Archive
LINE OF DUTY DEATH- JAIME PARDON
Senior Police Officer
Jaime Padron
Austin Police Department, Texas
End of Watch: Friday, April 6, 2012
Bio & Incident Details
Age: 41
Tour: 17 years
Badge # 6674
Military veteran
Cause: Gunfire
Incident Date: 4/6/2012
Weapon: Handgun
Suspect: Apprehended
Senior Police Officer Jaime Padron was shot and killed after responding to the Walmart on the I-35 Frontage Road to investigate reports of an intoxicated man at approximately 2:30 am.
Upon arriving at the scene, Officer Padron was immediately attacked by the man and was shot once in the neck at point blank range. Despite being wounded, he was able to inform dispatchers that he had been shot. Two Walmart employees tackled the suspect and held him down until responding units arrived and placed him under arrest.
Officer Padron succumbed to his wound at the scene.
Officer Padron was a U.S. Marine Corps veteran and had served with the Austin Police Department for three years. He had previously served with the Austin Airport Police Department and the San Angelo Police Department for 14 years. He is survived by his two young daughters and parents.
Please contact the following agency to send condolences or to obtain funeral arrangements:
Chief Art Acevedo
Austin Police Department
PO Box 689001
Austin, TX 78768
Phone: (512) 974-5000
WALMART SECURITY AGENT SHOT DURING ROBBERY www.privateofficer.com
MCALLEN TX April 6 2012 - Police have arrested 25 year-old Aaron Solorzano who is suspected of shooting a security officer and stabbing another victim during a violent shoplifting.
Police arrested Solorzano in Nuevo Progreso, Mexico and then he was transferred to McAllen police.
Solorzano was wanted for shoplifting items from a Walmart store on Jackson Avenue last Saturday and when the loss prevention officer attempted to detain him a struggle broke out and Solorzano pulled out a sawed off shotgun and shot the guard and then stabbed another person assisting the guard.
Solorzano escaped the store before police could arrived but was later tracked to Mexico.
He has been charged with armed robbery and two counts of attempted murder and is being held on a bond of $500,000 dollars.
Both victims are expected to make a full recovery.
CT security guards working at state buildings will strike saying they’re entitled to pension plans www.privateofficer.com
The 40 workers at SOS Security say they are entitled to a traditional pension under the state’s contract with SOS — a claim the state is investigating.
The workers voted Wednesday to authorize a strike, about nine months after they told the company they had chosen to join Service Employees International Union.
The workers would like the company to recognize the union as their bargaining representative,” said Kurt Westby, director of the Connecticut district of SEIU Local 32BJ.
He said the company ignored the guards’ announcement of a strike authorization vote. But Westby said the company’s refusal to recognize SEIU was not the motivation behind the vote Wednesday night.
“Their main issue right now is their lack of pension contributions,” he said.
The state’s contract with SOS Security requires the company to give workers a traditional pension, SEIU says.
The state Department of Administrative Services would not confirm that, but spokesman Jeff Beckham said the workers asked the department to review whether SOS is living up to its contract terms. He said the group has given the department information “we take seriously.”
He said the review began in February, “and when that’s done, we’ll have more to say.” He had no estimate for when the review would be complete.
While the pension is the major issue, SEIU said the company’s response to the union organizing further angered the workers. After they signed union cards, “the intimidation really took hold,” Westby said.
An SOS Security spokesman in New Jersey, where the company is based, declined to comment.
Part of the issue is whether the action would be a so-called recognition strike, a walkout designed to convince. a company to bargain with the union collectively. Jonathan Kreisberg, National Labor Relations Board regional director for Hartford, said in that instance, a strike must be limited to 30 days — after that, the employer has free rein to fire strikers.
Eugenio Villasante, a spokesman for SEIU Local 32BJ, said SOS managers have been saying to workers: “What are you doing talking to a union representative? Are you going to strike or not?”
Even if the workers had never spoken to a union, they still would have the right to strike. But in that case, employers are not required to give them their jobs back when they ask to return if their reason for striking is pay or benefits, and the company has hired permanent replacements.
If they say they are striking because the company has been intimidating them to discourage union organizing, the employer is required to hire them back — but convincing a judge that’s what happened can be a long process. And even when the dispute is settled, frequently workers don’t get back pay for the time they were out.
