Archive
Security officer kills armed jewelry store robbery suspect www.privateofficer.com
FONTANA CA. April 21 2012 A security officer has been shot during a robbery attempt at a jewelry store and a gunman is dead.
The botched robbery occurred about 2 p.m. when three men entered the Fontana Indoor Swap Meet at9773 Sierra Ave.About 100 customers and vendors were inside at the time.
At least two of the men began beating the security guard with a hammer-like object and a gun, he said.
The men then walked to a nearby jewelry store and tried unsuccessfully to break the glass casings, police said.
A robbery suspect and the security officer exchanged gunfire and the suspect was killed.
The security officer has been transported to a hospital with gunshot wound and head injuries and there is no word on his condition at this time.
At least two other men escaped in a vehicle, according to Sgt. Pat Mackey of the Fontana Police Department. Police did not have a description of the suspects.
At the time of the shooting, customers were in the store and in the other areas of the enclosed mall but no one else were injured.
Tulsa police enforcing “Jay Parking” law www.privateofficer.com
TULSA, Oklahoma April 21 2012 - It might be time to brush up on the rules of the road. Tulsa Police are out patrolling neighborhoods and they’re writing tickets.
One of the most ticketed parking violations is one many people say they’ve never heard of. But there’s a good chance you’ve broken this law.
Jay parking is when you park on the other side of the road, opposite the flow of traffic. And it’s a violation that Tulsa police are coming across quite a bit.
It’s one of those “common sense” kinds of laws, that driver after driver after driver seems to be breaking.
“You have to park next to the curb, the same direction of travel as the rest of the flow of the traffic would be,” Officer Craig Murray said.
So if you find yourself and your car on the wrong side of the road, you would be a jay-parking.
Esther Worcester was ticketed Thursday morning for a law she didn’t know she was breaking.
“I didn’t know about this law,” Esther said. “I felt like the rug was ripped out from under me.”
Esther says she’s been parking that way for years and it’s never been a problem.
“I’ve had cops pass me before, and I’ve never gotten in trouble for it,” she said.
Surprisingly, jay-parking is in the top three most cited parking violations last year – overtime parking and parking in no parking zones are the top two violations.
TPD Traffic Safety Coordinator Craig Murray says there’s no “crackdown” so to speak on jay parking – but it is a law officers must address.
“It may be a hindrance in some neighborhoods that an officer’s driving along,” Murray said. “He’s on routine patrol and he comes across that.”
As for Esther, she’ll be paying her $30 fine and park on the right side of the road from now on.
Police say they get quite a few calls from people complaining about jay parkers in their neighborhoods
source:newson6.com
“Man Without a Country” Illegal Immigrant-criminal can’t be deported www.privateofficer.com
HUEYTOWN, AL April 21 2012 - One Alabama police department is fed up with the feds.
Officers in Hueytown arrested an illegal immigrant on drug charges recently. When they ran his name through the system, they learned he had previously been arrested 34 times in Alabama.
Despite his record, the government refuses to deport him. Federal agents said Sofyan Eldani is from Palestine, a country the United States doesn’t recognize.
When Hueytown Police Chief Chuck Hagler contacted ICE agents about the recent arrest, he wasn’t expecting the response he got. Sofyan Eldani was not only in this country illegally, but had a criminal history that goes back 12 years.
ICE wouldn’t do anything according to Chief Hagler.
“They sent us a piece of paper called a detainer… basically telling him we are going to deport you,” Hagler said. According to the police chief, ICE agents told him Eldani will “‘probably just laugh at you when you give it to him, because he knows we’re not going to come get him.’”
In Jefferson and Shelby counties, Eldani has been arrested 35 times for different crimes, ranging from bad checks to assault.
Hagler said about Eldani’s seven page rap sheet, “It’s not a matter of he came over here, there was a misunderstanding of our laws, or he was at the wrong place at the wrong time. There are a lot of reasons you could legitimately say somebody might have a brush with the law. There’s a reason somebody may have one or two brushes with the law. When you start getting into the double digit arrests, you are dealing with a criminal.”
Since Eldani is from Palestine, he is a problem of the state of Alabama. Hagler said he refuses to sit by and accept that.
“This is a legitimate immigration issue, this is a legitimate concern. We see so much attention paid to other issues. I wish somebody would pay attention to this one,” he said.
Hagler said he’s handled cases similar to Eldani’s. He has been through this before with someone they arrested who was from Cuba.
For now, Eldani is behind bars on a $200,000 bond for those drug charges
Source: WAFF
Jackson teacher arrested for sexual battery www.privateofficer.com
The investigation of Berry, 41, began last year when Jackson police were notified by the parent of a 15-year-old girl who said Berry inappropriately touched her.
Jackson police Lt. Tyreece Miller said the investigation led to charges against Berry.
Berry is on unpaid suspension from the school following his arrest, Superintendent Buddy White said today.South Side High School auto technology teacher Thomas Berry will be arraigned at 8 a.m. on Friday on charges that he committed sexual battery on a female student last September.
