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Renaissance Academy fight leads to arrests, injuries www.privateofficer.com
Two students were injured and 17 will be charged after a large fight today at Renaissance Academy, said Lt. Max Hayden of the Virginia Beach Police Department.
The two students who were hurt were treated for facial injuries and were treated at the school by paramedics, Hayden said.
Twelve of the students, all juveniles, will be charged with either assault or disorderly conduct, Hayden said. Their names will not be released because they are juveniles. Five of the students involved are adults who will be charged with disorderly conduct.
No officers or staff members of the school were injured, Hayden said. One school division employee suffered minor injuries and one student will be charged in connection with that injury, Hayden added.
The incident began about 12:35 p.m. with a fight between several students, then escalated when security guards and the school’s resource officer tried to break it up, Hayden said. When the police officer used his radio to call for backup, other officers and supervisors who heard the broadcast went to the scene to help.
The school was locked down from 12:45 to 2 p.m., said Nancy Soscia, school division spokeswoman. Classroom doors were locked as well as doors leading to the outside of the building.
About 12 officers and supervisors went to the school to help break up the fight, Hayden said. Pepper spray was used to help regain control of the situation, Hayden added.
The school is located at 273 N. Witchduck Road. Soscia said that the school will have an increased police presence on Monday in response to the incident.
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NY “Teacher of the Year” arrested for sex abuse of students www.privateofficer.com
A Bronx high-school dean was arrested Tuesday for allegedly molesting a 14-year-old male student, officials said.
Johnathan Huff, who was named “Teacher of the Year” in 2007, according to the NY Post, was charged with forcible touching, endangering the welfare of a child and sex abuse while classes were being held Saturday at the Urban Assembly Academy for History and Citizenship for Young Men, authorities said.
The dean allegedly fondled the boys privates over his clothes, according to officials, who said they were first alerted to the molestation via a 911 call on Monday.
The school is part of the the Taft High School campus in Mount Eden.
Huff will not be allowed back at the school while investigations continue, but former students said the charges seemed out of character.
“I can’t tell you what a person is capable of doing but I wouldn’t picture him being capable of doing that,” Iris Mendy, a one-time pupil, told NY1.
“Every morning he’d open the doors, humble, saying hi to everybody, he wasn’t that type of guy that would be touching a 14-year-old,” said former student Ivan Echavarria, according to NY1
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ON DUTY: Hospital Police www.privateofficer.com
lancastereaglegazette.com– Ask a Fairfield Medical Center police officer how his squad car is different from that of a security guard, and you’ll want to take a seat.
The nine-man police force at FMC gets its share of exciting moments, whether they happen in the hospital, in the city of Lancaster or other jurisdictions such as Amanda, Bremen and Millersport, where other FMC offices are located.
They also are prepared to respond to whatever is thrown at them.
All officers at FMC have completed Ohio peace officer training and carry firearms, Tasers and pepper spray like all other law enforcement agencies. They can make arrests, unlike at most hospitals that employ security guards who can only detain suspects.
“If something were to happen here right now, today, we can make an arrest, we can process them through the system, and we can take them to jail,” FMC Police Chief Steve Anderson said.
One of the most recent arrests came in June, when an FMC employee walked into the hospital with a gun and the intention of confronting an employee.
Officer Terry Swinehart, who made the arrest, said 35-year-old Chester Henson first searched for the female employee at her home, then arrived to the hospital to look for her June 12. Swinehart knew he could expect a visit from Henson, having just talked to the female employee’s husband, who called FMC about Henson’s arrival to the couple’s home.
Swinehart warned the employee’s department of the possible situation and soon got word Henson was in the second-floor laundry room. Swinehart climbed the back stairwell and approached Henson from behind. He lightly grabbed him by the arm and tried to coax Henson to walk down the steps and talk about why he came.
“We got about halfway down the hall, and that’s when he reached into his belt and pulled out a gun,” Swinehart said.
Until that moment, no one knew the man was armed.
“As a police officer, in the back of your mind you always think there is a possibility they could have a weapon, but there were other employees there, and I just wanted to get him out of that area.”
Henson then pointed the gun toward the female employee.
“He acted; I reacted. I just went over his back and grabbed the gun and was able to get my hand on top of the hammer as he was pulling the trigger,” Swinehart said.
The two struggled with the gun until Swinehart wrestled it away from Henson.
He said he’s never been in that kind of situation with a suspect in his 20-plus years in law enforcement.
Nevertheless, he has to be prepared for it.
That incident, he said, has made FMC police stand out better at the hospital.
“Since this incident came about, people are a little more aware that we actually have a real, bona fide police department under our roof, which is really key.”
FMC police also act as backup for other agencies, such as the Fairfield County Sheriff’s Office and Lancaster Police Department.
FMC Officer Larry Mitchell in March arrested a suspect who attempted to steal scrap metal from Fabricated Packaging on Commerce Street. He followed two suspects on a chase through the woods before capturing one.
Lancaster police followed and made the second arrest.
Other emergency situations include one suspect who was drunk and climbed to the top of the parking garage and threatened to jump off, and another who also was drunk and tried to kick in a second-story window after climbing up the loading dock.
The squad also does vehicle jump-starts and lockouts, as well as picking up staff in their two 4-wheel-drive sport utility vehicles when they can’t make it into the hospital in the winter.
Three members of the FMC force are trained in Special Weapons and Tactics, two in hostage negotiations, two in firearms instruction and two in Taser instruction, he said.
Anderson punctuated that list with, “So, that’s how we’re different from security.”
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Security officer shoots armed men during robbery www.privateofficer.com
Brownsville police are investigating a robbery gone wrong and that ended with two suspects shot. One of the suspects remained in critical condition Tuesday.
The shooting took place at approximately 11:15 p.m. Monday at 620 Paredes Line Road at the Cherry 777 Arcade, said police spokesman Sgt. Jimmy Manrrique.
