Daughter of Florida pastor accidentally shot in head at church www.privateofficer.com

 

 

ST. PETERSBURG, Florida Feb 14 2012— Authorities say the daughter of a pastor was accidentally shot in the head at a church in St. Petersburg.

The Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office was called to the Grace Connection Church Sunday at about 12:24 p.m.
Investigators say Moises Zambrana was showing his gun in a small closet to another church member interested in buying a firearm. Zambrana reportedly took out the magazine of the Ruger 9mm weapon but did not know there was a bullet in the chamber.

The gun went off and fired through a wall, striking Hannah Kelley, 20. She was transported to Bayfront Medical Center to undergo surgery and remained in critical condition late Sunday.

Deputies said Zambrana has a permit to carry a concealed weapon.

No charges have been filed.

Dothan Alabama bar patron dies after tased by police www.privateofficer.com

 

 

DOTHAN, Alabama Feb 14 2012– A man died after fighting with employees and police, who twice used an electric stun gun that failed to subdue him.

Police were called to Houligans, 3611 Montgomery Highway at 1:48 a.m. Monday after a report that an intoxicated man was causing a disturbance.

Houston County deputies and Dothan police, along with bar workers, tried to control the man but even after being tazed twice, he continued to struggle, according to a police department press release.

Once in control, the man stopped breathing, medics were called, and he was taken to Flowers Hospital. Efforts to revive the man failed and he was pronounced dead at 3:16 a.m.

Because officers of the Dothan PD and the Houston County Sheriff’s Department were involved, an investigation has been requested by the Alabama Bureau of Investigation.

Henderson NVJewelry store robbery violent-fast www.privateofficer.com

 

 

HENDERSON, Nev.Feb 14 2012 — Henderson Police are investigating the bold robbery at the Ben Bridge Jewelers inside the Galleria Mall.

Police say three armed men entered the jewelry store, smashed several cases, and fled the scene. Eyewitnesses say that one of the cases targeted by the robbers was full of Rolex watches. One eyewitness, told 8 News NOW, that one of the suspects had a large black gun and yelled for people to either “get down” or “look down.” He said the whole incident lasted less than 30 seconds.

Henderson Police swarmed the mall and evacuated everyone as they searched for the suspects.

Galleria officials released this statement after the robbery:

“No one was hurt this evening, and it has been confirmed that no shots were fired,” said Heather Valera, marketing director for the Galleria at Sunset. “We are working to assist the Henderson Police Department in any way possible and will provide additional information as it becomes available to us.”

Source:8newsnow.com

Nashville police charge man with Vanderbilt University rape www.privateofficer.com

 

 

Nashville TN Feb 14 2012 Metro police have charged a man they believe is responsible for an alleged rape Friday at the Vanderbilt University campus.

He is also suspected in three additional attacks against women at Nashville hospitals Sunday morning.
Tyrone Batts, 25, is charged with two counts of rape, attempted rape and robbery in connection with Friday’s incident.

Batts’ photo was being withheld by police, pending forthcoming lineups.

On Friday, police say, Batts sexually assaulted a woman inside of the Terrace Place Garage at Vanderbilt’s campus.

Early Sunday morning, three female hospital employees were attacked outside of Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Baptist Hospital and Centennial Medical Center.
The suspect in the hospital attacks was spotted by security at Centennial on Sunday morning, and he was finally captured around 8:30 a.m.

Batts was a convicted felon facing aggravated robbery charges at the time of his arrest.

In 2008, he received a three-year sentence for cocaine possession, and at the time of his arrest Sunday, he was free on $50,000 bond on charges of aggravated robbery and felon in possession of a weapon.

“It is clear that Batts posed a significant and continuing danger to our community up until this morning,” Metro Police Chief Steve Anderson said. “The heightened state of alert by hospital security personnel combined with the excellent work of our Sex Crimes Unit has today made Nashville a safer place.”

Two men shot at Markham nightclub www.privateofficer.com

 

 

Markham AL Feb 14 2012 Two young men were shot, one critically, outside a south suburban nightclub hosting a college night event, authorities said this morning.

The shooting happened at about 1 a.m. outside The Zone night club in the 2000 block of West 163rd Street in Markham, officials said.

