Line of Duty Death

Deputy Sheriff

Ryan Tvelia

Norfolk County Sheriff’s Office, Massachusetts
End of Watch: Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Bio & Incident Details

Age: 42 Tour: 11 years Badge #Not available

Cause: Motorcycle accident Incident Date: 4/10/2012 Weapon: Not available Suspect:Not available

 Deputy Sheriff Ryan Tvelia was killed in a motorcycle accident on I-95, in Walpole, while en route to Quincy to assist with the funeral detail for the mother of fellow deputy.
His department-issued motorcycle collided with a vehicle near Exit 11 at approximately 7:40 am. He was then struck by a second vehicle, suffering more severe injuries. He was transported to Norwood Hospital where he was pronounced dead.
Deputy Tvelia had served with the Norfolk County Sheriff’s Office for 11 years. He is survived by his wife, daughter, and two sons.

Please contact the following agency to send condolences or to obtain funeral arrangements:

Sheriff Michael Bellotti Norfolk County Sheriff’s Office 200 West Street PO Box 149 Dedham, MA 02027
Phone: (781) 329-3705

Line of Duty Death

Director of Field Operations

Julio La Rosa

United States Department of the Treasury – Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigation, U.S. Government
End of Watch: Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Bio & Incident Details

Age: 47 Tour: 18 years Badge #Not available

Cause: Heart attack Location: District of Columbia Incident Date: 1/3/2012 Weapon: Not available Suspect:Not available

Director Julio La Rosa suffered a fatal heart attack while exercising as part of his agency’s physical fitness program. He was conducting his morning workout routine in the agency’s gym when he suddenly collapsed.
Direct La Rosa had served with the Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigation for 18 years. He is survived by his wife and two sons

Lubbock airport police officer was arrested accused of soliciting prostitution www.privateofficer.com

LUBBOCK, TX April 10 2012

KCBD NewsChannel 11 has confirmed that a Lubbock airport police officer was arrested Thursday, accused of soliciting prostitution and trespassing.

A police report says Gary Dwane Fisher, 58, and a 44-year-old woman “knowingly agreed to engage in sexual conduct for a fee while on public school property.” The woman was also arrested.

The school property was the Lubbock ISD Administration Building, 1628 19th Street.

The report also says that Fisher “knowingly solicited another in a public place to engage with him in sexual conduct for a fee.”

The City of Lubbock confirms that Fisher is not on active duty at this time as an airport police officer, but the city cited the issue as a personnel matter and did not provide further information.

It was not clear if Fisher paid a bond or if he was released on personal recognizance, but he is not currently in jail.

Source: KCBD

Orlando teen tried raping hotel worker www.privateofficer.com

Orlando Fla April 10 2012  Police arrested a 14-year-old Georgia boy on charges that he tried to sexually batter a housekeeper while she was changing towels in his room at an International Drive hotel. The Orlando Sentinel is not naming the 14-year-old because he is a minor. A police report released Monday said he was charged with attempted sexual battery, false imprisonment and battery.

A housekeeper at the Monumental Movieland Hotel told police she knocked on a guest’s door Friday and asked if anyone needed room service. The teen replied that he needed new towels. The woman told police she went into the bathroom, changed out the towels, and when she tried to leave, the teen stood in the hallway, latched the door and exposed himself. The police report said the teen grabbed the woman’s arms and tried to pull her shirt off. The two struggled for about a minute and the woman was able to escape.

Ohio man charged with stealing sand at the Masters Tournament www.privateofficer.com

AUGUSTA, GA. April 10 2012 Authorities say a 40-year-old spectator at the Masters Tournament has been arrested after police say he tried to steal sand pebbles from a sand trap and then led security officers on a foot chase. Richmond County sheriff’s Capt. Scott Gay tells The Augusta Chronicle that Clayton Price Baker is accused of slipping under the ropes following the tournament and trying to put the sand in his cup. After a short foot chase by Augusta National Golf Club security and sheriff’s deputies, Baker was apprehended Sunday and charged with disorderly conduct. It was not known Monday whether Baker has an attorney. Gay said Baker, who is from Ohio, did not get any of the sand in his cup.

Coconut Point mall security officer hit by car confronting a couple having sex www.privateofficer.com

Naples Fla April 102 012 A mall security officer said he was struck by a car after confronting a couple having sex in the parking lot. Jeremy Abdo noticed a couple having sex in a black Jaguar while making rounds at Coconut Point mall, 8000 Mediterranean Drive, Estero, just before 9:30 p.m., according to Lee incident reports. Abdo and a fellow employee stepped out of their security vehicle and approached the parked car. Abdo went toward the rear of the car as the other employee attempted to speak with the driver, reports said. The driver reversed the car from the parking spot, striking Abdo in the knees. The Jaguar then fled. Abdo was able to give deputies the tag number from the Jaguar.
Source:naplesnews.com

Edwardsville police officer arrested for being peeping Tom at tanning salon www.privateofficer.com

