Trespasser arrested four times at same apartment complex www.privateofficer.com

 

 

Orland Park IL Feb 16 2012 A man found trespassing at a local apartment for the fourth time was stopped by security and arrested by police.
Eddie Villareal, 31, of the 9300 block of Hunter Drive in Orland Park was arrested for trespassing at the apartment complex in the 19400 block of Glenwood Road at about 11:12 p.m.
Security officer told police Villareal has been arrested several times at the property and was advised not to come, according to reports.
Officers said Villareal admitted to being arrested four times at the property and knows he is not allowed in the complex.
Villareal was taken into custody and told not to return to the property again.

Dallas police officer shot saved by 2 Way radio microphone www.privateofficer.com

 

 

DALLAS, TX Feb 16 2012  – A Dallas police officer is recovering after he was shot in the line of duty. But it wasn’t a bulletproof vest that saved his life, It was the radio microphone pinned to his shirt.

Dallas police officer Ron Workman hadn’t even put his patrol car in park before the gunman fired at him. The bullet went right through the driver’s side window.

It surely would have killed him, had it not struck the 66-year-old officer’s lapel mic first. Kevin Janse with Dallas police says, “Here’s the driver’s window. It came through the window, hit his lapel mic and went into his neck. We’re talking a matter of centimeters and this could’ve been a whole different story.”

It could’ve been a different story too for Joshua Busbey who was just leaving when the officer arrived. He says, “I had my son with me. It’s a good thing I went back to the store because otherwise, I was parked right here and I would’ve been unloading my son in all of it.”

Police say the gunman’s first bullet hit a car, the second struck the officer. And that the gunman used the third to kill himself.

It’s unclear what prompted the shooting. But police know this, Chief David Brown says, “His aunt lives in the complex and I believe he’d been disturbance with her earlier in the day.”

Other officers have been visiting the wounded officer who they say is talking and is in good condition despite the bullet having lodged in his jaw.

Brown said he’s concerned but relieved he didn’t lose an officer. He says, “Our officer is fine, our city our department is so blessed today that this officer is gonna have nonlife threatening injuries and we’re praying that he comes to a full recovery.”

Source:CNN

Heroic NYPD detective shot-kills suspect in Harlem subway station www.privateofficer.com

 

New York City NY Feb 16 2012 A heroic police officer was wounded and a violent ex-con was killed Tuesday when a gunfight broke out in a crowded Harlem subway station, sending straphangers scrambling for their lives.

Despite being hit in the arm, Detective Kevin Herlihy fatally blasted suspect Michael McBride in the chest in a close-range shootout. McBride, 52, was wanted for shooting his girlfriend’s daughter in the head in Queens on Monday.

The wounded plainclothes officer — a Navy vet and a father of three children, including a 13-month-old daughter — was taken to Columbia-Presbyterian Hospital.

His wife, Adrienne, rushed to the hospital to be at his side.

“He has a guardian angel,” said Herlihy’s father, Vance Herlihy, 72, a retired NYPD cop.

“Thank God he’s safe,” the officer’s sister, Diane DeMartino, 46, added.

Herlihy, 47, started his day by giving his wife a Valentine’s Day surprise, a Zales bracelet. Hours later, he was locked in a life-or-death confrontation.

Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly, who along with Mayor Bloomberg also went to the hospital to check on the 18-year NYPD veteran, called Herlihy’s near-miss “miraculous.”

“He not only survived, he was able to stop the assailant from shooting anyone else,” Kelly said.

“All of us here are incredibly grateful that Detective Herlihy is alive,” Bloomberg added.

Rattled witnesses said they heard up to 17 shots in the station at W. 145th St. and St. Nicholas Ave. that sent them screaming and diving for cover behind benches and trash cans.

“It was ‘pow! pow! pow!’” said a woman who was present when a volley of bullets erupted at 4:15 p.m. The woman said she saw five officers run into the station with guns drawn.

“It was so loud,” she said. “When it stopped, I looked up and saw people on the floor.”

Edwin Pagan, 47, said he entered the station to check his MetroCard.

“At least 17 shots rang out,” said Pagan. “There was a woman with a baby carriage running behind me and everybody was trampling over each other.”

When the gunfire stopped, he said, he heard a detective standing over the mortally wounded suspect yelling, “It’s over! It’s over!” to backup cops entering the station.

NYPD Violent Felony Squad detectives from Queens traced pings from McBride’s cell phone and narrowed down his whereabouts. Detectives spotted him walking on 145th St., near the apartment of a friend he had been staying with, just after 4 p.m., Kelly said.

