Archive
OFFICER DOWN-David S. Moore
Officer David S. Moore
Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department
Indiana
End of Watch: Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Biographical Info
Age: 29
Tour of Duty: 6 years
Badge Number: Not available
Incident Details
Cause of Death: Gunfire
Date of Incident: Sunday, January 23, 2011
Weapon Used: Gun; Unknown type
Suspect Info: Apprehended
Officer David Moore succumbed to gunshot wounds suffered three days earlier while making a traffic stop near 3400 North Temple Avenue.
As Officer Moore approached the car at approximately 9:00 am, he was shot four times by the driver who fled the scene. A passer-by called 911 to report that an officer was down. Officer Moore, who was wearing a bullet-resistant vest, was shot in the chest, the left thigh and twice in his face. He was taken to Wishard Memorial Hospital where he remained in a coma until being taken off life support and his organs were donated.
A 60-year-old parolee was arrested later that evening and charged with a robbery occurring less than an hour after the shooting.
Officer Moore had served with the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department for six years and was assigned to the North District. He is survived by his parents. His mother currently serves as a sergeant and his father retired as a lieutenant with the department.
Agency Contact Information
Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department
50 North Alabama Street
Indianapolis, IN 46204
Phone: (317) 327-3811
Please contact the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department for funeral arrangements or for survivor benefit fund information.
War on Cops continues 24 killed-others shot www.privateofficer.com
Atlanta GA Jan 27 2011 So far in 2011, 14 law enforcement officers have been killed, a trend that extends from 2010, which was one of the deadliest years on record, according to statistics released by the National Law Enforcement Memorial Fund on Monday.
The uptick in attacks on officers prompted a police union spokesman to say field officers are concerned about a “war on cops.”
Richard Roberts, spokesman for the International Union of Police Associations, told MSNBC, “It’s not a fluke. There’s a perception among officers in the field that there’s a war on cops going on.”
On Monday, three officers were shot — two fatally wounded, and one injured — while serving an aggravated battery warrant at a home in St. Petersburg, Fla. On Sunday, four officers were shot at a Detroit Police precinct; two Kitsap County (Wash.) Sheriff’s deputies were shot at a Walmart while responding to a call reporting a suspicious person; and police officers in Indianapolis and Lincoln City, Ore., were critically injured in shootings during traffic stops.
As of Jan. 24, officer fatalities have been recorded in eight states, including multiple deaths in Florida (5), Texas (2), and Ohio (2). Florida and Texas were among the top five states leading officer deaths in 2010 (along with California, Illinois, and Georgia).
“The devastating spike in law enforcement officer fatalities in 2010 has tragically continued in the first month of 2011,” according to Craig W. Floyd, chairman and CEO of the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund. “I have never seen anything like it. The violent events of the past 24 hours in Florida, Michigan, Indiana, Oregon and Washington have been detrimental to America’s peace officers, taking the lives of two and injuring several others. We must do everything in our power to stop these senseless and heinous crimes against our law enforcement personnel.”
According to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund’s preliminary “2010 End of Year Officer Fatality Report,” officer fatalities reached 162, a nearly 40 percent increase from the 117 in 2009. Of the 162 officers killed in the line of duty, 61 were shot — a 24 percent increase from 2009. Tragically, the trend continued with 14 officer deaths in January, 10 of which resulted from shootings accounting for a 40 percent increase compared to the same period in 2010.
“As recent events show us, there is a more brazen criminal prowling the streets of America and our law enforcement officers responsible for protecting our communities are uniformed targets for these criminals,” according to Floyd.
The following nine officers are the most recent gunfire-related fatalities:
•Clark County (Ohio) Sheriff’s Deputy Suzanne Hopper was shot and killed while responding to a disturbance call at a mobile home park on New Year’s Day.
•Rainier (Ore.) Police Chief Ralph Painter was killed by a fatal gunshot wound to the head on Jan. 5, while responding to a call reporting a car theft at a strip mall.
•Baltimore City (Md.) Police Officer William H. Torbit, Jr. was fatally shot during an altercation outside a night club on Jan. 9.
