Archive
Good samaritan tackles man beating Atlanta police officer www.privateofficer.com
Police said the officer stepped out of her vehicle after a man began beating on it, then she was attacked and pushed to the ground
Wednesday morning in downtown Atlanta.
Authorities say the officer was being punched repeatedly when
the bystander, Michael Reed, jumped out of his truck, tackled the
suspect and held him down until more officers arrived.
Reed told WSB-TV that he tackled the man “like I was playing
football again.”
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that the officer, whose
name was not released, was taken to Grady Memorial Hospital for
evaluation.
Police said she was bruised, but expected to be OK
Stockton school security nab armed trespassers www.privateofficer.com
STOCKTON CA July 15 2011 – A 20-year-old Stockton man was arrested Wednesday morning after a short chase near a north Stockton school, prompted when he and another man ran from security guards who had come to check them out.
The Police Department reported the guards, employees of the Lincoln Unified School District, approached a pair of men in the 2500 block of Jasmine Avenue, behind John R. Williams School, at about 10:28 a.m. The pair ran, and the guards heard a boom. The guards chased the pair, catching one, and then waited for police.
Officers found a sawed-off shotgun in a nearby yard. The Police Department said it likely the shotgun discharged as the pair fled from the security guards.
Robert Gonzalez, 20, was arrested on suspicion of negligent discharge of a firearm and possession of a sawed-off shotgun.
Tunica police conduct prostitution sting at area casinos www.privateofficer.com
Tunica, MS 7-14-11 An undercover sting landed eight women in the Tunica County jail on charges of prostitution.
Tunica county deputies dressed in plainclothes at the casinos all weekend, waiting to be propositioned for sex.
With a tip that prostitution was occurring inside casinos, the sheriff’s department executed “Operation Go Get Her,” an investigation that turned out to be one of the largest prostitution busts in recent Tunica history.
“The prostitutes approached us, and when they did, we took the appropriate action,” said Larry Liddell, spokesman for the Tunica County Sheriff’s Department.
The sheriff’s department could not specify at which casinos the arrests took place, only that more than one casino was involved.
This is no surprise for some Tunica residents, who have seen prostitutes around the gambling halls before.
“If you know what to look for, yeah. But if you don’t know what to look for, you don’t ever see it,” one woman said.
She said it doesn’t bother her and that one sting isn’t going to stop the women from coming back.
“It doesn’t bother me, but it could make it difficult for some people. But it happens. It’s an age-old tradition. Prostitution been here longer than man and woman,” she said.
But her friend, Heidi Rooney, was a little more surprised.
“I just can’t believe they got caught in the casinos. It’s just crazy, with all the cameras and the security. I think everyone would know the cops around here, but I guess they don’t,” Rooney said.
Maybe that’s because all eight women are from Memphis. They were booked on $5,000 bonds, but all made bail. Their next court appearance is on Thursday, July 21. They are:
Crystal Denise Brown, 25 Tia Devora Hayes, 21 Diashena Denise Johnson, 27 Cynthia Lipscomb, 28 Brooke Danielle Maynard Ashley Lynn Spencer, 24 Dana Michelle Telford, 23 Sherry Tirea Wilhite, 23
Liddell agrees there’s no way to stop prostitutes from walking in casino doors, but that’s not going to stop his department from going after these women.
“There’s really no preventative. Anytime the door is open, anybody can walk in. And we’re just trying to make people aware, we’re not going to tolerate this kind of activity,” he said.
Off-duty Fla police officer chases down man for up-skirting photos www.privateofficer.com
PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. July 15 2011– A 31-year-old North Carolina man was arrested at Gardens Mall after an off-duty Palm Beach Gardens police officer saw him taking up-skirt photos of children in a candy store.
Gardens police report that an off-duty officer was in Sugar Happens!, a mall candy store, with her 15-year-old niece and sister when she noticed a heavy-set man walking closely to her niece with his cell phone in hand.
According to the police report, she also watched as the suspect crouched down and took pictures up the skirt of a young girl aged 10-12, with her sister then yelling “He’s taking pictures!” The officer confronted the suspect, who then ran off toward Sears with the officer following.
