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Woman left in coma after parking spot altercation www.privateofficer.com
East Village NY March 6 2011 Dramatic photos show the immediate aftermath of a violent clash over a parking spot in the East Village that left a 25-year-old woman in a coma.
The photos, obtained exclusively by the Daily News, paint a disturbing picture. In one photo, Lana Rosas lies on her back on E. 14th St. with her eyes closed and face bloodied.
In another, paramedics try to stabilize her head, carefully affixing a neck brace. They put her on a back board and then into an ambulance before taking her to Bellevue Hospital after the attack Feb. 25.
Rosas was still hospitalized Friday, as her boyfriend Joseph Oliver and her family prayed for her recovery.
The spat over the parking spot near Stuyvesant Town popped off about 11:40 p.m. Police said Oscar Fuller flew into a rage because Rosas wouldn’t let him park in a spot she was holding for her boyfriend. There was an argument, police said, and Fuller punched the 4-foot-11 Rosas in the face.
Manhattan prosecutors said in court papers that Fuller hit Rosas “with so much force that the woman flew off of her feet, was knocked unconscious and hit her head on the ground.”
Fuller has been charged with felony assault after being busted Tuesday night at his Queens home. Through his lawyer, the suspect said the young woman was in his prayers. Then the lawyer, Thomas Kenniff, pinned the blame on Rosas.
Fuller, he said, was polite, asking the woman from the seat of his Plymouth Voyager to step out of the spot on E. 14th St. She refused, and when Fuller got out of his vehicle, she socked him in the eye, then hit him several more times.
When Oliver, across the street and preparing to make a U-turn, jumped out of his car and ran toward Fuller, the suspect punched Rosas in the face, Kenniff said.
“My client acted on instinct,” the lawyer said. “He didn’t act on intent. We punish intent and foreseeable acts.”
Fuller sped off, but witnesses gave his license plate number to cops. That led to the arrest. An electrician and father of two, Fuller was scrambling last night to post $100,000 bail. His previous arrests include busts for assault, drug possession and marijuana possession.
Rosas, who lives in the Bronx, and Oliver, 26, who lives on Long Island, had gone to the East Village for dinner. Fuller was in the area to attend a birthday party.
Source:NY Daily News
East Coast rapist captured in Connecticut www.privateofficer.com
New Haven CT March 5 2011 The long search for the elusive East Coast Rapist yielded an arrest Friday after a tip came in from someone who knew the suspect. Detectives secretly picked up one of his discarded cigarette butts, had it tested and learned the DNA was a match, law enforcement officials said.
Four law enforcement officials with knowledge of the case identified the suspect as Aaron H. Thomas, 39. He has worked as a trucker and was taken into custody in New Haven, Conn.
The East Coast Rapist has been linked by genetic evidence to a series of rapes and other attacks on women that began in Maryland in 1997 and continued in Virginia, Connecticut and Rhode Island.
Police have described him as a cold and fearless predator who carefully watched his victims and used a gun, a knife, a broken bottle or a screwdriver to overpower them. The most recent known attack occurred on Halloween 2009 in Prince William County when the rapist forced three teenage trick-or-treaters into woods at gunpoint and sexually assaulted two of them while the third frantically texted and called for help. Prince William officials said the suspect was arrested on a warrant related to that attack.
Thomas has ties to Virginia and Maryland. He attended a Prince George’s County high school and regularly visits his mother in Clarke County, Va., law enforcement officials said.
Investigators from four states and the FBI have spent countless frustrating hours searching for the rapist, culling through police and traffic records, reexamining the accounts of victims, talking to neighbors and collecting DNA samples. They have ruled out hundreds of possible suspects.
The breakthrough in the case came just as detectives predicted it would: with a tip.
Early this week, police launched a media campaign, posting composite sketches of the attacker on digital billboards from Virginia to Rhode Island. They created a Web site, http://www.eastcoastrapist.com, that detailed the attacks, and multiple news media outlets featured the case.
Law enforcement sources said an acquaintance of the suspect called authorities after spotting those media reports. Detectives were interested because the name matched one they already had on a short list of potential suspects.
Police immediately began watching Thomas in the New Haven area. Law enforcement sources said that Thomas made a court appearance in New Haven on a larceny charge on Thursday and that police were able to recover a cigarette butt he discarded during a break.
