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Private security keeps eye on Ponzi scheme suspect in NC www.privateofficer.com
LEXINGTON, N.C.Aug 24 2012 — Residents who share the neighborhood with the man accused of running a $600 million Ponzi scheme are uneasy as a private security company keeps a watchful eye over their neighbor’s home.
For nearly a week, private security guards have kept a close eye on Paul Burks home and any on who goes near it.
Neighbors have seen security guards roaming their neighborhood, since Burks was accused by the federal government of orchestrating an illegal venture though the website ZeekRewards.com.
“It just seems strange that when I go to mow a lawn I got security guards around the block,” explained Reid Rhodes. He takes care of 21 lawns in Lexington, including Mr. Burks’.
“Mr. Burks is a nice man — his wife actually did the hiring for me, bless her heart,” said Rhodes. He has been on the job for two months and has been paid for his work.
Neighbors are still trying to grasp the idea that Lexington was the headquarters of the worldwide venture.
“It’s something that we all see on the news that happens in California, New York, Florida… big metropolitan cities — Charlotte, but in Lexington, North Carolina, it’s a little strange,” said Rhodes.
Ellen Ioanes who lives near West 2nd Avenue said, “This person who maybe did something pretty awful, it’s really weird to have that in your neighborhood.”
When asked if Burks would be willing to be interviewed, a security guard said no.
Source:wghp
Steamship Authority security officer injured – 2 men arrested www.privateofficer.com
FALMOUTH MA Aug 23 2012 — A security guard working at the Steamship Authority was injured as were the two teens he chased after spotting them in a parking lot early Wednesday.
The guard, whose name was not released by police, called Falmouth police at 1:07 a.m. reporting that two men were trying to break into cars in the ferry line’s Palmer Avenue lot, Lt. Brian Reid said.
The guard chased them, and one of the men “attempted to assault” the guard, Reid said. “The guard defended himself,” he said. Reid said the guard was injured but was not hospitalized.
David Byron, 19, of East Falmouth was arrested at the parking lot. He was taken to Falmouth Hospital as a result of the altercation with the guard, police said. He was treated and released, a hospital spokesman said.
Byron pleaded not guilty at his arraignment Wednesday in Falmouth District Court to charges of trespassing, disorderly conduct, threat to commit a crime (bodily harm), assault, witness intimidation, attempt to commit a crime (breaking and entering at night) and assault and battery with a dangerous weapon.
Justin Beckwith, 18, of East Falmouth was arrested after being tracked by a Barnstable Country Sheriff’s Office K-9 searching the area around the parking lot, police said. The dog bit Beckwith when he refused to stop for pursuing officers, police said. He also was taken to Falmouth Hospital and was treated and released. He pleaded not guilty at his arraignment to charges of trespassing, disorderly conduct, and attempting to commit a crime (breaking and entering at night).
Source:cape cod times
Lee Memorial Health System employee sold stolen items on e-Bay www.privateofficer.com
LEE COUNTY, FL Aug 24 2012 - An employee of Lee Memorial Health System was arrested for allegedly stealing equipment and selling it on eBay, according to Lee County Sheriff’s Office reports.
In July 2012, an investigator for Lee Memorial Health System was contacted by a man who had just purchased a Phillips Microstream CO2 Module off eBay in June 2012.
When the buyer ran the serial number of the machine, he discovered it was registered to Lee Memorial and had been purchased in March 2012.
Lee Memorial’s investigator conducted a search of the eBay seller and discovered he was an employee of Lee Memorial Health System, reports said.
The eBay seller was identified as Eliott Lopez of Fort Myers.
When checking Lopez’s eBay history, the LMHS investigator estimates that over $88,000 worth of hospital property had been sold by Lopez.
Lopez was arrested and charged with grand theft and dealing in stolen property.
source-nbc2
Lancaster SC woman stole more than $1,000 worth of merchandise at Kohl’s www.privateofficer.com
ROCK HILL SC Aug 24 2012 A Lancaster woman was arrested this weekend after she and a teenage girl stole more than $1,000 worth of merchandise from Kohl’s Department Store, according to police.
