Archive
NYPD veteran officer charged with helping stick up crews www.privateofficer.com
New York NY April 7 2013 17-year veteran of the NYPD was busted today for allegedly helping an armed stick up crew rob drug dealers of at least $1 million in cash and merchandise throughout Brooklyn and the Bronx, sources told The Post.
Cobb County teacher is accused of molesting one of his students www.privateofficer.com
Now, the school and investigators from two counties are trying to find out if there is more than one victim.
Robert Carlysle Cartwright, 45, is a physical education teacher and coach at Midway Covenant Christian School in Cobb County. He was arrested on campus on March 27.
A Paulding County Sheriff’s Office representative told Channel 2′s Carl Willis that Cartwright met the alleged victim at school.
“I do know that this child, the victim, was a member of the coach’s sports teams basketball, possibly baseball, so the coach and the child knew each other from the school,” said Cpl. Ashley Henson.
Paulding County is investigating because the victim reported that the incident, which has led to a charge of aggravated child molestation, happened away from campus in Cartwright’s home on Cohran Store Road.
The victim told investigators the incident happened Nov. 9. Investigators and the school want to know if any other children may have been abused.
“What we want folks to do now is talk to their children, especially children that go to Midway Covenant Christian School,” said Henson.
A school representative wrote, “On the day we learned of this arrest, we immediately contacted all of the parents at our school. We have encouraged all parents who have any relevant information to contact the Detectives at the Paulding County Sheriff’s Office directly. Midway Covenant Christian School has and will continue to cooperate fully with the authorities in their investigation.”
School officials said they were shocked by the arrest and have placed Cartwright on indefinite administrative leave.
Investigators ask parents to call Cobb County’s Crimes Against Children Division if they believe an incident occurred on campus. They should call Paulding County if an incident may have happened at Cartwright’s home or elsewhere.
Source: WSBTV.com
Three Charged in Scheme to Defraud BP Oil Spill Claims Fund www.privateofficer.com
Press Release
In separate informations filed in U.S. District Court, the U.S. Attorney’s Office charged Christopher Jarris Addison, 31, of Birmingham; Crystal Davis Blackmon, 27, of Bessemer; and Andre Clinton Dale, 45, of Mobile, with conspiring in 2011 to devise a scheme to defraud the Gulf Coast Claims Facility. Combined, the three defendants were paid nearly $175,000 from the oil spill claims funds.
“The trust fund was designed to help remedy the damage done by the disastrous BP oil spill in 2010,” Vance said. “We are going to put criminals who fraudulently divert those funds from the victims of the oil spill in jail,” she said.
British Petroleum, which owned the Macondo oil well where the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig exploded, established the Gulf Coast Claims Facility in June 2010 for the purpose of administering and settling claims resulting from the oil spill disaster. A subsidiary of BP established the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Trust Fund in August 2010 to pay certain types of claims and expenses from the oil spill, including claims settled through the GCCF.
Addison, Blackmon, and Dale all are charged with independently agreeing to provide their Social Security numbers and bank account information to individuals, who are not named in the charging documents, so that those individuals could file fraudulent claims for lost wages to the GCCF. After the fraudulent claims were paid, Addison, Blackmon, and Dale each returned part of the money to the individuals who recruited them to participate in the scheme, according to the informations and plea agreements.
The GCCF paid Addison $77,942 from the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Trust Fund on August 24, 2011, according to the court documents. On August 25, 2011, Addison gave the bulk of the payment to the two individuals who recruited him to the conspiracy, according to the documents.
Blackmon was recruited into the conspiracy by her cousin, who is not named in the court documents. She provided him with her bank account and personal identifying information and on August 2, 2011, received about $47,878 from the GCCF, according to her information and plea agreement. She paid about $35,533 of that to her cousin, according to the documents.
Dale received about $47,678 in claim funds on July 20, 2011. On July 26, 2011, according to his information and plea agreement, he paid $15,000 to one of the individuals who recruited him into the scheme.
The FBI investigated these cases. Assistant U.S. Attorney Henry Cornelius is prosecuting the cases.
Former Harris County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Lands in Federal Prison for Scheme to Steal Narcotics www.privateofficer.com
FBI Press Release
Today, United States District Judge Vanessa Gilmore sentenced him to 46 months in prison to be followed by a one-year-term of supervised release. At sentencing, Judge Gilmore took into consideration that it was his first offense and that Nutt has more than 20 years in law enforcement and military service. At the hearing, Nutt apologized to the court and to his family.
In late 2010, the Houston Police Department (HPD) obtained information that members of law enforcement were robbing shipments of narcotics in Houston and subsequently initiated a sting operation. On December 15, 2010, then Deputy Nutt met with his co-conspirators, at which time they learned a vehicle containing narcotics or narcotics proceeds would be driving through Houston. They agreed to stop the vehicle, a Chrysler Aspen SUV, with the assistance of Deputy Nutt. He was to conduct a traffic stop of the SUV, which was reportedly to be driven by a drug dealer from Mexico, and pretend to arrest the driver then release him while the co-defendants took the vehicle containing the drugs. The conspirators would then split the money from the sale of the drugs.
