California security officer awarded $425,000 in overtime dispute www.privateofficer.com

 

LOS ANGELES California March 29 2012—Eight years is a long time for a worker to be exploited, working 24/7, with no overtime pay. But the patience of security guard Ernesto Salamante finally paid off recently, when he won $425,000 in a lawsuit he filed against his employer.

 More than eight years ago, Salamante was hired by a jewelry distributor in Los Angeles to provide security to its premises.

In an obvious attempt to make Salamante work way beyond the eight-hour shift without paying him overtime, the employer provided him a trailer for his living accommodations inside the compound and prodded the Filipino elderly to accept a monthly salary, instead of wages based on an hourly basis.

 

Unaware of his legal rights as a worker and worried that he would have difficulty finding another job, the 73-year-old security guard worked everyday in the compound, seven days and nights a week. In addition, he was made to clean the compound’s yard before the employees arrived in the morning and after they have left in the evening, the lawsuit claimed.

The employer refused to pay Salamante overtime and argued that the security guard position only paid minimum wage. Salamante then sought the assistance of the Division of Labor Standards and Enforcement, which recommended that he hire a private attorney.

 

 He was represented by prominent Glendale-based attorney Joe Sayas, who was able to gather sufficient evidence that established the employer’s violations of state and federal employment laws. Sayas advanced a novel legal theory, when he invoked California’s Elder Abuse Act because of Salamante’s age, which allowed Salamante to make claims for additional damages.

What started as a claim for wages became a more serious case of elderly financial abuse. In addition to wages owed, this legal strategy opened the way for claims of emotional distress.

 The case was aggressively defended by the employer, with the defense attorneys filing petitions before the Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court. However, the employer lost all legal issues it raised before the appellate courts.

 

Just before Christmas last year, Salamante obtained a settlement of $425,000 — an unprecedented amount for a blue-collar position. The case quickly caught the attention of the legal community. Having grown up in the Philippines, Mr. Salamante was concerned about how he could express the facts of his case well. He felt that he could better testify about the details of his employment in his native language, Tagalog. “It helped that being a Filipino myself, I understood why a Filipino would agree to work under such difficult circumstances and for an abusive employer, and that was because of the Filipino’s boundless desire to help his extended family back home.

 It also helped that I understood the language and was thus able to communicate better with the client,” said Sayas, who was just recently rated a “Super Lawyer” in the field of Employment Law by the Los Angeles Magazine.

Vermont police arrest couple in death of school teacher www.privateofficer.com

 

WATERFORD, Vt. March 29 2012- Authorities have made an arrest in connection with the murder of Vermont teacher Melissa Jenkins, The Caledonian Record reports. Allan Prue, 30, and his wife Patricia Prue, 33, were arrested last night after police executed a search warrant at their residence around 8 p.m. Tuesday. The Record reports the home was designated a crime scene and vehicles were towed from the scene.

Around the same time, Patricia Prue was being questioned at the state police barracks in St. Johnsbury. She suddenly experienced a medical episode and was brought to a local hospital.

Prue was listed in stable condition at 11 p.m. and returned to the barracks. Both suspects are now being held at the Northeast Region Correctional Facility in St. Johnsbury.

Vermont State Police said an autopsy Tuesday confirmed the body was that of Jenkins, who disappeared while her son was left unharmed in her idling car. There was evidence of a struggle. The body was found Monday not far from where her car was found.

Police said on Tuesday that the death of the 33-year-old has been ruled a homicide. However, police did not release the cause of death.

Jenkins taught science and had served as the freshman girls’ basketball coach at St. Johnsbury Academy, a boarding school that also serves as the public high school.

 Police are scheduled to release more details on the arrest in a press conference Wednesday morning.