The woman kicked a loss prevention employee in the groin area as they tried to get away.
Around 6:35 p.m. Saturday, police were called to Kohl’s on Meeting Boulevard after a loss prevention employee said Leslie Knight, 26, and a 16-year-old girl from Lancaster concealed and carried out $1,102 worth of merchandise without paying, according to a Rock Hill police report.
The worker told police that while Knight and the girl were sampling fragrances, she heard White say, “We need to smell good if we are going to rob this place,” the report states.
When another loss prevention employee tried to stop Knight and the girl in the parking lot, Knight began resisting and kicked the male employee in the groin, the report states.
Two witnesses told police they saw Knight assault the man, the report states. Police arrested Knight and found five pink pills of Endocet, a pain medication, in her purse.
Knight was charged with shoplifting, criminal conspiracy, contributing to the delinquency of a minor, third-degree assault and battery and possession of a Schedule II drug.
The girl’s father took custody of her after police issued her a juvenile summons.
Source:www.charlotteobserver.com
Kentwood Co-Op employees charged with organized retail theft www.privateofficer.com
Missing items ranged from horse and cattle feed to milk replacer, herbicides and a 16-foot galvanized gate.
Agriculture Commissioner Mike Strain and the parish sheriff’s office say more arrests are possible.
Booked only on the theft charge were Amos Floyd Womack III, of Kentwood, Darrell Sanders Jones, of Kentwood, Robert N. Hutchinson Jr., of Tangipahoa, and Michael Samuel Trabona, of Amite.
Strain said Tuesday employees Oscar Joey Sharp, of Kentwood, and Michael Stewart, of Fluker, also were booked with simple burglary, and employee Fredrick Shropshire, of Magnolia, Miss., as a principal to simple burglary.
Source:AP
Man caught shoplifting threatens to shoot store employee www.privateofficer.com
Gainesville Fla Aug 24 2012 An Archer man has been arrested after police say he went on a shoplifting spree at The Oaks Mall in Gainesville, taking items from Belk, Spencer’s and Victoria’s Secret.
When he was confronted by a Belk Loss Prevention employee while leaving the store, he threatened to shoot the employee, police reported.
Arturo Ramos, 45, of 9250 NE 121st St., was charged with two felonies — robbery with a firearm and resisting a merchant/possessing an anti-shoplifting control device countermeasure — and two misdemeanors — first- and second-degree petty theft — in connection with the incident Monday.
Among the items found in his possession or in his vehicle after his arrest were a purse valued at $248, a pair of sunglasses valued at $60 and a penis extender valued at $19.99, according to an arrest report from the Gainesville Police Department.
Ramos was observed by the Belk employee removing an anti-shoplifting device from the purse and then placing the purse in a bag held by a woman with him, police reported. He then took the bag and left the store, at which time he was stopped by an employee.
The employee identified himself as being from Belk Loss Prevention and said he needed the purse back, police reported, but Arturo reached toward the purse and instead said he was going to shoot the employee. The employee then backed away and yelled to a nearby police officer, who arrested Ramos.
After his arrest, Ramos admitted to stealing the purse and sunglasses and said he threatened to shoot the employee because he was “scared,” police reported.
Ramos later was booked into the Alachua County jail, where he remained Wednesday in lieu of $40,000 bond. Police reported that he also had an active warrant out of Collier County on a marijuana possession charge.
Source:gainesville.com
Brazos County’s elections coordinator arrested for thefts www.privateofficer.com
Brazo County TX Aug 24 2012 Brazos County’s elections coordinator has been arrested, accused of stealing thousands of dollars from her office, a crime she reportedly confessed to committing.
Jaime Hines, a county clerk deputy, turned herself in to authorities Tuesday on a third-degree felony theft by a public servant charge.
According to County Clerk Karen McQueen, she began an internal investigation in mid-July after finding funds missing from her office’s issuing of marriage licenses, which requires a $72 fee. McQueen says she found a lack of receipts and cash missing from the drawer.