Later that day, Nutt, in full uniform and driving a silver pickup equipped with red and blue emergency lights, spotted and followed the Chrysler Aspen SUV as it drove into a parking lot of a Houston area shopping center. Once parked, the SUV driver, actually an undercover HPD officer, abandoned the SUV. A package thought to contain cocaine was then transferred from the SUV to a blue Nissan Altima. Nutt entered the vehicle as it drove off the lot, and it was soon stopped by HPD officers. The package, which actually contained fake cocaine, was found and removed from under the passenger seat where Nutt sat. Nutt and his co-defendants were arrested by law enforcement officers and subsequently charged federally.
Others involved in the scheme have all pleaded guilty and also been sentenced to prison.
Nutt, previously released on bond, was allowed to continue on bond and voluntarily surrender to a U.S. Bureau of Prisons facility to be determined in the near future.
The investigation was conducted by the Internal Affairs and Narcotics Divisions of the Houston Police Department with the assistance of the FBI. The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney James McAlister.
Local Mortgage Broker Found Guilty of Bank and Wire Fraud www.privateofficer.com
U.S. Attorney’s Office FBI
PRESS RELEASE
PORTLAND, OR FEB 13 2013—David Ovist, 45, of Lake Oswego, Oregon, was convicted Friday, February 8, 2013, of the crimes of bank fraud and wire fraud following a 10-day jury trial. Ovist is scheduled to appear before U.S. District Court Judge Anna J. Brown on May 7, 2013, for sentencing on these charges.
Ovist was a licensed mortgage loan broker and the owner of Oregon Mortgage Services Inc., located in Beaverton, Oregon. The federal indictment charged that Ovist, acting as a residential mortgage loan broker, knowingly prepared, on behalf of eight borrowers, residential loan applications related to 15 different properties that falsified the borrower’s financial qualifications. The applications were then submitted by Ovist to eight different mortgage lenders with the intent that the lenders would approve mortgage loans for those properties based upon the false financial qualifications provided in the loan applications. The jury convicted Ovist of 12 of the 15 counts in the indictment.
“The effects of mortgage fraud committed during the housing bubble of 2006-2008 continue to impact the livability of our community,” said U.S. Attorney Amanda Marshall. “This conviction demonstrates that the Department of Justice remains committed to investigate and prosecute those who wreaked havoc on our financial institutions and real estate markets.”
“Mortgage fraudsters believe their criminal schemes will put them—and their clients—on the easy road to riches,” said Greg Fowler, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI in Oregon. “Our agents work to ensure that these criminals find themselves on the road to federal prison instead. With the help of the community we serve, we will continue to identify those who would subvert the American dream of home ownership and bring them to justice.”
At sentencing, the maximum penalty for each of the three bank fraud convictions is 30 years in prison and a maximum fine of $1,000,000. The maximum penalty for each of the nine wire fraud convictions is 20 years in prison and a maximum fine of $250,000. The actual sentence will be determined under the Federal Sentencing Guidelines based, in part, on the total amount of losses suffered by the mortgage lenders as a result of the loans.
The investigation was initiated by the Portland Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Hannah Horsley and Scott Erik Asphaug
Former Middle School Teacher Pleads Guilty to Federal Child Pornography Charge www.privateofficer.com
PRESS RELEASE
DALLAS TX JAN 29 2013—Daniel Oberlender, 45, a former choir teacher at Cross Timbers Middle School in Grapevine, Texas, pleaded guilty in federal court yesterday to a criminal information charging one count of distribution of child pornography. He faces a maximum statutory penalty of not less than five years, or more than 20 years, in federal prison, a lifetime of supervised release and a $250,000 fine. Sentencing is set for June 20, 2013, before U.S. District Judge Reed C. O’Connor. Today’s announcement was made by U.S. Attorney Sarah R. Saldaña of the Northern District of Texas.
Oberlender has been in federal custody since December 20, 2012, when he was arrested on a federal criminal complaint that was filed after law enforcement executed a search warrant at his residence in Grapevine on December 18, 2012. According to documents filed in the case, Oberlender used his Apple Macbook computer to connect to the Internet and use Skype software to share a video file depicting a minor engaged in sexually explicit conduct.
Specifically, according to the factual resume filed in the case, on August 5, 2012, Oberlender used Skype to communicate with a person known as “DJH.” During that communication, Oberlender permitted DJH to remotely view the entire contents of his computer screen. Oberlender then began playing a video file, viewable by DJH, that depicted an adult male and a minor male engaged in sexually explicit conduct. The minor male, whose eyes are shut during the entire video, appears to be approximately 5 or 6-years-old. DJH, who was located in Dallas, used Evaer software to capture and record the contents of Oberlender’s computer screen, to include the transmission of the video.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to better locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit http://www.justice.gov/psc. For more information about Internet safety education, please visit http://www.justice.gov/psc/ and click on the tab “Resources.”
The investigation is being conducted by the FBI. Assistant U.S. Attorney Aisha Saleem is in charge of the prosecution.
Naples woman arrested for arguing with ticket agents at Fla. airport www.privateofficer.com
Lee County Fla Dec 29 2012 A Naples woman is facing charges of trespassing and resisting an officer without violence after Lee County Port Authority Police say she was involved in an incident with ticket agents at Southwest Florida International Airport this morning.
