Pleads "Not Guilty"

REBECCA "BECKY" BRYAN WAS FORMALLY ARRAIGNED ON MURDER charges Tuesday, accused of killing her husband Fire Chief Keith Bryan last September 20.  The Nichols Hills, Oklahoma, fire chief was shot in his own home and Rebecca reported to the police that a man intruded into the house and said something about not being hired before killing him.

Her story quickly fell apart when detectives found the gun, ammunition and gloves inside the clothes dryer.  Several witness statements also refuted her story and she was arrested two days later and charged with first-degree murder.  Firegeezer reported on the crime and following activities at the time and you can read the story and following events HERE, HERE, HERE, and HERE.  She has been held without bail since then.

At yesterday's appearance Bryan, 53, pleaded not guilty to the charges.  The judge set a motion hearing for June 26 and ordered her to remain jailed.  He also set a tentative trial date for September 10.

The Oklahoman has this latest REPORT.

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Thursday Sentencing Concludes the Case

RAYMOND BELLAVANCE, PREVIOUSLY CONVICTED for setting the fire that destroyed the Grand View Topless Coffee Shop in Vassalboro, Maine, was sentenced yesterday (Thursday) to serve 30 years in prison for the deed.  The Kennebec Journal is reporting this morning:

Justice Michaela Murphy imposed the maximum sentence in Kennebec County Superior Court on Thursday.

Raymond Bellavance, 51, listens to his
sentence being handed down.  (Kennebec Journal)

"In the view of this court, the defendant presents a profound threat to public safety and has demonstrated that on multiple occasions," said Murphy, who presided over the 10-day jury trial that resulted in Bellavance's conviction Dec. 30 on two counts of arson. Each count carries a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison, but they will be served concurrently.

Acting District Attorney Alan Kelley characterized Bellavance as incorrigible and recommended the 30-year sentence. "He is a very bad man who committed a very bad crime completely in character with what he has been and done his entire life," Kelley said.

Bellavance set the fire on June 9, 2009, at the small-town business located in a former motel.  The coffee shop's owner and his family along with two others resided in the living spaces of the motel and had to flee for their lives from the fire.  Fortuitously, the fire was discovered by a passing ambulance crew that just happened to be going by on their way back from a call.

AP / Joel

Firegeezer covered this story from the beginning with a report on the FIRE HERE. This was followed by a report HERE on the re-opening of the business under a tent while the former motel dining room was being rebuilt.

Later in the following December it was announced that the fire was an arson and that a warrant was issued for Raymond Bellavance. But he immediately beat feet to South Carolina where the U. S. Marshals found him in May 2010 (see Firegeezer report HERE). After being extradited back to Maine he had been held without bail since then.

In the trial several witnesses said that Bellavance was always hanging around the shop vying for the favors of one of the waitresses who was a former girl friend of his. He became angry when she rebuffed him while she was having a sexual affair with the owner whose wife and another two girlfriends of his also lived there. It gets complicated.  The prosecution's key witness was a man who was with Bellavance that night and witnessed him setting the blaze.

WCSH-TV had a camera in the courtroom yesterday and filed this informative video report:

At his sentencing, Bellavance did not speak but did issue a written statement:

You can read the entire statement (.pdf) HERE.  Bellavance has a lengthy criminal record already.

Crabtree gave up trying to re-establish the business last year and sold the property while moving to another community in Maine.

Read the detailed report on yesterday's court activity in the Kennebec Journal HERE.

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Easy Money Leads to Easy Arrest

THE FORMER CHIEF AND TREASURER OF A NEW JERSEY volunteer ambulance squad was arrested Monday and charged with hindering apprehension, third- and fourth-degree theft, witness tampering, obstruction and unsworn falsification. The case will be presented to a Burlington County grand jury for indictment.

James Daly, 42, was the Chief of the Beverly-Edgewater Park Emergency Medical Squad when, in May 2011, the treasurer became gravely ill and Daly took over the duties of the treasurer.  The Beverly-Edgewater Park Squad is a volunteer organization that has paid administrative officers and 15 part-time employees.  Within a few weeks of taking over the books, Daly phoned the accounting firm that handles their payroll and told them that he had just been given a $15,000 yr. raise above his current salary of $53,560 to $68,500.  Next he began using the Squad's credit account to purchase gasoline for his personal cars.

When the county prosecutor's office began investigating Daly, he produced a letter purportedly written by another member stating that Daly had been given the go-ahead to use the county gas by the ill, and since deceased former treasurer.  That letter was soon determined to be a forgery.

Following his arrest, Daly was released on $25,000 bond.  He was dismissed from the squad's rolls in November 2011.

The Burlington County Times has  more details HERE.

Hat tip:  Ron Y.

