Archive
LINE OF DUTY DEATH Officer Avery Freeman
Patrolman Avery Freeman
Chester Police Department, Pennsylvania
End of Watch: Monday, April 30, 2012
Bio & Incident Details
Age: 49
Tour: 17 years
Badge # 225
Cause: Duty related illness
Incident Date: 3/31/2012
Weapon: Not available
Suspect: Not available
Patrolman Avery Freeman succumbed to complications of a surgery required after injuring his knee while on duty.
On March 31, 2012, he and another officer had arrested a female subject at the scene of a domestic disturbance. As Patrolman Freeman walked back to his patrol car he slipped on wet, moss-covered bricks and fell, injuring both knees. The injuries were severe enough that surgery was required. As he recovered from the surgery at the Taylor Rehabilitation Center he suffered a fatal pulmonary embolism.
Patrolman Freeman had served in law enforcement for 17 years. He is survived by his four children, mother, and siblings.
Please contact the following agency to send condolences or to obtain funeral arrangements:
Commissioner Joseph Bail Jr.
Chester Police Department
160 E 7th Street
Chester, PA 19013
Phone: (610) 447-7931
NYPD investigating armored car robbery www.privateofficer.com
Queens NY May 15 2012 Police are investigating the early morning robbery of an armored car driver on Northern Boulevard in Little Neck, a spokesman for the 111th Precinct said.
The victim told police that he was exiting Little Neck’s Queens County Savings Bank Monday morning with two bags filled with $170,000 in cash.
A man ran up behind him and stole the bags before fleeing westbound on Northern Boulevard in an SUV, the victim told the precinct.
There was no struggle for the cash, the precinct’s spokesman said. No arrests have been made at this time.
SC gym owner gives customer kidney www.privateofficer.com
IRMO, SC May 15 2012 – As co-owner of Anytime Fitness in Irmo, Radley West makes it her job to help clients look and feel better. But this week, she’s taking that idea to a whole new level.
Radley is giving a kidney to one of her customers.
“I have two,” Radley said. “It’s not vital. I have a spare. Just giving one of my spare parts.”
The man lucky enough to have met Radley West is 33-year-old Ryan Brooke. West and her husband and business partner Andrew got to know Brooke late last year. They knew he was on dialysis and could see he was struggling.
“Sooner or later you’re not going to have a way to stick, so you can do dialysis and eventually the person will die if their kidneys don’t work,” Andrew said.
“I guess my thought process was, if I have to go through a little discomfort in the procedure and recovery in order to improve his quality of life in the long term, that is what’s important,” Radley said.
Both of the Wests began exploring the concept of living organ donation. It turned out only Radley would be a match for Brooke.
“I’ve always said through this whole process and pretty much my entire life that you can’t go through life with what-if’s. I mean you just do what you do. And this entire process I put in God’s hands,” Radley said. “From the beginning to every step I took.
Brooke is already in Augusta preparing for the surgery. Radley will travel there Tuesday with the operation scheduled for Wednesday.
Friends and other customers have offered to help run the fitness franchise while the Wests are gone. And the rest is all a matter of faith.
“Again, it’s all in God’s hands,” Andrew said. If she is to pass away under the knife and Ryan is still able to have a kidney, great.”
“At’s just putting yourself out there and helping somebody else out with something that you don’t really need,” Radley said. “I don’t need that extra kidney.”
Source: WIS
Mishawaka IN high school student Tasered during police altercation www.privateofficer.com
MISHAWAKA IN May 15 2012 — A Mishawaka High School student who was Tasered several times last week after an altercation with police while at school could face juvenile charges, authorities said Monday.
The 17-year-old female student was reportedly shot by a Taser twice Friday and drive-stunned with it twice after she allegedly fought with police and school officials for several minutes.
Mishawaka Cpl. Jeffrey Giannuzzi, the school’s resource officer, was called to the cafeteria about 11:40 a.m. by assistant principal Mike Fisher on a report that the suspect would not wear her school identification card or report to in-school suspension.
Police said the girl did not listen to Giannuzzi’s instructions to put on the identification card and go to suspension and, instead, became belligerent and began cursing at the officer.
When Giannuzzi went to put handcuffs on her, she yelled and pulled away.
When the officer threatened to use a Taser gun on her if she did not put her hands behind her back, the girl said, “Go ahead,” according to a police report.
The officer then applied a drive stun to her back — a move in which the taser is held against the target, causing pain, without firing the projectiles. The student responded by saying, “Do it again, it tickles,” police said.
A second drive stun also had no effect on the girl, according to police.
The girl allegedly started walking away while a teacher and Giannuzzi attempted to put handcuffs on her, promoting the girl to swing around and strike Giannuzzi with a closed fist in the right temple, which caused his glasses to fly off.
The officer, girl and teacher all went to the ground, and the girl continued striking the officer with two closed fists, police said. The officer responded by striking her twice on the left side of her face.
Giannuzzi then fired the Taser at the girl, causing the device’s projectiles to strike the girl’s stomach, which he said stopped her aggressive behavior temporarily. But the girl again refused to put her hands behind her back again, and the officer used another full cycle from the Taser, police said.