A 20-year-old man and a 15-year-old boy tried to rob the arcade with pellet guns, but an armed security guard thought the suspects were armed with handguns, Manrrique said. The security guard discharged his weapon, hitting the man twice and grazing the teen in the head, Manrrique said.
“There was an armed security guard at the entrance of the arcade who confronted the two while they tried to rob the place,” the spokesman said. “He shot them, striking the 20-year-old twice on his torso while he grazed the 15-year-old in the head with a .40 caliber Glock pistol.”
The two managed to get in a silver Lincoln Navigator and flee the scene, only to be stopped shortly after by a Cameron County Sheriff’s Department Deputy for running a stoplight, he said.
“We received a call from a sheriff’s deputy who had stopped a vehicle after it ran a red light at Price (Road) and Paredes Line Road,” Manrrique said. “As soon as they were pulled over both of them came out of the vehicle saying that they had been shot and collapsed right there on the ground.”
The man was listed in critical condition at Valley Regional Medical Center- Brownsville.
“Were still waiting to see if he pulls through (survives, so he can be charged),” Manrrique said. “The next 24 hours are going to be very critical for him to determine if he pulls through and survives this shooting.”
The Brownsville Herald typically does not publish the names of suspects until they are charged. The names of juveniles are not published unless they are indicted to stand trial as an adult.
The teenage suspect was stable and out of danger, recovering while under guard at Valley Baptist Medical Center-Brownsville, the spokesman said.
Police were still interviewing witnesses and investigating the arcade to determine if it was operating according to Texas laws or paying out cash in violation of the law, Manrrique said.
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Detroit police officer kills wife, self www.privateofficer.com
At about 9 a.m., Ed Williams, 36, of Canton Township shot his wife, Patricia, who was an officer at Detroit’s Northwest District, following an argument in the parking lot of the Canton Public Library, police said.
Both were taken to area hospitals, Canton Township Police Sgt. Mark Gajeski said. Patricia Williams died on her way to the hospital, Gajeski said. Ed Williams was initially on life support, but police confirmed his death about 2:30 Tuesday afternoon.
Canton Police had responded to a domestic dispute at the couple’s home this weekend, Gajeski said. At about 8:30 Tuesday morning, a friend called police to report that Patricia Williams was on her way into the Canton Police station to report another domestic incident, Gajeski said.
Ed Williams met his wife in the parking lot and fired more than one shot at her for unknown reasons, Gajeski said.
Patricia Williams was in the process of retiring from the police force due to a hand injury and was planning to go into real estate, friends said.
“Obviously, this is a personal tragedy for the family, but also for the Detroit Police Department,” 2nd Deputy Chief John Roach said.
“Since the shooting happened in Canton, it’s their investigation, although we’ll assist,” Roach said.
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Fairfax County teacher found in car with teen arrested www.privateofficer.com
Officers arrested 27-year-old Valerie Roesler, of Alexandria, after finding her with the boy in a Mitsubishi Lancer parked on Gunston Hill Lane, police said.
The boy was away from his home without his parents’ knowledge, officials said.
Roesler taught at Hayfield Secondary School but has been suspended without pay.
Roesler and the boy agreed to meet in the parking lot where they were caught.
Roesler faces charges of public drunkenness and contributing to the delinquency of a minor.
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Hospital guard arrested for child porn www.privateofficer.com
Charles James Brown, 61, was charged with five counts of sexual performance by a child, the sheriff’s office said.
Investigators said they have been investigating the downloading and distribution of child pornography on the internet. Through the investigation, the sheriff’s office learned last month that Brown had child pornography material, the sheriff’s office reported.
Brown was arrested at his Clearwater home without incident.
There is no evidence that Brown conducted himself inappropriately at the hospital, the sheriff’s office said.
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Honest people return $10,000 found in bag www.privateofficer.com
That was the case Wednesday when Kim Smith, 46, of Kearney, Neb., and her son Logan Potter, 18, found $9,620 in $20 bills lying on the street in north Kearney.
At first, Smith didn’t know exactly what it was the two drove on 48th Street in between Kmart and Target.
“It looked like a notebook like the kids carry in school,” said Smith who works at Kearney’s Red Lobster. “I’m famous for picking up stuff.”
So Smith turned around, and Potter picked up the dark-colored bag lying along the curb near Kmart’s north entrance. The bag was locked and had numbers and letters on it.
Smith, a self-described scavenger, and Potter took the bag home and tried to unlock it.
“I’m all the time seeing something in the road, and I’ll say, ‘Hey, what is that?’” Smith said with a chuckle.
After several attempts to unlock the bag, Smith cut it open and found the single 4-inch thick stack of bills wrapped in rubber bands. A tag inside the bag said the bag belonged to Rochester Armored Car service.
I just thought, ‘Holy cow. We just found a bag full of money,’” Smith exclaimed. “And I thought, ‘Oh, my God, there has to be $5,000 or $10,000 in here.’”
Smith and Potter started counting the money, but got too nervous about the quantity they were dealing with and called the Kearney Police Department.
“This is like the find of the century, but we’ve got to give it back,” Smith remembered thinking. “It was scary and an exciting heartbreak all in one hour.”
It isn’t known how the bag ended up on the street, and a spokesperson with Rochester Armored Car of Grand Island declined to comment. But Kearney Police Chief Dan Lynch said “good Samaritan” wasn’t a strong enough description for Smith and Potter.
“That’s a stroke of honesty that you may not find in every instance,” he said. “I think they did the right thing the right way.”
Wednesday isn’t the first time Smith has found something lying in the road. She has found wallets – which she’s returned – various tools, a Navy knife, two Game Boys, a sapphire bracelet and cell phones.
“I’ve just found all kinds of stuff,” she said with a laugh. “I’m a scavenger, and it pays off sometimes.”
Smith, who tries to set a good example for her children, never considered keeping the money.
“It was more of a scarier feeling to think about keeping it than it was to give it back,” she said. “It would’ve been nice to have. But that would’ve been too big of a secret.”
