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Hotel security finds man dead at Hyatt Regency Dallas www.privateofficer.com
Navy identifies 2 divers who died at Md. Army site www.privateofficer.com
The test facility, dubbed the “Super Pond,” is used to conduct shock testing of vessels, submarine systems and munitions. With a bottom measuring 300 feet in diameter and a maximum depth of 150 feet, the facility also has been used in testing torpedoes, missiles, warheads, amphibious and remotely controlled vehicles, underwater gun firing and acoustics. The sailors belonged to a unit whose salvage operations have included TWA Flight 800, Swiss Air Flight 111, the space shuttles Challenger and Columbia, and the Civil War ironclad USS Monitor. The unit also provided damage assessments and repairs on the USS Cole and participated in humanitarian missions following Hurricane Katrina and the 2010 earthquake that struck Haiti. Deputy Commander Capt. John Coffey said Wednesday, “Petty Officer Harris and Petty Officer Reyher were exceptional Sailors.”
Springville police arrest man for groping women at Walmart www.privateofficer.com
SPRINGVILLE MO March 21 2012 – Police in Springville are looking for victims of a man seen groping women at a Walmart.
Authorities say they’ve already arrested and booked 29-year-old Scott Andrew Halliday of Springfield, Mo., in connection with the gropings March 11. But they want to interview a second victim seen on surveillance video, and identify any other victims.
Officers responded to the store March 11 after hearing a man had followed a woman through the store, then grabbed her between her legs.
When they obtained security video a few days later, they saw the suspect had also grabbed the buttocks of another woman.
Halliday was arrested when detectives saw a car and driver matching the suspect description pulling into the Springville City Hall parking lot for an unrelated court appearance.
Palmyra High School teacher arrested for rape of student www.privateofficer.com
Marion County MO March 11 2012 A recently terminated Palmyra High School teacher was arrested Friday on charges of statutory rape, statutory sodomy and felony sexual contact with a student while on public school property.
Randall Shephard, 40, of Hannibal, Mo. is in the Marion County Jail on $100,000 bond after his arrest Friday.
The charges involve allegations that Shephard had sexual contact with a 16-year-old Palmyra High School student, according to a release from the Missouri Highway Patrol.
The investigation began Jan. 22 when district officials were notified of the allegations levied against Shephard.
The district placed him on administrative leave and he was officially terminated on Feb. 24.
Shephard spent two years with the Palmyra School District and taught communication arts. He was also an assistant football coach for the varsity football team.
“As soon as we became aware of it, we made sure that he wasn’t around kids,” Superintendent Eric Churchwell said Friday night. “We were looking out for their safety.”
Virginia Beach police charge U.S. Navy sailor in child’s death www.privateofficer.com
VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. Jan 16 2012— A U.S. Navy sailor from the Ozarks is charged in the death of a four-month old girl. The Navy Times is reporting that Micah Patterson, 22, of Seymour, MO was looking after his girlfriend’s baby Tuesday in Virginia Beach, VA when police received a call that the baby girl wasn’t breathing.
Emergency responders say they suspected child abuse, and police took patterson into custody. The victim, Aubrey Hannsz, died the next day in the hospital. Patterson has been charged with felony child abuse and neglect, but so far has not been charged with murder.
Patterson is being held without bond.
15 Year old charged in murder of missing Mo. girl www.privateofficer.com
Police did not release the teen’s gender or name and provided few other details about the person suspected of killing Elizabeth Olten. Cole County Sheriff Greg White has said the teenage suspect is not related to Elizabeth but was acquainted with her and is from the same area just west of Jefferson City.
Several hundred people braved soaking rain and cold weather to search a heavily wooded area near Elizabeth’s home after she was reported missing Wednesday evening. Police found Elizabeth’s body Friday afternoon after the suspect led them to a wooded area several hundred yards from her St. Martins house, White said.
“We had been in that area – actually more than once. The body was very well concealed,” said White, who would not say whether police believed Elizabeth had been killed there.
Under Missouri law, children as young as 12 can be charged as adults with first-degree murder. But the case must start in the juvenile court system while a hearing is held on whether to transfer it to an adult court. Juvenile court records generally are closed under Missouri law unless a judge grants an exception.
Cole County Juvenile Court Administrator Michael Couty said the suspect was in the custody of the juvenile justice system and would undergo a background and psychological check. Couty planned to request a hearing next week before a family court judge to determine whether the suspect should be tried as a juvenile or as an adult. That hearing would be closed to the public.
Police initially had said Elizabeth was last seen walking home from a neighbor’s house on Wednesday night. White said that timeline was developed through interviews.
But on Saturday, White declined to say whether police believed Elizabeth had started walking home when she encountered the suspect. He said many details could not be released to avoid risking the prosecution’s case and because the suspect is a juvenile.
An autopsy was being conducted Saturday to determine the time and cause of death.
Police would not say Saturday whether there had been a confession, nor would they describe the teen’s demeanor or offer more details about written documents that led them to the suspect. White also declined to say whether calls had been made from Elizabeth’s cell phone, which was found “very, very close” to her.
