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Police imposter pulls over real cops www.privateofficer.com
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.Oct 9 2011 (AP) — Police say a New Mexico man pretending to be police officer pulled over a real Albuquerque Police Department detective and is facing charges.
KOB-TV reports that Tyree Appleberry was given the citation Wednesday on charges of impersonating a police officer then arrested for an outstanding warrant.
According to police, the 42-year-old turned on his strobe lights on his white Chevy Tahoe in an attempt to stop a driver, who turned out to be an undercover officer.
But Appleberry said he was not impersonating an officer and was instead asking the driver why he was in the parking lot next to an auto auction yard where his friend works.
Authorities say Appleberry had a warrant out for his arrest for failing to appear in court for a reckless driving charge.
Thieves steal Pennsylvania bridge www.privateofficer.com
New Castle Development spokesman Gary Bruce said Friday that he “couldn’t believe it when they told me it was gone.”
A state police report says the 20-foot-wide span in North Beaver Township went missing between Sept. 27 and Wednesday.
The bridge was made out of corrugated steel and valued at about $100,000. Thieves used a blowtorch to cut it apart, presumably to sell it for scrap metal.
The bridge was used occasionally as a back entrance to the company property. It’s in the woods along a railroad line about 60 miles north of Pittsburgh.
Bruce says he doubts the company can replace the bridge.
“Austin Powers” actor faces life in prison for horrific kidnapping-rape and torture of woman www.privateofficer.com
Orange County CA Oct 9 2011 A former on-screen villain could spend the rest of his life in jail after being found guilty of a horrific real-life crime.
Joseph Hyungmin Son, 40, who played Dr. Evil’s sidekick “Random Task” in the first “Austin Powers” movie, was convicted of torture last week in connection with the 1990 abduction and gang rape of a 20-year-old California woman.
The Orange County woman was walking her dog on Christmas Eve and looking at holiday lights in the neighborhood when she was snatched off the street and attacked, KTLA reported.
Son was accused along with one other suspect of holding the victim at gun point and raping her numerous times as well as sexually assaulting her with the weapon.
The victim’s lawyer claimed the assailants then released the woman naked with her pants tied around her eyes.
Son wasn’t arrested in connection with the crime until 18 years after the incident.
In 2008, after violating probation on vandalism charge, he was charged with numerous counts of assault when his DNA was found to match a sample from the victim.
Many of those charges were ultimately dropped due to the amount of time that had elapsed since the alleged incident, KTLA reported.
Son is slated to be sentenced on September 19, and faces 15 years to life in prison.
Armed man at NY newspaper wanted to commit suicide by cop www.privateofficer.com
SCHENECTADY, N.Y.Oct 9 2011 —An armed man who refused to leave the offices of an upstate newspaper Saturday was apparently trying to commit suicide by having an officer shoot him, authorities said.
Tweet Be the first to Tweet this!ShareThis The shooting happened at around 4 p.m. at the offices of the Daily Gazette after a quiet news day in Schenectady, a city of more than 60,000 just outside the state capital of Albany.
The newspaper reported that the man, identified as 21-year-old Elvis Norwood, appeared weak and possibly medicated when he arrived. He talked his way into the locked building by asking a security guard for a drink of water. Then, he refused to leave and began wandering the halls.
Norwood eventually said he needed help. Daniel Beck, the newspaper’s general manager, called 911 when he saw that Norwood was carrying a knife and bleeding from his hand.
The police officers who arrived at the office requested a backup officer with a stun gun, Schenectady police Sgt. Matthew Dearing told The Associated Press. Norwood charged at Officer Brett Ferris when the other officer turned to let the backup inside the locked lobby, Dearing said.
Ferris, who had been on the force for four years, fired four shots, striking Norwood at least three times, once in the arm, chest and lower abdomen, Dearing said.
“For five minutes they asked him to put the knife down,” said Linda Eldeen, Beck’s girlfriend, who was at the office. “He did start going at them. He looked like he was going to charge them.”
Norwood was hospitalized in stable condition, Dearing said, added that it was too early to determine charges. A 9-inch-long kitchen knife was recovered, he said.