After a couple of weeks, McQueen says she took her findings to the Brazos County Sheriff’s Office. By the end of the investigation, authorities believe Hines took $17,500 over 3.5 years.
“We have worked diligently with the Sheriff’s investigators to give them access to the documents needed for their investigation,” McQueen said in a statement. “We are working to implement new procedures to assure that this does not happen again and we will be working with our County Auditor to determine if other actions will be needed.”
McQueen says Hines was interviewed by investigators on August 11, then placed on administrative leave until the investigation was completed. McQueen also noted that Hines confessed to the theft.
“Jaime has such a great personality. Always happy, and she does everything I ask her to do. Just to walk in and know she is not going to be there, it’s heartbreaking,” said McQueen.
The county clerk’s office emphasized that all marriages associated with the alleged theft remain valid. All marriage licenses issued were properly filed, McQueen says.
Hines has worked for Brazos County for more than 12 years. She bonded out of jail on $5,000.
Charlotte counselor arrested in $650,000 Medicaid scheme www.privateofficer.com
The U.S. Attorney’s Office said Charlotte Elizabeth Garnes, a 37-year-old licensed counselor, “rented out” her Medicaid provider number, allowing others to file for reimbursement claims to Medicaid for mental and behavior health services that were never performed.
Garnes was arrested Wednesday in Goldsboro and charged with health care fraud conspiracy and obstruction of official proceedings. If convicted of both charges, she could face up to 30 years in prison and a fine of up to $500,000.
Between March 2009 and April 2011, Garnes conspired with two women – Teresa Marible and Michele Jackson – to allow Marible and Jackson to submit the fraudulent claims through Garnes’ company, Charlotte’s Insight, according to court documents.
Prosecutors said Garnes kept a percentage of the Medicaid reimbursements received for those claims, which listed her as the attending clinician.
At one point in 2009, Garnes represented that she provided 69 hours of mental and behavior health services in one day, according to the indictment. At another point, claims were filed to Medicaid for services rendered during a time when Garnes wasn’t in the country. She worked for a defense contractor at military bases, prosecutors said.
In all, Medicaid paid Garnes and her co-conspirators more than $650,000 in fraudulent claims, according to the indictment.
Marible and Jackson, neither of whom were licensed to provide mental or behavioral health services, have already been convicted, prosecutors said. In March, Jackson was sentenced to 15 months in prison and ordered to pay $292,282 in restitution. In June, Marible was sentenced to three years in prison and ordered to pay $1,135,662 in restitution.
Earlier this month, another woman pleaded guilty to her role in an similar arrangement with Garnes, Marible and Jackson to defraud Medicaid.
Oriaku Hampton Sowell, 39, of Charlotte also “rented out” her Medicaid provider number, prosecutors alleged. Fraudulent claims listed Sowell as the attending clinician despite the fact that the services were never provided. Sowell kept part of the fraudulent reimbursements and paid the remainder to Jackson and Marible. Between October 2010 and April 2011, they collected at least $250,000 from Medicaid
Anyone who suspects Medicare or Medicaid fraud is asked to call 1-800-447-8477 or email at HHSTips@oig.hhs.gov.
Source:www.charlotteobserver.com
2 Kennecott employees accused of stealing, making meth at work www.privateofficer.com
In charges filed Monday, police wrote that the two employees, both 42, used a company truck at the north tailings plant, 11978 W. State Route 202, to steal brass clamping rings worth $130,662 and two spools of heavy copper wire, weighing a ton and valued at more than $71,000. They were helped by two other men, ages 42 and 29, in various thefts between March and June of 2011, Unified Police Department detectives wrote.
The men stripped the casing off the metal wire and sold it to metal recyclers for about $2,200, police wrote. Investigators recovered the brass rings from a West Valley City metal recycling center and returned them to Kennecott, police wrote.
One of the employees admitted to investigators that he had hidden a “complete meth lab” in a large pipe on Kennecott property, police wrote. Detectives found glassware and red phosphorous at the plant; other supplies had been taken to a coworker’s home.
