Bald Eagles converge on Anchorage landfill to feast www.privateofficer.com

 

 

Anchorage AK Feb 6 2012 The bald eagle may be America’s bird, but as the employees of Anchorage’s Municipal Landfill know, it is also an incorrigible trash hound.
Each winter, 200 to 300 eagles take up residence at the main city landfill off Hiland Road in Eagle River.
In the stark landscape of pits and snow-covered trash mountains, bald eagles line the horizon, watching with what can only be called eagle-eyed interest as trucks unload the city’s waste, waiting for the magical moment when a dumpster of fish guts might arrive.
Beyond where landfill visitors can see, so many eagles gather on some winter days that it “looks like the Russian River” at the height of the salmon run, said Shane Christiansen, who works as a senior engineering technician at the landfill.
Landfill workers admit to being occasionally dazzled by their sheer numbers.
But more often, they’re seen as a hazard — one the city spends roughly $150,000 each year to combat.
Eagles aren’t uncommon in Anchorage, but it isn’t thought of as an “eagle town,” like Homer or Haines in Southeast Alaska, where thousands gather each year on the Chilkat River.
Eagle River takes its moniker from the bird, but scientists say there are no accurate counts of the area’s eagle population. What is known, says Alaska Department of Fish and Game area biologist Jessy Coltrane, is that eagles build their nests in cottonwood trees in riparian areas and like to feed on fish in the summertime. The population is generally considered to be at a healthy number.
In winter, they gravitate toward easy sources of food, like moose road kills and, inevitably, landfill trash.
That’s where the problems come.
Landfill birds, which also include ravens year-round and gulls in warmer months, peck away at things like the dump’s leachate liners, damage equipment and follow trucks and bulldozers like flying shadows.

The most serious safety concern is an active runway only 6,000 feet away at Joint Base Elmendorf Richardson.
FEDERAL EAGLE HARASSERS
Birds and planes don’t mix.
In September 1995, a jet taking off from Elmendorf hit a flock of geese, sucking birds into the engines and causing the plane to crash. All 24 crew members onboard were killed.
It’s dangerous to have thousands of birds loitering adjacent to an active runway, says Mark Madden, the city’s director of Solid Waste Services.
So the city employs designated “hazers” to discourage eagles and other avian visitors from getting comfortable at the landfill.
Landfill staff apply annually for a “take” permit from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to allow hazing through a program called “Avian Vector Control.”
That alone is tricky; migratory birds are protected under federal law. And bald eagles were once listed as an endangered species nationally. (They were delisted in 2007.)
So the landfill contracts federal employees through the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s wildlife services program to harass the birds.
The $153,000 contract pays for labor, vehicles and supplies for the bird hazers. They also patrol the landfill transfer station in Midtown.
The idea: The federal government regulates the birds so federal workers are responsible for harassing them.
One of those hazers is Bob Tierney, who has done battle with the birds in an epic, cartoon-style game of cat and mouse since at least 2005.
Tierney, 80, occupies a strange perch in the federal bureaucracy: a person employed by the government to, in part, harass the national bird.
The tools of his trade include a Dodge Ram pickup and a shotgun that shoots firecrackers.
The idea of a job that involves cruising around a landfill all day with the express purpose of shooting firecrackers at birds might appeal to more than a few.
Madden says he gets frequent inquiries from would-be applicants for bird hazing positions.
Tierney has many tales of his ongoing battles with the birds but says he isn’t supposed to speak to the news media without permission from a chain of command of U.S. Department of Agriculture public relations officials at least two states deep.
The chain of command did not grant an interview.
Landfill workers agree that Tierney knows the birds and their tricks better than nearly anybody.
And truth be told, eagles, though numerous and bold, are the least of his worries.
It’s the ravens — the conniving, vindictive, terrifyingly intelligent ravens — that really wreak havoc.
These are the same ravens that somehow — everyone swears — picked out the personal truck of a worker who had been on harassment duty and proceeded to eat all the black rubber from his windshield wipers.
The birds are so smart the landfill workers sometimes switch pickup trucks with the bird harasser patrol to try to trick the ravens. But even exchanging a white truck for a red one rarely works.
“We do get into bird psychology some days,” said Christiansen, with a sigh.
‘US AGAINST THEM’
Eagles, by comparison, are the landfill’s muscle: big wingspan, talon-bearing but not accomplished tricksters. They intimidate by their size and will not hesitate to stare down a bulldozer in pursuit of a load of fish guts, said Madden.
“A pretty impressive piece of equipment,” he said, nodding.
While ravens are bold and shameless, eagles “tend to be a little more respectful,” Madden said.
But they do have limits.
When wily ravens challenge eagles for food, the eagles usually play it cool — up to a point. Then they’ve been known to suddenly launch into dramatic displays, like inverting midair with a screech and talons out, Christiansen said.
“They’ll take the harassment for a long time,” he said, “and then they’ve had enough.”
While ravens will eat just about any foodstuff Anchorage residents throw away, eagles stick to meat.
They “sit in the trees and have food envy over what they might be able to get out of the landfill,” Madden said.
Their excellent eyesight allows them to spot small scraps in household trash from a considerable distance.
For hungry, overwintering eagles, the greatest holiday of all is when a trash bin of fish guts arrive. Or a roadkill carcass. Or perhaps “somebody’s pet horse that has kicked the bucket,” Christiansen said.
When that happens, any pretense of avian politeness disappears.
“It’s a feeding frenzy,” Christiansen said.
“It’s us against them,” Madden added.
Landfill workers make sure no garbage is left uncovered for more than few hours, 10 at most, Madden said. The day’s trash is covered before workers go home, which helps to deter birds — to a degree.
The eagles also enjoy a special protected status. Unlike the ravens and gulls, bald eagles are covered under the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act — meaning no matter the hijinks they involve themselves in, hazing can’t include killing them.
The landfill’s operating permit requires the facility to “control birds so they do not become a health or safety problem.”
From the late 1980s to 2004, the city invested millions of dollars in netting to try to keep them out. City workers ended up spending a lot of time fixing holes. The birds never left.
For now, hazing is keeping things under control. In bureaucratic theory, the landfill should be bird free.
“Good luck with that,” Christiansen said.
But as long as eagles remain scavengers and as long as humans throw away meat scraps and fish innards, America’s bird will likely continue to feast on Anchorage’s trash.