Police narrowed the primary search area after tracing the phone’s general location, but the phone’s battery had died by Thursday morning.
The Olten family has received help since Elizabeth’s disappearance from Missouri Missing, a group that highlights missing-person cases and provides emergency aid to families. Group spokeswoman Ra’Vae Edwards relayed a request for comment Saturday to Elizabeth’s family.
“They don’t have anything to say right now other than they’re working on arrangements for the funeral,” Edwards said, “And they wanted to thank the community for their support and prayers.”
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Bank robber leaves wallet behind www.privateofficer.com
Albert Vincent Perkins was charged with robbing First Federal Bank in Kansas City on Thursday.
Police said he walked into the bank, handed the teller a plastic bag and ordered her to give him all of the $100 bills.
Then he walked out of the bank—but left his wallet sitting on the counter.
The U.S. attorney’s office said the teller and a customer in the bank identified the photo on the driver’s license and another photo in the wallet as the robber.
Perkins was arrested Thursday night. Police say he took about $3,100.
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Missing 3 yr old found in National Forest www.privateofficer.com
Joshua Childers slipped out of his family’s mobile home near Arcadia in rural southeast Missouri around 11:30 a.m. Monday.
Two full days and nights of searching proved increasingly frustrating until around 4 p.m. Wednesday, when search volunteer Donnie Halpin, walking along an all-terrain vehicle trail about three miles from the boy’s home, spied a couple of stray dogs sniffing at something.
Halpin, 57, told The Associated Press he looked on the ground of a hollow near a creek bottom and saw the boy lying there, facing the other way. Unsure of the boy was alive, Halpin said, “Hey, Bud.”
“He jumped right up and grinned at me,” Halpin said. “I said, ‘You ready to go home?’ He said, ‘Yeah.’”
The child was evaluated and listed in fair condition, first at Iron County Hospital and later at Jefferson Regional Medical Center in Crystal City, where he was transferred because it has a larger pediatric unit. Ed Gast, CEO of Iron County Hospital, said Joshua’s parents issued a statement thanking everyone who helped in the search and asking for privacy.
Joshua was wearing a T-shirt, a pull-up diaper and sneakers when he wandered from his home Monday morning. Later that day, authorities found one of the sneakers near a pond.
By the time Halpin found him, Joshua was wearing only the shirt and one tennis shoe. He was also wet.
Halpin said he didn’t have any water but gave the child some candy, called 911 to let authorities know he had the boy, then took off his own shirt and wrapped the child in it and carried him about a half-mile to a house. A woman at the house fed Joshua, gave him milk and cleaned him up.
Joshua didn’t say much except that he was thirsty, Halpin said. But after two nights in the wet, chilly woods with little to wear, Halpin said the boy wasn’t crying or complaining.
“He hung on to me pretty tight,” Halpin said. “Outside of a few scratches, he was in really good shape.”
After the child was found, Madison County Sheriff David Lewis admitted searchers had been growing increasingly pessimistic. He figured that three days was about the limit for the boy’s survival in the wild without food and water.
“It’s a miracle,” Lewis said. “I’m so happy you can’t believe it.”
Hundreds of volunteers from as far away as St. Louis, 100 miles to the northeast, came to help in the search. So did professional search and rescue crews from dozens of agencies. The Missouri State Highway Patrol brought in planes. The state Water Patrol brought in divers and sonar. Dozens of dogs, horses, ATVs, even donkeys, scattered in the miles around the tiny home that sits along the wild, rocky terrain of the Mark Twain National Forest.
The area is home to bears, mountain lions, snakes. Three ponds sit within a couple of miles of the boy’s home, as do many creeks swollen by recent rains.
One of those rains came Tuesday night and Wednesday morning — so much that Halpin, a construction worker from nearby Fredericktown, was told to take the day off. So he showed up to volunteer. The search area was divided into grids. Halpin and seven others were assigned to a specific grid.
But after a few hours, Halpin became separated from the group. He was on his own, walking along the ATV trail, when he saw the dogs sniffing at the boy.
“I was just giggling, I was shaking,” Halpin said of his own reaction. “To see him in such good shape — it’s just amazing.”
The ordeal began innocently enough. The father works an overnight shift and was home sleeping Monday. The mother was watching the child and was briefly on the phone when the boy slipped out the back door.
The couple immediately realized the boy got out and searched the dense woods around their home for about 45 minutes before calling authorities, leading to the frantic search with the happy ending.
Halpin met the parents at the hospital. With twin granddaughters who just turned 4, he could empathize with what they had been through.
“They’re just happy, so happy to have their little boy back,” he said.
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Security officer wins lottery jackpot www.privateofficer.com
A security guard from Moberly is $91,481 richer after claiming the winning ticket from the Missouri Lottery’s Show Me Cash drawing on April 4. William Meachum, 45, thought the numbers “looked pretty familiar” when he looked them up online at work, but since he didn’t have his ticket with him at the time, he didn’t learn his fate right away.