When officers yelled for McBride to stop, he ran into the southeast entrance of the station at 145th St. and St. Nicholas, Kelly said. McBride ran across the mezzanine to the northwest exit, where he turned and fired at Herlihy from 10 feet, hitting the cop in the left bicep.

A source said it appeared McBride had his .22-caliber revolver wrapped in Tuesday’s edition of the Daily News.

“He shielded the gun with the Daily News and then turned and fired,” the police source said.

Herlihy, who has two citations for excellent police duty, managed to squeeze off 13 rounds, hitting McBride in the chest.

McBride collapsed on the northwest stairs leading out of the station and the six-shooter fell to his side. He died at Harlem Hospital. Kelly said Herlihy was the only officer who fired and that McBride expended all the bullets in his gun during the shootout.

The explosion of violence happened just moments after police sent out a media advisory that detectives were hunting for McBride for questioning in the Monday shooting.

Detectives believe McBride shot Shante Plowden, 25, his girlfriend’s daughter, in the head during an argument about 1:35 p.m. Monday in the ninth-floor hallway of her apartment building on Beach 100th St. in Far Rockaway, Queens.

Her father, Ashton Plowden, said the bullet is still in her forehead. “She’s very strong … It’s definitely a miracle,” he said.

He said McBride had come to the apartment looking for Shante’s mother, who had kicked him out of her place. “It was something that was targeted for her mother and unfortunately (Shante) was at the wrong place at the wrong time,” he said.

Plowden was listed in critical condition Tuesday at North Shore University Hospital in Nassau County.

Surveillance video apparently showed McBride arguing with Plowden and then dragging her out of the camera’s view, a source said. Plowden was able to tell cops that McBride shot her, sources said.

A friend said Plowden had expressed her dislike of McBride, who began dating her mother a year ago.

“She didn’t like the situation between her mother and him, but she was always a positive person,” Tiffany Llewellyn, 25, of Brooklyn told The News.

McBride’s rap sheet includes convictions for robbery, burglary and drug crimes dating back to 1980. He was paroled in July 2008 after serving part of a 12- to-25-year sentence for robbery. It was the third time McBride had done prison time. In 1985, he wrapped up a four-year term for burglary.

The Tuesday clash follows a rash of police-involved shootings in the city, including one in December that killed Officer Peter Figoski, 47, and another Jan. 31 in which Officer Kevin Brennan survived.

Two Chicago police officers arrested for stealing cash www.privateofficer.com

 

 

Chicago IL Feb 16 2012 Chicago police sergeant Ronald Watts, 48, an 18-year police veteran and Kallatt Mohammed, 47, who joined the department 14 years ago, both of Chicago, were arrested February 12th on federal charges alleging that they stole $5,200 in government undercover funds from a cooperating individual who they believed was transporting the cash for drug dealers. Both were assigned to a 2nd District tactical team, each were charged with one count of theft of government funds in a criminal complaint that was unsealed yesterday in U.S. District Court.

The arrests and charges were announced by Patrick J. Fitzgerald, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois; Robert D. Grant, Special Agent in Charge of the Chicago Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation; and Superintendent Garry F. McCarthy of the Chicago Police Department. The police department’s Internal Affairs Division participated in the investigation.

On Nov. 21, 2011, after a Cooperating Witness (CS5) working with the FBI, who was unknown by Watts and Mohammed, told the police officers that he/she was a narcotics traffickers who transferred drug funds from on location to another. In a surveillance video-recording FBI agents observed Officer Mohammed, driving his personal auto, approached CS5 in the 2700 block of South Vernon taking a bag containing $5,200 from CS5. Later, the officers paid CS5 $400 for allowing them to steal the drug proceeds, the charges allege.

According to the complaint affidavit, FBI also have recorded phone conversations of Watts being told by CS5 of drug money pick ups and between Watts and Mohammed coordinating the stealing of the drug money and meets to portion out the money. The theft of government funds carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

Both, Watts and Mohammed were released on $10,000 unsecured bonds after appearing before U.S. Magistrate Judge Maria Valdez in Federal Court. A status hearing was scheduled for 1:30 p.m. on Feb.21.

Pasco County jury awards family of Tampa police officer $7 million in wrongful death lawsuit www.privateofficer.com

 

 

Pasco County Fla Feb 15 2012 Lara Guerrero’s husband has been dead for nearly four years. She keeps his urn by her bedside and kisses it each morning and night. She tells her husband’s ashes about her day, how the kids are doing, how much she loves him and misses him. Guerrero does not believe her pain will ever lift. She is 42.

“I miss my husband so much,” Guerrero said Tuesday, days after a jury awarded her husband’s estate $7 million in a wrongful-death lawsuit against the Pasco County government. It is the largest jury award that risk claims manager Jane Calano, who has worked for the county 27 years, can remember.

