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OFFICER DOWN Constable Ross R. Potter
Carter County Sixth District Constable’s Office, Tennessee
End of Watch: Friday, August 19, 2011
Biographical InfoAge: 81
Tour of Duty: 29 years
Badge Number: Not available
Incident DetailsCause of Death: Automobile accident
Date of Incident: August 4, 2011
Weapon Used: Not available
Suspect Info: Not available
Constable Ross Potter succumbed to injuries sustained in an automobile accident two weeks earlier.
He was traveling on Highway 91 when his department vehicle left the roadway, near Blue Springs Road, and struck a utility pole head-on at approximately 5:30 pm. A civilian passenger in his vehicle was killed in the crash. He was flown to Johnson City Medical Center where he remained in critical condition until passing away.
Constable Potter was a U.S. Navy veteran of the Korean War. He had served as the elected constable of Carter County’s Sixth District for 29 years and is survived by four children, six grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren.
Agency Contact InformationCarter County Sixth District Constable’s Office
c/o Carter County Sheriff
900 East Elk Avenue
Elizabethton, TN 37643
Arkansas doctor charged in child rape www.privateofficer.com
The Log Cabin Democrat reports that Dr. Byron Kevin Beaver of Conway turned himself in Friday night once he learned of the allegation. The 39-year-old Beaver is to have his first court appearance on Monday.
A dispatcher said Beaver was still in jail Sunday evening, held on $500,000 bond.
Sheriff’s Capt. Matt Rice says Beaver is charged with two counts of rape and two counts of sexual assault.
St. Vincent Health System in Little Rock told the paper that Beaver has an affiliated practice in Morrilton that specializes in wound care.
It wasn’t clear Sunday whether Beaver has a lawyer.
Prostitutes flood city after cops layed -off www.privateofficer.com
Things began to change in 2008 after Vallejo, a city of about 116,000 that had lost its biggest employer, the U.S. Navy’s Mare Island shipyard, filed for bankruptcy, said Rooney, a 54-year-old marketing consultant.
“I see prostitutes, pimps and drug dealers out my front window,” Rooney said in a telephone interview Aug. 5. “There’s two on the corner right now.” Her property value has dropped 70 percent in six years, she said.
Vallejo’s experience comes as Central Falls, Rhode Island, proposes $5.6 million in budget cuts after seeking Chapter 9 protection this month and Jefferson County, Alabama, negotiates with creditors to avoid what would be the biggest government filing in U.S. history. There have been five municipal bankruptcies this year, compared with six in 2010, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Prostitution became a growth industry in Vallejo as the San Francisco Bay city slashed its payroll, cutting police by a third, to 90 from 134. The largest municipal bankruptcy in California since Orange County in 1994 has forced law enforcement to focus on violent crime at the cost of so-called “quality-of-life” issues, residents and officials said.
‘Half the People’ “When you have half the number of people, you can only do half the amount of work,” Robert Nichelini, Vallejo’s police chief, said in an Aug. 15 telephone interview. “Where it’s taken a toll is the lower-priority crimes, which have had to take a back seat.”
Prostitution and drug dealing used to be fought by a crime- suppression unit of 12 officers and a sergeant, Nichelini said. Since it disbanded in 2010, arrests for solicitation have dropped from about 96 a year to about 24, he said.
The arrest rate “is very low because it’s labor intensive,” Nichelini said. “You have to have a minimum of five people to make the prostitution arrest, which is a misdemeanor and they’re out of jail within an hour.”
Vallejo, located 24 miles (39 kilometers) north of San Francisco, emerged from bankruptcy on Aug. 5. The city’s general-fund spending fell to $66.2 million this year from $87.1 million in fiscal 2008, when it sought court protection.
The recession has also battered the city, eroding tax revenue and leading to a 12 percent unemployment rate as of June. One in every 124 Vallejo homes had a foreclosure filing in July, according to RealtyTrac Inc., an Irvine, California-based provider of default data.
Safety Worries Matt Russell, 27, a Vallejo resident and private contractor for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in San Francisco, said the city’s police presence has declined since 2008 and “prostitution, especially downtown, is huge.”