•Lakewood (N.J.) Patrolman Christopher Matlosz was shot and killed as he approached a suspect while patrolling a residential area on Jan. 14.
•Livonia (Mich.) Officer Larry Nehasil was fatally wounded by a burglary suspect during a shootout on Jan. 17.
•Miami-Dade (Fla.) Officers Roger Castillo and Amanda Haworth were fatally shot as they attempted to serve a murder warrant at a Miami, Florida home on Jan. 20.
•St. Petersburg (Fla.) Sgt. Tom Baitinger and Officer Jeffrey Yaslowitz were gunned down and killed while attempting to serve a warrant on Jan. 24. A U.S. Marshal was also wounded but is in stable condition.
MS. Marine Resource police officer arrested for child porn www.privateofficer.com
OCEAN SPRINGS, MS Jan 27 2011 – Another Mississippi law enforcement officer has been arrested for allegedly keeping child porn on his state issued laptop. Anthony Nicholas Tremonte, 31, was arrested Wednesday and charged with one count of Possession of Child Pornography.
On Friday, the Jackson County Sheriff’s Department’s Tri County Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force searched Tremonte’s home on Moreton Place in Ocean Springs and seized the laptop. What officers found on that computer led to Tremonte’s arrest five days later.
Tremonte was a law officer with the Mississippi Department of Marine Resources. Investigators said he resigned from the job shortly after being told of the felony charge against him. Wednesday morning, he faxed a resignation letter to DMR’s office.
Tremonte is currently being held in the Jackson County Adult Detention Center under a $50,000 bond. Sheriff Mike Byrd said the case will be presented to the grand jury when their investigation is finished.
Tremonte faces between five and 40 years in prison if convicted.
Source:WLOX
Orange County sheriff gets prison term www.privateofficer.com
Orange County Fla Jan 27 2011 Disgraced former Sheriff Mike Carona completed his downward spiral from the peak of power in Orange County law enforcement Tuesday morning when he surrendered at a federal prison in Colorado to begin serving a 5½-year term for witness tampering.
Carona, 55, was Orange County’s top cop for nine years before he was indicted, tried and convicted of trying to convince a former top aide to lie for him during a spreading federal investigation of corruption in the Sheriff’s Department.
U.S. District Court Andrew S. Guildford sentenced Carona to federal prison in April 2009, telling the ex-sheriff he had brought shame to Orange County and had victimized the people he was sworn to serve.
“Trust has been harmed here … by this county’s leading law-enforcement officer,” Guilford said.
Carona was allowed to remain free on bond pending his appeal to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, but when a three-judge panel of that court ruled earlier this month that his appeal had no merit, Carona’s days of freedom neared an end.
Guilford cancelled a scheduled hearing Tuesday when he confirmed that Carona was in custody.
“I believe justice has been done,” Guilford said before he left the bench.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Brett Sagel agreed.
“Michael Carona can no longer deflect attention away from his criminal conduct, where it belongs,” Sagel said. “At the end of the day, Michael Carona has been removed from office, he is a convicted felon, and he is now in jail for 5 1/2 years.”
Brian Sun, Carona’s lead defense attorney, said Carona will continue to appeal his conviction while he serves his sentence.
Sun also denied assertions that Carona, who once ran one of the largest jail systems in California, has landed in a cushy federal prison. “When you are deprived of the privilege of moving around freely, it is a life-altering experience,” Sun said.
By surrendering early, Carona avoided an army of media that camped out in front of the Ronald Reagan Federal Courthouse in Santa Ana during key moments of his headline-making trial. He also was not subjected to being transported in restraints by federal marshals to the Colorado prison.
Before his downfall, Carona was a high-profile politician who was re-elected to the sheriff’s job three times by large margins and who was at one time touted as a potential Republican candidate for statewide office – perhaps as a potential lieutenant governor nominee on a ticket head by Arnold Schwarzenegger.
He also gained national fame when talk show host Larry King dubbed him “America’s Sheriff” when he appeared in uniform on King’s show during the intense manhunt for the sexual predator who kidnapped, sexually assaulted and murdered 5-year-old Samantha Runnion in July of 2002.