 

Source:CBS

TN man arrested in Ponzi scheme www.privateofficer.com

 

KNOXVILLE TN March 29 2012 - A former registered securities broker from Maryville was arrested by the IRS on charges that he ran a Ponzi scheme to defraud local victims. Brian Keith Miller was indicted on March 20. He’s accused of running the scheme from April 2007 through March 2010, attempting to defraud investors with false representations of investment opportunities. Miller allegedly used the funds for himself and used a portion to pay other victims, making them think they were receiving payments on their investments. The indictment also charges that Miller made transactions greater than $10,000 with the fraud proceeds and filed false tax returns for 2007 and 2008. His charges involve wire fraud, money laundering and filing false tax returns. Miller appeared Monday in federal court in Knoxville and was released on bond.

Source: WATE

Ashwaubenon Public Safety officer charged with felonies after handcuffing wife during domestic dispute www.privateofficer.com

 

ASHWAUBENON WI March 29 2012 — An Ashwaubenon Public Safety officer faces a felony charge after his wife reported he handcuffed her last year during a dispute over a missing wallet.

Thomas Benike, 34, has been charged with false imprisonment, a felony, and disorderly conduct, a misdemeanor, following a dispute at his Bellevue home on Oct. 25. If convicted, he faces both up to six years and 90 days imprisonment and an $11,000 fine, though punishment could be more severe due to domestic violence enhancers. Benike is scheduled to enter a plea on May 1.

 

The Ashwaubenon Police and Fire Commission has scheduled a hearing to address the charges at 2:30 p.m. Friday at the Village Hall, 2155 Holmgren Way.

Phone messages left for Ashwaubenon Public Safety Chief Eric Dunning and Village Manager Allison Swanson were not immediately returned on Tuesday afternoon.

 

According to a criminal complaint, Benike’s wife, Heidi, reported the incident to authorities on Oct. 28, three days after it allegedly occurred. Heidi Benike, 34, said the dispute began at 1:30 p.m. when she accused Benike of having an affair and he refused to stop seeing the woman, the complaint said.

 

Later that afternoon, Benike asked her the location of his wallet. When she said she didn’t know, he handcuffed her and told her she was under arrest for theft of government property because his officer ID was in the wallet. Heidi Benike said she began to cry and called for her daughter to come to the garage to help.

 

Benike later found his wallet in the home and took the handcuffs off his wife. Heidi Benike said she was handcuffed for at least 10 minutes, the complaint said.

 

During an interview with an investigator, Benike said after handcuffing his wife, he pretended to call the Brown County Sheriff’s Department to have a deputy come and take a theft report.

 

The couple has been married about 12 years and has four children, according to the complaint.

 

Heidi Benike filed for divorce in November, and Benike is allowed to attend his children’s activities and contact them by email, court records show.

 

Benike has been a village officer since October 2006, the complaint said.

 

Source:grrenbaypressgazette.com

NC student arrested for poisoning a teacher’s drink www.privateofficer.com

 

BEAR CREEK, N.C. March 29 2012 – A 16-year-old Chatham County boy faces a felony charge after allegedly poisoning a teacher’s drink.

Charles Ronald Hart Aschenauer, 16, of Paw Paw Road in Gulf, was arrested Wednesday by a school resource officer at Chatham Central High School.
Investigators said they looked at surveillance video after a teacher became nauseous and Aschenauer was seen putting something in a drink before the teacher drank it.
Aschenauer was charged with felonious distribution of certain prohibited foods. He was released on bond Wednesday.
Officials said the teacher will be okay.
Aschenauer is due in court April 25.

Source: WTVD

Store security officer stabbed, 2 women arrested www.privateofficer.com

 

Manitoba Canada March 29 2012 A grocery store security guard is recovering this morning after being stabbed on the job yesterday.

The loss prevention officer at a Safeway in the 2100 block of Pembina Highway stopped two women he believed to be shoplifters around 3 p.m Tuesday.
Police say both women pulled knives.
The grocery guard suffered two minor stab wounds and was treated in hospital.
Patrolling officers arrested the two suspects in the area a short time later.