Police say they were called to the Spirit Airlines ticket counter around 5:27 a.m. about a disgruntled passenger and met with Nana Mimura, 45, and Alex Zampeiri, who were arguing with ticket agents.
Police say the couple was told they had to leave the area and Zampeiri told police the airline was “ripping me off.”
Police say both Zampeiri and Mimura initially refused to leave the area, but when Zampeiri finally began to cooperate, Mimura refused and took out her iPhone to record the agents.
Police say she was screaming and cursing at the agents and pulled away from police as the couple was being escorted away from the counter.
Police placed her under arrest for trespassing, but she continued to resist as they tried to place handcuffs on her.
Source-news-press.com
Orland Square Mall and Orland Park Place theft ring busted www.privateofficer.com
Edgewood KMart shoplifter also had heroin www.privateofficer.com
2 ex-employees of Edison law firm admit to stealing $788K www.privateofficer.com
NJ insurance employee admits stealing millions from brokerage www.privateofficer.com
University security policy under review following employee’s death www.privateofficer.com
Family Dollar employee stole more than $7500 worth of merchandise from store www.privateofficer.com
Rite Aid Employee Accused Of Stealing Drugs, Cash www.privateofficer.com
LOCKPORT NY Sept 14 2012—An employee in the pharmacy of Rite Aid in Lockport has been arrested for stealing hydrocodone pills and money.
Jeannine M. Lapaglia, 45, of Lockport has been charged with fourth degree criminal sale of a controlled substance and fourth degree grand larceny, both felonies.
SP Lockport was contacted by Rite Aid security after they conducted an internal investigation related to the theft of money by an employee that involved voided transactions and altered transactions. The investigation additionally revealed that Lapaglia had allegedly stolen 1,300 hydrocodone pills from the pharmacy over five months.
Police said their investigation revealed that she was giving the stolen hydrocodone pills to another unidentified subject while she kept the stolen money for herself.
She was arraigned in Lockport Town Court and was remanded to the Niagara County Jail on $1,000 cash bail.
She is scheduled to return to court on Sept. 13. 9-10-12
Source:north country gazette
Pa man charged with stealing two air conditioners www.privateofficer.com
Raymond Scarnaty Jr., 45, was walking out of Bill’s Shop Rite with the air conditioners at 4:40 p.m. when the security staff stopped him, Pocono Mountain Regional police said. Surveillance video confirmed Scarnaty took the units, police said.
The air conditioners had a total value of $249 at Bill’s, at 503 Pocono Blvd., Route 611.
Scarnaty was charged with felony retail theft because of his criminal record, which includes a Coolbaugh Township burglary in 1998.
He was held at Monroe County Prison the evening of Aug. 25 night and arraigned in the morning on Aug. 26 by District Judge Thomas E. Olson, who released him on $10,000 bail.
Source:pocono record
Albany Oregon teacher faces sex crime charges www.privateofficer.com
ALBANY, Ore. August 20 2012 A shop teacher faces accusations he paid a teen girl money for explicit photos and videos of herself sent from her cell phone over the course of several years.
David Wesley Wright II, 45, of Albany was booked into the Linn County Jail on charges of using a child in a sexual display and third degree sex abuse. The first charge comes with $100,000 bail, according to jail records.
Detectives say he paid a 16-year-old family acquaintance money in exchange for sexually explicit photos and video that she sent from her cell phone.
Investigators told KVAL News the exchange happened over the course of “a couple years.”
Detectives have not determined how much money Wright allegedly paid, a sheriff’s office spokesperson said.
Linn County Sheriff’s detectives served a search warrant at Wright’s house Thursday with the help of Albany Police.
During the search, detectives seized three laptops and multiple cell phones.
Detectives think Wright received 200 to 300 illegal images.
Police made the arrest during the search of Wright’s home. Police said that Wright was cooperative during the investigation.
Wright works for South Albany High School as a metal shop teacher.
Detectives ask anyone with information related to this case to contact Linn County Sheriff’s detectives at (541) 967-3950.
Source:KVAL.com
KSMO man charged with assaulting federal security officers www.privateofficer.com
Leonard C. Williams, 45, of Kansas City, was charged in a two-count criminal complaint that was filed in the U.S. District Court in Kansas City, MO, on Tuesday, Aug. 7, 2012. Williams had his initial court appearance today and remains in federal custody.
According to an affidavit filed in support of the federal criminal complaint, Williams entered the Social Security Administration office at 2021 Independence Ave., Kansas City, at about 1 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 1, 2012. Williams was upset about a letter he had received and repeatedly told an employee that he would return with a gun, the affidavit says, at which time the employee motioned to the FPS officers.
FPS officers attempted to handcuff Williams and he became extremely combative, the affidavit says. Williams allegedly shoved one of the officers toward the wall then intentionally struck him with a closed fist, causing a cut and bleeding from his face. Williams then wrestled with the officer and two more security officers, according to the affidavit, violently kicking at the officers until one of them deployed pepper spray and they were able to subdue Williams until Kansas City police officers and additional FPS officers arrived.