Berry previously had been placed on unpaid suspension from the school district pending its internal investigation. After the internal investigation, Berry was allowed to return to the classroom, but did not receive back pay for the time he was off of work.
In the internal investigation, school officials determined that Berry’s actions in totality, including inappropriate remarks that students accused him of making, constituted unprofessional conduct and insubordination. His actions also were found to be in violation of the Teacher Code of Ethics.
Source:jacksonsun.com
Jackson TN arrests bank robber getting haircut www.privateofficer.com
Jackson TN April 21 2012 Jackson police arrested a man Thursday in connection with a midday bank robbery after he walked into a nearby hair salon, where he reportedly asked for a haircut.
Police were called about the robbery at the Regions Bank at 423 North Parkway, near the U.S. 45 Bypass, about 11:10 a.m. Thursday. Investigators determined that a man went into the bank and gave a note to a teller. The note said he had a gun and wanted money. The teller met his demands, and the man walked out of the business with a bag of money.
Shorty afterward, police received a call from Trends Hair Salon, at 365 North Parkway. The hair salon and bank are about 200 yards apart. Employees told police a man was behaving suspiciously inside the salon.
Witnesses said the man had a bag of money stained by dye packs from the bank and that he said he needed a haircut.
Patrol officers responded, and further investigation linked the man to the robbery, police said. Police recovered the money at the salon.
Police have arrested a 37-year-old Vietnamese man, who had Maryland identification, in connection with the bank robbery, said Lt. Tyreece Miller. The man’s name is being withheld pending formal charges.
“We haven’t formally charged him yet, but we feel positive it is him,” Miller said on Thursday.
He declined comment on whether the man had a gun when he was arrested.
Investigators are still trying to determine whether the man acted alone and if there was a vehicle involved. The man walked from the bank to the salon, police said.
The FBI and Jackson police are handling the investigation.
Anyone with information is asked to call the Jackson Police Department’s Violent Crimes Unit at 425-8400 or Crime Stoppers at 424-8477 (TIPS). Submit a tip online at 424tips.org.
Alabama man sexually assaulted and tortured man he held captive www.privateofficer.com
FAIRHOPE, Alabama April 21 2012 – Fairhope police arrested Robert Wendell Thompson, 47, on charges he sexually assaulted and tortured a man he held captive after the two met on the internet, officials said today.
Thompson was charged with first-degree sodomy, sexual torture and second-degree domestic violence and second-degree assault, all felonies, and first-degree unlawful imprisonment, a misdemeanor, according to a Fairhope police statement. The defendant was being held Thursday in the Fairhope Municipal Jail.
Police arrested Thompson on Tuesday after responding to a call at an apartment on Spring Run Drive.
Someone had called police from out of state saying that he had been contacted by an acquaintance. The acquaintance said he was being held involuntarily, sexually assaulted and tortured.
At the apartment, police found Thompson and a 45-year-old man.
The man, who was not identified, told police that he met Thompson online and agreed to come from out of state and meet him. The two had what police described as a consensual relationship. At some point, over the next several weeks, Thompson restrained the other man with a locked chain, according to the victim’s statement to investigators.
Investigators believe that Thompson restrained the other man kept the victim restrained against his will, sexually abusing him and torturing him by burning him with cigarettes, injecting him with blood believed to be contaminated with the HIV virus and other methods, according to the police statement.
Anyone with information about the incident is asked to contact Detective Charles Varnado with the Criminal Investigations Division of the Fairhope Police Department at 251-928-2385.
East Wake Academy Headmaster files lawsuit for slander and libel www.privateofficer.com
ZEBULON, N.C. April 21 2012 – An attorney for East Wake Academy Headmaster Brandon Smith filed a slander and libel lawsuit against his accusers Friday.
Smith was fired from the charter school March 29 after two school employees came forward with sexual battery allegations.
The Zebulon Police Department said in March that it was investigating, but no criminal charges have been filed.
Smith’s lawsuit calls the allegations “blatantly false, scandalous, and unlawful.”
It goes on to question the way the allegations were brought to the attention of the school’s board and the say they were leaked to the media.
Copies of the teacher’s sexual harassment complaints are attached to the lawsuit.
In one, the woman claims Smith commented that she looked good in her pants before pulling the back of them down and saying “You don’t mind if I look at your tattoo do you?”
The other woman wrote that when Smith made advances, she told him: “I think you just made me throw up in my mouth a little bit.” She wrote the comment seemed to upset Smith and the meeting ended quickly.
Smith’s lawsuit claims one of the women waited six months before submitting a formal harassment complaint and the second waited more than a year.
The court filing says that because of the allegations, Smith has lost the ability to earn a living as an educator.
He is seeking financial damages in excess of $10,000 from the defendants for “conduct with malice and in willful, wanton and reckless disregard for the rights and interests of the Plaintiff.”