Police were able to finally get her in handcuffs, and a teacher and Giannuzzi carried her to his office.
Once in the office, the girl continued to kick and strike the officer and a teacher before they were able to secure her, police said.
She was taken to the Juvenile Justice Center. The Tribune is not naming the girl because she is a minor and has not yet been charged with a crime.
The state has seven days, excluding weekends, from the time the suspect was arrested to file a delinquency petition, which would be the equivalent of charges for an adult.
She was arrested on suspicion of aggravated assault on a police officer, resisting police and disorderly conduct.
The officer received redness to the side of the face.
Police said the suspect had battered her mother the night before, and a police report for that case had been filed.
Terry Barker, superintendent of School City of Mishawaka said Monday he had not received any paperwork on the case, but confirmed the student had been suspended.
Source:sbtinfo.com
NJ security officers ask for wage increases www.privateofficer.com
Jersey City NJ May 15 2012 Mark Reeves works as a full-time guard for a Jersey City-based company that provides security services for residential and office buildings. But his $9.50 an hour wage, he said, forced him to move out of the Jersey City apartment he shared with a roommate. He now lives in aroom at the Bayonne YMCA.
“The only reason I’m there is I can’t afford to have an apartment,” Reeves said. “In Jersey City, a studio will run you about $700 and I don’t make it.”
Reeves was among dozens of Jersey City security workers who attended the City Council meeting last Wednesday to show support for a proposed measure that would raise wages for several categories of workers, including those in the security industry.
In an interview with The Reporter, Reeves recounted the difficulties of being a low-wage employee living in an expensive city.
“Once I get through paying rent, and take out money for my transportation, and pay my cell phone bill, that’s it,” Reeves stated. “I can’t afford to buy groceries.”
He said he gets his food from soup kitchens and churches.
And he isn’t the only one struggling to make ends meet. Of the other employees who also work at the residential building where Reeves is assigned, two co-workers live with their parents and a third works two full-time jobs to make ends meet.
The company Reeves works for, he said, offers health benefits. But few of his co-workers are able to afford the required employee contribution to the health plan and therefore choose to go without coverage.
“Nobody on my site has it. They can’t afford it.”
Others who attended the May 9 meeting told similar stories to the local media and said they hope these stories will encourage members of the council to introduce and pass a proposed law that has become known as the “living wage” ordinance.
Last week, however, that ordinance faced several obstacles and was ultimately withdrawn by its two co-sponsors, Ward E Councilman Steven Fulop and At-Large Councilman Rolando Lavarro Jr. Days before the ordinance was to be introduced before the governing body, several other members of the council said the measure, as currently drafted, lacked specificity and expressed doubts that it could be enforced.
Fulop and Lavarro now hope to revise the language of the ordinance in time for it to be introduced at the May 23 council meeting.
Pay bump
Under the Fulop-Lavarro proposal, vendors in office buildings owned or leased by the city, or which receive $1 million in economic development subsidies from the city, would be required to pay contracted workers the prevailing wages for these jobs as set by the New Jersey Department of Labor. If passed, the law would primarily apply to security, custodial, clerical, and food service workers.
According to the councilmen and the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), which helped draft the legislation, in Hudson County the current prevailing wage for janitors is $15.70 an hour. Security officers would be paid at a level that is equal to at least 150 percent of the federal minimum wage, according to the latest version of the ordinance.
Currently the federal minimum wage is $7.25, so that means security workers would be paid at least $10.87 under the ordinance. State prevailing wage standards also include health benefits and vacation time. The ordinance would further guarantee that clerical and food service workers – the lowest level of city contracted employees – receive at least $10.50 an hour.
The portion of the ordinance that pertains to developments that receive $1 million or more in city subsidies would only apply to new projects that have yet to be approved by the city. Also, the law would only apply to developments that either have more than 100 residential units or more than 100,000 square feet.
Enforcement a concern
Fulop and Lavarro’s colleagues on the council said they supported the intent of the ordinance. But they said the version presented last week was unworkable and would be difficult to enforce – a sign that the legislation was not likely to get the support it needed to be formally introduced last Wednesday.
Members of Mayor Jerramiah T. Healy’s administration expressed similar concerns about the wording of the measure.
One concern centered around the $1 million city subsidy threshold, which would apply to development projects that receive local tax abatements.
At the council’s May 7 caucus meeting, Corporation Counsel William Matsikoudis pointed out that since an abatement is a tax break, and not a grant, measuring the specific dollar value of the abatement isn’t always easily ascertainable.
Ward A Councilman Michael Sottolano asked whether the law would apply to tenants who lease space in developments that received abatements. When told that the law would apply to these tenants, he expressed doubts about enforcement.
Sottolano gave the example of an office building. If the developer of the office building received an abatement valued at $1 million or more, then leased the office space to several companies, those companies would be required to pay their contracted workers the living wage rates set by the city law.
“How do you plan to enforce that?” Sottolano asked at the caucus meeting.
Healy’s Chief of Staff, Rosemary McFadden, expressed similar concerns about enforcement.
