Archive
OFFICER DOWN-Officer Thomas Adams
Officer Thomas Adams
California Highway Patrol
California
End of Watch: Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Biographical Info
Age: 24
Tour of Duty: 2 years
Badge Number: Not available
Incident Details
Cause of Death: Automobile accident
Date of Incident: Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Weapon Used: Not available
Suspect Info: Not available
Officer Thomas Adams was killed in a automobile accident while on patrol.
Officer Adams was on patrol and traveling north on Highway 101, just south of Piercy, when his patrol car was struck head-on by a southbound vehicle. Officer Adams died from the injuries sustained in the collision.
Officer Adams had served with the California Highway Patrol for two years.
Agency Contact Information
California Highway Patrol
PO Box 942898
Sacramento, CA 94298
Phone: (916) 657-7261
Please contact the California Highway Patrol for funeral arrangements or for survivor benefit fund information.
OFFICER DOWN- Captain Daniel Stiles
Captain Daniel Stiles
Uniontown Police Department
Ohio
End of Watch: Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Biographical Info
Age: 46
Tour of Duty: 20 years
Badge Number: Not available
Incident Details
Cause of Death: Struck by vehicle
Date of Incident: Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Weapon Used: Not available
Suspect Info: Not available
Captain Dan Stiles was struck and killed by a vehicle while directing traffic at approximately 7:50 am.
He was at the intersection of Edison Street NW and Kaufman Avenue NW directing traffic for a nearby school. Despite wearing a reflective vest, he was struck by an oncoming SUV whose driver stated she did not see him. Captain Stiles was transported to Akron City Hospital where he succumbed to his injuries three hours later.
Captain Stiles had served with the Uniontown Police Department for two years and had previously served with the Hartville Police Department for 18 years.
Agency Contact Information
Uniontown Police Department
2930 Edison Street NW
PO Box 457
Uniontown, OH 44720
Phone: (330) 699-6444
Please contact the Uniontown Police Department for funeral arrangements or for survivor benefit fund information.
OFFICER DOWN-Police Officer Aaron Peru
Police Officer Aaron PeruBiographical Info
Age: 26
Tour of Duty: 1 month
Badge Number: T-129
Incident Details
Cause of Death: Automobile accident
Date of Incident: Sunday, February 13, 2011
Incident Location: Arizona
Weapon Used: Not available
Suspect Info: Not available
Officer Aaron Peru was killed in an automobile accident on U.S. 70 near Safford. He had been directed by the shift sergeant to report to the police station prior to traveling to the police academy in Tucson.
A trailer being pulled by an oncoming vehicle broke free and collided with his car head-on, causing fatal injuries.
Officer Peru had served with the San Carlos Apache Tribal Police Department and had been sworn in only 30 days earlier. He is survived by his four children and parents.
Agency Contact Information
San Carlos Apache Tribal Police Department
200 West Pinal
San Carlos, AZ 85550
Phone: (928) 475-2338
Please contact the San Carlos Apache Tribal Police Department for funeral arrangements or for survivor benefit fund information.
Cleveland nightclub security officer shot dead www.privateofficer.com
CLEVELAND Oh Feb 16 2011 – Cleveland police are investigating a deadly shooting that occurred early Tuesday morning.
Deandre Thomas, 26, of Euclid, was shot and killed around 2:45 a.m. Tuesday, outside of Club Bottoms Up at 7017 Superior Ave.
Thomas was working as a security guard at the club when two or three men tried to gain entry at closing time and then fired several shots before fleeing the scene, police said.
When police arrived on the scene, they found Thomas with gunshot wounds to the hand and torso. Emergency crews transported him to Huron Road Hospital, where he died from his injuries.
Police have not named any suspects in the shooting.
Police use Taser to subdue fighting shoplifter www.privateofficer.com
Rochester Hills, Michigan Feb 16 2011 A 30-year-old woman was zapped by a stun gun at a grocery store when she was confronted by authorities after she attacked a loss prevention worker who confronted her after she was accused of shoplifting.