During an event that drew a college-aged crowd, a dance floor fistfight prompted the club’s security to eject a group of people, including the suspected gunman and the two victims, Markham police said.

Once outside, one of the men went to a car and retrieved a handgun and opened fire, striking the victims, police said.

One man was wounded in the abdomen and the second was struck in the arm. Both victims were described as in their late teens or early 20s.

The more seriously wounded victim was taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn. The second victim was also hospitalized, officials said.

Police hadn’t made any arrests as of 2:30 a.m., and didn’t have a description of the shooter.

A telephone message left at the club this morning wasn’t returned.

Source:tribune.com

Former Erie teacher-soccer coach to spend 20 yrs in prison for child pornography www.privateofficer.com

 

ERIE, Pa.Feb 14 2012—A former teacher and youth soccer coach warned by Erie school officials about taking pictures of students’ groin areas during athletic events will spend nearly 20 years in prison for collecting and trading more than 57,000 images of child pornography.
The Erie Times-News reports 40-year-old David Rinke II was sentenced by a federal judge in Erie on Monday. He had pleaded guilty to possessing child pornography in October.

Rinke taught 10th grade science at the Northwest Pennsylvania Collegiate Academy, a magnet school in the Erie School District, before he was arrested in February 2011.

Rinke’s public defender argued for a lesser sentence, but a judge sentenced Rinke to 19 years, seven months in federal prison after prosecutors argued Rinke deserved a stiff sentence because of the size of his collection and abusing his position of trust.

Source:goerie.com

Former Gadsden City High School teacher reaches plea deal in sexual assault of student trial www.privateofficer.com

 

 

GADSDEN, AL Feb 14 2012  – The trial of a former Gadsden City High School teacher accused of having sex with an underage student, ended in a plea deal, after almost ending in a mistrial.

The jury had actually retired to deliberate the case of Nicholas Smith, a former coach and teacher who was indicted for second degree sexual assault and possession of child pornography. But Etowah County Circuit Judge David Kimberly told the jury he was on the verge of calling a mistrial before both parties resolved the case on Friday, Feb. 10.

The resolution was a plea deal. Smith entered a guilty plea to aggravated child abuse, still a felony and still a crime with a two-to-twenty year sentence range.

But the plea also means Smith will not be classified as a sex offender.

It followed a trial in which the suspect, the victim and a number of the victim’s former classmates testified. Both Smith and the victim–a girl who was 15 at the time and is now college age–admitted they had a relationship in the spring of 2009. And that relationship involved Tiffany jewelry, a pet, a digital picture frame with two data cards–one showing pictures of the couple, a second showing other photos–and even shopping for engagement rings.

But Smith claimed despite that–and despite the fact he still loves her to this day–he never had sex with her until after her 16th birthday. The age of 16 is the legal age of consent in Alabama.

Smith had not yet reached tenure in the Gadsden school system, and his contract was not renewed following his arrest. He was originally arrested at the very end of the 2008-2009 school year.

Sources say the near-mistrial was apparently the result of a prosecutor speaking to a juror, just after the jury got the case. The prosecutor allegedly thought the juror was one of the alternates who had already been excused, but was mistaken. The prosecturors were from the state attorney general’s office, because Etowah County District Attorney Jimmie Harp requested his office be recused from hearing the case.

Smith will be sentenced March 15.

Source:WBRC

Man commits suicide at Lincoln Memorial www.privateofficer.com

 

 

Washington DC Feb 14 2012 District police on Sunday morning were investigating a death in a park near the Lincoln Memorial that officials believe was a suicide.

U.S. Park Police were initially handling the investigation after a U.S. Park Service employee made an emergency call early Sunday. Park police handed the investigation over to District police just before 10 a.m., D.C. police spokesman Officer A. Clay said.

Police say no foul play is suspected, and they believe the death to be a suicide.

The identity of the victim, a male, was not immediately available. Investigators examined the scene near 23rd Street and Ohio Drive, S.W., in West Potomac Park, leaving a small area along the Potomac River shoreline surrounded by crime scene tape.