Source:www.adn.com

Jury awards mentally ill woman $1million after she gives birth on jail floor alone www.privateofficer.com

 

 

Seattle WA Feb 6 2012 A federal jury on Friday awarded nearly $1 million to a severely mentally ill homeless woman who gave birth alone on the floor of a King County Jail cell 14 years ago.

Jurors in U.S. District Court in Seattle deliberated for nearly three full days before finding that Imka Pope’s constitutional right to medical care while in custody was violated by King County Jail staff. Pope was awarded $850,000 for her pain and suffering and $125,000 in punitive damages.

In her lawsuit, Pope claimed her constitutional right to receive medical care while in jail was violated when jail officials failed to treat her mental illness or address her advanced pregnancy. Pope, then 27, on Nov. 21, 1997, gave birth “alone, terrified and in terrible pain” despite having told two correctional officers that she was in labor and needed help, the lawsuit alleged.

Help came only after a guard heard the baby crying, according to the lawsuit against the county and several correctional officers and nurses.

The lawsuit, filed in 2007, claimed nurses and corrections officers at the facility knew, or should have known, Pope was pregnant and that they dismissed her claims of being in labor as the ramblings of a mentally ill woman.

The county’s own jail-practices expert concluded the staff “probably did this because they believe she’s just mentally ill, she’s just pretending to have a baby,” according to trial briefs filed in the case.

James Apa, a spokesman for Public Health — Seattle & King County, which oversees medical care in the jail, said Friday the county may appeal the verdict.

“We share the jury’s sympathy for the plight of the mentally ill and we appreciate the care they took in reaching their decision, however, we respectfully disagree,” he said.

The money would come from the county’s risk-management fund, Apa said.

Pope’s attorney, Chris Carney, said his client’s life has been tragic and difficult, and the money awarded in the case may allow her some small measure of safety, security and a chance for a better life.

King County Jail spokesman Cmdr. Willie Hayes called the circumstances of the jail-cell birth “extremely unfortunate” but said the jail has adopted new protocols and policies, including ones mandating a full medical assessment of every inmate at intake.

The lawsuit wasn’t filed earlier because Pope was either in a hospital or on the streets and was unable to comprehend that her rights may have been violated, according to her attorneys. As a result, the statute of limitations in the case was extended

The county disputed Pope’s claims of medical malpractice and negligence, saying Pope’s severe mental problems made it impossible for the staff to assess her health. In addition, they say, Pope was uncooperative when questioned, would not disclose her real name and did not reveal she was pregnant.

Pope was booked into the jail Nov. 15, 1997, after police arrested her for sleeping on a bench at a bus stop.

She was not physically examined or given a pregnancy test, her lawsuit alleged. Instead, she was sent to the psychiatric ward, where she was placed in 23-hour lockdown.

The child was born in the cell and suffered a heart defect and neurological damage.

Pope had additionally given birth to two other children before her jail-cell labor and a fourth child afterward, according to court documents.

The fourth child was born in downtown Seattle, attorneys for the county say in court documents.

According to court documents, all of the children were removed from Pope’s care.

On Friday morning, before the verdict was read, Pope was on First Avenue near Union Street, begging for change. She said her attorneys had brought her up from Oakland, Calif., for the trial and had put her in a shelter. But, she said, she didn’t like the shelter and had spent the night on the streets.

She needed money, she said, to get food and to wash her clothes.

Source: Seattle Times

Wisconsin man kills family-commits suicide www.privateofficer.com

 

DE PERE WI Feb 6 2012 — A man killed his wife and two children before killing himself Friday, police say.

Police Chief Derek Beiderwieden said a man called police from inside the house about 3 p.m. to report that he had just killed three people and was about to kill himself. The phone line went silent, and others at the police station then heard a loud “pop,” the chief said.

Officers arriving at the home a short time later found four victims — two adults and two children — shot to death in a bedroom of the single-story home. Authorities recovered a firearm believed to the weapon used in the apparent murder-suicide, Beiderwieden said.

Neighbors and land records show Denis and Michelle Bay are owners of the residence where the incident occurred, 1245 S. Erie St. Records indicate the couple has two children, Andrea and Daniel, but police would not say whether these were the individuals at home during the shooting.

It appears that the first three victims were fatally shot a short time before the gunman called the police department, Beiderwieden said. Investigators had not identified a motive but were gathering evidence Friday night.

It’s a “very, very tragic day for De Pere,” the chief said, describing the incident as De Pere’s first homicide in several years and possibly its first homicide with multiple victims.

“I believe the community is safe,” he said. “I believe this was an isolated incident.”

Mayor Michael Walsh commended the police department’s efforts.

“It’s never easy to respond to any incident like this, especially when children are involved,” he said. “It really affects our officers.

“It’s certainly a tragic incident,” he added. “Our thoughts and prayers go out to relatives and family.”