The guards have not set a day for a strike to begin.
Shawnee Mission teacher pleads guilty to having sex with students www.privateofficer.com
Twenty-eight-year-old Michelle L. Preston pleaded guilty Thursday to three felony counts involving students age 16 or older. A judge set her sentencing for June 1.
Preston taught psychology and world geography and coached cheerleading at Shawnee Mission West.
She was suspended after the allegations surfaced last March and the district did not renew her contract.
Preston is free on bond pending sentencing.
TN man charged with murdering woman at Tunica casino hotel www.privateofficer.com
Tunica, Miss. April 6 2012 (AP) – A Tennessee man has been arrested on suspicion of mutilating and killing a woman at a casino hotel in north Mississippi.
Sheriff’s deputies went to Hollywood Casino’s hotel at 5:52 a.m. Thursday after receiving reports of a disturbance in a room.
Sheriff K.C. Hamp says in a news release that deputies secured the first-floor room, when the suspect, 34-year-old Nathaniel Yates III, jumped through the glass window. A deputy shocked him with a stun gun.
Brandi Nicole Floyd, 25, was found on the floor and later died. Yates and Floyd are both from Collierville, Tenn.
Authorities say Floyd was mutilated, but didn’t elaborate.
Tunica County spokesman Larry Liddell said Yates was taken to Baptist Memorial Hospital-Desoto for treatment for cuts and bruises from jumping through the window.
Obese woman dies after being left where she fell on floor for 3 weeks www.privateofficer.com
Wichita KS April 6 2012 Police in Kansas are investigating a case of a morbidly obese woman who may have been left sitting on the floor for up to 3 weeks.
Police reports say the 54-year-old east Wichita woman fell off the couch and she couldn’t get up. Her mother and brother tried to lift her, but failed because of her size.
At that point, the family then left her on the florr, though the mother says that she tried feeding her daughter for three days until she realized that she was no longer responsive and at that point, she called an ambulance.
But the police report says it would be between 3 days and 3 weeks before the family called EMS for help. The woman died later at Via Christi Hospital on St. Francis due to bed sores and infection.
The mother says her daughter weighed 350 pounds and when she fell off the couch she claimed to be fine. The mother also said she continued to talk to her daughter for several days as she layed on the floor and seemed to be okay.
She says she didn’t know how serious the situation was.
Police are considering charges and are consulting with the state on this matter.
Paramedics poisoned, ER closed down by suicidal man www.privateofficer.com
But by downing a toxic cocktail of malathion — a common pesticide — he touched off a chain of disruptive consequences Sunday when fumes from the poison sickened three paramedics, shut down a hospital emergency room and knocked a rescue vehicle out of service for hours.
“It’s a mess,” said Dan Booker, a division chief for the Margate Fire Department. “This guy took up a lot of assets. And he is not out of the woods yet.”
The identity of the Coconut Creek man who drank the pesticide was not released. He was listed in stable condition.
The bizarre incident began just before 1:30 a.m. when paramedics were called to the 5900 block of 40th Lane, where the man was found lying on the grass.
En route to Northwest Medical Center, the man vomited, Booker said, and three paramedics in the rescue truck with him began “to become dizzy, nauseous and getting headaches.”
At the hospital the fumes pouring out of the man prompted hospital officials to move him to another floor, away from the emergency room, which was temporarily shut down as a precaution, Booker said.
The three paramedics were treated for their exposure to the chemical fumes, and hospital officials called for the Broward Sheriff’s Office hazardous materials team and notified the state Department of Health and the Environmental Protection Agency.
The patient, described as a man in his 30s or 40s, was conscious and talking, Booker said.
At 9 a.m. Sunday hospital officials issued a statement saying the emergency department had been cleared by the Sheriff’s Office and officials from the health department and EPA.
“We continue to evaluate the situation and our first and foremost priority as always remains the safety of our patients, staff and community partners,” the hospital said in the statement provided by spokeswoman Lori Modaferri.
Through the morning workers from a commercial cleanup company, dressed in yellow protective suits, worked to scrub down the truck as well as hospital equipment, including gurneys and privacy screens, from the emergency room.
