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Upper Southampton police officer commits on duty suicide www.privateofficer.com
Bucks County PA April 16 2011 An on-duty Upper Southampton police officer committed suicide Friday morning in his police cruiser, the Bucks County District Attorney’s Office said.
Ivyland Police Chief Nicholas Rosato, one of the first to show up at the scene, suffered a heart attack while there, police said. He was in serious condition at St. Mary Medical Center Friday afternoon, hospital spokeswoman Kate Smith said.
Richard Lizzio, 55, shot himself with a shotgun while parked on the property of Jesus Focus Ministries, which is off Bristol Road near Churchville Road, officials said.
Lizzio, who had worked a 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. shift, was found by landscapers about 8:30 a.m., officials said.
The death is being investigated by county detectives and the Bucks County Coroner’s Office.
“It’s a sad event,” Bucks County DA David Heckler said. “It was self inflicted and not a crime.”
Lizzio’s 56th birthday would have been today, said township Manager Joe Golden.
He lived in Upper Southampton and joined its police force in 1987, he added.
“The Upper Southampton Township community is saddened to learn of his passing. He had a wife and as far as I know, no children,” Golden said.
Bucks County Coroner Dr. Joseph Campbell said an autopsy will be performed today.
“It’s just a horrible tragedy,” Campbell said. “I really feel for the family and the department.”
Friday’s suicide is the second in Bucks involving a police officer in the last 12 months, according to Sharon Curran, chairwoman of the Bucks County Suicide Prevention Task Force. She is also the associate executive director of the Lenape Valley Foundation, the county crisis mental health service provider.
Task force members and representatives of state Sen. Chuck McIlhinney, R-10, are working on proposed legislation to create a 24-hour statewide mental health hotline for law enforcement members and their families.
The program would be largely modeled after one used in New Jersey for the last decade, which is manned by trained retired law enforcement officers and mental health professionals. Pennsylvania law enforcement members and their families, for now, can use New Jersey’s Cop-2-Cop hotline.
Curran said task force members and McIlhinney expect to meet with other senators to generate interest in drafting the legislation, though no timeline has been proposed, she said.
“Officers are at risk. We know statistically they’re at a higher risk than the general population for suicide,” Curran said. “Speaking with another officer is much easier for them, rather than calling a general suicide hotline similar to veteran hotlines. The person can understand their jobs, the work stress and their life.”
Statistically, police officers are four times more likely to commit suicide than to be killed in the line of duty. Nationally, the suicide rate for the general population is 11 out of every 100,000 people; for police it’s 18 out of 100,000, according to the New Jersey Department of Human Services.
An American flag was flying at half staff at the Upper Southampton police station Friday afternoon.
Meanwhile, Upper Southampton Police Chief Ron MacPherson was distraught about what transpired Friday.
“No one will ever know why he did it,” MacPherson said. “He was a valuable member of this police department. We’re gonna miss him.”
MacPherson said Lizzio was a former Jenkintown police officer before coming to Upper Southampton 24 years ago. He was about eight years into his second marriage, the chief added.
“He would have been eligible to retire next May. He was an officer in charge, which means he was a shift sergeant when one was absent,” the chief said.
Source:PA POLICE WIRE
LAPD, Dodger stadium security demonstrate massive show of force www.privateofficer.com
Los Angeles CA April 16 2011 With helicopters whirling overhead and police officers spread out on the grounds, the event that unfolded at Dodger Stadium could easily have been mistaken for a rave gone bad or a riot — if the people the police were watching hadn’t been wearing baseball caps and toting giant foam fingers.
Instead, Thursday’s night’s massive show of police force was a demonstration of what baseball has turned into in Los Angeles after a San Francisco Giants fan was nearly beaten to death three weeks ago at a game on opening day.
“It’s absolutely stupid that they have to do it, but if that’s what it takes to keep us safe it’s fine with me,” said David Cepeda as he walked toward the stadium hand-in-hand with his 8-year-old daughter, Brianna. Thursday was her birthday and he was taking her to her first Dodgers game.