The Bays are going through a contested divorce, court records say, and Michelle, along with the children, had moved out about six months ago but returned home in the fall for the new school year, said Jane Nohr, who lives in the home behind the Bays.

“Why she went back with him I don’t know,” Nohr said.

The Bay family moved into the neighborhood about five years ago, said Nohr, who has lived at 1244 O’Keefe Court for more than 30 years.

“I didn’t know the man very much,” Nohr said. “He was the kind of guy, if she was out talking to me, he’d send the kids to get her. He was very demanding.”

When Michelle Bay, 44, and the children moved out, they lived in an apartment on East River Drive, and she bought the kids a dog, a Lhasa apso named Maddy, Nohr said. When they moved back in with Denis Bay, they took the dog with them, but Denis, 46, “never liked the dog,” Andrea Bay had told her. The dog was led out of the residence by authorities this evening.

Nohr last saw Andrea Bay Thursday morning when the girl was playing with the dog outside before school and brought it over to the fence to visit with Nohr’s two Lhasa apsos.

Denis Bay was laid off about a year ago, Nohr said, but she didn’t know what his occupation had been. Michelle was on disability.

“She kept having one operation after another,” Nohr said, adding that she didn’t know why.

Dan Angell, who lives across the street, said they seemed like a normal family.

“I would have never guessed that any of that would have happened,” he said.

A number of neighbors noted that they didn’t know the family’s name, but saw the couple’s children — one in middle school and the other in elementary — get off the school bus after school Friday afternoon.

Nicole Born, who lives across the street from the house where the incident took place, said her husband talked to Bay and noted that he was “nice, very, very respectful.”

A police truck was outside the ranch-style home with an attached garage Friday evening. The garage door was open, showing a room nearly filled with materials. Beiderwieden said he does not believe police had been called to the house for any previous trouble.

The Bay family moved into the neighborhood about five years ago, said Nohr, who has lived at 1244 O’Keefe Court for more than 30 years.

“I didn’t know the man very much,” Nohr said. “He was the kind of guy, if she was out talking to me, he’d send the kids to get her. He was very demanding.”

When Michelle Bay, 44, and the children moved out, they lived in an apartment on East River Drive, and she bought the kids a dog, a Lhasa apso named Maddy, Nohr said. When they moved back in with Denis Bay, they took the dog with them, but Denis, 46, “never liked the dog,” Andrea Bay had told her. The dog was led out of the residence by authorities this evening.

Nohr last saw Andrea Bay Thursday morning when the girl was playing with the dog outside before school and brought it over to the fence to visit with Nohr’s two Lhasa apsos.

Denis Bay was laid off about a year ago, Nohr said, but she didn’t know what his occupation had been. Michelle was on disability.

“She kept having one operation after another,” Nohr said, adding that she didn’t know why.

Dan Angell, who lives across the street, said they seemed like a normal family.

“I would have never guessed that any of that would have happened,” he said.

A number of neighbors noted that they didn’t know the family’s name, but saw the couple’s children — one in middle school and the other in elementary — get off the school bus after school Friday afternoon.

Nicole Born, who lives across the street from the house where the incident took place, said her husband talked to Bay and noted that he was “nice, very, very respectful.”

A police truck was outside the ranch-style home with an attached garage Friday evening. The garage door was open, showing a room nearly filled with materials. Beiderwieden said he does not believe police had been called to the house for any previous trouble.

Source:greenbaygazette

Spokane daycare worker known as “Teacher Grandpa” gets prison for child rape www.privateofficer.com

 

SPOKANE, Wash. Feb 6 2012 
A former Spokane day care worker who was known as “Teacher Grandpa” has been sentenced to at least 10 years in prison for child rape.

66-year-old Eugene R. Wright is to serve 123 months and undergo a sexual deviance evaluation before he’s released, which could mean he stays in prison for the rest of his life.

Wright was arrested in 2010 for sexually assaulting a 5-year-old girl at the Bigfoot Child Care Center at Spokane Community College.

Wright pleaded guilty to first-degree child rape on Jan. 27 and was sentenced by Spokane County Superior Court Judge Harold Clarke.

Source:www.spokesman.com

Arizona Mills mall evacuated during possible amred confrontation www.privateofficer.com

 

 

Tempe AZ Feb 6 2012

Arizona Mills Mall in Tempe is reopened following an evacuation over an alleged fight involving one person who may have had a weapon, officials said.

Molly Enright, a spokeswoman for the Tempe Police Department, said officials determined the mall was secure after evacuating stores and conducting a search of the mall.

“The mall is back open and the scene is clear,” she said.

She said police received reports of a couple people fighting who then ran. At least one may have had a weapon, she said.

“Neither of the subjects reported fighting were located inside the mall by police during the precautionary search,” Enright said.

No arrests were made.

Surprise resident Courtney Baca said she was shopping at the Disney story in the mall with her son and daughter when employees told them to go to the back of the store and lie down.

After the store entrance into the mall was locked, she and her children were led to the store’s stockroom, and then later allowed to leave through the store’s exit to the parking lot.

She said they had attended the 4 p.m. performance of Circus Vargas, which was located under tents in the Arizona Mills parking lot.

The 7 p.m. show of Circus Vargas was still in progress at the time of the evacuation.

She said her kids were scared and knew only that the mall was being evacuated because of a police situation.

“We had no idea what was going on,” Baca said. “And the Disney people didn’t know what was happening either.

Source:www.azcentral.com

Former Colorado Springs police officer faces 207 counts in assault of 22 children www.privateofficer.com

 

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. Feb 6 2012– A judge said a former Colorado Springs police officer will face a single trial on allegations that he possessed child pornography and also inappropriately touched students during unauthorized medical exams at a middle school where he was a volunteer wrestling coach.