Booker said the emergency vehicle was returned to service by 11 a.m.
Malathion, commonly used to control pests on farms and around homes, is an insecticide first registered for use in the United States in 1956, according to the National Pesticide Information Center. It kills insects by preventing their nervous system from working properly.
When taken into the human body, either by respiration or swallowing, the poison can travel to the liver and kidneys and have a similar effect on the nervous system, according to the center.
Woman arrested after calling 911 to complain about nasty Hardee’s burger www.privateofficer.com
Rockwood TN April 6 2012 A Tennessee woman was so dissatisfied with her Hardee’s hamburger that she called police twice to complain, resulting in her arrest on the charge of abusing the 9-1-1 system.
Donna Marie Nichols, 50, called police in Rockwood, Tenn., March 28. Audio of one of the 9-1-1 calls was posted on the Smoking Gun website. In the recording, Nichols tells the dispatcher, “I had ordered some food from Hardee’s over here and the food is no good, and the girl told me when I called her back that I could bring it back and get my money on it. Now she’s telling me she can’t do anything until tomorrow.
“I had to work for seven hours today to get that money just to eat a sandwich and I just got out of the hospital yesterday and they can give me my money back. I only took a small bite out of the burger and it’s nasty,” she said.
An officer went to Nichols’ location to talk to her. In his sworn complaint, he said she told him the burger “tasted funny.”
The officer arrested her and took her to Roane County Jail. She was held on $1,500 bail and released Monday, according to The Smoking Gun.
Nichols is hardly the first person accused of abusing the 9-1-1 system for a fast-food meal.
A Florida middle-school teacher was arrested in December after she allegedly got into a dispute with a McDonald’s employee about her order and pelted the employee with hash browns.
Simone Paolercio, 39, was arrested at her Lakeland, Fla., home on misdemeanor battery charges. She denied any wrongdoing.
Also, police in Florida arrested a man in 2009 who called 9-1-1 to complain that a Burger King in Boynton Beach did not have lemonade. When employees offered him Coke for his combo meal, rather than the desired lemonade, Jean Fortune, 66, got upset.
Fortune’s call to 9-1-1 lasted for five minutes, and as he persisted with his complaint about the food and the server’s perceived rudeness, the dispatcher grew noticeably frustrated. “Customer service is not a reason to call 9-1-1,” she told Fortune. “9-1-1 is if you’re dying.”
He was charged with misusing the 9-1-1 system.
Police search for jewelry store robbers after security guard opens fires www.privateofficer.com
The robbers entered the business in Tacoma Discount World, 11013 Pacific Highway SW, just after 6 p.m. Thursday.
One man broke open three jewelry display cases with a sledgehammer while the other two scooped up gold rings.
They bolted when a security guard approached with a pistol in his hand, police said. As they were getting into a silver four-door vehicle, possibly a Lexus, the security officer fired one round after seeing the front passenger holding a gun.
The bullet possibly struck the passenger door.
All three robbers wore gray hooded sweatshirts, white gloves with writing on the top, sunglasses and bandanas over their faces.
Anyone with information is asked to call the Lakewood Police Department Tip Line at 253-830-5064 or Tacoma/Pierce County Crime Stoppers at 253-591-5959.
Off-duty NYPD auxiliary cop murdered on way to work www.privateofficer.com
Manhattan NY April 6 2012 An off-duty NYPD auxiliary cop heading to his day job at a Manhattan hospital was fatally shot in the back near his Brooklyn home yesterday morning, police said.
The body of Francky Aleger, a 39-year-old volunteer peace officer, was found at around 6 a.m. on a sidewalk at East 95th Street and Glenwood Road in Canarsie.
Emergency responders didn’t notice the bullet wound to Aleger’s lower back until he was in the ambulance en route to Brookdale Hospital.
The father of two young boys was pronounced dead a short time later.
Cops and relatives were at a loss to explain why Alegar, a fitness buff and devout Roman Catholic, would be targeted for murder.
“He was a kind man, not loud,” his wife, Mislov, said in broken English. “He was my everything. I have two little boys. What am I going to tell them?” He left behind two boys, ages 8 and 6.
Family members said Aleger had no enemies, and they were unaware of any threats against him.
He had no criminal record, sources said.