That cigarette butt – and saliva left behind on it – went to the Connecticut Department of Forensic Sciences for DNA analysis, and a comparison was completed overnight, law enforcement sources said.
Thomas was arrested Friday afternoon, law enforcement sources said. The U.S. Marshals Service confirmed that a suspect had been arrested in the East Coast Rapist case.
At one point, law enforcement sources said, Thomas was a long-haul trucker, which would have had him traveling up and down Interstate 95. Sources said he also regularly visited his mother in a town not far from an apartment complex in Leesburg where a rape occurred in 2001.
Fairfax Detective John Kelly, who has been working on the case for years, had long suspected that the East Coast Rapist was a trucker because some of the rape scenes were near truck stops or places where truckers were known to spend the night. One of the Fairfax rape attempts was near such a spot, and the attack in Rhode Island was a few blocks from a company that regularly received truck shipments.
Prince William County Commonwealth’s Attorney Paul B. Ebert declined to comment on the facts of the case but said the arrest is the culmination of excellent police work over a long period.
“It shows excellent cooperation between law enforcement agencies and the use of recently developed investigative techniques,” Ebert said, praising Connecticut’s quick response in analyzing the DNA recovered this week.
Police and prosecutors have long said that the cases would be relatively straightforward because DNA links them all to one person.
The first attack linked by DNA occurred Feb. 19, 1997, in Forestville when a man on a 10-speed bicycle pulled up alongside a 25-year-old woman who was walking home from her job at a fast-food restaurant. He started chatting. Then he pulled out a gun, forced her into nearby woods and raped her.
After a series of attacks in Prince George’s County, the rapist began targeting women along Fairfax County’s Route 1 corridor, a busy area of strip malls and apartment buildings. The attacks continued in Leesburg, and then he struck again in Fairfax and Prince George’s counties.
In 2006, after four years of no known attacks, a young girl in Cranston, R.I., saw a stranger poking his head through a sliding- glass door that led to a back deck. The man ran, but DNA left behind matched that of the rapist.
The following January, the man raped a New Haven woman as her infant son slept in a crib in the same room.
Source:Washington Post
OFFICER DOWN-Willie Amos Cammon
Deputy Sheriff Willie Amos Cammon
Heard County Sheriff’s Office
Georgia
End of Watch: Thursday, March 3, 2011
Biographical Info
Age: 59
Tour of Duty: Not available
Badge Number: Not available
Incident Details
Cause of Death: Automobile accident
Date of Incident: Thursday, March 3, 2011
Weapon Used: Not available
Suspect Info: Charged with vehicular homicide
Deputy Willie Cammon was killed in an automobile accident when his patrol car was struck head-on by another vehicle that was illegally passing another car.
Deputy Cammon was traveling on Georgia Highway 100 when the accident occurred. The driver of the car that caused the crash was charged with following too closely, failure to maintain lane, and vehicular homicide.
Agency Contact Information
Heard County Sheriff’s Office
11820 Highway 100 North
PO Box 339
Franklin, GA 30217
Phone: (706) 675-3329
Please contact the Heard County Sheriff’s Office for funeral arrangements or for survivor benefit fund information.
OFFICER DOWN- SHANDON WRIGHT
Deputy Sheriff Shandon Wright
Pierce County Sheriff’s Department
Washington
End of Watch: Thursday, March 3, 2011
Biographical Info
Age: 29
Tour of Duty: 5 years
Badge Number: Not available
Incident Details
Cause of Death: Duty related illness
Date of Incident: Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Weapon Used: Not available
Suspect Info: Not available
Deputy Shandon Wright died from complications following surgery to repair an injury sustained in an assault while on duty.
He was recovering at home after having surgery the previous day when he began having trouble breathing. Paramedics were sent to the home but were unable to resuscitate him.
Deputy Wright had served with the Pierce County Sheriff’s Department for five years. He is survived by his wife and 2-year-old daughter.
Agency Contact Information
Pierce County Sheriff’s Department
930 Tacoma Avenue South
First Floor
Tacoma, WA 98402
Phone: (253) 798-7530
Please contact the Pierce County Sheriff’s Department for funeral arrangements or for survivor benefit fund information.
Elberta Alabama police chief arrested after faking shooting incident www.privateofficer.com
ELBERTA, Alabama March 5 2011– Chief Mickey L. Pledger of the Elberta Police Department has been arrested on charges of firing a gun into an occupied building, filing a false police report and tampering with evidence, Baldwin County Sheriff Hoss Mack announced in a media statement this evening.