San Francisco Giants fan Bryan Stow was leaving a game with two friends on March 31 when he was attacked from behind by two men in Dodgers gear and beaten and kicked in the head. Just before the attack, Stow, wearing a Giants jersey, had texted a family member to say he feared for his safety in the raucous, pro-Dodger crowd.
The attack provoked a torrent of anger from fans who complained that in recent years Dodger Stadium has become a dangerous den of drunken hooliganism where fights regularly break out in the stands and anyone who dares wear a rival team’s jersey is subjected to profane verbal abuse and threats of violence.
At a news conference outside the stadium’s left-field pavilion before Thursday’s game against the St. Louis Cardinals, Police Chief Charlie Beck declared that era is over.
“We all want this stadium to be safe,” Beck said. “We all want this team to do well. I can’t do anything about that, but I can make the stadium safe.”
To do so, he brought with him hundreds of police officers and stationed them all over the place. He promised that the first thing people would see when they pulled off the freeway would be police officers, followed by more police officers on the streets leading up to the stadium and still more at the entrances to the parking lot, the stadium gates and inside the ballpark itself.
Indeed, they were everywhere, in uniform and plainclothes, in squad cars, on bicycles, motorcycles and even horses. Everyone from captains and lieutenants to patrol officers. And although they were polite and friendly, smiling and exchanging pleasantries with fans, at least one group didn’t hesitate to write citations for several young men they saw loitering by a car in the parking lot. Beck had promised there would be a zero-tolerance policy for tailgaiting.
“I thought it’s a little bit overdoing it,” Christen Castleby, clad in a Dodger jersey and white baseball pants, said as she headed into the stadium.
“But we liked the horses,” joked her husband,” Scott.
Beck and Dodgers owner Frank McCourt said crime at the ballpark has decreased in recent years but reports of drunken, abusive behavior in the stands has led many fans to believe otherwise. The many videos posted on Youtube showing those drunken fights likely haven’t helped the stadium’s image either.
But that was a thing of the past on Thursday. Although the crowd of about 34,000 was spirited until the Dodgers fell far behind and lost 9-5, it remained orderly throughout.
Afterward, Deputy Chief Jose Perez said there were 38 citations issued, mostly for minor things like drinking in public. He didn’t know of anyone being thrown out of the stadium.
Perez said 130 citations were issued on opening day, although the crowd was much bigger then, too, at 56,000.
Although Beck said there won’t always be such a massive police presence at Dodgers games as there was Thursday, McCourt said the team is taking measures of its own to ensure things stay calm in and outside the stadium.
The team is installing more than 40 additional lighting fixtures in the parking lot and looking into adding surveillance as well. People who appear to have had too much to drink will be approached politely by security officers and told so, he said. Rowdy fans, even season ticket holders, will be thrown out.
Meanwhile, this year’s planned half-priced beer promotion for a half-dozen games has been scrapped, although the Dodgers will still offer soda and food at half-price on those days.
McCourt said he hoped the measures “take what is a heartbreaking event and turn it into something positive.”
Source:ABC NEWS
Hotels eqip towels with ant-theft chips www.privateofficer.com
WAIKIKI HI April 16 2011 (HawaiiNewsNow) – Sad to say but some hotel guests help themselves to hotel property and the thefts can add up to thousands of dollars a month.
The thievery can be easy to rationalize.
“I don’t think we’re very honest to do it. But it’s always a souvenir,” California visitor Nancy Conley said.
Now a Miami based company called Linen Technology Tracking has created an anti-theft device.
“With this system they’re able to keep real-time inventories of their linen, their towels, their sheets, their bath robes,” said executive vice president William Serbin.
The Aqua Palms hotel doesn’t have it but if it did tiny radio frequency ID chips would be sewn into towels, robes and other linens so hotel security would know if an item was leaving the building.