Authorities said that the incident occurred at approximately 9:20pm Tuesday, when the woman was trying to steal a cart filled with electronic devices from the grocery store, known as Meijer, located at 3175 South Rochester Road. When loss prevention workers confronted her, the woman declined to obey their requests, according to officials from the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office.
When deputies arrived at the scene, they located the woman at the bicycle section of the store and learned that she had already punched the loss prevention worker in the face. That was when the woman began to confront another officer: one of the responding deputies, who gave legal commands to the woman, telling her that she must either do what she is told or get zapped. But the woman refused to comply with the deputy’s commands. Instead, she clenched her fists and then made some sort of violent movement, leading the deputy to zap the woman with a stun gun, which worked. The woman was, then, arrested and taken to the Oakland County Jail.
Luckily, the loss prevention worker was not seriously hurt from the attack.
Although the woman’s name has not been disclosed, she was described by the sheriff’s office as a white female from Pontiac, Michigan who stands 5 feet 2 inches in height and weighs 400 pounds. She is now facing charges of retail fraud and assault.
The names of the other people involved in this case have not been disclosed as well
Kingsport TN woman charged with felony shoplifting www.privateofficer.com
Kingsport TN Feb 16 2011 A Kingsport woman was arrested Thursday after allegedly attempting to steal more than $800 worth of merchandise from a Kingsport Walmart.
The incident occurred at about 7 p.m. at the Fort Henry Drive location. According to Kingsport police, a loss prevention employee reported the woman attempted to steal various items of clothing, jewelry and three pairs of shoes. The items were valued at $868.64.
Stephanie E. McCloud, 23, of 800 Burwind Court, apartment 10, was charged with felony shoplifting and transported to the city jail.
Yonkers Library employee charged with embezzlement www.privateofficer.com
Over a seven year period from January 6, 2004 to December 28, 2010, the defendant, an employee of the Yonkers Public Library Business Office, was responsible for collecting overdue fines and other revenue from the three branches that comprise the Yonkers Public Library System.
She was also responsible for submitting that revenue to the City of Yonkers for deposit.
The larceny occurred at 20 River Street in Yonkers, where the defendant stole approximately $163,582.00.
The fines and revenue were deposited with the City in a locked bag for which defendant possessed a key. The defendant, on periodic occasions, stole a portion of the collected fines and revenue.
To conceal the theft of these monies, the defendant altered library records.
The defendant was released on her own recognizance.
Her next court appearance will be on June 8th, 2011.
The defendant faces a maximum of fifteen years in state prison.
Assistant District Attorney Shara Abraham of the Investigations Division is prosecuting the case.
Pair using stolen credit cards nabbed by security www.privateofficer.com
CONCORD PA Feb 16 2011 — Two Delaware men allegedly smashed a window of a car parked at Jimmy John’s and took a woman’s purse before heading off in their Cadillac to a nearby Target, where they shopped with her stolen credit cards, according to charges filed by Pennsylvania State Police.
The Saturday afternoon shopping spree was interrupted by a store security officer who recognized the defendants, identified in court records as Aaron Ezekiel Bruton, 29, and Daquan Savage, 20, both of Wilmington, and quickly contacted state police. Bruton also goes by the last name of Burton, according to authorities.
Similar offenses have since been filed against the accused identity thieves by Ridley and Aston police, according to online court records. Authorities said more charges are pending by police outside Pennsylvania.
According to the probable-cause affidavit in Saturday’s incident, Loss Prevention Officer Tom Leonard had the pair under watch — having recognized them from surveillance videos involving fraudulent purchases made at the Target store in the Concordville Shopping Center in January.
Trooper Joseph Durham responded to the store shortly after 4 p.m. At the time, Leonard was on the phone with a state police dispatcher, updating information as he watched the suspects leave the store and enter a gold, older model Cadillac sedan.