Russell said he has considered moving because he’s worried about the safety of his mother, sister and grandmother.
Interim Fire Chief Paige Meyer said his department employs 67, down from 122 in May 2008. Three of eight stations were closed about the time the city filed for bankruptcy.
“What that means to our citizens — there’s no way to sugarcoat it — you’re going to get longer response time,” Meyer said in a telephone interview.
The sharp reduction in city services has prompted residents to fill the void, particularly in law enforcement.
Neighborhood Watchers Vallejo has 302 neighborhood-watch associations with 2,552 members, up from 10 groups with 60 people in 2009, said Tony Pearsall, executive director of the Fighting Back Partnership, a Vallejo-based nonprofit social-services group.
“They’re doing crime prevention themselves because there is no crime-prevention unit in the police department anymore,” Pearsall, a retired Vallejo police captain, said by telephone.
Another group, the Central Core Restoration Corp., hired two armed security guards beginning in 2008 to patrol Georgia Street, the city’s commercial center, on bicycles during business hours.
“They help us with the panhandlers, loitering and assist us in calling the police if we have more serious infractions,” Janet Sylvain, the group’s president, said in an Aug. 11 interview at her upholstery shop, Pieced on Earth.
About half the stores along Georgia Street stand vacant and existing shop owners say they are scraping by or relying on the Internet or out-of-town business to generate sales.
While the street was almost deserted on a weekday afternoon in August, around the corner, the Greenwell Cooperative, a medical-marijuana dispensary, had a steady flow of customers.
Pot and Prostitution “You know the only businesses in town making money? Pot and prostitution — that’s it,” said Matt Shotwell, 30, who opened the dispensary in January 2010 and keeps a bong on the desk in his office.
Shotwell’s dispensary, which also sells pot-infused barbecue sauce, olive oil and cherry slushies, draws about 250 customers a day, he said.
“I’m bringing foot traffic down here,” Shotwell said in an interview.
Vallejo, which doesn’t have local laws controlling medical- marijuana dispensaries, has seen an influx of about 20 such businesses, according to a city estimate. Three shops are within four blocks of Ruth Rooney’s home.
“They came here and feel they’d be under the radar,” Phil Batchelor, Vallejo’s interim city manager, said in an interview this month at City Hall. “But we’re going to change all that. We’re stepping up enforcement, we’re going to tax them and we’re right now looking at setting up zoning requirements.”
Rebuilding Vallejo
With the bankruptcy behind them, city officials said they are taking steps to rebuild Vallejo and its image.
The City Council has approved a November ballot measure asking voters to add a 1 percent local sales tax for 10 years, in addition to the 7.38 percent levy already on the books. It would raise $9.7 million annually, said Deborah Lauchner, Vallejo’s finance director.
Vallejo’s council has also agreed to put a ballot measure before voters in November to impose a business-license tax on the dispensaries of as much as 10 percent of gross sales.
The city has created an economic development department, formed a prostitution task force, and is hiring back some firefighters and police officers.
Kaiser Grant Kaiser Permanente, the largest U.S. nonprofit health management organization, gave the city a grant of about $736,000 that will be combined with federal funds to hire three police officers, Batchelor said. Kaiser operates the Vallejo Medical Center. The city also got a federal grant to hire nine firefighters and reopen a fire station.
On Georgia Street, a sign in the front window of the Procyon Gallery depicts a pair of women’s boots and reads “Prostitution Free Zone.”
The owner, Greg Leopold, 64, said he earns just enough from his art and framing business to pay the bills and has no plans to move despite the city’s problems.
“I’m stupid and I’m stubborn and I still think the same way about Vallejo as 20 years ago, which is this place has so much potential,” Leopold said. “It can’t stay like this. You’re in the Bay Area for God’s sakes. It can’t stay like this even by mistake.”
Source:bloomberg.net
Alabama man commits suicide as police investigate him for crime www.privateofficer.com
Deputies responded to a report of shots fired in Bear Creek Trailer Park off Bear Creek Road on Sunday afternoon, and heard another gunshot upon arriving at the mobile home, Sexton said. Deputies called for backup, and more deputies and Tuscaloosa Police officers responded at about 5:30 p.m.
