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Former Garda Guard Wanted For Killing Partner Captured www.privateofficer.com
PITTSBURGH PA April 24 2012 (AP) — An armored car guard accused of killing his partner in Pittsburgh and making off with more than $2 million was arrested in Florida on Tuesday after nearly two months on the run when someone called Pittsburgh police to report his whereabouts, authorities said.
Investigators recovered more $1 million from a storage locker and the home where Kenneth Konias Jr. was arrested early Tuesday in Pompano Beach, Fla., law enforcement officials said. Konias was arrested without incident at a home where he had been staying, the FBI said.
Special Agent Michael Rodriguez, head of the Pittsburgh FBI office, said Konias was cooperating with agents.
“He admitted his identity and he was cooperative when he was arrested,” Rodriguez said at a news conference announcing the arrest.
Konias had two weapons with him, both handguns, one of which was his company-supplied weapon, which Rodriguez said Konias “indicated that was the weapon he used in the incident.”
Rodriguez estimated investigators recovered between $1.3 and $1.5 million of the missing money — much of it at a nearby storage locker Konias led them to — but as much as a half-million dollars remains unaccounted for.
Konias’ parents, Kenneth Sr. and Renee, were briefed about 6:30 a.m. Tuesday by local law enforcement officials that their son was now in FBI custody in Florida, Konias’ attorney, Charles LoPresti, said.
“I can tell you that the parents are both relieved that he’s now in custody, that the search is over for him, and they want the wheels of justice to turn fairly,” he said.
“They’re very relieved that nobody, including their own son, is in danger now that the search is done,” LoPresti said.
Rodriguez didn’t have details about the tip that led to Konias’ arrest, but said Konias had “confided in several individuals” after arriving in Florida.
“I think he may have made the admission that he was remorseful about his activity, some of his activities, in Pittsburgh,” Rodriguez said.
Konias appeared briefly in federal court in Fort Lauderdale a few hours after his arrest and waived his right to a removal hearing, allowing U.S. Marshals to transport him back to Pennsylvania.
U.S. Attorney David Hickton said he’ll confer with Allegheny County prosecutors and Pittsburgh police to determine whether Konias will be prosecuted in Common Pleas court or federally.
Konias is charged by Pittsburgh police with criminal homicide, theft and robbery and by federal authorities with committing a Hobbs Act robbery and discharging a firearm in a crime of violence.
Although federal authorities do not have a specific homicide statute, Konias could be charged in Haines’ death under a different section of the firearms charge he already faces and that would carry either life in prison or the death penalty if he were convicted.
Konias allegedly shot fellow Garda Cash Logistics guard Michael Haines before fleeing with money from the truck they were guarding on Feb. 28 in Pittsburgh.
Pittsburgh auto squad detectives were conducting another investigation when they drove past the Garda armored car, which had been left idling under a bridge, and saw supervisors from that company at the scene about 3:45 p.m. that day.
Inside, a Garda official found Haines shot in the back of the head, and his duty pistol missing — along with Konias and what authorities would later determine was about $2.3 million.
Video surveillance of Garda headquarters showed Konias jumping into his SUV and speeding out of the parking lot just before 1:30 p.m. that day, or more than two hours before the abandoned armored car was found.
When police went to the home Konias shared with his parents, they found blood on his uniform jacket. His parents said Konias had left shortly after returning from work and a friend of Konias later told police he had called about 1:05 p.m. to say, “I (screwed) up. My life is over.”
When the witness asked Konias if he had a bad day at work or got a girl pregnant, he replied, “Worse than that.”
“What, did you kill someone?” the witness asked. After several seconds of silence, Konias said, “Yes” before asking that person to run away with him and stating “he had enough money to live on for the rest of their lives,” the affidavit said, and asked about extradition laws in Canada and Mexico.
Authorities have previously said they recovered about $275,000, including about $250,000 stashed under a car at the Dravosburg home he shared with his parents and about $24,000 found a day earlier at the grave of a family member.
A Pittsburgh Fugitive Task Force member told the AP on condition of anonymity that the search for Konias was complicated by the fact that the stolen money was untraceable and in smaller denominations, mostly $20 bills and below.