“Went to work, church and the gym, that’s all,” Mislov said.
Police were unsure whether any of his property had been taken, but Aleger still had his NYPD auxiliary ID card.
The victim’s sister, Chary Aleger, said she had no idea who would kill her brother because it’s unclear if he was robbed.
“I’m just trying to find answers,” she said.
“If all of his stuff was missing, that could explain it, but I don’t know what happened.”
Aleger worked as a porter in the maternity ward of Mount Sinai Hospital.
“The cowards had to shoot Francky in the back. That would be the only way they could take him down,” said a neighbor and co-worker, Abigail Ceaser.
“I can’t believe he gets killed going to work,” she said. “Francky didn’t deserve this. He was probably trying to help someone.”
Aleger had volunteered since last September in the 13th Precinct, which covers Manhattan’s Gramercy Park neighborhood.
Auxiliary officers assist the NYPD with basic police functions, such as neighborhood patrols or crowd control during parades and other events.
The NYPD has announced a $12,000 reward for information leading to the conviction of the person responsible for Aleger’s death. Of that, $10,000 is coming from a private group, COP SHOT (Citizens Outraged at Police Being Shot) and the remaining $2,000 comes from the CrimeStoppers fund.
Source:www.nypost.com
Police capture prison inmate who escaped from a hospital with gun www.privateofficer.com
Kentucky State Police in Campbellsburg said 32-year-old Christopher Eric Claxton was appended in La Grange on Thursday morning after escaping the night before from Baptist Hospital Northeast. Police say he overpowered a female guard, took a gun and fled.
Trooper Brad Arterburn told WAVE-TV that an Oldham County officer noticed a pickup truck that looked like it had been broken into and checked it out. Shortly thereafter, he found the inmate in a nearby wooded area wrapped in a blanket allegedly taken from the truck.
Claxton was serving time on burglary and false imprisonment charges.
Mass. pastor arrested for lottery scam www.privateofficer.com
Ranulfo Luther Raposo of the Seventh-day Adventist Church pleaded not guilty on Wednesday to charges including attempted larceny and identity fraud. He was granted $5,000 bail.
Police say the alleged victims are in their 70s and 80s, live in Michigan, New Mexico and Arkansas, and are unconnected with the church.
Authorities tell The Sun Chronicle of Attleboro (http://bit.ly/HhyDt4) the 51-year-old Raposo convinced them to disclose their Social Security numbers by telling them they were lottery winners. He then allegedly tried to have their checks redirected to his own bank account. He never got the money.
Raposo’s lawyer says he’s the victim
Lebanon PA judge sentences 77yr old habitual thief to prison www.privateofficer.com
Lebanon PA April 6 2012 Calling him a habitual thief, a judge sentenced a 77-year-old Dauphin County man last week to Lebanon prison for stealing two polo shirts from a department store.
Judge Samuel A. Kline on Wednesday sentenced John L. Talley Sr. of Harrisburg to county prison for six months to two years and fined $150 for retail theft.
The latest arrested was Talley’s 21st for shoplifting, Kline said. Talley’s criminal record dates back to 1964 and includes arrests in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and California, Kline said.
“You keep stealing,” the judge said.
Talley told the judge his problem is post-traumatic stress disorder from when he served in the military in the 1960s.
Kline told him the only issue he had to decide was whether to send him to county or state prison. He said Talley should have been sentenced to state prison years ago.
“This time it was two polo shirts,” Kline said.
Talley was arrested Aug. 25 last year after he tried to steal the two shirts from Sears in North Cornwall Township.
Talley asked the judge not to sentence him to prison because he has to care for his wife who is ill with cancer.
“This is not easy for me to do but it’s mandated based on your horrendous record,” Kline said. He said the only time Talley does not steal is when he is in prison. Kline said the only way to keep Talley from stealing was to put him in jail.
Shoplifter pulls knife at Amarillo Walmart www.privateofficer.com
Amarillo TX April 6 2012 No one was injured when a man pulled a knife on Walmart security personnel after they confronted him for allegedly shoplifting Sunday afternoon, police said.
About 3:45 p.m., Walmart employees confronted a man who they thought placed undisclosed items in his pockets at the Walmart store at 5730 W. Amarillo Blvd., police said. At first the man cooperated with the investigation, but when he and store personnel neared an exit he began to struggle with them, police said. During the scuffle, he produced a knife with a 3- to 4-inch blade and threatened employees with it, police said.