At-Large City Councilwoman Viola Richardson thought it was problematic for workers to get accustomed to a certain hourly wage – then see their hourly pay rate drop once the abatement period ended.
Fulop had hoped to revise the language of the ordinance in time for the May 9 council meeting. That apparently did not happen and Fulop and Lavarro decided to withdraw the ordinance. They now plan to have it revised in time for the City Council meeting next week.
‘Times are tough’
Undeterred by the measure’s withdrawal, dozens of security workers employed with Jersey City companies attended the meeting to support the ordinance. Some city residents voiced their support for the measure as well.
Debate on the Fulop-Lavarro ordinance also coincided with a statewide initiative by the SEIU to raise wages and benefits for security workers. Prior to the council meeting SEIU held two rallies in downtown Jersey City, including one outside City Hall.
Like Mark Reeves, Johnathan Lacewell, another security worker, came out to support the legislation.
“Everybody is happy to have a job. But times are tough. We’re just making enough to meet the bills. Sometimes, not even enough to pay your bills. Sometimes you got to hold off paying one thing so can pay something else,” said Lacewell, who works at the courthouse on Summit Avenue. “After you’re done paying for everything, you’re left with almost nothing. And yet, our employers want us to put out quality work.”
The father of a nine-year-old daughter, Lacewell said he earns $10.50 an hour.
West Side resident Adam Albanese encouraged the council to pass the ordinance.
“A person employed full-time at the current federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour makes $15,080 a year, which is $3,500 below the federal poverty level for a family of three,” he said. “To put things in perspective, the yearly cost of living in Jersey City for a family of two adults and two children has been estimated at $55,440, more than three times that amount. Even if we were to focus only on an individual, the Poverty in America Living Wage Calculator estimates that for a single adult with no children in Jersey City the hourly pay wage would have to be $11.05 to be considered a living wage… with more and more New Jersey families sinking into poverty, the need to provide ways out of the hole and into security is great. Jersey City should join the scores of other cities that have raised the income floor for city-contracted employees to living wage rates.”
If the Fulop-Lavarro living wage ordinance is successfully introduced next Wednesday, there will be a public hearing on the proposal on Wednesday, June 13 at 6 p.m. at City Hall, 280 Grove St
Source- Hudson Reporter
Security guard returns fire during party shoot-out www.privateofficer.com
SHREVEPORT, La. May 15 2012 - Two teens fight for their lives as the suspect accused of shooting them now sits behind bars.
It happened in the 1800 block of Sestin Street in Shreveport just before 3:00 a.m. Sunday morning.
Police say an argument broke out inside an Ingleside neighborhood house party.
Investigators learned that 17-year-old Gary McCain of Shreveport fired multiple shots, before a security guard working the party returned fire.
Two teens, ages 15 and 16, were severly injured with gunshot wounds to the head.
They were rushed to LSU Health Shreveport were they underwent surgery and are listed in critical condition.
McCain was arrested and charged with attempted first degree
Source:KTBS
Retired East Haven Police detective arrested for theft of money from evidence room www.privateofficer.com
East Haven CT May 15 2012 Retired East Haven Police detective and youth officer Michael D’Amato has been charged with second-degree larceny (theft of more than $10,000) following a state police criminal investigation into missing evidence/monies from evidence room of the East Haven Police Department.
As a result of the investigation, which began on March 21, 2011, detectives identified D’Amato as a suspect in this incident.
At the time of the theft, D’Amato was employed by the East Haven Police Department as a detective assigned to the Youth Division.
Following this investigation, State Police Eastern District Major Crime detectives obtained an arrest warrant for D’Amato issued by the Superior Court of New Haven.
D’Amato, an East Haven resident, turned himself in this afternoon at Troop E in Montville. He was processed and released on a non-surety bond and is scheduled to appear at the New Haven Superior Court GA 23 on Thursday, May 17. The investigation is ongoing.
Before his December 2011 retirement, D’Amato had been a member of the East Haven Police Department for 25 years. Active in the Drug Awareness Resistance Education (D.A.R.E.) program, he was promoted to the youth detective position in 2001 and was credited with investigating hundreds of child sexual and physical abuse cases in which more than 100 arrests were made against adult offenders. He oversaw the town’s sex offender registry and, in 2008, was appointed as chairperson of the East Haven Youth Services Commission.
East Haven’s police department has faced a tumultuous year, with four officers arrested for terrorizing the town’s Latino population, its former police chief Leonard Gallo retiring shortly after he was named co-conspirator in the investigation that led to the officers’ arrests, and the resulting international headlines made when Mayor Joseph Maturo, Jr., responded to the controversy through his now-infamous “taco” comment.
Maturo responded to the Amato arrest in an official statement: “The East Haven Police Department and our administration continue to deal with the challenges that arise day to day. Although these challenges arose prior to my administration, they present another opportunity for reflection and improvement within our department and within the town.
The mayor’s office will continue to work with the Police Department for the residents of the town of East Haven to ensure the highest quality service of our Police Department.”
