Archive
Parking attendants accused of stealing from Smithsonian’s Udvar-Hazy Center www.privateofficer.com
Chantilly VA Aug 7 2012 After he spent a shift collecting fees at the Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, parking booth attendant Meseret Terefe stuffed a bundle of the cash into a red duffel bag and headed for home one day in June, federal prosecutors said.
The theft was just one of many in an alleged three-year scam that was as lucrative as it was simple. Terefe and two other attendants netted at least $400,000 by unplugging the machines that counted cars at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum annex and taking those visitors’ $15 parking fees, according to federal prosecutors in Virginia.
On some days, Terefe, 36, of Silver Spring, and Freweyni Mebrahtu, 45, of Sterling, took more than $4,000, federal officials said in court papers. The third attendant, Genete Yigzu, 46, of Alexandria, allegedly grabbed as much as $2,000 on a single day.
All three were arrested Saturday after their shifts at the Udvar-Hazy Center and were charged in federal court in Alexandria with embezzling money from the Smithsonian. Each faces a maximum of 10 years in prison if convicted.
“During a time of challenging budgets, the alleged theft of hundreds of thousands of dollars from the Smithsonian, a revered American institution, is extremely troubling,” said Neil H. MacBride, the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia.
The three began stealing parking fees in April 2009, shortly after their employer, Parking Management Inc. (PMI), took over managing the 2,000-space lot, prosecutors said in court papers. Prosecutors said a confidential informant tipped off authorities that the attendants were stealing money in October 2011.
Cameras installed by law enforcement in the attendants’ booths captured all three unplugging boxes that counted the number of vehicles passing into the lot, according to affidavits filed in court. The technique allegedly allowed them to under-report the number of paying customers — sometimes by hundreds a day.
For instance, law enforcement determined that there were 261 more vehicles than were reported passing Terefe’s booth during his shift on May 26, 2012, according to one affidavit.
The cameras also captured Terefe filling his duffel bag with cash on two occasions, according to court papers. At the time, Terefe was making $11 an hour and was working at the lot only two days a week. His annual salary was less than $10,000 a year.
Authorities believe Terefe used the cash he stole to buy a 2012 Toyota Rav4, but court documents do not detail what the other attendants did with the money they allegedly stole.
An attorney for Mebrahtu did not return a call for comment. Attorneys for the other two defendants have not been appointed yet.
The Udvar-Hazy Center, which opened in 2003, had about 1.2 million visitors last year. It’s aviation-related displays include a Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird and the well-known Enola Gay, the B-29 that was used to drop an atomic bomb on Hiroshima during World War II.
Source:Washington Post
Security officer shoots robbery suspect www.privateofficer.com
MELBOURNE Fla Aug 7 2012
A security guard shot a would-be robber at a Brevard County Internet cafe, police said early Tuesday morning.
Melbourne police responded to reports of an armed robbery at the Allied Veterans Internet Cafe, on the 3200 block of Babcock Street, not far from the Florida Institute of Technology campus.
According to police, three men tried to rob the place around 4 a.m. Tuesday, and that was when the security guard opened fire.
One of the men was shot and taken into custody a short distance from the scene. Police said the suspect was in “stable condition.”
Police said the shooting remains under investigation. No other details were immediately released.
If you have any information on this incident, call CrimeLine at (800) 423-TIPS (8477), or Melbourne police’s Crime Tip Line, at (321) 409-2259.
Good Samaritan stabbed in Santa Cruz shoplifting scuffle www.privateofficer.com
SANTA CRUZ CA Aug 8 2012 - A 29-year-old Watsonville man was arrested Sunday after he tried to shoplift a bottle of alcohol and stabbed another man in an attempt to flee.
At a store on the 600 block of Front Street in Santa Cruz, a security guard caught Christian Rubalcaba Martinez after he took a bottle from the store, said Santa Cruz police Lt. Bernie Escalante. The stolen item was recovered and Martinez grappled with the guard, Escalante said.
A 56-year-old Santa Cruz man in the store saw them struggling and tried to help detain Martinez. Martinez pulled a switchblade, stabbed the man in the right forearm and fled, according to police.
Officers arrived and searched for Martinez. Police found him on the 400 block of Front Street. Witnesses identified him as the man in the scuffle.
The 56-year-old man was taken by ambulance to Dominican Hospital. His injuries were not life threatening. The security guard was not injured.
Martinez was arrested on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon and brandishing a weapon, Escalante said. Martinez is being held in County Jail in lieu of $25,000 bail, according to jail records.
Source:Santa Cruz Sentinel
SC teen saves woman rescues woman from burning car www.privateofficer.com
Clarendon County SC Aug 7 2012 The actions of a Manning teen likely saved the life of a complete stranger.