Law enforcement evacuated nearby trailers, set up a perimeter and Sexton and three deputies in tactical response gear entered the trailer, he said. They found Greg Taylor Wyatt dead inside in what Sexton described as a probable suicide.
No one else was injured, and Sexton said the details of what happened before deputies arrived are still under investigation. No one else was inside the mobile home when deputies arrived, he said.
On Saturday, homicide investigators had picked up and questioned Wyatt for his possible role an alleged crime, then released him. Sexton said he could not release details of the possible crime.
KY school counselor chargd in fundraiser thefts www.privateofficer.com
LOUISVILLE, KY. Aug 23 2011 — Kentucky State Police have arrested a JCPS counselor who is accused of stealing money from a school fundraiser she administered.
According to an arrest report, 42-year-old Kelly B. Moon was employed as a counselor for Middletown Elementary School in March of this year, when she organized a school fundraising program called, “The NED Show.”
The NED Show was created by a Lynwood, Washington-based company called All for KIDZ. The company’s website describes the show as, “an all-school assembly program designed to promote positive attitudes, better behavior and academic achievement in your school.”
The arrest warrant states that Moon organized a performance of The NED Show at her school, and had arranged to pay for the show through the sale of merchandise — including yo-yos — at the school. Payment was due no later than 10 days after the March 4 performance at the school.
The total amount of merchandise sold, which was invoiced by All for KIDZ, was $3,367.50.
In the spring, JCPS conducted an audit that revealed a financial shortchange of $2,264 related to the fundraiser.
Police say that Moon was questioned and admitted that she deposited a total of $558 of the proceeds into her personal bank account in Shelby County.
Additionally, police allege that Moon kept checks, cash and money orders totaling $222 in her car. An additional $664 of funds remained under her control until June.
Police say the remaining shortage — approximately $1,600 — is yet to be located.
JCPS Spokeswoman Lauren Roberts says, “Certainly it’s sad and we’re very disappointed, but our focus right now needs to be getting the money back and that’s what we’re trying to do through the legal process.”
Moon has been charged with theft by failure to make required disposition of property. JCPS terminated her employment on Aug. 4. A JCPS spokeswoman says she has been with the school system since 1991.
As of Monday morning, the school’s website had a profile page about Moon, but that page was taken down later in the day.
On Monday afternoon, WDRB’s Valerie Chinn spoke with Sherri Moore, a single parent of triplets who had written a check for $42 to purchase three yo-yos for her children. She first learned about the arrest from WDRB.com and expressed her disappointment in what had happened.
Moore says, “I wrote my check March 9th, 2011. In April, it didn’t clear. In May, it didn’t clear and specifically on the last day of school, June 3rd 2011, I did ask Ms. Moon when it would be deposited and she assured me it would be deposited that day, which it wasn’t.”
Roberts says, “The counselor was responsible for those funds and for that fundraiser. The money much of it was unaccounted for.”
Moore says she has nothing but good things to say about Middletown Elementary. She says, “the principal and the entire staff are great people and don’t let this cloud people’s views of a great JCPS school.”
Moon is expected to be arraigned in Jefferson County court on August 31st. She could not be reached for comment.
Source:WDRB
David Letterman returns to work after threats www.privateofficer.com
NEW YORK Aug 23 2011(AP) – David Letterman was back at “Late Show” on Monday after a two-week vacation, his first day at work since a threat against his life was posted on a jihadist website.
Outside the Ed Sullivan Theater before the mid-afternoon taping, it was pretty much business as usual.
CBS has declined to comment on any special security measures being taken for the busy day (which, as usual, calls for a taping of Thursday’s show after Monday night’s show is wrapped).
A bomb-sniffing dog was led around the periphery of the midtown Manhattan theater. Meanwhile, ticket-holders queuing up on the sidewalk seemed relaxed about attending Letterman’s first taping since the assassination threat. Some were even unaware that his life had been threatened.
“I’m not worried. They’ve got metal detectors,” said Kendall Phillips, a 25-year-old from Houston, noting a standard provision in the TV world for screening audience members. “Plus, it’s like really hard to get tickets.”