“At this point we’re forced to believe that this was an attempt of suicide by the police,” Public Safety Commissioner Wayne Bennett told the newspaper.
Norwood had been picked up fewer than 10 days ago for mental health issues and taken to a hospital, Dearing told the AP.
The two initial officers were placed on administrative leave, per department policy, until they are cleared to return to duty, Dearing said.
Four killed, 23 wounded in 48 hours of violence in Chicago www.privateofficer.com
Officials said the deaths included a woman killed by a relative in Logan Square; a man killed in a gang-related attack in Lake View; a security guard stabbed and shot at a West Side gas station, and a man who had been released from jail just a couple of days earlier who was shot to death on the South Side. The wounded included at least nine teens ages 14 to 17.
At 4:40 a.m. Saturday, a fight erupted between Isabella Martinez’s 35-year-old sister and a male family member at Martinez’s home in the 2300 block of North Harding, Chicago Police spokesman John Mirabelli said. The man shot both women, killing Martinez, 22, and injuring her sister, police said. No arrest had been made as of Saturday evening.
At 4 a.m., security guard Dennis Fox, 53, was shot by a man he had asked to leave a Citgo gas station at 415 S. Pulaski, police said. Fox, a father who lived in the 4000 block of West Grenshaw, “was a nice guy. It’s very sad,” a Citgo worker said Saturday.
About 1:30 a.m. in Lake View, Louis Cotto was with a group of people standing on a corner at Ashland and Irving Park when someone walked up and fired shots into the group, police said. Cotto, 29, of Barrington, was hit in the chest and died. The shooter fled in a dark SUV. Police were interviewing witnesses Saturday, but no one had been arrested in the attack, which police think was gang-related.
At 6 a.m. Friday, William Newell, 29, a parolee who had been released from custody Wednesday, was chase and gunned down near his home in the 7900 block of South Drexel, police said.
He had been serving a two-year sentence for possession of a controlled substance but was paroled on Aug. 25. He was arrested again on Sept. 16 for possession of a controlled substance and released Wednesday after a judge found no probable cause for the arrest, officials said.
Jackson TN police officer dies www.privateofficer.com
Brockmeyer had 10 years of service with the department and worked in the Uniform Patrol Division.
Funeral arrangements are being handled by George A. Smith & Sons North Chapel, according to the release.
Visitation is scheduled for 5 to 8 p.m. Monday at Englewood Baptist Church, the release said, and the service will be at 2 p.m. Tuesday at Englewood, followed by burial services at Highland Memorial Gardens.
The police department requests that the Brockmeyer family’s privacy be respected at this time.
Chicago security officer killed stopping robbery www.privateofficer.com
Chicago IL Oct 9 2011 Security guard slain in confrontation at gas station
A security guard was stabbed and shot in the chest by a man who may have tried to rob a gas station on the West Side early today, authorities and the man’s father said.
Dennis Fox, 53, was slain at a gas station at 415 S. Pulaski Road about 4 a.m., authorities said. Fox, of the 4000 block of West Grenshaw Street, was dead on the scene, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office.
Police were called to the gas station about 4 a.m. following a report of a robbery in progress, said Chicago Police News Affairs Officer Darryl Baety. At the scene, they found Fox, wounded, and a man believed to have attacked him, Baety said.
The suspect was taken into custody.
Fox, who state records show has a firearms training license, was a security guard at the gas station and is believed to have had tried to stop a robbery there, police said.
Fox’s father, Elbert Fox, 84, said that the attack was captured by security cameras, and that his son, who had worked at the gas station about 5 years, was attacked after trying to call police about the man who attacked him.
A man had been hanging around the gas station about half an hour, talking on his cell phone, and when Fox tried to call police, the man attacked and stabbed him, said Elbert Fox, who said he had watched some of the security footage from the attack.
After stabbing Fox several times, the man discovered Fox’s gun, grabbed it, then shot him, Elbert Fox said.
The man then fled the station, but came back inside apparently because he had left his cell phone, Elbert Fox said.
Elbert Fox said the station clerk, who works in a bulletproof-glass enclosed clerk’s area, did not come out until after the attack ended.
