Shoplifter gets no sympathy from judge www.privateofficer.com

Shoplifter gets no sympathy from judge http://www.privateofficer.com

ANDERSON SC April 4 2008 — A Spartanburg woman found no sympathy in an Anderson city court after pleading no contest to stuffing $600 worth of purses inside her dress at Belk’s in Anderson Mall.
Norvella Brown, 48, was arrested at 2:30 p.m. Friday, according to the Anderson police.
Monday, she pleaded with Judge Ken Mattison to allow her time to pay the $1,087.50 fine so that she could get out of jail and keep her job as a “chef at Hardee’s.”
“You have an extensive record of thievery all over this part of the world,” said Judge Mattison in denying her request.
According to the incident report, Ms. Brown used wire cutters Friday to remove security wire from the purses and attempted to hide the purses in a rack of clothes when confronted.
Monday, Ms. Brown begged the judge to trust her.
“I don’t trust you,” Judge Mattison said. “You’re a thief, ma’am.”
At that, Ms. Brown returned to her seat in the Anderson Municipal Court, sobbing at a level that caught the judge’s attention.
“Ma’am, please be quiet,” he said. “This is not your first rodeo.”

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Cop pleads guilty to sex crimes www.privateofficer.com

Former cop pleads guilty to sex crimes http://www.privateofficer.com

NEW HAVEN, Conn. April 4 2008 — A former East Windsor police officer pleaded guilty to using the Internet to lure an 11-year-old girl to have sex with him, federal prosecutors said.
Darren Dempsey, 39, of Mansfield, who is also known as Darren Seligman, appeared in New Haven federal court Thursday and pleaded guilty to one count of using an interstate facility to transmit information about a minor.
Dempsey will be sentenced June 18.

The FBI arrested Seligman at the East Windsor Police Department, where he was an officer. Dempsey has been jailed since his arrest in October and resigned from the police department Nov. 9.
U.S. Attorney Kevin O’Connor said the prosecution is part of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Project Safe Childhood Initiative, which tries to protect children from sexual abuse and exploitation.

Professional wrestler sentenced to life in prison www.privateofficer.com

Professional wrestler sentenced to life in prison

ATLANTA Ga. April 3 2008 — A former professional wrestler convicted of leading a sex trafficking ring has been sentenced to life in prison.
Forty-two-year-old Harrison “Hardbody” Norris of Cartersville was sentenced Tuesday in federal court in Atlanta.
Prosecutors say Norris ran a scheme to force women into prostitution.
Norris was convicted last November of numerous charges including conspiracy, commercial sex trafficking and witness tampering.
Four other people were previously sentenced in the case, two for having roles in the scheme and two for lying to investigators.
Norris has claimed he just ran training camp for women to become professional wrestlers

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Student arrested for having homemade taser at school www.privateofficer.com

Student arrested for homemade taser at school http://www.privateofficer.com

CLINTON, Conn. –April 3 2008
By: Rick McCann
Ntl Assoc. Private Officers
www.privateofficer.com

A student who brought a disposbale camera to school is now facing serious criminal charges after police say he intended on using it as a weapon, a homemade taser gun.
Police said a 14-year-old student who goes to the Morgan High School student is accused of attempting to fire the device at another student. Police said the device was made entirely from a disposable camera.
Sometime during class the school resource officer was made aware of the camera and came to investigate. That’s when the officer decided that it was a little more than a prank and took the student into custody.
But the teen’s father said that the school and police are blowing the incident out of proportion.
The boy’s father, Bret Haughwout, said that his son hadn’t modified the camera in any way, that he had just opened it up.
“All he did was bring a disposable camera, take it apart, demonstrate that if you press this button you get shocked,” Haughwout said.
The student has since been charged by the school resource officer with possession of a weapon at school, breach of peace and attempted assault.

“When dealing with electricity, you can cause injury or harm. We want to stress that these aren’t toys,” said Sgt. Jeremiah Dunn of the Clinton Police Department.

Officers said no one was injured in the incident.