The arrest came following the investigation of an incident that took place last month.
According to the sheriff’s office news release: Pledger agreed to take a polygraph test but failed it. During a subsequent interview with Pledger he admitted that on Feb. 13 he fired his backup .38 caliber weapon into his office window while an Elberta Police Officer was inside the building. Pledger then admitted that he fired his duty .40 caliber Sig Sauer weapon into the ground and told responding law enforcement officers that he pursued and returned fire at the perpetrator.
Three days after the incident, according to the release, Pledger called investigators with the Baldwin County Sheriff’s Office and advise them the he had located a bullet casing across the street from the police station that he believed was the casing of the shot fired in his direction. But Pledger later admitted that he planted the shell casing in order to bolster his previous story, the release states.
Pledger, 56, was transported to the Baldwin County Correction Center. He is being held on $12,000 bail.
Source:AL.com
Store security agent let shoplifters go in exchange for drugs www.privateofficer.com
Minneapolis MN March 5 2011 A security guard at Cub Foods bartered with shoplifters to get prescription drugs, according to felony drug possession charges filed Friday in Hennepin County District Court.
An investigation found that Nicholas Craig Foster, 27, of Andover, swapped freedom for drugs from shoplifters, the complaint said. He would release suspects without charges “in exchange for” prescription pills, it said.
The Brooklyn Center grocery store, at 3245 County Rd. 10, had contracted Foster as a “loss prevention investigator” through the Twin City Lawmen security service.
According to the complaint:
In February, a confidential source reported Foster’s activities to Brooklyn Center police, which led to the investigation. Detective Terry Olson, who led the sting, located others who confirmed the source’s claim of under-the-table deals.
On Wednesday, an undercover officer armed with eight prescription pills planted himself in the store as a shoplifter. He gathered products and left without paying. Foster took the bait and handcuffed the undercover officer. He took him into an office, where he found and “closely examine[d]” the “stolen” hydrocodone, oxycontin and morphine pills, according to the complaint.
Foster told the undercover officer that he would release him with a trespass notice without charging him, and that he would deliver the contraband to police — not standard practice for either Brooklyn Center police or Cub Foods, Olson said in the complaint.
After the officer was released, surveillance camera footage showed Foster fiddling with Post-its, a cigarette pack and the pills before telling his supervisor he had to leave early.
As Foster left the store, officers stopped him and found the pills in his backpack. Further investigation showed Foster apparently deleted the photo of the pills he took when he first approached the undercover officer, the complaint said.
If convicted, Foster faces up to 10 years in prison and a $20,000 maximum fine.
Target shoplifter points gun at LP agents privateofficer.com
Chicago IL March 5 2011 Bond has been at $750,000 for a man who allegedly pointed a loaded handgun at security personnel detaining him for shoplifting at a Logan Square neighborhood Target store last month.
Rikki Rodriguez, 26, of the 1800 block of North Humboldt Boulevard, was charged Tuesday with attempted armed robbery, unlawful use of a weapon by a felon, five counts of aggravated assault to a security officer and possession of ammunition without a valid FOID card, police said. He was also wanted on a parole violation warrant.
In bond court Tuesday, Judge Peggy Chiampas ordered him held on $750,000 and set a preliminary hearing for March 8, according to Cook County State’s Attorney’s office spokeswoman Tandra Simonton.
Rodriguez was arrested at his home Sunday night after being identified in a photo array as the person who was detained on Feb. 21 at the Target at the 2600 block of North Elston Avenue, police said.
He allegedly pulled a loaded .22 caliber handgun from his waistband and pointed it at five store security staffers who were holding him for taking a pair of headphones and a watch, the report said.
Rodriguez fled the store, allegedly pointing the gun in the face of a staffer who tried to hold a door closed, the report said. But he dropped a clip for the weapon while leaving, the report said.
Rodriguez, who has a tattoo of a star on his face and was possibly with a second person, got into a small gold sedan driven by another person.
A .22 caliber semi-automatic handgun and 15 live rounds were recovered from a dresser in his studio apartment, the report said.
Grand Central Area detectives continue to investigate.