Police had opened the roads up by noon, and tourists were able to walk to and from the Lincoln Memorial unimpeded.

U.S. Naval Academy cashier guilty of $120,000 embezzlement www.privateofficer.com

 

 

ANNAPOLIS, Md. Feb 14 2012— A former cashier at a store at the U.S. Naval Academy has pleaded guilty to stealing more than $120,000.

Mary Catherine Lewis, 43, of Virginia Beach, Va., pleaded guilty on Friday in federal court to theft of government property.

The charges arose from a scheme to steal money from the Midshipman Store in Annapolis.

Federal prosecutors say Lewis used a series of fraudulent refund transactions to steal money from the store. Lewis would credit money from a refund that did not in fact take place.

She faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. She has been ordered to pay $125,000 in restitution

The increasing dangers for law enforcement www.privateofficer.com

 

 

Charlotte NC Feb 14 2012 Shootings between police and suspects are on the rise around South Carolina and the nation, and officers are in more danger than ever before, police say.
“You are always walking into the unknown,” said Columbia Police officer Alex Broder, 24.
Broder should know. Last May, in his first week as a police officer, he and a partner stopped a motorist who’d been driving suspiciously. It was 4 a.m. in Columbia’s upscale Shandon community. Broder got out of the driver’s side of his patrol car to approach the motorist.
“He opened the door, his left foot hit the ground, his right foot stayed in the vehicle, and he extended his arm, fired one shot and got back in the car – in just about one second,” Broder recalled last week. The bullet, a 7.62 rifle round, struck Broder square in the chest. He fell.
Fortunately, he was wearing a bulletproof vest and survived. The shooter, Blakely Jernigan, a troubled former Clemson student suspected of dealing drugs, sped off. Jernigan was shot to death later that morning by a city SWAT team when he charged them firing an AK-74.
Broder’s shooting illustrates the trip-wire situations police around the state and nation now encounter almost daily.
Not all are as lucky as Broder was.
In South Carolina last year, two officers – an Aiken police officer and a Laurens deputy – were shot to death. Last month, another Aiken officer was shot and killed.
In all of 2011, there were 37 S.C. shooting incidents involving police or sheriff’s deputies. Ten of those officers were wounded, according to the State Law Enforcement Division.
A state law enforcement fraternity says no S.C. officers died in shooting incidents in 2010.
Nationwide, 173 law officers were killed in the line of duty last year, according to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund. Of those, 68 died by gunfire, the major cause of police deaths in the line of duty. The year before, 59 police officers were shot to death.
“If someone will shoot at a police officer, they will shoot at anyone,” said Rep. Eddie Tallon, R-Spartanburg, and a former SLED agent who in his law enforcement career helped send serial killer Donald “Pee Wee” Gaskins to the electric chair.
‘Blue Alert’ bill passed
Reacting to escalating violence against police officers, Tallon sponsored a “Blue Alert” bill that the Legislature unanimously passed last week.
The bill, awaiting Gov. Nikki Haley’s signature, provides for the rapid dissemination of information to law enforcement and the public to help catch a suspect whenever an officer is killed, seriously injured or abducted. Authorities would use the same existing traffic signs as the “Amber Alert” missing children public warning systems.
Police like Tallon’s bill.
“Back when I first started, 30-some years ago,” SLED Chief Mark Keel said, “we were working a lot of drug smuggling cases – huge quantities of marijuana. We very seldom if ever caught anybody with a weapon. But it seems like everybody’s carrying a gun today. I’m not talking about concealed weapons permit holders, I’m talking about the criminal element.”
Even police dogs are getting shot these days. In December, a Richland County tracking and drug detection dog named Fargo was shot to death by an armed robbery suspect during a foot chase. Hundreds of law officers and 30 police dogs from around the state attended Fargo’s funeral.
“Our society is getting more and more dangerous every day,” said Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott, pointing out that guns aren’t the only danger. “In over 37 years in law enforcement, I’ve seen how bad guys are more prone to attack an officer and more prone to use a weapon. Everybody has guns, and bad guys shoot – there’s no fear of consequences.”
Lott believes mass entertainment media contribute to danger. Young people not only have a lack of respect for police, but their brains are saturated by video games in which action figures are constantly killing each other, he said.