ABC11 is not identifying the defendants because we do not generally identify the victims of alleged sexual harassment.
Source: WTVD
SC Health and Human Services employee stole 228,435 Medicaid recipients’ personal information www.privateofficer.com
COLUMBIA, SC April 21 2012 – The personal information of more than 228,000 Medicaid recipients in South Carolina has been stolen by a former state Department of Health and Human Services employee, according to DHHS and the State Law Enforcement Division.
SLED says 36-year-old Christopher Lykes was able to make off with 228,435 Medicaid recipients’ personal information by emailing the information to his personal Yahoo email account.
The information contained names, addresses, and Social Security numbers — information the Lykes had access to and the agency trusted him with.
Most of the people impacted by the security breach live in Richland, Lexington, Barnwell, Orangeburg, Allendale, and Bamberg counties.
Lykes has been charged with five counts of Medically Indigent Act confidentiality violations and one count of disclosure of confidential information.
Lykes, a resident of Swansea, is active in politics. He is listed as the Lexington County Democrat Party’s executive committee. A 2011 SCStatehouse.gov online report shows that Lykes was one of two members of the statewide Democrat Party, serving as an executive committeeman.
Kathryn Hensley, a representative of the Lexington Democratic Party, says Lykes is not currently an officer of the county party, but said he had been one of the Lexington members on the state executive committee.
DHHS Director Tony Keck says the investigation started in January and ended three weeks ago. They found out about the scheme after conducting employee performance reviews.
“The information was not readily available, but it was available to him through a normal reporting process and that’s where we’ve identified a security lapse that the department was not sufficiently requiring employees to justify their need for that information,” Keck said. “That is fairly easy lapse to close and we’ve done that.”
Keck says he called Lykes in on April 10 and fired him, then turned the information over to SLED.
SLED has Lykes’ home computer and is working to track down where the information went and hopefully why this employee wanted it in the first place.
“Agents have now taken possession of his work computer and also the employee’s personal computer. At this time, we know of at least one other party who has received data from this former employee and this transfer is part of this ongoing investigation,” SLED Director Mark Keel said.
SLED served a search warrant on Yahoo, asking for Lykes’ email records. Investigators said they’re trying to figure out where the Medicaid information went and who else may be involved.
Investigators said Lykes could also face federal charges in connection to the case. SLED continues investigating and working to determine a motive in the case.
Source: WIS
Florida school security guard arrested for hiding a high-powdered firearm www.privateofficer.com
Jerod Jones, a security guard at Seminole High School was off the job Thursday, after being arrested for hiding a high-powdered firearm in his car.
“It’s a little shocking to find out someone in the school is doing that,” parent Teresa Grimes said.
According to district officials, when deputies pulled him over during a traffic stop last month, they found a hidden TEC-9, the same kind used in the Columbine shootings.
WFTV uncovered Jones had had years of run-ins with the law and he was arrested before for battery and drug charges.
Jones told WFTV he had the gun to protect himself.
“You gonna try to get a job at another school?” WFTV reporter Kenneth Craig asked.
“I’m trying to save my job, it’s my way of living,” Jones replied.
District officials plan to fire him but they have already suspended him with pay.
Source: WFTV
Atlanta firefighters called to help in rooftop arrests www.privateofficer.com
ATLANTA GA April 21 2012
Atlanta firefighters were called in to help city officers making arrests on the roof of a downtown building.
The incident stemmed from an attempted car break-in Thursday night. Atlanta police Capt. Adam Lee said a parking garage security guard saw two men trying to break in to the car and called police, but the burglars took off before police arrived.
Two Atlanta police officers working in a nearby parking deck spotted the burglars, chased them and notified other officers. Police surrounded a vacant building on Luckie Street where the burglars fled to and followed them to the rooftop, Lee said.
Police arrested two people on the roof but needed help coming down. Atlanta firefighters arrived with a ladder, and the officers, along with the suspects, were able to come down.
Source:WSBTV
Vancouver Washington sex offender charged with raping student www.privateofficer.com
VANCOUVER WA April 21 2012 – A Prairie High student has been arrested and accused of raping a 14-year-old who attends the same school.
The suspect in the case is a registered sex offender. School officials knew, but state and federal law blocked them from sharing the information with parents and students.
“The administrators knew it. We shared it with the teachers involved with that student. We don’t announce it in any broad way to the public, or the students, we’re not allowed to by state law,” said school district spokesman Gregg Herrington.
Jeremiah Christian Thompson, 19, was accused of third-degree child rape. He was being held in the Clark County jail on $5,000 bond and was scheduled to appear in court Friday.
According to an arrest affidavit, Thompson met his victim, 14, at a Winco store. She went home with him where they had sex. When questioned by police, Thompson at first admitted to meeting up with the victim at Winco, but then asked for an attorney.
The Columbian reports that Thompson has a lengthy record, including the attempted rape of his mother in July 2009. He pleaded down to a charge less than rape in that case. (The photo of Thompson at left is from his sex offender registry.)