As a result of Williams’ actions, the Social Security office was shut down for the remainder of the afternoon of Aug. 1, 2012, and was closed the entire next day.
David M. Ketchmark, Acting United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, cautioned that the charges contained in this complaint are simply accusations, and not evidence of guilt. Evidence supporting the charges must be presented to a federal trial jury, whose duty is to determine guilt or innocence.
Boulder High School teacher arrested for exposing himself at garage sale www.privateofficer.com
Boulder CO Aug 6 2012 A Boulder High School teacher was arrested Saturday on suspicion of indecent exposure after police say he twice exposed himself to women at a community garage sale in Longmont.
James Kozlowski, 45, was booked and released on a summons from the Boulder County Jail on Saturday after police say he exposed his genitals to women at two separate garage sales taking place as part of neighborhood-wide event in north central Longmont.
“Apparently he came to the garage sales and he was wearing shorts and no underwear,” Longmont police Cmdr. Jeff Satur said. “During separate incidences at two different garage sales he exposed himself to females.”
Longmont police first received calls about Kozlowski’s alleged behavior at approximately 11:35 a.m. Saturday, according to a police report. Witnesses said that after exposing his genitals he left the scene in a new, silver SUV. Police used the SUV’s license plate number provided by a witness to contact Kozlowski, who matched descriptions of the suspect, according to the police report.
Kozlowski appears under the business, computers and technology heading of teachers and staff on Boulder High School’s website. He also serves as the boys golf coach.
Kozlowski, who graduated from Boulder High, coached the school’s girls basketball team to a state title in 1994. He was head coach of that team from 1992 until resigning his post in 2001, compiling a 138-57 record.
Kozlowski declined to comment on his arrest when reached by telephone at his Boulder home Saturday.
Boulder Valley School District spokesman Briggs Gamblin confirmed that Kozlowski is employed by the district but declined to comment on his arrest until district officials could gather more information.
“The district and administration will be reviewing the information from Longmont police first thing Monday morning and taking the appropriate personnel action,” Gamblin said.
Teachers are scheduled to report for the beginning of the 2012-2013 school year on Thursday, Gamblin said.
The first day for ninth-graders at Boulder High School is Aug. 15 with the rest of the student body starting on Aug. 16, according to the school’s academic calendar.
Indecent exposure is a class three misdemeanor under the Colorado Revised Statutes, punishable by up to six months in jail.
Source:the daily camera
Naked carjacker causes wrecks in Arizona www.privateofficer.com
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. July 2 2012 – Scottsdale police have a suspect in custody after a carjacking that led to a multi-vehicle collision.
John Brigham, 45, was involved in a collision at Hayden Road and Via de Ventura in Scottsdale Friday afternoon, according to Scottsdale police spokesman Sgt. Mark Clark. After the crash, Brigham was reportedly yelling and chanting as he removed all his clothes and then jumped on the roof of another vehicle.
Clark said Brigham then pulled the female driver out of a Toyota Prius and fled in the vehicle.
As he fled the scene in the Prius, Brigham was involved in another collision involving four more vehicles at the intersection of Shea Boulevard and 90th Street. Police said Brigham may have been traveling eastbound in the westbound lanes.
Clark said Brigham tried to carjack two more cars before he was apprehended and taken into custody by Scottsdale police.
“The violence and the damage that was caused indicates that it was pretty high speeds involved,” Clark said.
One of the people at the first accident scene was transported to a hospital in serious condition. A pregnant woman at the second scene was taken to a hospital and is also listed in serious condition.
Casino security officers rescue traffic accident victim www.privateofficer.com
Engine fluids exploded into fire upon impact.
Security officers Dawn Heffner, 40, Jeff Hanes, 45, and Paul Wheeler, 58, risked their lives to bring Baumann, her mother, Lucille A. Pruhsmeier, 92, Baumann’s German shepherd and parrot out of the burning SUV alive.
Hanes is an emergency medical responder and Wheeler has 14 years experience as a volunteer firefighter.
Joining the three was good Samaritan Levi Anderson, 22, who lives across the street from where the accident occurred. Also aiding the effort were Sheridan and Willamina firefighters and EMTs, members of the Yamhill County Sheriff’s Office and Oregon State Police personnel.
The parrot was not the only one emerging from the accident with a story to tell.
About 9:50 p.m., Baumann’s SUV approached the intersection of Red Prairie Road on state Highway 18, the Salmon River Highway, where Heffner sat at the stop sign. The SUV’s brakes were locked and the tires were screaming as the vehicle moved down the highway, sliding sideways and then backwards, almost as if it were trying to turn on to Red Prairie.
“I thought she was going to try to make the turn,” said Heffner, who recalled the event on June 5 with her co-workers in a conference room on the second floor of Spirit Mountain Casino. Casino Security Manager Brian Willis congratulated all three by presenting them with “Shining Star” awards.
“She is not going to make that turn,” Heffner remembers thinking.
Then the SUV started flipping. It rolled twice before coming to a stop at the stop sign on the other side of the highway, and then burst into flames with an explosive sound.