“They had this man (Fox) here to protect their merchandise, but they didn’t do anything to stop it,” Elbert Fox said.
Dennis Fox lived his whole life on the West Side, and has worked as a security guard for about 15 years, his father said. Among the younger of 10 brothers and sisters, Fox enjoyed music and fixing things, Elbert Fox said.
The owner of the gas station was not available for comment.
The suspect is being questioned by Harrison Area detectives, who are consulting with prosecutors about charges against him.
Source:Chicago Tribune
Ohio police shoot AK-47 armed Walgreen robber www.privateofficer.com
MIAMI TWP.OH Oct 9 2011 – A gunman said to be wearing camouflaged clothing pointed an assault rifle at a clerk to obtain drugs from the Walgreens store at 5901 Springboro Pike on Saturday afternoon before police shot him during an armed exchange outside the store, police said.
The gunman fired a shot from the AK-47 assault rifle inside the store but no one was hit, said Maj. John DiPietro, Miami Twp.’s deputy chief of police. The gunman demanded morphine and OxyContin, a narcotic pain reliever, from the clerk, DiPietro said. A shell casing was found in the store near the pharmacy counter, police said.
No one other than the gunman was shot, DiPietro said. The gunman, described by one witness as being in his 60s and about six feet tall, carried as many as four knives, a handgun and two to three magazines of AK-47 ammunition on his person, DiPietro said.
Police did not immediately release the names of the gunman or the Miami Twp. police officer who shot him outside store, located along Ohio 741. The officer has been with the police force for at least 10 years, DiPietro said.
Ken Stamper, 57, of West Carrollton, a customer inside the Walgreens, said he saw the gunman inside store with the rifle, at about 2 p.m.
“I looked him in the eye,” Stamper said. “The look on his face was pretty crazy.”
The Miami Twp. police officer responding to the report of a robbery drove up outside the store and encountered the gunman, who fired at the officer without striking him, DiPietro said. The officer returned fire, striking the gunman in the chest and the leg, DiPietro said.
Reporters and photographers saw a shattered window in the officer’s police cruiser.
“This officer did an outstanding job. We’ve got the suspect and he will not be a threat to anybody else,” DiPietro said.
The gunman was taken to Miami Valley Hospital and was undergoing surgery, DiPietro said. The police officer was taken to Kettering Medical Center to be examined as a precaution, police said.
“I spoke with the officer and his family. He’s fine,” DiPietro said later on Saturday afternoon.
Police sought a search warrant to examine the contents of a white van that the gunman had driven to the store location, DiPietro said.
Stamper said he left the store, then saw the gunman come out as the police were arriving.
“He was firing all over the place,” Stamper said of the gunman.
Based on the amount of ammunition and the weapons that the gunman carried, there appeared to be little doubt that he had intended to rob the drugstore, DiPietro said. Police confiscated video footage from a security camera in the store.
Police will do an internal investigation, which is routine in any shooting involving a Miami Twp. police officer, DiPietro said.
The video showed the gunman pointing his rifle at a female clerk, but did not show when he fired the weapon inside the store, DiPietro said.
“Those gunshots will forever echo in my ears,” said Lucille Damron, 83, who had been inside the store with her daughter, Pamela Damron, 62, of West Carrollton, to pick up a prescription. “It’s something I’ll never forget.”
The gunman pointed his rifle at a pharmacy clerk who was “putting medicine in a bag,” according to Tina Isreal , 47, of Dayton. Isreal said she saw the encounter through the store’s drive-through window along with her daughter, Teonna Barber, 16.
Isreal said she pulled around the building and saw the suspect emerge from the front of the store shooting at the police officer.
“The suspect started shooting at the officer,” Isreal said.
Debbie Vicory of Dayton said she was inside the store and saw the gunman waving the weapon around.
“I heard a loud pop, bang,” she said.
Pamela Damron said she saw the gunman, then ducked down in a store aisle.
“I am in a daze,” she said.
Source:dayton daily news
Security officer stabbed www.privateofficer.com
Capt. John Koonmen of the Rochester Police Department said that a security officer was escorting a group of people who had been involved in an altercation inside the Water Street Music Hall outside of the venue when one of the patrons allegedly stabbed the security officer in the stomach with a knife.