On average hotels lose five to twenty percent of towels, sheets and robes every month. The chips also help a hotel keep a running inventory.
“Whether it’s down in the laundry or up in a storage closet, we’re able to see the amount of linen at each specific point,” Serbin said.
Aqua Hotels and Resorts president Ben Rafter marvels at the technology but said he’s not sold on its cost effectiveness.
“We know when every robe goes missing. So I don’t really see that as a big issue for our hotel,” he said.
So far, Linen Technology’s sold chips to hotels in Miami, New York and Honolulu.
It’s keeping the names secret while it secures a patent.
Serbin said theft of pool towels at the Honolulu hotel plummeted from 4,000 to 750 a month, saving the hotel $16,000.
But hotel guests we spoke with were split.
“I think it’s a great idea. Cuts down on cost. Keeps honest people honest. There’s no reason to take stuff that doesn’t belong to you,” Nevada resident Sandy Parks said.
“It seems like it will increase the cost, maybe, in the long run just to add the chips to the towels,” California resident Vivian Chicconi said.
Linen Technology won’t say how much the tracker system costs. But Serbin said hotels are calling them.
So if you’re tempted to take what isn’t yours — consider this a warning.
McDonald managers accused of selling stolen identities www.privateofficer.com
SAVANNAH, Ga. April 16 2011– Federal prosecutors in Savannah have charged two managers at a local McDonald’s restaurant with selling stolen identities to prospective employees.
U.S. Attorney Ed Tarver said Wednesday that 51-year-old Oscar Lazo and 35-year-old Eva Ramos were charged with conspiring to sell the stolen identities of U.S. citizens and harboring illegal aliens.
Prosecutors also charged Maurcio Cruz and Manuel Cruz — both citizens of Mexico — with using the stolen identities to obtain employment at the restaurant.
Lazo and Ramos face more than 100 years in prison, if convicted. The other two face up to 37 years of prison if they are convicted.
Attorneys for the four could not immediately be contacted.
Greenville NC passes away from terminal disease www.privateofficer.com
Greenville NC April 16 2011 — The Greenville Police Department on Thursday announced the passing of Master Police Officer Donnie Andrews, a 20-year veteran of the department and had served in many capacities.
Andrews was battling Hodgkin’s Disease and Sarcoidosis, according to a Facebook page created by the N.C. P.B.A., when he died Thursday.
Officer Andrews had a positive effect on many youth while serving as a School Resource Officer. He was often heard providing words of support to those kids that needed a strong male role model.
Andrews leaves behind a wife Gloria of 22 years, and leaves behind three sons ages 19, 22, and 32. Donnie will be greatly missed. His words of kindness and his easygoing personality will be forever remembered.
Andrews was hired by the department in Oct. 2009. He served on the Vice Unit, and was named a Master PO in Sept. 1998. He became a school resource officer in Aug. 2006.
Jefferson County AL sheriff continues to lose staff, deal with jail closing www.privateofficer.com
Birmingham AL April 16 2011 Sheriff Mike Hale must cut his office budget by 7 percent to help financially strapped Jefferson County save $3.1 million, and the county will look to eliminate hundreds of vacant positions to save additional cash, Commissioner Jimmie Stephens said Thursday.
Hale said the reduction would have an adverse impact on public safety in Jefferson County.
“We have lost about 70 deputy sheriffs that we could not replace over the last two years due to funding cuts,” he said. “We have a jail that is closed and one that is busting at the seams. I don’t know how we can stand to lose any more. We can’t buy uniforms; we have no money for cars. We have no capital accounts, so it comes down to losing more personnel.”
Hale said his budget, now at $53 million and down from $61 million in 2008, has been slashed enough. The 414-bed Jefferson County Jail in Bessemer has been closed since September 2009, a move the sheriff made when $10 million was cut from his department’s then $61 million budget.