But along with the accolades, Carona’s tenure as Orange County Sheriff also received criticism, particularly involving people he selected to help him run the department.
For example:
• Carona hand-picked former Garden Grove Police Sgt. George Jaramillo to be one of his three top assistants when he was first elected sheriff in 1998. Jaramillo played a key role in Carona’s successful campaign, and the two men started calling each other “brother” as they ran the department. But Carona abruptly fired Jaramillo in March 2004, before Jaramillo was indicted and convicted on corruption charges in both state and federal courts.
• Carona’s administration was marred when the son of another hand-picked top assistant – Don Haidl – was arrested with two others and charged with sexually-assaulting a 16-year-old unconscious girl on a pool table in the Haidl family garage in Newport Beach. Greg Haidl and the others were ultimately convicted after two-headline making trials and sentenced to six years each in prison.
Don Haidl was a multi-millionaire businessman who served without pay as Carona’s often uniformed assistant in charge of the sheriff’s reserve deputy program. Haidl resigned from his post in 2005 to devote his time to defending his son. He was later pleaded guilty in 2007 to federal tax crimes that alleged he gave Carona cash and gifts.
Haidl later pleaded guilty and started secretly cooperating with federal authorities in their investigation of Carona, and that led directly to the evidence that ultimately convicted Carona in federal court.
That’s because Haidl agreed to wear a hidden microphone and attempt to entice Carona into making incriminating statements about the ongoing federal investigation into his administration.
Prosecutors provided Haidl with a fake subpoena to the grand jury to use as a talking point during a three-hour conversation over lunch with Carona in 2007. The two men, once close cronies, then discussed getting their stories straight when they were questioned by the grand jury about money Haidl was funneling to Carona.
That audio-tape was a key piece of evidence when Carona was indicted in October 2007 on six felony corruption counts, including theft of honest services of an elected official, conspiracy and tampering with a witness –Don Haidl. His wife Deborah Carona, and his mistress Debra Hoffman, were also indicted on the conspiracy count, but those charges were subsequently dismissed.
In January 2009, a federal jury in Guildford’s court found him not guilty of five counts, but convicted him of the witness tampering charge.
Carona and his supporters celebrated the acquittals and Carona tearfully claimed he was “beyond vindicated” by the not guilty verdicts.
Guilford, the trial judge, chafed at Carona’s celebration and for not accepting responsibility for his actions in the witness tampering count.
In April 2009, Guilford sentenced to 66 months in prison.
Carona appealed his conviction and claimed among other things that federal prosecutors were guilty of misconduct for surreptitiously providing Don Haidl with the phony subpoena and sending him to talk with Carona while knowing that Carona was represented by an attorney.
But on Jan. 6, the appellate court found that there did not appear to be prosecutorial misconduct and that Guilford did not abuse his discretion when he refused to bar the Haidl evidence, including the tape-recorded conversation.
Sagel said Tuesday he was pleased that the appellate court panel found that prosecutors had acted “ethically, appropriately and lawfully.
Carona’s appellate lawyers had already filed a petition for review of the rejected appeal, and plan to seek other appellate remedies, Sun said.
By federal law, Carona will have to serve at least 85 percent of his prison sentence, meaning he will likely not be eligible for release until late 2015.
Retired NYPD officer commits suicide www.privateofficer.com
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y.Jan 27 2011 — Police are eyeing suicide as a possible cause in the shooting death of a retired police officer in Huguenot early this morning.
Cops today responded to the Stafford Avenue home of Louis DeCicco, 54, to find him shot dead in the basement. According to police and law enforcement sources, the gunshot looks to be self-inflicted, though a spokeswoman for the city Medical Examiner’s office said today that an autopsy would be performed tomorrow.
DeCicco, a 20-year veteran of the NYPD, retired in 2005, according to police officials.
Police and emergency vehicles swarmed the block at about 7 a.m., said one neighbor, who declined to give her name.
By 10:30 a.m., detectives, NYPD cruisers and personnel from the Medical Examiner’s office were still on the scene.
Advance records show both DeCicco and his wife, Kimberly, were officers in the NYPD’s 5th Precinct when they married in 1998.