At age 13, he was placed on community supervision after reportedly trying to steal security cameras from a church. He was placed on supervision but continued a string of bullying and sexual harassment, the newspaper reported.
In June 2009, a seven-year-old girl described to her mother how Thompson had undressed her and touched her. The girl’s description of the incident wavered and Thompson pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge.
The Columbian reported that while authorities knew of his sex offender status, state and federal law says students remain entitled to a high school education and the offender status can only be revealed by law enforcement.
In September 2011, the Clark County sheriff’s office told Battle Ground District l officials of Thompson’s status, as part of a routine notification procedure, the Columbian reported.
His time at the high school has included a series of detentions and suspensions, the paper reported.
source-kgw.com
SC bus driver arrested for DUI after accident involving three school buses www.privateofficer.com
BATESBURG-LEESVILLE, SC April 21 2012 – A little less than 24 hours after being arrested for DUI after an accident involving three school buses at Batesburg-Leesville Elementary School, a 61-year-old bus driver is out of a job.
A spokesperson with Lexington County School District Three said the district terminated Walter Davidson’s employment after he was formally charged with DUI and child endangerment during his first court appearance Friday morning.
Police say Davidson’s blood-alcohol level was two-and-a-half times the legal limit when he was involved in the accident Thursday afternoon.
Batesburg-Leesville Police say the accident happened in the school’s bus loading zone. A total of eighty-nine students were on the three buses at the time of the accident, and initially none of them reported injuries. But later, two or three parents reported their children were experiencing headaches or back pain.
According to an incident report, officers noticed a strong smell of alcohol coming from 61-year-old bus driver Walter Davidson when they began to investigate the accident.
According to police, a blood-alcohol test performed on Davidson yielded a reading of .20, which is five times the legal limit of .04 as a commercial driver in South Carolina.
Davidson was charged with driving under the influence and child endangerment. He was being held at the police department on $2,712 bond.
The collision resulted in broken glass on two of the buses, and a dented back end on one of them.
The district has urged parents to have kids checked out by doctors and to provide the district with any bills that might result from those visits to the doctor’s office.
The district says they screen drivers through SLED for any driving infractions within the past 10 years. They also conduct random screenings for drugs and alcohol
Source: WIS
Arizona man posing as security guard kidnaps three children www.privateofficer.com
Police said on April 13, Sheldon Maloney confronted two 11-year-old girls and one 12-year-old girl and told them he was a security guard at the apartment complex where they lived, a probable cause statement said.
The girls told police Maloney accused them of drinking. He showed the girls a gun in his waistband and searched the 12-year-old, putting his hands on her, the statement said.
He then took the girls back to his apartment, leaving the 11-year-olds on his couch and taking the 12-year-old back by the dumpsters where he told her he “really liked her,” and touched her inappropriately, the filing said.
The 12-year-old’s sisters then walked by and Maloney ran away, the statement said.
Police recommend the court charges Maloney with three counts of kidnapping and two counts of sexual assault.
Source:www.azcentral.com
Atlanta area medical college evacuated-several injured in Hazmat incident www.privateofficer.com
Atlanta GA April 21 2012Several people were treated outside a Marietta medical school on Friday morning.
Hazat crews swarmed the Everest Institute after reports of people being exposed to Methacrylate Momoner, a surgical super glue. A building at the school was evacuated around lunchtime.
“This type of vial was broken in the classroom, and they disposed of it outside in the Dumpster. This is a surgical type of bonding that they use when they do surgery,” Cobb County Fire Department spokeswoman Denell Boyd said.
Channel 2’s Ross Cavitt was at the scene as patients were being decontaminated. Those who came into “sniffing range” of the chemical suffered symptoms including, nausea, vomiting and eye and ear irritation, officials said. Boyd said four of 13 patients had been decontaminated. At least 7 people were transported to Kennestone Hospital for non-life-threatening conditions.
There was a miles-worth of crime scene tape surrounding the area, and several fire trucks on site
source-wsbtv.com
Federal grand jury indicts Phoenix accountant in $66 million ponzi scheme www.privateofficer.com
The indictment of Daniel Wise, 55, was announced Thursday by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for Arizona. He is accused of mail and wire fraud, and money laundering.
“The U.S. Attorney’s Office will continue to work with our law enforcement partners to investigate and prosecute those who prey on the public for personal financial gain,” said Ann Birmingham Scheel, acting U.S. Attorney for Arizona.
The indictment alleges Wise fraudulently induced victims to invest $66 million with false promises of high-yield returns by making short-term, high-interest, hard-money loans in real estate ventures. He is accused of using a web of bank accounts and entities from June 2005 to December 2008 to deceive his clients.
The indictment alleges that Wise did not make the investments but instead operated a ponzi scheme by using money obtained from newer victims to pay off older victims.