“It’s a culture of violence.”
Lexington County Sheriff Jimmy Metts said drugs, a widespread lack of respect for law enforcement and a sharp decline in government services for mentally ill people create a more violent atmosphere than in past years.
“We have more people out who are mentally disturbed and ill who are left to be dealt with by the public and police officers,” Metts said.
Last year, Metts’ deputies were involved in two shooting incidents. In one, a SWAT team shot and killed a man who advanced on officers with a large knife. In another, last January, Deputy Joe Auckerman shot and killed a pit bull that was mauling a 10-year-old girl.
Guns aren’t police officers’ only worry. Last week, one of Lott’s deputies was attacked by a screwdriver-wielding man during a drug arrest. The lone officer wasn’t injured, but a bystander had to intervene and help the deputy fight off several of the suspect’s friends before more police arrived.
In Kershaw County, Sheriff Jim Matthews said his deputies didn’t have shooting incidents last year, but one officer fired a nonlethal, shotgun-propelled beanbag at a man who was advancing on him with a knife.
Matthews has increased the number of bullets the deputies fire in practice each year from 50 to 300.
“Shooting is a perishable skill,” Matthews said. “If you have to use deadly force, you want to make sure the suspect is the person you hit, and not somebody else.”
Columbia Police Chief Randy Scott said his officers undergo numerous kinds of training to be ready for dangerous situations. Some citizens object to the measures.
“A consistent complaint we get is that, ‘When the officer stopped me, he had three or four cars show up with him, but I’m not the bad guy,’ ” Scott said.
“But until the officer stops him, how does he know?” Scott said. “When Officer Broder got out of his patrol car, he was shot not even four seconds after he got out.”
Most violent encounters flare in a matter of seconds – without warning and at close range, Scott said.
If three or four officers converge on a traffic stop, “there’s less likelihood of gunfire or other serious confrontation,” he said.
Police are more wary
Sometimes, however, an officer winds up alone and close to a suspect. Speed and skill matter.
“We never know what we’re walking into,” said Richland County Sheriff’s Master Deputy Sara Giron, 33, who shot first in a potentially deadly encounter when a suspect turned around during a chase through thick woods last March.
“He had a gun in his hand pointed directly at me,” said Giron, who drew her weapon and fired, wounding him in his knee. “He was still looking for the gun, even after I shot him.”
Giron, a former U.S. Army National Guard military police captain who served in Iraq, is a member of the county drug suppression team, an elite unit that does a high number of searches and seizures.
“A car stop is never just a car stop,” she said. “You always walk up to that car not knowing the person in that car may have vowed he is never going to jail again and he has just committed murder. We always stay on our toes.”
The man Giron shot, Antonio Davis Jr., 21, is in jail without bond, awaiting trial. He faces numerous charges, including Giron’s attempted murder. A SLED investigation found Giron’s shooting was legal and justified.
“I always wondered what would happen if that happened, and now I know,” Giron said.
Aiken police officer Master Cpl. Sandy Rogers, 49, is the most recent law enforcement victim. She was shot and killed Jan. 28 while responding to a call about a suspicious car. Police say Rogers’ assailant opened fire on her just hours after his girlfriend was gunned down at an apartment in Augusta, Ga. He has been charged in both deaths.
Keel said today’s police are highly aware of the dangers.
“They expect to encounter somebody with a gun. I tell officers every time I speak to a group how careful they need to be.”

Source:charlotteobserver.com

Wrightsville PA constable guilty in official oppression trial www.privateofficer.com

 

 

York PA Feb 14 2012 A former Wrightsville-area constable who drove a female prisoner to the Susquehanna River to “watch the sun rise” was found guilty of misdemeanor charges Friday at his non-jury trial.

After hearing the evidence, Common Pleas Judge Richard K. Renn found Michael Paul Wert guilty of official oppression, obstructing the administration of law and harassment.

Wert, 35, of North Main Street in East Prospect, is scheduled to be sentenced March 19.

He declined comment as he left the courtroom. Defense attorney Bill Graff said Wert is no longer working as a constable, and said he and his client will be discussing appeal options.