Former Alabama Musuems Association Treasurer arrested for embezzlement www.privateofficer.com
DECATUR AL Jan 27 2011 – The former Treasurer of the Alabama Museums Association is being held in the Morgan County jail on $5,000 bond.
Decatur police said that The Alabama Museums Association (AMA), a non-profit organization, located in Birmingham, filed a report December 28, 2010, after discrepancies revolving around the business’ financial records were discovered.
The AMA reported that money in excess of $2,500.00 was transferred from accounts belonging to the business to accounts which did not belong to the AMA.
Decatur police said the money was sent to a bank account that belonged to Laura Harris Phillips, former Treasurer of the AMA and former Director of the Carnegie Visual Arts Center.
Phillips was arrested Tuesday on theft charges.
She was booked into the Decatur City Jail and then transferred to the Morgan County Jail where she was being held Tuesday in lieu of a $5000.00 bond, police said.
Source:AL.com
Burglary suspect killed by police at Texas mall www.privateofficer.com
HUMBLE, Texas Jan 27 2011 —Police have released the identities of two suspects involved in a deadly shooting at Deerbrook Mall.
Investigators say Esteban Carlon, 22, was leaving the scene of a vehicle burglary with Joaquin Carlon, 21, when he was accidentally shot by an Humble police officer Monday afternoon.
Police were called to the scene by mall security.
When they arrived, they said they saw Esteban Carlon get out of a parked pickup truck and into a waiting pickup. Police said that pickup was reported stolen.
When police approached the suspects’ vehicle, they said the vehicle started backing away.
Police said an officer broke one of the truck’s windows with his handgun in a bid to stop the suspects, but the weapon accidentally discharged.
Esteban Carlon died at the scene.
Joaquin Carlon was arrested and charged with auto theft.
He was released Tuesday on $15,000 bond.
Both suspects have prior criminal records.
The officer whose weapon discharged was treated for cuts on his hand. Police said he’s a long-time veteran of the Humble Police Department.
He was placed on administrative leave pending an investigation by Internal Affairs and the Harris County District Attorney’s Office.
Spurce:KHOU.com
Man arrested at Charlotte airport with concealed handgun www.privateofficer.com
CHARLOTTE, NC Jan 27 2011 – Police say a man was caught after bringing a concealed weapon to the airport in Charlotte last week.
According to the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department, Mark James Whitecavage was stopped after he brought a Sig Sauer handgun inside the Charlotte-Douglas International Airport on Thursday, Jan. 20.
Whitecavage was arrested and later was issued a citation for a weapon violation, police said.
No further details about the incident was released.
Charlotte NC man faces WMD charges www.privateofficer.com
CONCORD, NC Jan 27 2011 – Police have charged a man for possession of a weapon of mass destruction and illegally possessing firearms at his home in Concord, and investigators are still searching his property to see what else may be there.
Frank Andrew Mitchell, 43, was arrested Tuesday night at his home at 127 Swink Street Southwest.
According to the Concord Police Department, investigators received information earlier in the day that Mitchell had in his possession illegal firearms and other dangerous materials stored at his home.
Officials with the Cabarrus County Sheriff’s Department, Concord Fire Department of Fire and Life Safety, and Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms searched the property Tuesday afternoon.
In a statement released Wednesday afternoon, police said, “Some potentially illegal, dangerous material was found during that search.”
Police also said that Mitchell was arrested for possession of a weapon of mass destruction 20 years ago.
Investigators returned to the home Wednesday morning to continue searching the property and they were still there as of 1:30 p.m., according City of Concord spokesman Peter Franzese.
No one living near the home has been evacuated at this time, Franzese said.
Mitchell has been charged with possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, and possession of a weapon of mass destruction. He is being held at the Cabarrus County Jail under $110,000 bond.
Source:WBTV.com
Dunmore High School Teacher Arrested www.privateofficer.com
Andrew Wally, 26, of 413 Fourth St., Dunmore, allegedly had a six-month relationship with the girl. He was arraigned Tuesday morning on 10 counts of corruption of minors and two counts of furnishing alcohol to a minor.