The indictment further alleges Wise siphoned off about $7 million from his victims for his personal use.
James Turgal Jr., FBI special agent in charge of the Phoenix division, said the indictment is a culmination of investigations by the Internal Revenue Service, U.S. Postal Inspection Service, U.S. Department of Labor and the FBI.
Source:www.azcentral.com
Atlanta metro area burglars responsible for hundreds of apartment burglaries caught www.privateofficer.com
SANDY SPRINGS, Ga. April 21 2012
Police have charged two men in connection to hundreds of apartment complex burglaries that span seven metro Atlanta counties.
Investigators told Channel 2′s Mike Petchenik they suspect Fred “Tony” Green and Lester Thompkins of stealing several hundred thousand dollars’ worth of equipment and supplies from complex maintenance and leasing offices.
“They took everything from toilet paper and light bulbs to air conditioning compressors,” said Lt. Mike Giugilano, commander of the Fulton County Burglary Task Force. “Whatever they felt they could get a buck for, they took.”
Giugliano said investigators caught a break several weeks ago when Sandy Springs police noticed a rash of apartment office break-ins and linked them to a silver Chevy pickup truck. He said detectives eventually linked the truck to Thompkins and began tracking him.
Two weeks ago, Giugliano told Petchenik the task force followed the pair as they burglarized 14 apartment complexes in just a matter of four hours.
“They drove through the complex once to make sure everything was secure and went straight to (a) maintenance building, pried the door open, backed up (the) pickup truck, (and) loaded items into it,” he said.
After a burglary at a Smyrna complex, police tracked the man back to Thompkins’ Riverdale home and arrested the men. Police said they’ve linked the men to cases in Fulton, Cobb, DeKalb, Gwinnett, Clayton, Gwinnett and Rockdale counties, as well as in 12 metro cities, including Sandy Springs, Union City and Marietta.
To date, police believe the men stole several hundred thousand dollars, perhaps more than a $ 1 million worth of materials.
“(They are) very proficient at what they do,” said Giugliano.
Victim James Lawrence operates the maintenance office at a Smyrna complex off Cumberland Boulevard and helped police link the suspects to the crime when police found the men with his tools.
“I’m just amazed at how they got away with it so long,” he told Petchenik. “I’m glad I got my stuff back.”
Police said they had made contact with a number of victims and were attempting to reunite them with their stolen items.
Petchenik tracked down Green’s mother at the Southwest Atlanta home he shared with her. She told Petchenik she saw her son bringing items home, but believe they were “junk.”
Louella Green told Petchenik her son called her from jail the other day and denied involvement.
“He said: ‘Mama, they couldn’t have been watching me because I ain’t did nothing,’” she said.
Green and Thompkins are being held in the Cobb County Jail.
source:wsbtv.com
Family dog bit and dismembered 2-month-old boy www.privateofficer.com
RIDGEVILLE, SC April 21 2012- The Dorchester County Sheriff’s Office says the dog that bit and dismembered a 2-month-old boy was a dog that was recently-rescued and was new to the family’s home.
Dorchester County Coroner Christopher Nisbet said Aiden Lee McGrew was attacked by the dog at a home on Sandpoint Drive in Ridgeville around 11 a.m. Nisbet said that the child was transported to Summerville Medical Center where he was pronounced dead.
During a press conference Friday afternoon, the sheriff’s office said that the infant was asleep in a swing near the father’s room when he was attacked by the dog. Authorities say the boy’s mother was out taking her 7-year-old child to a doctor and when she returned home, found the baby mauled and called 911.
Nisbet says the father and another child, a 3-year-old, were asleep when the attack happened.
“Today is one of the saddest days in my 20 plus years of being in the Dorchester County Coroner’s Office as I report to all of you, one of the worst deaths I have ever handled,” Nisbet said in a press release.
An autopsy is planned for Saturday. The Department of Social Services has taken custody of the couple’s two other children.
The Dorchester County Sheriff’s Office says the dog that attacked the child and another family dog have been secured at the sheriff’s office law enforcement center. Authorities are continuing the investigation.
Source: WCSC
Metropolitan Museum of Art security guard accidentally shoots himself www.privateofficer.com
New York NY April 21 2012 A Metropolitan Museum of Art security guard shot himself in the leg while handling a licensed weapon inside the museum’s basement, officials said Friday.
The guard, a 63-year-old veteran employee whose name was not immediately released, accidentally fired the weapon about 2:35 p.m. on Friday in the building’s basement .
“The incident occurred while the employee was cleaning his weapon,” museum spokesman Harold Holzer told the Daily News. “It happened in a locker room in a secure area of the museum basement.”
“There was never any time that the public was in danger,” Holder added.
The employee was rushed to Cornell Medical Center for treatment.
Patrons of the museum exiting to Fifth Avenue told the Daily News they did not hear the gunshot.