Koonmen said the incident occurred in the doorway of the Water Street Music Hall, 204 North Water St.
The security officer, a male in his late 20s whose name was not released, was taken to Strong Memorial Hospital for treatment of non-life-threatening injuries.
The Buffalo man charged in the incident, whose name was not released by police, was arrested at the scene, Koonmen said
Protestors storm Smithsonian’s National Air Museum-assault security www.privateofficer.com
Washington DC Oct 9 2011 The Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum on the Mall was abruptly closed Saturday afternoon after a “large group of protesters” tried to push past security guards and enter the museum, a spokeswoman said.
A demonstrator lies on the ground at an entrance to the National Air and Space Museum after police pepper-sprayed a group of protesters trying to get into the museum Saturday.
At least one demonstrator was pepper-sprayed by a museum guard in the confrontation, said Smithsonian spokeswoman Linda St. Thomas. Several witnesses said that more than a dozen people were affected by the spray.
The museum was closed at about 3:15 p.m., St. Thomas said.
Some of the protesters were affiliated with the Occupy DC demonstration that had sprung up at McPherson Square last week as an offshoot of the larger Occupy Wall Street movement in New York City, said Cody Steele, 21, an American University senior who participated in the march to the museum.
Steele said the march was planned, however, by a different but like-minded group of protesters — known as the October 2011 group — who have been camped out in Freedom Plaza since Oct. 6.
“It’s a shifting movement,” said Steele, who has spent time with both protest groups this past week. “They are separate, but it’s a common set of goals.”
The two groups’ grievances span a range of issues, including corporate power, environmental destruction and American militarism. On Sunday, they were demonstrating at the museum against the U.S. military’s use of drones in overseas wars, witnesses said.
An exhibit of military unmanned aerial vehicles is currently on view at the museum.
As many as 200 people attempted to enter the museum through doors facing the National Mall, said St. Thomas, while others gathered at the museum’s Independence Avenue entrance. The demonstrators carried large signs and other items not allowed inside the museum, she said.
When a security guard told them they could not enter, demonstrators pushed the guard outside and up against a wall, St. Thomas said. Another guard approached and pepper-sprayed one protester before D.C. police and U.S. Park Police were called, she said, and one person was arrested.
No one was seriously hurt by the pepper spray, said Pete Piringer, a spokesman for D.C. Fire and EMS. Medics treated several people at the scene, Piringer said, but everyone affected by the pepper spray refused to be taken to hospitals for further evaluation.
The museum is to reopen Sunday at 10 a.m., St. Thomas said.
Source:Washington Post
VA police officer gets 20 yr prison term for child porn www.privateofficer.com
William Hurlbut, 29, of Fredericksburg, befriended the child’s family and has known the boy since infancy, said Neil H. MacBride, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia in Alexandria.
Hurlbut is a former police officer for Aquia Harbour and had used the department’s Internet connection to share child pornography, according to court records. The state-certified department serves a gated community in Stafford County.
The file sharing attracted the attention of investigators in June 2010, court documents show, and a later search of Hurlbut’s home uncovered more than 1,000 images and more than 1,000 videos of child pornography including those with the 8-year-old boy, according to court papers.
Hurlbut was later fired from the police department for an unrelated issue, court filings state.
Hurlbut pleaded guilty in June 2011 to producing child pornography.
In court records, prosecutors in the case described Hurlbut as a man who “appears to have been attracted to single mothers with boys who were about eight to ten years of age. Hurlbut does not appear to have had a romantic or sexual interest in the mothers but instead lavished his attention on the women’s sons.”
The case was investigated by a team from the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement Homeland Security Investigations, the Spotsylvania Sheriff’s Office, and the Northern Virginia/District of Columbia Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force.
Source:Washington Post
South Bay teacher arrested for child porn www.privateofficer.com
Gary Delaney Phillips, 54, was taken into custody from his College area home at about 8:30 a.m., said Darrell Foxworth, Special Agent with the FBI.
Philips has taught 6th grade at Clear View Elementary for the past two years.