It was last week that a frequent contributor to a jihadist website posted the threat to Letterman. He urged Muslim followers to “cut the tongue” of the late-night host because of a joke and gesture the comic had made about al-Qaida leaders on his CBS show.
One joke that may have helped inspire the threat was among several about al-Qaida in Letterman’s June 8 monologue. This was just days after the death of al-Qaida leader Ilyas Kashmiri, who was killed by a U.S. drone strike in Pakistan. Though Kashmiri was rumored to be a long-shot choice to succeed Osama bin Laden, he wouldn’t have worked out even had he lived, Letterman cracked, pointing to Kashmiri’s “rocky start” as a front-runner: “He botched up the story of Paul Revere.”
The real butt of that joke: Sarah Palin, potential 2012 GOP presidential candidate, who in early June on her “One Nation” bus tour claimed that Paul Revere’s famous ride was intended to warn British soldiers as well as his fellow colonists.
The website contributor, who identified himself as Umar al-Basrawi, wrote that Letterman had referred to both bin Laden and Kashmiri and said that Letterman, in discussing Kashmiri’s death, had “put his hand on his neck and demonstrated the way of slaughter.”
“Is there not among you a Sayyid Nosair al-Mairi … to cut the tongue of this lowly Jew and shut it forever?” Al-Basrawi wrote, referring to El Sayyid Nosair, who was convicted of the 1990 killing of Jewish Defense League founder Meir Kahane. Letterman is not Jewish.
Al-Basrawi, which is likely to be an alias, has made some 1,200 postings to the Muslim website, according to Adam Raisman, an analyst for the Site Monitoring Service. The private firm, part of the Site Intelligence Group, provides information to government and commercial clients on what jihadists are saying on the Internet and in traditional media. Raisman said the online forum is often used by al-Qaida.
The FBI said last week that it was looking into the threat.
It was unknown whether Letterman planned to address the threat on the air.
Casino security guard mastermind robbery-killing of armored truck guard www.privateofficer.com
MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. Aug 23 2011 — The FBI has announced the arrest of four suspects accused of robbing and killing a Brinks armored truck guard outside a local casino Sunday.
Officials arrested Vladimir Louissant, 25, Victoria Barkley, 26, Byron Kyler, 23, and Reginald Mitchell, 26. According to the FBI, the public’s tips led to the arrests.
According to a family member of Barkley, one of the suspects worked at the casino as a security guard and she called him the alleged mastermind of the robbery.
Barkley’s relative also said Barkley got involved with the wrong crowd. “She doesn’t like to get in nothing to do with any criminal. Matter of fact, she wanted be to a criminal investigator,” she said.
The fatal shooting occurred at the Calder Race Track and Casino near Northwest 210th Street and 27th Avenue at around 5 p.m., Sunday. Police believe the guard was followed by the subjects.
According to police, the Brinks truck guard was picking up money at the race course when one of the subjects got up from a bench and confronted him. “He rushes him and at that time shots were fired,” said FBI Sp. Agent Michael Leverock.
The suspect was reportedly trying to rob the guard when the gunfire erupted. “I was upstairs, and I heard the bang, bang, bang, bang, like that,” said Bob Andrei, who heard the gunshots. “Evidently, the guy must have been lying on the outside out there, because one of the guys went outside and said he was lying out there. [I heard] four shots.”
The shooter grabbed the money and hopped into an awaiting pickup truck. The suspects fled from the scene and ditched the truck outside the El Palacio Hotel, situated next to the race track. The vehicle was stolen from a nearby Wal-Mart parking lot minutes before the robbery took place.
The guard was airlifted to Jackson Memorial Hospital where he died.
Officials said the four suspects are expected to face federal charges. They will be in court Monday afternoon
Source:www.wsvn.com
Texas man kills daughter for disturbing his nap www.privateofficer.com
TYLER, Texas Aug 23 2011— Police say an East Texas man whose nap apparently was interrupted has been accused in the death of his 2-year-old twin daughter.