As Durham arrived on the scene, he was informed by the dispatcher that he was driving toward one of the suspects.
Durham then stopped his patrol car and identified himself to the suspect. The suspect, Bruton, fled but was apprehended after a brief foot chase. Backup Trooper Mark Gibble apprehended Savage as he was attempting to walk away from the area.
According to the affidavit, Savage had in his possession a driver’s license and debit card belonging to a woman who had reported an earlier vehicle theft. Bruton had a Target Visa card belonging to the same woman, as well as another credit card in her name.
The woman had reported a theft from her white Mercury Milan, which was parked at Jimmy John’s on Route 202 in Chadds Ford. She told authorities she arrived at the restaurant about 3:15 p.m. and discovered the window smashed and her purse missing prior to leaving, about 4:30 p.m.
Back at the barracks, where the Cadillac was impounded, the woman was permitted to view a purse on the passenger-side floor of the vehicle. She immediately identified it as hers Further investigation by Trooper Robert Kirby, of the PSP crime unit, included a search of the Cadillac. Found inside the vehicle were numerous items authorities believe belong to other victims.
As a result of Saturday’s incident, Bruton and Savage are both charged with identity theft, theft from a motor vehicle, theft by unlawful taking, receiving stolen property, criminal mischief and criminal conspiracy. Bail was set at $25,000 straight.
Source:Daily Times
80 Year old woman sent to prison for theft at Macy’s www.privateofficer.com
SAN DIEGO CA Feb 16 2011– An 80-year-old woman was beginning a five-year jail sentence Thursday for stealing a diamond ring worth nearly $9,000 from a Macy’s store in San Diego last year.
Doris Payne, an international jewel thief with a criminal history that spans decades, was convicted in January of burglary and grand theft in connection with the January 2010 incident, The San Diego Union-Tribune reported.
The elderly West Virginian woman told a saleswoman at a Macy’s fine jewelry counter in the Fashion Valley shopping center that her name was Audrey and that she was looking for a ring for her daughter. She then distracted the woman and walked away with the $8,900 ring, prosecutors claimed. Payne went on to sell the ring for $1,800.
San Diego Superior Court judge Frank Brown said of the small, white-haired woman, “She’s a thief. She’s got a nice way about her, a nice manner. She’s charming. She’s Santa Claus’ wife, that’s who she is.”
He warned her that the case warranted the maximum sentence because she had stolen jewelry and other high-end items throughout much of life and despite being imprisoned twice before, showed little remorse for her actions.
Payne previously said she stole valuables in New York, Las Vegas, London, Paris, Monte Carlo, Tokyo and throughout the US.
She reportedly used 32 aliases, 10 different birth dates, 11 Social Security numbers and nine names on passports, according to a probation report that said she is “quite proud” and “uninhibited and boastful about her criminal career.”
Payne denied several points contained in a probation report, including the date of the San Diego offense, and she said she never courted media attention. A movie of her life was reportedly in the works, with Halle Berry rumored to play Payne.
She said any proceeds she might receive from an upcoming book or movie would be donated to foundations for battered women.
“To say I have no remorse, that’s people who don’t know me or people who think remorse is tears and lies,” Payne said. “I have never gloated about stealing. I never saw anything to gloat about.”
Alabama police chief says someone tried to kill him www.privateofficer.com
Pledger says it happened around 10:30. Pledger says he was inside the PD doing paperwork and walked back out to his patrol car to get a case file.
The chief says he saw the man near the tree and asked him what he was doing. That’s when the chief says the suspect shot at him.
Pledger returned fire and gave chase, but he says he tripped and fell over a bush. The suspect got away.
Pledger showed News 5 where the suspect’s bullet struck a police department window. Pledger says he’s lucky to be alive and says catching the man who tried to kill him is his top priority.
The Baldwin County Sheriff’s Office is investigating.
Indianapolis security officer arrested for impersonating police www.privateofficer.com
INDIANAPOLIS IN Feb 16 2011 – A local security guard may be going beyond his powers to pull over drivers, Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department says.