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S.C. Trooper killed in memorial ride www.privateofficer.com
Kershaw County Sheriff’s Capt. David Thomley said 41-year-old Jonathan Nash was driving the lead motorcycle on a memorial ride for Trooper H. Merl Godbold.
Six Highway Patrol motorcycles and two HP patrol cars with their lights activated, escorting a group of motorcycles from Camden Middle School to Bishopville and back to Camden.
Thomley said Nash was hit by a car pulling out of a parking lot onto Highway 1 in Camden, and was killed.
“L/Cpl. Nash was an excellent trooper who had earned the distinction of serving on the motor unit,” said Highway Patrol Col. Kenny Lancaster, Jr. “Trooper Nash was well-loved and would be the first to step up and help anyone. This is a tragedy compounded because L/Cpl. Nash was killed during a charity ride to honor another trooper killed on the same roadway.”
Nash, a resident of Union County, joined the Highway Patrol in 1994. He served in the United States Marine Corps from 1986-1993. He is a native of Manatee, Florida.
He is survived by his parents, Dan and George-Ann Nash, both of Anderson, SC, and a 14 year old daughter.
The collision is being investigated by the Richland County Sheriff’s Department at the request of the Kershaw County Sheriff’s Office. Thomley wasn’t sure about the possibility of any arrests in the wreck.
Trooper H. M. Godbold was killed in the line of duty by a drunk driver in February 1992. Godbold’s family has organized the ride in his honor since 2006.
Funeral arrangements for Nash will be released by the Highway Patrol at the wishes of his family.
On The Job: Mall Security Maryland www.privateofficer.com
With thousands of visitors each day, malls are a hub of everyday life. But they can also be a place where thieves and other criminals prey on unsuspecting victims
Anne Arundel County is home to three malls – Westfield Annapolis, Marley Station and Arundel Mills – that boast millions of visitors each year. Each has its own security system and has had its own share of police calls in recent years.
In most categories, Arundel Mills outpaces the other two malls for reports of crime, with Westfield Annapolis second and Marley Station third.
But police and mall officials said despite the high-profile nature of crimes that happen at malls, they’re safe places to come and shop.
The layout and the sheer number of people who visit malls can present a challenge to police, but the department has a good working relationship with each of the malls, said Justin Mulcahy, a county Police Department spokesman.
Each mall employs officers who work there as a second job, and the added police presence helps to reduce crime, he said.
Also, alert officers can help stop a serious crime before it happens.
“The volume of people is somewhat of a challenge, but I feel like they are well-covered” with police protection, Mulcahy said.
Police ratchet things up during holidays, he added, with extra patrols and enforcement correlating with the holiday rush. Officers also man educational booths, offering safety tips to customers on preventing theft and securing their vehicle properly.
For coverage, the malls use a combination of bike and foot patrol, officers in cars and undercover details, when necessary. Segways also are used in the Westfield Annapolis and Arundel Mills malls.
Scott deGraffenreid, marketing director for Westfield Annapolis, said shoppers should feel safe and comfortable there.
“The safety and security of our shoppers is always a top priority for us,” he said.
Highly visible security guards and county police officers are part of the mall’s comprehensive security plan, which also includes surveillance cameras and foot and vehicle patrols.
“There’s no question, you should always see a security guard or a police officer,” he said. “They’re visible everywhere. It’s part of their job to be visible.”
Security guards frequently give employees and customers rides to their car. Additionally, on some Sundays before Westfield opens to shoppers, the mall holds drills in which employees practice for emergencies, deGraffenreid said.
Police also said they wanted to remind people they also can take their own safety steps to help reduce crime. Always lock your car, park in a well-lit area, and keep valuables out of sight, in the trunk if possible, Mulcahy advised. It also helps to have a companion with you; if you don’t have one and feel uncomfortable, ask mall security for an escort, he said.
Steve Andrews, manager of Marley Station mall, said the mall is staffed with security 24 hours a day.
Though they don’t have a traffic count, he estimated close to 3 million people visit the mall each year to shop at its 120 stores.
Because it’s a regional mall, bringing in visitors mostly within a 10-mile radius, the crime problems it has reflect those of the area, Andrews said.
“The biggest concern securitywise is sometimes we have elderly customers who forget where they park their car,” he said. “It’s really indicative of the neighborhood.”
Marley Station has reported three robberies and 11 assaults so far this year. Thefts, a perpetual problem for malls, were low compared to the other malls in the county: Marley Station reported 163, compared to more than 300 at the other locations.
“We’re very much a local mall that gets the local customer,” Andrews said. “We don’t really see an influx of serious, reportable crime.”
Wendy Ellis, Arundel Mills spokeswoman, said she wishes more people knew what the facility offered in terms of crime prevention. The mammoth shopping center is ranked as one of the top destinations in Maryland, and it sees 14 million to 16 million visitors each year.
Public safety is “a No. 1 priority,” at the mall, Ellis said. It has an extensive closed-circuit camera system that shoots both interiors and exteriors of the building, and 24-hour-a-day monitoring. The mall also hires county police officers as a second job and has patrols on bike, foot, Segway and car.
But people don’t always know that they can get a security escort to their car if they feel uncomfortable going alone. There are pay phones throughout the mall that can directly link customers to mall security employees.
And it’s not too late to change your mind when you get to the parking lot, Ellis said.
“If something doesn’t look right, or feel right, go back in,” she said.
Mall employees, which number 2,000 to 5,000 depending on the time of year, are aware of the safety measures and regularly attend awareness meetings, she said.
What it comes down to is this: Malls have what thieves want – people with money and merchandise, Ellis said.
Arundel Mills has seen a slight uptick in robberies – as of last month, the facility had already seen one more robbery than it had in all of 2008. Difficult economic times may be responsible for some of the uptick, but it’s hard to say for sure, Ellis said.
But the 15 robberies the mall had up until Aug. 19 represents a tiny percentage of shoppers who went to the mall and didn’t get robbed, she said.
“Shopping malls get a bad reputation, and it really isn’t deserved,” Ellis said.