Dramon Rashon Green of Tyler is held on a capital murder charge, with bond set at $1 million. Smith County Jail records Monday did not an attorney for Green, who was arrested Saturday.
Tyler police spokesman Don Martin says Green, who was home with his girlfriend and their daughters, was trying to sleep Friday afternoon when the toddlers were playing and making noise.
Martin says Green took A’yanna Webb outside, and when he returned with the girl she stopped breathing. Martin says the toddler suffered internal injuries and died late Friday at a hospital. An autopsy has been ordered.
Children Protective Service took custody of the surviving twin.
Teen films himself setting fire to truck www.privateofficer.com
Court documents filed today say Taylor Zane Cross, 17, has been charged with arson, a second degree felony. He is not in custody, according to jail records.
According to the affidavit, fire department officials responded to a vehicle fire in the 4000 block of Watersedge Drive in West Austin on Aug. 5 where they found a 2005 Chevrolet Avalanche truck engulfed in flames. The owner of the truck said someone also poured sugar in the vehicle’s gas tank in July, the affidavit said.
The owner of the truck said his son was the primary driver of the vehicle. The owner’s son told fire investigators that his ex-girlfriend started dating Cross earlier this year, and Cross was mad that she and he remained friends, the affidavit said. On July 23 the son reported that his truck’s tires had been slashed and sugar had been poured in the gas tank, the affidavit said.
On July 28, Cross posted a message on his Facebook page saying “Not proud of what I did, but I did it,” the affidavit said.
After the vehicle fire on Aug. 5, investigators spoke to several of Cross’ classmates. They said that on the morning of the blaze, Cross showed them a video on his iPhone that showed a burning vehicle, the affidavit said. They told investigators Cross said he blew up the Avalanche, the affidavit said.
Cross showed another classmate the video, the affidavit said, which featured him in it, mumbling about burning the truck, the affidavit said. Cross told that classmate he poured gasoline in the bed and lit it on fire with a rag or towel, the affidavit said. Cross also had a red gas can in his vehicle, of which he said “I think I need to get rid of this,” the affidavit said.
The affidavit said Cross told his classmates that if they told anyone what he did, he would “come to your house and talk to you personally” and “you know what I am capable of now.”
It wasn’t immediately clear what school Cross attends,
Source:statesman
Fla mall removes all cameras after deputy sheriff’s arrest www.privateofficer.com
Two hours before starting his shift in February 2010, former Collier County Deputy Charles Bullock was captured on security video heading into a Coastland Center Mall bathroom.
Seven minutes later, Bullock walked out and authorities arrested him for molesting a teenage boy.
According to Naples Police, surveillance video showed deputy Bullock going into the mall bathroom 36 times in 60 days, sometimes spending three hours at a time inside.
On two occasions, the cameras captured Bullock with the alleged victim.
“Security cameras can be very beneficial for an investigation. It gives the officers kind of a recorded history of the actual crime itself,” Lieutenant John Barkley said in March.
NBC2 reviewed a year-and-a-half’s worth of all reported crimes at Coastland Center Mall. Of the 92 that referenced cameras, nearly half led to an arrest. Some even cleared a suspect.
Despite that success, the NBC2 Investigators discovered evidence that the mall removed its security cameras after Bullock’s arrest.
Signs once warning patrons they were being record are now missing, a police report showed “no operational cameras.” And mall tenants told NBC2 cameras that used to be there, no longer are.
“I question why would the mall remove the security cameras if they’ve already proven to be a significant tool in the apprehension of a suspected child molester in their mall,” said attorney Jason Turchin, who represents the boy who was allegedly molested.
He filed suit against the mall saying it could have prevented this from happening.
“It almost seems they throw their hands up and say ‘shop at your own risk,’” Turchin said.
Video analysis shows that Bullock was also on duty during the many of the times he was in the mall bathrooms.
While the public or common areas of the mall may not have cameras, independent stores inside the mall typically have their own cameras.
Calls to Coastland Center’s general manager were not returned.
Bullock’s criminal trial is set to start in January.
A hearing in the civil trial against the mall is scheduled sometime next month.