Arundel Mills mall security officer assaulted www.privateofficer.com
HANOVER MD May 15 2012 - An Arundel Mills mall security guard was hurt in an apparent assault Saturday evening.
Paramedics drove the security officer, a 40-year-old man, by ambulance to the Maryland Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore a little after 5:30 p.m.
County police spokesman Lt. Francis Tewey said the guard was unexpectedly punched while attempting to confront a disorderly customer. When the guard attempted to take the customer into custody, the patron fell on top of him, Tewey said.
Police officers responded to the scene, a common area near FYE and Chevy’s Fresh Mix, according to preliminary reports.
The nature of the guard’s injuries was unclear Saturday night. Lt. Keith Hamilton, an Anne Arundel County Fire Department spokesman, described them as “serious,” based on the agency’s reports.
Early police accounts suggested the injuries may not have been major, and possibly involved the guard’s leg.
Tewey said a police officer assigned to the Hanover mall came to the guard’s aid within a few minutes and arrested the patron.
Police were apparently still investigating the incident as The Sunday Capital went to press and had few other details available.
Mall management could not be reached for comment Saturday night
Busch Garden’s security team nabs auto burglar in the act www.privateofficer.com
TAMPA Fla May 15 2012 — While thrill-seekers enjoyed Busch Garden’s rides and attractions Saturday, police say a man broke into several cars in the theme park’s parking lot.
A Busch Gardens security officer spotted the man wandering through the lot around 2:45 p.m., according to an arrest affidavit. The security officer saw the man pull on car door handles, getting into one vehicle for a short time before closing the door again.
The security officer called Tampa police, who say they found the man carrying a flat-head screwdriver and extendable baton. A navigation system in the man’s car showed he had driven through the Busch Gardens lot before parking in a neighboring lot, the affidavit said.
Seven car burglaries were reported there Saturday. In all of the incidents, the driver’s side door locks had been “punched” with a flat-head screwdriver to gain access, the affidavit said.
Police say the suspect also broke into three cars a week before, on May 5. The burglaries similarly involved driver’s side locks punched with a screwdriver, according to a second arrest affidavit. More than $3,000 worth of property had been stolen.
In one of the car thefts from last week, a car owner reported a stolen pair of Bose headphones. On Saturday, police searched the suspect’s vehicle and found Bose headphones matching the serial number of the stolen pair, the affidavit said.
The suspect denied involvement in both sets of burglaries, the affidavits said, but he could not explain what he was doing Saturday in the Busch Gardens parking lot.
Police identified the suspect as Angel Denny Mercado Vazquez, 35, of Fort Myers. The affidavits list him as an unemployed laborer. He faces seven charges of armed burglary in addition to charges of possessing burglary tools and carrying a concealed weapons. Mercado Vazquez was also charged with grand theft and three counts of burglary in connection with the May 5 incidents.
He remained Sunday in the Hillsborough County Jail on $115,500 bail.
Source:Tampa Bay Times
Mother-son TSA officers protect Newark International Airport www.privateofficer.com
NEWARK NJ May 15 2012— If you’re a mom flying today, and a courteous and professional young man in a blue shirt wishes you a happy Mother’s Day — and means it — you have Susan DiForte to thank.
DiForte and her son, Benjamin, both work for the Transportation Security Administration at Newark Liberty International Airport, where the 44-year-old single mom took a job at the agency in November 2002 and then persuaded her son to join her five years later
“One of the greatest compliments my son gave me when I made supervisor was, ‘I want to work at your checkpoint,’ ” said DiForte, a native of Germany, where she met Benjamin’s father while he was in the U.S. Air Force at Ramstein Air Base. “Most kids don’t want to even be hanging out with their parents. And we have a very, very good relationship. We’re hanging out all the time.”
The family moved to Staten Island when Benjamin’s father took a civilian job in New York. The couple divorced seven years ago, and DiForte still lives in the borough with Benjamin, 24, and his 16-year-old brother, Nicholas. Her daughter, Marina, 20, lives on her own.
Though the father is not yet back in their lives, the family does celebrate Father’s Day.
“Nicholas actually started it a couple of years ago. He said he sees Benjamin as a father figure,” DiForte said.
DiForte was working for Richmond County Ambulance in September 2001, satisfied as an emergency medical technician and mother of three.
“Then 9/11 happened and I felt like I had to do more,” said DiForte, a naturalized citizen who later joined the Navy Reserve. “When I heard abut TSA, I thought it was a great thing to do.”
Both mother and son have flourished at the security agency. After starting as an entry-level screening officer, DiForte is now a screening supervisor in Terminal A. Her once-shy son, a passenger screener in Terminal B, has finally come out of his shell, she said.
Benjamin was not yet old enough to drink when he joined the TSA, but the agency helped him shed the aimlessness and lack of confidence that plagued him as a college student who was studying forensics pretty much by default, he said.
“When I first started here, I was so young, and there were so many people from so many different backgrounds, different ages. And I was coming in just 19 years old, my first real job,” Benjamin DiForte said. “At first, I was a little hesitant. I wasn’t sure I was ready for that kind of responsibility. But once I got trained, I was very excited. I realized it was a great opportunity and here I was setting myself up for the future.”