The county is facing the prospect of mass layoffs and reduced services after the Alabama Supreme Court last month threw out its occupational tax and business license fee, which generated $74 million in fiscal 2010.
County officials already have cut $33 million from the $312 million general fund budget, and are trying to cut $30 million to $35 million more, officials said. In all, those cuts would represent more than 20 percent of the general fund.
Stephens said 584 positions in the county budget have not been filled, and he has asked the budget management office to eliminate those jobs and see how much would be saved.
Other cost-saving measures, he said, will include streamlining the finance, information technology and human resource departments.
“We are going to look at reducing the capital budget by $10 million and we are going to outsource the print shop and the laundry,” he said.
The county eliminated $10 million from the capital budget during $33 million in reductions earlier this year and wiped out some unfilled positions then.
This week, the County Commission voted to reduce the workweek for county employees and shut satellite courthouses in Homewood, Forestdale, Center Point and Gardendale this month to save $21 million annually.
Cutting the sheriff’s budget by 7 percent will also lead to a prorated reduction in personnel board expenditures because the county will have fewer employees, Stephens said. The county pays the personnel board expenses based on the number of merit system employees it has.
The reduction in personnel, said Hale, would mean his office has “less call takers and less call responders; slower response time and officer safety issues because of lack of backup; backlogs on court papers served; (and) less detectives to investigate, solve cases and bring criminals to justice.”
“It impacts our ability to serve victims after a crime,” he said. “It will mean more drugs on the streets, more criminals on the streets, no proactive crime fighting. It will impact our ability to track convicted sex offenders.”
Hale said he would have to consider shutting down substations across the county.
“We will all but lose the ability to protect our courthouses,” he said. “It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that recipe means there will be more victims of crime and more lives will be lost.”
Source:AL.com
Drunk driver slams into UPENN security officer www.privateofficer.com
Phiadelphia PA April 16 2011 A University of Pennsylvania security officer is in stable condition after being hit by a car around 1:30 Friday morning according to police.
The 25-year-old officer was riding a bike near 38th and Walnut Streets when a driver, also a male, lost control of his vehicle and slammed into the UPENN officer, according to authorities.
Police say the victim hit the front windshield of the car and was taken to the Hospital at University of Pennsylvania where he is in stable condition.
The driver was arrested for a suspected DUI, police say.
The names of the officer and the driver has not been released by police yet.
Police charge man with assaulting hospital security with picture frame www.privateofficer.com
The incident happened Thursday afternoon at Bethesda Memorial Hospital. Police said that Michael Ginger, 20, became angry after he was unable to obtain pain medication for a recent injury.
Investigators said Ginger pulled a picture frame from a wall, and threw it. The frame struck a hospital security guard.
Ginger was taken to the Palm Beach County Jail.
Child pornography supect commits suicide at Ohio police station www.privateofficer.com
COLUMBUS, Ohio, April 16 2011 — A man who committed suicide at an Ohio police station was a suspect in a federal criminal investigation into child pornography, officials said.
John T. Callicotte fatally shot himself in a parking lot at police headquarters in Hilliard, Ohio, Tuesday after federal agents searched his house for three hours, the Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch reported.
For 11 years Callicotte, 46, had been the chief financial officer of Amethyst Inc., a local non-profit organization that aids women with addiction problems and their children, the newspaper said.
“John was a valued and respected employee,” Virginia O’Keeffe, the agency’s chief executive officer, said. “He was a devoted husband and father. We’re trying to cope. He’s been a good friend to all of us.”
Agents were searching Callicotte’s house for evidence of child pornography, a search warrant filed in U.S. District Court said.
Agents have not asked a judge for permission to search Amethyst, a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman said.
“We’ll cooperate with anything that they ask us to,” O’Keeffe said.
ICE enforces federal laws covering sexual exploitation of children via the Internet.