Source:www.nydailynews.com
NYPD officer clinging to life after shooting himself in head www.privateofficer.com
New York NY April 21 2012 An off-duty NYPD officer was clinging to life early Thursday after apparently shooting himself in the head in his Bronx home, police sources said.
The cop, whose name was not released, was rushed to Jacobi Medical Center after a 911 call at 9:45 p.m., police and fire officials said.
Neighbors said the officer had lived on the top floor at the Holland Ave. address in Van Nest for a few months.
“He was a good neighbor — quiet,” said Ziggy Poindexter, 79.
“He was always smiling and happy,” said Nathan Vellon 20, whose family owns the home the cop was living in. “He seemed like a nice guy.”
Four NYPD police officers have committed suicide with guns in 2012.
Matthew Schindler, 39, a 14-year-veteran assigned to the 115th Precinct in Jackson Heights, Queens, was on his way home from work when he pulled over on the Long Island Expressway in Jericho, L.I. on Feb. 13 and shot himself to death.
On Jan. 19, Officer Terrence Dean, 28, used his service weapon to shoot himself while on duty in the 111th Precinct after he received a phone call from his girlfriend.
Patrick Werner, 23, a rookie, took his own life at his family home in Westchester County in January.
In early February, Police Officer Brian Saar died by a self-inflicted gunshot wound at his Long Island home.
Source:www.nydailynews.com
Washington jury convicts man who cut off Fred Meyer security officer’s ear www.privateofficer.com
A Cowlitz County deputy prosecutor said Adrian Kramer faces between 26 and 33 years in prison at sentencing scheduled next Wednesday.
The Daily News of Longview reports (http://is.gd/s3Tfrl) that Kramer began to cry when jurors left the courtroom Thursday.
David Morrison is chief of security for the Fred Meyer retail store in Longview. He testified that Kramer swung a hatchet at him last Dec. 11 when Morrison and a guard trainee confronted the man, who was wheeling a shopping cart full of stolen goods through the parking lot.
In court for the verdict, Morrison said he was “totally happy with it.”
Doctors were unable to reattach the severed piece of Morrison’s left ear.
Kramer was also convicted of burglary counts.
Nashville police bust shoplifting ring www.privateofficer.com
NASHVILLE, Tenn. April 21 2012- Three people have been arrested as part of a suspected shoplifting ring bust.
It happened outside the Old Navy store on Charlotte Pike in west Nashville.
Police said the three suspects stole more than $1,150 worth of merchandise from the store. The suspects were accused of taking in empty bags into the store and filling them with merchandise after removing the tags from the items.
Thirty year old Trivia Allen, 27-year-old Jekia Peters and 33-year-old Robert Hill were arrested by officers who were in the area conducting an undercover operation in regards to the recent rash of shoplifting at the West Shopping Center. All three were arrested on site and charged with shoplifting. Police said each of the three suspects had multiple theft convictions.
When officers searched the suspect’s car they found more than $3,500 worth of merchandise stolen from other stores in the shopping center, as well as small amount of marijuana and brass knuckles.
Virginia man carjacks-assaults police officer www.privateofficer.com
Alexandria VA April 21 2012 A man who was spotted walking on eastbound Interstate 66 Thursday morning was arrested, but not before hitting a police officer, stealing his cruiser, leading a brief chase and swinging a shovel at state troopers authorities say.
Virginia State Police say that just before noon on Thursday, a state trooper spotted the suspect, 37-year-old Dexter Gibson of Herndon, walking in the eastbound lanes of I-66 near Route 29. An Arlington County Police officer came to help the trooper on the scene after attempting to stop the man.
When officers approached him, though, Gibson became irate and began banging on the trooper’s vehicle. When the officers tried to take him into custody, the man hit the Arlington officer in the face and fled the scene in his police car.
A short pursuit onto Route 29 and then back onto westbound I-66 ended in Fairfax County when Fairfax County, Prince William County and Virginia State Police cars forced the vehicle onto the shoulder. However, the suspect then ran from the vehicle and jumped into the back of a pickup truck that was stopped on the highway.
Gibson then grabbed a shovel and started swinging it at the troopers as they approached, but then dropped it and climbed over the jersey wall back onto eastbound 66, where he fought a trooper and a police sergeant. Finally, the suspect was taken into custody, but not before both officers involved in the scuffle suffered minor injuries.
The Arlington officer who was hit in the face was evaluated at an area hospital for non-life threatening injuries. Meanwhile, Gibson faces 13 charges, including:
-one count grand larceny
-one count carjacking
-one felony count of eluding police
-two counts of malicious wounding
-two counts of destruction of property
-six counts of felony assault on a police officer
Two National Park Service employees facing litany of charges after being caught using PCP www.privateofficer.com
A Metropolitan Police Department report says that two men, Michael Anthony Holden and Michael Deleno Christian, face several charges, including DUI, failure to obey a lawful order and assault on a police officer.
The incident happened on April 6 near the intersection of North Capitol Street and K Street NE. On that afternoon, two MPD officers came across a National Park Service garbage truck sitting still on westbound K Street, despite a clear intersection and a green light.