“He was my heart, my best friend. He was my everything,” Lara Guerrero said as she sobbed. “And he was taken away.”

Victor Guerrero, 47, was a Marine and 20-year-veteran of the Tampa Police Department. On May 1, 2008, he was riding his motorcycle south on U.S. 41 when a county-owned pickup turned left in front of him. Guerrero hit the right side of the truck and the impact hurled him off his bike. He was flown to St. Joseph’s Hospital and pronounced dead on arrival. Guerrero was not wearing a helmet, but state law does not require it of motorcyclists. Guerrero, his wife and her three children lived in Brooksville. He raised her children as his own, and he also had three children from a previous marriage, so he was a father to six. The crash happened just before 1 p.m. on a Thursday. Guerrero, who was born in Cuba, was off duty and headed to Tampa to see his mother, whom he had coffee with nearly every day.

The driver of the pickup, Daniel Whipple, 56, was cited for failing to yield while making a left turn. Whipple, who works in project management for the county, testified in court during the civil trial last week that he did not see the bike.

Lara Guerrero said she cried looking at Whipple. “He took our dreams away,” she said.

Guerrero’s attorney, Dennis A. Koltun, said he felt “relief and exhilaration” when the jury announced its verdict, which was higher than the $5.1 million Koltun requested. The total awarded was $7.85 million, but the jury reduced it by 10 percent because it found Victor Guerrero was partially responsible because he did not wear a helmet. With the 10 percent reduction, Victor Guerrero’s estate would get about $990,000 for lost wages; his three sons would each receive $1.57 million; and his wife would receive $1.35 million.

It might be difficult for the Guerrero family to receive any money, though.

The county has 30 days to appeal. If it does not appeal, the county has to pay only $200,000 — receiving any more money than that from a county agency requires an act of the Legislature. Koltun said his firm will have to hire a lobbyist to get a politician to sponsor a claims bill.

“Even though a jury of their peers has spoken, this doesn’t end the tragedy and it brings no comfort to the family,” Koltun said. “This continues to go on.”

Assistant county attorney Anthony Salzano said it is too early to say what the county will do.

“We are currently reviewing our options and deciding the best way to proceed,” he said.

Lara and Victor Guerrero had been together for 12 years and married for nearly two when he died. They met at a Home Depot in Tampa. She worked as a cashier. He worked security on his days off from the Police Department. They built their dream house in Brooksville on 5 acres. The couple and their kids would roast marshmallows and lie outside on their backs looking at the stars. Lara and Victor left love notes in the house for each other. This is where they were going to grow old together. The other day, while at a mall with her sons, Lara Guerrero saw an elderly couple holding hands and she wept.

“That was supposed to be us,” she said.

Holidays are hollow for her now. Her husband loved them. They had traditions for each. On Valentine’s Day, they always went to the Florida State Fair and had fun eating the crazy food. For this Valentine’s Day, Lara Guerrero decorated her husband’s crash site with flowers and balloons that said “I love you.” She visits the roadside site once or twice a month to put fresh flowers there. For Christmas, she decorates it with tiny Christmas trees. Lara Guerrero moved to Ocala a few months after her husband died so she and the children could be near her parents. There were too many memories here.

It didn’t help.

“It’s not any easier,” she said. “The ghosts will follow you.”

Panama City school bus driver arrested for showing porn to students www.privateofficer.com

 

PANAMA CITY Fla Feb 16 2012 — A Mowat Middle School bus driver was arrested and suspended from his job for allegedly using his cellphone to show pornography to students.

Marcus Antonio Howard, 37, was charged with four counts of showing obscene material to a minor, officials said in a news release Tuesday. Panama City Police officers wrote the incidents happened in January and February, and the investigation into Howard’s alleged actions began last week. He was arrested Monday.

Howard, who drove bus number 744, was suspended without pay at Tuesday’s School Board meeting. The suspension is the first step in the process toward termination, officials said.

“There’s no justification for anyone to show children any type of pornographic material,” said Superintendent Bill Husfelt.

Sharon Michalik, executive director for human resources and employee support services, said a student told a parent about the alleged incident and the parent then called Mowat Middle School. School officials investigated and asked Mike Jones, Bay District Schools chief of security, to assist.

“We reacted as soon as we were notified of this and he was relieved of his duty at that time,” Michalik said. “We brought in a substitute bus driver that very afternoon.”

Jones contacted PCPD about Howard. Together they interviewed Howard, who denied having pornographic material on his phone. Howard then gave the investigators consent to search his phone, where they found pornographic photos and videos, the report states.