Joshua Carrier is charged with 207 counts. His attorney, Christopher Decker, argued that combining much of the child porn and sexual assault charges against Carrier would keep him from having a fair trial. But The Gazette reports (http://bit.ly/xkEiil) a judge ruled Friday that Carrier would have one trial in March.

Decker has said the case against Carrier is driven by fear and innuendo.

Carrier was a school resource officer and volunteer wrestling coach at Horace Mann Middle School.

In all, 22 boys claim to have been molested by Carrier, according to court documents.

Source:thedenverchannel.com

Giant’s security director has protected coaches for 22 years www.privateofficer.com

 

 

INDIANAPOLIS IN Feb 6 2012 — When the text came from the manager of Leggett’s, his favorite Jersey Shore bar, Mike Murphy joked that he had made it:

Putting a dog on our Super Bowl menu. It’s called the Murph Dog. A foot-long with corned beef hash, kraut, thousand island and swiss. It’s HUGE, like you, dog.

In Giants Nation, Murphy is the most recognizable face nobody can name. He’s the crew-cutted wide body who has been in nearly every sideline television shot of Giants head coaches since Bill Parcells.

Shake his mitt and, if your hand comes back in one piece, you instantly realize this is not a guy to mess with at 6-3 and 275 pounds. Murphy is the muscle that has escorted coaches through crowds, hostile and friendly, in the old security world and the new. The former Florham Park cop has protected the team for the past 22 years.

And he didn’t need the hot dog to know: He has the sweetest gig in the world.

“I feel like Forrest Gump,” Murphy, 54, said as he stood in the lobby of the team hotel on Friday. “I’ve been to four Super Bowls. I have two Super Bowl rings. I know Bill Parcells and every other coach and player that has come through the organization for the past 22 years. I work for the New York Giants.

“But no one is going to believe that. I’m a nobody. I dreamed up this job and somehow it came true. But really, I couldn’t make it up. On weekends, I used to get out of a patrol car and get on a private charter plane with the New York Giants, going everywhere they go. If you don’t pick that up and run with it, you’re crazy.”

And now he has a hot dog named after him.

“This shows you anything is possible,” he says.

How did he get the job that any Giants fan would die for? Plain dumb luck, he says.

Murphy was on the beach in Sea Girt in the late 1980s when he spotted Parcells and struck up a conversation that lasted three hours and touched on “everything under the sun.” He jokes that Parcells must have been lonely, but during the chat, Parcells said the team wanted to increase security.

Not long after, Murphy had a job.

“I met the right guy at the right time and I had the right credentials,” Murphy said. “My stars were lined up. I happened to be on that beach, happened to be a police officer and it just so happened the world was in the situation it was in (with Desert Storm erupting shortly after the end of the 1990 regular season). If I’m not on the beach that day, my life is entirely different.”

Murphy says the last time he saw Parcells, the conversation went like this:

“Hey, you’re still riding a nice wave there, Mike. Still riding a nice wave.”

“Yes, I am, Coach.”

“Well, you keep riding it.”

There’s more to the job as director of security than shoving people out of the way, though. On his first days with the Giants, at Super Bowl XXV, Murphy helped solve an inside burglary job by a team employee who had swiped expensive jewelry from several players.

With Murphy, the Giants were one of the first teams to provide protection for their coaches, and now every NFL and major-college coach has a security detail that gets them on and off the field, and usually travels with the coach to personal appearances.

Murphy receives briefings from the Terrorist Task Force, and attends a two-hour meeting before each game with game officials, NFL security and local law enforcement to discuss safety and security measures.

In his travels, Murphy has fattened his Rolodex with contacts in every major U.S. sports city, and he has some friends in Europe, too: He met Scotland Yard officials when the Giants played in London in 2007, and German security officials when the Giants played a preseason game in Berlin in 1994.

Not much happens inside the organization that he doesn’t know about. He could write a book, “but I won’t,” Murphy says. “There are stories, sure, but there aren’t as many as you think. This organization is well-run. Besides, famous people write books and a few years later, you see them on sale for three bucks.”

Alongside him is childhood friend Vinny Byron, who grew up with Murphy in the Vailsburg section of Newark. Byron retired after 30 years with the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office, working homicides and sex assault cases. He now works cold cases for the Union County Prosecutor’s Office. On weekends, he has been with the Giants for 12 years.

“It’s hard work, but we have the best job ever, a dream job,” Byron says. “Nobody has to tell us that.”

*****

MURPHY ON THE COACHES

Bill Parcells: “A great leader who knew how to hit buttons and motivate.”

Ray Handley: “Funny, smart. The timing was bad. No one could follow Bill.”

Dan Reeves: “The classiest and toughest guy. Team player.”

Jim Fassel: “Smart. Dynamic personality. Great offensive mind. Players loved him.”

Tom Coughlin: “He could run the Army, a college, a police department, whatever. His work ethic and time management skills go far beyond anyone else’s. You want to get into a lifeboat? Get into his.”

Source:starledger.com

Naperville man arrested in bar murder of teacher www.privateofficer.com

 

 

Naperville IL Feb 6 2012 A Naperville man has been charged in the stabbing death of an elementary school teacher and the injury of two others at a local bar Saturday morning, authorities said.

Daniel J. Olaska, 27, of the 1500 block of Fox Hill Drive, was charged with one count of first-degree murder and two counts of attempted murder in the attack that left 24-year-old Shaun Wild dead and two others seriously injured, said DuPage County State’s Attorney’s Office Spokesman Paul Darrah.