Now, he says, the job is “pretty awesome.” Like his mom.
“No matter what issue I’m having, I know that I can go talk to her, and that she will listen and give me the best advice,” he said. “No judgment. No, ‘Oh, I can’t deal with that.’ She’ll always have an open ear.”
John Pellegriti, Newark’s deputy assistant federal security director for screening, said Benjamin DiForte clearly inherited his mother’s naturalized patriotism.
“I can see that by him joining the TSA, his dedication to our mission,” Pelligriti said. “I’m sure he wanted to make his mother proud.”
And that’s just what he does.
“Even now, people come up to me and say, ‘Your son’s a very nice young man,’ ” the mother said.
The same thing happens to him.
“I get a lot of feedback from people,” he said. “ ‘I‘m so happy that your mom was my supervisor; she helped me with this, she taught me that.’ ‘You must be so proud that she’s your mom.’ ”
Because they work different shifts, the two barely see each other except on weekends, which is Friday and Saturday for both. But that means they’re working today, so any Mother’s Day celebration will have to be brief or indirect, like last year’s, when the son took his mom a cupcake on his break.
“And I was like, ‘What is this?’ And someone said, ‘Your son dropped it off.’ And I was smiling,” Susan DiForte recalled, beaming with joy at the memory. “It’s the little things that really count.”
Benjamin DiForte said he thinks of his own mother whenever he screens a mom and her kids.
“Not just on Mother’s Day,” he said. “But every day.”
Source:NJ.com
Youngstown teen arrested in disturbance at Covelli Centre www.privateofficer.com
Youngstown OH May 15 2012 A Columbiana County teenager faces numerous charges after being escorted out of a concert Saturday night at the Covelli Centre in Youngstown.
Police said Andrea Baddeley, 19, of Salem, became angry and started yelling at the security staff when her friend was kicked out of the arena around 7:30 p.m. Saturday.
She continued to yell and was also escorted out of the building, where security officers gave her several chances to leave the property or be arrested. Outside the Covelli Center, Baddeley continued to swear, put her hands on one of officers and then started to hit her brother on the arms.
A Mahoning County deputy attempted to arrest Baddeley, but she resisted and continued screaming obscenities.
Baddeley faces charges of disorderly conduct, resisting arrest and underage drinking.
Source:wytv.com
Parents of Wright State University student files lawsuit in suicide death www.privateofficer.com
The wrongful-death lawsuit charges that Wright State University campus officers failed in their duty to protect the student from harm. The suit filed by Michael and Lisa Conner of Plain City is before the Ohio Court of Claims, the Columbus-based court that hears civil claims against the state, its agencies and employees.
The wrongful-death lawsuit charges that Wright State University campus officers failed in their duty to protect the student from harm. The suit filed by Michael and Lisa Conner of Plain City is before the Ohio Court of Claims, the Columbus-based court that hears civil claims against the state, its agencies and employees.
Soon after they left, the 20-year-old student wrote a suicide note, placed a bag over his head, and inhaled helium until he died.
Wright State denies wrongdoing, says officers acted appropriately, and that Conner was responsible for his own death.
The Conners say police were negligent and “knew of a foreseeable risk of harm.” The lawsuit says two officers who responded to Conner’s apartment had been there two months earlier after he attempted to kill himself with an overdose of medication.
Their attorney says officers didn’t notify the campus wellness center when responding to a mental-health crisis, as policy dictated.
“We understand that Nathan had an issue he was dealing with, but that’s why the policy is in place,” said Paul-Michael La Fayette, a Columbus attorney.
The Ohio attorney general’s office argues on the university’s behalf that Conner didn’t appear suicidal and denied any intent to harm himself. Wright State didn’t cause the death, which came from Conner’s “own intentional actions,” the university’s response states.
It says according to his suicide note, Conner decided to kill himself after the officers left because his roommates had called the police.
The university and its officers also claim immunity from liability because they were engaged in public duties.
Source:marionstar.com
Four teenagers caught burglarizing East High www.privateofficer.com
At 12:40 a.m., a Wichita school district security officer called 911 after East’s alarm went off multiple times. The security officer also reported hearing loud banging inside the school, Sgt. Bart Brunscheen said.
Police responded and found three boys and one girl, ranging in age from 14 to 17, inside the building. They were carrying “thousands of dollars” worth of items in several bags, Brunscheen said. He didn’t know what the items were.
The four were arrested and booked into the Juvenile Intake and Assessment Center.
LaRue County constable arrested after fleeing troopers www.privateofficer.com
Troopers went to the Hodgenville home of Jeffrey W. Metcalf, 40, around 1 p.m. Monday with a Hardin County arrest warrant charging Metcalf with theft by deception related to bad checks.
Meltcalf’s girlfriend met troopers at the door.
“During the conversation with the girlfriend, Metcalf fled from the residence into the woods behind the house,” Chaffins said in a news release.
Metcalf was discovered in the woods where he was arrested without further incident shortly before 2 p.m. , Chaffins said.
Troopers believed Metcalf was armed when he fled the residence.
