PIERRE SHAWN DAYE, a 13-year veteran firefighter with the Columbia-Richland (South Carolina) Fire Department was arrested Wednesday and charged with 3rd-degree arson. He was arrested at fire department headquarters and immediately placed on unpaid leave.
He is accused of setting a fire in a duplex home that he owns this past Saturday night while he was off-duty. The fire was minor, only causing about $4,000 damages, but the preliminary investigation into it pointed to Daye. The fire department then turned the investigation over to the police department and the charges were then brought after they looked into it.
WIS-TV filed this video report of the arrest:
Fire Chief Aubrey Jenkins told The State newspaper that this is the first time that he knows of that a Columbia firefighter has been charged with an arson.
Read the full report in The StateHERE.
Columbia-Richland Fire Department WEBSITE.
THE NOW-FORMER SCHOOL TEACHER who was arrested Monday for burning down the Lincoln, Nebraska, school district's headquarters building in May was formally arraigned yestereday (Wednesday). Sharon Brewster, 44, was first arrested for suspicion of first-degree arson, but at yesterday's arraignment she was charged with second-degree arson. The Lincoln Journal-Star tells why:
The charge means prosecutors do not have to prove Brewster had reason to believe anyone was inside the building at the time, just that she intentionally started the fire, Lancaster County Attorney Joe Kelly told reporters after Brewster's afternoon court appearance.
The charge also means Brewster, 44, faces a possible sentence of one to 20 years in prison, not the 50-year maximum that comes with a conviction for first-degree arson. Other possible penalties include restitution and a fine of as much as $25,000. County Judge Mary Doyle set Brewster's percentage bond at $1 million.
Sharon Brewster
While the police are not disclosing all of their evidence, they are saying that they believe Brewster used a lighter to set a pile of papers afire on her superior's desk. At the time there was another school employee in the building who discovered the fire. The Journal-Star continues:
Asked if he believed Brewster intended to destroy the entire building at 5901 O St., (County Attorney) Kelly answered: "No, and I don’t have to prove that. All we have to prove is that she intended to start a fire that was gonna damage the building.
"The investigation has developed a lot of good information about what a motive might have been," Kelly said. "We have quite a bit of information about that, but it’s not appropriate for me to talk about that now.”
Although LPS officials on Monday pointed to Brewster’s employee badge and electronic key-card as evidence that she had been in the building that day, Lincoln Chief Fire Inspector Bill Moody said it was old-fashioned shoe leather that identified Brewster as a suspect.
A witness had reported seeing someone matching Brewster’s description on the scene, he said. Investigator Ken Hilger’s detective work and interviews of school employees helped him develop a hypothesis that pointed to Brewster.
"We worked 2 1/2 weeks at the fire scene, and we couldn’t come up with anything remotely accidental for a cause," Moody said. "Then we started looking at the people who had come and gone, and Ken developed her as a person of interest. . . . He did an outstanding job." Moody declined to offer possible motives for setting the fire, saying more information would be available later in court documents.
A LINCOLN, NEBRASKA, SCHOOL TEACHER was arrested Monday and charged with setting a fire in May that destroyed the school district's headquarters building.
Omaha World-Herald
Sharon E. Brewster, 44, a "gifted education coordinator and reading recovery" teacher, resigned from her job yesterday and surrendered to police who arrested her on suspicion of first-degree arson, a class 1 felony that carries a 50-yr. prison term. The fire knocked out the district's computer and email system and destroyed every paper document stored by the school system. The total damages reached $20 million.
Sharon Brewster
Brewster is suspected of setting the fire in a cubicle not far from her own desk during an evening when several other employees were also working in the building. She was located at the scene by her electronic employee's badge that records everyone's entry and exit at the building. The authorities are not making public her motive for the arson.
Was Involved in Two Set Fires in Planes While in Flight
EDER ROJAS, NOW AGE 22, has been arrested in Mexico and returned to the U. S. three years after he failed to appear for his trial for setting fire inside an airplane. The former flight attendant was employed by Compass Airlines, a Northwest Air subsidiary, and was reportedly angry for being assigned to the Minneapolis-to-Regina (Sask.) route when he set a roll of paper towels on fire in the bathroom while the plane was aloft.
NWA stock photo of Compass Airliner
Read the Firegeezer reports on the fire and the fugitive flight attendant's fleeing in May 2008, HERE, HERE, and HERE.
During his initial arraignment three years ago the prosecutor disclosed that Rojas was on another flight five weeks previously where a similar fire occurred in the lavatory while in flight, but he was never charged for that fire.
After unrelenting searching, the FBI and the U. S. Marshals Service located him in Iguala, Guerrero, Mexico and had him arrested on March 26 of this year. The marshals returned with him this past Wednesday and took him to Fargo, North Dakota where he had been scheduled for trial. The crime is being tried in Fargo because that is where the plane made its emergency landing following the fire onboard.
Rojas faces the possibility of 20 years in prison on the arson charge and another 10 years for the failure to appear violation.
MECCA, INDIANA, FIRE CHIEF Michael Collom, 38, is being held without bail in the Parke County jail today. Around 4:45 am this morning (Tuesday) he drove his car through the side of a house into a bedroom killing a man and critically injuring his wife.
WTHI-TV
Stacey Williamson, 43, was pronounced dead at the scene and his 46-yr.-old wife Mary is in critical condition at an Indianapolis hospital where she was flown for treatment. Four children were in other rooms in the home at the time and were not injured.
Collom is facing a felony charge of operating a vehicle while intoxicted resulting in a death. The sheriff department's accident reconstruction team has not completed its investigation into the accident.