The money was shrink-wrapped and, despite the amount believed stolen, it could likely fit in a container about the size of a foot locker. The source spoke anonymously because those details had not been publicly released by investigators.
Former St Louis police sergeant pleads guilty to federal drug charges www.privateofficer.com
St. Louis, MO April 24 2012 - A former sergeant with the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department pleaded guilty Monday on federal drug conspiracy charges.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office says former police Sergeant Larry Davis, 46, pleaded guilty to charges of diverting seized packages containing marijuana for distribution and sale.
According to court documents, a federal grand jury indicted Sgt. Larry Davis and his brother, 42-year-old Linus Davis, on January 18 on one felony count of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute marijuana and one felony count of possession with intent to distribute marijuana.
Larry Davis was arrested at his home on the morning of January 19. Linus Davis surrendered to authorities later that day.
Sgt. Davis had been assigned as a supervisory sergeant to the Central Patrol Division-Special Operations Group, responsible for conducting investigations into illegal gang activities and drug distribution.
The indictment alleges that between October 1, 2010 and January 10, 2012, Larry Davis visited several package delivery company branch facilities in the St. Louis area and seized packages suspected of containing marijuana. Instead of taking those packages to the police department or to the police laboratory, Davis took the packages to his residence on Eichelberger.
Larry Davis and his brother opened the packages and removed the marijuana, which they later sold and distributed for their own personal gain, prosecutors said.
The indictment also seeks the forfeiture of two vehicles used by the brothers in their conspiracy.
If convicted, each count of the indictment carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison.
The St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department suspended Sgt. Davis from the police force on January 11, upon learning of the allegations against him.
Linus Davis pleaded guilty to two felony counts on March 9. His sentencing is set for June 7.
Former NC youth minister pleads guilty to child pornography www.privateofficer.com
Jared Don McCabe, 35, was arrested in March after investigators said they found him in possession of pornography depicting who appeared to be as young as 3.
In court Monday, McCabe entered a guilty plea on three counts of third-degree sexual exploitation of a minor.
Burglars drive vehicle into gun store and steal half of store’s weapon inventory www.privateofficer.com
RICHLAND COUNTY, SC April 24 2012 - Deputies are looking for the people who rammed a vehicle into a gun shop and took off with half of the store’s weapon inventory early Monday morning.
The heist happened around 2:00 a.m. in a shopping plaza at 8006 Garners Ferry Rd.
The owner of TT&H Firearms, Darrell Tracht, says two people used a late model white Ford Ranger vehicle to drive through the wall of the building. Once inside, the burglars stole about 30 assault weapons and pistols.
Tracht said surveillance video shows the truck drive right into the building. The video, however, doesn’t show the thieves well enough to provide a description.
The damage to the building and loss of inventory is estimated by the shop’s owner to be around $100,000, but his main concern is getting the weapons off the streets and in the right hands again.
If you know anything about this incident, you are urged to call Crimestoppers at 1-888-CRIME-SC.
Source:wis
Former Norwalk daycare teacher arrested for child molestation www.privateofficer.com
Harold Meyers, 44, of 104 Waldorf Ave., Bridgeport, was charged with two counts each of third-degree sexual assault and two counts of risk of injury to a child. He was held overnight on $150,000 bond and will be arraigned Monday at state Superior Court in Norwalk.
According to the two arrest affidavits, Meyers worked as a head teacher in a classroom at Tumblebugs Daycare center for 18 months between 2007 and 2009.
In August of 2011, the mother of a girl, 7, called police to report that the woman’s daughter told her mother that about two years earlier a teacher at the daycare had molested her.
Source: Stamford Advocate
2 indicted in Richmond City Jail drug delivery case www.privateofficer.com
Shaneal O. Moore, 24, was arrested March 13 after authorities said she tried to arrange with an investigator for the Richmond Sheriff’s Office to deliver an envelope with marijuana to an inmate.
Moore was originally charged with conspiring to deliver drugs to a prisoner, a felony, and possession of marijuana with the intent to distribute, a misdemeanor.
A grand jury last week indicted Moore on four additional conspiracy-to-deliver-drugs-to-a-prisoner counts.
The grand jury also indicted Kendrick A. Cartwright, 27, a Richmond City Jail inmate, on five similar charges.