Metcalf was lodged in the LaRue County Detention Center and faces additional charges of first-degree fleeing and evading. KSP was assisted by Commercial Vehicle Enforcement officers, Chaffins said.
The investigation is ongoing by Trooper Chris Berry.
Airport security supervisor charged with using identity of murdered man www.privateofficer.com
The 54-year-old illegal immigrant from Nigeria was arrested Monday at his home in Elizabeth.
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey says he had worked at Newark’s Liberty airport for about 20 years and had passed background checks. He had worked under several contractors at the airport, most recently FJC Security Services. A message left at the firm was not immediately returned.
The man is identified as Bimbo Olumuyiwa Oyewole. His co-workers knew him as Jerry Thomas. He was due in court Monday to face charges including identity theft.
CUNY public safety scuffle with protestors www.privateofficer.com
New York City NY May 15 2012 On May 2 student activists rallying outside the Brooklyn College president’s office scuffled with campus and university Public Safety officers as two students were arrested, and tensions between the CUNY administration and the emerging Occupy-style student unions approached a simmering point.
Focusing on tuition hikes but also decrying the surveillance of college Muslim student groups and increased campus securitization, around 100 students from all over CUNY gathered on Brooklyn College’s East Quad to participate in a protest sponsored by the Brooklyn College Student Union and co- sponsored by Brooklyn College’s NYPIRG chapter.
After a banner reading “1-2-3-4 tuition fees are class war, 5-6-7-8 students will retaliate” was dropped from a third-floor window of Boylan Hall, chanting student protesters entered the building and congregated in front of Brooklyn College President Karen Gould’s office as several students linked arms and refused to leave until they were given an opportunity to meet with her.
According to Brooklyn College’s Director of Communications and Marketing Jeffery Thompson, roughly 17 security personnel that included security from Brooklyn College and other CUNY campuses were stationed on the second floor of Boylan Hall to monitor the demonstration.
Thompson said the rally continued for twenty minutes until campus security began to disperse protesters.
Video footage currently circulated on the Internet shows campus Public Safety officers systematically breaking the chain of linked Brooklyn College Student Union activists one by one, and forcing the crowd of roughly 50 to 60 students gathered around them to disperse. Public Safety officers can be seen shoving students, at times grabbing individuals by their backpacks to push them down the hall, and in one instance dragging a student to restrain him.
Deputy University Director John McKee and Director Wenz, who were both present on the second floor of Boylan hall during the rally, declined to comment.
Visiting CUNY student Cecelia Adams who had participated in the sit-in had her cane – which she uses because of permanent damage to her feet received at the Nov. 21 Baruch lobby protest – taken from her by a Public Safety officer. According to Thompson, it was in Public Safety’s training to remove the cane and other items that can potentially be used as weapons from protesters.
Adams, who has asthma, said she was subsequently restrained by a security officer who “did some karate moves so I was off my feet the entire time” and forced her into the crowd. Adams said she began to have an asthma attack and her friend Eric Carlsen, a junior at Brooklyn College, began searching for her asthma medication.
Within minutes of the security dispersal, multiple video accounts of the rally show Carlsen lying on the floor being handcuffed by a Public Safety officer as a female officer is seen lying on her back several feet away. As the crowd repeatedly yelled “shame” at the officers, Carlsen shouted, “she fell” to the officer who proceeded to remove him.
The 35-year-old Rosen Fellowship recipient, who was recently profiled in CUNY’s April newswire for his work in urban farming, was arrested and charged with second-degree assault. The charges may since have been reduced to misdemeanor charges, Thompson said, although Carlsen could not be reached to confirm the status of his charges.
Thompson said that the injured officer, Sergeant Denise Gallegos was “picked up and pushed to the floor” and was sent to the hospital with an “injured clavicle and hip.” According to Thompson, she missed several days of work and returned to duty on May 8.
But Carlsen wasn’t the only student arrested. Brooklyn College junior, 26, Julieta Salgado also spent the night in Brooklyn’s Central Bookings. She told the Envoy she was charged with harassment, obstruction of public administration and disorderly conduct, but later received an adjournment in contemplation of dismissal.
Shortly after Public Safety officers removed Carlsen from the hallway, Salgado said she exercised civil disobedience and threw herself on the ground refusing to move.
Multiple video accounts show Salgado being carried by several security officials, including an EMT from CUNY’s SAFE team – University Public Safety’s emergency response team – to an NYPD van waiting outside campus gates on Bedford Avenue. The video shows CUNY security personnel forcing their way through a chain of protesters pushing back against the officers crying “let her go.”
“They didn’t know what to do with my body,” said Salgado. “They knew they couldn’t mistreat me because there were so many witnesses.” But being dragged and twisted left her with bruises by her armpits and wrists, and black and blue marks which covered her left shin, she said.
One man at the precinct also having criminal charges processed “asked me why are you here,” said Salgado. The activist replied, “we dropped a banner from a college – I just wanted free printing, I just wanted library hours.”