She reported the suspect, later identified as Melvin Barber Bridgers III, of Grifton, N.C., appeared to be doing something with his phone as he fled. He was apprehended outside the mall’s food court by Gardens police, mall security and the off-duty officer. Police siezed his phone as evidence.
Gardens police report mall security video shows Bridgers enter the candy store for several minutes before walking out. The two young girls mentioned by the off-duty officer enter the candy store, trailed by Bridgers with cell phone in hand. He exits the store “frantically working on his cell phone in effort to delete items from its memory,” according to the police report.
Source:www.cbs12.com
17,000 turn up for job openings at Ford plant www.privateofficer.com
As of the end of the day Thursday, the last day to submit an application, 16,837 applicants had turned over forms entering a lottery Friday that will determine who will move on for consideration by Ford. The number of applicants that will advance via the lottery wasn’t disclosed.
Ford will need 1,800 additional workers when the plant reopens in November for a total work force of 2,900 on two shifts assembling a new Escape Sport Utility Vehicle.
Yet many of those posts could go to returning Ford workers laid off in Louisville or at the automaker’s plants and parts facilities elsewhere in North America.
The automaker began taking applications July 7 and those candidates face plenty of competition from family members and acquaintances of current Ford employees. Each of the 5,000 active UAW Ford workers in Louisville recently received red referral slips to pass on to a potential applicant, Ford spokeswoman Marcey Evans said.
That means up to 22,000 applicants will be subject to the lottery from which Ford will consider qualifications, conduct a math tests and other screenings, process background checks and hold interviews to make hires.
Evans declined Thursday to specify exactly how many job applicants will be chosen from the lottery.
“Employee referrals are subject to the same testing and lottery system as the other applicants,” she added.
The lottery of public applicants begins Friday at 7 a.m. at the Louisville Assembly Plant on Fern Valley Road, said Connie Schnell, regional manager of the state employment office.
“All these people came at the last minute,” Schnell said of 4,337 applications that flooded in on Thursday at the 600 Cedar Street office.
The number of job seekers is not surprising, said Schnell and others who specialize in helping people find work.
“That tells you something,” said James Atkinson, a former lineworker at Louisville Assembly who is a career counselor at the University of Louisville.
Many Ford applicants are likely seeking to upgrade from lower wage jobs. “There are still a lot of people who are underemployed or unemployed,” he said.
The new Ford jobs pay about half the wages of veteran UAW Ford workers. Health benefits begin for new workers after eight months on the job.
Steven M. Stone, the UAW building chairman at the Fern Valley Road plant said the number of applicants was easily anticipated, even at the lower, second tier beginning wage.
“I expected at least 10,000 to sign up. Those are good jobs even though they are `two tier’,” Stone said Friday.
Through upcoming contract talks this fall between Ford and the UAW, the lower starting wages could be improved, he added.
UAW workers made many concessions to help Ford recover in recent years, including giving up overtime after eight straight hours, annual cost of living allowances, break time and more. Perhaps the biggest concession is the hiring of the second tier of lower paid workers to comprise no more than 20 percent of Ford’s U.S. workforce.
Louisville Assembly Plant will be among the first in Ford’s system to employ a workforce where employees doing the same work get vastly different pay.
“I am glad that the men and women in the plant have done the right things so we’ve been able to expand,” Stone added.
New, lower Ford wages of more than $15 hourly represent double minimum wage “and could help a lot of people,” applicant Kimberly Carter, a 45-year-old cosmetologist, said as she applied for one of the jobs with her daughter Lubbrea Carter, 21.
Unemployed Somali immigrant Anab Rashid, 27, said she heard news of the Ford hiring on the radio in her Shively apartment on Dixie Highway.
“I just want a job,” said Rashid, adding she emigrated to the U.S. in 2000.
State officials had forecast that up to 18,000 people would apply for a chance to labor inside a Ford factory, a post viewed by many as a step on a secure career ladder.
“I hope I get lucky,” said Brad Bell, 32, adding he worked part time shuttling packages at United Parcel Service for a decade and is now jobless and living in his childhood home in Shively.