Source:Chicago Sun Times
Security takes armed college student at LCCC taken into custody www.privateofficer.com
Wilkes Barre PA March 5 2011 The student found in possession of a loaded handgun at Luzerne County Community College this morning had placed a scalpel to his throat in anatomy class, prompting the teacher to call campus security, school officials said.
Security officials were speaking with the man, trying to convince him to seek a medical evaluation, when they located the loaded gun in his jacket pocket, said Randy Shaw, the LCCC security officer who placed the man in custody.
Authorities said Christian C. Zaccagni Sr., 47, told them he was tired and had taken prescribed valium earlier in the day.
No threats were made to anyone on campus and no one was injured, school officials said.
“We received an alert from a faculty member that there was a student acting strangely in class,” said Bill Barrett, head of security at LCCC. “It is a serious situation. It’s not something we take lightly. We’re very fortunate the people who did respond handled it appropriately and took control of the situation. The individual is no longer a threat to anyone.”
“The situation was diffused just about immediately thanks to the actions of the officers who were there,” Barrett said.
After security responded to the classroom, they asked Zaccagni if he would come back to the security office. Zaccagni told them “that’s not a problem,” Shaw recalled.
Then, Shaw told him he would have to search him for weapons as part of the school’s transport policy.
“He said, ‘No you’re not going to touch my stuff.’ At that point, I grabbed the coat, and he grabbed it from me. I patted it down real quick and found the weapon in the pocket,” Shaw said. “I knew right away from his body posture and change of attitude something wasn’t right.”
Zaccagni was then taken into custody without incident.
“He started crying and said, ‘I’m not going to be able to get my concealed weapons permit now,’” Shaw recalled.
Zaccagni spoke to reporters prior to his arraignment. He said he is a nursing student at LCCC.
He noted he had an application for a concealed weapons permit at his house, but failed to fill it out.
That wouldn’t have mattered, school officials said, because students are prohibited from carrying weapons on school property.
Zaccagni is charged with possessing a firearm on school property and carrying a firearm without a license. He is jailed in the Luzerne County Correctional Facility in lieu of $10,000 cash bail.
Source:citizensvoice.com
Fresno police turn to volunteers to beef up force www.privateoficer.com
FRESNO, Calif.March 5 2011 – Roman Sarkisian easily passes for your average Fresno police officer: crew cut, tight-set jaw and “just-the-facts” demeanor.
“I like to do law enforcement stuff,” said Mr. Sarkisian, 23, an immigrant from the republic of Georgia who is studying criminology at the city college here. “I like helping out putting bad guys in jail.”
But Mr. Sarkisian is not a police officer, and he does not carry a gun or a Taser. He is a police volunteer, part of an experiment by departments across the country that enlists trained amateurs to perform a broad — and occasionally dangerous — array of investigative duties like collecting evidence, interviewing witnesses, searching for missing persons and stolen vehicles and looking into long-dormant cases.
Hamstrung by shrinking budgets, the police say the volunteers are indispensable in dealing with low-level offenses and allow sworn officers to focus on more pressing crimes and more violent criminals.
“We had the option to either stop handling those calls or do it in a different manner,” said Fresno’s police chief, Jerry Dyer, whose department has lost more than 300 employees in recent years. “I’ve always operated under the premise of no risk, no success. And in this instance, I felt we really didn’t have very much to lose.”
Other chiefs facing budget problems are also using volunteers. In Mesa, Ariz., a Phoenix suburb, 10 of them have been trained to process crime scenes, dust for fingerprints and even swab for DNA. In Pasadena, Calif., a team of retirees is combating identity theft — and, apparently, their own ennui.
“Once I retired and cleaned up my house, I was bored,” said Liz Diott, 67, a former vice president at the Bank of America who now works 20 hours a week at the Pasadena Police Department. “It keeps me on my toes.”
Civilians have long taken on administrative or menial duties for the police — there are volunteer programs at some 2,100 departments nationwide, according to the International Association of Chiefs of Police — and some departments, including in New York City, use auxiliary officers for traffic control, beat patrols and other duties.
But the use of volunteers in investigations raises legal and liability questions, said Robert Weisberg, the co-director of the Stanford Criminal Justice Center. He suggested such programs could provide openings for defense lawyers to suppress evidence and attack witnesses’ testimony.