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Vegas US Justice Associates raided www.privateofficer.com
The counseling company raided this week in an extortion investigation had run its business plans past Metro Police several times in the past two years, and in 2007 a uniformed department spokesman even briefly starred in the company’s marketing video.
“I never heard a negative thing about it. I thought I was doing a great thing for the community,” the owner of the company, Steven Brox, told the Sun on Thursday.
Two days earlier Metro detectives had spent about eight hours searching the office of Brox’s United States Justice Associates, 1212 South Casino Center Blvd., for records and other material connected to a moneymaking program authorities now say amounted to an end-run around the justice system.
Brox’s program worked like this: When casino security guards detained people on misdemeanor charges — such as trespassing, disorderly conduct and petty theft — they would attempt to route the detainees into the program as an alternative to calling police to arrest them. While the people were detained, they were shown a video that presented them with the “option” of enrolling in the program to avoid a criminal record. The detainees were charged $500 to enroll, and Brox paid $100 to the casinos for each person who completed the program.
In spring 2007, Brox was able to get one of the department’s public information officers, Jose Montoya, to appear as the program’s spokesman on the video Brox intended to use to pitch the program — until Sheriff Doug Gillespie saw the video and instructed the department not to become involved in the private enterprise.
Brox said he replaced Montoya with an actor, and then distributed the video to casinos in his effort to recruit the people detained on the minor charges.
Brox showed the Sun copies of both videos, and they use the same script. He said the production company simply superimposed the actor over Montoya on the video.
Police now say in court documents that the video was “very threatening” toward program participants because it implies that people being detained will go to jail if they don’t enroll and complete the program.
Brox, however, said the program provided a service to not just the casinos but the police, their overcrowded jail and the overloaded court system. He said his confidence in the legality of the program was bolstered by the support of District Judge Doug Smith who, as a Las Vegas justice of the peace, had endorsed his company’s efforts.
Smith was interviewed this week by detectives investigating United States Justice Associates, which has been offering counseling programs through the court system for a decade.
Gillespie acknowledged this week that he didn’t consider the content of the company’s video threatening when he reviewed it two years ago, but he also said he didn’t think it was appropriate for the police department to play a role in the video.
“I just got the impression this would be used as something that we, as a police department, would be saying ‘use this program,’ and I didn’t think that was our place to be doing that,” Gillespie said.
Deputy Chief Greg McCurdy, who is overseeing the just-started criminal investigation, said Montoya also had concerns about how he was portrayed in the video and wrote a letter in May 2007 asking the company to remove him. About the same time, Metro’s legal counsel sent United States Justice Associates a letter instructing the company not to involve the department in the program, McCurdy said.
But Brox said that in the weeks after he had met with Gillespie, he showed the video with the superimposed actor to at least two ranking Metro officers — Capt. Charles Hank, who handles police operations on the Strip, and Vice Lt. Karen Hughes. Neither officer had a problem with it, and Hank even voiced support for the diversion program at a casino security chiefs meeting, Brox said.
McCurdy confirmed that Brox had talked to both Hank and Hughes about the program, but the deputy chief said both officers told a police lieutenant that they didn’t express any approval of it to Brox.
“They met with him, but did not voice an opinion or do anything that should be taken as an endorsement,” McCurdy said, adding that Hank also told the lieutenant that he did not speak in support of the program at a security chiefs meeting.
McCurdy said he could not explain why police didn’t investigate United States Justice Associates two years ago. He said detectives became interested in the case this week after they spoke to a security chief at Planet Hollywood.
In an affidavit to obtain a warrant to search the office of United States Justice Associates, detectives said the security chief, Calvin Abercrombie, was concerned about Planet Hollywood’s participation in the program.
Brox said the police raid has basically shut down his business because detectives seized his computers and records, and that has left clients in limbo.
The raid occurred a week after the district attorney’s office filed a six-count criminal complaint against Brox, stemming from the alleged sexual assault of one of his relatives, a 15-year-old girl.
Brox, who said he expects to be “exonerated” on the sex charges, would not comment on the timing of the two actions.
Before the raid, United States Justice Associates had business arrangements with several other casino companies, including neighborhood gaming giants Boyd Gaming Group and Station Casinos, Brox said.
Boyd Gaming spokesman David Strow said his company had not signed a contract with Brox.
“We were in the process of determining how and when their services would be used,” Strow said.
Station Casinos spokeswoman Lori Nelson said her company no longer does business with United States Justice Associates.
“We have used this company on an occasional basis, but we recently stopped using their services,” Nelson said.
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Man charged with driving naked, flashing on I-95 www.privateofficer.com
Bunnell, Fla. Sept 20 2009— Authorities say a Georgia man was driving naked on the highway in Flagler County, where he repeatedly flashed a woman and her 11-year-old son.
A woman driving a tractor-trailer on Interstate 95 with her son in the cab Thursday reported that a naked man in a sport utility vehicle had been keeping pace with her and performing lewd acts. She told authorities that the man followed her for about 8 miles, but she was eventually able to get away by pulling into a weigh station.
The woman reported the man and vehicle to the Florida Highway Patrol, and troopers say the caught up with 45-year-old Mark Duffus about 20 miles to the north on the highway.
Duffus was charged with lewd and lascivious exhibition and indecent exposure. He was released Friday on $2,000 bail.
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Alabama security officer unpaid by company www.privateofficer.com
“I’ve lost my car, I’ve had to sell it for food, I’m losing my house right now, I’m having to move out,” says Bradford. “I can’t afford to get her medicine, all she can do is cry because she’s in pain.”
Bradford claims the owner of Guardian, Randy Crockett, owes him one-thousand dollars for unpaid work. Bradford says he worked as a security officer at a Gulf Shores apartment complex which had a contract with the now defunct Guardian Enterprise Securities. Bradford says Crockett owes other guards money as well and has contacted and attorney about the problem.
Crockett would not talk to News 5 on camera but says the economy forced him out of business. Crockett promised to pay his former workers.