ICE officer leaves gun in Houston airport bathroom www.privateofficer.com
HOUSTON TX July 15 2011 – A handgun was found in a restroom of Terminal E at Bush Intercontinental Airport Wednesday night.
A cleaning crew found the gun around 9 p.m. and notified security, according to HPD.
Houston Police Department officers were called to the scene to investigate how a gun got past the security checkpoint.
While they were there, a uniformed ICE officer approached them to say he or she owned the gun.
HPD officers confirmed it and returned the gun to the officer.
“ICE takes this incident very seriously and it is under investigation,” said Greg Palmore, an ICE spokesperson.
Uniformed ICE officers aren’t normally stationed at the airport, but this officer was on-duty and was allowed to pass through security with a weapon.
Police arrest 72 year old man for exposing himself at mall www.privateofficer.com
Woburn MA July 15 2011 A police report stated that officers responded to a local mall when security found a 72-year-old man exposuing himself.
Police say that the man, had purposely ezposed himself while sitting in the food court area of the mall.
Security officers detained the Woburn man and police say that he was issued a court summons for indecent exposure at the Northshore Mall Food Court.
Mall security said he was also trespassed indefinitely from the mall.
The police did not identify the man in their press release.
Washington woman arrested for assaulting mall security during shoplifting incident www.privateofficer.com
EVERETT, Wash. July 15 2011– A woman police said tried to leave the Everett Mall wearing two pairs of pants alerted officers to other stolen items she said she had in her car.
According to a Snohomish County police document, a 19-year-old woman was trying on clothes at Victoria’s Secret at the Everett Mall on Wednesday when an employee noticed that security devices had been removed from clothing the woman was trying on and there were extra hangers in the dressing room.
The employee also noted that the woman’s purse was bulging. The woman was asked to leave, but instead, she tried on a pair of pants and then put her own pants over them, the document said. The woman then left the store.
Mall security was notified and began following the woman, who was seen throwing a security tag from Victoria’s Secret into another store as she walked, Everett police said.
Police said when the woman left the mall, security followed her to her car and then approached her. Police said the woman admitted to wearing the stolen pants and then asked if she would be released if she returned them.
When the woman heard security calling police, she began fighting with the security officers and tried to escape until police arrived, the documents said.
When an Everett police officer arrived, he arrested the woman, who admitted she was wearing stolen pants and that there were several other stolen items from Victoria’s Secret in her car, police documents said.
Loss prevention staff from Macy’s arrived at the woman’s car and told the officer that the woman was suspected of stealing a watch from their store that day, police said.
The officer said he could see a watch box with a Macy’s tag sitting in the back seat of the woman’s car.
Police said when questioned, the woman admitted to stealing the watch and the officer asked if he had permission to search her car to retrieve the stolen goods. The woman then asked the officer what the “dollar amount for felony theft” was, documents said.
When the officer answered, the woman refused access to her car and asked for a lawyer.
The woman was booked into jail for investigation of second-degree robbery and her car was impounded while officers await a search warrant to retrieve property from the car.
Source:kirotv.com
Man accused of sex crimes allowed to watch porn in jail www.privateofficer.com
“The whole thing is just dirty,” said Pierce County Sheriff’s Detective Ed Troyer on Wednesday. “Now that victims know he’s going to be watching this, they’re going to feel victimized again. This is our call to action to get the law changed.”
Washington’s Supreme Court ruled in 2007 that upon request, prosecutors must give defense lawyers copies of evidence used to support child pornography charges — but it appears nevertheless rare that defense attorneys actually make that request.
The court’s 8-1 decision said that granting copies of the materials was essential so that defense lawyers, their investigators and the defendants themselves could challenge the evidence — such as by arguing that the people depicted weren’t really minors.
The high court set out guidelines for handling the material, saying that it should only be shown to defendants under the supervision of counsel, that defense attorneys would be personally liable for any unauthorized distribution, and that the material had to be promptly returned to law enforcement once the case concluded.
But the former pilot, Marc Weldon Gilbert, is representing himself. A judge ruled this week that the prosecutor’s office has to provide copies for him to watch at the jail. The order bars him from being alone when he watches the videos.