While others stood and watched in horror, 19-year-old Lamar Weldon sprang into action.
Weldon used what he learned in a volunteer fire fighters class to free a 54-year-old woman trapped in her burning car over the weekend.
A charred path on Highway 301 in Clarendon County is all that’s left behind by Brenda Leonaerd’s car.
If it hadn’t been for Weldon coming down the road, who knows what would have happened.
“She said somebody’s in there, somebody’s in there,” said Weldon.
Those were the first shouts Weldon heard from the crowd gathered near what’s now the charred remnant of the crash on Highway 301 just outside Manning.
“The car was lying on its side, like you lay and sleep on your side, it was laying on its side right here and the fire was started here in the back,” said Weldon, as he describes what happened.
Leonaerd was trapped inside as the teen and another man went to work.
“I ran back to my car, I got a crow bar and so he met me at the same time,” said Weldon. “So me and him were working on the front window to get her out.”
“In the firefighter class they tell you what kind of sounds you’re going to hear when it’s about to blow,” Weldon added.
While the other man ran for water, Weldon knew there wasn’t enough time, so he cleared the windshield with his grandmother’s walking stick.
“When I grabbed both of her hands, I pulled her,” said Weldon. “As soon as I pulled her out, about two minutes, boom, the whole car in flames.”
Why risk his own life for a perfect stranger?
“That could have been my momma in that car, that’s how I look at it,” said Weldon.
It’s an act his family is proud of him for doing, and calling heroic.
“God blessed me, I just knew God had me, on my side, I knew he wouldn’t let me get hurt trying to save another person,” said Weldon
While Leonaerd survived this crash, she’ll also face charges of DUI from the Highway Patrol in Clarendon County.
Source:WIS
2 accused of firing shots into occupied vehicle at church gathering www.privateofficer.com
COLUMBIA, SC Aug 7 2012 - Columbia Police have arrested two men accused of firing shots at two people sitting in a vehicle Saturday.
David Martin and Timothy Thompson, Jr. are charged with attempted murder.
Police say a church was hosting an event in the 1500 block of Fontaine Rd. when Thompson and Martin fired shots into a vehicle parked at the location. It happened at about 3 p.m. Saturday.
Police say nobody was hurt.
The motive for the shooting is still being investigated.
Source:WIS
Carolina Medical Center to deploy mobile hospital during DNC www.privateofficer.com
Charlotte NC Aug 7 2012 It’s not a natural disaster or an airplane crash, but the Democratic National Convention is getting the same attention from emergency medical responders in Charlotte.
Carolinas MED-1, the mobile hospital that deployed to the Gulf Coast after Hurricane Katrina, will be stationed in downtown Charlotte during the DNC.
MED-1, owned by Carolinas HealthCare System, is equipped as a 13-bed emergency room, with an operating room, intensive care unit, pharmacy and lab. During Katrina, it provided care for patients with everything from food poisoning to heart attacks.
“We’ve even delivered babies in MED-1,” said Dr. David Callaway, the mobile hospital’s medical director. “We’re prepared to handle everything.”
On advice from the Secret Service, Callaway said he can’t say exactly where MED-1 will be located during the convention, based at Time Warner Cable Arena. But he added: “It’s not going to be hard to find.”
The unit’s two 53-foot, 18-wheel tractor-trailers will be somewhere inside the I-277 loop. It will be staffed by doctors and nurses for at least 16 hours a day, maybe around the clock. And it will be targeted for those with DNC credentials.
MED-1 will be the most visible evidence of preparedness efforts that have been in the works for almost a year.
In collaboration with the Secret Service, hospital officials have been meeting since last summer with leaders from area police, fire and health departments, from Medic, the Mecklenburg ambulance service, and from the State Medical Response System.
To test their readiness for medical emergencies during the DNC, the groups have run drills based on plans they’ve used for many large gatherings, such as NASCAR races, and for large-scale accidents, such as the 1994 crash of a US Airways jet at Charlotte-Douglas International Airport.
“We have a great group of experienced disaster responders,” said Callaway, who is also medical director for emergency management at Carolinas Medical Center, the largest hospital in Charlotte. “We’re making sure that we have a safe and successful DNC.”
Work behind the scenes
In addition to Carolinas MED-1, Novant Health’s smaller Community Care Cruiser, a 40-foot doctor’s office on wheels, will also be uptown during the DNC.
But most hospital preparations have been behind the scenes.
Tony Rich, manager for emergency preparedness for Novant’s Greater Charlotte market, said Presbyterian Hospital in Charlotte has used the opportunity to “leverage some things we needed to do anyway.”