Source:CBC News

Off -duty TSA officers arrested after shooting at Fla hotel www.privateofficer.com

 

MIAMI BEACH, Fla. March 29 2012– Authorities say two Transportation Security Administration officers trashed a South Beach hotel room and fired a gun out of their second-story window. Miami Beach police say 27-year-old Jeffrey Piccolella and 25-year-old Nicholas Anthony Puccio were arrested Tuesday night and charged with criminal mischief and use of a firearm while under the influence. The Palm Beach County men were being held on $5,500 bail each. Hotel Shelley employees called police after hearing several gunshots. Officers responded to Piccolella and Puccio’s room, where they found destroyed hotel furnishings. Officers recovered a .380-calliber pistol. The Miami Herald ( http://bit.ly/HfXlW5) reports that one bullet pierced a hurricane-resistant window at a nearby Barneys New York. No injuries were reported. A TSA spokesman says Piccolella and Puccio are part-time officers and were not in Miami Beach on TSA business. Source:miami herald

Former Fairfax County police officer kills daughter-then himself www.privateofficer.com

 

Fairfax County VA March 29 2012 A former Fairfax County Police officer and his daughter are both dead in an apparent murder-suicide that police said occurred in Annandale early this morning.
According to police, former Sgt. John Jackson, 40, and his 13-year-old daughter, Alexis, both of the 5900 block of Summers Lane in Falls Church, were found dead at 1:15 a.m. in a vehicle parked in the driveway of a home in the 3800 block of Forest Grove Drive.
“Police responded to a report of a shooting and discovered the two bodies inside an SUV,” said police spokeswoman Tawny Wright. Police said the Annandale home was the residence of family members related to Jackson, but did not elaborate.
“The SUV was towed to our crime scene lab,” Wright said.
Police said they believe the shootings occurred sometime between midnight and 1 a.m.
“We are currently classifying this case as a homicide-suicide,” Wright said.
Officer Shelley Broderick said that Jackson resigned from the Fairfax County Police Department in June 2010 after serving 16 years, but did not give a reason for his resignation. ”That would be a personnel issue and not something we would release,” she said.

TSA Manager Arrested for Running Prostitution Ring www.privateofficer.com

 

SILVER SPRING, Md.March 29 2012 - A manager at the Transportation Security Administration has lost his job after being arrested on prostitution-related charges.
According to court documents, the agency had received a complaint of “very similar” activities back in 2009.
Bryant Jermaine Livingston, 39, was arrested while on the job as a supervisor of TSA agents at Dulles International Airport. The Manassas, Virginia resident, said by phone he is innocent of the charges, but declined to discuss the details of the case.
According to charging documents, on February 15th, Livingston used cash to rent a room at the Crowne Plaza Hotel on Georgia Ave. in Silver Spring, Md.
The hotel manager recognized Livingston as a previous customer who, on earlier occasions had “groups of males and females frequently entering and exiting Livingston’s room,” according to a court document.
Similar activity was happening on February 15, so the manager called Montgomery County Police to report likely prostitution. Responding officers offered to accompany the manager as she went to evict the people from the room.
At the doorway, Livingston denied prostitution was occurring, and invited the manager and police into the room. Responding officers say they saw, “11 people inside the room [including] three naked females and four males attempting to get dressed.
 Multiple people were laying on the two beds and other people were sitting in chairs and standing in the room.” In a hallway interview, Bryant Livingston told the police officers he “runs the airport security at Dulles,” according to the charging document.
A spokesman for the Transportation Security Administration confirmed that Livingston had worked for the agency since Oct. 29, 2002, but he is now “no longer employed by TSA.”
 In a subsequent interview, one of the men in the room told Montgomery County police that, “he paid Livingston $100 to enter the hotel room to engage in sexual activities.” Charging documents also say a TSA investigator told police that, “in 2009, a very similar complaint concerning Livingston was on record. The complaint alleged that Livingston was operating a prostitution ring and charging individuals $25. for sexual acts.”
The TSA spokesman had no immediate explanation as to what, if anything, the agency did about the earlier complaint. Bryant Livingston is facing five prostitution-related charges. His attorney, Jason Cleckner, declined to comment on the case.
Livingston has been released on his own recognizance, and faces trial on May 8th. In Maryland, a person convicted of prostitution can face up to a year in jail. TSA Statement: “TSA cooperated fully with law enforcement during their investigation into this matter.
The allegations against this individual are unacceptable and in no way reflect the integrity and professionalism of the more than 50,000 security officers who strive every day to ensure the security of the traveling public.”