He was released on $20,000 unsecured bail.
A second teacher at the school, whose name was withheld, is also under investigation for a nonsexual relationship with a student that included inappropriate text messaging, authorities said. Charges have not been filed in that case, and further details were unavailable.
Both teachers are suspended, but whether they are paid will be determined by the school board in an executive session, said Matthew D. Dempsey, the district’s solicitor.
Mr. Wally was a biology teacher and a golf coach at the high school when he met the victim, authorities said. According to an affidavit by Dunmore police Capt. William Springer, Mr. Wally allegedly told police that he and the girl “connected in a way that he had never connected with another person before.”
The Times-Tribune does not identify victims of sexual assault.
Mr. Dempsey said Mr. Wally had never been disciplined by the district before, calling him an otherwise “excellent employee” for almost five years.
The district is cooperating with police in both cases and offering students counseling, Mr. Dempsey said.
“We’re just sad that something like this happened, and we’re doing the best we can to help the families,” he said.
Police learned of Mr. Wally’s relationship after another student’s mother overheard her son and his friends talking about a teacher having sex with a student, according to the affidavit. The girl later spoke to police about Mr. Wally, and she turned over a “promise ring” she said he had given her.
Dunmore Police Chief Patrick Reese said officers questioned Mr. Wally on Monday night outside the Dunmore High School girl’s basketball game, where he was operating the scoreboard. He admitted to having sex with the girl at least 10 times and giving her alcohol at least twice, police said.
Chief Reese said Mr. Wally was charged with corruption of minors, a misdemeanor, rather than a felony offense, because the victim was 17 and consented to the relationship.
Source:thetimes-tribune.com
Spartanburg Medical Center Security Shoots Self During Prank www.privateofficer.com
Spartanburg SC Jan 27 2011 A Spartanburg Regional Medical Center security officer shot himself in the hand with another officer’s gun after a prank went awry on Monday.
The guard, a 38-year-old Simpsonville man, is no longer a guard with the hospital, SRMC spokesman Chad Lawson said Tuesday.
According to a Spartanburg Public Safety Department incident report, public safety officers arrived at the hospital about 5 a.m., having been called to an accidental shooting there.
Four SRMC security officers had been called to the hospital’s behavioral health unit, and as required by policy, they secured their guns inside a lock box before going into the unit.
After assisting with a patient, the guards got their weapons out of the lock box. The report said one guard told public safety officers that he decided, “as a joke,” to empty the rounds from another guard’s gun and drop them into the lock box.
The report said the guard ejected the magazine from the other guard’s gun but did not eject the live round from the chamber. While unloading the magazine, he dropped the gun and tried to catch it, causing it to fire the bullet remaining inside it. The bullet hit the guard’s left hand, then lodged in a wall, the report said.
No one else was injured in the incident, and no charges have been filed.
Of the 48 security officers who work for SRMC, 35 are certified to carry guns, said hospital security director Phil Stott.
Security guards must have two years of prior law enforcement service or two years’ experience working as a SRMC security officer before they can apply to carry a gun, Stott said.
They must pass a psychological test, written exam and a firearms course based on the State Law Enforcement Division’s qualifications and then face a three-member panel composed of Stott and two majors with the security force before they are promoted to armed security officer.
The hospital requires a yearly firearms test for security officers to be allowed to continue to carry their guns, Stott said.
Some security officers at SRMC have 30 or more years in law enforcement, with most officers averaging 15 to 20 years of law enforcement experience, Stott said.
The security officers are required to remove their guns before entering the behavioral health unit because they often have to deal with combative patients, Stott said. Removing their guns ensures safety for officers and patients, Stott said.
“This officer was a great asset to this hospital,” Stott said. “He did a tremendous job for us. He had a moment’s lapse in judgement, and I have zero tolerance for that.”
Lawson said the incident is being taken very seriously and hospital policies will be reviewed as a result of the shooting.
“The officer in question did not follow established protocol in the handling and care of his weapon,” Lawson said in a written statement.
“We have zero tolerance for unsafe behavior and will conduct an in-depth investigation into our practices, policies and safety protocols.”