For example, he said Presbyterian has decreased its emergency room waiting time by adjusting staff hours and “making sure you have the right people doing the right thing.”
Sections of the hospital not currently used are partially stocked with beds and other items, such as latex gloves, so patient rooms can be put into service quickly.
Rich said he’s worried most about heat-related emergencies during convention week in early September.
“This is going to be a very hot time of year,” he said. “That’s the message to get to people. If they choose to participate in activities downtown, it’s very important to stay hydrated.”
Otherwise, he’s expecting “pretty much business as usual” except for traffic jams that could make some hospital employees late for work. Because of potential traffic tie-ups, Novant will close its downtown doctors’ practice, First Charlotte Physicians – EpiCentre, for the full week of the DNC.
But even patients going to other offices could encounter delays. “We’re telling our patients … if you have an appointment the first week of September, you might want to plan a little extra travel time,” Rich said.
Additional people on call
Hospitals within Carolinas HealthCare will be fully staffed with extra employees on call, in case of emergencies, Callaway said.
Extra beds in hospitals outside the central city, such as CMC-Pineville or CMC-University, will be ready for use.
The region’s only Level One trauma center at CMC will have extra staff. Other hospital departments may have two people on call instead of one.
“The objective is that they will have access to additional staff in a very rapid manner if they need it,” Callaway said. In recent months, hospital employees have completed practice drills.
“We’re making sure everything works,” Callaway said, “from making sure the telephone numbers are correct, to making sure that we have the proper staff on call, to making sure we have enough tubing and blood supply.
Callaway said the extra precautions being taken to cover DNC visitors will not diminish access to medical care for community residents.
Many urgent care centers will have extended hours. For example, Presbyterian Urgent Care at 1918 Randolph Road will be open from 8 a.m. to midnight, Sept. 3 through Sept. 6, instead of closing at 8 p.m.
Also, Medic ambulances will continue to “do what they do,” Callaway said. “This is not affecting our day-to-day operations.”
Cooperation between local hospital systems has been “amazing,” Callaway said. “CHS and Presbyterian have really come together to come up with a comprehensive plan for how we’re going to protect our community.”
Source:www.charlotteobserver.com
Lightnig kills NASCAR fan killed-9 others injured www.privateofficer.com
The PA announcer had warned fans to take cover as a powerful band of thunderstorms approached.
“The lightning affected 10 of our race fans,” said Pocono spokesman Bob Pleban. “Unfortunately, one person was dead on arrival when they were brought to the Pocono Medical Center in Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania.”
Nine fans received treatment after the lightning strike, some of them were hospitalized, he said. Their conditions were not immediately known.
Jeff Gordon won the race when NASCAR parked the cars on the 98th lap, 155 miles short of the scheduled 400.
The next NASCAR Sprint Cup Sprint Series race is August 12 in Watkins Glen, New York.
Source:CNN
Prosecutors tell NJ constables: Don’t call yourselves ‘police’ www.privateofficer.com
Essex County NJ Aug 7 2012 Stitched in block yellow letters across the black cap Philip Fluker wears while on duty are the words ‘Police Constable.’
He designed the hat and sells it and other merchandise baring the word ‘police’ to fellow constables in his organization, the New Jersey State Fraternal Order of Constables Inc.
“It gives the criminal the knowledge that this person has power of police and if I mess with this guy I’ve attacked a peace officer,” Fluker said. “But we’re not pretending to be police.”
Two prosecutors don’t see it that way and say they are concerned the word will confuse and possibly endanger the public.
Acting Essex County Prosecutor Carolyn A. Murray and Union County Prosecutor Theodore J. Romankow have sent letters to Fluker, chief of the New Jersey constables, demanding he and other constables discontinue using the word ‘police’ on badges, shirts, hats and uniforms. Romankow has forwarded the matter to the Attorney General’s office.
“It’s dangerous for them to do that. If they represent themselves as police officers they will be arrested for impersonating a police officer,” Romankow said. “Only police are entitled to that word. It’s something they deserve, something they worked hard for. It’s a symbol of security and safety and should not be threatened by these wannabes.”
The issue has come up before. In 1992, then-Essex County Prosecutor Clifford Minor responded to inquiries about the use of the word police and found constables were entitled to use it.
“Use of the word ‘Police’ on a constable’s patch would not appear to be inherently misleading so long as the individual constable does nothing to cause members of the public to believe he is a full time regular member of an organized police force,” Minor wrote.
Murray wrote an updated letter to Fluker recently, rescinding the permissions Minor had granted.