Source:NBC2
Mall security nabs armed shoplifter www.privateofficer.com
About 5:25 p.m., officers responded to a call reporting that one teen suspected of shoplifting from Macy’s department store was fighting with security after he tried to flee, Lt. Jeff Tudor said.
The 16-year-old Hayward male was arrested on suspicion of petty theft, he said.
Officers then detained a 17-year-old San Leandro male believed by police to be an associate of the suspected thief.
Police found him to be in possession of a .38 caliber handgun and a small amount of cocaine, Tudor said.
Officers also discovered two shirts stolen from the store stuffed in the front of his pants, police said.
He was arrested on suspicion of theft, and possession of cocaine, and possession of a loaded firearm, police said.
Off duty Long Beach officer attacked while working security www.privateofficer.com
The officer, whose name was not released Monday, was patrolling the parking lots near the Long Beach Convention Center amid a recent rash of auto burglaries when the attack occurred, said Rico Fernandez, a Long Beach Police Department spokesman.
It was about 8 p.m. Wednesday when the officer noticed the three suspects, including one who was shirtless and sweating profusely, emerge from one of the parking lots.
The trio were jaywalking when the officer drove up to them and tried to stop and question them. The men, however, took off running, Fernandez said.
The officer gave chase and when he caught up with the three men they turned and attacked him, beating him with their fists and kicking him, Fernandez said.
“Luckily an off-duty Long Beach officer was in the area … he came to the officer’s aid,” as did many other on-duty officers summoned by the arresting officer’s call for help, Fernandez said.
The three men were arrested, though one continued to fight with the officers and had to be forcibly taken into custody, Fernandez said.
The injured officer, who is normally assigned to bike patrol, was taken by ambulance to a local hospital where he was treated for minor injuries, Fernandez said.
Ambre Brown, 20, and Kenneth Todd, 20, were both arrested and booked on a charge of assault with a deadly weapon on peace officer.
Keith Todd, the 24-year-old brother of Kenneth Todd, was arrested on the same charge and is also facing a count for resisting arrest, Fernandez said.
The case is being investigated by the Gang Enforcement detectives due to suspects’ alleged affiliation with a local gang, Fernandez noted.
Anyone with information about the attack is asked to call the Gang Detail at 562-570-7370.
Police arrest Louisiana man with rape of child at restaurant www.privateofficer.com
THIBODAUX, La. Aug 23 2011 Police have booked a 51-year-old man on charges that he raped a 12-year-old boy inside the restroom of a fast food restaurant in Thibodaux.
Police tell WWL TV the incident occurred Friday night.
Police say Terry Joseph Sanchez was booked into the Lafourche Parish Detention Center where he was being held on $250,000 bond.
According to police the victim was taken to the hospital by his parents, treated and released. He gave them a description of the suspect and police were able to identify and locate Sanchez, and a warrant was issued for his arrest.
It was not clear whether Sanchez has an attorney.
Source:www.azcentral.com
U.S. Transportation Security Administration adds more bomb dogs www.privateofficer.com
Washington DC Aug 23 2011 The number of bomb-sniffing dogs raised and trained by the U.S. Transportation Security Administration has more than quadrupled in the past 10 years. From less than 200 in 2001, the number has reached more than 800 canines.
The TSA plans to add 200 more dogs every year.
Scott Thomas, program manager of the TSA Canine Breeding and Development Center at Lackland Air Force Base, said that the program seeks to train more dogs as the TSA’s success in sniffing out bombs in airports, mass transit centers and armed forces has tremendously risen since 9/11.
Part of the program involves genetic research on puppies to identify and nurture vital canine traits.
In 2007, the TSA and Texas Department of Criminal Justice launched a program that allowed a select group of prisoners to care for puppies that will later be tapped as explosives detection dogs.
Four TSA-bred puppies were housed in the Travis County State Jail in Austin for one year. The inmates were responsible for feeding, cleaning and socializing the puppies.
Thomas then said that the jail is an ideal environment to socialize the puppy-trainees with different sights, sounds and smell similar to what they will encounter in a transportation environment.
The training aims to prevent phobias from developing in the puppies. That could be achieved by requiring them to explore noisy gateways and aircraft, go underneath trains and be exposed to war zone which often abound with improvised explosive devices.