Edwardsville, IL April 10 2012 – An officer with the Edwardsville Police Department has been suspended after being accused of videotaping female customers at a local tanning salon. The Madison County State’s Attorney’s Office charged 46-year-old Michael Collins on Monday with three counts of unauthorized video recording.
According to prosecutors, Glen Carbon police were called to Image Sun Tanning Center around 4:30 p.m. on April 3 after a female customer accused Officer Collins of taking pictures over the wall while she prepared to tan.
Collins’ cell phone was confiscated by Glen Carbon police and turned the phone over to Illinois State Police, who are working with the FBI to retrieve all relevant pictures from the phone. The staff at the tanning salon is working with authorities to identify any other victims. As of Monday morning, three victims have been identified. Additional charges may be forthcoming if other victims are located. Collins was released on his own recognizance after posting $10,000 bail. Prior to suspension, Collins was recently assigned as a D.A.R.E. officer in the Edwardsville School District. Edwardsville City Administrator Ben Dickmann released a statement Wednesday afternoon saying Officer Collins was hired in March 1997 and had an unblemished performance record on his file. Dickmann’s statement confirmed Officer Collins to be on paid suspension during the duration of the investigation.
Source:KSDK

Orange County teacher arrested for sending sexually explicit text messages and photos www.privateofficer.com

Orange County CA April 10 20212 The Orange County Child Exploitation Task Force arrested a private Irvine high school English teacher/coach late last week on charges involving sexually explicit text messages and photos he allegedly sent a female student.
The task force–including officers from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the Orange County Sheriff’s Department (OCSD) and the Irvine Police Department–took 25-year-old Dominic John Witter into custody April 5 when he arrived at a Laguna Hills pizza parlor in hopes of meeting the girl, according to a government press statement. Investigators claim the teacher at Crean Lutheran High School wanted the student to send him nude photographs of herself.
Claude Arnold, a special agent with HSI in Los Angeles, said the arrest is a reminder that task force investigators have “zero tolerance” for people who sexually exploit their “special access” to young people.
OCSD records show that Witter, who coached the girl’s track team and the boy’s soccer team, posted bail after his arrest and was released from the Orange County Jail.
Local prosecutors are expected to file formal charges against Witter this week, according to the government’s statement.
No word yet on how Witter will plead or if he has selected a criminal defense lawyer.
Authorities are asking anyone with potential additional information about Witter’s conduct to call ICE’s toll-free, 24-hour tip line at 1-866-DHS-2ICE. It is illegal for an adult to have any type of sexual relationship with a person who is under 18.

Laredo bar disturbance lands man in jail after pursuit www.privateofficer.com

Laredo TX April 10 2012 The call came in about a man causing a disturbance at a local bar, but quickly turned into a hot pursuit involving 16 police units down some busy Laredo streets.
According to police, a call came in Saturday night after a security guard at a bar on the 7,000 block of McPherson kicked 21-year-old Johnny Aguilar out for being rowdy and possibly having a gun.
An officer arrived, only to find Aguilar was already in his vehicle.
Police say they tried to pull him over but Aguilar evaded and initiated a high-speed chase close to 100 miles per hour. That’s when a total of 16 officers began their pursuit of the suspect who eventually abandoned his vehicle and ran off.
LPD finally caught up to Aguilar and recovered a handgun from his possession.
He was booked at Webb County Jail on charges of evading arrest, resisting arrest, unlawful carrying of a weapon and also for a warrant out of the Sheriff’s Office for possession of marijuana.

Burglary suspect chased by off duty police officers www.privateofficer.com

Bryan TX April 10 2012 Two off-duty Bryan police officers working security at Bryan Iron and Metal arrested a man who was in the company’s fenced-in property after hours, authorities said. The officers had been working at the manager’s request because of a recent increase in thefts at the business, according to police reports. About 6:30 p.m. Saturday, the officers said, they spotted 61-year-old Floyd Jones Jr., who was charged with evading arrest after running through a damaged section of fence on the property. An officer caught up to Jones on Tatum Street and tackled him from behind, according to the police report. The charge is a state jail felony punishable by up to two years in prison and a $10,000 fine. He was also charged with criminal trespass. He remained in the Brazos County Jail on Sunday in lieu of $10,000 bail

Police say 1 person dead-1 shot at senior retirement home www.privateofficer.com

LAS VEGAS NV April 10 2012– The Clark County Coroner’s office has identified a man who was shot to death at a senior living center as 54-year-old Ronald Wayne Mattox.

Investigators say the shooting happened Saturday afternoon at the Bonanza Pines Senior Living Center near Bonanza Road and Lamb Boulevard. Mattox’s elderly mother, Betty, was also shot and is hospitalized.

Metro police arrested Roger Foley, who also lived at the senior center complex. According to the police report, Foley told police he was on his way to do some target shooting when he got into a confrontation with Mattox in the apartment hallway. Foley told police he feared for his life so he shot Mattox several times.