“If I were a defense lawyer, I would certainly say in front of the jury, ‘Mr.’ — and I would underline Mister — ‘Mr. Shoontz, you’re a volunteer. You’re not really a police officer, are you?” Mr. Weisberg said.
San Francisco’s district attorney, George Gascon, a former police chief in Mesa, said he was not worried that police volunteers would cause problems for prosecutors. “So long as there is appropriate training and supervision in place, that should not be an area of concern,” he said.
Mr. Gascon and other supporters say such programs — in addition to providing free labor — are a recruitment tool for police cadets and are popular with residents.
“Citizens are more receptive to our volunteers than to our officers,” said Officer Celestine Ratliff, the volunteer liaison for the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department in North Carolina.
Still, Allen Hopper, the police practices director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California, said volunteers needed to be aware of — and responsible for — suspects’ constitutional protections. While sworn officers can be punished for breaking those rules, he said, “It is unclear how these important safeguards would apply to civilians doing police officers’ jobs.”
Supporters say the volunteers are screened and extensively trained. In Mesa, the volunteer crime scene specialists have to demonstrate that they are competent in various types of evidence collection and, oddly, be able to lift 25 pounds. “We’re asking a lot for people we’re not paying,” said Linda Bailey, the department’s volunteer coordinator. “But these folks are handling evidence, and they have access to confidential information.”
Most departments say they do not want their volunteers to confront criminals in the act. In El Paso County, Colo., which is home to Colorado Springs, the so-called citizen patrols check out burglar alarms, but if there is any indication that a crime is under way, they are instructed to call in an actual sworn officer, Sheriff Terry Maketa said.
In Fresno, where the pilot program began last year, officials say the program was vetted by the county’s district attorney to address legal concerns. The volunteers’ shirts are a different color than the sworn officers’, and they are restricted to handling nonviolent crimes like petty theft, stolen vehicles and vandalism that is not gang-related.
“The reality is we’ve not had any challenges yet,” Chief Dyer said.
The Fresno program has drawn a diverse roster of crime fighters, including a recent class that included an assistant golf pro, a Pizza Hut manager and Steve Aberle, a Spanish teacher with a mop of gray hair. Mr. Aberle said he went through the 11-week training course to get a taste of “the edge” of police life that he had read about in crime novels. “The whole thing is very cool,” he said.
The class also included several young men like Mr. Sarkisian who said they had volunteered as a way into a law enforcement career.
On a recent morning, Officer Kent Pichardo was training Mr. Sarkisian, part of the 40 hours that each volunteer must spend in the field with an active-duty officer. They were answering calls in Southeast Fresno, a blue-collar neighborhood where the Bulldog street gang has pockets of members. And while he looked the part — with a blue jacket over his white shirt, there was little to distinguish him for Officer Pichardo — Mr. Sarkisian seemed nervous, chewing gum, sheepishly knocking on doors and scribbling in a worn notebook. (One page was labeled “Cop Notes.”)
By the end of his shift, Mr. Sarkisian had diligently worked his way through an interview with the parent of a missing teenager. At one point, Mr. Sarkisian asked whether the girl had any identifiable marks, and the parent mentioned a tattoo of a dog’s paw.
“So she was gang-affiliated,” Mr. Sarkisian said, recognizing it as a Bulldog symbol. Officer Pichardo nodded in approval.
Officer Pichardo, a 16-year-veteran, said that volunteers like Mr. Sarkisian — who is allowed to carry a macelike spray — “could come across people who are antipolice” Still, he said, he would train Mr. Sarkisian “just as I’d train any other officer,” though he needs “to be aware of where the line stops.”
“Do I want him to make an arrest? Not really,” Officer Pichardo said. “But I want him to be an outstanding witness.”
source:www.post-gazette.com
Fla. school security pepper sprays students www.privateofficer.com
Quincy Fla March 5 2011 A group of 20 to 25 students were pepper-sprayed Thursday morning around 8 a.m. in the James A. Shanks Middle School gymnasium, according to Shaia Beckwith-James, public information officer for Gadsden County Schools.
The students were running toward a fight that had broken out between two other students when the school security guard sprayed pepper spray into the air.
“The officer sprayed the pepper spray to diffuse the situation, and to prevent students from being harmed,” Beckwith-James said this morning. “When you have students that run towards an altercation, there’s a greater risk that students will be injured.”