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Teacher arrested for giving booze, drugs to students www.privateofficer.com
A 41-year-old math teacher from Grant High School accused of providing alcohol and drugs to two 14-year-old girls was rearrested this morning after allegedly harassing the mother of one of her victims, officials said.
Kym Krocza, of the 36300 block of North Wilson Road in Ingleside, allegedly blocked the driveway she shares with the victim’s family with her car and would not allow the victim’s mother to leave, Lake County Sheriff’s Sgt. Christopher Thompson said.
According to the arrest warrant, Krocza communicated indirectly with the witness “in such a manner as to produce emotional distress or mental anguish.”
Krocza was arrested this week after allegedly giving alcohol, marijuana and Xanax to the girls from ages 11 or 12 to age 14 in exchange for household chores, authorities said.
Prosecutors asked Judge Raymond Collins to raise Krocza’s bond from $100,000 to $250,000, which the judge denied. Collins said Krocza would have credit for the $5,000 she posted Monday — the required 10 percent of her original $50,000 bond — and can now be released by posting an additional $5,000.
Sheriff Mark Curran said that since being released from jail after her initial bond hearing on Monday, Krocza has been on several radio programs claiming her innocence.
“She wrote a handwritten confession,” Curran said. “This is a really unstable human being. This woman is narcissistic off the charts.”
If Krocza bonds out of jail, she is to have no contact with anyone under the age of 21, must turn in her passport and must have no direct or third-party contact with the victim, Collins told her.
Krocza has been suspended from her job teaching algebra and calculus pending further investigation, Grant High School District 124 Superintendent John Benedetti said. She is due in court again Friday.
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Man charged in robbery of Target www.privateofficer.com
A 38-year-old man was arrested in Ventura Thursday evening after he allegedly tried to shoplift, then attacked a store security officer who challenged him, police said.
The incident began about 5 p.m. at Target, 245 S. Mills Road in Ventura.
Charles Booker, of Ventura, was allegedly trying to leave Target with a shopping cart full of stolen electronics when a store loss prevention officer confronted him in the parking lot and asked if he intended to pay for the merchandise, Ventura police said in a prepared statement.
Booker allegedly said “no,” grabbed the loss prevention officer, lifted him up and threw him back to the asphalt, causing the man to injure his knees, police said. Booker then fled the scene without the stolen goods, police said.
Police found Booker at a bus stop 300 yards away.
When officers attempted to detain Booker on a South Coast Area Transit bus, he allegedly got into a physical altercation with police. Officers stunned Booker several times with a Taser as they worked to arrest him, according to the police statement.
No injuries were reported in the incident.
Booker was booked into Ventura County Jail on suspicion of robbery and resisting arrest, police said.
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Idaho teacher charged in sexual relations with student www.privateofficer.com
The teacher, Ashley Jo Beach, 37, has been arrested on a felony charge of lewd conduct with a child under the age of 16
Officers say they caught Beach in the bushes with a 13-year-old boy Thursday night in Meridian. It started with a call from neighbors in the area of Cherry Lane and Vineyards – who say they saw something suspicious about 9:30 p.m.
When officers arrived, they say Beach and the boy were between a fence and some bushes, lying down – partially concealed from view. They questioned Beach and the child, and said there were inconsistencies in their stories.
Detectives started investigating and say they found that Beach had been involved in a sexual relationship with the boy since April. The two had also been sending photos back and forth via cell phone. They say the boy is a former student.
The Meridian Middle School website lists Beach as a math and science teacher. She is married and has three children.
Beach is being held in the Ada County Jail and was booked in yesterday afternoon.
She was arraigned this afternoon and her bond was set at $300,000.
The Meridian School District has put her on paid administrative leave.
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Security officer shot-killed during ATM robbery www.privateofficer.com
A Brinks security guard was shot and killed during an attempted robbery outside a bank near Interstate 30 and Hampton Road this morning, police said. The suspected shooter and his getaway driver are at-large.
At about 9:30 a.m., the guard was preparing to load cash into a drive-through ATM outside a Chase bank in the 2500 block of Fort Worth Avenue when witnesses saw a man grab him around the neck and shoot him point blank, said Dallas police Senior Cpl. Janice Crowther.
“According to witnesses, the suspect just ran up to the Brinks employee, grabbed him around the neck and then shot him at close range,” Crowther said.
The gunman fired about eight rounds at the guard, according to a construction worker who witnessed the incident from the second floor of a building next to the bank. Police said either the Brinks guard or his driver may have returned fire.
Less than a minute later, the shooter jumped into a white Honda, driven by another man, and sped down Fort Worth Avenue, the construction worker said. Crowther said other witnesses also saw a small white Honda, although descriptions of its details have differed.
“These guys were so brazen,” Crowther said. “They didn’t care who was here or who saw them.”
One woman who was using a nearby ATM was not injured, police said. It appeared no one else inside or outside the bank was hurt.
The guard died at the scene and his name was being withheld pending notification of family, Crowther said. He was a husband and a father. A Brinks spokesperson also declined to provide additional details on the guard.
The shooter appeared to get away with nothing, leaving an orange bag of cash next to the body in front of the ATM.
The senselessness of the murder angered the construction worker.
“I find it hard to believe a guy would come up here and shoot off eight rounds and walk off with nothing,” he said.
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Colorado law change to allow security to carry assault rifles www.privateofficer.com
The law closes a loophole that could have seen PI’s and security guards held criminally liable in Aurora for the assault weapons the state legally allows them to carry. The new law would bring the city’s codes in line with state rules.
Generally, the term “assault weapons” covers semi-automatic military-style rifles, as well as some pistols and shotguns. Guards and PI’s must carry special identification with them anytime they have the weapons. PI’s can carry assault weapons at any time, but security guards can only carry them starting one hour before and ending one hour after their shift.
Aldermen have placed the measure on the consent agenda for next Tuesday’s City Council meeting, which means barring objection, it will pass without discussion.
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Newark public housing replaces guards with cameras www.privateofficer.com
The commodity was drugs — a group of dealers would gather near the entrance as people drove up, made their buy, and then sped away. The drug dealers also crowded the central courtyard, used the mailhouses to stash their drugs, and intimidated residents who were afraid to leave their homes.