“I drove across 18 and parked by the ditch,” Heffner said. “As soon as I got out of my car I started hollering (to the people in the car), but I couldn’t get any response.”
At the same time, she punched in 911 on her cell. She also was trying to get somebody driving by to stop and help.
“Nobody would stop,” she recalled.
Meanwhile, the SUV rocked precariously between the stop sign and the ditch, with the passenger side down and the front of the car facing west on Highway 18 toward the casino, the direction it had come from. Red Prairie Road is nine miles east of the casino.
Baumann later told Wheeler that it had felt like “ ‘the steering wheel locked before the car shot to the right.’ That would be consistent with a blown front tire,” he said.
While waiting for help to arrive, Heffner heard from the occupants of the SUV. She said she was looking for “a screw driver or a wrench or something” to break out the front window, but couldn’t find anything. She thought of throwing dirt on the engine fire that was already coming up over the driver’s side front tire, but the dirt was filled with weeds. She looked for large rocks, but all she could see were pebbles. She tried to kick out the window, without luck.
When Baumann spoke, her first words were mired in confusion. “Where am I?” she asked. “What happened?”
Heffner reached in on the driver’s side window to talk to Baumann and to see how to help her out, but did not have the tools even to release the seatbelt.
About this point, Hanes and Wheeler, who were also heading to work for the graveyard shift, saw the headlights “all weird looking,” in Hanes’ words.
They hurried down that way.
“It’s on fire, Paul,” Hanes said to his co-worker and they both jumped out of the car on arrival. Neither saw Heffner, who was working with Baumann when they arrived. She was on the far side, the ditch side, of the car. They all just had the same instincts.
About the same time, Anderson, a 5-foot, 7-inch equipment operator with asthma who weighs in at 270 pounds, and who also has training as a volunteer firefighter, heard the tires squealing. He came running, arriving just after Hanes and Wheeler.
The way the car had landed forced all of them to work at reaching the occupants from the ditch side, or from in front through the windshield, with the SUV rocking uncontrollably. If it rocked too far, it had only one way to go.
“We started breaking windows,” Hanes said. He showed a “rescue knife” designed to cut and hammer through windows and he knocked out the driver’s back side window with it. He tried to make it work on the windshield, but “windshields are designed not to shatter,” he said, and so it was broken in a million pieces that all stayed together. “I tried to pull the whole thing out but it wouldn’t come.”
“We could not get the driver’s side door open,” said Anderson, “but we ended up prying it open as far as we could.”
At this point, the fire also was coming into the car from under the dash, not a large, swirling fire, said Wheeler, but “it was coming in pretty good.”
Back at the driver’s side window, Hanes reached in.
“I told her I was going to cut her seat belt,” he said, and used his tool to do that. “She fell back into the car, crying, ‘Ahhhh.’
“I’m telling her (Baumann), ‘You’ve got to use your feet to climb out.’ ” said Hanes.
“She may have fallen on her mother,” who was in the passenger seat, said Wheeler.
“(Pruhsmeier) was calling, ‘Help me,’ ” said Wheeler.
“It crossed my mind for about 10 seconds that the car could explode,” said Heffner.
“They teach you in Emergency Medical Responder training to evaluate a scene before going in,” said Hanes. “Is the scene safe? Do you have protective equipment, gloves to protect against blood? Well I’m thinking, there‘s nothing safe about this scene and I don’t have protective equipment.”
Wheeler also knew the rules: If you don’t have proper training and equipment, stay away, but he said he was thinking, “If we don’t do something, these people are going to die.
“I didn’t realize how much that car was still rocking on its side, and I knew it could easily roll over on us, but you’re thinking, if we don’t do something, they’ll all burn to death.”
“We got (Baumann) to stand up,” said Wheeler. “Jeff was on her right and I was on her left.” Anderson was half in the windshield disintegrating in front of her.
“That’s when I realized there was a dog in the car,” said Wheeler. “I saw the eyes, and I’m thinking, ‘Please be friendly.’ ”
“We lifted (Baumann) up by her pants and out through the driver’s side front window,” said Wheeler.
They walked her away from the SUV though emergency medical help had not yet arrived, Hanes remembered.
Maybe four minutes in, firefighters, police and medical staff started arriving.
Baumann was crying, “My dog, my bird, my mother …”
Meanwhile, “Everyone’s screaming, ‘You’ve got to get out of there,’ ” said Hanes.
Anderson was back in the front windshield.
“I was talking to Lucille and trying to get her to respond to me, and get her undone from her seatbelt.”
At this time, he added, “The car was pretty much all the way inflamed. They had started to spray fire extinguishers.”
A Sheridan firefighter pulled Anderson out of the windshield and had the equipment to take out the rest of the glass. And that was quickly removed.
Anderson ran back to the rear driver’s side window and reached in for the dog. It didn’t want to come when he got its collar, so he reached in and hugged it to his chest and carried the dog out. He brought the dog to Baumann.
Hanes, an unnamed firefighter and EMT pulled Pruhsmeier from the SUV. They put her on a gurney.
“She was hurting,” said Wheeler, “but she was not burned and she was conscious. What I remember is her bare feet coming out and the fire coming out. I expected to see her feet all burned.”