Eighteen students were treated for symptoms associated with the pepper spray by the two medical professionals at the school, and then sent back to class. The parents of any student treated were contacted and informed of the situation, Beckwith-James said.
Gadsden County Superintendent Reginald James confirmed that it was district policy to use pepper spray in such situations.
“They (school security guards) have the authority to use pepper spray to diffuse what they believe is a volatile situation,” James said. He added that it was not something that happens often in the district, and the first such incident in the county this year.
“It is certainly not a frequent occurrence in Gadsden County,” he said.
An investigation at the school level is currently underway to make sure the action taken by the school security guard was warranted. The superintendent will review the investigation later today.
Retired Cleveland police officer gets 52 year prison term for child porn www.privateofficer.com
CLEVELAND, Ohio March 5 2011 — Retired Cleveland police officer Robert Bonness described his collection of nearly 100 videos and photos of child pornography as a curiosity — an interest that he now knows he was wrong to indulge.
But the 23-year veteran of the force used his police training in pursuit of his hobby, installing computer software he learned about while carrying out a child pornography-related search warrant and setting up counter-surveillance to outwit police as he planned a sexual tryst with someone he believed was a 12-year-old girl.
For that, the 53-year-old Parma man was ordered to spend the next 52 1/2 years behind bars with the kinds of criminals he once helped take off the streets.
Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge Peter Corrigan sentenced Bonness on Friday. The defendant had pleaded guilty in January to 25 counts, including attempted rape, multiple counts of pandering sexually oriented matter involving a minor, illegal use of a minor in nudity-oriented material or performance, and possessing criminal tools.
Bonness also was ordered to pay a $15,000 fine and is labeled a Tier III sex offender, which requires him to register his address every 90 days for life.
Assistant County Prosecutor Frankie Goldberg told the court that Bonness maintained a vast collection of pornography, featuring children as young as 5 and some engaged in incestuous sexual conduct. But his interest in pedophilia transcended visual images when he responded to a Craig’s List ad that he believed was placed by a man looking for a “special person” to spend time with his 12-year-old daughter.
The ad sparked months of communication between Bonness and the father, who actually was a detective in disguise. And Bonness brazenly requested in e-mails the kinds of sexual contact he hoped to have with the juvenile, Goldberg said, quoting the e-mails in court.
Bonness was arrested on Oct. 28, when he drove to a shopping mall to meet the father and daughter and arrange the sexual encounter. In his car police found condoms, lubricant, sex toys, and a jar of caramel.
“Not for a latte, is it Mr. Bonness?” Goldberg shouted at the defendant, who silently hung his head.
Goldberg said 10 victims from Bonness’ videos were identified by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
“I’m outraged, we all should be,” Goldberg said. “These are our young people. We should do whatever it takes to protect them.”
Bonness’ lawyer Edward LaRue pleaded with Corrigan for mercy on behalf of his client, who he said faithfully served the public for decades as both a police officer and member of the military.
He argued that a heavy sentence demeans the severity of the crimes committed by repeat offenders. And he said Bonness — as both a child-victim sex offender and a former cop – will be vulnerable and targeted by fellow inmates in prison.
“Each hour he spends in prison will be like a year based on that fact,” LaRue said. “This might be the first double-trouble problem of that sort that this court has ever had to contemplate in terms of what actual hard time this man will have to face.”
When given a chance to speak, Bonness begged for mercy, too, and apologized for what he called “stupidity in following my rotten curiosity.”
“I have no excuse or reasons for the actions that placed me before you today,” he said. “I crossed the line. For that I am eternally sorry, and I embarrassed myself, disgraced my family and dishonored my badge.”
Corrigan, before delivering the sentence, said Bonness knew what would happen to him if he went to prison as a former police officer and still was not deterred. That, the judge said, demonstrates the depth of his perversion.
“You may say, ‘Well, I was just looking at photos or movies. How is that hurting anyone?’” Corrigan said. “But the actual children in those videos or photos could describe how that will effect them for the rest of their lives. It’s a life sentence for them. They understand, as they get older, the scope and breadth of the Internet. And their victimization continues.”
Source:Cleveland.com
Prison security officer arrested for bringing drugs into facility www.privateofficer.com
ANGOLA, La. March 5 2011— A security officer at the Louisiana State Penitentiary has been accused of trying to bring marijuana and alcohol into the prison.