Jones then offered to drive Howard home. On the ride home, Howard admitted that he had the material on his phone and that he looked at it while at work, authorities reported.

Howard added that he did not let any of the children look at it intentionally but could “not say if any of them may have accidentally seen any of the material,” the report states.

The investigation is ongoing and more charges may be filed, officials wrote.

Anyone with information about this or any other crime is asked to call the Panama City Police Department at 850-872-3112 or visit http://www.panamacitypolice.com. Anonymous tips can be reported to CrimeStoppers at 850-785-TIPS.

News Herald Writer Chris Segal contributed to this report. An earlier version of this story appears below:

The Panama City Police Department has arrested a Bay District bus driver and charged him with showing porn to minors.

Marcus Antonio Howard, 37, was charged with four counts of showing obscene material to a minor, officials said in a news release.

Investigators said Howard displayed pornographic photos and videos to the minors in January and February of this year.

According to an incident report Mike Jones, Bay District’s head of safety and security contacted PCPD about Howard who had allegedly showed the material to middle school students. Together they interviewed Howard who denied having pornagraphic material on his phone. Howard then gave the investigators consent to search his phone where they found pornagraphic photos and videos, the report states.

Jones then offered to drive Howard home. On the ride home Howard admitted that he had the material on his phone and that he looked at it while at work.

Howard added that he did not let any of the children look at it intentionally but could not “say if any of them may have accidentally seen any of the material.”

The investigation is on going and more charges may be filed, officials wrote.

Anyone with information about this or any other crime is asked to call the Panama City Police Department at 850-872-3112 or visit http://www.panamacitypolice.com. Anonymous tips can be reported to CrimeStoppers at 850-785-TIPS.

Source:www.newsherald.com

Airport security badges among items stolen out of Florida hotel rooms www.privateofficer.com

 

 

Port St Lucie Fla. Feb 16 2012 Airport security badges are among the items that have been stolen from hotel guest rooms in Port St. Lucie in recent days, WPBF.com has learned.

At a SpringHill Suites in the 2000 block of Northwest Courtyard Circle on Feb. 4, two men walked into a guest room where a housekeeper was cleaning and asked how long she’d be in the room.

Assuming the men were guests of that room, the woman said she’d be about 10 minutes. Port St. Lucie police spokesman Tom Nichols told WPBF.com that the men returned a short time later, just in time to get in the room and steal the following items:

+ Electronics
+ Binoculars
+ A backpack
+ Golf gear
+ Curling iron
+ $150 in cash

The men also stole what Nichols called “several FAA and FCC high-security clearance airport ID badges.” It’s not clear of the men targeted the room for the badges or if the theft was random.

“We don’t know where (the badges) are now or who they’ve been given to, but it is a concern to the police department, and other local authorities have been notified of the stolen ID badges,” Nichols said.

About an hour later at a Holiday Inn Express nearby, one woman tried to distract a housekeeper while the other snooped around a guest room, though no items were reported stolen from it, Nichols said.

And on Monday at that same Holiday Inn Express, two men walked into a guest room and one started to rummage through a woman’s purse until a housekeeper told him he didn’t belong there. The two men then hustled out of the hotel.

Nichols said one of the suspects is a black man, between the ages of 25-35, no taller than 6 feet and weighing around 185-190 pounds. The other is either Hispanic or white, about 5 feet 9 inches tall and weighing between 180 and 190 pounds.

Both men were wearing jeans and white T-shirts, and were seen driving a gold or cream-colored four-door sedan, possibly a 1990 Oldsmobile Regency, Nichols said.

Source:www.wpbf.com

Police arrest Butterball Turkey employees for animal cruelty www.privateofficer.com

 

 

 

RALEIGH NC Feb 16 2012 – Hoke County deputies arrested three employees at a Butterball Turkey facility near Shannon, NC Wednesday and charged them with animal cruelty. Authorities were searching for three more.

The move came the same day a North Carolina Department of Agriculture employee was charged with obstructing the investigation.

The probe began late last year when the group Mercy for Animals filed a complaint with the Hoke County District Attorney after it said one of its members went undercover and got a job at the facility to videotape conditions.

Mercy for Animals posted an edited clip of its video at the web site http://www.butterballabuse.com. The video appears to show workers kicking and stomping turkeys. The video also shows injured birds with open wounds.

Hoke County authorities raided the Butterball plant on Dec. 28.

Deputies alleged Dr. Sarah Mason – a veterinarian at the N.C. Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services – contacted a veterinarian at Butterball Turkey on Dec. 23 to share information she had received from a fellow employee about the Mercy for Animals video.