Source:www.allheadlinenews.com
Police charge CT man with theft of $2200 worth of Teeth Whitening Strips www.privateofficer.com
Milford CT Aug 23 2011 A 39-year-old New Haven man was arrested on charges he stole $2,242 worth of Crest White Strips from Walmart earlier this year, police said Friday.
Manuel Rivera, of 157 Chapel St., was arrested at 3:15 p.m. on Thursday. He faces a single charge of third-degree larceny.
Police said Rivera’s arrest stems from a complaint of a shoplifting made on April 23. Store employees at Wal-Mart, 1365 Boston Post Road, said an alarm was activated after Rivera left through an emergency exit door with a shopping cart filled with “numerous” boxes of white strips.
He loaded the items into his car and fled from the scene.
Shoplifter cut by razors opening up packages www.privateofficer.com
One defendant, Debra S. Smith, 37, of Corbin, rode around the store in a motorized shopping cart, Richmond Police officer Daniel Ellis said, but she got up and walked after being handcuffed.
Ellis’ testimony was heard as Smith and Herschell Hall, 46, of Gray in Knox County, were given preliminary hearings before Judge Brandy O. Brown. Co-defendant Jeannie R. Crosslin, 36, of Corbin, is scheduled for a preliminary hearing Aug. 24.
Brown found probable cause to have the charges against Hall and Smith, who Ellis said confessed to taking more than $1,150 in merchandise, heard by a grand jury.
Ellis said he was dispatched Aug. 7 to Meijer after store employees reported that a man and two women had been observed taking merchandise, carrying it to a parked vehicle and then returning to the store.
The officer said he and a Meijer employee followed Hall from the parking lot into the store where they encountered Crosslin and Smith headed toward the door.
Smith’s shopping cart contained several Meijer bags stuffed with merchandise, including watches, pocket knives and clothing, Ellis said. She also was wearing a pair of tennis shoes taken from store racks but not purchased, he said.
In addition to “expensive fishing lures” and watches from Meijer, when police searched the car in which Hall had been placing merchandise, Ellis said they found items worth “a few hundred dollars” that appeared to have come from other stores.
The Meijer items were returned, but the others are being held as evidence, he said.
Crosslin did not confess to taking items from Meijer, Ellis said, but her hands were cut and bleeding and blood was found on the items in Smith’s shopping cart. Razor blades were found in Smith’s purse, the officer said, but no cuts or bleeding was found on her or Hall.
Smith also faces a drug paraphernalia charge based on the razor blades and a spoon coated with drug residue found in her purse, Ellis said.
Crosslin walked alongside the cart as she and Smith took items, store employees told police, Ellis said. Their activities were recorded on store video, the officer said, but he had not reviewed it.
Brown refused to consider reducing the $2,500 cash bonds under which Hall and Smith were being held in the Madison County Detention Center because they are wanted in other counties. Smith has two theft charges pending in Knox County, the judge noted.
Crosslin was released Aug. 8 after posting her $2,500 bond, according to the jail’s website.
Burglary charges
A grand jury will hear first-degree burglary charges against two Madison County men who a state trooper said took three televisions, a handgun, a video gaming system and a digital camera from a home while the homeowner’s sister-in-law sunbathed outside.
The items, including a 52-inch television taken from the home in rural northeastern Madison County, were valued at about $3,900, KSP Trooper Albert LaGrange said Wednesday during a preliminary hearing for William Robert Lawson, 33, and Brian Keith Webb, 32.
Although the woman did not hear the men arrive, she heard them depart in a pickup truck and noticed “bulky items” under a sheet she recognized had came from the house, LaGrange said. She also recognized Lawson and Webb, with whom she was acquainted, the trooper testified.
Another witness who recognized Webb as a former schoolmate and is a friend of the homeowner told the trooper she saw him driving down Union City Road in his pickup with a large-screen television covered by bed linen, LaGrange said.
The trooper said he telephoned Lawson, who denied participating in the burglary. When Lawson did not come to the KSP post in Richmond for an interview as agreed, LaGrange said he arrested both Lawson and Webb.