He will review them in a room visible to corrections officers with a defense investigator present, Troyer said. The sheriff’s office is still setting up the logistics of when Gilbert will be able to view the pornography and how much time he will be allowed to spend doing so, Troyer said.
Gilbert used money, alcohol and manipulation to sexually exploit more than a dozen boys as young as 10 years old. Gilbert pleaded guilty in 2007 to federal charges, including sexual exploitation of a child, in exchange for a 25-year sentence. He still faces state charges in Pierce County.
Criminal defendants generally have a constitutional right to see the evidence against them so they can prepare for trial. That’s always been a sensitive issue in child pornography cases, where many people are troubled by the notion that perverts might be allowed to continue viewing the illicit material that got them in trouble in the first place.
“We have to disclose when we intend to introduce cocaine in a drug case, but we don’t give the defendant a kilo to take home and check out,” Pierce County Prosecutor Mark Lindquist said. “It is not necessary for the defendant to view the child porn himself to assist in his defense.”
Even though the state Supreme Court has explicitly clarified that defendants can view the child porn involved in their cases, it appears to be a rare occurrence. Lindquist said he knew of no other instance in Pierce County, and Dan Donohoe, spokesman for the King County prosecutor’s office in Seattle, said defense lawyers there typically review such evidence without their clients present.
Jack King, a spokesman for the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, said that in most states, defense lawyers are typically required to come to a law enforcement office to review evidence in the case, rather than being given copies to review with defendants. He called that problematic.
“It’s very helpful in any kind of case to have a defendant go over the evidence with you,” he said. “The defendant can say, ‘That’s pure Photoshop,’ or ‘These are all adults.’”
But even some defense attorneys questioned the necessity of having the defendants review the porn personally. Tom Hillier, who heads the federal public defender’s office in Seattle, said that in federal cases, defendants are never allowed to review the material, and he didn’t see any reason why they should.
“We set up a discovery conference with a prosecutor,” he said. “You meet with an agent, do a viewing of however much you want to look at, and focus on things that might have an impact under the sentencing guidelines or on the case. If you have a question about authenticity or anything else, you can file a request to have independent examination by an expert. It’s done under fairly tight controls to be sure that the porn doesn’t get out of the control of the government.”
Source:kirotv.com
Fla police officer arrested fore paying for underage sex www.privateofficer.com
The Polk County Sheriff’s Office arrested Paul Aaron, Jr. on Wednesday for running a prostitution business that involved at least two girls, ages 14 and 15-years-old. Police say the girls stayed at Aaron’s home and were forced to have sex with him and paying customers.
Aaron works for the Polk County School District as a bus monitor. He was arrested in the middle of his bus route.
One of Aaron’s alleged customers include Haines City Police Officer, Demetrius Condry. While in full uniform and in his patrol car, police say Condry went to Aaron’s business to pay for sex with a 14-year-old girl.
“Despicable and unacceptable,” said Sheriff Grady Judd at a news conference on Thursday. “Victim one was required to have sex with Condry at least 50 times… but the officer only confessed to one of them. As if that’s ok.”
Condry was arrested early Thursday morning. He resigned from his sworn duty as a police officer a short time later.
His boss, Police Chief Rick Sloan, sat in the same room as him.
“This morning, he didn’t say anything to me, didn’t even look at me,” Sloan said.
Investigators say Aaron called his business G.Q.E. or Genuine Quality Entertainment. They say he would bring the girls to different clubs at night to dance and to pimp them out.
Police say two victims were not recruited through Aaron’s job as a bus monitor, however, they say he tried to once solicit an 18-year-old riding the bus to come work for him, but she refused.
“We hope if there are other girls, other victims, that they will come forward,” Judd said.
Fred Murphy, Assistant Superintendent of Polk County Schools, says Aaron was immediately suspended without pay when the school district learned of the allegations.
“There is a zero tolerance of behavior of this nature by our employees,” he said. “Our primary responsibility and primary task is to make sure that our students our safe.”