IMPD say it happened on North Post Road near 30th Street on the east side.
The security guard officer was in a car similar to the make and model of IMPD cars, police say.
Police said he pulled over a driver for speeding. Now, 31-year-old John P. Hockersmith, of Indianapolis, is in jail. He’s facing charges of impersonating a police officer and criminal confinement.
“If anyone does recognize this individual and they have been unlawfully stopped by this person on a public street, they need to contact IMPD,” said IMPD Sgt. Paul Thompson.
Hockersmith works as a security officer at ATS, Advance Tactic Security, in Indianapolis. Sunday night IMPD said he pulled over a driver on the east side for speeding and running a red light.
“What makes this very unusual is the fact that the security officer called us,” Sgt. Thompson said.
Hockersmith called police to report he needed assistance from police. When IMPD officers showed up to the scene, Hockersmith was in a white Ford Crown Victoria car with the markings that resembled a police car.
“It was not a police vehicle, nor was it a police officer,” Sgt. Thompson said.
According to a police report, Hockersmith’s Ford even had white strobe lights in the bumper and a patrolman sticker on the rear of the trunk. Police also found the victim pulled over on the side of the road. Investigators said he was in the median with his hand behind his head. Police let him go. Hockersmith was arrested on the scene.
Police said this serves as a reminder for people to be aware of their surroundings if they’re pulled over.
“If you have someone trying to pull you over with something other than a red and blue light, more than likely it is not a police officer,” said Sgt. Thompson.
Hockersmith told police this was his first traffic stop. He also told police he was defending the thin blue line and helping the police out.
Source:WISH
Univ. of Maryland police catch kidnapping suspect www.privateofficer.com
College Park MD Feb 16 2011
On Sunday, a University of Maryland police officer helped catch a suspect charged with abduction after pulling him over for a traffic violation.
According to police, a 23-year-old woman went inside the convenience store of a gas station on the 2300 block of University Blvd. around 7:45 p.m., leaving the doors of her blue 2000 Oldsmobile Alero unlocked. While she was inside, police determined that the abduction suspect, later identified as Miguel Morales-Iraheta, 32, got inside the car’s back seat and crouched down among some grocery bags.
The victim returned to her car, and was driving on Belcrest Road when Morales-Iraheta sprang up in the backseat and wrapped his arm around her, telling her to drive. The victim offered him her wallet, but the suspect refused to release her and told her to keep driving. The victim drove to Route 1 and Rossborough Lane in College Park, where she was able to jump out of the car and run to a nearby fraternity house, where she called the police. Morales-Iraheta got into the driver’s seat, and continued to drive the car down Route 1.
According to a university press release, a university police officer pulled Morales-Iraheta over at 7:51 p.m. for running a red light at the intersection of Route 1 and Paint Branch Parkway. Morales-Iraheta sped off as the officer pulled up behind it, and a chase ensued. The car eventually hit a curb near Ruatan Street and Rhode Island Avenue, deflating its tires and forcing it to a stop.
Morales-Iraheta was stuck in the car due to the vehicle’s airbags, which had deployed when the car hit the curb. The officer pulled him out of the car and placed him under arrest. County police arrived on the scene, and identified Morales-Iraheta as the suspect from the abduction which occurred just minutes prior.
According to Maryland court records, Morales-Iraheta has committed crimes in Prince George’s County in the past, but the document does not go into detail about the charges against him.
Neither the victim nor Morales-Iraheta is associated with the university.
Washington DC police shoot-kill men who terrorized students www.privateofficer.com
Washington DC Feb 16 2011 The three masked men, wearing black clothes and gloves, burst into a house filled with Catholic University students. The terror was just beginning.
They beat the students. They kicked them. They robbed and threatened to kill them, according to a police affidavit. Amid the chaos, someone managed to dial 911.