The man dropped the knife and fled from the store, investigators said. The man was last seen getting in a small black car, police said. Investigators described him as a white male, approximately 5 feet 10 inches tall, wearing a plaid shirt and blue jeans.
Source:amarillo.com
Seattle shoplifter pepper sprays security-police officer at Safeway www.privateofficer.com
Seattle WA April 6 2012
A suspected shoplifter was arrested Wednesday night after police says he pepper sprayed
several people, including security guards and a police officer, in an attempt to get away.
The suspect, a 26-year-old man, was first contacted by security officers at a West Seattle Safeway on California Avenue SW about 8:30 p.m. He allegedly placed $32-worth of items into plastic bags he had in his pocket before leaving the store without paying.
When security officers and a Good Samaritan tried to detain the suspect, Seattle police spokesperson Mark Jamieson said he produced a can of pepper spray.
“A man walking by the store witnessed the struggle and attempted to assist in holding the suspect down,” Jamieson said. “It was at that point that the suspect pulled out a small can of pepper spray and sprayed the security officers and the passerby in the face.”
The suspect ran off but a responding officer spotted him and chased him to a nearby alley.
“As the suspect ran out of the alley, he turned and attempted to spray the officer with the pepper spray canister he still held in his hand,” Jamieson continued. “The officer was able to avoid most of the spray from hitting his face, and the suspect was taken into custody after the officer deployed his Taser.”
The suspect was later booked into King County Jail for investigation of assault and robbery.
Gloucester Township police officer arrested buying drugs while on duty www.privateofficer.com
GLOUCESTER TOWNSHIP, N.J.April 6 2012 — A South Jersey police officer is charged with illegally buying prescription drugs while on the job. It’s a job he won’t be holding much longer.
Tom Eden Jr., 31, is a seven-year veteran of the Gloucester Township police force. He was arrested yesterday afternoon in a hotel room after allegedly buying seven prescription painkillers from an
undercover informant. Five more pills were also on his person at the time, according to township police chief Harry Earle.
“At the time of the arrest, Mr. Eden was working as a Gloucester Township police officer, wearing a uniform and driving a marked Gloucester Township police unit,” Chief Earle says.
Now, Eden is facing several drug charges, and is suspended without pay as the township intends to fire him.
Earle says a quick review finds no problem with Eden’s recent arrest record, but they’re looking to see if he used the drugs himself or was selling them to someone else.
Source: CBS
Fairbanks man sentenced to jail for attacking store employee with bleach www.privateofficer.com
Alex Trenton Beltz, 26, pleaded guilty to third-degree felony assault as part of a plea agreement, according to court records. Charges of robbery and theft were dismissed.
Beltz also was sentenced to two years of probation, during which he is under court orders not to drink alcohol or enter either Fairbanks Safeway.
When Beltz was arrested in December it was reported in court documents he was pushing a cart with $235 worth of meat out of the store when a clerk stopped him in the foyer.
In an ensuing fight it was reported that Beltz sprayed Clorox bleach in the clerk’s face, the clerk grabbed Beltz and both men went to the ground.
Beltz got up and escaped with some of the meat into a waiting car, but the clerk got the license plate number and police were able to find him at a home on Charles Street.
Beltz registered a breath-alcohol content of 0.342 on a portable breath test, according to the police report, more than four times the legal limit of 0.08.
Source:Fairbanks Daily News-Miner
Former York Symphony Orchestra employee admits to $200,000 thefts www.privateofficer.com
Phyllis A. Shoff, 56, of New Cumberland, will serve 9 to 23 months in York County Prison, followed by 10 years’ probation for theft and access-device fraud.
“I wrote them to myself to cover my gambling debts, and so my family wouldn’t know,” a tearful Shoff said Wednesday as she confessed to using the symphony’s checkbook to write checks to herself that covered food, bills and hotel rooms for casino trips.
During her eight years as office manager, Shoff wrote checks to herself and to the name “Phyllis A. LoPresti” totaling almost $150,000. She also used two credit cards and a local bank card – meant to purchase symphony supplies – for bills and gambling expenses. Those charges totaled almost $70,000.