But that was before help came last year in the form of approximately 700 cameras that peer from the tops of roofs, poles and hallways as they keep watch 24 hours a day, seven days a week, on 10,000 city residents at 27 housing complexes.
On Riverside Villa, the scene of the drug drive-through, children now walk and play in the parking lot and the courtyard.
Cameras also have kept them away from Pennington Court on South Street, where drug dealers made open-air transactions in the large courtyard, and at Kretchmer, a high-rise development for seniors, where prostitutes turned tricks in the stairwells and crack junkies defecated in the hallways.
“I believe security starts at the home,” said Keith Kinard, executive director of the housing authority, who started the security improvements in 2007. “But the more that we can build entrance ways that are safe and secure, courtyards that are safe and secure, it all of a sudden creates neighborhoods that are safe and secure.”
At the Broad Street headquarters of the city’s housing authority, the security-operations room looks like a scene from NASA’s control center — flat-screen monitors flicker on a wall as uniformed clerks sit at desks, flicking away at small joysticks as they peer at computer screens.
Some of the monitors display video footage from the hundreds of cameras stationed at various housing developments across Newark — more cameras than the next biggest housing authorities in Jersey City and Paterson, which have 130 and 158, respectively.
Kinard said he started the sophisticated surveillance program after residents complained of their buildings being overrun by vagrants while some guards were nowhere to be found.
“It was a free-for-all. You had open access into the buildings,” Kinard said.
To combat problems and save money in the long run, Kinard said the agency decided to fire its security force of 26 special police officers and 85 security guards and pay for a one-time $5 million investment in surveillance equipment to replace the shoddy cameras that relied on VHS tapes. Officials also hired Winfield, a Bloomfield-based security firm, to monitor the building lobbies and tapped the city police department to patrol buildings.
When the cameras were installed at the housing complexes, they proved to be effective, he said. Last year in July, cameras caught a group of people attacking a resident in the hallway of a Frelinghuysen Avenue building, almost beating the man into a coma, Kinard said. At the time, there were no security operators, but police arrested the attackers after they saw blood in the hallway and reviewed the video.
There are also visible changes in how the different housing complexes, from Riverside Villa to Kretchmer, look now, Kinard said. People feel safe to sit outside and not get bothered by drug dealers.
“The residents were so relieved,” Kinard said. “This is a prime example of how cameras literally move people.”
Currently, the housing authority oversees around 8,000 units with half under surveillance, Kinard said. In six months, 80 percent will have cameras as the agency adds 100 to 200 more eyes.
The housing agency doesn’t keep track of crime numbers, but Kinard said the number of safety complaints has fallen from 150 to 200 a month to fewer than 20 now.
The city agency is not the only housing authority to have adopted cameras. Housing authorities in cities of similar size have installed cameras — Oakland, Calif., has 30 and Pittsburgh, Pa., which Kinard previously ran, has 220.
Chicago recently announced more than 3,000 cameras will be installed at housing authority properties.
Critics have questioned whether these cameras are cost-effective and if they actually deter crime.
“It’s too much mass surveillance,” said Mike German, the policy counsel for the national ACLU. “Anything that collects tons of information of the innocent doesn’t make it easier to find guilty people. It’s really expensive and resource-intensive. It takes police officers off streets, puts them behind monitors, makes them less effective.”
Jeff Roush, a government consultant who has done research on surveillance cameras, said 44 research reports from the United Kingdom have concluded that publicly operated cameras, which can cost from $10,000 to $25,000 each, are not effective in deterring violent crime.
However, in parking lots, there is some evidence they can deter car break-ins and car theft, and they can help police identify violent criminals and help convict them if the image quality is good enough, Roush said. But as for deterring violent crime, he said, there is no evidence they can, and most government-operated cameras are only good for monitoring street traffic.
Some residents of Newark’s housing authority said they are chafing under the constant surveillance.
Sharn Whitehead, 52, who lives at Riverside Villa, said the cameras are intrusive.
“This is a disrespect to have cameras when you sit on the front of your house,” Whitehead said of how uncomfortable she is when she is outside. She also pointed out that nearly all the buildings at the complex have cameras that are housed in a black plastic casing hanging from a post.
Dolores Patterson, another Riverside resident, agreed.
“The cameras are invading your privacy because it gets into your house,” she said about her fear that the equipment’s powerful zoom feature can peer inside her home when her front door is open.
But Beverly Dobbins said the housing complex is safer because there isn’t as much violence and shootings, she said.
“It was quite a bit of drug action but that has ceased,” she said. “It (cameras) made it better.”
Kinard said they have received favorable comments from people who are pleased with the new security features.
“I haven’t received one complaint about privacy issues or overuse of cameras,” he said. “That’s not to say somebody might be upset. But instead, what I get is, ‘Thank you. Thank, God. These guys finally moved after seven years from my front stoop,” a woman at Riverside Villa told me. “These guys finally moved after seven years from my front stoop, where they were selling drugs for seven years.’ “
To allay any privacy concerns, Kinard said they have trained operators to not violate residents’ privacy. Another precaution housing officials took was to install cameras to watch the guards.
“They have a camera on them while they do their job, and they know that everything that they view is tracked and coded as you’re viewing it,” said Tory Gunsolley, the chief administrative officer for the housing authority. “So if one the operators violated somebody’s privacy, their supervisors would know it and it’s recorded.”
Kinard said he has heard the term “Big Brother” attached to the cameras at the housing developments, but he did not shy away from it.
“If it has to do with result of lowering crime and making residents feel safe, I will wear that badge, that’s how I feel,” he said.
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Security officer clobbered with skateboard www.privateofficer.com
The 38-year-old security guard was fighting with four people at the park and pepper-sprayed one during the confrontation, said Lt. Ted Boyne of the Orange County Sheriff’s Department.
When deputies responded, two of the four people were taken into custody, Boyne said.