The employee whose work truck was used in the thefts was charged with two first-degree felony counts of theft with a gang enhancement and two second-degree felony counts of clandestine laboratory precursors and equipment. The other employee faces the same theft charges but only one clandestine laboratory charge.
Their two associates were charged with one count each of first-degree felony theft.
Source:Salt Lake City Tribune
Man arrested after caught choking girlfriend in hospital bed www.privateofficer.com
Kasaun Jerome Dawson, 26, was taken into custody on August 9 and charged with assault and battery 2nd degree.
According to a report, Dawson was visiting his girlfriend at East Cooper Hospital on August 9 at 9:15 a.m. Around 11 p.m., the victim states she received a phone call from her child’s godfather and Dawson became jealous.
Police say Dawson, who said he thought his girlfriend was cheating on him, tried to take the victim’s cell phone and pulled her out of the hospital bed before leaving the room.
The report states Dawson returned a minute later and grabbed the hospital phone. When the victim told him not to hit her, Dawson said, “what are you going to do, call the police?”
The victim says that Dawson hit her in the head with the phone, and then started choking her with his hands.
Police say a nurse walked in and saw Dawson choking the victim. He then ran out of the room.
Dawson was later found by police walking down Mathis Ferry Road. After denying that he was at the hospital, police say they were able to use security camera footage to prove he was.
According to the incident report, when Dawson was arrested he asked police, “what am I supposed to do, let her cheat on me?”
Dawson was taken to the Charleston County Detention Center and he was placed on trespass notice for the hospital.
Source: WCSC
South Carolina man cut off hand of mentally disabled man in fraud scheme www.privateofficer.com
COLUMBIA, SC Aug 24 2012- A South Carolina man has pleaded guilty to a federal fraud charge in a scheme authorities say includes severed limbs.
Gerald B. Hardin of Cayce admitted in federal court in Columbia on Tuesday that he was part of an insurance fraud scheme. Hardin told Judge Cameron Currie that he used a pole saw to cut off the hand of a mentally disabled man in Sumter County in 2008.
According to prosecutors, Hardin said the impaired person’s hand was tied to a branch and Hardin cut off his hand with a pole saw and later took him to the hospital for treatment. Efforts to re-attach the hand were ultimately unsuccessful.
Federal prosecutors say another man filed insurance claims based on the injury and collected more than $671,000. In exchange for his participation, Hardin said that man loaned him money for a down payment on a new truck and paid some of his monthly rent.
Hardin has agreed to help prosecutors. He faces up to five years in prison when he’s sentenced later.
Source:WIS
Pittsburgh Public Schools police chief fired www.privateofficer.com
At its regular legislative meeting Wednesday, the school board voted 8-0, with Regina Holley abstaining, to terminate — effective the same day — the employment of Mr. Fadzen, who had run the school police since 1996.
Mr. Fadzen has been off the job since last September as a result of a controversy about his pulling over an ambulance on Route 65. Mr. Fadzen, who did not issue a citation, contended the driver had been driving erratically Downtown in a nonemergency situation.
The two ambulance staff members complained that Mr. Fadzen acted unprofessionally.
That led to a dismissal hearing that lasted nearly 80 hours over eight days and an 89-page findings of fact and conclusions of law released Wednesday. The hearing was open to the public at Mr. Fadzen’s request.
Reached by telephone, Mr. Fadzen said, “I will tell you on the record that I’m obviously saddened by their decision. Disappointment is a better word. I want to thank the city of Pittsburgh for giving me the honor and privilege of protecting and serving its children for 17 years.”
The board document said Mr. Fadzen had been given repeated warnings over a period of years that his jurisdiction by law was limited to inside school buildings, on school buses and on school grounds.
“Despite what might be perceived by Mr. Fadzen, the school safety department is not a municipal police force,” the document stated.
It said Mr. Fadzen contended that a school board policy expanded his jurisdiction to permit him to enforce traffic laws within 1,000 yards of a school building.
He testified that the was parked by Pittsburgh CAPA 6-12 Downtown doing a traffic study when he observed the ambulance.
However, the document stated that only a court order can expand jurisdiction.