Source:richmond times daily
Rock Hill man arrested after shooting at nightclub www.privateofficer.com
Marceis Cunningham, 30, has been charged with discharging a firearm within city limits, according to police documents.
About 2 a.m. Sunday, officers responded to Infiniti Sports Bar on East Main Street on a call of shots heard, according to a Rock Hill police report. Club security officers had several suspects at gunpoint while they were in a car.
One of the guards told officers the suspect had a gun with him and fired it into the air, the report states. The officer found a 45-caliber gun shell on the ground. Inside the car, he found a handgun matching the fired empty shell underneath the passenger seat.
A security officer said he was watching the car where he’d heard shots when he saw Cunningham outside of the car, pointing the gun into the air and firing twice, the report states. He then got back into the car.
Officers found a second empty shell casing near the car, the report states.
Source:www.heraldonline.com
Off-duty Montgomery police officer claims racial profiling over hoodie incident at mall www.privateofficer.com
Terence Scott, 26, filed the lawsuit April 11 in Montgomery County Circuit Court against ERMC, a Chattanooga, Tenn.,-based company that provides security for Eastdale Mall. The lawsuit also names one security guard and two other unnamed security guards as defendants.
Eastdale Mall is not named as a defendant in the lawsuit that seeks unspecified amounts in damages.
Efforts to reach an attorney for ERMC have been unsuccessful this morning.
Among the claims in Scott’s civil lawsuit are negligence, assault and battery, wantonness, and that security guards used racial profiling against him and others. Scott is black; the lawsuit does not specify the races of the security guards.
“Eastdale Mall has had a history of incidents involving African-American males being attacked, challenged, and/or bullied by security guards employed by defendant ERMC,” the lawsuit states.
Julian McPhillips, attorney for Scott, said today that the incident was “shades of Trayvon Martin.”
Martin was the unarmed 17-year-old who was shot and killed Feb. 26 by George Zimmerman, the resident of a Sanford, Fla. gated community who had confronted Martin because he looked suspicious. Martin was wearing a hoodie sweatshirt. The case has triggered outrage among many because Zimmerman wasn’t charged in Martin’s death until weeks later.
Scott’s lawsuit states that Scott and his fiance, Cherkuita Brown, who also is employed by the Montgomery Police Department and was also in plain clothes were at the mall on March 3.
The weather was cool and it had been raining earlier and Scott was wearing a sweatshirt with a hood covering his neck and the top of his head, the lawsuit states. “However, his face was clearly visible, thus reflecting both his gender and ethnic background,” the lawsuit states.
As the couple was walking out of the mall to go to his car, a male security guard told him to “remove your hoodie.”
Scott looked back and recognized a female ERMC security guard who was with the male guard who had spoken to Scott, the lawsuit claims.
At first Scott took off his hood. “However, recognizing the one female security guard, and knowing he was close to the exit door, plaintiff considered it no big problem to put his hood back on, and so he did,” the lawsuit states.
The male guard then grabbed Scott and began using profanity.
A series of exchanges took place between Scott and the male guard, who had ordered Scott to use a particular exit to leave the mall, the lawsuit states. Two unnamed security officers came up and grabbed Scott from behind. The first male guard also jumped on Scott and began choking him for at least six to seven seconds, the lawsuit states.
McPhillips, said that during the confrontation Scott did identify himself as an off-duty police officer. Scott is a patrol officer who is originally from Birmingham, he said.
The incident ended, according to the lawsuit, when another off-duty police officer recognized Scott and shouted at the security guards that Scott was an off-duty police officer and to leave him alone.
Scott was diagnosed and treated for an inner neck bruise, strained right elbow and strained right thumb, according to the lawsuit.
Among the claims in Terence Scott’s civil lawsuit are negligence, assault and battery, wantonness, and that security guards used racial profiling against him and others.
Source:AL.com
MS state police capture man wanted in mall shooting www.privateofficer.com
JACKSON, MS April 24 2012 - The man wanted for firing shots at a state trooper at a Jackson mall last Friday, is now in custody.
Jackson police confirm they have arrested 26 year-old Wilbert Coleman.
He was picked up on Bailey Avenue around 10 a.m. Monday.