In a statement Wednesday, NCDA&CS said it suspended Mason without pay for two weeks after its internal investigation found Mason did not at first answer truthfully when she was interviewed on Jan. 5 by Hoke County authorities about a leak of information about their investigation.

Mason said in a statement earlier this year that she acted on her own and reached out to a fellow veterinarian to immediately curtail any avian abuse.

“I deeply regret actions I have taken have reflected poorly on the NC Department of Agriculture,” said Mason.

The NCDA&CS also said Mason will be required to attend ethics training. The department said she derived no personal gain or benefit from her actions.

Mason appeared before a Hoke County judge Wednesday and pleaded guilty to obstruction and resisting a public officer. A 45-day jail sentence was suspended if she completes 12 months of probation.

In a statement to ABC11, Butterball said it was cooperating fully with the investigation. The company said it fired four employees last month due to their failure to comply with company animal care standards. Two current employees were also charged and they have been suspended.

“…we are committed to the care and well-being of our turkey flocks. We are closely re-evaluating our animal care and well-being policies and practices,” Butterball said in part.

Source:News11

Suffolk Va school district considers banning cross-gender dressing www.privateofficer.com

 

 

Suffolk VA Feb 16 2012 - A Virginia school district is considering banning cross-gender dressing in a move proponents said aims to protect students from harassment, but which civil liberties and gay rights groups said would amount to an assault on free speech.

Board members said they wanted to protect the children in the school district in Suffolk, about 20 miles from Norfolk, from the types of tragedies such as killings and suicides tied to bullying in other parts of the country.

The proposed dress code would prohibit students from wearing clothing “not in keeping with a student’s gender” and that “causes a disruption and/or distracts others from the education process or poses a health or safety concern.”

The board opted to pursue the ban after teachers at one of the district’s three high schools said some male students were dressing like girls, prompting complaints from other students, district spokeswoman Bethanne Bradshaw said.

Board Vice Chairwoman Thelma Hinton, in supporting the ban, cited the killing of a 15-year-old California cross-dressing student by another student in 2008 and the suicide of a 14-year-old gay student last year in New York after online bullying.

“When a situation is brought up to me, I’m going to speak out if I have to speak out, and take a stand,” Hinton said Thursday at a board meeting, adding that she was more concerned about the safety of the district’s 14,000 students than civil rights.

“It has nothing to do with a person’s gender — who they are,” Hinton said. “Of course I don’t want anyone’s rights being violated, but I have done some research.”

A vote on the issue is expected in March, and a ban would take effect on July 1 if approved, Bradshaw said.

ACLU SAYS BAN IS VAGUE AND DISCRIMINATORY

The American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia had already called the proposed ban unconstitutionally vague and sexually discriminatory even before Thursday’s meeting.

After hearing board members offer general support for the ban on Thursday, the state ACLU plans to outline possible legal actions that could follow if it is adopted, Virginia ACLU Executive Director Kent Willis told Reuters.

James Parrish, executive director of Equality Virginia, suggested that district administrators needed education on issues related to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender students.

“If a girl comes to school wearing jeans and a flannel shirt, is that considered cross-gender dressing?” he told Reuters, adding that a misunderstanding of the issues could actually make the students more susceptible to bullying.

“They’re calling it cross-dressing, but if that individual was wearing clothes that reflect their gender identity, that’s not cross-dressing, that’s appropriate gender dressing,” he said.

Several incidents where relentless verbal assaults and online harassment led to the suicides or murders of gay or lesbian teens over the past few years have led to tougher anti-bullying laws in some states.

New Jersey passed tougher anti-bullying laws after a gay college student killed himself after reportedly being bullied, and New York lawmakers were looking at how to stem the kind of harassment that led to the Buffalo teen’s suicide.

In Suffolk, school board attorney Wendell Waller said opponents who read the proposed ban as a straight prohibition missed its intent. He also said the district would press ahead with what he described as a “very delicate” balancing act.

“It is not a straight prohibition of anything, unless it … forms a disruption of the education process,” Waller said.

Source:Reuters

Two former Alabama Department of Public Safety employees charged with thefts www.privateofficer.com

 

MONTGOMERY, AL Feb 16 2012 - Two former Alabama Department of Public Safety employees are under arrest, according to Attorney General Luther Strange’s office, and charged with felony theft and ethics violations.

The suspects, identified as Kenneth Robert Grissett, 50, of Northport, and Earl M. Champion, 65, of Cottondale, both surrendered Wednesday at the Tuscaloosa County Jail.

The Attorney General’s office identified Grissett as a former state trooper and Champion as a former building custodian. Both resigned their positions from the Tuscaloosa State Trooper Post in March 2011.