The bird, flapping wildly inside a Plexiglas cage with small breathing holes in the back of the SUV, was last to emerge, Anderson said. Hanes never saw the bird.
Afterwards, when the adrenalin subsided, Wheeler said, “I could have found a corner of the casino to sit down in and cry.”
“When the adrenalin wears off, you realize what happened,” said Hanes. “The emotions that get you afterwards: I could have bawled.”
“I was coughing from the smoke,” said Hanes. “Dawn couldn’t get a deep enough breath.”
Wheeler used “an old fireman’s trick,” he said. “I covered my face with my coat and didn’t get it as bad.”
Heffner, Hanes, Wheeler, Anderson and the crash victims ended up at the Willamette Valley Medical Center in McMinnville. Baumann went from there to Oregon Health & Science University Hospital in Portland.
At the hospital, Hanes found pieces of the tempered glass from the windshield in his jacket pockets.
“I got some plastic string on my glasses,” said Wheeler. “I hadn’t noticed until after.”
Anderson suffered from smoke inhalation with cuts on his leg and hand. “He had been punching the window,” said Hanes.
“We’re very proud of the unselfish, heroic actions our officers took during this harrowing rescue,” said Joann Mercier, director of Security for the casino. “They displayed tremendous courage.”
“It says even more that these guys stopped on their own time,” she added. “They don’t just do their job at work, but also outside of work.”
Anderson took in the dog and bird following the accident, said they were “100 percent OK.” The bird spent the weekend mimicking the coughing and gasping it had heard, Anderson said.
Baumann and Pruhsmeier were subsequently released from the hospitals. Baumann picked up her pets on Tuesday, June 5, and although she did not return a call for comment, she told Anderson that when things calmed down, she wanted to have everybody over for a barbecue.
“It was the most extreme circumstances,” said Hanes, “and the best result.”
Source:Smoke Signals
Largo man was arrested after he carried a concealed gun through airport security checkpoint www.privateofficer.com
Charles Wright, 45, attempted to pass through security at the airport at about 6:45 a.m., Pinellas sheriff’s deputies said. His backpack, when put through the checkpoint’s X-ray machine, was found to have a loaded Kel-Tec .32-caliber pistol inside.
Transportation Security Administration agents at the airport called the sheriff’s office. Wright, a boat mechanic, said he typically carried the gun while working at night for protection. He was on his way to Kentucky to visit relatives and forgot to remove the firearm from his bag, he said.
Wright was released Friday on a $5,000 bond, according to jail records.
source:tampabay.com
Yonkers man caught stealing flat screen televisions from Wal Mart www.privateofficer.com
Yonkers NY April 30 2012 A Yonkers man store security noticed wheeling two stolen flat screen televisions from Wal Mart was arrested Saturday evening while trying to drive away from the store, police say.
Police pulled over James Hankins, 45, near the intersection of Hamilton Avenue and Renaissance Square after security said he drove off in his black Jeep after leaving the store without paying. Police noticed the televisions in the back of the vehicle and made the arrest at about 8:15 p.m.
Security identified Hankins, of 198 Hawthorne Ave., as the man who stole the television. The 42-inch flat screen televisions are valued at $498 and $628.
Hankins was charged with grand larceny, a felony, and received a traffic citation because he did not have a valid license. He was held for court the following day.
Clearfield County Area Agency on Aging former employee sentenced in thefts www.privateofficer.com
Jodie Lorraine Yarger, 45, Brisbin, pleaded guilty to five counts each of forgery and theft by unlawful taking. She was sentenced to 60 days to one year in jail and four years consecutive probation. A condition of the plea agreement was that she pay $10,000 of the restitution prior to sentencing. She owes and additional $2,536. She is prohibited from being employed as a social worker.
The charges stem from incidents that occurred between Jan. 2005 and Sept. 2010. During this time Yarger was employed by the CCAAA as Director of Long Term Care Services. She was hired in Dec. 1999.
Prior to sentencing Judge Fredric J. Ammerman stated that he had received a letter from the victim’s children which “paints a pretty pathetic picture”. Yarger was trusted and she stole the victim’s money. What made it worse, Ammerman noted was that she was working for the CCAAA at the time.
Yarger apologized, explaining this was “the biggest regret of my life”.
According to the affidavit of probable cause, in July 2005 the victim was deemed unable to care for herself and was placed in a dementia unit of a nursing home. A court order made CCAAA her plenary guardian.
An investigation began after an attorney for the victim received a letter from a collection agency requesting information about the victim’s estate. The agency had a debt of over $1,500 from a credit card in the victim’s name. The address listed on the account was actually the address of CCAAA.
The collection agency had spoken with someone they were told was the victim’s daughter at a cell phone number registered to Yarger. As they tried to collect the debt, Yarger promised payment would be made and later told them the victim was deceased. She verified the last four digits of the victim’s social security number and said she would take care of the debt.
Because of this incident, employees of CCAAA began to look into the victim’s other accounts and discovered Yarger had written out several checks on a bank account and used electronic checks to pay for things. She also took out a loan on the victim’s life insurance policy for over $6,000. It is believed that Yarger obtained the victim’s check book when her personal possessions were taken to the CCAAA.