CT. employee embezzled $330,000 with son www.privateofficer.com
Representatives of Custom & Precision Products, 2893 State St., contacted police Sept. 10 with a fraud complaint.
A four-month investigation by Detective John Marks revealed that Patricia Nazario, 55, of 20 Nelson St. in New Haven had been embezzling funds for a number of years, Capt. Ronald Smith said.
Nazario, who was in charge of payroll, paid herself an extra $206,572 from 2004 to 2010, Smith said.
Nazario allegedly received an unauthorized bank debit card, and police have attributed $40,000 in purchases to Nazario. Nazario’s son, William Guarino, received goods and services from the unauthorized transactions, Smith said.
Also, Nazario allegedly obtained more than $25,000 from illegal debits from the company’s checking account, with Guarino allegedly receiving goods and services from these debits. Several other unauthorized charges were made on several other credit cards, Smith said.
Marks determined that Nazario was linked to $330,197 from the company’s payroll account, checking accounts and credit cards, Smith said.
Nazario and Guarino were arrested Tuesday after turning themselves in at police headquarters.
Nazario was charged with first-degree larceny, first-degree identity theft and conspiracy to commit that crime; conspiracy to commit second-degree larceny; illegal use of a credit card and conspiracy to commit that crime; receiving goods or services obtained by illegal use of a credit card and the accompanying conspiracy charge, and fraudulent use of an ATM.
Nazario was released on $75,000 bail and is scheduled to appear Feb. 8 in Superior Court in Meriden Guarino, of the same address, was arrested on the same counts, except for fraudulently using a ATM. He also posted a $75,000 bail and is scheduled to appear in court Feb. 8.
Source:New Haven Register
Security guard’s pursuit cost town $14 million www.privateofficer.com
Walter Hopkins, then 19, suffered traumatic, lifelong injuries after being thrown from a speeding car that hit a tree and flipped end over end on Ironworks Road as it was being pursued by a car driven by firefighter Matthew Vincent, police said at the time.
The car, registered to Hopkins, is said by Hopkins’ attorneys to have been driven by William Cardillo, then 22 and a Madison resident. Police said Jackie Douglas, 18, of Clinton was a passenger in the rear of the car.
According to police, the crash occurred after Hopkins’ car was involved in an accident with Vincent’s vehicle and attempted to flee. Vincent, who was en route to his job as a security guard at Clinton Crossing Premium Outlets, gave chase.
According to Hopkins’ attorney, Michael Stratton of New Haven, Vincent illuminated the flashing blue lights used for fire calls as he pursued Hopkins’ car.
In the key allegation of the lawsuit, Stratton claimed that Vincent was “encouraged” by dispatchers in radio calls with Clinton’s emergency communications center “to chase and pursue (the Hopkins car) at high rates of speed.”
The jury found that the town, through the actions of its communications dispatcher, was 90 percent responsible for the crash, explained Hartford attorney Thomas Gerarde, who represented the town’s insurors.
Gerarde said the jury award of nearly $14 million was “not a surprise,” because the cost of the lifetime of care Hopkins was estimated at $5 to $14 million.
However, he said the jury erred in finding the town liable for the crash.
“I think our jury missed the boat on the governmental immunity issue, given that the plaintiff stipulated the dispatcher’s actions were discretionary, and the plaintiff’s own expert testified on cross examination our dispatcher would not have known at any point that the plaintiff was at risk of imminent harm. We are planning our appeal,” he said Gerarde said it seemed inconceivable that a jury could conclude that a driver fleeing the scene of an accident at high speed could be held minimally responsible for causing the crash that injured Hopkins.
First Selectman William Fritz said of the verdict, “Obviously, we feel horrible for the young man injured in the accident. We wouldn’t want that to happen to anybody.”
However, he also disagreed with the jury’s conclusion that the town was responsible. “Our dispatchers in no way encouraged this gentleman to pursue that car,” he said.
Two other lawsuits arising from the accident — one in which Cardillo claimed Douglas was the driver — have been resolved out of court, Gerarde said. Claims against the town in both were voluntarily withdrawn, he said.
Source:Middletown Press