“I usually check the numbers that night on Show Me Cash, but I didn’t think about it, because I didn’t expect to win anything,” he began. “I went to work, and I looked up the winning numbers online. I’ve been playing the same numbers for three months. When I saw those numbers, I knew the first two were mine. But I thought they all looked familiar!”
It was a long shift at work for Meachum, who says he was anxious to get home and check his ticket. “I got home and realized they (numbers) were all right,” he revealed. “I went by the station that I bought the ticket from and checked my ticket on the machine.”
Meachum received a few more surprises after returning to Moberly Mart, 1400 N. Morley St. in Moberly.
“It said $70,000 when I first bought the ticket, but when I checked it (ticket) at the store, it said $91,000, so my eyes got really big, and his (clerk) did, too,” he explained.
The clerk at Moberly Mart just happened to be a former student of Meachum’s.
“He (clerk) was just as excited as I was, because I used to be a substitute teacher, and I had this kid in school twenty years ago,” Meachum noted.
According to Meachum, who says the winning numbers “popped” into his head the day he purchased his winning ticket, he plans to adhere to his late mother’s request with his windfall.
“My mom died a few years ago, and we always talked about all the work we wanted to do to it (house),” he said. “Before she passed away, she asked me not to sell the house, so I moved in to it instead. Quite a bit of it (winnings) is going to go to whatever I can do to the house.”
Meachum was the 28th Show Me Cash Jackpot winner since the game began on Sept. 8.
Show Me Cash offers a rolling jackpot starting at $50,000, which increases by at least $5,000 at each drawing. To date, more than $3.3 million has been awarded in the game. For more information on Show Me Cash, visit Molottery.com.
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Inmate assaults security, escapes hospital www.privateofficer.com
Inmate assaults security, escapes hospital http://www.privateofficer.com
Authorities today are still searching for the escapee — identified as David M. Rocklage, 25, of St. Peters, who is charged with distributing cocaine.
Five police agencies have joined the search effort.
This isn’t Rocklage’s first escape.
On June 6, 2005, Rocklage escaped from police in St. Louis city after he was caught with heroin and cocaine. He was captured within hours, said Angie Morefield, public information officer for the Missouri Department of Corrections.
Rocklage’s latest brush with police began Saturday when he was arrested in Troy, Mo., for distribution of cocaine. He was being held on $75,000 bond at the Lincoln County Jail. While in jail, he complained of chest pain and was taken to St. Joseph Health Center. Lt. Andy Binder of the Lincoln County sheriff’s office said he’s not sure if Rocklage’s health complaint was real or a ruse.
“He’s probably a cocaine user, so having chest pains as a cocaine user is not uncommon,” Binder said.
Police say Rocklage began his escape about 9 p.m. Tuesday. At the hospital, he was being watched by a guard, or technically a “corrections officer” employed by the Lincoln County sheriff’s office. An inmate at the hospital normally would have his feet and arms shackled. But the guard took off the arm shackles so Rocklage could eat dinner and shackled his legs to the hospital bed, Binder said.
The guard was sitting in the hallway, outside the inmate’s hospital room, while Rocklage ate. The guard then “hears a bang and thinks it came from the elevator down the hall,” Binder said. The bang actually had something to do with Rocklage’s escape. He somehow managed to get the shackles off the bed rail. Rocklage locked himself in the bathroom.
As the hospital staffers came to help the guard unlock the bathroom door, Rocklage crawled through the ceiling of the bathroom. He dropped through ceiling tiles into a patient’s room — six rooms down the hall from where he began.
The guard saw Rocklage run into the hall toward an exit. The guard intercepted him, and they scuffled there. The guard fired his Taser from point-blank range. Because it was so close, the Taser’s darts didn’t have time to move past the Taser’s “blast door.”
“The 21 feet of wire got tangled up,” Binder said, “and it shocked both of them. It was all over both of them.”
Rocklage then tried to get the guard’s handgun.
“The corrections officer was in a fight for his life at that point,” Binder said.
Rocklage never did get the guard’s handgun.
They scuffled some more, crashing through a stairwell door. Rocklage then ran out of the hospital’s main entrance — with the leg shackle still attached.
Rocklage is a light-skinned black man, about 5-foot-5 and 155 pounds. He has tattoos on his chest, back and neck. Binder said there have been no sightings of Rocklage since his escape. Anyone with information should call the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Department at 636-528-6100.
Rocklage has served prison time for heroin and cocaine possession.
In December 2005, Rocklage was sentenced to three years in prison for two counts of possession of heroin, one count of possession of cocaine and escape from custody. About five months later, he was released from prison and put on probation. Three weeks after that, on April 26, 2006, Rocklage was sentenced to five years in prison for possession of a controlled substance. His probation was revoked and he was sent back to prison on Aug. 8, 2007. He was paroled on July 24, 2008.
Binder said he was unaware of Rocklage’s conviction for escaping St. Louis police custody in 2005.
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