When they approached in the heart of rush hour, police say they encountered the driver, Holden, a passenger, Christian, and the odor of a “dipper” cigarette dipped in what they say was PCP. When one officer asked why they weren’t driving, the report says Christian turned to them slowly and said, “Man, we just chilling” while Holden stared blankly into space.
After the officers went to the other side of the truck to talk to Holden, they noticed that Christian had gotten out of the truck and started to jog away slowly with deliberate steps, which police say is consistent with the use of PCP. When they chased him down, the report says that Christian elbowed one officer in the chest before being apprehended.
Police then say that Holden had to be forcibly removed from the truck after refusing the officer’s orders to get out. Once out of the truck, police say he began swinging his arms at the cop, causing injuries to both responding officers.
All while the struggle was happening, though, the garbage truck, now vacated, began to roll backwards down K Street toward pedestrians and other cars. One officer was forced to jump into the truck and stop it.
Police also say that once Holden was at a police station, he was unable to complete sobriety tests.
PCP is reportedly not uncommon among people arrested in the District. Police statistics show that the percentage of people testing positive after being arrested has jumped in five years from 17 percent to 38 percent.
Long Beach Police officer arrested for possession of child pornography www.privateofficer.com
LONG BEACH CA April 21 2012 — A nine-year officer with the Long Beach Police Department has been arrested for possession of child pornography, police announced late Thursday.
Officer Noe Yanez, 40, was arrested by police at 6:35 p.m. Thursday, according to jail records.
The arrest came following an investigation into his alleged inappropriate contact with a minor, which, according to police, began with text messages and the solicitation of inappropriate photographs.
Police launched an investigation after the minor reported the conduct to a school resource officer earlier this month. A Long Beach Unified School District spokesman said Friday school resource officers are only placed at high schools.
Yanez was being held at the Los Angeles County Men’s Central Jail on $20,000 bail. The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office Justice System Integrity Division will handle the prosecution.
The officer has been suspended without pay pending the outcome of the continuing criminal and internal affairs investigations.
“Not only are the actions of this officer a violation of the law, they are a violation of the community’s trust, and a violation of the principles of this Department,” Chief Jim McDonnell said in a written statement. “The men and women of this Department take great pride in the good work they do everyday with the community, and we will not allow the actions of this one officer to compromise that relationship.”
Yanez was listed in court documents obtained by the Press-Telegram during the “donning and doffing” class action lawsuit filed by Long Beach police officers against the city in 2009.
The suit, which sought compensation for allegedly unpaid time doing routine tasks, was settled when the city agreed to give 47 vacation hours to about 900 current and former officers and pay $300,000 in attorney fees.
Yanez’s name is on a numbered list of pre-shift activities. He requested pay for shaving.
It was almost exactly one year ago that another member of the Long Beach police force was arrested for similar crimes.
On April 27, 2011, Long Beach Police Detective Erik Alvarez was arrested in his hometown of Upland for having sex with an underage female relative. The then-42-year-old, who at the time of his arrest worked in the department’s Youth Services Division, was sentenced to two years in state prison in August.
Alvarez resigned from the Police Department following his arrest, according to authorities.
Anyone with information about the Yanez case may contact the Long Beach Police Department Sex Crimes Detail Tip Line at 562-570-7878. Anonymous tips may be submitted via text or email by visiting http://www.tipsoft.com.
Colorado Springs based C&D Security steams ahead with expanded coverage areas www.privateofficer.com
Colorado Springs CO April 21 2012 On a typical day from the headquarters of C&D Security in Colorado Springs, nearly 700 security guards will be dispatched to keep a watchful eye on some of America’s most high-value targets.
The guards will screen thousands of employees and visitors through the X-ray and magnetometers at the Internal Revenue Service headquarters in Washington D.C.; they will patrol the parking lots of federal buildings in nine states; and they’ll keep to themselves whatever they have heard these past few weeks about the scandal at the General Services Administration headquarters, where they have been employed for several years.
The security guard business ebbs and flows, but has not gone the way of the dinosaur as predicted back in the dot-com era when fancy surveillance cameras and alarms became the building security norm, said Troy Thames, C&D Security executive vice president.
“Instead of a guy in the front lobby, walking the perimeter, now he’s in a control center watching a camera,” Thames said. “If the alarm goes off, someone still has to see what set it off. ”
And so is the reason for C&D Security’s long-term business life in the security guard business — a company with $40 million in annual revenue and a contender for some of the largest federal government security contracts.
“Right now, government security is one of the few growth industries,” Thames said.
Since 9/11, the federal government has spent an estimated $360 billion on homeland security. C&D Security is only too happy to accommodate, Thames said. In February, C&D was awarded an $85 million, five-year contract to provide security guards and roving armed security at dozens of high-profile buildings in Philadelphia. And the requests for proposals don’t stop there, Thames said.