Olaska is scheduled to appear in DuPage County Court for a bond hearing Sunday morning, Darrah said. Further details are expected to be released during a press conference at 9 a.m. Sunday.

Wild, a North Central College alumnus and first-year teacher at Spring Brook Elementary in District 204, died after a stabbing in the early morning hours Saturday at Frankie’s Blue Room. Police confirm Wild died as a result of the injuries he received.

Willie Hayes, a Lemont native and current student at North Central College, was also injured in the incident. He underwent surgery and is in serious condition at Edward Hospital, a nurse on duty confirmed.

A third person, identified as one of the bar’s bouncers, was treated and released from Edward Hospital, according to Naperville Police Sgt. Gregg Bell.

Naperville police said paramedics and officers responded to the bar shortly before 1 a.m. Saturday for a report of a person having been stabbed. Paramedics found three people with stab wounds, all of which were taken to Edward Hospital.

While on the scene, police identified a suspect in the incident and took that person into custody, Bell said.

A native of Brown Deer, WI, Wild graduated from North Central College in 2011. He was a punter on the football team and attended the college for three years, said Clark Teuscher, director of sports information at North Central College.

Hayes is from Lemont and a current student at the college, Teuscher said. Hayes is a defensive end on the North Central football team. Tony Hamilton, director of school and community relations for Lemont High School, said Hayes graduated in 2008 and was a standout football player, and part of Lemont’s 2007 state runner-up squad.

North Central College said counselors are available to the campus community Saturday in the Dyson Wellness Center. Campus ministry staff is available in Kiekhofer Hall. Members of the Residence Life staff are available in residence halls as well. Members of the campus community plan to hold a service at 7 p.m. Saturday at the Harold and Eva White Activities Center “to support each other and pray for Shaun’s family and friends and Willie’s speedy recovery.”

Police are continuing to investigate the incident. Naperville police ask that anyone with information call the department’s Investigations Section at 630-420-6726, or the Crime Stoppers Hotline at 630-420-6006.

This is the second stabbing at a downtown Naperville bar in less than a year. In March, a 31-year-old Lombard man was charged after police said he stabbed a bouncer at BlackFinn American Saloon.

Fourth Memphis police officer arrested in a month www.privateofficer.com

 

 

Memphis TN Feb 6 2011 A Memphis police officer has been charged with assault and vandalism, arrested early Saturday after she allegedly attacked her boyfriend and then damaged a Shelby County Sheriff’s squad car while being detained.

Sheriff’s deputies reported responding to a house at 12016 Macon in East Shelby County at about 2 a.m., where the boyfriend and a female witness said they had been drinking with MPD officer Amanda Wakham, 40.

The boyfriend told deputies he became upset when Wakham started kissing the woman. An argument ensued and Wakham struck him in the face with a kettlebell weight, according to a court affidavit.

Before leaving the house, she also threw a large, decorative candle that struck him in the back of the head and caused a 3-inch laceration, according to the affidavit.

Deputies reported locating Wakham nearby shortly thereafter, and said she was armed with a handgun.

They also reported hearing at least two shots fired before she was found.

No other injuries were reported in the incident.

After being detained, Wakham damaged a radar device and antenna mounted in the rear window of an SCSO vehicle, deputies said.

Wakham, an MPD officer since February 2001 and assigned to Appling Farms Station, was charged with aggravated assault and vandalism under $500. Her bond was set at $5,000.

She has been relieved of duty without pay.

In April 2011, she was relieved of duty for an unrelated incident but remained employed by MPD, police said.

Wakham is the fourth MPD officer in less than three weeks to be arrested or charged with a crime.

On Jan. 30., officer Roger Williams was suspended after being charged with DUI.

Days earlier, officer Melvin Robinson faced drug charges, arrested after trying to buy 10 kilograms of cocaine while on duty.

And on Jan. 19, officer Daniel Dermyer was arrested after being accused of harassing his estranged wife.

Source:the commercial appeal

Redwood City police arrest teacher for assaulting two students www.privateofficer.com

 

 

REDWOOD CITY, Calif. Feb 6 2012 —An investigation into allegations of physical abuse of two students at a Redwood City elementary school has resulted in an arrest of a teacher at the school.
Redwood City police say teacher Alexia Aliki Bogdisis in custody after a warrant was issued and she surrendered at police headquarters Saturday morning.

Police Capt. Ed Hernandez says her arrest comes after Child Protective Services investigated complaints of physical abuse of two 4-year-old male students at Roosevelt Elementary School.

Investigators say the alleged abuse, described as physical but not sexual, took place over the past few months.

The 44-year-old Bogdisis, a resident of Millbrae, was being held at San Mateo County Jail.

Source:mercurynews.com

On The Job- Dillon Dam Road Security www.privateofficer.com

 

 

FRISCO CO Feb 6 2012 — To the drivers speeding by, it may look like a boring job.

The team of 20 Dillon Dam Road security guards, most of them off-duty law enforcement or military veterans, work eight- to 12-hour shifts watching 5,000 to 7,000 cars a day pass by from the driver’s seats of pickups parked at either end of the road.

But, though they look relaxed as they wave and smile at familiar cars, the guards are on high alert.

“You really don’t have time to be bored,” head of security Harry Sprague said. “You’ve got to be well- focused.”

The guards are charged not only with keeping larger vehicles — including RVs and 18-wheelers — off the narrow road, but with protecting the road and the structure itself by surveying every car that crosses it.

On the Frisco side, guards have less than eight seconds to assess and respond when a vehicle rounds the corner toward the dam.