West Felciana Parish sheriff’s Maj. Archer Lee says 21-year-old Darius Montgomery, of Woodville, Miss., was arrested after contraband was found late Wednesday.
Lee described the contraband as a small amount of marijuana and an alcoholic beverage. He told The Advocate that the alcohol was found in a water bottle.
Montgomery was booked with introduction of contraband into a penal institution. It couldn’t be determined if he had an attorney.
Alabama man caught having sex with dog www.privateofficer.com
Tuscaloosa AL March 5 2011 A Coker man charged with animal cruelty admitted that he sexually abused a dog, Sheriff Ted Sexton said today.
Three witnesses told deputies that they saw Samuel Earl Sims, 56, abusing the mixed-breed dog at a home on Hillview Lane around midnight Sunday.
“These witnesses happened to observe this by accident,” Sexton said. “They were shocked and appalled.”
Deputies had the same reaction. They were working Monday to upgrade the misdemeanor animal cruelty charge to a felony.
“We’re aggressively trying to seek more serious charges,” Sexton said.
There is not an anti-bestiality law in Alabama.
Deputies were not sure Monday whether the 40-pound dog, named “Lady”, has an owner.
“It seems that she’s a neighborhood dog. If someone claims her, she will be returned to the owner,” he said. Otherwise, she may be available for adoption.
Veterinarian Dr. Jimmy Canant examined the dog and found no serious injuries, Sexton said. He said that the dog has a good disposition and got along with other dogs at the vet’s office.
The sheriff did not provide further details about the situation. He said that Sims admitted his guilt.
“Our defendant did give a statement admitting to the allegation that he had sexual intercourse with the dog,” he said. “This is the first time in my career that I have heard of anyone doing this.”
Two deputies discussing the case in Sexton’s office Monday morning said that they had heard similar allegations in the past, but did not know of any cases where there was evidence or an arrest made.
He was charged with Class A and Class B misdemeanor animal cruelty charges. A judge will later drop one of the charges.
He remained in the Tuscaloosa County Jail Monday afternoon with bail set at $1,500.
Sexton said that he contacted a state legislator Monday to discuss the possibility of introducing anti-bestiality legislation.
Sims has been arrested in the past. In 1992 he plead guilty to an arson charge after setting fire in several trailers and a car at a mobile home park in Shelby County. The court file indicated that Sims cannot read or write and has a fifth-grade education. A probation officer wrote that he was “somewhat” mentally disabled.
tuscaloosanews.com
Portland teacher’s aide charged with sex crimes www.privateofficer.com
Investigators determined the suspect, 20 y/o Alexander Salazar-Olivares, and the underage victim had sexual contact on school grounds, during school hours. The victim in the case is reporting that the sexual contact was unwanted, which Mr. Salazar-Olivares denies.
Mr. Salazar-Olivares resigned from Aloha High School soon after he was interviewed by detectives. He was arrested on February 24th and charged with Sexual Abuse and Sodomy. He is being held on a $250,000 bail.
Newport News police officer charged with sexual battery of child www.privateofficer.com
NEWPORT NEWS VA Mar 5 2011 — A woman in a position of trust in the community now faces serious charges. Carolyn Harris, 44, a Newport News Police officer of more than 20 years, was arrested Monday.
She’s charged with two felonies, aggravated sexual battery, and indecent liberties with a child by a custodian.
According to police, the victim, a two-year-old girl, is related to Harris and was visiting her when the assault took place.
Police say the alleged abuse happened in November at Harris’ home in Hampton.
It was later reported to police by a family member on February 13th.
Arrest warnings obtained by NewsChannel 3 accuse Harris of sexually abusing the young girl and proposing that she feel or fondle Harris’ sexual or genital parts. Harris was arraigned on the charges on Tuesday and has already been released from jail on bond.
We stopped by her house to see if she has any comment about the serious charges she’s facing, but no one answered.
She is currently on administrative leave from the Newport News Police Department.
According to a police spokesman, she’s been with the department since 1988 and is assigned to the south precinct as a property crimes detective.
Source:Wtkr
Kansas City man charged in security officer’s murder www.privateofficer.com
According to the probable cause statement, Aladipo Aldimejia, a security guard, was shot and killed inside of his car at the McDonald’s.
Wilson admitted to police that he and another man shot and killed Aldimejia after he resisted giving them men his laptop, police said. Wilson also admitted to taking the computer and an undisclosed amount of money, court documents said.