Last Friday, a highway patrolman exchanged gunfire with Coleman in a Metrocenter parking lot, after the officer saw him attempt to rob an elderly woman.
Coleman fled in a green Buick, but jumped out on Highway 80 after getting a flat tire. He fled north and officers gave chase, but they were unable to find him.
No one was shot in the incident. 21 year-old Erica Johnson was a passenger in Coleman’s vehicle. She was arrested and charged with armed robbery
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The Mississippi Highway Patrol and Jackson Police are investigating a shooting in the Metrocenter Mall parking lot.
It started when a trooper who just finished giving a drivers license test witnessed an attempted armed robbery of an elderly woman in the parking lot near Burlington Coat Factory.
Highway Patrol Spokesman Warren Strain says, “He went to investigate the commotion. At that point the male suspect pulled a weapon, the trooper fired a shot then the male suspect jumped in a vehicle.”
The suspect fled in a green Buick onto Highway 80, but got a flat tire just outside of the Metrocenter parking lot. From there he fled north on foot. Witnesses describe him as a black male, with red tint in his hair.
A female who was in the car with him was taken into custody.
“We recovered a weapon in the vehicle, were going to check it to determine if it was the weapon that was used,” said Deputy Chief Eric Walls of the Jackson Police Department.
Officers recovered a revolver, and are conducting a search for the man who fled.
Authorities say the black male was wearing a white muscle shirt and gray pants
source-WLBT
Panama City Police shoot and kill machete-wielding man during confrontation www.privateofficer.com
PANAMA CITY Fla April 24 2012 — A Panama City Police officer shot and killed a machete-wielding man during a confrontation Sunday morning, police said.
Officers were called to East Seventh Street near East Avenue around 10:45 a.m. Sunday because of a report that Clifton Delaine McKinney was standing in the street, holding the machete and screaming.
Two officers initially confronted McKinney and a third officer, a supervisor, arrived on scene a short time later, said Chief John Van Etten.
The officers asked the 40-year-old to put down the machete and surrender but he refused, neighbors said.
“For a minute we thought he was going to (give up) cause he turned around like he was going to walk off. Then he turned and charged them,” said Kathy Simmons, a neighbor who saw the incident. “They kept begging him, you know, ‘Put it down. Put it down. We don’t want to hurt you.’”
She added that McKinney was swinging the machete wildly throughout the time police were there.
Officers used a stun gun on McKinney several times after he charged at them, Van Etten said.
“The Tasers didn’t seem to have the effect they normally have,” Van Etten said.
One of the officers then shot McKinney after he charged. Van Etten declined to say how many times McKinney was stunned or shot during the incident. Officials also declined to release the names of the officers involved.
“They had no choice,” Simmons said of the officers. “They done everything they could to get him to stop.”
After McKinney was shot, officers performed CPR on him and an ambulance took him to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead, Van Etten said.
The officers have been placed on administrative leave, a standard procedure after an officer-involved shooting, officials said. Florida’s Department of Law Enforcement will be investigating the shooting, another standard procedure, Van Etten said.
Van Etten added that McKinney had several confrontations previously with local officers but declined to talk about the specifics of those incidents. According to the Bay County Clerk of Courts website, McKinney was arrested several times for resisting an officer without violence, twice for battery, once for domestic violence assault and once for felony domestic battery by strangulation.
Neighbor Jason Scott said McKinney often screamed at trees or animals but was rarely violent. Scott heard McKinney screaming Sunday morning and later he heard the shots but he did not see what happened, he said.
“He never messed with anybody,” Scott said. “He was in his own little world.”
But Simmons said that during a previous incident she saw McKinney strike an officer in the head with an object.
Scott, Simmons and other neighbors said McKinney was “taken away” by police several times over the last few years and that each time he would come back and seem better for a little while. The last time he was arrested was about two months ago when McKinney barricaded himself inside his East Seventh Street home, neighbors said.
Officers eventually talked him into surrendering.
“The guy needed help,” Scott said. “I believe today wouldn’t have ever happened if he had help.”
Simmons said she wished she had not seen Sunday’s incident.
“They usually can talk him down,” she said. “It seemed like he wanted it to happen.”