Betty Mattox told police that her son, Ronald, was in the hallway testing his remote controlled helicopter. She said she heard him arguing with Foley. She told police she was shot by Foley when she opened her apartment door.

Foley is facing charges of murder and attempted murder.

Louisville Kroger store manager shot during robbery www.privateofficer.com

LOUISVILLE, Ky. April 10 2012– Louisville metro police are asking for the public’s help after a supermarket robbery ended with the store manager shot.
He was rushed to the hospital from the Kroger in the 5500 block of New Cut Road.
The store is now back open but it was closed as officers investigated the shooting.
The incident happened around 12:45 a.m. in front of the store.
Police say Kroger’s store manager followed a suspected shoplifter outside and confronted him.
That’s when the suspect allegedly pulled a gun on the manager and fired.
Authorities say the victim was shot in the shoulder and taken to University Hospital.
He is expected to be ok.
The suspect took off running and is not in custody yet.
Police are now asking for the public’s help to find him.
They have not released a suspect description so they’re looking to hear from anyone with information.
If you know anything, you can leave an anonymous tip by calling 574-LMPD.
Kroger released this statement:
“The Kroger Company’s top priority is to provide our customers a safe place to shop and our associates a safe place to work. We are pleased to report that that our associate is already home from the hospital and is expected to make a full and quick recovery. We are working with authorities now to help identify the individuals responsible for the shooting.” Source:wlky.com

Suicide reported at Hoover Dam www.privateofficer.com

LAS VEGAS NV April 10 2012  (AP) — A federal official says the death of a woman who jumped from the Hoover Dam bypass bridge is the first known suicide since the sweeping arch opened in October 2010 linking Nevada and Arizona.

U.S. Bureau of Reclamation spokeswoman Rose Davis said Monday that Hoover Dam police tried to persuade the woman not to jump from a pedestrian walkway on Saturday.

Her body was recovered Sunday from the Colorado River, some 900 feet below.

The woman’s identity wasn’t immediately released.

Davis says the suicide is the first that federal officials know of at the Michael O’Callaghan-Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge.

The 1,900-foot-long span crosses Black Canyon just downstream from Hoover Dam.

Jackson security officer shot during robbery attempt www.privateofficer.com

Jackson MS April 10 2012 A Jackson nightspot has a new name but the same old problems. The Upper Level Club located on Northside Drive in northwest Jackson recently changed its name to Nite Lyfe. The name may have changed, but shootings and violence continue to haunt this Jackson nightspot.
Club managers say they received a tip that the club was going to be robbed after it closed at 3 A.M. Managers say that’s when the shooting happened.
When FOX 40 NEWS heard about the shooting, we drove to the club to follow-up on this news story.
The club managers met us across the street to tell their side of story. We were not allowed to bring our camera inside the club, but we were invited inside the club..
One manager says, that they received a tip that the club would be robbed this weekend but that tip was dismissed as rumor. Later, around 3 A.M., gunfire was exchanged between the security guard and an unidentified shooter. The Nite Lyfe managers say they believe this was the beginning of a robbery attempt.
Police were called onto the scene to secure the crime area. The security guard was taken to University Mississippi Medical Cener in Jackson. Officer Green says, the man shot is 27 year old Tyrone Gardner he was shot in the right arm and is Stable Condition at UMMC.
Managers go on to say that Jackson Police usually patrol the club and the area surrounding it. The say JPD was too busy with the Hinds County Sheriff’s Operation Bunny Hop. Nite Lyfe says, this operation took police away from the club, which is only one block from their Precinct 3 headquarters also on Northside Drive.
Police say, they have no clues to the whereabouts of the shooter and if you know anything, you are asked to call CrimeStoppers at 601.355.TIPS.
Source:FOX40.com

Cleveland woman steals thousands of dollars from gas staton www.privateofficer.com

Solon OH April 10 2012 A Cleveland woman was arrested and charged with felony theft after she was accused of stealing thousands of dollars from the Solon gas station where she worked, according to Solon Police. Arrested and charged was Bianca Lynn, 36, who was charged with theft, a fifth-degree felony. According to the police report, Lynn is accused of stealing $3,132 worth of merchandise and cash since Feb. 10 from Sunmart on Aurora Road. According to the police report, the worker would cancel transactions after customers had paid and pocket the money. She also would give things away to people she knew, police said.