“The guards’ primary responsibility is security of the dam and its related facilities,” Denver Water spokeswoman Stacy Chesney said. “A secure dam means increased safety of the residents of Summit County and the Denver-metro area.”

The well-being of the Dillon Dam is key to the security of both.

A failure of the dam could flood Silverthorne with some 84 billion gallons of water and empty Denver Water’s largest water storage facility, depriving the metro area of a critical water source.

Constructed in the 1960s, before terrorism was a factor considered in the course of infrastructure projects, the Dillon Dam was unprotected for most of its history. But the world changed after Sept. 11, 2001.

“It was kind of one of those situations where, all of a sudden, you’re aware that something could happen to it,” Denver Water director of operations told the Summit Daily in a previous interview. “So you start to think about that facility completely differently.”

In 2008, citing an unspecified security threat, Denver Water closed the road to traffic at night and staffed a team of former military personnel and police officers to protect it during the day.

In 2011, the Dillon Dam Road was closed completely for several weeks while security was revamped with new guard shacks on either end of the structure, improved lighting and roundabouts. With the completion of the project in October, the road was reopened 24 hours a day with guards stationed on either end around the clock.

“The mission,” said Sprague, a former Marine, “is to protect Denver Water property and personnel.”

But it is also to keep restricted vehicles — large commercial trucks, 18-wheelers and recreation vehicles — off the narrow road, to monitor conditions during winter storms and, often, just to be friendly and helpful to motorists.

“You feel like a tour guide sometimes,” says Sprague, after genially discussing ice-fishing spots with a man who stopped to ask if the activity was allowed around the dam.

But every once in a while, the security guards on the dam are called on to be more than good Samaritans.

In 2010, they stopped and saved the life of a man who smashed through barricades on the Dam Road in a stolen car.

The man ran through plastic barricades and drove onto the Dam Road after midnight. As Sprague and his partner, Jeremy DuFour, attempted to close in on the rampaging car, the driver plowed into a guardrail and, in an attempt to escape, jumped the railing on the opposite side of the reservoir and rolled down the steep embankment.

Using searchlights, DuFour located the man and called law enforcement.

By the time officers got to him, the culprit was incoherent and losing consciousness. DuFour and Dillon police Officer Joe Staufer were able to revive and stabilize the man, who was transported to the hospital.

There still has never been a fatality on the Dillon Dam Road.

Source:denverpost.com

Geneva IL streets division superintendent Steve LeMaire arrested for felony theft www.privateofficer.com

 

 

Geneva IL Feb 6 2012 Felony charges of theft, online theft and official misconduct were filed Friday against Geneva streets division superintendent Steve LeMaire.

He is accused of making more than $24,000 in unauthorized purchases using city funds, dating back to 2004, according to Geneva police.

LeMaire, a 33-year employee of the city, was suspended Jan. 12. Geneva police investigated allegations of misuse of city funds.

LeMaire was indicted by a Kane County grand jury Friday. An arrest warrant was approved Friday by Kane County Circuit Judge Timothy Sheldon. Bail was set at $25,000, and arrangements are being made for LeMaire to turn himself in to Geneva police.

In a prepared statement, Geneva police said the suspected misuse of funds was discovered Jan. 11, when the public works director was reviewing a monthly credit card statement and noticed purchases by LeMaire “which seemed suspicious.”

The city then decided to examine past purchases, “revealing many other purchases made by Mr. LeMaire, which also seemed to be of a suspicious nature,” according to the statement. Some went back as far as 2004.

Police said LeMaire cooperated with the investigation.

LeMaire, 55, lives in Elburn. He could not be reached for comment.

The streets division is part of Geneva’s public works department. It is responsible for maintaining streets, sidewalks and alleys, as well as parkway trees.

Geneva Mayor Kevin Burns declined to give any details of the investigation.

“Details of this case will eventually come out through the efforts of the state’s attorney’s office and prosecution,” Burns said.

Burns said the city will try to recover the $24,000.

“As for LeMaire’s employment’s status, that will be determined by Monday,” Burns said.

The mayor also said the city has already begun to revamp internal controls on credit card use and spending.

If convicted of the official misconduct charge, LeMaire would forfeit his job. And according to Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund rules, if convicted, he will lose his pension.

According to court records, “on or about” Feb. 15, 2006, LeMaire “knowingly obtained government funds” of more than $10,000 but less than $100,000; that he used the Internet to buy property in excess of $300, from multiple sellers, via unauthorized transactions on a city account; and that he did so knowing it was illegal.

The charges are punishable by two to 15 years in prison.

Source:daily herald

Employee of Ross Township Tax Collector’s Office arrested for theft www.privateofficer.com

 

 

Ross Township PA Feb 6 2012 A former employee of the Ross Township Tax Collector’s Office stole about $117,000 from the township and the North Hills School District—about $88,000 more than was originally believed, according to a forensic audit the agencies conducted and a revised criminal complaint filed with Allegheny County Common Pleas Court.

The audit, which Zelenkofske Axelrod LLC completed, indicates $29,229.69 is missing from fiscal year 2009 and $87,981.89 is missing from fiscal year 2010, according to the complaint.

The complaint also details new charges against the employee, Richard Todd Hassinger, 47, of Timberline Drive. Hassinger told police he thought he could get away with stealing the money because the township’s elected tax collector, Donna Carey, “did not have an idea of what would be going on in the books,” according to the complaint.

Carey, a retired schoolteacher, held the office of Ross Township Tax Collector for 15 years. She stepped away from the work in June, deputizing Jordan Tax Service to handle the collection of about $44.3 million in annual property taxes for the school district and about $3.7 million in property taxes for the township.