The call to police late Sunday led to a 30-minute standoff that ended with an exchange of gunfire outside the house in the Brookland neighborhood of Northeast Washington, about a half-mile from the university’s campus.
Suspect Akeem Cayo, 21, was dead, and suspect Davon Sealy, 19, died hours later. The third suspect, identified in court documents as Steffan Fields, was in custody. And the 10 people who had been inside the home were led out by police, each with his own harrowing tale to tell authorities.
D.C. Police Chief Cathy L. Lanier said the victims were “targeted,” but she did not elaborate on their relationship to the suspects. It was the District’s first fatal police-involved shooting of the year.
“I feel comfortable saying that with the information we have, it does not appear to be a random crime,” Lanier said in a briefing Monday with reporters.
Police said all three suspects were from Gaithersburg. According to an affidavit filed in D.C. Superior Court, the surviving suspect – D.C. police spelled his first name as Stefan – told police he had been to the house in the 1000 block of Irving Street NE twice before: once for a party, and once to buy marijuana.
On Sunday night, he went to the house to get marijuana from the “weed man,” he told police.
Fields, 21, faces charges of assault on a police officer while armed and first-degree burglary while armed. He was ordered held without bond and is scheduled to appear in court March 3.
Six Catholic University students who lived in the house, two other students at the university and two additional guests were home about 10:30 p.m. when Fields, Cayo and Sealy burst in, police said.
The victims told police they differentiated between two of the suspects by their footwear. Fields, who went from room to room threatening to use his gun and kicking the victims as they lay on the floor, wore black boots, the students said. Cayo wore tan boots. A bandana that covered Sealy’s face had a white skull print.
The men robbed the victims, then took items from the house and stuffed them into their backpacks, according to the affidavit. When the suspects realized police were outside, they started to scatter their bounty throughout the house, according to the court document.
Police had surrounded the house. It was about 10:40 p.m. One officer looking through a back window could see a suspect inside dressed in black and wearing a black mask. A standoff ensued. At one point, an officer saw a suspect peer through the blinds of a front window.
At 11:11 p.m., the suspects decided to try to escape the police. All three men ran out the front door. Cayo ran along Irving Street; Fields and Sealy ran toward the back of the house.
Lanier said there was an exchange of gunfire, but she declined to say who shot whom. Cayo died at the scene. Police found a silver semiautomatic pistol near his body.
Sealy was shot several times at the back of the house and was taken to a hospital, where he died at 4:08 a.m. Fields was arrested outside the house, and officers said they found a gun nearby. Officers who searched inside the house found an assault rifle.
The shootout was a topic of conversation among the Brookland neighborhood community e-mail group. One woman recalled walking her dog late Sunday and being frightened by a police helicopter shining a spotlight on the street.
Catholic University officials said eight students were in the two-story redbrick home at the time; six of them live there. Campus officials learned about the shooting from D.C. police shortly after midnight and kept students abreast of the details through an e-mail alert sent at 2:38 a.m. and an update at 9:55 a.m.
“Officials from the Division of Student Life and the Office of Campus Ministry have been with the students and have offered them assistance and support,” according to an alert from the campus office of public affairs.
Campus spokesman Victor Nakas declined to comment, citing the D.C. police investigation.
Police tape remained on Irving Street on Monday afternoon. A few officers were present. About 1 p.m., a Catholic University public safety van pulled into an alley behind the house. Eight people got out and went inside to collect belongings. They did not speak to reporters. One man pulled the hood of his sweat shirt over his head, covering his face.
Source: Washington Post
ICE makes another major seizure of counterfeit goods www.privateofficer.com
Eric Huggins, 51, owner of a Bakersfield shop called Girlfriends by Design, was arrested Monday by ICE HSI agents based on a criminal complaint issued earlier this month.
According to the affidavit filed in support of the complaint, the investigation targeting Huggins began after ICE HSI received a tip that the shop owner was selling counterfeit merchandise. The case is being prosecuted by the U.S. attorney’s office for the Eastern District of California.