Portland crew charged with phony money scheme driven by drug addictions www.privateofficer.com

Portland OR April 10 2012 The compulsion for hard drugs pushed an inventive team of counterfeiters to produce high-quality bills with low-quality equipment, putting more than $70,000 of phony money in circulation in the Northwest, according to government court papers and recent testimony in Portland’s U.S. District Court.
The crew used ordinary three-in-one printers, resume-quality inkjet paper and dabs of hair gel to construct bogus bills of excellent quality, prosecutors allege.
They went so far as to simulate watermarks on some of the paper notes and cannibalized security strips out of $5 bills to create authentic-looking $100s, according to government court papers.
Five Portlanders are accused of conspiring to create, deal and pass counterfeit bills at such busy retailers as Target, Albertson’s, Fred Meyer, Safeway, Walmart, Nordstrom and Subway, according to an indictment handed up on March 28. Two unindicted co-conspirators were identified by initials only.
The case took form last summer, when retailers in the Portland area reported bogus bills spitting out of cash-counting machines or turning up in their tills.
Security managers and Portland-area police reached out to the U.S. Secret Service, which has worked to suppress counterfeit courrency since shortly after the Civil War. An agent from the Portland office, Adam Sale, collected surveillance video from stores, finding a familiar cast of characters passing the fakes. The suspects — SomphalaVanh Sophanthavong, 34, Dung Ahn Nguyen, 39, Khonesavan Khim Savanphayphan, 27, and her twin sisters, Somamphone Savanphayphan and Phonephilom Savanphayphan, both 30 — are accused of a conspiracy to create bills that were passed at groceries, clothing stores, restaurants and at least one movie theater.
Suspected ringleaders Sophanthavong and Nguyen also are accused of selling the fakes, aware they would be passed into general circulation, according to the indictment. The men dated two of the Savanphayphan sisters.
Drug addictions contributed
At least three of the suspected counterfeiters had serious drug problems, primarily methamphetamine, according to testimony taken at recent detention hearings. Two of the Savanphayphan sisters were freed while awaiting trial so they could be admitted to in-patient treatment.
Drug addiction and counterfeiting often go hand in hand, said Jon Dalton, resident agent in charge of the Secret Service in Portland. Proceeds from counterfeiting facilitate addiction, he said, and addicts sometimes buy drugs with counterfeit currency.
The suspects fed their habits on proceeds from an operation that required little more than a cheap scanner-printer-copier machine, a flat iron and hair gel, according to the indictment and recent court hearings.
They counterfeited $20s, $50s and $100s, making several bills a page on 8 1/2-by-11-inch copy paper, and they simulated water marks and security strips to fool busy retail clerks, the indictment alleges. Counterfeiters used hair gel to coat the bills, a technique that forgers sometimes use to defeat counterfeit-detection pens.
The Portland-based counterfeiting ring was a mobile operation, according to court records. They originally set up operations in a rental house on the city’s northeast side. But they later took up their work at the Chestnut Tree Inn, on the city’s southeast side, Tacoma’s Emerald Queen Hotel & Casinos, and the Super 8 Motel in Lacey, Wash., according to the indictment.
Deportation not possible
Somphalavanh Sophanthavong, known as “So So,” appeared before U.S. District Judge Anna J. Brown on March 28 in hopes of persuading her to release him while he awaits trial. His lawyer, Benjamin Kim, hoped to get him into drug rehab for what he described as a serious meth addiction.
But Assistant U.S. Attorney Scott Asphaug argued that Sophanthavong’s nomadic existence in Oregon and Washington made him a risk to flee, and that his relentless counterfeiting made him an economic danger to the community. Then there was the matter of Sophanthavong’s murder conviction.
Sophanthavong and two other teens were burglarizing a Southeast Portland home on Aug. 1, 1994, when homeowner Joan Ann Borisch walked in and surprised them. One of the teens — not Sophanthavong — shot the 42-year-old nurse in the chest. Her teenage son found her corpse that evening.
For his part in the murder, Sophanthavong — 16 at the time of the slaying — was sentenced to a minimum of 12 years behind bars. Four years later, while locked up at Oregon State Penitentiary, he was convicted of supplying contraband. He got out of prison in October 2007.
Sophanthavong, a Laotian national, could not be deported because Laos and the United States have no deportation agreement. Instead, he was ordered to check in regularly with an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent. But this failed to stop his travels over state lines. He was convicted of forgery in Washington late last year, served a short jail term, then — the government alleges — resumed making counterfeit cash on both sides of the Columbia River.
“He has the ability to hide,” Asphaug told Judge Brown.
Special Agent Adam Sale, the Secret Service’s primary investigator in the counterfeit case, testified that Sophantavong had just threatened a fellow inmate that morning on the ride in to court from jail. Inside the transport vehicle, he threatened Ernest Williams, who appears to be the unindicted co-conspirator identified in court papers “E.W.”
Brown said she was concerned that Sophanthavong would flee if she cut him loose, even if he were shackled with a GPS monitor. She ordered that he be held in jail. But she told lawyers she was willing to reconsider her decision if his lawyer presented her with a drug-treatment option that would ensure that he appears for trial.
Source:Oregonlive.com