“We value the service constables provide for the community,” Murray said in an interview. “We simply want to ensure that the public understands when they are interacting with sworn law enforcement personnel versus when they are dealing with a constable.”
In New Jersey, constables are peace officers with limited powers, including the authority to arrest offenders, deliver writs and subpoenas and provide security, among other duties. They are appointed to three-year terms by a council person in the township where they live. Each municipality can have between two and 50 constables. Private attorneys and other interests, never the town or state, pay for their services.
Fluker said the 350-plus constables in New Jersey are aware of their duties under the law. “We have state statues that govern us,” Fluker said. “We wear ‘police’ because we are in the law enforcement family.”
But it’s more of an extended family, says Wayne Fisher, director of the Police Institute at Rutgers University.
Constables go through limited training and must have a permit to carry a weapon, Fisher said. Their power of arrest, he added, is not much different from a citizen’s.
“The bottom line is they do not have the same authority as a police officer and it’s not in the public interest that they refer to themselves as police officers, Fisher said.
Fluker said he does not know of any constable who’s been arrested for wearing the word ‘police’ and until he’s presented with a law explicitly forbidding the word, he’ll continue to wear it.
“Everybody says they want citizens to help, want citizens to be involved, here are record checked, (finger) printed citizens who want to help the community. We back up police officers, we take bad guys, guns and knives off of the street,” he said. “We’re not out there playing police for attention.”
Source:NJ.com
Fla teacher’s assistant leads police on topless chase www.privateofficer.com
MARION COUNTY Fla Aug 7 2012
A woman had a strange excuse for deputies to why she didn’t stop when they tried to pull her over – she said she was topless.
Ramsey was found parked behind a mobile home where deputies said she admitted that she didn’t stop, because she was driving topless. She said she wanted to surprise her boyfriend.
She was booked for fleeing and eluding law enforcement and released on a $5,000 bond.
According to the arrest report, Ramsey’s profession was listed as a teacher’s assistant at Fort McCoy school.
Armed men beat and tie up security guard during robbery www.privateofficer.com
The incident happened around 2:30 a.m. Monday on Fairmont Street near Fairvilla Road in Orlando.
According to Orange County deputies, two men dressed in black clothing knocked on the door of an RV and attacked a man who was working as a security guard for the shop.
The victim told authorities that he thinks a third man rummaged through the business, and the trio fled in a truck stolen off the property of the repair shop. It’s not known if anything else was stolen from the shop.
The guard, who was tied up after being punched and kicked, suffered injuries to his head and face but refused medical treatment.
No other details, including a detailed description of the assailants, were known.
Worker dies in Alton ConAgra mill accident www.privateofficer.com
47-year-old Jay VanBuskirk of Edwardsville was killed at the ConAgra Foods mill located in the 100 block of West Broadway on Saturday.
Investigators say they responded to the mill just after 4:00 p.m. Saturday afternoon and found the unidentified worker.
Officials say the victim was working on a lift at the facility when he reportedly lost balance and fell approximately 56 to 74 feet to his death inside the plant. Police say he was pronounced dead a short time later.
Witnesses say VanBuskirk had complained of feeling dizzy prior to the incident.
Police say the investigation continues.
Funeral arrangements are pending at this time.
Source: KSDK
Anchorage man arrested for threatening to shoot security officers www.privateofficer.com
Troopers responded to the Alyeska Resort day lodge at 9:12 p.m. because of reports that a man was threatening to shoot people at the 36 Crazyfists concert.
An investigation revealed that Ryan Suchan, 26, of Anchorage had threatened to shoot someone at the concert and then threatened to shoot the four security officers who were escorting him out, troopers reported. Troopers said that they recovered a handgun during the investigation and alcohol was a factor.
The suspect was arrested and taken to the Anchorage jail on charges of assault and terroristic threatening, troopers aid.
Source:www.adn.com
Heavily armed man threatened marina security officer with death www.privateofficer.com
Suffolk County police say Thomas Lippens became irate Sunday afternoon after he and his parents went to Squassux Landing Marina in Brookhaven and a guard wouldn’t let them in because they didn’t have the proper entry key.
They say Lippens left on foot but returned on a dirt bike with what appeared to be a handgun. He threatened to kill the guard before riding away.
When police located Lippens they found loaded assault rifles, ammunition, a bullet proof vest, knives and more than 20 marijuana plants.
Lippens has been charged with menacing, weapons and marijuana charges. He’s to be arraigned in district court on Monday.
Source:AP
Colleton County Sheriff’s deputies arrest man for shooting security officer www.privateofficer.com
Khiry Broughton is charged with attempted murder and possession of a weapon during a violent crime.