“He’s a great teacher, a great guy, we all like him,” said Miriam Guerrero, a kindergarten teacher at the school, “I know he’s single and he has cats, but that’s pretty much all I know about his private life.”
FBI agents said they know a lot more about Phillips private life, and that’s why they busted through the front door of his College area home and arrested him on child porn charges.
Agents said they zeroed in on Phillips after finding emails he allegedly sent to child porn traders on the Internet.
In those emails, investigators said Phillips expressed a sexual interest in children, and he already owned some child porn images, which agents said they found at his home.
During the search, images depicting children engage in sexually explicit conduct were found, according to a media release.
“Shocking it’s shocking, I have goosebumps.. I can’t believe it, I wouldn’t suspect anything about it,” said Guerrero, “doesn’t sound like the type of person who would have that kind of accusation.”
On Tuesday, school is set to begin at Clear View Elementary, which is the same day Phillips is set to be arraigned in Federal Court.
Source: NBC San Diego
Police seek suspect in Palm Beach security officer murder www.privateofficer.com
PALM BEACH GARDENS Fla Oct 9 2011 — The lanky security guard was frightened as he made his after-midnight rounds at Promenade Shopping Plaza on July 14.
“He told me he was nervous about a man he threw off the property the night before,” said Jay Hershkowitz, the owner of New York Pizza Department who often shared a late-night slice with the guard. “He was afraid the guy might come back after him.”
Jacques – none of the plaza workers knew his last name, his family, where he lived or his age – was found beaten and bloody behind the plaza a few hours later. He never regained consciousness.
On Sept. 29, Jacques died in Kindred Hospital in Riviera Beach.
“He would wait for me to count up the cash at night after my shift. Then he would put me in his golf cart and drive me to my car,” said Sara Lopez, a hairdresser at Prime Cut Salon. “He was such a gentle, nice man.”
Jacques Novembre, 61, of West Palm Beach, was a two-year employee of United K9 Security in West Palm Beach. He enjoyed soccer, politics, helping people and late-night pizza. He and his wife, Ariane, have five children – the youngest is 17 – and 11 grandchildren. He worked for another firm, Command Security in Delray Beach, two days a week.
“The days before he died, he would squeeze my hand very tight,” his widow said last week.
Gardens police say Novembre could have interrupted someone trying to steal a back-flow prevention device from behind the plaza. The devices have about 12 pounds of brass, which is worth about $20 at a scrap metal dealer.
The weapon was a “blunt object,” police say. His nose was broken, and he suffered severe facial and skull fractures. Novembre was carrying a cellphone, 22 photos, a flashlight and prescription glasses when his body was found, according to the police report. His wallet was missing.
No arrests have been made.
Like all security guards at United K9, Novembre was not authorized to carry a gun, mace or club, said Iva Wummer, owner of the company.
“Our guards are trained not to confront people committing a crime. We tell them to call 911,” Wummer said.
Outside of the plaza’s stores are red and black CrimeStoppers fliers advertising a $2,000 reward for information about who killed Novembre. Inside are the people who remember the man who looked out for them.
Novembre was often seen in the plaza parking lot leaning over an open car hood, trying to coax a car engine to life for a befuddled driver. He’d roll back shopping carts to Publix. He’d poke his bald head into Prime Cut Salon and ask for a free haircut.
“I dropped a $20 bill in the parking lot. I’m sitting here, and he hands me the money,” said Drew Lawrence, a customer sipping a drink on a recent afternoon in Swampgrass Willie’s. “He was just a nice, old man doing his job. Now he’s dead.”
On the bar is an extra-large beer bottle for donations for Novembre’s family. Somebody wrote “In Loving Memory” on a sticky note and attached it to the neck of the bottle. A charity event is planned at the bar.
Novembre’s shift is now patrolled by Jeger Wollphgams Bollikams, a 22-year-old who, like Novembre, is from Haiti. Also tall and slender, with a bright smile, Bollikams has a wife and family. While on duty, he drives the same black and white golf cart that Novembre did. Like Novembre, he works alone.
Bollikams walked a visitor to the spot where they found Novembre’s body.
“Yes, I know this is a dangerous job. But I don’t feel scared. I’m always careful, whatever I do,” he said.