Former KY daycare worker stole $320,000 from employer www.privateofficer.com

Nicholasville KY April 102 2012 A former employee of a Nicholasville day care center is accused of stealing $320,000 from the business in the eight years she worked there, police said Friday. Pamela Sandlin, 53, of Nicholasville was charged Tuesday with eight felony counts of theft by unlawful taking over $10,000, Nicholasville police said in a release. Sandlin is accused of taking the money from Kids Connection Learning Center on Southview Drive. Sandlin worked the front desk there, said Nicholasville police Sgt. Scott Harvey. “She did end up taking over the books for them as part of her job,” Harvey said. “It really did put the day care in a lot of financial trouble. There are a lot of issues going on there that could have been prevented had this money been turned in the way it was supposed to be.” Police were called to investigate after the day-care administration “felt like there was some money missing, and that’s how they brought it to our attention,” Harvey said. None of the money has been recovered, police said in the news release. Viola Sewell, an owner and director of Kids Connection, declined to comment Friday on the matter. Sandlin was released Wednesday on an unsecured $10,000 bond from the Jessamine County Detention Center. A district court date had not been scheduled as of Friday morning.
Source:kentucky.com

Louisville police charge two men in shoplifting shooting of Kroger manager www.privateofficer.com

LOUISVILLE, Ky. April 102 2012    — Police arrested two teenagers on Friday that they say are connected to a shooting at a Kroger early Friday morning.

Police say a man shot a Kroger department manager after shoplifting at the store. They say he was accompanied by two other suspects, a male and female.

Louisville Metro Police made two arrests in connection with the shooting at about 7:00 Friday evening.

19-year-old Devonnte Jammal McElroy is charged with criminal attempt murder and robbery. A 16-year-old female is charged with robbery.

Police say a third suspect is still at large, but believe he’s a black male in his 30′s. He’s 6’0-6’2, thin build, medium to dark complexion, wearing black pants and a black jacket with a black ball cap.

Police say two men and a woman were shoplifting beer and steak at the Kroger on New Cut Road overnight, filling a grocery cart with several items. They say the Kroger manager confronted the trio outside, and police say one of them men shot the manager in his shoulder. He was taken to University with non-life-threatening injuries.

As of 4 p.m. Friday afternoon, police had surrounded one of the residences at Yorktown Apartments in Louisville’s south end, on a report that one of the suspects could be inside. A spokesman for Jefferson County Public Schools said school buses that drop students off near the apartments were re-routed.

Kids on those buses were taken to Auburndale Elementary, where parents could pick them up.

“I got a daughter and son and my daughter is a school bus rider. They’re not letting her off the bus. It was scary. I didn’t know what was going on. I was scared for them, but knowing she was at school was better”, says Ashley Greene, who lives in the Yorktown neighborhood.

A third suspect, who was inside the apartment with the two suspects, was also taken in for questioning. His sister tells WDRB he just happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time.

“He was just in the house and didn’t know what was going on”, says Renee Collins.

Meanwhile, who live near the Kroger where the shooting happened say the incident has them shook up.

“Considering that I live right there and I have five kids, scary,” said Katrina Bogard, who shops at the Kroger on New Cut Road just about every day. “Usually I go 12 or 1 o’clock at night, and nobody’s here. It’s a good time to go,” said Bogard.

The three suspects ran from the scene, two of them towards the PNC Bank, which is close to Bogard’s neighborhood. “So that means they’re close. That’s scary,” said Bogard.

Police ask anyone with information to call the LMPD anonymous tip line at 574-LMPD.

Source:WDRB

Birchwood Fire Dept. Captain’s death mourned after falling ill at station www.privateofficer.com

Birchwood WI April 10 2012 Funeral services will be held Tuesday for a Wisconsin firefighter who died at home Friday after becoming ill at the fire station while handling communications. Birchwood Fire Dept. Capt. John “Jack” Colbert, 60, responded to the station for a drowning, and manned the radio until he fell ill. He went home, and died of a cause yet to be determined.

Colbert had been with the fire department since 1973.

Visitation will be held from 4-9 p.m. Monday at Appleyard Home for Funerals in Rice Lake. Funeral services will be held at 11 a.m. Tuesday at Trinity Lutheran Church in Birchwood.

Two Philadelphia furefighters dies-three others injured in five alarm fire www.privateofficer.com