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Four Perished in 2010 Fire

A PATERSON, NEW JERSEY, WOMAN was arraigned in state court Monday following an indictment handed down in January by a grand jury charging her with four counts of manslaughter.  Florence Brown, 63, pleaded not guilty to the charges and was given until May 11 to post a $25,000 cash bond or be incarcerated until her trial.

Florence Brown  (The Record)

On June 10, 2010, a fire swept through her 3-story home that had been divided into separate rental units housing nine people.  Firegeezer posted a video report at the time HERE where we reported:

When firefighters arrived the wood-frame house was already well involved with many residents outside the house. The fire was spreading to the house next door and threatening the home on the other side. Before the fire was fully contained, the house of origin collapsed, completely destroyed. The second house suffered severe damages and the third house only superficial fire damage.

Two people leapt from 3rd-floor windows to escape the flames, with one of them dying immediately from the fall and the second in critical condition from multi-trauma injuries as a result of the plunge. Later, three bodies were recovered from the ruins of the house. It was not immediately known how many residents lived in the several rooms that were rented out. The owner escaped, and it was disclosed that she had been issued several fire code violations in recent months.

AP

Reporting on yesterday's court action, John Petrick of the North Jersey Record writes:

The charges arise out of an investigation conducted by the Arson Unit of the Passaic County Prosecutor's Office, as well as the Paterson Police Department and the Paterson Fire Department. The fire occurred about 4 a.m. in the basement of the three-story house Brown owned. The fire was caused by an electrical overload because of faulty wiring, authorities have said.

Two outlets and two power strips supplied electricity to three floors of the rooming house, residents of the building had said at the time.

The building had been cited for code violations in January 2010 — six months before the fatal fire — when firefighters who were dispatched to investigate a defective boiler found exposed wires and uncovered electrical panels in the basement. A fire inspector warned in a report that unless the violations were corrected, a "future mishap" could ensue. A follow-up inspection on May 20 of that year found some of the same problems.

Read the full story in The Record HERE.
Review the Firegeezer video report from June 2010 HERE.

Hat tip:  Rick G.

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Driving Through a Red Light

A DARWIN, AUSTRALIA, AIRPORT FIREFIGHTER WAS CHARGED yesterday for a highway crash that killed three people back in August 2011.

ABC News

At the time, Firegeezer reported HERE on August 7:

A major fire broke out in a warehouse in the suburb of Berrimah around 7 am Sunday and the fire officers on the scene requested a foam unit from the airport for assistance. The responding fire-rescue-crash truck was en route to the fire when it collided with an SUV at an intersection with a side road. Four people were in the car and two of them died on the scene, a man and a woman. A third passenger was seriously injured and the fourth had only minor injuries.

After that posting the third injured person died in the hospital.  All of the passengers were architects.  Two of them, Greg McNamara, 45, and his wife Lena Yali, 43, were the principals of Troppo Architects in the Northern Territory.

Jack David Norris appeared in court Monday where the charges were placed against him for entering an intersection against a red light, driving negligently and driving dangerously, causing harm or death.  Davis will return to court in June.  Via:  7News.

Thanks to Mark D. for the update.

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Now Everybody Will Want One

FIRE AND EMS AGENCIES' FAVORITE WEAPON, the Opticom traffic signal preemption device is now readily available to the public thanks to the internet.  It seems the world wide web has more places selling bootleg devices or DIY kits than Chicago has traffic lights.

Wattco graphic

The area around San Diego, California, is seeing them sprout up like dandelions over the septic tank these days and the city of Carlsbad is cracking down on the illegal use of the devices.  The Carlsbad Patch is reporting:

According to a Carlsbad Police press release, "on March 27, traffic engineers and police officers responded to a traffic signal on Armada Drive and detained a driver who was found to be using an 'emergency vehicle preemptor.' As a result the motorist was cited for the illegal possession and use of the device, and the preemptor and associated parts were impounded." The driver also faces a fine starting at $2000.

Emergency vehicle preemptors are used legally by fire departments in situations where they need to change red lights to green.

Police were contacted two weeks ago when the city transportation staff at the city’s new Traffic Management Center registered an irregularity with traffic signals. After an investigation, traffic engineers found motorists appeared to be using signal preemption devices to change the signals.

The city is letting people know that the traffic-flow monitoring cameras that are attached to the traffic signal poles are capable of detecting the infrared signals coming off the vehicles and their photo is being taken.

KGTV Ch. 10 posted this video report on the signature bust:

Opticom WEBSITE.

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The Kids Made Them Do It

IT WAS ONE MONTH AGO TODAY when Firegeezer told you about the Kalgoorlie, West Australia, couple who were caught after setting up to 40 arsons over a period of ten months in their area.  From our article of March 4:

Alan Robert Sloane, 32, and Rebecca Louise Sloane, 29 admitted in court to at least 19 arsons, all committed at random on nighttime larks. Their evenings would begin with hiring a babysitter to watch their 2-yr.-old twins while they went out for dinner. Following their meal they would drive around and look for likely targets to set alight.