When Salgado arrived at Brooklyn’s 70th precinct a representative from the National Lawyers Guild who attended the event as a legal observer had already contacted the NYPD on her behalf, said Salgado. Comrades flocked to her court hearing the next morning “waiting in sweatpants with food and cigarettes and love,” she said. “It was probably one of the best feelings I’ve ever had.”
In a letter to the Brooklyn College community released yesterday, President Gould said the University Public Safety acted appropriately as they escorted students out of the building. She denied that NYPD officers were situated inside the college and justified the increased Public Safety presence on the campus claiming that the college was not notified in advance about the demonstration, but learned about the plan on the Internet and did not know what to expect.
Thompson told the Envoy that “CUNY Central had spoken to the president’s office a day in advanced, and it was their recommendation that the SAFE team go to the campus, and the president’s office concurred.”
Subsequent rallies have been organized by CUNY student unions responding to what protesters see as a pattern of abuse at the hands of campus police. A consistent demand made is for administration to drop the pending charges for all CUNY student demonstrators
Source:The Envoy
Del. Teacher Arrested for Child Solicitation www.privateofficer.com
WILMINGTON, Del. May 15 2012- The Delaware Attorney General’s Office announced Monday that an undercover investigation by the Delaware Child Predator Task Force has led to the arrest of a 31-year-old Bear man on child solicitation charges.
Authorities said that Scott R. Gibson, of 127 Brittany Way in Bear, was arrested on Friday after he traveled to a Dover park to meet with who he thought was a 13-year-old girl he had met in an online chat room.
According to detectives, the investigation began when Gibson solicited an undercover detective posing as a 13-year-old girl online. Gibson provided a cellphone number for the detective to text him to set up a time and place to meet, investigators said. Authorities said that after obtaining a subpoena for the cell phone records, investigators were able to identify Gibson, and he was arrested when he arrived at a Dover park for the meeting on Friday evening.
After Gibson’s arrest, a search warrant was executed at his home and detectives seized a laptop computer and other digital media. Authorities said the investigation also revealed that Gibson was a kindergarten teacher at Kathleen Wilbur Elementary School in Bear, and detectives executed an additional search at the school where Gibson’s state computer was taken into custody.
Gibson was charged with four counts of sexual solicitation of a child under 18 and ordered held in the James T. Vaughn Correctional Center in default of $60,000 secured bail.
The investigation, including a complete forensic analysis of digital media seized from Gibson’s home, is still under way.
Source:WBOC.com
Walmart shopper bit by rattlesnake www.privateofficer.com
CLARKSTON, WA May 15 2012– Mica Craig was shopping in the outdoor garden department of a Wal-Mart in Clarkston, WA when he thought he saw a stick lying in the aisle.
He reached down to pick it up, and discovered his mistake when the stick — which was actually a rattlesnake — latched onto his hand.
The 47-year-old man says he started screaming and managed to shake the snake loose at his feet before stomping it to death.
The Lewiston Tribune reports a bystander drove Craig to a local emergency room. Craig says he was treated with six bags of anti-venom and has been told that his hand may be permanently disfigured. He was bitten on Saturday and said doctors expect him to remain hospitalized until Tuesday.
Source:KREM.com
Atlanta woman faces child cruelty charges after security finds child hungry, alone at apartment www.privateofficer.com
Atlanta police spokeswoman Kim Jones said that about 5:45 a.m. Monday, a security guard working at the complex on Rhodes Street noticed one of the children at the top of the stairs in the apartment and another child at the bottom of the stairs.
The security guard also told police “that the downstairs of the apartment was in disarray and there was no food in the house,” Jones said.
The children did not appear to be injured, but were taken to Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta at Hughes Spalding to be checked out, Jones said. Medical personnel later determined that the children were healthy.
“Around 8 a.m., the children’s mother, Lynn Danielle Warner, called 911 and stated that her children were missing,” Jones said.
She said officers arrested Warner, 25, and charged her with cruelty to children and reckless conduct.
Source:AJC
Racketeering and theft charges filed against operator of All Pro Auto Mall www.privateofficer.com
The charges were announced today (Thursday) by Washington County District Attorney Eugene A. Vittone and the Pennsylvania State Police.
LoCastro, 57, of 203 Spartan Dr., Bethel Park, was charged with two counts of corrupt organizations, two counts of criminal conspiracy, 18 counts of theft by unlawful taking and 18 counts of defrauding secured creditors. If convicted on all charges, LoCastro could face up to 206 years in prison.
Also charged with LoCastro were:
•Frank LoCastro of 151 Carol Dr., McMurray, brother of Vincent LoCastro—two counts of corrupt organizations, two counts of criminal conspiracy, 32 counts of theft by unlawful taking, 32 counts of defrauding secured creditors and one count of unsworn falsification to authorities. If convicted on all charges, he could face up to 370 years in prison.
•Nicole LoCastro of 203 Spartan Dr., Bethel Park, daughter of Vincent Locastro—two counts of corrupt organizations and two counts of criminal conspiracy. If convicted on all charges, she could face up to 80 years in prison.
•Joseph Bruce LoCastro, 203 Spartan Dr., Bethel Park, son of Vincent Locastro—two counts of corrupt organizations and two counts of criminal conspiracy. If convicted on all charges, he could face up to 80 years in prison.