It noted that he was directed in 2000 by acting Superintendent Helen Faison that he and his staff were not to leave the district boundaries without authorization, was given a memo by then solicitor Stephanie Royal in 2002 staying it was unlikely he had 1,000-yard jurisdiction and was told by District Magistrate Nancy Longo in 2005 about his limitations in a traffic stop that resulted in a lawsuit in 2007. At that point, solicitor Ira Weiss reiterated the restrictions.
The document stated he was given a written reprimand in 2009 by Jody Spolar, currently district executive director of human resources, cautioning him that “should he utilize profanity or engage in other misconduct in the future, it could result in disciplinary action up to and including dismissal.”
The document said the testimony of the NorthWest EMS staff was credible on the July 22, 2011, incident, and — based on that as well as cell phone records — the board did not believe Mr. Fadzen’s account, which disagreed on the date as well as other matters.
From time to time, the school safety office has been the center of controversy.
In 2002, a federal jury awarded more than $215,000 to a former Pittsburgh Public Schools police officer, Ron Mancini, who said he was unfairly demoted. The district already had reached settlements with nine other security employees who complained of poor treatment.
The 10 cases centered around charges of racial discrimination that several black security officers first made in 1998 against Mr. Fadzen, who is white.
At the time, Mr. Fadzen and school officials said the allegations were fabricated for various reasons, including to oppose Mr. Fadzen’s attempts to make the safety department more professional.
In 2006, Mr. Fadzen urged the board to approve adding dogs to the force, one to detect narcotics and the other to detect guns. Mr. Fadzen said guns and narcotics had been found outside elementary, middle and high schools. While some board members spoke against it, the motion passed 5-4.
Over the years, Mr. Fadzen spoke frequently about his efforts to make the school police and security guards more professional and to protect children.
In 2006, after Pittsburgh Public Schools Superintendent Mark Roosevelt and then Mayor Bob O’Connor joined forces to create “safety zones” within a 1,000-foot radius of schools, Mr. Fadzen pledged to tackle the truancy problem and increase training for school security guards.
“We’re going to take steps no other city has taken to keep these kids safe,” Mr. Fadzen said.
City school police officers do not carry weapons although, in a 2009 story in the Post-Gazette, Mr. Fadzen said he would like to have his officers carry the same weapons that city officers do, including firearms and Taser devices.
In 2010 at a regional gang awareness conference, Mr. Fadzen said the number of guns seized by police from students inside school facilities had fallen from about 18 a year to three or four. He said distribution of drugs ranging from heroin to Viagra continued as a problem feeding violence.
Source:old.post-gazette.com
Widefield School District bus driver had sexual relationship with 12 year old boy www.privateofficer.com
The alleged relationship occurred at about the same time as an El Paso County jury acquitted Gordon in 2001 of child sexual assault in an unrelated case, court records show. In addition, Gordon pleaded guilty to harboring a runaway child in 1998, records show.
The school district’s failure to turn up Gordon’s guilty plea has at least one Widefield official questioning its system for running background checks.
Gordon, 48, remained in the El Paso County jail in lieu of $250,000 bond on Wednesday on suspicion of sexual assault on a child by one in a position of trust.
El Paso County sheriff’s deputies arrested him after a yearlong investigation. The victim’s name has not been released.
The victim, now 23, told investigators that he went to Gordon’s house, sometimes with his mother’s permission, and had sleepovers, according to a sheriff’s arrest affidavit. They started watching pornography together and later had sex.
Gordon admitted to having sex with the boy, the affidavit said, though he said the boy “came on to him.”
In the affidavit, the victim also revealed he had sex with another boy as Gordon watched. Gordon told deputies he walked in on the boys once and was in the room another time as they had sex.
The school district placed Gordon on administrative leave upon his arrest Tuesday and district officials began questioning a day later why elements of his criminal record were not revealed in his background check.
“That’s a concern,” said James Drew, a district spokesman. “If we aren’t getting complete reports, that’s a problem.”
Drew said the district may change the way potential employees are vetted.