Source:www.myfoxdc.com

Police: Georgia ”Chicken Man” Andrew Wordes kills self in explosion www.privateofficer.com

 

ATLANTA, Ga.March 29 2012 - The Fulton County Medical Examiner says the victim of a fatal explosion Monday was suburban Atlanta man Andrew Wordes, known as the “Chicken Man” for his fight to keep chickens on his property.

Authorities say Wordes, 53, poured gasoline in his house and set it on fire as marshals gathered to evict him because the home was in foreclosure.

His attorney Ryan Strickland on Tuesday said he was filing an emergency motion to block his client’s eviction moments before the explosion.

“This was the first step of our larger legal battle to keep his home,” said Strickland. “He had options. He had a way out. And he had a good case.”

 

Strickland said he met Wordes last week and pledged to help him avoid eviction. The legal filing on Monday wasn’t going to resolve the case, he said, but it was an important step to stop the eviction from going forward.

“It’s overwhelmingly sad,” said Strickland. “It’s one of the most stressful things someone can go through – the prospect of losing your house and finding somewhere else to live. I can only magine what he was feeling.”

Wordes had become well-known for his fight to keep poultry, goats and pigs at his home. Former Gov. Roy Barnes took his case against the city to court, and Wordes attracted far-flung supporters who read about his case online.

He won the right to raise chickens on his property, but the 53-year-old continued to fight the government over flood damage to his property and attempts to evict him from the foreclosed home. He went to jail for three months last year for violating probation after pleading guilty to a grading violation, and received the eviction notice shortly after he was released.

 

Source:CBS Atlanta

Cobb County police shoot and kill naked man www.privateofficer.com

 

Cobb County GA March 29 2012 Police outside Atlanta say an officer shot and killed a man who was nude and armed with two knives.

Cobb County police Sgt. Dana Pierce said Wednesday that 18-year-old Tendai Nhekairo was shot at an apartment complex Tuesday night.

Pierce said officers were responding to a 911 call when they encountered Nhekairo.

There were initial reports that Nhekairo was carrying a gun, but Pierce said Wednesday he was armed with the knives.

Police say Nhekairo tried to attack one of the officers, and was shot. He died at the scene.

The officer involved has been placed on administrative leave, which is routine when police are involved in a shooting. Cobb County police continue to investigate.

Union push is on to organize security guards in Philadelphia www.privateofficer.com

 

Philadelphia PA March 29 2012 Museum security guard Sulaiman Saidu-Kamara is not quite sure how to evaluate the tangle of emotions that he feels about Thursday’s rally to organize security officers like himself.

The noon rally at LOVE Park will, no doubt, be colorful. Any rally sponsored by the Service Employees International Union, SEIU Local 32BJ, will attract droves of union members in their signature purple shirts.

Then too, it will be a star-studded gathering, at least in labor terms, because the state’s top labor leaders, gathered for their state convention at a nearby hotel, plan to stop by for speechifying and solidarity.

And most important, Saidu-Kamara, who works for AlliedBarton Security Services at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, says it is good for security officers to be unionized.

So why does Saidu-Kamara have mixed feelings?

He is an officer in a grassroots union, the Philadelphia Security Officers Union, which began representing museum officers in 2009. “Ultimately they need to be unionized,” he said. “We’d like them to be organized with us.”

Indeed, if SEIU’s drive succeeds, and there are reasons to believe it will, union ranks in Philadelphia will be swelled by an estimated 3,000 guards, including those working in Center City’s office towers, the University of Pennsylvania, and Temple University.