Deputies were called to the park, near Crown Valley Parkway and Sienna Parkway, at 8:11 p.m. Tuesday, Boyne said.
At the Ladera Ranch skate park, boarders are required to have a pass to be able to use it.
“He hit him over the head and his buddies tried to help,” Boyne said.
The security guard was able to use pepper spray to defend himself, Boyne said.
One person was found inside the restroom of the park, Boyne said.
Michael Kenneth Dauw, 19, and Stephen Ryan Fowks, 18, were taken into custody by deputies. Both were released Wednesday after posting bond.
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Man charged with armed attack on Ryan Seacrest’s security www.privateofficer.com
A man with a knife has been charged with a crime after allegedly attacking Ryan Seacrest’s security guard.
It happened outside the Children’s Hospital in Orange County earlier this week. Ryan had just finished making an appearance. The alleged attacker — Chidi Uzomah — approached Ryan and asked for an autograph. Ryan obliged and then walked to his car.
We’re told Uzomah got in between Ryan and his car. The security guard tried blocking Uzomah and then Uzomah allegedly began choking the guard and fighting him.
Uzomah — who is 25 years old, 6’4″ and 200 lbs — was subdued and arrested. Cops found a switchblade knife on him.
Uzomah will be charged by the O.C. D.A. with assault and battery and possession of a switchblade.
Uzomah is being held on $25,000 bail
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Security guard arrested for impersonating police www.privateofficer.com
Michael Hernandez has bonded out of jail on a charge of impersonating a public servant. Castle Hills Police said Wednesday night around nine o’clock Hernandez was at 12700 I-10 when he turned on his blue and amber emergency lights and his siren. The police report said Hernandez was attempting to slow down a driver who was traveling fast and weaving through traffic. The driver pulled over and Hernandez kept going, that’s when the driver realized he wasn’t an officer and called 911.
Hernandez works at Smith Protective Services. A spokesperson said Hernandez was off-duty and in his own vehicle at the time. He is suspended and cannot work as a security guard until he deals with the criminal charge.
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Police charge man in felony theft scheme www.privateofficer.com
The incident that led to the arrest happened at a Cherryville Wal-mart, where employees early Wednesday morning first saw something was wrong when they noticed a sizable amount of merchandise was missing from various stories shelves thoughout the business.
The employees decided to view store surveillance video which revealed where the merchandise had gone: a group of women had gone around the store, filling up a large, empty, unpurchased Shop Vac and its box with various merchandise — nearly $6000 worth of items like printer cartridges and clothing, police said.
The video also showed the women putting the merchandise-stuffed vacuum box back on the shelf in the appropriate area and even re-taping the box back so that it appeared to be unopened, police said.
Next, employees and store security waited to see who would come get the stuffed vaccum and box.
Cherryville police said that a 15-year-old girl came in Wednesday and bought the vacuum. Police were able to follow her to the parking lot and get information from her that led to an arrest of the suspected mastermind.
Ramon Rodriguez Pena, 34, of Houston, was charged with felony larceny and contributing to the delinquency of a minor, Cherryville police said.
The other women involved in the crime have not been found, police said.
The investigation revealed that this type of crime had been carried out before in Texas, police said .
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NC teacher charged with 40 sexual crimes against students www.privateofficer.com
Police said they were first alerted to the case on August 12, when the Spencer Police Department was notified of possible inappropriate conduct of a teacher with a student at North Rowan High School.
Police said the investigation revealed that a teacher had been having sexual relations with three female students, all minors, with the first incident taking place in May of 2008 and the most recent incident occurring in August of 2009.
Following a month-long investigation, Matthew Miles Price, 28, of Harrison Street in Spencer, was charged in the case on Wednesday, police said.
The case file was reviewed with the District Attorney’s office in August, police said.
On Tuesday, a search warrant was conducted on Price’s residence. During the search, with the assistance of the Rowan County Sheriff’s Office, evidence was seized, police said.
Also on Tuesday, a search warrant was served on Price for his personal physical evidence.
Price was arrested Wednesday on 40 counts of sexual activity with a student. He was taken before a magistrate and received a $120,000 bond.
Shortly before 5 Wednesday afternoon, Price posted bond and was released from the Rowan Detention Center. He walked out of the jail with his lawyer, got into a truck and left.
Price and his attorney appeared in Rowan County court Thursday morning and the case was continued until November 4.
According to Rowan/Salisbury Schools spokeswoman Rita Foil, Price was hired by the district on July 27, 2004 as a PE teacher and track coach at North Rowan High School. Foil said Price resigned on August 12, 2009, for personal reasons which is the same day police launched their investigation into the allegations.
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Houston security officer shoots-kills burglar www.privateofficer.com
A southeast Houston nightclub security guard shot and killed a car break-in suspect early this morning, police said.
According to Houston police Detective Brian Harris, the guard was told three men were trying to burglarize a car in the parking lot of a club in the 8200 block of the Gulf Freeway when he went to investigate.
The men jumped into their car and began to drive out of the parking lot. Harris said the suspected thieves drove toward the guard, who yelled at them to stop before firing his pistol repeatedly as they passed close to him.
The car came to a rest a short distance away on the northbound Interstate 45 feeder road between Broadway and Park Place. One suspect fled, one was apprehended by the guard and the driver was slumped over dead in the car, Harris said.
Police closed the frontage road during the morning commute as the investigation continued. Inbound I-45 was backed up as motorists slowed to look at the scene.
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Boy makes up story of kidnapping because of poor report card
The student said he escaped by jumping out of the car but wasn’t able to grab his bookbag, which contained the report card.
He ran to his grandparents’ house and later confessed to lying. His grandfather called police to apologize.
Sgt. Mark Roberts said police were suspicious that the boy was able to “escape” with his band instrument, but not his bookbag.
Roberts said the boy faces no charges at this time.
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“Gypsy cop” arrested in porn investigation www.privateofficer.com
Now, Michael Meissner has been arrested in Arlington, charged with seven felony counts, including possession or promotion of child pornography; promotion of prostitution; and engaging in organized crime in Dallas and Tarrant counties, authorities said.