Beloved Arkansas sheriffs captain succumbs to cancer www.privateofficer.com
Sebastian County ARK July 15 2011 A beloved leader in the ranks of the Sebastian County Sheriff’s Office died Monday, leaving behind cherished memories and a legacy of integrity.
John F. Mendenhall, 56, of Lavaca and a captain in Sebastian County’s Court Security Division, succumbed in his battle with pancreatic cancer on Monday.
“It’s going to be a tremendous loss for our department and the entire justice system,” Sebastian County Sheriff Bill Hollenbeck said Tuesday. “He represented our department with honor and integrity, and I’m going to miss him.”
Mendenhall, a Fort Smith native who graduated from Southside High School, had served with the Sebastian County Sheriff’s Office for 24 years. Prior to joining the Sheriff’s Office, Mendenhall served for a short time with the Grand Island Police Department in Nebraska and worked as a fingerprint examiner for the FBI. Mendenhall also served with the Navy Reserve for 21 years.
Since coming to the Sheriff’s Office in November 1987, Mendenhall has worked in patrol, became one of the original members of the Sheriff’s Office’s SWAT team, serving as a crisis negotiator for the SWAT team, worked as an investigator in the criminal investigation division, supervised the CID for several years, supervised the warrant division, worked as a patrol sergeant and served as a sergeant in the civil division before moving to the court bailiff division.
Throughout his time with the Sheriff’s Office, Mendenhall became a beloved friend and mentor to his peers.
“My whole career I’ve worked with him,” Maj. Kevin Nickson said. “I did a lot of learning from him. He was one of the best.”
Hollenbeck promoted Mendenhall to captain of the Court Security Division six months ago. As head of the Court Security Division, Mendenhall oversaw security for the Sebastian County Courts Building, Sebastian County Courthouse in Fort Smith and Sebastian County Courthouse in Greenwood.
“I’ve known John for 23 years; I’ve seen his work ethic; I’ve seen his professionalism; I’ve seen his compassion,” Hollenbeck said. “I felt he was the right person to lead the court security division to the next level of professionalism.”
In the six months Mendenhall served as captain of the Court Security Division, he made a profound impact, said Sgt. Victoria Hardy, member of the Security Division.
“It was really a blessing to work with him and be his sergeant,” she said.
Hardy recalled the quiet strength of Mendenhall’s character and his warm sense of humor.
“It was our privilege and our honor to serve under him for the short time that we did, and in that short time he left his mark,” she said.
Mendenhall is survived by his wife, Alicia; two daughters, Kaitlyn Mendenhall of the home and Holly Mendenhall of New York; and one son, Matthew Mendenhall of Virginia.
His funeral will be at 10 a.m. Friday at First Lutheran Church of Fort Smith with burial at Oak Cemetery. The family will visit with friends from 6-8 p.m. Thursday at Ocker-Putman Funeral Home in Fort Smith.
Source:swtimes.com
Wounded Chicago bank security officer testified today www.privateofficer.com
The witness took the stand Thursday on the second day of testimony in the trial of the accused gunman, David Vance. Jurors also got a chance to see a surveillance tape from cameras that captured the robbery.
The robbery took just two minutes. But in that time dozens of shots of were fired by the bank robbers and a security guard intent on stopping them.
“When you actually start hearing about it from people who were actually there and experienced it, it must have been bullets a’blazing in there,” said Verton Gibson, victim’s father.
Gibson and his family watched that tape in court Thursday. It was his son, 23-year-old Tramaine Gibson, who was executed by one of the robbers when he couldn’t open the vault fast enough.
Bank security guard Earl Coleman testified to the violence. “As soon as I stepped from behind the partition they started firing at me,” he told jurors. He was shot twice, once in the chest and again in the left leg.
“To think about what these people went through for even a short amount of time, it was really a horrendous scene,” said Gibson.
Accused robber turned killer David Vance sat through the testimony and video stone faced. His attorney argued the investigation was flawed.
Vance and his trio are accused of making off with just $7,000 from Illinois Service Federal.
“Six thousand eight hundred bucks man, my son, $6,800 bucks. That just shows you the type of people we’re dealing with. They have no value for their own life let alone someone else,” said Gibson.
The defendant’s nephew was in court Thursday.