Philadelphia PA April 102 2012  With deep regret,” Fire Commissioner Lloyd Ayers has disclosed the names of two Philadelphia firefighters who perished this morning battling a fire in a furniture store that spread from a raging five-alarm blaze that leveled an aging Kensington warehouse. They were Lt. Robert Neary, 60, and firefighter Daniel Sweeney, both from Ladder 10. Neary was hoping to retire soon, and Sweeney was the son of a recently retired fire captain, according to Ladder 10 colleagues. Three other firefighters were taken to Temple University Hospital, where one was admitted with possible leg, hip or spine fractures. The other two were being evaluated, Ayers said this morning. The five were trapped when a wall and part of the roof of the furniture store collapsed about 5:50 a.m., a little over a half-hour after the warehouse blaze had been declared under control. It took firefighters about two hours to dig out all of the trapped firefighters, said Deputy Fire Commissioner Ernest Hargett. “We’re asking for prayers for the families,” said Fire Commissioner Lloyd Ayers. “This is a terrible tragedy.” “This is a tremendous loss for their families and the City of Philadelphia,” said Mayor Nutter, who was in Tallahassee, Fla., for a conference on race and justice. Nutter was expected to fly back for an afternoon news conference. The blaze in the warehouse at East York and Jasper Streets was reported about as a rubbish fire at 3:13 a.m. and esclated to a 5-alarm inferno within an hour as winds howled. It was declared under control around 5:15 a.m., Hargett said. Flames in the meantime had spread to six houses and the furniture store, located at Boston Street and Kensington Avenue, Hargett said. A team of firefighters was attacking the fire inside the furniture store when the wall collapsed, burying them in bricks and timbers, Hargett said. Firefighters immediately set to work digging out their comrades while others poured water on the smoldering ruins of the warehouse. “It was a hard and tedious job,” Harkett said the effort to remove rubble and timber pinning the firefighters. At the height of the fire, officials, fearing flying embers would spark other blazes, evacuated scores of residents from nearby homes and hosed down surrounding buildings. The Philadelphia Fire Department has not suffered a line-of-duty death since January 2006, when Tracy Champion, 49, a 21-year veteran, suffered a heart attack and died while seeking the source of a blaze in a house in West Philadelphia. The last time multiple firefighters perished was in August 2004, when Capt. John Taylor, 53, and firefighter Rey Rubio, 42, were trying to extinquish a blaze in a Port Richmond basement that had been converted into marijuana greenhouse. A plaque dedication in honor of the two men was scheduled for next week, Ayres said. Today’s fire erupted at a time when the entire region is under a red flag warning because conditions — high winds, low humidity and dry ground cover — are ripe for spreading fires.

An investigation into the cause of the warehouse blaze is just getting started.

Va. Sheriff Takes Aim at Lawmakers, State Police www.privateofficer.com

HOPEWELL, Va.April 10 2012  — Sheriff Greg Anderson said Hopewell is being “sensationalized” in the national media over traffic enforcement on Interstate 295 because state lawmakers and high-level Virginia State Police officials are seeking to end the project and seize revenue from local ticketing.