You can read the full story and details of their nocturnal adventures HERE.

The Sloanes at an earlier court appearance.

The Sloanes were sentenced today (Wednesday) in the West Australian Supreme Court by Judge Lindy Jenkins.  The News continues:

Mr Sloane, a mechanic, was jailed for nine years and nine months on 19 counts of arson and stealing. He will be eligible for parole after seven years and nine months.

His wife was jailed for 14 months after pleading guilty to seven counts of arson. She will be eligible for parole after seven months.

The judge said she accepted the couple were drunk most of the time they committed the offences, but could offer no other reason for their actions apart from "having a break" from their young twins.

"You say that the offences were committed in the context of both you and your husband having a break from the children, getting a babysitter, driving around your area and then committing these offences," Judge Jenkins addressed Rebecca Sloan.  "You say you experienced fear and anxiety during and immediately after your offending but that did not stop you from reoffending."

The judge also noted that Alan Sloane had set fire to curtains through an open window while the elderly occupants were showering and sleeping inside. On several occassions he used a fuel to start fires in dwellings, then notified the fire brigade and helped them put out the same fires.

It was also disclosed that the Sloane's twin daughters, now age 2, were born prematurely with a resulting mental disability that required constant care by the parents which added pressure to their own health.   But a psychiatric examination determined that while the parents did have a personalty disorder, they were not suffering from mental illness.

The children will be cared for my Mr. Sloane's parents while they are serving their terms.

Read the full story in The News HERE.
The West Australian has more DETAILS.

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High Taxes Will Test One's Ethics

THE RHODE ISLAND ETHICS COMMISSION has decreed that they have found "probable cause" that Lime Rock FD Chief Frank Sylvester has "used his public office for financial gain by registering and parking multiple cars at the district fire station for more than two decades, rather than at his home in Pawtucket."

GoLocalProv photo

The Providence Journal adds:

That financial gain is estimated at as much as $10,673.50, according to the commission's investigative report.

A probable cause finding is not a finding of guilt. It represents sufficient evidence "that reaches beyond mere suspicion," a threshold for moving the case to adjudication.

Sylvester has been fire chief of the 2-station department since 1988.

WPRI-TV Ch. 12 filed this brief video report:

Online newspaper GoLocalProv broke this story 19 months ago when they reported:

Frank Sylvester, the fire chief for the Lime Rock Fire District in Lincoln, registered two of his personal cars in Lincoln this year— a 2007 Lexus and a 2006 Ford Explorer. The tax rate on cars in Lincoln is $30.66 per $1,000 of the assessed value—compared to a rate of $53.30 in Pawtucket, which is the second-highest one in Rhode Island.

Sylvester paid a total of $1,245.56 in taxes on those cars to Lincoln, according to town tax records obtained by GoLocalProv. Had he paid taxes on those cars at the Pawtucket rate, he would have owed nearly $900 more in taxes, or $2,122.67 to be exact.

In 2009, Sylvester registered a third car in Lincoln—a 2003 Ford T-bird. In fact, tax records show that he has been registering one or more of his cars in Lincoln at least since 2004. And he has admitted to GoLocalProv that he has been registering his cars at his workplace since he became fire chief in 1988.

Sylvester told GoLocalProv he does not believe he is doing anything wrong. But if he were, he would be happy to register his cars in Pawtucket. "If it’s not right, I’ll change it, but it’s not against the law," Sylvester said. "I’m not breaking any law."

He said he started registering his cars at the fire station when he first started out as fire chief because he was using them to plow the driveway around the station. He continues to register the cars there, even though he stopped handling the plowing several years ago.

Sylvester has the law on his side, however.  When he checked on the legality of his tax-dodge a few years ago, an attorney at the DMV told him that what he was doing did not violate any of their laws.  We don't know if this conflicts with the town or city ordinances, though.

Read the complete, earlier report in GoLocalProv HERE.

Lime Rock Fire Department WEBSITE.

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From Amazon:

Big Markdowns on Kitchen and Dining Accessories

CLICK HERE to check out the bargains and order yours.

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Becky's First Court Appearance

REBECCA BRYAN OF MUSTANG, Oklahoma, was arraigned last week on charges that she murdered her husband Keith Bryan, Fire Chief of Nichols Hills Fire Department, last September 20.

Keith Bryan  (KOCO-TV)

On September 21 Firegeezer carried the story of the surprising murder of Chief Bryan by what was initially reported by his wife as having been committed by a man who walked into their house and shot Bryan in the head and then left.  Read the early reports HERE and HERE for the background on the crime.  All of the initial information was provided by his wife Rebecca ("Becky").