Source:www.upi.com
Fla. Olive Garden Resturant serves Sangria instead of juice to 2 year old www.privateofficer.com
LAKELAND, Fla.April 16 2011 – A 2-year-old boy was accidentally served sangria instead of orange juice at a central Florida Olive Garden and was taken to the hospital.
Orlando-based Darden Restaurants says the incident happened on March 31 in Lakeland.
“He was starting to change his behavior. He was climbing out of the high chair, in the high chair, my mom’s lap, my lap. And they came over and the waiter took the drink and ran away with it. Basically said ‘There’s been a mistake, I need to get you a new one,’ and scurried off,” Jill VanHeest told “The Early Show” Thursday. “And when he came back, I told him, ‘You know, I need to know what’s in there, in the event that he has any sort of reaction.’”
The restaurant’s manager told VanHeest that her son Nikolai had been served sangria. She said Nikolai’s eyes had gotten “all big and dilated” after drinking most of the fluid from the sippy cup they served him.
She took her son to the hospital after the incident. He was given fluids and released a couple hours later. He has suffered no lasting effects.
The restaurant chain later released a statement apologizing, saying that it was “an extremely regrettable accident caused by the failure of an employee to follow our strict operating procedures. We took swift, appropriate action. We offer our sincerest apologies to the family of the child and to all of our guests.”
But that’s not good enough for VanHeest.
“You’re endangering my child. You’re poisoning him with substances … that aren’t appropriate for him. And, you know, the only thing I get is ‘We’re sorry. It was a mistake.’”
VanHeest has an attorney but isn’t sure whether she’ll sue. VanHeest’s attorney contacted the news media in Florida this week after reports surfaced that a Michigan Applebee’s accidentally served a margarita to another toddler.
Nebraska sheriff wont patrol or respond to routine calls at state recreation areas www.privateofficer.com
Lincoln NE April 16 2011 Sheriff Terry Wagner says he plans to stop patrols and other non-emergency law enforcement services at state recreation and wildlife management areas in Lancaster County beginning May 1.
The sheriff recently told the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission his office is under the gun financially and can’t afford, without help, to continue to carry out duties he claims are the state’s responsibility.
The state gets all of the revenue generated by state recreation areas and wildlife management areas — Lancaster has more than any other county — and yet the county provides the bulk of law enforcement services, Wagner wrote in an April 7 letter to the commission.
“They get all of the revenue and we get nothing,” he said in an interview.
If Game and Parks wants dedicated law enforcement coverage in places like Branched Oak Lake, Wagner said, it should contract for those services just like cities and villages do, or enter into some type of interlocal agreement.
Roger Kuhn, head of the parks division, said he has not seen Wagner’s letter but talked briefly with Ted Blume, administrator of the law enforcement division, about the sheriff’s concerns.
“We haven’t formed any formal response … but we would be happy to sit at the table with Lancaster County or anybody else,” Kuhn said. “We’re open to that.”
He said he understands the county’s tight budget situation. Game and Parks is facing the same constraints and has limited resources, so it must focus on its primary responsibilities, Kuhn said.
He said he is not aware of any similar complaints from other sheriff’s offices across Nebraska.
Historically, Kuhn noted, the Game and Parks Commission and the sheriff’s office have had a good working relationship. Park staff try to take care of situations, he said, but there are limits to what they can do because they are non-credentialed officers and don’t have the same authority as sheriff’s deputies.
Both sides need to discuss what constitutes an emergency, said Kuhn.
Lancaster County is cutting costs, and Wagner said his office, like all county departments, has to submit a 2011-12 budget 3 percent lower than his current budget.
“I will be making tough decisions with regard to my employees and the services my office provides,” he wrote to the commission.
In the letter, Wagner said his office will no longer do the following after May 1.
* Respond to non-emergency calls for service or conduct proactive patrols.
* Conduct criminal investigations that are not the primary investigatory responsibility of the sheriff’s office.