Anderson said that since the implementation of the project five years ago, state police have used intimidation and threatened to arrest one of his deputies. He also recounted at least one incident where he was personally subjected to “aggressive, threatening and abusive” language from a state trooper. Since AAA Mid-Atlantic last week blasted the “ticket-writing finesse” of Hopewell sheriff’s deputies along the roughly 2-mile stretch of I-295, Anderson has received calls from news media all over the country, asking about Hopewell’s “Million Dollar Mile.” The organization’s criticism came just days after a Hopewell General District Court judge overruled Commonwealth’s Attorney Rick Newman’s motion to take over local traffic cases relating to the I-295 Project. Anderson said attempts to get local deputies off Hopewell’s highway strip predate Newman’s recent moves by years and are being orchestrated by forces from a much higher political level who want to seize power from localities. Anderson said he believes that State Police Superintendent W. Steven Flaherty is the catalyst behind these attempts. “Flaherty is a master politician, he’s an extremely powerful man,” he said. Flaherty did not comment on Anderson’s claims. “We’re not going to engage in a debate over this matter,” Virginia State Police spokeswoman Corinne Geller said on his behalf.
Anderson also said that Republican Virginia state senators John Watkins and Ryan McDougle are part of the effort to end Hopewell’s ticketing efforts on I-295. Earlier this year, Watkins introduced Senate Bill 500 in the Virginia General Assembly — legislation that would have stripped the ability of localities to collect traffic fine revenue on interstates. The bill died Jan. 18 on a 11-4 vote in the Senate Courts of Justice Committee. A toned down version of SB500, offered by Del. Betsy Carr, D-Richmond, also failed to get past a subcommittee. House Bill 834 would have required certain local DUI fines be used strictly for education, split between local schools and the state Literary Fund. Anderson said he believes that Flaherty asked Watkins to introduce SB500 to seize ticketing control from the Hopewell Sheriff’s Office. “Sen. Watkins wasn’t just sitting around thinking, ‘Man, I got to do something about this Sheriff Anderson.’ There is no reason for him to even know who I am,” Anderson said. Watkins called Anderson’s comments “highly inaccurate,” stating that he had talked to state police officials only once in preparation for the introduction of his bill. “Hopewell’s I-295 did not even come up in that discussion,” Watkins said. Watkins said what prompted him to draft the bill was the Constitution of Virginia, which designates fines from ticketing to the state Literary Fund, to pay for education and schools. “This was designed so local law enforcement agencies won’t use quotas to fill financial revenue shortfalls,” Watkins said. “But in recent years, more and more localities have been doing just that. “The sheriff’s accusations are without any substance,” Watkins said. “There is no conspiracy against Hopewell; they are just the ones who raise a lot of revenue [from ticketing] in a very small area.” Anderson also believes that lawmakers in the General Assembly asked AAA to publicly blast Hopewell’s traffic enforcement efforts on I-295. Last week, Martha Meade, manager of public and government affairs for AAA Mid-Atlantic, wrote in a press release that “the intense speed enforcement by 11 sheriff’s deputies for 14 hours per day is suspect for an entity whose primary role is not traffic enforcement but rather courtroom security and other functions.” Anderson is convinced that Meade acted on behalf of Watkins. She is using the same catchphrases and the same buzz words,” he said. “What I resent from that woman is that she is talking about me and my operation without contacting me. I think the woman is merely a puppet of these senators.”
Watkins denies having contacted Meade. “I never called AAA, I do not have anything to do with promoting this piece,” Watkins said. “They did that on their own.” Meade also denies having discussed the AAA statements with state officials prior to their release. “AAA has not, at any time prior to the release of this data, been in touch with any member of the General Assembly or the Virginia State Police on this issue,” she said on Friday. “It has only been in the past four days, since our position has ignited the issue, that have we contacted officials and representatives.” Meade said that AAA’s press release resulted from an analysis of an Auditor of Public Accounts report that revealed a disproportionate number of speeding tickets in Hopewell. “It was that report, coupled with news coverage of the court action by Hopewell’s commonwealth’s attorney regarding revenue from speeding tickets, that prompted our action,” Meade said. Anderson said he launched the I-295 Project in 2007 after a Hopewell District Court judge told him that in 16 years, state police had written less than 100 tickets on the interstate strip through Hopewell. “Initially, the sergeant [patrolling I-295 in the Hopewell area] welcomed us with open arms,” Anderson said.
Things changed six months later, when Anderson publicly recalled his conversation with the local judge about the small amount of tickets written by state police. “When I said that in public, that got up the line somewhere,” he said. “The next thing we know, there were three to five state trooper units out there, on our little stretch of the highway, five to six days a week. They even had motorcycles there,” Anderson said. He added that Virginia State Police were present on I-295 for more than a year — but not to write tickets. “They were warning drivers so we wouldn’t be writing tickets,” he said. Anderson said that the relationship between sheriff’s deputies and state police got worse in April 2009, when a state police sergeant threatened one of the deputies. The sergeant told the deputy that he was illegally operating stationary radar on the side of the highway and ordered him to get in the median strip. “The sergeant threatened [the deputy] and told him he was going to write him a summons and have him arrested if he didn’t move,” Anderson said. Several weeks later, when Hopewell’s courthouse was evacuated after a bomb threat, the same sergeant who had previously confronted the deputy, talked to him in an “abusive” and “threatening” manner.
Anderson said this encounter was the final straw that prompted him to take action. But a subsequent meeting with Flaherty did not lead to an improvement of the situation. To the contrary, it resulted in even more presence of state troopers on I-295. Geller said that state police’s enforcement efforts are for the purpose of saving lives and ensuring the laws of the state are upheld and not for financial gain. Geller did not directly address Anderson’s claim that state troopers are blocking Hopewell deputies from writing tickets on the interstate. “The Virginia State Police has been patrolling and safeguarding all 52.56 miles of Interstate 295 since the first section opened in 1981, and we will continue to do so for the benefit and safety of the motoring public,” Geller said.
Source:The Progress-Index, Petersburg, Va.

Maine paramedic collapses and dies at ambulance station www.privateofficer.com

Van Burn ME April 10 2012 Members of a Maine EMS service are mourning one of their own. Paramedic Peter Carbonneau, 51, was working at the Van Buren Ambulance Service when he collapsed on Sunday night. He was treated by fellow crew members. Despite efforts, he was pronounced dead at Cary Medical Center. “People that knew Peter are all taking it very hard. Going to be taking it hard for a long time,” fellow providers said in a prepared statement. Carbonneau started volunteering at the Van Buren Ambulance in 1984 at the age of 24. He has served in many different capacities throughout the years, including assistant director and later director of the service. He also previously worked as a paramedic for Madawaska Ambulance Service. In addition to his service to the Town of Van Buren as a paramedic, he dedicated 24 years as a volunteer firefighter for the Van Buren Fire Department. He also served on various boards for the town, most recently as Chairman of MSAD 24′s school board, according to the department. He was dedicated to his family, friends and community. The outpouring of support and sympathies in the hours since his death is a testament to the person he was. His impact on the community reaches far beyond those he served directly, his colleagues noted. “Everybody loved Peter.” The example he set and the lessons he imparted to others will continue to have a positive impact on the people of the St. John Valley and EMS community, they said.

Two of Latin America’s Deadliest Gangs Join Forces www.privateofficer.com

GUATEMALA CITY (AP) — — Hardened in the streets and prisons of California and deported in the 1990s to the Central American countries where they were born, the members of the Mara Salvatrucha street gang swiftly grew into a force of heavily tattooed young men carrying out kidnappings, murder and extortion.