After search warrants were issued, police investigators intercepted electronic messages that were part of the evidence.
“These were very sexually graphic messages, including information regarding a pornography operation that he was engaging in as well as the aggravated promotion of prostitution,” said Combine police detective J. Hoskins.
Meissner, 39, had most recently been a police officer in Little River-Academy, Texas, about 150 miles south of Dallas. He was featured in a series of News 8 Investigates reports in 2007. At the time, he was police chief in Caney City, a small town in Henderson County.
The veteran of 17 small-town law enforcement jobs in the past 18 years seemed to operate under his own rules, spending much of his time working off-duty security jobs 60 miles away in Dallas.
The News 8 report found that Meissner had used a phony college diploma for certification and failed to let his employers know that he had been arrested twice.
Investigators say Meissner is an embarrassment to law enforcement. They say they found evidence that he e-mailed information about a person who had wronged him to a blogger in New Hampshire. That person then wrote inflammatory remarks about that man.
Hoskins is accused of intending to harm that man.
“This all started as one investigation into the misuse of official information, but we got other evidence of other crimes in multiple jurisdictions as a result of our search warrants,” Detective Hoskins said.
Meissner is accused of engaging in organized criminal activity and retaliation, and as a result of examining phone records and e-mail messages additional felony cases were developed related to pornography and solicitation of minors.
Bond is set at $1.5 million, and officials believe they have only scratched the surface in this case.
Meissner could face 110 years in prison and a $70,000 fine, according to police in Combine, which secured and executed the arrest warrants. Combine straddles Dallas and Kaufman counties. It’s about 25 miles southeast of Dallas.
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Charlotte NC teacher charged with rape of student www.privateofficer.com
A magnet school math teacher has been charged with raping a Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools student at a language academy in south Charlotte.
John Patrick Bush, 27, was charged with first-degree rape of a victim under 13, according to Charlotte-Mecklenburg police. He was arrested about 4:30 p.m. Tuesday and released on $75,000 bond.
Police said the alleged rape took place on Sept. 1 at Smith Academy of Languages, a school on Tyvola Road near South Boulevard that offers language immersion classes for children from kindergarten to eighth grade.
The incident came to light after the student told her parents about the alleged crime, police said. Police haven’t released more details about how the crime occurred
Bush had been working at Smith as a math teacher since January 2007.
He is suspended with pay pending the results of an investigation, said Cynthia Robbins, a district spokeswoman. Robbins said she didn’t know when district officials first learned of the alleged rape.
She said Bush, who did not have a prior criminal record, passed a background check that the district conducts on all teachers
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Gang member, security guard charged in week-end murder www.privateofficer.com
Investigators spent hours at Bedsole’s home Tuesday night, trying to find the murder weapon. However, they had no luck.
Bedsole is facing murder charges over a dispute that officers say began over some motorcycles.
Eyewitness News was there when Besole was hauled off to the Seminole County jail. Police say he shot and killed Chad Brickey with the help of Holguy Loussant, a security guard who worked in the area of the bar when the dispute started.
The two arrests come after several days without leads.
“I feel a little relieved. You know, I still have mixed emotions. I am still pissed. I get sad,” Chad’s father, Kerry Brickey, said.
Investigators say the weekend murder was sparked when Brickey knocked over some motorcycles with his truck as he tried to leave Sharkey’s Pub in Apopka. Police believe, after Brickey knocked the bikes over, Bedsole jumped into Loussant’s truck and told him to follow Brickey. They followed him to a Mobile gas station on Orange Blossom Trail, where the shooting happened only minutes later.
“The Warlock gang member jumped out of the back of the pickup truck and shot our victim one time. The victim’s car crossed four lanes of traffic and ended up resting in the ditch,” said Steve Popp, Apopka Police Department.
Police say Bedsole is a Warlock motorcycle gang member.
“Mr. Bedsole was the Warlock gang member, who was actually the individual who fired the round that killed our victim, Mr. Brickey,” Popp said.
Loussant, the man who allegedly drove Bedsole to commit the crime, also faces murder charges and will face a judge sometime Wednesday. Officers say he’s charged with the crime because he knew what happened and did not come forward.
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Woman accuses hospital security of assault www.privateofficer.com
Anna Marie Hartwick said she is bipolar, has post traumatic stress disorder, and a personality disorder. She said she has been in and out of the state mental hospital and on heavy medications since she was 12 years old.
She said she’s on a cocktail of three medications: Geodon, Zoloft, and Trazodone, which led to infections and severe pain.
On Sept. 1 the pain became intolerable while she was at the Central Library in downtown Portland. Someone called an ambulance to take her to OHSU. After waiting a long time to see a doctor and three hours without her medication, she admitted she blew up at hospital staff and left the emergency room with four security guards following behind.
“That’s when they tackled me and threw me to the ground,” Hartwick said.
In the incident reports, two officers said they witnessed another officer deliver “focus blows to Hartwick”. The officer in question said in a supplemental report that Hartwick was “handcuffed, [and] struck by focused blows” on the pavement outside the emergency room. Then in a car Hartwick was struck by “a closed fist to the right side” of her face.
“The first punch landed to the left side of my mouth,” Hartwick said. “The second punch landed to the right side of my mouth. The third punch was when I was already in the car, and it landed on my left cheek.”
OHSU Public Safety Director Gary Granger said because there is an ongoing investigation he could only talk in general terms about when an officer can punch someone they are arresting.
“Use-of-force training generally does not rely heavily on officers using blows to control people,” he said. “It’s not a controlling technique.”
Hartwick said she was already under control when she was hit.
“I was handcuffed the whole time,” she said.
She admitted to kicking and spitting at an officer but said she was defending herself from punches.
Meanwhile, the hospital is investigating the use of force and also how KATU News received internal documents. OHSU said patient information is protected by federal HIPAA laws and someone broke the law and violated hospital policies by giving the documents to a news organization.
Hartwick said she’s glad someone made the paperwork public.
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