Interviewed in the trooper’s cruiser, Lawson admitted to participating in the burglary but said he waited in the truck while Webb went in the house and took the homeowner’s belongings, LaGrange testified.
Webb denied involvement, the trooper said.
None of the items have been recovered, according to LaGrange, who said Lawson told him they had been taken to Lexington but he could not remember where.
Lawson and Webb are both classified as low risk by the pre-trial release office, their attorneys told the judge, who agreed to lower their bonds to $10,000 cash or $20,000 property. Each had been held under $20,000 cash bonds.
Shoplifter running from security dies after being hit by car www.privateofficer.com
ASHEVILLE, N.C. Aug 23 2011– Asheville police said on Friday that a man running from loss prevention officers at the K-Mart near South Tunnel Road was hit by a car.
Officers said Charles Halulko, 21, died from his injuries Sunday morning.
According to officers, Halulko and another suspect were chased by loss prevention officers when the two men separated.
The second suspect was caught by officers near the store.
Officers said when the two men separated, Halulko ran down an embankment near the store and was hit on South Tunnel Road.
Officers said no charges would be filed against the driver that hit Halulko.
Source:www.wyff4.com
NY shoplifting gang hits Home Depots in several states www.privateofficer.com
FAIRFIELD, Conn.Aug 23 2011 — Two Brooklyn men were arrested Friday and charged with attempted theft from Home Depot. Police say Vaja Asatiani, 31, and Ivane Avlakhashvili, 24, tried to steal nearly $1,900 worth of merchandise from the Fairfield store and are suspects in thefts from Home Deport outlets in New Jersey and Stratford.
Store security workers called police at about 4 p.m. Friday after seeing the two walking around Home Depot placing items into a box for a sink. They said Asatiani and Avlakhashvili had collected products worth $393 before security guards detained them.
When police arrived, they also found $1,500 in store merchandise that they believe Asatiani and Avlakhashvili had taken earlier in the day. They also found black plastic bags designed to walk security-tagged items through checkpoints without setting off alarms, as well as identification cards from Maryland and the Republic of Georgia and labels taken off items from Stratford’s Home Depot.
Police charged both men with three counts of larceny. Asatiani was also charged with 12 counts of forgery and possession of a shoplifting device. Asatiani’s bond was set at $75,000, and Avlakhashvili’s was set at $50,000. Both are due in court Sept. 6.
Nassau County man nabbed in Wal-Mart “flashing” incident www.privateofficer.com
Nassau County NY Aug 23 2011 A 59-year-old man has been accused of exposing himself to a 7-year-old girl inside a Westbury store on Sunday afternoon, Nassau County police said.
Lautaro Zambrano allegedly followed the victim in the children’s clothing aisle at the Wal-Mart on Old Country Road while her mother was close by at 3:26 p.m., police said.
advertisement After she was flashed, the victim ran to her mother, who notified store security. Security detained the suspect in the parking lot until police arrived to arrest him.
Zambrano, of 101 Bayview Ave. in Port Washington, was charged with endangering the welfare of a child, stalking and public lewdness.
He will be arraigned Monday at First District Court in Hempstead.
The incident came 11 days after another man was arrested for sexual abuse of a 9-year-old girl at a Costco in Westbury.
Third Squad detectives ask anyone with information regarding this or any incident involving Zambrano to contact them at 516-573-6356.
Source:longislandpress.com
Arkansas man charged in death of bouncer www.privateofficer.com
Investigators say Chase McGowan, 28, is charged with manslaughter and leaving the scene of an accident after an injury.
He allegedly ran over 49-year-old Ray Duatartas, a security guard at Smyly’s Crab Shack, before 4:00 a.m. August 14. Smyly’s is in the 4900 block of Central Avenue.
Witnesses told police police Dautartas was trying to break up a fight between McGowen and other patrons when McGowen started backing up with his car door open and hit Dautartas, knocking him unconscious. As people began to help Dautartas they say McGowen started driving forward, ignoring pleas to stop running over Dautartas, killing him.
McGowan is being in the Garland County Jail in lieu of $10,000 bond.