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Man arrested for filing dog’s teeth down www.privateofficer.com

Dog owner arrested for filing dog’s teeth down http://www.privateofficer.com

McMINNVILLE, Tenn April 3 2008

By: Bryan Hill
Security News Magazine/www.privateofficer.com

Authorities in this small rural community say that they have arrested a man for what they are calling one of the worse cases of animal abuse in the county and possibly in the state of Tennessee.
Police that the man is accused of filing a dog’s teeth almost to its gums.
The dog, named Lucas’ was absoultely abused by the owner, Chris Barnett, who now faces felony charges of aggravated animal cruelty. Joy Percell, who testified at the preliminary hearing Tuesday, said she witnessed the filing on Feb. 16.
She said she was working on a dairy farm where Barnett was renting a home. She said what she was sickening.
“I saw him strike the dog several times in a row and then whatever this thing was he had in his hand, he put in the dog’s mouth and then he began to run it back-and-forth through the dog’s mouth. … Its head was jerking back and forth,” she said.
During testimony, some Warren County Humane Association representatives wept.
Maxwell Vincent, who rented the dairy farm, testified to what happened after the beating.
“He picked the dog up about chest high and said, ‘See, it’s alive.’ When he picked it up, a lot of blood came out of its mouth. And then he picked it up about chest high and then he tossed it back down on the ground,” he said.
Vincent said that Barnett told him that he filed the dog’s teeth because he was chewing on some wire fencing around the home.
While the defense tried to explain Barnett’s behavior, the judge was not sympathetic.
“It was just a sadistic beating,” said General Sessions Court Judge Larry Ross. “You don’t teach a dog to not chew by beating him and then filing his teeth off.”
The case was bound over to a grand jury.
Aggravated animal abuse charges could mean a $3,000 fine and two years in prison if a conviction is reached. The allegations of abuse of Lucas the dog garnered worldwide attention.
The Warren County district attorney said the office has received hundreds of phone calls from around the country in support of Lucas. A Web site has also been set up.

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Arrests made for threats on security officer www.privateofficer.com

Arrests made in threat on securiy officer incident http://www.privateofficer.com

Dunn NC. April 3 2008

By: Rick McCann
Ntl Assoc. Private Officers
www.privateofficer.com

Police responded earlier in the week to the Betsy Johnson Regional Hospital to assist the security officer because he said several people had threatened to assault him.
When officers arrived the suspects had fled but the security officer said that he felt great bodily harm would have come to him had he not gone into a hospital building and secured the door.
The four male suspects were faired to have been local gang members and could have been armed the security officer said.
Police investigated the threats further and were able to make arrests in this matter.

Four people have now been charged in this incident.

According to Dunn Police Lt. Rodney Rowland, Antonio Blake Bethea, 16, of Sandhills Apartments in Dunn and Donavan Derrell Covington, 20, of 2nd Street in Erwin were both charged with communicating threats.

Mr. Bethea was issued a citation while Mr. Covington was taken to the Harnett County Jail with an additional charge of contributing to the delinquency of minors.

He was held under $5,000 bond.

Lt. Rowland did not immediately know the ages of the two male juveniles charged, but said they’d been placed under juvenile disposition.

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Teacher charged with benefits fraud www.privateofficer.com

Teacher charged with benefits fraud http://www.privateofficer.com

Baltimore MD. April 3 2008 A federal grand jury has today indicted a Baltimore County public school teacher from Middle River for allegedly using a second Social Security number to defraud the government out of more than $180,000 in benefits.

Beverly J. Beard, 52, was arrested today after being indicted Wednesday on four counts of Social Security fraud and making false statements.

She illegally collected supplemental security income, Medicaid and federal housing assistance payments, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

She has worked since August 2001 as a full-time teacher with the Baltimore County public schools, prosecutors said.

The school system confirmed today that Beard was currently employed as a teacher, but schools spokeswoman Kara Calder said she was unable to determine where Beard worked. S

chools were closed today for spring break.

Prosecutors said Beard obtained two separate Social Security numbers in 1969 and 1970, and later used one of them to claim benefits that she was ineligible to collect.

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Security guard arrested for posing as police www.privateofficer.com

Security guard arrested for posing as police officer http://www.privateofficer.com