Carey continues to sign checks in her capacity as township treasurer and is ultimately responsible for the work that Jordan Tax Service performs. The township pays her $5,000 annual salary. Her term expires at the end of 2013.

Reached by phone, Carey said she wasn’t aware of the audit’s findings.

“They haven’t included me in anything,” she said, adding that she didn’t want to discuss the issue.

“This has been a tremendous blow to me, and I don’t need any more stress,” she said.

In response to Hassinger’s claim that she wasn’t keeping a close eye on the books, she said “Well, that’s his opinion,” before hanging up the phone.

Ross Township Police arrested Hassinger May 8 at the Pittsburgh International Airport. He is scheduled to appear at a March 2 pre-trial conference, where he will enter a plea on the charges he faces in connection to the missing funds.

In November Hassinger waived his right to a preliminary hearing and his right to counsel, choosing to act as his own lawyer.

He was released from the Allegheny County Jail in the fall on a $20,000 unsecured bond and has been confined to house arrest since then.

He faces new charges in the case as a result of the audit, including theft by failure to make required deposit of funds, theft by receiving stolen property and two counts of tampering with public records or information.

After he was confronted with the results of the audit, Hassinger admitted to police that he took most of the missing money, according to the complaint.

“During follow-up interviews, he admitted to taking cash deposits for payments made by township residents and businesses,” according to the court document. “Hassinger further explained that when payments came in as cash, they were accepted and put into a box. He basically would then just take the monies.”

“He would create some records showing that the payments were received so the taxpayers would not be hit with tax delinquencies,” the complaint continued. “He did not do this for all the thefts, however.”

No record exists to detail which payments were credited to taxpayers and which were not, Hassinger told police according to the complaint.

It is not immediately clear how much of the missing money was owed to the school district and how much was owed to the township.

Ross Township Manager Wayne Jones did not respond to messages left Tuesday and Wednesday seeking information and posing questions related to the audit.

He declined, through a receptionist, to provide a copy of the Zelenkofske Axelrod LLC audit, citing the court case filed against Hassinger as an exemption to the state’s Right to Know law.

The school district referred public record requests for the audit to the township.

The district’s Director of Finance and Operations, David Hall, said the school expects to recover losses.

“The district paid for our share of a legally required public official’s bond covering the elected tax collector, which we anticipate will cover any finally determined losses to the North Hills School District from this alleged criminal activity,” Hall said.

School Board Director Ed Wielgus, who was president of the board in 2011, said the members received a brief update after the audit was completed in August.

“Right now, it’s a wait and see until the trial is over,” Wielgus said.

Hassinger was Carey’s sole employee in the tax office. Carey told Patch in June that Hassinger and his parents are her neighbors and that she has known him since he was very young. She hired him in 2009 after learning he needed work, she said.

Hassinger told police he disputed the allegations in only two theft cases among those in which he is charged: He said Carey gave him permission to make a $1,120.71 payment using her personal credit card and that Carey also authorized the deposit of a check for $299.91 to test a check-scanning program.

He said he kept the money as payment for other jobs he had performed for Carey on the side.

Police arrested Hassinger after investigating a report from Carey about misuse of her personal credit card. That led to the discovery that about $28,000 in tax collections intended for the North Hills School District had been deposited into Hassinger’s personal account, police said.

In June, Carey told Patch she had been thinking of retiring before Hassinger’s arrest but “this other put the cap on that.”

When she collected taxes, Carey received an annual salary of $47,650 from fees that the school district and township paid. The salary that Ross Township is to pay her through 2013 is half the annual amount it has paid her in the past.

Jordan is receiving the school district’s annual payment of $37,650 and $5,000 from Ross Township, representing half of its annual payment, until a new tax collector is elected.

Syracuse police arrest 15yr old with shotgun at mall www.privateofficer.com

 

 

Syracuse, NY Feb 6 2012– Police breaking up a fight in the Carousel Center Friday night arrested a 15-year-old boy and later discovered a sawed-off shotgun hidden in the boy’s jacket, Syracuse police said.

Police gave these details:

About 10 p.m., a fight was reported on the third floor of the mall near the Regal Movie Theaters. The first city officer on the scene reported 15 to 20 people fighting near the ticket booths and one male lying unconscious. On the floor next to the male, the officer found three shotgun shells.

More officers and a mall security guard heading to the fight saw three males running down the escalator and attempted to stop them. One of the three, a 15-year-old boy, attempted to push officers away and continue running.

The boy fought with Officer Virgil Hutchison as other officers attempted to gain control of the boy. When that happened, the other males tried to intervene in the arrest. During the struggle, the 15-year-old boy’s jacket fell off.

Officers eventually got the 15-year-old in custody, but when they examined his jacket, officers found a sawed-off shotgun in the jacket’s sleeve. The gun was unloaded.

“We believe he was involved in the altercation on the third floor and dropped the shells there,” Sgt. Tom Connellan.

Because of his age, the boy’s identification is being withheld. He was charged with criminal possession of a weapon and resisting arrest, both misdemeanors.

One of the two males who attempted to intervene, also 15 years old, was charged with resisting arrest and harrassment, both misdemeanors.

The youth that was knocked out in the fight refused medical attention and was turned over to his parents, Connellan said.

Source:syracuse.com

Armed robbers shoot six people during birthday party in Alabama www.privateofficer.com

 

 

COTTONDALE, Ala. Feb 6 2012— Six people suffered gunshot wounds when a pair of armed robbers opened fire on a group of teenagers during a birthday party at an Alabama apartment complex, authorities said Saturday.