Seven former Erlanger hospital police officers file lawsuit for discrimination www.privateofficer.com
The Hamilton County Circuit Court lawsuit, filed April 5, says the men, ranging in age from 45 to 67, were fired a year ago while the hospital was replacing its police department with contracted workers from Walden Security, a Chattanooga-based company.
The plaintiffs — Jerry Lawrence, 56; Gary Talley, 49; Harold Holliday, 67; Kenneth Cookston, 59; Ronald Capetz, 64; Gary Avans, 66 — claim age discrimination in the April 2011 firings.
Rodney Patton, 45, claims race discrimination, but his race was not mentioned in the lawsuit.
In an email statement, Erlanger spokeswoman Pat Charles said the officers were not fired and had opportunities to apply for work with Walden Security at the hospital. Officers not listed in the lawsuit continue to work at the hospital, under Walden, she wrote.
One exhibit filed with the lawsuit is a private security assessment of Erlanger properties, which details recommendations for better control of entrance points and assesses the security staff.
The report, dated Feb. 5, 2010, and prepared by Security Assessments International Inc., based in Durham, N.C., also advises Erlanger on its police department.
The report states the department had done an “excellent job” protecting the hospital’s staff, patients and visitors, but it was “staffed below industry standards for the size, location and criminal demographics” of the hospital.
The report goes on to recommend that Erlanger retain a police department and increase staffing at the main hospital, Erlanger East and Southside and the Erlanger property on Dodson Avenue.
The plaintiffs’ attorney, Stuart James, said he was puzzled by Erlanger’s actions against his clients.
“What bothers me about this whole case is that security survey,” he said Wednesday. “Why did they hire Walden Security and replace all these guys who were otherwise qualified?”
Another claim within the lawsuit — that officers were only being paid for 71/2 hours per shift and not allowed breaks — should be easily provable, he added.
“I believe it’s a really good claim,” James said.
The lawsuit names Gregg Gentry, 54, then-senior vice president of human resources, and Charlesetta Woodard Thompson, 63, then-assistant to the Erlanger’s chief executive and operating officers. No specific damages were requested but will be added to the lawsuit later.
Gentry is now Erlanger’s chief administrative officer, and Thompson is now Erlanger’s interim president and chief executive officer.
Erlanger’s board of trustees voted unanimously to replace the police department with Walden in March 2011, and Walden took over in May 2011, Charles wrote. The hospital moved to using a private security firm as a commitment to the safety and security of the hospital, she said.
Walden Security services cost Erlanger $2.5 million annually, while the former department cost “in excess of $2 million,” Charles wrote.
Another factor in the move to private security was that neither Chattanooga nor Hamilton County would continue to certify Erlanger police officers, Charles wrote.
The report’s author explicitly advises that, in cases where hospitals choose to do this, “the quality of the replacement officers may not be up to the hospital’s standards.”
Police make arrest in 1998 Phoenix cold case www.privateofficer.com
The case was re-opened in 2009 and worked by members of the Phoenix Police Department’s Cold Case Homicide Squad after they received a grant to solve cold cases with DNA. Rivera was identified as a suspect after they processed the forensic evidence, police said. Rivera was interviewed by detectives and booked into a California jail on suspicion of homicide and armed robbery, police said. He will be extradited back to Arizona. In a news conference held by the Phoenix Police Department on Tuesday afternoon, Raies’ family remembered him as a well-liked and compassionate man. They expressed their gratitude to police for reopening the case, and they said they always had faith that their father’s killer would face justice.
source-azcentral.com
Davidson County Sheriff’s Office employee found drunk with guns www.privateofficer.com
MURFREESBORO, Tenn.March 6 2012 - A Davidson County Sheriff’s Office employee was arrested over the weekend in Murfreesboro after officers found him drunk and passed out in his car.
Kevin Cox, 45, was found asleep behind the wheel at the intersection of South Church Street and West Rutherford Boulevard shortly before 4 a.m. Saturday morning.
According to the arrest report, Cox was slumped over in the driver’s seat with his foot on the brake and the vehicle still in drive.
He later admitted he drove from Nashville after consuming alcohol there, according to the report.
Two guns were found in the trunk of Cox’s car.
Cox was charged with DUI and possessing a weapon while intoxicated and booked into the Rutherford County jail on a $2,500 bond.
He is scheduled to appear in court April 25.
Cox is the Director of Operations for the Hill Detention Center on Second Avenue North in Nashville.
Source:WKRN
Stafford Va police-Target security capture three people in store thefts www.privateofficer.com
North Stafford, Va. Feb 20 2012 – Authorities in Stafford County say they have three people in custody who have previously eluded sheriff’s deputies and security officers at big box retail stores.
Sheriff’s deputies were called to the Target store at Stafford Marketplace off Va. 610 in North Stafford at 3:09 p.m. Wednesday, after the store’s loss prevention officer reported seeing a man place a Bose surround sound system in his cart and head to the back of the store.
The same man fit the description of someone who just two days earlier at a Target store in south Stafford put a Bose system in his cart, and left with it through a rear employee entrance. The man placed it in a white Ford Ranger pickup with a ladder rack and left, said Stafford sheriff’s spokesman Bill Kennedy.