Victorville CA. April 3 2008
Justin Wayne Henson worked for a private security firm called California Housing Patrol and was responsible for watching over a Victorville apartment complex, officials said.
But the San Bernardino man is suspected of pretending to work for a much better known CHP — the California Highway Patrol.
San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department officials said Henson, driving a Crown Victoria equipped with red and blue lights, stopped a driver and collected personal information, and later harassed patrons at a High Desert roller rink.
Henson, 25, whom deputies suspect is a San Bernardino gang member, was arrested at his Pumalo Street home Wednesday night. He was held on charges of false imprisonment and impersonating a peace officer to benefit a criminal street gang, officials said.
During a search of his home, detectives found police computers, scanners and radios, lighting equipment and uniforms resembling those worn by officers in the Sheriff’s Movement Against Street Hoodlums, or SMASH, team, said Deputy Josh Conley, a member of the Sheriff’s Department’s gang team.
Henson is suspected of wearing a green shirt with shoulder patches and a cloth badge last Saturday near Victorville’s Holiday Skate Center. He had stopped a car in the area, taken the driver’s license and copied the personal information into a notebook, Conley said.
After letting that driver go, Henson pulled into the skating rink’s parking lot and used his car’s public address system to tell patrons to leave, Conley said. When an employee asked whether Henson was with the CHP, meaning the California Highway Patrol, he said yes, Conley said.
“He just looked suspicious,” Holiday Skate Center manager Dasha Luke said by phone Thursday. “We have a lot of kids at our facility, and we just wanted to verify he was an officer of the law. Apparently, he wasn’t.”
Someone wrote down the license-plate number of Henson’s black Crown Victoria. The car appeared to have been spray-painted by hand, officials said.
Henson was found in the area that night and questioned, but he was not arrested.
Sheriff’s detectives in Victorville gathered more evidence and obtained a search warrant for his home, then arrested him Wednesday. He was taken to jail, and bail was set at $50,000.
“He could have made a lot more contacts that we don’t know yet,” Conley said.
Conley said a motive has not been determined.

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Police want to ban “hoodies” www.privateofficer.com

Police want to ban “hoodies” http://www.privateofficer.com

Mobile AL. April 3 2008

Mobile Press

The Mobile Police Department wants to ban the sale of a specific kind of hooded sweatshirt that zips over the face and has been used in several recent robberies.
At a Friday afternoon news conference, two cadets modeled the hoodies the police were going after. One was adorned with logos of the rap duo the Insane Clown Posse, and the other was designed to look like an Egyptian sarcophagus.
Unlike ordinary hooded sweatshirts, which zip up to the neck, these garments zipped all the way to the top of the head. Designs were printed on the fabric covering the face, and the shirts had eyeholes cut into them.
I’m almost to the point of outrage concerning the hoodies,” Police Chief Phillip Garrett said. “I don’t think these should be sold. The only reason you would buy one is to disguise your identity.”
The Police Department is looking into writing an ordinance outlawing the sale of the clothing, Garrett said.
The chief also asked that parents go through their teenagers’ closets and cars to see if they own any hoodies. Even if they are not committing a crime, kids wearing the outfits could put themselves at risk of being mistaken for criminals by police, Garrett said.
“I don’t want anybody to get hurt, the child or the police officer,” Garrett said. “But that’s going to happen at some point if this doesn’t slow down.”
Deputy Chief Jim Barber said the hoodies are not just offering camouflage to hardened criminals. Normally good kids are committing crimes because the hoodies give them a feeling of invulnerability, he said.
“This is what’s motivating people who otherwise would not commit crimes to commit some very serious crimes, armed robbery in particular,” Barber said.
But while the hoodies have been worn in a number of recent crimes, Barber said, robbers wearing hoodies are not part of an organized gang.
“There is no hoodie gang,” he said. “There is a hoodie garment that seems to be motivating people to do a lot of things they otherwise wouldn’t.”
Mobile has a mask ordinance that outlaws people covering their face in public outside of Mardi Gras activities. But police officials said it doesn’t apply to the hoodies until they are zipped up, and by then it’s often too late.

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Attorney indicted for million dollar theft www.privateofficer.com