Two brothers, 5, 7 drown in Montgomery apartment pool www.privateofficer.com
According to authorities, emergency personnel and police responded to a call that the two boys drowned in a pool at Cypress Court Apartments on Plaza Drive off Troy Highway.
Police say the two brothers, ages 5 and 7, were transported to Baptist South where they were pronounced dead.
The initial indication is that the drowning was accidental but police are still investigating.
Police make additional arrests stemming from the disturbance at Mall of America www.privateofficer.com
Bloomington MN April 24 2012 Police have announced criminal charges stemming from the disturbance at Mall of America on Dec. 26, 2011.
Mall security responded to a large fight in the North Food Court around 4:21 p.m. that day. Initially, 12 people were arrested for disorderly conduct and/or trespassing offenses. Since then, officers have continued to investigate the incident using interviews and video surveillance.
Two St. Paul adults, one Minneapolis adult, and one Columbia Heights adult were charged with gross misdemeanor third degree riot. Also, three St. Paul juveniles and one Burnsville juvenile were charged with gross misdemeanor third degree riot.
One St. Paul adult was charged with trespass, which is also a gross misdemeanor.
Ten others were charged with disorderly conduct and/or trespassing. Three are St. Paul adults, three are Minneapolis juveniles, two are Roseville juveniles, one is a St. Paul juvenile, and one is a Ramsey juvenile.
Father and son busted on charges of running multimillion-dollar sex ring www.privateofficer.com
Manhattan NY April 24 2012 A father-and-son pimp team were busted for running a multimillion-a-year sex ring – branding women with degrading tattoos and employing livery car drivers to shuttle them around, according to an indictment from the Manhattan district attorney’s office.
“This as not your typical father-and-son business,” said Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly, whose department partnered with prosecutors to crush the ring.
Vincent George Sr. (“Vee), 55, of Queens taught his son Vincent George Jr. (“King Koby”), 33, of Allentown, Pa., the ways of the flesh trade over the last 10 years, prosecutors charge.
The pimp daddy and his pimp son set up a phony business, Grip Entertainment, to launder their illicit money.
The two ventured out in the city night after night offering business cards to men on the street and in hotels, bars and the back of their livery cars.
The women were kept subservient with degrading tattoos, according to a source. One woman had a bar code inked on her neck; another had a crown with a $ tattooed on her pubic bone.
The women earned $200 to $500 per customer, but were given only enough money a night for food and essentials and were forced to turn all their earnings over to the Georges.
One prostitute earned half a million dollars last year alone, according to court records. Some of the money was transferred to offshore accounts, according to prosecutors.
They were threatened with violence if they failed to bring in big money, according to the district attorney.
“Prostituted women, men and children are often physically abused, psychologically coerced, and fearful of reporting their abuse to authorities,” Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance said.
Investigators, using tapped phones at Rikers Island, were able to identify three woman, who agreed to cooperate.
The two men were busted on April 5, driving through Allentown from Buffalo en route to the city with a woman they had recruited.
A joint taskforce of NYPD, prosecutors and the feds seized 10 cars and more than $200,000 cash.
The two Georges were charged with sex trafficking, promoting prostitution and money laundering.
In addition to the father-and-son team, livery car drivers Oabari Gaber, 57, Theo Jones, 52, David Lombardo, 56, Assaf Nahomove, , Sokol Perkaj, 41, and Ausama Ahamad, 37, were also charged with promoting prostitution.
Jones’s lawyer, Bob Walter, said his client was just trying to help his passengers.
“What livery car driver doesn’t know where you can get a girl?”
Source:www.nydailynews.com
Bloomington man wanted in shooting commits suicide during police chase www.privateofficer.com
BLOOMINGTON IL April 24 2012 – A 38-year-old man died in an apparent suicide Saturday night after a police chase and a dispute involving a shooting on the city’s east side that sent another man to the hospital.
The McLean County coroner’s office identified the dead man as Joshua M. Jasso of Bloomington. An autopsy is scheduled for Monday afternoon.
Officials said Jasso was without obvious signs of life after he was removed from his vehicle by police after firing a single gunshot as he stopped in the center lane of Veterans Parkway just north of Parkway Plaza.