* Store or process arrest warrants resulting from arrests made by Game and Parks officers, or return people to Lancaster County arrested elsewhere on warrants for commission violations. All warrants will be delivered to the commission for processing. People wanted on Game and Parks warrants will be arrested when a deputy is in physical contact with them and information is available.
Wagner said his office will instruct the 911 Center to contact Game and Parks to respond to calls for service. If they are not available, he said, the center will be told to call the Nebraska State Patrol.
He said his deputies will respond to life-threatening, emergency calls, but as soon as a Game and Parks officer or state trooper arrives and the situation is stabilized, they will leave.
He said his letter was not prompted by Gov. Dave Heineman’s lifting of the alcohol ban at all state parks and recreation areas except Lake McConaughy last September.
“This has been in our thoughts for some time,” Wagner said. “We were aware that Game and Parks was going to reduce the amount of enforcement activities their officers were involved in and that it would fall on us.”
Wagner said he told Game and Parks and the governor in letters that he was opposed to lifting the ban, but got no response.
“I’ve seen both sides of the fence and it created a lot of problems for us when alcohol was legal,” he said.
Before the commission passed the ban in 1995, there were no barriers on alcohol in state parks.
Wagner said a recent fatal boating accident at Branched Oak Lake northwest of Lincoln brought home the dilemma his office faces when responding to calls at state recreation and wildlife management areas.
“Deputies spent a collective total of approximately 50 hours (24 hours of overtime) … for a boating accident the Game and Parks Commission is charged with investigating and a fire investigation conducted by the local fire chief,” he wrote.
Wagner said state law only requires his office to conduct coroner’s investigations.
Florida Supreme Court limits use of police dogs at private homes www.privateofficer.com
Miami Fla April 16 2011 Police officers violated a Miami-Dade man’s right to privacy when they employed a drug-sniffing dog outside his front door without a search warrant, the Florida Supreme Court ruled Thursday.
Civil libertarians hailed the decision, while law enforcement said it would curtail their efforts to bust the marijuana “grow houses” that flourish statewide.
“It’s going to limit a tool we have in our arsenal of crime-fighting techniques,” said Miami-Dade Maj. Charles Nanney, of the narcotics bureau. “But it will not stop us from fighting crime.”
The justices ruled, 5-2, in favor of defendant Joelis Jardines, 38, who was arrested in December 2006 for trafficking in cannabis and grand theft.
The Florida Attorney General’s Office said Thursday that it would appeal the ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court.
In Jardines’ case, detectives zeroed in on his house after they were tipped off by an anonymous caller to the “Crime Stoppers” hotline. One month later, a slew of detectives and agents went to the home.
Officers employed a drug detection dog, who alerted his handler to the smell of marijuana at the front door.
With that, detectives secured a search warrant and Jardines was arrested. A trial court threw out the evidence seized inside the home, a decision later reversed by the Third District Court of Appeal.
On Thursday, the state justices drew a distinction on using drug-sniffing dogs in more anonymous situations, such as on cars at traffic stops, or on luggage at airports — both of which have been sanctioned by the U.S. Supreme Court.
Justice James Perry wrote that the large-scale police action, involving so many officers, amounts to a “public spectacle unfolding in a residential neighborhood” that causes “humiliation and embarrassment for the resident.”
But Justice Ricky Polston, in a dissent, noted that the expectation of privacy does not apply to a dog sniffing for contraband, and that the front door is also accessible to any visitor or deliveryman
Source:www.bradenton.com
Santa Monica man caught masturbating at public library www.privateofficer.com
When officers arrived, they made contact with the victim who told them that she went to the library to study for an exam.
While there, she said she saw the suspect, whom she recognized from previous occasions, walk be her.
He said hello. She ignored him. The suspect then sat next to the victim and pretended to read a book. He stared at the victim for a few minutes, got up and then sat on the ground in front of her.
The victim tried to ignore him and continued studying. After a minute or two, she looked down at the suspect and saw that his pants were halfway down and he was masturbating.