On June 10, deputies responded to a shooting at Club Toe Jam on John Taylor Lane. Broughton is accused of shooting at the security guard after a verbal altercation between the two.
No one was injured in the shooting.
Broughton was locked up at the Colleton County Detention Center
Source: WCSC
Ohio police searching for woman who assaulted K-Mart security agent www.privateofficer.com
RIVERSIDE, Ohio Aug 7 2012
Police are looking for a woman they say assaulted a security guard at Kmart on Woodman Drive.
The woman is identified as 22-year-old Erica Harris of Dayton. Harris is accused of putting store merchandise under her shirt and pulling out a small aerosol spray can to use it when confronted by a security guard.
The guard was able to knock it out of her hand, according to police.
Following a scuffle in which she pushed the guard, she got into a waiting Dodge Charger. Harris dropped her cell phone and a strap to her purse, police said. The security guard suffered minor injuries.
Anyone with information on Harris’ whereabouts is asked to call Riverside police at (937) 233-6258
2 men charged with staging reality TV robbery in Indiana www.privateofficer.com
Police have charged two out-of-state men with robbing two other men in western Pennsylvania by claiming they were recording video for a reality TV show called “You Just Got Robbed.”
Police in Indiana, Pa. tell The Associated Press the incident happened about 1:20 a.m. and that the suspects apparently attend a nearby technical school. They’re identified as 21-year-old Randall Smith, of Templehill, Md. and 18-year-old Artie Goodwine, of Memphis, Tenn.
Police say one of the men put the victims into headlocks while the other recorded the robbery — in which $20 was taken from one of the victims — on a cell phone.
Online court records don’t list attorneys for the men. Smith has posted bail but Goodwine remained in the Indiana County Jail on Monday, about 45 miles northeast of Pittsburgh.
source-wpxi.com
Security officer uses pepper spray to end attack www.privateofficer.com
The disturbance started when a patron at the bar made disparaging comments about another person’s older female relative, Ann Arbor Police Lt. Renee Bush said.
When he continued to make inappropriate comments, a security guard escorted him out of the bar, Bush said. As the guard was taking the man out, a group of four people started assaulting the man, throwing several punches. At that point the guard used the pepper spray to end the attack.
The victim had cuts and scrapes and was bleeding from his face, witnesses said, but he left before Ann Arbor police arrived, Bush said.
Source:annarbor.com
Lt. Brian Murphy shot 9 times during brave face off with active shooter www.privateofficer.com
Oak Creek WI Aug 7 2012 Bleeding from nine bullet wounds, a brave cop waved off the officers coming to his rescue and sent them to tend to the wounded inside a besieged Wisconsin temple where a neo-Nazi had just gunned down six worshipers.
That tough cop turned out to be a New Yorker.
Word of Lt. Brian Murphy’s bravery — and his big city roots — emerged Monday, but it was no surprise to his Brooklyn dad James Murphy, whose other son, Terry, just retired from the NYPD Intelligence Division.
“I raised two brave guys,” said Murphy, 78, a retired city sanitation worker.
The cop’s composure and bravery didn’t shock fellow officers at the Oak Creek, Wis., police department, either. They said Brian Murphy still has his New York chutzpah — and accent — even though he’s worked in suburban Milwaukee for more than two decades.
“He’s a highly distinguished police officer, highly decorated,” Thomas Bauer, the town’s former police chief, told The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Murphy, 51, was in critical condition Monday and expected to survive. But a bullet is still lodged in his neck — and he may have suffered some permanent damage.
“Brian can’t talk because that bullet is in a sensitive spot,” his dad said. “He’s not out of the woods yet.”
He said if anyone could pull through, it’s Brian.
“He could walk through walls, that guy,” the senior Murphy said. “It’s terrible he had to take all those bullets, but he was helping people who were in real trouble.”
The celebration of Murphy’s heroism came a day after the nation was stunned by another senseless mass slaughter.
This time, the killer was not a Batman-obsessed loner but a 40-year-old bigot who for reasons still unclear targeted innocent followers of the Sikh religion.
The FBI identified the mass murderer as 40-year-old Wade Michael Page, a frustrated white supremacist who sometimes went by “Jack Boot” and began playing guitar in racist rock bands after serving in the Army in the 1990s.
His stepmother, Laura Page, told The Denver Post she was in “total shock.” The Texas woman said his real mom died when he was young, but that he was raised in “a family full of joy and love.”
“We did the normal things that families do,” she said.
ABC News reported Monday that Page was associated with the white-supremacist group Volksfront. But the organization issued a statement denying the report and disavowing Page and his “demented criminal cowardice.”
The FBI believes Page was the lone shooter.
source-www.nydailynews.com