In December 2009, an ICE HSI agent posing as a customer bought several counterfeit items from Girlfriends by Design, which was located, at the time, on Ming Avenue. While making the purchase, the undercover agent asked Huggins about a bin containing unlabeled purses. According to the affidavit, the defendant told the agent he could “put any logo” on the purses … “Prada, Gucci or whatever logo.”
Three months later, in March 2010, ICE HSI agents executed search warrants at the original Girlfriends by Design shop on Ming Avenue and at the businesses’ new downtown location on 19th Street. In addition, agents searched Huggins’ Bakersfield home.
The searches resulted in the confiscation of more than $140,000 in counterfeit clothing and accessories bearing the labels of well-known designer brands such as Chanel, Coach, Prada, Dooney & Bourke, Burberry, True Religion, Kate Spade, Juicy Couture and others, agents said. In addition, agents also seized numerous items of counterfeit sports apparel and merchandise, including goods purportedly made by Adidas and Reebok. The estimated value of the seized goods is based on what the items would have sold for had they been genuine.
“People need to realize that the sale and purchase of counterfeit goods is not a victimless crime,” said Michael Toms, resident agent in charge of the ICE HSI in Bakersfield. “Commercial piracy and product counterfeiting undermine the U.S. economy, rob Americans of jobs, stifle American innovation and promote other types of crime.”
In addition to the two stores, the affidavit alleges Huggins also sold counterfeit goods from the back of a vehicle in the parking lots of various Bakersfield businesses. Much of that merchandise was counterfeit professional sports apparel, including phony NBA and NFL jerseys.
Huggins’ will make his initial appearance before U.S. Magistrate Judge Jennifer Thurston at 2:30 p.m. Tuesday. The charge of trafficking in counterfeit goods carries a maximum penalty of up to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $2 million.
As the largest investigative arm of the Department of Homeland Security, ICE HSI plays a leading role in targeting criminal organizations responsible for producing, smuggling, and distributing counterfeit products. ICE HSI focuses not only on keeping counterfeit products off U.S. streets, but also on dismantling the criminal organizations behind the activity.
Worker at desk dead for more than a day www.privateofficer.com
According to KTLA, a security guard found 51-year-old Rebecca Wells in her cubicle on Saturday. The last time any co-workers saw her alive was around 9 a.m. on Friday morning.
Wells worked as a compliance auditor for the L.A. County Department of Internal Services.
Colleagues said she had recently become a grandmother.
The official cause of death has not yet been determined, but foul play is not suspected.
Source:KTLA
NASCAR Security Recommends Race Tracks Host First Observer Training www.privateofficer.com
Charlotte NC Feb 16 2011
NASCAR’s managing director of security, Gerald Cavis, U.S. Secret Service (Ret.), has recommended that security and other staff at all NASCAR track facilities participate in the First Observer™ parking-specific, anti-terrorism training program that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the Transportation Security Administration developed in partnership with the International Parking Institute. The NASCAR Season begins this weekend with the Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway at 1:00 pm on Feb 20.
Cavis explains: “I have encouraged all NASCAR track facility security directors to take advantage of this outstanding grant-funded program to train their stadium staff. I also discussed First Observer at our annual NASCAR summit in Concord, North Carolina, in January. With First Observer, each of our track security directors and staff will have the opportunity to build their skills to detect crimes, safety violations and terrorist threats. As a result, they will be better prepared to keep NASCAR fans safe.”
The First Observer training program, which is entirely funded by the federal government and available at no cost, trains parking professionals to address five critical security areas: on-street, surface parking lots, garages/decks, special events, and shuttle operations. First Observers recognize and report potential threats using a concise, accurate and simple communications process.
For more information on NASCAR recommending the First Observer training, read the full media release.
More information on the training is available on the First Observer page of the IPI website. Organizations that want to schedule a free training session may contact IPI deputy director Henry Wallmeyer at 540.371.7535.