“I have over 30 major proposals out right now,” Thames said.
The company’s main mission has always been security services. C&D started in 1959 as a security and ambulance service. In the 1960s, two couples, the Creamers and the Derringtons, bought the business and named it C&D Bonded Security. Back then, they were providing uniformed security guards for Colorado Springs manufacturers and construction sites. They even had a K-9 unit. It was a good gig and the company grew.
In the 1970s, the Derringtons bought out the Creamers and in 1991, Peter Derrington bought the company from his parents and took over as president, joined by his wife Debbie as vice president. C&D was 200 employees strong, but still only doing business in Colorado.
The Derringtons and Thames hold top secret security clearances and started contracting with the Air Force bases. Their firm provided security for Schriever Air Force Base when it was under construction “just a hole in the ground,” Thames said.
But, relying on local businesses was limiting and the company wasn’t growing. Setbacks, like when Apple moved its laptop production out of the Springs in the 1990s, cost them jobs, Thames said.
“You either grow, or you shrink,” Thames said.
In 1993, the company landed its first out of state contract in Kentucky, guarding an IRS building. Expansion into other states means state business licenses and gun licenses, but that IRS contract led to more lucrative government contracts. And, in the wake of the 9/11 attacks, C&D was poised to take on the tidal wave of government security contracts as everyone from private business to government scrambled to pump up security. Since 9/11, C&D’s annual revenue has gone from $13 million in 2006 to $40 million in 2011.
“We were working at the defense finance buildings in Denver,” Thames said. “Pre 9/11 we had 15 guards there; two weeks after 9/11 we had 55. ”
In a 2011 interview with Security Sales and Integration Sales Magazine, GSA Schedules Inc. president Lyne de Seve said that pre-9/11, the GSA contract for security was very small.
“Even going back to 1996, it was probably about $16 million and most of those sales were from ADT,” she said. “Today it is more than $2 billion. ”
That means lots of competition. C&D bid against 29 other firms for the Philadelphia contract. But that does not mean its easy work, Thames said. The Department of Homeland Security’s Federal Protective Services requires guards to have a minimum of three years in law enforcement or military experience and 150 hours of training before they even step foot in a federal building as an armed guard.
That comes with risk, Thames said. C&D will spend $500,000 to train and equip the new guards for the Philadelphia contract.
“The first year there is a lot of upfront costs, radios, vehicles, cell phones, guns, ammo — in that first year, the goal is to try to break even,” Thames said. “Then, if you can control costs, you can make money in years three, four and five. ”
It’s a business that takes an understanding banker, he said, as some times they operate in the red when gearing up for big contracts.
“We’ve got to continue to grow,” Thames said. “I’ve got a bid in Georgia, if we get it, we would add 430 people. ”
Wal-Mart shoplifter shot to death as he wrestled with store employees www.privateofficer.com
COLLEGE STATION TX A April 21 2012 A suspected shoplifter who was wounded by a gunshot during an altercation with store personnel believed to be security at the College Station Wal-Mart died at the College Station Medical Center shortly after 8 p.m. Friday.
Information from police is still sketchy and officers were not identifying the man pending notification of his next of kin.
Customers said they saw several employees wrestling with a man at the exit near the Home and Living section of the popular discount store off F.M. 2818 near Texas Avenue.
One customer believed that the shoplifter was armed and was shot as he wrestled with store employees.
Two people said they heard three gunshots go off while they were in the store.
A call to police from inside the store was logged at 4:05 p.m., saying a shoplifting had “gone wrong” and there had been a shooting, according to Officer Rhonda Seaton.
Tactical officers surrounded that entrance by 4:40 p.m. and went inside within 10 or so minutes. More than a dozen patrol cars are at the scene.
Two people who were inside the store told an Eagle reporter that they heard three shots fired just after 4 p.m. Officials said many customers at the store were rushed out the back after hearing the shots.
A spokeswoman with Walmart’s corporate offices in Bentonville, Ark., said store officials are en route to the College Station site and won’t have a comment until they knew more.
Former Texas State Technical College police Chief pleads guilty to thefts www.privateofficer.com
He was accused of taking pistols from the department’s evidence room and pawning them.
State District Judge Ralph Strother set Williams’ sentencing for June 18.
The charge is a state jail felony and his sentence could range up to two years.
Williams was arrested on his 43rd birthday after he was named in a sealed indictment charging abuse of official capacity of $1,500 or more, but less than $20,000.
The indictment accused Williams of pawning several firearms from the department’s property room including a 9-mm Glock pistol, two Smith and Wesson .357 magnum pistols, a Rossi .38 Special, and a Remington .45 caliber pistol.
The pawnshop transactions dated back to October 2009 and continued through March 2011, the indictment said.
Williams was fired in March 2011 after an internal investigation into the improper use of items stored in the department’s property room.
In April 2011, the Texas Rangers confirmed they were investigating Williams.
Source:kwtx.com