Victim Lisa Hoffnagle, 36, of Wrightsville, testified she was arrested Sept. 5, 2010, on an outstanding truancy warrant by Wrightsville Police, who told her the warrant required her to be taken to prison. Police then turned her over to Wert.

Hoffnagle said Wert chose not to take her to prison, but told her he couldn’t take her home at that point because the police officer who arrested her was still on duty.

Went to river: Instead, he suggested they “go down to the river and watch the sun rise,” Hoffnagle testified.

She said they parked near the Accomac Inn until about 7 a.m., at which point he took her home. But before that happened, he asked her inappropriate questions including whether she liked oral sex, she said.

She also spotted him driving past her home numerous times later that day, she said.

On Oct. 28, 2010, Wert transported Hoffnagle again, she said, this time from Dauphin County Prison to a York County district judge office on a bad-check charge.

On the way back to Dauphin County Prison, Wert drove off Interstate 83 at the Valley Green exit and parked, according to Hoffnagle.

Wert started speaking about sexual things again, Hoffnagle testified, and rubbed her thighs.

Kissed prisoner: He tried to kiss her but she told him she hadn’t brushed her teeth that morning, Hoffnagle said. Wert drove to a nearby store and bought her cigarettes and gum, then drove back to the lot where they’d been parked, and eventually kissed her, she testified.

She said she complained to police “because I thought it was completely inappropriate.”

York County Detective Craig Fenstermacher also took the stand. He testified Wert eventually admitted to buying Hoffnagle a fast-food meal and kissing her twice on the cheek before returning her to prison.

He testified Wert initially denied many of the accusations, until he was told that the third time he transported Hoffnagle was actually a sting operation against him. That sting happened Feb. 5, 2011.

The sting: Fenstermacher said he followed Wert and took photos of him once again stopping to buy Hoffnagle a meal and allowing her to smoke.

Hoffnagle was wearing a wire, but Wert said nothing incriminating on the tape, according to Graff.

During his closing argument, Graff said Wert maintains it was Hoffnagle who brought up sexual topics.

“It’s kind of he said, she said,” Graff told the judge. “I’m not excusing what he did … but it’s not criminal.”

Deputy prosecutor Susan Emmons disagreed, arguing Wert’s conduct was egregious, that he breached his official duty and the Hoffnagle was powerless in the situation.

Judge Renn agreed Wert “subjected (Hoffnagle) to detention, if not outright mistreatment.”

State guidelines call for a sentence range of probation to one month in prison, Emmons said.

Centennial Medical Center security officers nab wanted rapist www.privateofficer.com

 

 

 

Nashville TN Feb 14 2012 Nashville Metro police report that a wanted rapist was captured by alert security personnel.
Tyrone Batts, 25, was charged Saturday with two counts of rape, attempted rape and robbery concerning an incident taking place Friday in the Terrace Place Garage at 2016 Terrace Place, according to a press release from Metro Nashville.

Batts was arrested Saturday morning after he was spotted walking on Leslie Avenue near Centennial Medical Center. Centennial security took him into custody at 8:30 a.m. and held him for Metro police.

Batts is also suspected in three incidents that took place Saturday morning, two of them in the Baptist Hospital parking garages and one in the Vanderbilt University Medical Center garage. The three victims Saturday morning were all hospital employees.

At the time of his arrest, Batts was on $50,000 bond for aggravated robbery and felon in possession of a weapon charges. He was also convicted of indecent exposure in July 2011, and was sentenced to three years for cocaine possession in 2008.

Vanderbilt University Police Department released a security notice at approximately 12:35 a.m. Saturday morning concerning the incident in Terrace Place Garage.

An update to the alert was sent at approximately 5:08 p.m. Sunday stating that a suspect had been taken into custody. This followed press releases from Metro Nashville concerning the arrest.

Mesa shoplifter pulls knife on Walmart security www.privateofficer.com

 

 

Mesa AZ Feb 14 2012 A transient was arrested after pulling a blade on a Walmart employee attempting to prevent the man from shoplifting Saturday afternoon, Mesa police records say.