Attorney General Strange’s Office presented evidence to a Tuscaloosa County Grand Jury, resulting in the indictments on February 1.

Grissett and Champion are accused of stealing gasoline and using their public positions for personal gain.

The Alabama Dept. of Public Safety said in May 2011 that four employees resigned after an investigation was launched into fuel card discrepancies. It was not immediately known if Grissett or Champion was a part of that report.

Second-degree theft is a class C felony, punishable by one year and a day, to 10 years imprisonment and a fine of up to $15,000.

Use of official position for personal gain, a violation of the state ethics law, is a class B felony, with each count punishable by two to 20 years imprisonment and a fine of up to $30,000.

INFORMATION SOURCE: Attorney General Strange’s office

Rhodhiss NC Chief of Police rescues fire victim while following speeder www.privateofficer.com

 

 

LENOIR, N.C.Feb 16 2012 - A Rhodhiss man was pulled from his burning home Tuesday night by the Chief of Police after he passed the blaze while following a speeding car.

Rhodhiss Chief of Police Tim Anthony told WBTV News on Tuesday that he saw a man drive past him at a high rate of speed around 7:30 p.m. and decided to follow him.

According to a Caldwell County spokesperson, the speeding car had its hazards activated. Both Chief Anthony and the speeding driver stopped at a home in the 200 block of Church Street, which was engulfed in smoke and flames.

Chief Anthony knew someone lived in the home.

He and the driver kicked in the back door of the home and found Robert Lee Curtis, Jr. laying on the couch, said Caldwell County Assistant Fire Marshal Kevin Brown.

Curtis was dragged to safety and both and the chief were treated by firefighters for smoke inhalation.

Brown says Curtis was taken to Frye Regional Medical Center with minor injures.

The Fire Marshal’s office was called in to investigate and believe the fire was intentionally set.

“It appears the fire was started using combustible materials in the attic of the home,” said Brown.

“Damages were mostly confined to the attic with smoke and water damage to the rest of the house totaling about $5,000. The investigation is continuing and charges are pending,” he added.

Source: WBTV

Saluda County correctional officers arrested for taking contraband into jail-have sex with inmates www.privateofficer.com

 

 

SALUDA COUNTY, SC Feb 16 2012- Two former Saluda County correctional officers are out of a job and facing charges after they were caught taking food, drinks, drugs and other contraband into the jail for inmates, according to authorities.

Saluda County Sheriff Jason Booth said his agency and the 11th Circuit Solicitor’s Office have charged Pamela Warren and Rebecca Williams with misconduct in office.

Booth said Warren and Williams were providing items such as Big Macs, valium pills, toiletries and other items to inmates inside the Saluda County Detention Center.

Booth also says both women were having intimate relationships with those inmates.

After an investigation, the officers turned themselves in and were charged. They are no longer employed with the detention center.

Both have been released from jail on personal recognizance bonds.

Source: WIS

Sands Casino Resort Bethlehem security gets approval to unionize www.privateofficer.com

 

 

Bethlehem PA Feb 16 2012 Sands Casino Resort Bethlehem security guards have finally gotten approval to unionize, nine months to the day they filed their petition.

The National Labor Relations Board on Friday upheld the guards’ successful union election from July. The guards first filed their petition to unionize May 10.

Sands fought the guards’ efforts at every step, including filing legal appeals to the election and its results. The guards also filed unfair labor practice charges against the casino during the nine-month battle.

The unionization of the casino’s 100 guards is the first unionization effort since the casino opened in May 2009. Bethlehem officials had required Sands Bethlehem to hire union laborers to build the casino and its hotel, mall and events center atop former Bethlehem Steel Corp. land.

“Everybody is pretty excited,” said George Bonser, a Sands security guard who led the unionization effort.

Sands will now be required to sit down with the guards and negotiate a contract, said Peter Luck, sergeant-at-arms for the Law Enforcement Employees Benevolent Association, of which the guards are now members.

Bonser said he hopes Sands does that willingly despite its strong resistance to the unionization effort.

“Just knowing the background of the Sands, it’ll be different than I’m used to,” said Bonser, a Wilson Borough resident who was a union member at both Steel and Alstom Power in West Easton. “We’re allies — we want the company to prosper and make money.”

The guards are interested in establishing a grievance policy and also seeking higher wages and reduced health insurance premiums, Bonser said. Security guards at Sands’ Las Vegas properties pay no insurance premiums and make more in hourly wages, he said. Guards in Bethlehem start at $12 an hour and those that have been there since 2009 now earn $12.73 an hour, he said.