Now, Guatemalan authorities say, they have begun to see new and disturbing evidence of an alliance between the Maras and another of the most feared criminal organizations in Latin America — a deal with the potential to further undermine that U.S.-backed effort to fight violent crime and narcotics trafficking in the region.

Secret jailhouse recordings and a turncoat kidnapper have described a pact between leaders of the Maras and the Zetas, the brutal Mexican paramilitary drug cartel that has seized control of large parts of rural northern Guatemala in its campaign for mastery of drug-trafficking routes from South America to the United States.

In recent months, authorities say, they have begun to see the first signs that the Zetas are providing paramilitary training and equipment to the Maras in exchange for intelligence and crimes meant to divert law-enforcement resources and attention.

The Zetas, formed more than a decade ago by defectors from Mexico’s army special forces, have already joined forces with local drug kingpins in the Guatemalan countryside, and recruited turncoat members of Guatemala’s military special forces for operations in Mexico and Guatemala, officials in the two neighboring countries have said.

There is some evidence that other Mexican cartels have paid Central American street gangs to sell drugs for them. And Salvadoran authorities said they are aware of informal links between the Zetas and local cliques of the Mara Salvatrucha paid to sell individual shipments of drugs, but officials have seen no proof of any formal deal between the gangs.

But a formal, durable alliance with the Maras could bring the Zetas thousands of new foot soldiers, extending the cartel’s reach into the cities of Guatemala, and, potentially, other countries in Central America where the Maras maintain a grip on urban slums.

Guatemalan authorities told The Associated Press that they believe the Zetas have trained a small group of Maras in at least one camp inside Mexico. Zeta members have spoken of recruiting 5,000 more, although the extent to which they have succeeded remains unclear, officials said.

Surreptitious recordings of jailhouse conversations between Zeta and Mara leaders contain mentions of a deal between the two groups, according to a high-ranking investigator who spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity due to the sensitive and dangerous nature of the information.

Eduardo Velasco, head of an Interior Ministry task force on organized crime, told the AP that authorities believed the Maras’ training by the Zetas had manifested itself in the increasing brutality, planning, organization and firepower of Maras’ operations in Guatemala.

Previously armed mainly with handguns, Maras, recognizable by intimidating, dark tattoos that cover swaths of their bodies and often their faces, have begun carrying AR-15, M-16 and AK-47 assault rifles and military fragmentation grenades.

In the city of Villanueva in January, a group of Maras armed with assault rifles burst into a suburban disco and opened fire on a meeting of rivals, killing five people.

Maras have also begun chopping off the fingers of kidnapping victims to pressure their families into sending ransoms, a technique previously seen in Mexico, Velasco said.

“As a result of this union with the Zetas, the Mara Salvatrucha have more ability to organize, strategize and maneuver,” Velasco said. “The Mara Salvatrucha want to build up their inventory of long-range weapons, grenades and drugs for their own use and for sale … they know the economic benefit is great for them and that the Zetas, as an outside group, need the Maras’ network in order to grow inside Guatemala.”

The Zetas have not tried to recruit the Salvatruchas’ rival MS-18 gang, also a group whose name and organization originate in the slums of Los Angeles, because it is not as powerful or sophisticated, Velasco said.

The Zetas’ ultimate goal, according to analysts, Guatemalan authorities and international officials, is to integrate the Maras into their network and become the most powerful group in Guatemala — criminal or legitimate.

“The Zetas are a paramilitary organization that wants to control all the legitimate, illegitimate and criminal activities in Guatemala,” said Antonio Mazzitelli, regional head of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Organized Crime.

Miguel Angel Galvez, a judge who hears narcotics and organized crime cases, said the Mara-Zeta alliance was increasingly evident in the cases he hears, and had been documented in notebooks found on arrested Zetas that detailed payments to Mara members.

“The Zetas come to a group like the Maras and grab total control,” he said.

Authorities first learned of the alliance after arresting 50 suspected Zeta members linked to a May 14 massacre on a cattle farm in Peten province that left 27 people dead, 25 of them decapitated, another law-enforcement official said on condition of anonymity for reasons of personal safety.

The suspects were incarcerated alongside Maras, and their secretly recorded conversations contained the first mention of an alliance, the official said.

The Zetas expressed the desire to completely integrate with the Zeta members of the Mara Salvatrucha and are providing them with military training and indoctrination in Mexican camps, Velasco said.

Another operation led to the dismantling of a group of kidnappers, Velasco said. The head of the gang became a cooperating witness and told authorities he had sent 18 members of his group to a Zeta training camp in Veracruz, Mexico, paying each 5,000 quetzales ($640). They came back to Guatemala and worked as kidnappers for him. He was planning to send another six for training when he was arrested.

Velasco declined to elaborate on the case.

Mexican officials have dismantled Zeta training camps in the state of Nuevo Leon but declined to comment on the Guatemalan claims. U.S. officials in Guatemala also declined to comment.