Police records say Cory Brian Cassinelli, 19, walked out of Walmart on the 1600 block of South Signal Butte Road just before 10:30 a.m. with a Black and Decker jigsaw without paying for it.

An employee followed Cassinelli as he ran behind nearby businesses to get away. Cassinelli kept looking back at the employee who was on the phone with 911, records state.

Kroger employee steals customer’s credit card info www.privateofficer.com

 

 

RANKIN COUNTY, MS Feb 14 2012 - A 24-year-old Jackson man has been charged with fraudulent use of a credit card in Rankin County.

Sheriff Bryan Bailey says Samuel Lee Thompson was charged Feb. 9 with taking money from the account of a Rankin County woman after stealing her debit card when she presented it to him for payment.

Thompson was a clerk at the Kroger store on Spillway Road. He is charged with clearing out the woman’s account which was worth $600.

Thompson kept her card and gave her back a bogus card when she checked out. He is free on a $6,000 bond.

Source:wlox.com

South Bend woman pulls knife on Walmart security during shoplifting www.privateofficer.com

 

SOUTH BEND IN Feb 14 2012  – Police are searching for a woman who they believe wielded a pocket knife at a Wal-Mart worker when he tried stopping her for shoplifting Friday night, according to a police report.

The incident occurred around 9 p.m. Friday at the Ireland Road Wal-Mart. A loss prevention officer confronted the woman, who he believed was leaving with items she did not pay for.
The worker told police that the shoplifter took out a pocket knife saying, “I will cut you,” before running away, according to the police report.

She allegedly dropped the stolen items as she ran: six greeting cards, a Valentine’s Day gift bag, and a pack of batteries.

Austin man arrested after offering dancer cocaine at nightclub www.privateofficer.com

 

 

AUSTIN TX Feb 14 2012 – A man faces criminal charges, accused of offering crack cocaine to a dancer at a strip club in exchange for a dance.

According to his arrest affidavit, the club’s security officer handcuffed 26-year-old Ricardo Luna and escorted him outside. Sheriff’s deputies say he appeared very intoxicated and threatened to shoot them.

Luna is charged with harassment of a public servant and retaliation. He is currently in the Travis County Jail. His bond is set at $45,000.

Two Templeton residents arrested in burglaries after tip from Walmart security www.privateofficer.com

 

Paso Robles CA Feb 14 2012 Two Templeton residents suspected of burglaries in the North County were arrested Friday afternoon at Walmart in Paso Robles.

Ricky Andrew Soto, 22, and Tasha Rose Gambel, 23, were taken into custody at the store’s parking lot about 2 p.m.

Soto and Gambel were arrested after a Sheriff’s Office deputy received a tip from Walmart security agents that the man and women were suspected of committing numerous North County heists, including at Walmart.

A California Highway Patrol drug-sniffing dog assisted in the investigation after sheriff’s deputies smelled marijuana in Soto’s car. A tin containing black heroin and drug paraphernalia were found in the car.
Soto was arrested on suspicion of drug possession, possession of stolen property, and possession of burglary tools and remains in San Luis Obispo County Jail on $25,000 bail.
Gambel was arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to commit a crime and possession of burglary tools; she was released on $2,000 bail.

Source:www.sanluisobispo.com

Precinct 3 deputies arrested following state investigation www.privateofficer.com

 

 

Smith County TX Feb 14 2012 Texas Department of Public Service officers have conducted a search warrant at Precinct 3 Constable Dustin Rust’s office this morning and arrested multiple deputies after a lengthy investigation by the agency’s Private Security Division.

Smith County District Attorney Matt Bingham has confirmed information that several arrests were made this morning at the office. Sources are telling the Tyler Morning Telegraph that all of the office’s computers were taken during the raid.

Deputy Constables Monty Ward, Thomas Burns, Mark Pierce, and Justin Stockwell will all be charged with operating a private security company without a license, a Class A misdemeanor.

Ward, Pierce, and Stockwell have already been arrested and charged, booked, and released from custody.

However, Bingham was in a plea hearing this afternoon on another case and could not immediately elaborate on the details.

DPS Sgt. Richard Brown refused to comment on the investigation last week and referred all questions to Bingham’s office.

But Bingham refused to confirm or deny reports that Rust and his office were being investigated by the DPS.