In the first two years of operation, the guards averaged a 40 percent turnover rate, mainly due to guards leaving for higher wages elsewhere, Bonser said. There are currently more than 100 security guards, up from the 86 that voted in the July 21 election, which had a 51-35 vote.

Sands Bethlehem President Robert DeSalvio declined to comment on the matter.

Western Mennonite teacher arrested www.privateofficer.com

 

 

McMinnville Or Feb 16 2012 A teacher at the Western Mennonite School, located between McMinnville and Salem on Wallace Road, was arrested Tuesday by McMinnville police on charges alleging he engaged in sex acts with a16-year-old female student at his McMinnville residence.

Capt. Dennis Marks identified him as Matthew David Yoder, 29, of 1145 S.W. Cypress St., No. 91, McMinnville. Police have initially charged him with five counts of second-degree sexual abuse and one count each of third-degree rape, third-degree sodomy and coercion. The charges are all Class C felonies.

Officials at Western Mennonite, a private school that serves students in grades six through 12, notified the state Department of Human Services regarding contact between Yoder and the student that allegedly took place at his residence, and DHS notified the police, according to Marks.

He will tentatively be arraigned at 1:20 p.m. today in Yamhill County Circuit Court, at which time he will face charges filed by the district attorney’s office.

Yoder is lodged in jail on $60,000 bail.

Anyone with potential information related to this case should call detective Michelle Formway, at 503-434-2340.

Source:News-Register

KVOA anchor Martha Vazquez arrested for shoplifting www.privateofficer.com

 

 

Tucson AZ Feb 16 2012 New details have emerged in the alleged shoplifting incident that led to KVOA anchor Martha Vazquez‘s resignation this week after 26 years with the station.

According to a police report, posted by Tucson Weekly, Vazquez was cited for stealing a hoodie and a pair of earrings from a Dillard’s department store.

A Dillard’s security officer observed the longtime Tucson anchor try on a $338 Eileen Fisher hoodie near a clothing rack and then conceal it inside of a sweater she had been wearing. She then purchased shoes and a few other items and attempted to leave the store without paying for the hoodie, at which point she was detained by security.
When a security officer searched Vazquez, he found a $30 pair of Kenneth Cole earrings. Asked if she had intended to steal the hoodie and the earrings, Vazquez responded, “Not at first, but I did and I have no excuses for it.”

She also told police she could have paid for the items with a credit card but decided not to.

A Tucson police officer was called to the scene and Vazquez was given a shoplifting citation and released. She is expected to be arraigned on February 22nd. She faces one misdemeanor count of shoplifting.

County security officer, constable charged with not disclosing a felony conviction www.privateofficer.com

 

WILKES-BARRE PA Feb 16 2012– A city man employed as a security officer in Luzerne County and as a city constable was charged Monday after investigators said he did not disclose on an application a previous conviction.

Kenneth Leon Holley, 56, of Stanley Street, was charged by Luzerne County detectives on a single count of making a statement under penalty.

According to court papers, on a July application to work as a security officer with firearms clearance, Holley agreed to a background check.

Investigators learned Holley had been charged with receiving stolen property in 1975 in New Jersey, and was sentenced to five years of suspended confinement and two years probation.

Investigators said the charge related to a stolen check in the amount of $273, a felony of the third degree in New Jersey.

When questioned by Luzerne County detectives, Holley said he did not consider the receiving stolen property charge a conviction because he only served a period of probation.

Investigators also learned Holley was using two different birth dates, according to court papers, and that he did not have a birth certificate because he was born on a reservation in North Carolina and a fire destroyed documents kept at his grandmothers house in New Jersey.

Holley most recently worked as a security officer, stationed at the Luzerne County Children and Youth and Bureau of Aging building. He is paid approximately $32,000 in that position.

Interim County Manager Tom Pribula said Holley has been suspended without pay.

His status as a constable was unknown Wednesday.

Source:www.timesleader.com

Myrtle Beach Police arrest teacher-social worker for not reporting child abuse www.privateofficer.com

 

MYRTLE BEACH, SC  Feb 16 2012 Myrtle Beach Police are actively searching for a man accused of sexually abusing a 9-year-old girl in October and have already arrested three women in connection to the case.

According to a police report, Myrtle Beach Police spoke with a social worker with the Department of Social Services on Jan. 4 who said she was investigating a report of a sexual assault against a 9-year-old girl.

The DSS worker said the incident happened in October of 2011 and was reported to school officials in November of 2011.

The report further stated the child told school officials as well as a family member that a relative’s boyfriend entered her room and sexually assaulted her as she pretended to sleep. The little girl said it only happened one time, but she was afraid to stay in the home, the report said.