“We understand that officers want to be organized and SEIU has a big push” to organize guards, he replied carefully. But “SEIU tried to organize guards , and then the SEIU pretty much abandoned us. That’s why we organized the PSOU, because the SEIU abandoned us.”

Like many unions, the SEIU says that the National Labor Relations Board election process is flawed, simply opening the door to worker intimidation. Instead, the SEIU pushes firms to recognize a union if the majority of workers sign cards.

That’s the approach the union, one of the nation’s fastest-growing, has taken to unionizing office cleaners and security guards across the nation, many employed by the same handful of companies. When the majority of workers in the same city, in the same field are in the same union, it gives them more clout, said Gabe Morgan, Pennsylvania director of SEIU Local 32BJ.

It also discourages building owners from simply switching to nonunion contractors for cheaper rates.

In 2007, a drive to unionize local security officers by SEIU and various local activist groups came to an abrupt end because SEIU cut a deal with security companies, among them industry leader AlliedBarton Security Services in Conshohocken.

The union agreed to end its Philadelphia drive in return for neutrality agreements with the same companies in Los Angeles, Chicago and other cities.

That deal ended last year. Lately SEIU organizers have visited the homes of local security officers, including outdoor guards at Penn set to vote April 11 on whether to join PSOU. (PSOU will hold its own rally on Thursday at 2 p.m. at 34th and Walnut Streets.)

AlliedBarton sent letters to employees explaining its neutrality agreement with SEIU.

“The SEIU has asked the company to provide them with a list of names, addresses and phone numbers of employees in the Philadelphia area,” says the March 17 letter from AlliedBarton general manager Jim Gorman. “If you do not wish to be contacted at home by an SEIU representative, please phone the Union … during regular business hours.”

PSOU administrator Fabricio Rodriguez found AlliedBarton’s helpfulness unusual. Typically, he said, companies “resist every step of the way.”

AlliedBarton’s chief executive, Bill Whitmore, did not return phone calls, but the company sent a statement saying it provided contacts to SEIU “as part of their efforts to organize the officers … in a peaceful, non disruptive process.”

It is unclear how much the union conventioneers know about the history of security-guard organizing in Philadelphia, but Patrick Eiding, who heads the Philadelphia AFL-CIO, has watched it unfold. He said the Philadelphia SEIU was constrained by deals made by its national leaders.

“It was hard to understand,” he said. “We, here on the ground, like to get everybody. But they saw the value in leaving a few behind to get many elsewhere.”

“I’m just glad it’s happening now,” he said.

Penn security officer Kevin Upshaw agrees. He says the guards need a union for job security and better working conditions. In 2007, “there was a lot of pressure” from AlliedBarton, he said. “Now, there’s none whatsoever.”

Source:philly.com

Louisiana Bill would require barroom bouncers to take training www.privateofficer.com

 

 

Baton Rouge LA March 29 2012 – A Senate committee unanimously approved a bill Tuesday that would require training of bouncers and “security personnel” at bars and lounges. The Senate Judiciary B Committee sent to the Senate floor Senate Bill 234 by Sen. Gary Smith, D-Norco, that would require the bouncers to be trained under the state’s Responsible Vendor Program, which has been in place for more than a decade and requires the training of servers, bartenders and other bar personnel.

Smith said the bill applies to liquor outlets “where alcoholic beverages are the principal commodity sold for consumption on the premises.” Smith said he filed the bill after a handful of headline-grabbing cases in the New Orleans area in which security personnel at bars were involved in violent confrontations with customers.
The bill does not spell out how many hours the security workers have to take or what the subject matter of the courses would be.
Those decisions would be made by the commissioner of the Office of Alcohol and Tobacco Control, but the course work must include “handling disruptive customers and customer altercations,” Smith said.

The bill defines security personnel as employees who “monitor the entrance and other areas of an establishment for the purposes of identifying underage and intoxicated persons, enforcing establishment rules and regulations” and providing overall security for the outlet and its customers.
“There is nothing in law to train security personnel” at bars now, Smith said. “We are seeing more and more of an increase in security personnel using excessive force” at lounges.
The bouncer or security personnel will not only have to take the regular server training course and be able to recognize when a patron is too drunk to be served, but will also be trained to handle tense situations.