The district was aware that Gordon faced charges of child sex assault in 1999. A 14-year-old boy accused Gordon of having intercourse with him “quite a few” times while the boy slept over at Gordon’s house, according to an arrest warrant. The teen alleged that the first incident happened when he was 12 or 13, the warrant said.
A 13-year-old boy also claimed in 1999 that Gordon tried to have sex with him while sleeping at Gordon’s house, the warrant said.
A jury cleared Gordon of all charges in 2001 and the district reviewed the case before hiring Gordon to drive buses in 2006 and again in 2010, Drew said.
“He was found innocent,” Drew said. “Which means it didn’t happen.”
But Gordon’s 1998 guilty plea and one-year deferred sentence to a misdemeanor of harboring a runaway and obstructing a peace officer never surfaced. And that would have been a deal-breaker if the district had known of it, Drew said.
“If any of the crimes involved any kind of children, or any children at all, they’re not coming to work here,” Drew said. “Again, we’re talking about convictions.”
The district’s background checks also failed to reveal Gordon’s driving tickets, though court records show he pleaded guilty to driving without insurance in 1996.
The district receives background checks after applicants are fingerprinted and checked by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Colorado Bureau of Investigation, Drew said. The Colorado Springs Police Department also supplies a report that include such items as traffic tickets from across the state, he said.
Background checks by the CBI generally include only cases where a person was arrested and fingerprints taken, said bureau spokeswoman Susan Medina.
“The background check is just part of the pie,” Medina said, “of examining someone’s history to determine whether or not you’re going to hire them.”
Source:www.gazette.com
Ky firefighters fired over alcohol violations www.privateofficer.com
LOUISVILLE, KY Aug 24 2012 - Two Pleasure Ridge Park firefighters are out of a job. They were let go by the board of trustees of the Pleasure Ridge Park Fire Protection District for a violation involving alcohol. Brenda Burton and her son Willie live across the street from PRP’s Fire Station 5.
“I’ve been very aware of not hearing those sirens.” Burton said.
No sirens have come from there since early July. That is when Fire chief Vincent Smith suspended eight firefighters for a violation of department policy involving alcohol. WAVE 3 spoke to Burton about the violations.
“I was hoping they didn’t drink to excess because I’ve got a handicapped child and if my house caught on fire, I would need help getting him out,” she said.
Thursday, PRP fire chief issued a statement saying;
“On August 22, 2012, the Board of Trustees of the Pleasure Ridge Park Fire Protection District decided that the preponderance of the evidence presented at separate hearings on disciplinary charges against two (2) members, each of whom had been suspended July 2, 2012, supported the charges against each member for violation of the Professional Conduct Standards and the Zero Alcohol Policy; and determined that each member should be dismissed from the Pleasure Ridge Park Fire Protection District. A Decision On Charges was entered in each case. Other disciplinary cases are pending.”
In a vote of 7-0, the board decided to dismiss Tony Sills and Jerry Keener from the department.
WAVE 3 asked Burton is she felt the board made the right decision.
“I’m sure they did. I’m sure they investigated it. I’m sure they found that some of the allegations were valid,” Burton said. “It’s just upsetting to think that they are functioning below what’s expected.”
As Burton waited to hear those sirens again, “Bless the work of their hands. As they’re pulling out, they don’t even know they’re being covered with a prayer, but they are,” she said with a smile.
Source:WAVE
Police seek victims, local hero in Perimeter Mall attack www.privateofficer.com
Within moments, her friend pushed him out the door and continued to push him — while men and other women passed by on their ways to the restroom — until mall security arrived.
The man arrested — Kennedy Miranda — is believed to be someone who has had a series of inappropriate contact with women in stores in DeKalb and Gwinnett counties in just one week in June because they have shared his picture with other law enforcement.
As it stands now, DeKalb County Solicitor Sherry Boston said, Miranda could face more serious charges but she won’t know until she talks to the women from the June 19 attack in the women’s restroom at the food court.
She just doesn’t know who they are because mall security officers did not get their names when they took their statements.
So Boston is distributing photos of the women in hopes they will see themselves and come forward or someone will recognize them and call her office [404-687-7114].