The female victim fled and contacted security. Officers placed the suspect, Tiwalola Shoyinka, 44, a transient, under arrest for indecent exposure. His bail was set at $35,000.
Two suspects arrested after dragging Wal-Mart security agent with car www.privateofficer.com
According to a Union City Police Department log, officers were called to investigate a petty theft at the department store, located in the Union Landing shopping center, sometime in the evening. However, police were notified while en route that the crime had been upgraded to a robbery and assault with a deadly weapon.
During the incident, a male and female suspect attempted to steal merchandise from the store and fought with a loss prevention officer to escape, according to the report.
The suspects got into their vehicle, where the loss prevention officer tried to pull the male suspect out of the driver’s seat. The suspect placed the vehicle in reverse and dragged the officer through the parking lot until he was cast off, the report said.
A dispatcher provided responding officers with a description of the suspect vehicle as it left the Union Landing shopping center.
The first arriving officer was out of position and unable stop the vehicle but relayed information to others as the driver of the suspect vehicle turned off the headlights and fled onto I-880 heading southbound.
Officers chased the suspects into Fremont, who abandoned their vehicle near Deep Creek Road.
Fremont police helped to set up a perimeter search of the area, which eventually led to the suspects being located and arrested.
NOPD officers guilty in handyman’s murder www.privateofficer.com
NEW ORLEANS LA April 16 2011 — A New Orleans police officer was convicted Wednesday of beating a 48-year-old handyman to death, while a fellow officer was found guilty of trying to help his partner cover up the deadly encounter nearly six years ago.
A federal jury convicted Officer Melvin Williams of violating Raymond Robair’s constitutional rights by kicking and beating him with a baton while he and Officer Matthew Dean Moore patrolled the Treme neighborhood on July 30, 2005. The jury of seven men and five women also convicted Williams and Moore of submitting a false report and found Moore guilty of lying to the FBI.
The case is one of several probes of the New Orleans police department by the Justice Department, which have resulted in charges against 20 current or former officers.
The officers’ attorneys had tried to shift the blame for Robair’s death to doctors who treated him for a heart attack for about 90 minutes before they discovered his spleen had ruptured. But the jury concluded Williams caused Robair’s death.
Williams faces a maximum sentence of life in prison. Moore could get up to 25 years in prison. After the verdict, U.S. District Judge Eldon Fallon ordered both remanded into custody while they await a July 14 sentencing hearing. The department suspended both officers without pay after the verdict.
Outside the courthouse, some of Robair’s relatives wept as they embraced.
“I was waiting for this day,” said his mother, Marie Robair. “Now I can rest and my son can rest in peace.”
“It’s a humbling experience. It’s a learning experience,” said his daughter, Judonna Mitchell. “It’s taught me to be patient and to be true to my own faith.”
The jury heard four days of testimony and deliberated over three days before reaching the verdict, which “surprised, shocked and disappointed” Moore’s attorney, Eric Hessler.
“I don’t think the verdict fit the evidence presented by the government,” he said, questioning whether jurors were swayed by emotion.
Prosecutors said Williams beat Robair without justification, breaking four ribs and crushing his spleen before the officers drove him to a hospital, where he died of massive internal bleeding.
Williams, 48, denied kicking or hitting Robair. He claimed Robair slipped and fell on a curb as they approached, but jurors heard from residents who said they witnessed the beating. The officers’ attorneys, however, said the witnesses gave conflicting accounts.
The jury’s foreman — Patrick Goodman, 55, of River Ridge — told The Associated Press he didn’t believe Robair’s injuries could have been caused by slipping and falling on a curb before Moore started to handcuff him. Goodman said he discounted the officers’ version of events because their courtroom testimony didn’t match “written evidence,” including statements they gave after Robair’s death.
“I had to believe the pathologist who stated that the fall alone could not create enough force to cause that injury,” Goodman said, referring to an expert witness called by prosecutors.