“He will try to diplomatically remove someone,” said Chris Young, a lobbyist for alcoholic beverage outlets. He said the courses should include “how to prevent altercations instead of putting someone in a chokehold and dragging them out of the establishment.”
The cost of the training course cannot exceed $50, according to the bill.

Source:nola.com

Agreement allows Riverside County sheriff to patrol forest www.privateofficer.com

 

Riverside County CA March 29 2012 An agreement between the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department and the U.S. Forest Service to have deputies patrol segments of the Cleveland and San Bernardino National Forests, doing drug interdiction and other operations, was approved today by the Board of Supervisors.

The contract, which is retroactive to last August and expires this Sept. 30, specifies that sheriff’s resources will be utilized on an as-needed basis, with costs capped at $17,000.

According to sheriff’s documents, deputies from the Hemet and Lake Elsinore stations will be called upon for special enforcement actions, confiscating marijuana grows in the forests, handling road closures and other details during wildfires and coordinating security during events that attract large crowds, such as concerts and demonstrations.

Patrols will also be conducted in various forest locations “to make residents and visitors aware that law enforcement officers are in the vicinity,” according to the agreement, which is a continuation of previous agreements.

Under the terms, the sheriff’s department will bill the forest service for all expenses incurred.

About one-third of the San Bernardino National Forest, and an even smaller portion of the Cleveland National Forest, extend into Riverside County.

West of Murrieta is the Tenaja Campground, which is part of the Cleveland National Forest.

Union organizes and gets contract for Milford school security officers www.privateofficer.com

MILFORD CT March 29 2012 – With only four members, it’s the smallest labor union in the city. It’s also the newest.

Officially known as Local 1303-453 of Council 4 AFSCME, AFL-CIO, the union is comprised of the four security guards stationed at the city’s two high schools, Jonathan Law High School and Joseph A. Foran High School.

The Board of Education Monday night formally approved the first-ever labor agreement for the new union, which organized some months ago.

The agreement spans three years and is retroactive to July 1, the start of the current fiscal year.

Prior to the contract, the guards were paid $16.12 to $17.69 per hour. This will increase by 2.15 percent for the current year, 2.85 percent for 2012-13 fiscal year, and 2.95 percent for 2013-14.

They’ll be paying an increasing share of their health insurance, however — 8 percent of their coverage now, 9 percent beginning in July and 10 percent in the third year of the contract, according to Chief Operations Officer James Richetelli Jr.

He said that the total increase in term of the contract’s cost to the city will amount to $34,231 over the life on the contract.

The guards work an eight-hour day. The pact was approved unanimously by the school board.

3 Year old Atlanta girl killed in shooting www.privateofficer.com

 

ATLANTA GA March 29 2012 Atlanta police are trying to piece together what led up to the fatal shooting of a young girl in southwest Atlanta.

The medical examiner’s office identified the 3-year-old as Takira Garlington.

The shooting happened at about 3:30 p.m. Wednesday at a townhouse in the 3200 block of Cushman Circle.

An Atlanta police spokesman said the girl was shot at least once in the stomach.  While investigators said they didn’t believe she was shot more than once, an autopsy was still needed.

The circumstances surrounding the shooting were still under investigation. Police said four adults were at the home at the time of the shooting. They would not elaborate on their relationship to the child or release their names. Investigators said they were conducting lengthy interviews with all four at the police station. Kevin Muckle, a neighbor, said he heard a boom and then saw the child’s mother run outside yelling, “Call 911.”

Muckle and other neighbors said they’ve seen the girl at the home. Police said she didn’t live there, but was visiting.

Investigators would not elaborate on if there was a fight before the child was shot or if drugs or alcohol were factors.

Police said they believe they found the handgun inside the home.

 

Source: CBS ATLANTA