McLean County Sheriff Mike Emery said officers were called to Standish Drive in the Colonial Meadows subdivision around 10:20 p.m. for a call of shots fired. One victim had been shot and a suspect had fled the scene, according to information received by dispatchers, he said.
As of Monday morning, the McLean County Sheriff had yet to release the name of the shooting victim. The department continues to conduct interviews on the incident.
A pick-up truck matching the description of the one driven by the suspect was seen by a deputy traveling west on Empire Street from Gettysburg Drive. The driver refused orders from the deputy to leave his vehicle. The suspect turned north on Veterans Parkway where he stopped.
“After several attempts to get the suspect to acknowledge the commands of the officers, the vehicle was approached and the suspect was removed from the vehicle,” said Emery.
Emery confirmed that a single shot was fired inside the suspect’s car but did not give a specific cause of death.
The McLean County coroner’s office and the sheriff’s department are working on the investigation. Normal and Bloomington police also assisted.
The 35-year-old shooting victim was taken to OSF St. Joseph’s Medical Center where he is receiving treatment, said Emery, adding the victim and suspect were acquainted.
No additional details of the incident have been released.
The northbound lanes of Veterans Parkway from Parkway Plaza to Fort Jesse Road were closed for about three hours during the incident
The McLean County Sheriff has not released the name Monday morning. The department continues to conduct interviews on the incident today.
SourceLpantagraph.com
Grand Rapids man jailed for assaulting security officer www.privateofficer.com
The incident happened shortly before 2 a.m., when the guard saw a group of males arguing near Building No. 1 and stopped to investigate, police reports said.
After he got out of his vehicle, the suspect charged toward him and shoved him in the chest with both hands, causing him to fall backward and hit his head on the pavement.
The guard, 47, was taken by ambulance to Ingham Regional Medical Center. The suspect, who had a blood-alcohol level of more than twice the legal limit for driving, was taken to the Clinton County Jail, the reports said.
FBI plans to add a “violent offender file” to its NCIC index www.privateofficer.com
Washington DC April 24 2012 The FBI plans to add a “violent offender file” to its NCIC index in August to give field officers more information about the violent offenders who may attack them during a stop.
The file would provide information such as whether a subject has been convicted of assault or murder of a law enforcement officer, fleeing, resisting arrest, or other crimes against officers.
The file would also include whether a person has been convicted of murder or attempted murder involving a firearm. The FBI would also include information about individuals who have expressed an intent to commit violence against law enforcement.
Officers could access the information from a computer in their cruiser or when they call dispatch to have them run an NCIC check, said Stephen Fischer, chief of the FBI’s Criminal Justice Information Service (CJIS) division.
“The ultimate goal of the Violent Offender File is to provide law enforcement officers a direct warning during the most critical time in which they will approach the encountered individual with the utmost caution, realizing the individual has the propensity to be violent against law enforcement,” Fischer told POLICE Magazine in an e-mail.
The move was welcomed by the Torrance (Calif.) Police Department as an effective officer-safety measure.
“The more intel an officer has at his or her disposal during field contacts can only contribute positively to officer safety,” said department spokeswoman Sgt. Jennifer Uyeda.
The Violent Offender File would be a file in the NCIC similar to Wanted Persons, Sex Offenders, or other files. The CJIS’ Advisory Policy Board must approve the policy at a meeting in Buffalo, N.Y., from June 6-7. Meeting details have been published in the Federal Register.
Naples Fla man faces felony in theft of $1 McDonald’s soda www.privateofficer.com
Naples Fla April 24 2012 A Naples, Fla., man arrested for walking out of a McDonald’s with soda in a courtesy water cup now faces a felony theft charge.
Mark Abaire, 52, was stopped by the restaurant manager after leaving the East Naples McDonald’s in the 500 block of 14th Street North.
Collier County (Fla.) Sheriff’s deputies arrived to arrest Abaire shortly after 10 p.m. Thursday, according to a sheriff’s spokeswoman.
The charge for stealing the soda, which is valued at $1, was for petty theft, but raised to a felony because of Abaire’s prior petty theft convictions. In Florida, a third-degree felony can result in a sentence of up to 5 years in prison and a $5,000 fine.