One of Vance’s alleged accomplices is expected to testify against Vance later in the trial.
Source:WLS
Florida shopping mall begins charging $30 for parking while at area events www.privateofficer.com
SUNRISE, Fla.July 15 2011 — Residents will now have to pay to park at a South Florida mall during concerts at a nearby arena.
Thursday night, Rihanna performed at the BankAtlantic Center in Sunrise.
For events at the arena, thousands of attendees usually park their cars across the street at the Sawgrass Mills Mall, where parking is free.
However, for the Rihanna concert, the mall enforced a $30 event parking fee, $10 more than the cost to park at the arena. Concertgoers were caught off guard by the new parking policy. “I go to a lot of events here, and that’s the first time I’ve come across that,” said one woman.
Another concertgoer said, “I was here on June 3 to see Taylor Swift, and they didn’t charge.”
According to mall officials, the policy has been put in place to ensure there is ample parking for mall employees and customers.
Residents do not understand the reason for the exorbitant parking fee, since concertgoers have to walk a considerable distance to get to the arena. Jennifer Solnick is one of those who refused to pay Sawgrass Mills Mall’s $30 fee to park. “I wouldn’t park here to walk that far to go to BankAtlantic,” she said.
Many people still decided to park at the mall. “It’s $30, and the only reason I parked here is because that’s going to be a headache when everyone’s crossing the street,” one woman said.
The parking fee was waived for those who spent $30 or more while shopping or eating at the mall and showed their receipts upon leaving the mall. Sawgrass Mills assistant general manager Marcos Freire said, “For people that want to shop at Sawgrass and go to the concerts, we’re welcoming them to park here, and if they pay the fee to park and come to our restaurants or shops and spend more than $30 and show the receipts, there will be a validation booth in front of the movie theater, and they can actually get their money back.”
The $30 parking fee will apply during all future events at the BankAtlantic Center. According to mall management, those who attempt to avoid paying the fee to attend events at the arena could have their cars towed.
Source:www.wsvn.com
Augusta school police arrest two for burglarizing schools www.privateofficer.com
Officers arrested Kenneth Nicky Blue-McIntosh and Richard Lee Kellam and charged them with two counts of felony interference with government property and two counts of felony theft for taking over $500.
Investigators said they are responsible for taking copper from air conditioning units at Cross Creek High School and CT Walker Magnet School. Richmond County school officers said after those burglaries, they decided to get ahead of the thieves.
“What we decided to do was install additional covert camera footage to try to catch the subjects if they returned,” said Lt. Richard Roundtree, School Safety and Security Department.
The suspects returned twice, but left behind video proof of their faces and clothing.
“We were able to get enough clothing description and partial facial recognition of the suspects to identify potential suspects. Based on that information, this morning we served two search warrants at residences,” Lt. Roundtree said.
The suspects, Blue-McIntosh and Kellam, both lived in the neighborhood right next the Cross Creek. Lt. Roundtree believed they met up and walked right over to the school.
“The monumental amount was over $50,000. However, they scraped it, on at least two occasions, and got just a little over $200,” added Lt. Roundtree.
“Hopefully we won’t get another case, but again, if we do, we’re going to be diligently pursuing those cases also. So we’re being proactive. We hope it sends a message, but for now these cases are considered closed,” he said.
More charges could be pending in this case.
Officers said they are working to make sure all the schools have air conditioning and security cameras for the new school year.
Palm Beach security officer attacked, brutally beaten www.privateofficer.com
PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla.July 15 2011 — A security guard was badly beaten at a shopping plaza Thursday morning.
The man, who hasn’t been identified, was found behind the Publix store in the Promenade Plaza. He was working as a security guard for the strip mall when he was attacked about 2:30 a.m.
Palm Beach Gardens police said the guard was making his rounds when he noticed suspicious activity and was beaten. Police would not elaborate.
The man was taken to St. Mary’s Medical Center, where he was listed in serious condition.
“We are doing a through investigation of the situation,” Officer Ellen Lovejoy said.
No arrests have been made.
Lovejoy said anyone with information is asked to call police.
Source:www.wpbf.com