Attorney indicted for million dollar theft http://www.privateofficer.com

Baltimore MD. April 3 2008
A federal grand jury indicted a former employee of a Baltimore County law firm and accused him of stealing $1 million from his employer and then setting the offices on fire to cover his tracks, prosecutors said yesterday.
George Michael Perez, 32, of Dundalk faces wire fraud, arson and money laundering charges in connection with alleged thefts from Wittstadt & Wittstadt P.A., and the three-alarm fire at the firm’s former offices at 40 S. Dundalk Ave., according to the indictment.
A message left with Mark H. Wittstadt, the firm’s managing partner, was not immediately returned yesterday afternoon. The firm focuses on real estate law, specifically foreclosures and evictions, according to its Web site
According to the indictment, the firm deposited profits from the sale of foreclosed properties in an escrow account at First Mariner Bank, which could be managed via online banking.
Perez, who worked in the firm’s accounting department, would meet monthly with Wittstadt to review account statements. At those meetings, Perez supplied his boss with altered Microsoft Excel spreadsheets that showed normal activity to conceal transfers into Perez’s personal bank account at Bank of America, according to the indictment.
From Dec. 12, 2005, to April 12, 2007, the indictment alleges, Perez made 14 wire transfers totaling $1.04 million from the First Mariner account to his personal one, and then set fire to the office on April 23, 2007, 11 days after the last transfer.
The fire, which was reported about 1:30 a.m., caused an estimated $800,000 in damages to the six-story building, said Donna Welsh of the Baltimore County Fire Department.
The fire was started “at multiple points” and brought under control at 3:44 a.m., she said. One firefighter was taken to Mercy Hospital with minor injuries.
Perez faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison for each of the 10 wire fraud counts; 10 years for each of the five money laundering counts; and a mandatory minimum sentence of seven years in prison for arson, according to the U.S. attorney’s office for Maryland.

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Mother charged with shoplifting with son www.privateofficer.com

Mother charged with shoplifting with son http://www.privateofficer.com

Tipton TN. April 3 2008
A Drummonds mother apparently has been enlisting her 13-year-old son as her shoplifting sidekick, police said this week.
In early March, an Atoka liquor store’s surveillance camera captured Melissa Rodriguez, 32, sneaking bottles of alcohol to her son, who stashed them under his jacket, investigators said.
Wednesday, police charged Rodriguez — who has many aliases — with theft under $500 and contributing to the delinquency of a minor. She was released from the Tipton County Jail on $5,000 bond.
The mother’s arrest stemmed from a purse-snatching investigation in Munford, police said.
On March 21, two boys stole an elderly woman’s purse in the parking lot of Fred’s on Munford Avenue, said Munford Police Chief Jim Harger. “They said, ‘Hi,’ then stole her purse.”
Someone recognized the boys and called police, Harger said. Investigators tracked down the boys, 13 and 14, and found the woman’s purse and wallet.
Thursday, the boys were being held on theft charges in Memphis juvenile detention, police said. They have a court hearing in Tipton County Monday. Tipton does not have a juvenile detention facility.
Rodriguez may be charged with helping her son and the other boy in the purse-snatching, Harger said.
This week, a Tipton County Sheriff’s investigator recognized the 13-year-old boy from the shoplifting at Atoka Wine & Spirits. The teen faces charges in that case, Atoka police said.
Investigators said the mother and son may be linked to other shoplifting cases.
Contact Sherri Drake at 529-2510. To read more stories on the Web by this reporter, go to commercialappeal.com, click on Contact Us at the top of the home page and then click on her name.

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Walmart shopper arrested for voyeurism www.privateofficer.com

Walmart shopper arrested for voyeurism http://www.privateofficer.com

Shreveport LA. April 2 2008

By: Rick McCann

Ntl Assoc. Private Officers

www.privateofficer.com

A Shreveport man is in trouble and has been arrested over the weekend for taking pictures of women’s derrieres at a local store.
Police say that they were called to the store after the husband of one of the women saw a man following his wife and taking pictures. He confronted the man and dialed 911.
Police say that Ernest Anye, 36, was using a camera to take about 30 pictures of parts of the women’s bodies as they shopped at the Wal-Mart on Shreveport-Barksdale Highway Saturday night, police said

Store security was able to locate him still on Walmart property and took him into custody and detained him until police arrived.

He was arrested after officers determined that he had been taking pictures of womans rear ends and he was later booked on a charge of video voyeurism.
Police Department spokeswoman Kacee Hargrave said Anye told officers he intended to use the pictures for self-gratification.
Police have seized the camera.

It was not made known whether Anye posted bond or if he confessed to other similar crimes.