Goodman also said he also believed residents who testified they saw Williams kick and beat Robair with a baton, even though some details didn’t match up.
“There was enough there to believe something happened,” he said. “I could not say that the discrepancies in ancillary facts were sufficient to discount their testimony.”
While defense attorneys criticized Robair’s medical care, prosecutors said the delay in treating Robair’s ruptured spleen resulted from lies the officers told medical staff. The officers allegedly told hospital staff that Robair was a “known drug user” whom they found under a bridge.
Forensic pathologist Dr. Michael Baden testified as an expert witness for the defense. Frank DeSalvo, Williams’ lawyer, said Baden concluded that none of Robair’s injuries could have been caused by a police baton.
Georgia band teacher sexually assualted student www.privateofficer.com
Augusta, GA April 16 2011Richmond County Sheriff’s Office deputies have arrested a former band teacher who they say molested a 15-year-old boy. They say the suspect is also HIV-positive.
Investigator Mark Dobbins says Travis McCauley, 32, molested the boy on 4 separate occassions.
Now, deputies fear McCauley may have infected his victim. Dobbins explains the affect that can have on a child: “For the most part, children that are victimized and are molested eventually, physically and emotionally, and socially move on to some degree. But, if the child ends up contracting HIV, there’s really no moving on from that. It’s just a constant reminder of what took place.”
McCauley is accused of oraly sodomizing and fondling the teenager. Deputies say McCauley was a long time family friend of the boy. Dobbins says he sees that all the time: “A lot of our cases involve family members or close friends and it’s basically because they need to build a rapport with the child first.”
Dobbins fears that the 15 year old boy in this case is not the only victim. McCauley had a lot of access to children because he was the assistant band director of the CSRA All-Star marching band starting back in 2005. He also gave children private music lessons.
“An outcry of one child is usually an echo of other children,” said Dobbins.
Mccauley is charged with: child molestation, aggravated child molestation, contributing to the delinquency of a minor, and reckless conduct by an HIV-infected person.
If you believe you know someone who may be a victim, call the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office at 706-821-1080.
Source:WJBF
Shoplifter pulls gun on California supermarket security officer www.privateofficer.com
The security guard at Mi Pueblo, located at 330 Bellam Blvd., told the officers that a man pulled a semi-automatic handgun on him after he caught the man and his two companions trying to take soda without paying for it. The man told the security guard that he was going to “put a bullet in him,” Fink said.Airlines, security companies agree to pay 1.2 billion for World Trade Center damages www.privateofficer.com
Approved by the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, the deal settles numerous property-damage lawsuits that were filed after the terrorist attacks involving American Airlines Flight 11 and United Air Lines Flight 175 struck Towers One and Two of the former World Trade Center.
The other two defendants in the case were Globe Airport Security, which screened passengers boarding American Flight 11 in Boston, and Huntleigh, which did the same for United Flight 175. Under the agreement, American Airlines and Globe will pay 60% of the damages and United and Huntleigh will pay the remaining 40%.
The plaintiffs in the case are the owners of the World Trade Center and numerous insurance companies. They had originally sought $4.4 billion from the airlines and security companies.
Liquid cocaine smuggled through NJ airport www.privateofficer.com
JERSEY CITY, N.J. April 16 2011 – A 16-month long investigation has netted 18 arrests in an international drug smuggling ring that officials said was nearly impossible to detect.
Hudson County Prosecutor Edward De Fazio said the suspects did trial runs and deliveries from Peru to the United States over several months to perfect their transportation method.
The suspects apparently masked the cocaine in bottles of lotion making it easy to store in luggage and get past airport security. The drug would later be converted back into powder and sold on the streets, officials said.
“It’s a scientific process, obviously, that is not familiar to us,” De Fazio said. “It is a very unique situation.
Investigators seized over two kilograms of cocaine with an estimated street value of $150,000, a loaded handgun and $30,000 in cash.
De Fazio said the alleged operation ran out of Hudson and Essex counties.