Shoff must pay $177,967.85 in restitution to Federal Insurance Co., the company that insures the YSO. Additionally, she will pay $42,994.78 to the YSO for the amount not covered by insurance.
“I’m satisfied with it,” said Henry Nixon, former executive director of the symphony, who first alerted police to the theft. “When something like this happens, it’s very personal.”
Nixon, who attended Wednesday’s hearing, said Shoff’s sentence met his main criteria of seeing her serve jail time and preventing her from being able to steal from an employer again.
“That was critical to me. She’s never going to be able to hold a job where she can handle money. That gives me a lot of satisfaction,” Nixon said.
Shoff had no comment after the trial.
“It is what it is. It’s what you heard in the courtroom,” said James Rader, Shoff’s public defender.
Nixon said the thefts did not affect the symphony’s programs.
Symphony treasurer Jolleen Biesecker provided a victim impact statement during Shoff’s hearing.
“There will likely be donors that never return. Ultimately, we had people trust us with their money, and it was stolen from us,” the statement reads. “Phyllis’s actions have caused some of our volunteers to become disillusioned as well as wary about continuing to work to raise money for an organization whose employee was able to do what was done.”
Judge Gregory Snyder rejected an initial plea deal that required Shoff to serve only 3 to 23 months in prison, followed by probation. The original plea took into consideration Shoff’s medical condition and gambling addiction, according to the prosecution.
Source:ydr.com
Trio of teens charged in shoplifting incident at Eastview Mall www.privateofficer.com
Victor, N.Y. April 6 2012— Three teens are facing charges after allegedly having more than $200 worth of merchandise reported stolen from a store at Eastview Mall.
Jordan Charles Asis-Dinehart, 18, of 6595 Bradhurst St., Victor, Benjamin Scott Kumpf, 16, of 964 Rabbit Ear Run, Victor, and Anthony Christian Devlin, 18, of 45 Barclay St., Rochester, were charged April 3 with fifth-degree criminal possession of stolen property, according to Ontario County sheriff’s deputies.
They are scheduled to appear in Victor Town Court at a later date.
Three teens are facing charges after allegedly having more than $200 worth of merchandise reported stolen from a store at Eastview Mall.
Jordan Charles Asis-Dinehart, 18, of 6595 Bradhurst St., Victor, Benjamin Scott Kumpf, 16, of 964 Rabbit Ear Run, Victor, and Anthony Christian Devlin, 18, of 45 Barclay St., Rochester, were charged April 3 with fifth-degree criminal possession of stolen property, according to Ontario County sheriff’s deputies.
They are scheduled to appear in Victor Town Court at a later date.
Source:mpnnow.com
John F. Kennedy International Airport screener arrested for throwing hot coffee at pilot www.privateofficer.com
Pilot Steven Trivett, 54, was exiting the secure area of the terminal on March 28 around 5 a.m. when he told a Transportation Security Administration agent and her colleagues to tone down a profanity-laced conversation.
“He was walking though the screening area and overheard a conversation where he thought they were speaking unprofessionally,” Al Della Fave, press officer for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, told msnbc.com.
Trivett reportedly told them that they should “conduct themselves more professionally in uniform and not use profanity or the n-word,” the New York Post reported.
One screener apparently then told Trivett to mind his own business, and that’s when he identified himself. He reportedly tried to grab the ID tags of screener Lateisha El, 30, and that’s when she tossed a full cup of hot coffee on him, according to the Post.
TSA spokesman Greg Soule offered this explanation :
“TSA holds our employees to the highest professional standards and has a zero-tolerance policy for inappropriate behavior at airport checkpoints. TSA is looking into this incident and will take swift and appropriate action. The unacceptable behavior of a few individuals in no way reflects the dedication of our nearly 50,000 Transportation Security Officers who work tirelessly to keep our skies safe.”
But Della Fave told msnbc.com that El told authorities she spilled the coffee accidentally, while Trivett said he believed she threw it at him.
“He charged her with assault, she charged him with harassment,” Della Fave said.