The allegations set forth in Thursday’s filing of criminal charges are based on documents filed before Magisterial District Judge David Mark.
Those documents allege that:
•Between Dec. 23, 2008, and Feb. 5, 2009, Frank LoCastro purchased multiple vehicles and financed them through multiple financial institutions.
•Frank LoCastro used fraudulent employment and income information to obtain the loans.
•Frank LoCastro subsequently defaulted on all the loans.
•Examination of the records from each transaction show that 14 of the vehicle purchase transactions also involved Vincent LoCastro, brother of Frank LoCastro; 10 of the transactions involved Joseph LoCastro, son of Vincent LoCastro; and eight of the transactions involved Nicole LoCastro, daughter of Vincent LoCastro.
“Filing of criminal charges under Pennsylvania’s Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (‘RICO’) is a rare event due to the complex nature of these types of cases,” said Eugene A. Vittone, Washington County district attorney, commenting on the charges filed Thursday.
“The Pennsylvania State Police investigation exposed the fraudulent car financing scheme by the LoCastros conducted through All Pro Auto Mall in Canonsburg,” Vittone said in a news release. “Hundreds of hours of police work were invested in this case. For their dedication, I commend the diligent efforts of the state police in this investigation.”
Arkansas City man arrested after officials bringing drugs into police station www.privateofficer.com
Authorities said the man drove to the police station Sunday to report a crime. Officers then followed the man back to his pickup to retrieve his driver’s license.
An officer smelled a marijuana-odor inside the vehicle, police said. Investigators searched the vehicle and found drug paraphernalia inside.
Police said officers also found about 28 grams of marijuana in the man’s pocket.
Cowley County authorities said Andrew Banta was arrested on possession of marijuana with intent to distribute and possession of drug paraphernalia. He is being held on $6,000 bond.
CT women charged in felony retail theft in Concord NH www.privateofficer.com
CONCORD NH May 15 2012- Two Connecticut woman are under arrest after police recovered merchandise stolen from local stores as well as from businesses across New England – in the back seat and trunk of their car.
Jennifer Collins, 36, and Rebecca Gargiulo, 35, both of West Haven, Conn. were arrested after police received a call Thursday afternoon from employees at Jo Anne Fabrics on Storrs Street about two women stealing goods from the store.
The employees watched as the women left the store and got into a car with a Connecticut license plate. Police pulled them over on Loudon Road at Exit 14.
A large amount of stolen merchandise was found piled up in the back seat, along with several black trash bags filled with stolen goods, according to a press release. Police said the trunk also was filled with stolen merchandise.
Stolen items included numerous packages of Frontline, which is a tick and flea treatment for pets, Flexi Explore retractable dog leashes, and about a dozen pair of shears.
Investigators determined the property was stolen from several stores in Concord and many others throughout New England.
Collins and Gargiulo were both charged with organized retail crime enterprise. Collins faces additional charges of possession and transportation of a controlled drug.
Both are being held on $50,000 cash bail, pending arraignment Friday in 6th Circuit Court, Concord District.
Source:union-leader
Dead couple found in Toledo home ruled murder-suicide www.privateofficer.com
Dr. Maneesha Pandey, a Lucas County deputy coroner, said Monday the official causes of death for Leslie Waingrow, 32, and her estranged husband, Todd Waingrow, 39, were pending toxicology tests that usually take several weeks to complete.
The preliminary autopsy results are consistent with the police statement that the man apparently shot his wife and then turned the gun on himself, the deputy coroner said. The couple were pronounced dead at a single-family house in the 3900 block of Burnham Avenue about 4:40 p.m. Saturday.
“Unfortunately, it is a domestic situation that tragically turned extreme,” Toledo police Sgt. Joe Heffernan said. “There were indications that the couple were about to end their relationship.”
The couple had been quarreling Friday night, police said. There was no suicide note left, Lucas County Coroner Dr. James Patrick said.
Neighbors said the Waingrows had moved into the house on Burnham Avenue about four months ago and that they kept to themselves. One neighbor said she saw Mrs. Waingrow leave Friday with her three children and return without them.
On Sunday, the Waingrows’ three cars, including a new Kia crossover, remained in the driveway.
There was also a National Rifle Association sticker on the front door. In the front window was a sign that said, “Closed circuit television and audio monitoring on these premises.”
In the front garden, there was a “Home Sweet Home” sign. The couple married Feb. 14, 2005, according to marriage records.
Police responding to a call arrived about 4 p.m. at the house to check on Mrs. Waingrow. Police said a family member told them she had last spoken with Ms. Waingrow the night before but had not been able to contact her or her estranged husband since that time.
Authorities said they found an unlocked window. Once officers opened the window, they said they saw a woman with a gunshot wound to the head.
Officers then forced the rear door to enter the residenceand found the woman’s body on the bed in the bedroom, with the man’s body slumped over on the floor next to the bed.
Mrs. Waingrow leaves behind three children, including the couple’s son, who is 8, and two children from a previous relationship, according to authorities.
Source:Toledoblade.com