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Police capture shoplifting ring leader www.privateofficer.com

Police capture shoplifting ring leader http://www.privateofficer.com

From Aiken Standard
Aiken SC April 2 2008 An Aiken County man who has made a habit of running from police had an unexpected visit from South Carolina, Georgia and City of Aiken law enforcement officers Friday morning, according to officials.
William M. Fields, 37, of Warrenville, was captured shortly before noon at the Georgia Inn on Belair Road in Columbia County, said a spokesperson with the Columbia County Sheriff’s Office.
Fields waived extradition late Friday and Aiken Public Safety brought him back to Aiken and is now being held at the Aiken County detention center.
For several months in 2006, Fields was listed as one of Aiken Public Safety’s Most Wanted suspects on allegations he was the leader of a well-orchestrated shoplifting ring.
After narrowly escaping arrest several times, Aiken Public Safety investigators said the man contacted them in August 2006 and said he would turn himself in, but police gave the suspect a deadline to surrender, and that day came and went, officials said.
Shortly after that, while still on the run, Fields contacted the Aiken Standard to take issue with the Public Safety’s description of him as the “ring leader” behind the operation.
“I’m not saying I wasn’t involved … I might be accessories to one or two of the charges they’re talking about, but I ain’t never walked out of the store with stuff,” he said in September of 2006.
Fields was able to avoid capture until December 2006 when Public Safety, working with a number of other local and state agencies, including Aiken and Edgefield counties sheriff’s offices, arrested him after a footchase near a mobile home just outside of North Augusta in Edgefield County.
He was jailed but was out on a $75,000 bond when his case went to court in December 2007.
The day after the jury was selected, the Warrenville man skipped out on his trial, and police, once again, began searching for the man.
On Friday the chase came to an end, officials said.
“Our investigation led us to Columbia County and he was picked up immediately,” Aiken Public Safety Detective Kirk Owen said. “He didn’t put up a fight.”
Fields is accused of stealing merchandise valued at more than $7,000 from the Target on Whiskey Road in June 2006 and, along with a man and two minors, is accused of stealing an estimated $1,500 worth of goods from an Aiken Bi-Lo grocery store the following month, according to arrest warrants.
Public Safety officers spent several months in 2006 looking for Fields, eventually arresting a number of his alleged cohorts.
He is charged with felony shoplifting, shoplifting of more than $1,000 and two counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor.
Other charges may be pending.

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Armed shoplifter scares shoppers www.privateofficer.com

Armed shoplifter scares shoppers http://www.privateofficer.com

Boston MA. April 1 2008

By: Rick McCann
Ntl Assoc. Private Officers
www.privateofficer.com

Shoppers at a local Lord & Taylor’s store on Boylston Street in Boston Mass. were friegtened and scared when a shoplifting apprehension got out of hand and the shoplifter began to yell that he was armed and would open fire if security personnel didn’t back off.
.“Don’t make me pull this out!” Mark W. Coburn, 33, of Boston, allegedly warned security personnel while reaching for his waist. The officers backed off and Coburn bolted from the department store, according to police.
Boston police officers responded and combed the area near the store and was able to locate a male subject that matched the description of the shoplifter.
Police arrested the suspect at the corner of Clarendon and Stanhope streets, charging him with shoplifting and armed robbery, police report.
Police did not say whether or not they recovered a weapon from Coburn.

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Alert mall officer aids in burglary arrests www.privateofficer.com

Alert mall officer aids in burglary arrests http://www.privateofficer.com

LAWRENCE NJ March 30 2008 — An alert Quaker Bridge Mall security officer is being credited with foiling a burglary after she witnessed the alleged crime Thursday morning via a video surveillance camera, police said.
Township police said they received a call at 7:19 a.m. Thursday from Crystal Brown, a security officer at the Route 1 mall, advising that through security cameras she was watching three people break into the Piercing Pagoda kiosk.
While individual stores are not open for business at that hour, the mall itself is open for use as an exercise venue by so-called “mall walkers,” police said.
Brown told police she had watched on the cameras as the suspects walked around different parts of the mall in what police believe was an effort to blend in with the exercise-seekers.
Lawrence officers, aided by West Windsor officers, quickly secured the mall’s exits. Two of the suspects — Dantay Robinson, 38, of Philadelphia and a 17-year-old male whose name was not released — were detained as they tried to leave by Officers Robert Loveless, Richard Laird, Ronald Buchanan and Thomas Everist, police said.
The final suspect, Jerome Faison, 39, of Philadelphia, was followed on the surveillance cameras by Brown and, after a brief foot chase, was arrested by Sgt. Timothy Drew and Detective Joseph Lech, police said.
Police said the trio had stolen about $470 worth of jewelry from the kiosk.
All three were charged with burglary, theft, and possession of burglary tools, police said, noting that Faison was also charged with resisting arrest and both he and Robinson were charged with employing a juvenile in the commission of a crime.
Lech and Officer Ed Budzinski are continuing the investigation.

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