On Wednesday, the loss prevention officer at the Target in North Stafford also told deputies he saw a white Ford Ranger with a ladder rack sitting outside his store.
The suspect this time left the store without the surround sound system, and fled to the parking lot where he was later spotted getting into the white truck and leaving, said Kennedy.
A deputy followed the truck onto Va. 610 and stopped the vehicle. After questioning the three occupants inside the truck – one of them who matched the description of the man who had been inside the store – all three were charged, said Kennedy.
Mark King, 42, of Douglas Street in Fredericksburg, Timothy Trigger, 44, of Trigger Lane in King George, and Janet Ivy, 45, of Colonial Beach, all face grand larceny charges, said Kennedy. All three also face larceny charges in connection with the theft at the south Stafford Target store earlier this week, said Kennedy.
All three were held at the Rappahannock Regional Jail.
Kennedy said King, the man who was inside the Target store, is believed to have not taken the surround sound system after receiving a call on his cell phone alerting him to the sheriff’s deputies’ presence.
Source:potomaclocal.com
Charlotte Windstream employee used customer data to fraudulently buy thousands of dollars in merchandise www.privateofficer.com
Charlotte NC Jan 30 2012 A Windstream employee is in jail today accused of using customer data to fraudulently buy thousands of dollars in merchandise.
Walter Darnell Austin, 45, of Mt. Pleasant, was arrested Wednesday and is charged with felony identity theft. He is being held in the Rowan County Detention Center under a $10,000 bond.
The Rowan County Sheriff’s Office said warrants also have been issued on felony charges of identity theft trafficking, and obtaining property by false pretenses.
The charges come after a person recently contacted the Rowan Sheriff’s Office about packages being delivered to an abandoned home on Millbridge Road near China Grove. A surveillance operation was set up by the Sheriff’s Office and China Grove police earlier this week, and Austin was stopped as he allegedly tried to take two packages that had been delivered at the home.
Authorities said Austin’s name was not on the packages.
According to the Sheriff’s Office, Austin allegedly accessed old files of Windstream customers and used the information to open accounts with online retail companies. Austin then allegedly ordered merchandise from the websites and had the goods delivered to two abandoned houses in Rowan and Cabarrus counties.
Investigators said they found thousands of dollars in merchandise in an office Austin has in Kannapolis.
The Sheriff’s Office said Windstream is cooperating with investigators, and is working to help identify customers who may have been victims in the case.
Former Savannah-Chatham police officer pleads guilty to federal extortion charge www.privateofficer.com
Savannah GA Jan 22 2012 A former Savannah-Chatham police officer Friday pleaded guilty in federal court to extorting drugs and a cellphone at a downtown nightspot while working off-duty in uniform.
Floyd B. Sawyer Jr., 45, admitted to the extortion charge but stopped short of conceding he used force or intimidation in what he indicated was consensual conduct by the victim, an undercover FBI “source” posing as a drug dealer.
U.S. District Judge William T. Moore Jr. expressed concern over Sawyer’s characterization and only “conditionally” accepted the plea pending completion of a pre-sentencing report by probation officers.
“Then I may or may not accept this plea,” Moore said.
Sawyer will remain on pre-trial release pending Moore’s decision or sentencing.
Sawyer, who joined the force April 26, 2002, was fired by Chief Willie Lovett on Sept. 14, 2010, for violation of procedures unrelated to the extortion investigation.
FBI Special Agent Tim Fehmel testified that Drug Enforcement Administration officials reported in late April 2010 that an off-duty Savannah-Chatham police officer, whom he identified as Sawyer, was conducting illegal activity at the club, Deja-Groove, 310 Williamson St.
Agents re-created the scenario using a “source” from Atlanta posing as a drug dealer, and on May 22, 2010, Sawyer removed the “dealer” from the dance floor of the club and took him to the kitchen, Fehmel said.
There Sawyer and a second officer, Sgt. Kelvin Frazier, “toyed” with the source over a 20-minute period, threatened him with arrest and took the fake Oxycontin and a cellphone, First Assistant U.S. Attorney James Durham told Moore.
Sawyer kept the cellphone later used by a relative, and the drugs wound up with a small-time drug dealer associated with Frazier, Durham said.
Frazier pleaded guilty Wednesday to a charge he concealed Sawyer’s illegal activity in return for a nine-month prison sentence, based in part on his cooperation with investigators against Sawyer.
Sawyer admitted to Moore he took the cellphone but said he “didn’t have any knowledge of any drugs leaving that club at the time.”
He told Moore the victim willingly gave up the phone, stating “as long as he could go, we could keep everything.”
When Moore expressed concern over the characterization, Sawyer admitted he was in uniform and “jokingly or not” said his daughter would like to have the cellphone.
Moore pointed out the indictment accused Sawyer of using force and his official position against the victim.
“At no time did I threaten him, but I was in uniform,” Sawyer said, adding he felt his being in uniform did play a part in the victim relinquishing his property.
Moore, characterizing Sawyer’s comments that everything was consensual, said he was unpersuaded.
“I’ve got a problem with that,” he told Durham.
Source:Savannahnow.com