On Jan. 4, officers took the child into emergency protective custody and launched an investigation. On Feb. 6, Andrea Lynn Cansino-Antemate was taken into custody and charged with unlawful neglect of a child. She was released from jail on a $20,000 personal recognizance bond, according to the clerk of court.

According to the arrest warrant obtained by WMBF News, Cansino-Antemate was told about the incident by the child. In November, she went to Myrtle Beach Intermediate School to speak with a guidance counselor and was allegedly told she needed to get the suspect out of the house.

Police said she failed to do so, resulting in the child being placed at unreasonable risk to further harm.

Wednesday morning, officers arrested Julie Kristen Farmer Janis, 38, and Carole Eileen McMahon, 38, and charged them both with failure to report child abuse or neglect in connection to the case. Janis has also been charged with obstruction of justice.

Arrest warrants allege Janis told Cansino-Antemate law enforcement would not be called about the incident if Cansino-Antemate had the suspect removed from the house by Jan. 4. They also said Janis was concerned for the family’s immigration status.

McMahon acted as a translator for the mother and Janis and neither reported the incident to police or DSS, according to the warrant.

Teal Britton, spokeswoman for Horry County Schools, told WMBF News Janis is a guidance counselor at Myrtle Beach Intermediate who has been with Horry County Schools since August of 2001. McMahon is an ESOL teacher at Myrtle Beach Intermediate who has been with Horry County Schools since August of 1999.

They are both on leave with pay pending an investigation, according to Britton.

The clerk of court told WMBF News they have been released from jail on a $5,000 PR bond.

Additionally, officers with the Myrtle Beach Police Department are searching for the suspect, 35-year-old Abel Candia-Lascano. Capt. David Knipes told WMBF News officers were seeking warrants against Candia-Lascano and are actively searching for him at this time.

Anyone with information as to Candia-Lascano’s whereabouts is asked to contact Myrtle Beach Police as soon as possible.

Prosecutors tell WMBF News people in certain professions are required by law to notify police if they suspect abuse. Candice Lively, a prosecutor with the Horry County Solicitor’s Office said those particular professions are chosen because of their close proximity to kids.

Lively stated, “In the children’s code here in South Carolina, it specifically states a list of people mandated reporters – medical, school teachers, assistant principals, counselors all listed as mandated reporters.”

Lively added that some professions are held to a higher standard because of their access to children and their responsibility to make sure they feel protected.

Lively said the detrimental effects of not taking care of the problem are far-reaching. Lively said, “Whenever a child looks to someone in a school, someone outside of the home who can help them with what is going on in home, they need the security and feeling like there is another adult they can trust and open up to.”

Additionally, prosecutors said there are serious consequences to pay for not reporting abuse. Lively said there could be a six month sentence and/or fine.

Parents whose children attend Myrtle Beach Intermediate School are speaking out. Nicole Goings said, “I think if a child comes to any adult saying they are abused or anything going on. I think a grown up should look into it.”

Goings said whenever abuse is reported to an adult she believes it is better to be safe than sorry. Goings added, “If my child went to an adult and told them this is happening in the home, I would like an adult to come to me and ask what is going on.”

Source: WMBF

Small plane crash in North Bend Washington kills 3 people www.privateofficer.com

 

 

NORTH BEND, Wash. Feb 15 2012 – King County sheriff’s deputies say two men and one woman were killed after a small plane crashed on Little Si in North Bend early Wednesday.

Search and rescue crews hiked to a wooded, steep area where the plane had crashed. Sheriff’s spokesperson Sgt. Cindi West said crew members found the bodies of three people inside the single engine four-seater Cessna 172. Rescuers said one of the men appeared to be older, the other two victims appeared to be in their 30s.

“We’re basically in recovery mode right now,” said West. “We had hoped that somebody would be found alive up there at the scene. Unfortunately, that hasn’t happened.”

Deputies on patrol in the area reported hearing what sounded like two trains colliding just before 2 a.m. Wednesday.

911 calls came pouring in from neighbors, who said they heard a plane engine sputter near Mount Si Road, then a crash.

“I heard it crash into a sheer cliff, and indeed that’s what’s up there,” said Terry Jensen, North Bend resident. “It’s a tragedy.”

The Federal Aviation Administration picked up a signal from the plane’s electronic locator trasmitter, which helped sheriff’s deputies pinpoint where the plane went down.

A crew on King County sheriff’s Guardian One helicopter spotted the wreckage around 3 a.m. using night vision googles.

“From Guardian One, personnel said it didn’t look like the crash was survivable,” said Capt. Kent Baxter, King County Sheriff’s Office.

Once sheriff’s crews and volunteers recover the plane, the investigation into the cause the crash will be taken over by the FAA and the NTSB, said West.