Virginia Beach teen sentenced to 94 years in prison for home invasion www.privateofficer.com
Virginia Beach VA April 6 2012 In January, 2012, a Commonwealth’s Attorney for the City of Virginia Beach, VA announced that Enrico Hines (then 17-years-old,) a former resident of Longlac Road in Virginia Beach, VA, was found guilty by a Virginia Beach jury on multiple counts related to a December, 2010 Virginia Beach home invasion.
The jury in that case recommended to the judge a sentence of 83 years and 13 months imprisonment, plus a fine of $500. And on April 3, 2012 at Hines’ official court sentencing, Circuit Court Judge Stephen C. Manan upheld that jury’s recommended sentence.
Background of the case ccording to the City of Virginia Beach: … shortly after midnight on December 5, 2010, Tramonte Enrico Hines committed an armed home invasion robbery at an apartment in the Harbor Club complex off Birdneck Road in the City of Virginia Beach.
Hines entered the apartment through a bedroom sliding glass door and immediately pointed a gun at a woman inside. He sexually assaulted her at gunpoint and began demanding her property.
Hines eventually forced all four residents into a bedroom and threatened to shoot their puppy if she did not stop barking.
He ordered the victims to give him a laundry bag, and placed their laptops, money, cell phones, prescription drugs, and video gaming systems inside. Before fleeing the residence, Hines told them he had someone watching outside who would kill them if they called the police.
While in jail awaiting trial, Hines made phone calls threatening one of the Commonwealth’s witnesses and offered to pay her if she lied at trial.
Hines, now 19-years-old, was convicted of the following:
Armed Robbery (4 counts),
Abduction (4 counts),
Armed Burglary,
Aggravated Sexual Battery,
Use of a Firearm (8 counts), and,
Wearing a Mask on Private Property.
Source:www.examiner.com
Passaic County Technical Institute security officer charged with hit-and-run crash that killed two pedestrians www.privateofficer.com
CLIFTON NJ April 6 2012 — Investigators arrested a man suspected in a hit-and-run crash that killed two pedestrians, police said.
Jason Askew, 42, of Paterson, was arrested Wednesday in the March 17 crash that killed Jhasleidy Benjumea-Bastidas, 28, of Passaic, and Jose Fernandez-Minaya, 35, of Brooklyn. He is in Passaic County Jail on $250,000 bail, said Sgt. Michael Bienkowski of the Clifton police department’s traffic unit.
Investigators tracked down Askew’s Cadillac Escalade, which they suspect was the vehicle that hit the two at Route 46 and 7th Street.
Askew was charged with two counts of leaving the scene of a fatal accident, two counts of endangering a victim, tampering with evidence and hindering apprehension, authorities said.
The date of his arraignment and his lawyer’s name were not immediately available. Askew works as a security guard for Passaic County Technical Institute and is employed with the U.S. Postal Service in Teterboro.
The victims’ families seemed relieved when told that someone had been arrested in the crash, Bienkowski said.
Benjumea-Bastidas had two young children, a son and a baby girl. Fernandez-Minaya was buried in the Dominican Republic, where his family originates.
They were struck shortly before 4 a.m. that Saturday morning. Benjumea-Bastidas and Fernandez-Minaya were in the eastbound lane of Route 46 near Seventh Street when they were struck.
Police said Benjumea-Bastidas and Fernandez-Minaya and two other companions were driving home from a bar. Benjumea-Bastidas had been arguing with her boyfriend and asked the driver to let her out. As she walked toward her car her boyfriend followed and argument continued, police said.
Fernandez-Minaya left the car and tried to calm the couple down, police said. At some point, the boyfriend returned to the car and began to park it in a gas station lot when a passing car hit Benjumea-Bastidas and Fernandez-Minaya without stopping, police said.
Lawmakers debate if DHS can handle regulation of Internet security www.privateofficer.com
Under a bill sponsored by Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., certain companies operating the nation’s electric grid, water supply and other critical systems would have to meet cybersecurity standards approved and enforced by DHS and share with the government all instances when they come under cyber attack.
If Congress approves handing DHS a stronger regulatory role, the department likely would take some cues from other agencies serving in similar roles, such as the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), said a DHS official, who asked not to be named because the legislation is pending. DHS worked closely with Lieberman’s staff as it drafted the bill.