Bingham did say he ordered Rust to cease all investigations into alleged wrongdoing by Whitehouse officials.

“I felt there was a conflict, and I am talking about who Rust knows. I told them to cease their investigation and to bring the case files to my office. I then contacted the Texas Rangers and asked for the case to be investigated by them,” he said.

Rust initiated an investigation into Whitehouse Fire Chief Ronny Fite and Police Chief Rick Waller for alleged financial irregularities and other undisclosed allegations.

Former Precinct Constable deputies James Lee and James Stewart said last week they had been questioned by Brown in reference to allegations into Rust’s office.

Smith County commissioners denied Rust extra funds in July after the constable asked for more monies for fuel.

When asked by newspaper last week about the investigation Rust replied, “I don’t know what you are talking about.”

Source:TYLER MORNING TELEGRAPH

Security at Detroit Metro Airport find loaded gun at checkpoint www.privateofficer.com

 

 

ROMULUS, Mich. Feb 14 2012 - A passenger flying out of Detroit Metro Airport was arrested Monday after screeners found a loaded handgun in a bag at a security checkpoint.

Jim Fotenos of the TSA says the firearm was found in a carry-on bag when it went through an x-ray machine at the airport’s McNamara Terminal.

Airport Police arrested the passenger around noon Monday.

Fotenos tells 7 Action News that the TSA is finding guns in travelers’ carry-on bags more and more frequently.

The TSA spokesman says that in 2011 an average of four weapons were found in bags nationwide each day. Previously, he says the national average was two per day.

More often than not, Fotenos says, air travelers claim they simply forgot they had a weapon packed in their bag.

Source:www.wxyz.com

NC pig farmer sent to prison for polluting river with hog waste www.privateofficer.com

 

 

COLUMBUS COUNTY, NC Feb 14 2012 - A hog farm in Columbus County was ordered to pay $1.5 million in fines, restitution and community service payments for violations to the federal Clean Water Act. The president of the farm will also serve time in prison.

Freedman Farms, Inc. allowed hog waste to enter into a stream that leads into the Waccamaw River.

The court sentenced William B. Freedman, president of the farms, to six months in prison plus six months of home confinement.
The farm will have to pay a half million dollar criminal fine, plus $925,000 in restitution. A judge plans to hold a status conference in thirty days to further examine the restitution process.
The farm will also have to pay a $75,000 community service payment to the Southern Environmental Enforcement Network.

The company will also have to start a comprehensive environmental compliance program.

“William Freedman and Freedman Farms will be held accountable for polluting waterways and wetlands in Columbus County and the Waccamaw River watershed,” said Ignacia S. Moreno, Assistant Attorney General for the Environment and Natural Resources Division of the Department of Justice in an emailed news release. “Owners and operators of concentrated animal feeding operations must comply with the nation’s Clean Water Act for the protection of America’s streams, wetlands, and rivers.”

The incident dates back to December 2007. Waste from roughly 4,800 hogs was meant for two lagoons for treatment and disposal. However, the waste ended up being discharged from Freedman Farms to Browder’s Branch.

Source:WECT

Jackson Miss. council reverses bill requiring convenient stores to have security guards www.privateofficer.com

 

 

JACKSON, MS Feb 14 2012  – Last year Jackson city leaders devised a bill to increase security at local convenient stores.

Monday they reversed the bill, after less than five months after it went into effect.

In September, the Jackson City Council members adopted an ordinance requiring convenience stores to hire their own security, after several violent events at Jackson gas stations.

The robbery and murder of security guard James McKinney being one of them.

The Jackson man gunned down at the shell gas station on Jefferson and Fortification Street.

Monday Jackson city officials reversed the law, saying it was too hard to enforce.

“We had reporting requirements that the previous councilman said need to go to JPD,” said Ward 1 Councilman Quentin Whitwell. “It didn’t address it in the ordinance so it just was confusing, caused a lot of problems quite frankly, there are some people all over the state that were very concerned what precedents this might set.”

The convenience store security law drafted by then Ward 3 Councilman Kenneth Stokes, now Hinds County District 5 supervisor.

Source:WLBT