Two days later, Rebecca was arrested at a motel where she was staying and charged with first-degree murder of her husband.  Read the Firegeezer report on the turn of events leading to her arrest HERE.

Rebecca Bryan before September 20 (left) and after.

Her first court appearance was held last Wednesday when she was arraigned in Canadian County District Court.  During the hearing the court took testimony from four witnesses.  Excerpts from the four testimonies as published in the The Oklahoman follow:

1. After the shooting, (Debbie) Proctor said Rebecca Bryan called her and asked her to come over.

   On the way to the hospital to check on Keith Bryan, Proctor testified that Rebecca Bryan showed the people in the car a picture of another man's penis on her phone. She testified that Bryan told them she had sex with the man, one of her real estate clients, earlier that day and felt guilty because of the shooting.

2. Bryan also showed them a text message she sent to a former lover about inheriting a significant amount of money soon and moving to Hugo.

   The man, identified as Mark Holbrook, testified that Bryan also called him three hours before the shooting. He said the last time he spoke to her before the shooting was in February 2011. The night of the shooting she called him and he hung up on her, he said.

   (He admitted that he had a 1-year affair with Rebecca that ended prior to the shooting.)

3. Mustang police officer James Davis testified Wednesday that he approached Rebecca Bryan in the garage after the 911 call, and she started talking to him about a burglary case he worked in the past rather than telling him details about the shooting.

   Davis said he had to ask Bryan where her husband was. "I had to ask her to take me to him," he said.

4. Mustang Detective Camie McNeil testified Wednesday that Rebecca Bryan was also laughing at the scene.

   McNeil testified she was collecting gunshot residue and Bryan thought it was funny.

   "Bryan said she watches ‘CSI' and knows all about this stuff," McNeil said.

Read the full article including more details from the testimonies in The Oklahoman HERE.

In order to provide more time for the state to question more witnesses, the judge continued the hearing until April 4.

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Burning Laws Are For the Little People

A FLAP IS ARISING IN SUSSEX COUNTY, Delaware, over an illegal tire burn carried out by a state legislator, Representative John Atkins.  Not only was the burning illegal, but a state environmental control officer was purportedly misled by the Georgetown fire chief who told the agent that the fire was brush only and nothing that needed to be investigated.  The burn took place on the farm belonging to Atkins' father-in-law, David Baker, and Atkins was at the scene of the fire during the event.

We should mention that Atkins sits on the House Natural Resources Committee that reviews environmental legislation before the state.  Not only was Atkins at the burn, but two prison work-release inmates were also there providing labor for the task.  Apparently it was a day-long controlled brush fire, which was ok, but after it got dark the tractor tires and others were added to the pile.

Tires are plainly visible in this photo taken
by Gary Conaway  (Delmarva Now)

It gets better…. Delmarva Now is reporting:

The unusual (investigation) by the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control was prompted by letters written by a former state trooper who allegedly punched Atkins during a dispute over the illegal burning, said David S. Small, the agency's deputy secretary.

The former trooper, Dennis A. Schirmer, was charged by state police with terroristic threatening and offensive touching after the Feb. 20 altercation.

A follow-up investigation led to charges being filed against Baker only, leaving Atkins and the prisoners free.  Atkins has been in trouble before.  In 2007 he was forced to resign from the state House of Representatives after flashing his credentials to get out of a speeding ticket.  In another instance he was charged with a domestic violence incident involving his wife.

The former trooper only served 11 years on the force because he was forced out.  Delmarva Now explains:

Schirmer was a state trooper for 11 years until resigning in July 1997. Police would not say why he resigned, but Schirmer said it was because he had sex in his state-issued cruiser with an intoxicated woman he was transporting in a domestic case and had previously dated. "I messed up," Schirmer acknowledged.

In this recent incident that was reopened as a result of Schirmer's letter to the Sussex County prosecuter, DelmarvaNow continues:

Schirmer and Conaway, who live nearby, drove onto the property after noticing that the sky was "completely black" and "looked like something out of the Armageddon movie," Schirmer wrote. The men argued with Atkins, and after what Schirmer described in his letter as "the incident," a state police detective went to the scene.

Police later arrested Schirmer, 52, for allegedly punching Atkins in the face and, after Atkins said he would let his dog out of his truck, threatening to kill Atkins and the dog. Conaway was charged with terroristic threatening for allegedly yelling at Atkins that he would "knock the hell out of you," the arrest affidavit said.

There is plenty more, including the fire chief's conflicting statements as to whether he was there or not, and the changing testimonies from the prisoners, one of whom is a convicted forger and the other a habitual drunk-driver.

Read the entire ARTICLE HERE.

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