident at the Citywide Bank in the 10600 block of East Colfax Avenue as a “takeover robbery.”
As two heavily armed robbers entered the bank, they disarmed the single private-security guard on duty, Friel said. While the men were inside, a witness was on the phone with police dispatch providing information about the robbery.
Police will not say where the witness was located for safety reasons.
When police arrived, they confronted the two suspects outside the bank and the suspects ran.
One man was apprehended, and another was chased into the neighborhood just south of the bank. An Aurora police officer fired a weapon, striking the suspect.
The suspect was taken to a nearby hospital. Friel would not say where the man was wounded. It is also unclear whether the suspect fired any shots, or pointed a gun at the officer.
Charlotte schools may cut 32 security positions www.privateofficer.com
CMS is trying to fill a potential $100 million budget gap.
CMS Police chief Bud Cesena says parents will see a difference next year regarding security.
“Parents are going to see fewer security associates in their school,” Cesena said. “And they may see a security associate in their school on Monday and might not be there on Tuesday because we are moving them from place to place.”
Associates are placed in the schools to help keep the peace and keep an eye on the students. Cesena says he will now depend more on staff at schools.
“The adults on campus have to take a more active role,” Cesena said. “In the things that the security associates did on a daily basis.”
The rapid response team is slated to go away also. That team checked schools for weapons and conducted school safety audits. That responsibility will be shared among the other staff that’s left.
Cuts are nothing new for the security force. Last year CMS cut about 60 campus security associates. CMS reports they did feel the absence of those associates but say things went fairly well in the schools.
Cesena adds CMPD police officers will still be stationed at the schools.
The school board will have final say about the proposed cuts to security.
Source:WBTV.com
Husband kills wife, 2 children before committing suicide www.privateofficer.com
NOVI, Mich. Jan 15 2011 – A man killed his wife and two children in the bedrooms of their stately southeast Michigan home before apparently committing suicide inside his sport utility vehicle in a Wal-Mart parking lot, police said Friday.
Officers found the bodies of Jennifer Schons, 38, and the couple’s two sons – Tynan, 6, and Camden, 4 – in their beds after a family friend reported the children hadn’t been at school and their mother missed an appointment, said Novi Police Chief David Molloy.
Novi police then issued an alert to area law enforcement agencies, and Oakland County sheriff’s deputies found Mark Schons, 39, dead inside his vehicle hours later.
Police weren’t saying how any of the victims were killed. Autopsies were expected to be performed Saturday at the Oakland County medical examiner’s office, Molloy said.
The chief said police didn’t have a motive.
“I honestly cannot speculate,” he said. “From the information that I’ve received, it’s simply an act of a madman.”
Police said they found weapons in Mark Schons’ vehicle, including one they believe was used in the killings, but they declined to identify them.
Molloy said there has been no documented criminal history or police contact involving the Schons family.
Family members and friends said the couple had been considering divorce, but continued to live together in the large home, Molloy said. The couple also had been experiencing financial problems, he said.
Mark Schons had owned a party supply business in the Livingston County community of Howell that closed and was working as a computer programmer in the Lansing area. Jennifer Schons was an engineer with General Motors Co.
Northville Public Schools’ Superintendent Leonard Rezmierski described the deaths as “an almost unspeakable tragedy,” and said the district has mobilized crisis counselors to be available at Thornton Creek Elementary School beginning Monday. Tynan was a first-grader and Camden was a pre-kindergarten student.
“It’s very difficult to explain it to the children. They feel vulnerable, they feel exposed,” Rezmierski said. “I see our resources all weekend and all next week and beyond being in place for them.”
Molloy described the incident as isolated in an otherwise safe community. The city had only one homicide last year and none the year before.
Police dig up septic tank to recover drugs www.privateofficer.com
On Thursday, Rowan County Sheriff’s deputies went to a home at 140 Scarlet Road in China Grove. As detectives approached the door, they saw a man running toward a bathroom inside, according to the Sheriff’s Office.
Detectives entered the home and handcuffed Edward Alan Rodgers, 32, in the bathroom, authorities said. They said the toilet had just been flushed.
Authorities said they found paraphernalia used to inject heroin. Detectives removed and dismantled the toilet to find any drugs that might have been flushed, but they came up empty-handed.
Then authorities dug up the septic tank in the yard beside the residence. When they opened the tank, detectives found a plastic bag containing 25 balloons of heroin, according to the Sheriff’s Office.
Rodgers was charged with possession with intent to sell heroin, maintaining a dwelling for controlled substances and possession of drug paraphernalia.
Source:www.charlotteobserver.com