Two older teenagers were hospitalized in critical condition but no one was killed in the shootings late Friday, Tuscaloosa County Sheriff Ted Sexton said. The wounded included one of the suspected gunman, who was apparently shot by a party guest carrying his own gun, and the second suspect was in police custody.

The shootings erupted during a late-night party at the Eddins Estates apartments in Cottondale. Investigators say two men with guns tried to hold up a group of teenagers at the birthday party and demanded money from them. At one point, the gunmen started shooting.

Sheriff Ted Sexton said in a statement Saturday that two of the victims — a 17-year-old boy and an 18-year-old girl — remain in critical condition.
Five party guests aged 17 to 20 got struck by bullets and were taken to a local hospital, the sheriff said in statement. Two of them — a 17-year-old boy and an 18-year-old girl — remained in critical condition Saturday afternoon. Two others were hospitalized in stable condition and another had been treated and released.

Authorities said the sixth person wounded was one of the armed suspects, who got shot in the stomach after “an 18 year old male, apparently armed at the time while attending the party, returned fire,” the sheriff’s statement said.

Sexton declined to discuss the shootings with The Associated Press on Saturday and referred to his prepared statement.

The suspect remained hospitalized Saturday in stable condition. His name and those of the other five victims were not immediately released.

Meanwhile, the sheriff said deputies arrested the other suspected gunman, identified as 23-year-old Donald Deshun Wynn, at a relative’s house nearby. He was charged with attempted murder, assault, first-degree robbery and first-degree burglary. It was not clear Saturday if Wynn had hired an attorney.

Senior member of Philadelphia archdiocese stole $900,000 www.privateofficer.com

 

 

Philadelphia PA Feb 6 2012 Archbishop Charles J. Chaput said Friday he was angry that “a senior member of the archdiocesan staff stole more than $900,000 of our people’s resources,” but relieved that the missing money will have relatively little impact on the church.

“As bitter as this loss is, insurance will cover most of it,” he wrote in his weekly column, posted on the archdiocesan website. “This is little comfort and absolves no one,” he added, but “at least some of the damage will be made whole.”

In July, the archdiocese fired its chief financial officer, Anita Guzzardi, after learning that money had vanished over a period of more than six years. The Inquirer reported last Sunday that much of what she is accused of taking was spent on casino gambling in Atlantic City and vacations, then paid for with checks from the archdiocese.

Catholic Social Services, Catholic Health Care Services and similar minstries “suffered no loss from the theft,” Chaput said, because they are incorporated separately from the archdiocese.

Because the money was taken from the archdiocese’s general operating fund, he said, it also did not affect monies donated to the $200 million capital campaign that concluded in 2010.

The loss was not a factor in his decision, announced last month, to close 49 elementary and high schools, he added.

Guzzardi, 43, is cooperating with the investigation, according to her lawyer. No charges have been filed against her, and Chaput did not mention her by name.

She was escorted from her Center City church office on July 14, a day after the DA’s office told church officials they were investigating her.

“Our normal outside auditing firm – independent and nationally respected – had previously found no evidence of criminal activity,” Chaput said.

Instead, an investigator for American Express flagged the payments from the archdiocese after wondering why the money was going to a casino.

Chaput was named Philadelphia’s archbishop five days later; his appointment was not related to the discovery.

The archbishop, who assumed leadership of the 1.5-million member archdiocese in September, was eager to address the matter sooner, according to sources, but was asked by investigators not to do so.

“We’ve been silent on this matter until now for obvious reasons: to allow law enforcement to do its work,” Chaput wrote Friday.

“Circumstances have now changed,” he said, citing The Inquirer story last Sunday.

“People are angry about this this loss, and they’re right. So am I. There’s no excuse for it,” he said.

But “in a work environment based on shared beliefs and service, a dishonest person can do massive damage.” Religious institutions are often “too trusting,” he noted, and let their guards down.

On Monday law enforcement officials in New York charged a 67-year-old bookkeeper for the Archdiocese of New York with stealing more than $1 million during the previous seven years. Anita Collins wrote hundreds of checks to herself over the years according to authorities, who said she lived in a modest home but spent lavishly on furniture and a doll collection.

Addressing the theft in Philadelphia, Chaput said that audits by two outside firms indicate that only one person at the archdiocese involved in the theft.

“We will vigorously puruse restitution from the wrong-doer,” he said.

He said he began a “comprehensive legal and financial review of archdiocesan operations” within days of his arrival, and is adopting new systems for guarding “the resources entrusted to the church by our people.”

The archdiocese is also engaged in a search for new comptroller, Chaput said.

“I do promise that every aspect of our shared life as a church will be subject in the years ahead to the kind of clarity, greater accountability and careful stewardship our people deserve.” he said.

Source:philly.com

Richard Stockton College employee charged with theft of computer equipment www.privateofficer.com

 

Atlantic County NJ Feb 6 2012 A Richard Stockton College employee has been charged with stealing computer equipment during the winter break, the Atlantic County Prosecutor’s Office said in a news release.

Mihn Vu, 38, of Galloway Township, allegedly stole two wireless air access routers, each valued at more than $700, from the college, the Prosecutor’s Office said.

The thefts allegedly occurred Dec. 22 and Dec. 23. College officials contacted the Prosecutor’s Office on Jan. 6 to assist in a joint investigation. Investigators searched Vu’s apartment Jan. 13 after a search warrant was approved, and investigators allegedly found both devices.

Vu has been employed at Stockton since 2004 and was a senior laborer when the incident allegedly occurred, college spokesman Tim Kelly said.

Vu was served a summons to appear in Galloway Municipal Court on Wednesday. He is charged with two counts of theft.

Source:pressofatlanticcity