Court documents said detectives had gotten information that a man who went by the moniker of “Twin” had given two people a handgun to try and rob someone in the parking lot.
Three of the people who were in “Twin’s” car later said they saw him give the gun, saw the two men shoot and rob Aldimejia, take a laptop out of his car and then bring the laptop to “Twin,” court documents said.
“Twin” later admitted to police that he had given a gun to the two men and had taken the laptop from the men a short time after the incident.
Surveillance video from a nearby BP gas station shows the a meeting between “Twin” and the two men and also shows the three witnesses, court records said. “Twin” later chose Wilson out of a photo lineup, as did a fourth person who was in “Twin’s” vehicle, according to court documents.
Source:KCTV
Las Vegas security ramped up for NASCAR week-end www.privateofficer.com
LAS VEGAS NV March 5 2011 — NASCAR weekend is one of the biggest of the year for Las Vegas. But with it comes a difficult challenge for law enforcement trying to protect the 150,000 people in town from a possible terrorist attack.
It’s a coordinated effort between federal, state and local agencies. They start looking for threats long before the cars hit the track. Every single car, trailer, or RV gets sniffed down by three highly-trained dogs before they get to enter the speedway. There are very real threats to events of this size.
If you do come to the race this weekend, you can’t bring any weapons, ammunition, explosive devices or outside alcoholic beverages. U.S. Marshals and ATF agents don’t take any chances.
“It’s a proactive approach, not that I’m aware of any races that have been targeted, but the potential is there,” said Deputy U.S. Marshal Jon Minnich. “Especially with today’s times, it’s for the safety of the public for us to be doing what we’re doing out here.”
Bomb dogs Suki, Ruthie and Bea are only two-years-old. They’ve been at the speedway since Monday and won’t get a day off until the checkered flag drops on Sunday. They’re food-reward dogs, so they get a treat for every firearm or explosive they find.
“If she did find something, then obviously we’d leave the area and depending on if it’s something obvious in plain view that we could identify what it was,” said Minnich.
In most cases, what they find is a training tool and not a threat. But they have to check anyway.
Mick Manning didn’t mind stopping for a few minutes for the dogs to inspect his RV. “It’s a necessary thing in our world with terrorism and everything, you don’t want to take any chances. I’m all for it,” he said.
Pittsburgh school security guard did heroin while on duty www.privateofficer.com
video- http://www.wpxi.com/news/27069123/detail.html
According to police paperwork, Calie Rafferty, 35, was caught snorting a white powder inside a concession area at the school during lunchtime last week.
Police said a student and a teacher saw Rafferty snorting a line of what they thought was cocaine. Investigators said they later discovered that the substance was heroin.
When police arrested Rafferty, they said she had six stamped bags of heroin. The police report also said that there were 70 used and empty bags nearby.
Pittsburgh Public School officials said they have since suspended Rafferty.
“On Friday, a security aide was suspected for using drugs within the school. The second aide was brought to the office and escorted from the building. Appropriate employment action will be taken,” the school said in a statement.
Rafferty has been charged with drug possession.
Security guard arrested after SWAT called out www.privateofficer.com
Officers were first called to the old Bossier Medical Center on Airline Drive around 1:30 a.m., after a security guard reported finding a man inside the building. The security guard told them the man got away.
Officers and K-9 searched the building and then called in the SWAT team to conduct a more extensive search, but found nothing.
Bossier City spokesman Mark Natale tells KTBS 3 that the security guard was later arrested on an outstanding warrant
Source:ktbs
NJ man commits suicide by jumping off Vegas casino www.privateofficer.com
LAS VEGAS NV March 5 2011 — Police are calling the death of a 25-year-old New Jersey man a suicide after he spent nearly two hours on a ledge before jumping from a Las Vegas Strip high-rise casino resort.
Las Vegas police Officer Barbara Morgan said Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas security officers summoned Las Vegas police a little before 4:45 a.m. Friday to a report that the man was on a fourth-floor ledge of the 51-story tower.
Despite efforts to talk the man down, he jumped a little before 6:30 a.m.
Morgan says he was pronounced dead at University Medical Center. His name and hometown weren’t immediately made public.
Traffic was diverted briefly away from Harmon Avenue between Interstate 15 to Las Vegas Boulevard after the man jumped.