“We have zero ways of finding these women,” Boston said.
Miranda has not yet entered a plea. He is being held in the DeKalb County Jail. Miranda does not have an attorney yet so there was no one to speak for him.
Miranda is already a suspect in three cases in Gwinnett County and one other in DeKalb because the victims in those cases identified him after seeing pictures of him taken after he was arrested at Perimeter Mall on June 19.
According to police records, the first instance was in Gwinnett County on June 17.
Miranda was charged with kidnapping after he allegedly tried to pull a woman from the magazine section in a Barnes & Nobel, telling her “she was ‘the one.’”
He is accused of four incidents on June 19, including the one with the unidentified victim in a public restroom.
Early in the day, Miranda went to a dressing room at a store in Norcross where two female employees were folding T-shirts. “I am God. I am looking for a woman to make love to,” Miranda said, according to the police report.
Then he allegedly exposed himself to woman pushing a baby stroller on a Norcross sidewalk.
And he headed to Dunwoody and Perimeter Mall.
An employee at American Eagle Outfitters reported that Miranda had tried to pull her into an empty dressing room.
An hour later, a surveillance camera captured Miranda following two women into a restroom near the food court. Minutes passed until the camera trained on the door to the women’s restroom recorded images of a woman wearing orange shorts pushing Miranda toward the door and into the hall. She grabs him and appears to be yelling as several people walk by.
Security officers arrived within moments, detained Miranda and took statements from the two women. They did not get their names, however.
“The woman in this video … helped us catch and identify this predator,” Boston said. “This is the only case in which he was immediately apprehended. She did everything you would want someone to do. She was not fearful.”
The video shows the two leaving, the woman in the orange shorts pushing a carriage and the woman in yellow holding a baby.
Source:atlanta journal constitution
Fred Meyer employee used cell phone to take pictures of women in dressing room www.privateofficer.com
GRESHAM, Ore. Aug 24 2012– A Fred Meyer employee was arrested for allegedly using his cell phone to take photos of a mother and her daughter in a store changing room.
Investigators said Carl Louis Rainey, 24, faces invasion of privacy charges for the August 19 incident.
Fred Meyer spokeswoman Melinda Merrill said what Rainey did was “atrocious” and his employment at Fred Meyer has been terminated.
Merrill added that Fred Meyer was cooperating with all legal authorities and the victims in this case.
source:kgw.com
Immigrations and Customs Enforcement agents file lawsuit for not being allowed to do their job www.privateofficer.com
Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano says her department does not have the manpower or money to deport the 11 million illegal immigrants in the USA, so she issued a memorandum last year ordering immigration officials to focus their efforts on dangerous illegal immigrants. In June, Obama announced a program that will allow up to 1.7 million illegal immigrants brought to the USA as children to have deportations deferred for at least two years.
The 10 ICE agents suing Napolitano and ICE Director John Morton say those directives violate the Constitution and federal immigration law. “We are federal law enforcement officers who are being ordered to break the law,” said Chris Crane, an ICE agent and president of the National Immigration and Customs Enforcement Council, a union for ICE employees. “This directive puts ICE agents and officers in a horrible position.”
ICE spokesman Ross Feinstein did not comment on the lawsuit but said more than half of the nearly 400,000 illegal immigrants deported in 2011 had been convicted of crimes, the largest number in the agency’s history. He said that shows the decision to focus on the most dangerous illegal immigrants is a policy that works, and June’s decision to defer deportation for young illegal immigrants enhances that strategy.
A spokesman for Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney said Obama may have overstepped his authority by ordering the deportation deferments, and Romney would forge a long-term solution with Congress instead of relying on Obama’s “stop-gap measure.”
“The courts will have to sort this out, but this kind of uncertainty is unacceptable as these young people brought here as children are seeking clarity on their long-term status,” spokesman Ryan Williams said.
The lawsuit, filed Thursday in a Dallas federal court, requests that a judge strike down the two directives and protect the agents from any retribution for their lawsuit.