Following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, NRC began issuing advisories and other notices directing companies it regulates to improve the physical and cyber protection of their nuclear power plants, said Craig Erlanger, who oversees NRC’s Cyber Security and Integrated Response Branch.
NRC proposed a rule for cybersecurity in 2006 and published a final rule in March 2009. It used security standards developed by the National Institute of Standards and Technology and tailored them for the nuclear industry, building on its existing regulatory role.
“It has been a long road but a necessary road,” Erlanger said. NRC had to bring in contractor support. Additional federal staff helped to review cybersecurity plans and create policies to build the oversight program. Building the program took significant resources, Erlanger said.
The regulations required utilities by November 2009 to submit for review and approval cyber plans and an implementation schedule to carry out those plans, or risk losing their operating licenses.
The plans address various security standards, including the proper use of portable devices such as thumb drives that could be used to spread computer viruses, like Stuxnet, said William Gross, senior project manager for security at the Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI), which is a think tank sponsored by the nuclear technologies industry. While the nation’s 104 nuclear power plants do not rely heavily on the Internet, Internet security is a concern because it is used for emergency response purposes and to communicate with offsite organizations, Gross said.
Power plants have until December to address key milestones in their implementation schedule, including identifying critical digital assets and forming, training and qualifying a cybersecurity assessment team. Their progress will then be verified by NRC during onsite inspections.
To continue operating safely, “we had to [improve our cybersecurity] even if NRC didn’t mandate [it],” NEI spokesman Mitch Singer said.
NEI wants to ensure that any new cybersecurity legislation will not interfere with the work underway in the nuclear sector.
Other industries, such as the financial sector, also are keeping an eye on Congress as it considers new cybersecurity rules.
“We agree that it is necessary for the [banking] environment to have a higher level of protection in some instances,” said Doug Johnson, vice president of risk management policy at the American Bankers Association. The “greatest value add” is for DHS to continue providing industry with information about current cyber threats.
The water utility sector is in great need of tighter cybersecurity rules, said Nate Kube, chief technology officer and founder of the technology company Wurldtech, a company that specializes in identifying and remediating cyber risks. Water companies have little regulation in the cyber arena and there is little market incentive for them to improve their cybersecurity on their own, he said. The Government Accountability Office in a December report found that “many medium-size or small [water] utilities struggle to maintain the staff needed just to keep their systems properly running.”
DHS needs to work with other agencies, experts and industry to drive the use of independently validated security solutions for critical infrastructure systems and network operations, said Benga Erinle, president of 3eTI, which provides secure wireless products to industry and the government.
When standards are set and there are clear requirements for selling secure technology products to critical infrastructure sectors, the security level will improve, Erinle said. “Regulations can fix things, but they may not be the most efficient way to fix things.”
Winder Ga security guard arrested in road rage incident www.privateofficer.com
Jeffrey Craig Hatcher also was charged with two counts each of felony aggravated assault and terroristic threats in connection with the incident shortly before 4:30 p.m. Friday on eastbound Ga. 316 near Patrick Mill Road, according to the Barrow County Sheriff’s Office.
An incident report obtained by Channel 2 Action News said a sheriff’s deputy responding to a report of a road rage incident involving a firearm pulled over Hatcher’s black Chevrolet Tahoe in the parking lot of a Chick-Fil-A restaurant.
Two men who said they had been threatened by Hatcher also pulled into the parking lot in their car, a white Chevrolet Monte Carlo.
The 48-year-old Hatcher told the deputy he is a security guard who carries a firearm as part of his job, and that the gun was in the center console of the Tahoe. The deputy retrieved a .38-caliber Smith and Wesson revolver and a guard’s badge.
The two men in the Chevy accused Hatcher of pointing a chrome revolver at them, but Hatcher denied displaying a gun, the incident report said. Hatcher told deputies that he had tried to pass the other car, but it would not let him pass. He was placed under arrest.
While transporting Hatcher to the Barrow County Detention Center, a deputy asked if he understood why he was being taken to the jail. The incident report said that Hatcher replied, “When you show people a badge they automatically assume you have a gun.”
Hatcher was charged and booked into jail, the gun and badge were entered into evidence, and his Tahoe was towed. He posted $25,000 bond and was released Sunday, according to the Barrow Sheriff’s Office
Source:ajc.com