The suit is funded by NumbersUSA, a group that proposes lower levels of legal and illegal immigration, and the attorney is Kris Kobach, the secretary of State of Kansas who has helped Arizona and Alabama craft strict anti-illegal-immigration laws. His work on this lawsuit is not part of his official state duties.
The lawsuit was supported by some GOP legislators who have criticized Obama’s immigration plans as “backdoor amnesty.”
“These agent’s mission is to keep our borders secure, but the head of their agency is directing them otherwise, telling them to undermine their missions and contradict immigration law,” Sen. David Vitter, R-La.
Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill., said the program actually helps ICE officials by allowing them to focus on the most dangerous illegal immigrants. “Deferred action is a major boost to law enforcement who do not have to waste time on honor students and can do the harder work of actually tracking down and deporting criminals,” he said.
Man arrested at Mercy Hospital videotaped people in restroom www.privateofficer.com
Jason E. Draheim, 26, of Willow Springs, was arrested Wednesday morning at the hospital. A police incident report lists three victims, including one male and one 43-year-old woman.
A woman found the camera in a unisex restroom in Patient Tower, the primary hospital building on the Mercy complex, and alerted security, Sonya Kullmann, Mercy spokesperson, said. Security then called police. Kullman did not know where in the building the restroom is located. It’s unclear how long the camera was there.
Draheim was not a patient, Sherry Royal, with Springfield Police, said. Kullmann said Draheim has no affiliation with Mercy but did not know why he was at the hospital.
Neither Kullmann or Royal could speak to how Draheim was identified as a suspect or how he was located. A police report lists an incident time of 7:24 a.m. According to Draheim’s arrest report, he was arrested at 8:20 a.m. at the hospital.
Police arrested Draheim on charges of first-degree invasion of privacy, misdemeanor possession of less than 35 grams of marijuana and misdemeanor possession of drug paraphernalia, his arrest report says.
When asked if Mercy was concerned about security after the incident, Kullmann said the hospital has a good security team because of its round-the-clock operations.
“We’re a facility that’s open to the public 24/7,” Kullmann said.
As of Thursday afternoon, formal charges had not been filed against Draheim and his name did not appear in the Greene County Jail roster.
A police incident report classifies the case as “miscellaneous” but Royal said police plan to treat it as a sex crime.
In 2008, Draheim pleaded guilty to failure to display plates, not wearing a seat belt and operating a vehicle without a valid license. Draheim was charged in Howell County.
Source:news-leader
Jackson County K-9 dies of heat exhaustion in patrol car www.privateofficer.com
JACKSON COUNTY, MS Aug 24 2012- A K-9 officer for the Jackson County Sheriff’s Department died Thursday afternoon of heat exhaustion. “Chuck” was a four year old Belgian Malinois.
Officials said a deputy left Chuck in the running car with the air turned on while he went inside to fill out a report. That’s the normal procedure. But this time, when the deputy returned, he found the car was no longer running, and the dog was dead.
Sheriff Mike Byrd said Chuck lived with the deputy who is devastated over the tragic loss of his K-9 partner.
In 2011, WLOX News reported on Chuck’s work chasing down a bank robbery suspect who led officers on a high speed chase. The dog was purchased with seized drug money.
Source:WLOX
NY Stock Exchange security officer killed in accident www.privateofficer.com
A New York Stock Exchange security officer eating his lunch near the Exchange was struck and killed by a pick-up Thursday.
Sorel Deps-Medina, a 70-year-old Queens resident, was having lunch downtown on Broad Street when he was pinned between the truck and a building.
He was taken to a nearby hospital and pronounced dead.
Fire officials said two women also suffered minor injures.
Witnesses said the guard did not have a chance to get out of the way.
“He’s eating his lunch and all of a sudden ‘smack,’ against the side of the building, pinned against the wall,” said one.
“The car ends up on the curb and it hits this man,” said another. “He was eating his lunch. He couldn’t get out of the way.”
Witnesses said the driver was trying to brake at the time of the accident but hit the gas instead.
The driver remained on the scene.
Police said no criminality is suspected but an investigation was ongoing late Thursday