WTHI-TV Ch. 10 has this video report from the scene:
THE CIMARRON HILLS (Colorado) FIRE DISTRICT IS BEING taken to court by the citizens who are claiming that the District illegally overcharged them during the past seven years. According to the suit, the fire district's board surreptitiously raised the tax millage in 2004 by an amount that far exceeded the legal limit imposed by the state. The fire district's own lawyers conceded that they believe it was illegal and the district has a substantial risk of losing the case. The citizens are asking for a refund of just over $2 million plus 10% interest.
Meanwhile, the fire chief called a meeting last night (Wednesday) to warn the citizens that if the court rules against the fire district, then layoffs and reduced service will be the immediate result.
KRDO-TV Ch. 13 Colorado Springs has the story HERE along with this video report:
A TAPPAN, NEW YORK, WOMAN has pleaded guilty to attempted falsely reporting an incident in the third degree, a misdemeanor.
Kam Yung, 49, reported to Orangetown Police that after a fire was extinguished at her home in April 2010, volunteer firefighters had stolen $7,000 in cash and jewelry from her bedroom. Police investigated and determined she lied. There was never $7,000 there and jewelry was not missing. Yung also admitted to filing a false report with police.
She was sentenced to community service, ordered to pay a fine, a court surcharge and write a letter of apology to the volunteer firefighters of the Tappan, Sparkill and Orangeburg fire departments. The Pearl River Patch reports:
Orangetown police Lt. Donald Butterworth said his department was encouraged that after its investigation the District Attorney's Office decided to prosecute the case and pushed to included the apology to firefighters as part of the sentence.
IT'S NOT OFTEN THAT SUCCESS IS REPORTED, but failure almost always is. Reader Mark S. sent along an article that does just that:
The fire department said an undetected fire was extinguished by an automatic sprinkler at a local industrial supply company. Workers arriving at the business in the 100 block of Fraser Street shortly before 6 a.m. found the remains of the fire and a wet floor. Damage is pegged at about $250.
The Kingston, Ontario, Whig-Standard also quotes the Kingston FD assistant chief as telling how much the damage would have been if there were no sprinklers in the building. Read the full story HERE. Have you reached out to your local paper encouraging coverage of the "good" news?
AN FDNY EMT has been suspended for 30 days while an investigation is made into an allegation that he fondled a female patient who had just been injured in car crash. He must have really been enamoured of her because he continued his advances, according to the complaint, by repeatedly phoning and texting her over the next few days. Reportedly, he got her phone number by taking her cellphone during the ride to the hospital and calling his own number with it, thus leaving a "missed call" message on his phone.
IN OCTOBER 2009 FIREGEEZER reported on a story from Sedona, Arizona, where a "self-help guru" collected large monies from clueless yuppies to do things like getting purged in a sweat lodge. Our first paragraph from the article:
WOULD YOU PAY $9,695 to “experience a new technologically-enhanced form of meditation that creates new neurological pathways”? Well, that’s what some New Age Yuppies handed over to self-help expert James Arthur Ray, a self-proclaimed “spiritual warrior.” As part of his exploration of new neurological pathways, he packed over 60 people into a mismade “sweat lodge” near Sedona, Arizona, Thursday night. After a little over two hours with the steaming rocks, people started getting dizzy and passing out. Two of them later died and more than 15 others required hospitalization. Now the Yavapai County Sheriff wants to know why.
Arizona Republic / Tom Tingle photo
Read the entire ARTICLE HERE for the video report of what they found before they arrested Ray after he tried to flee the law. In February 2010 he resurfaced and surrendered to the sheriff and then was incarcerated under a $5 million bond.
His trial began this past March 1 and the prosecutor was trying to get a conviction of manslaughter for the two deaths. Yesterday (Wednesday) the trial concluded with the jury delivering verdicts of the lesser charge of negligent homicide.
WSAZ-TV Ch. 10 Phoenix reported from the courthouse:
THE SIXTH AND FINAL MEMBER OF an arson ring that comprised five volunteer firefighters and one other civilian was sentenced Wednesday in the Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, Court. Shawn Hoy, 22, agreed to plead guilty in return for having some of the 100 charges against him dropped for his part in the arsons that plagued the area for two years. Judge William Baldwin then sentenced him to 12 to 24 years in the state prison and ordered him to pay $725,982 in restitution.
Hoy first came to our attention in April 2010 when Firegeezer reported HERE on his arrest along with two other FF's for nine arsons. Our video report stated,
Matthew Dixon, 18, of Friedensburg, John Eichert, 21, of Orwigsburg, and Shawn Hoy, 21, of Pine Grove were all active members of the Friedensburg Fire Company and have been charged with arson, conspiracy, criminal mischief and reckless endangerment. Police say that the fire department officials have been cooperating in the investigation and that more arrests are imminent.
left to right: Dixon, Eichert, Hoy.
Not long after that came the arrests of the other three arsonists. The Pottsville Republican-Herald reports this morning:
With Hoy's sentence, all six men involved in the arson ring have been sentenced to a total of 25 to 50 years in prison and more than $1.93 million in restitution.
Hoy said only, "Yes, sir," when Baldwin asked him if he admitted to the acts to which he was pleading guilty and acknowledged the commonwealth has enough evidence to sustain the charges.
The plea negotiated was for more than 100 charges ranging from arson and risking a catastrophe to burglary, agricultural vandalism and criminal mischief.
Earlier this year, four other former firefighters and a fifth man pleaded guilty in Schuylkill County Court for their roles in the string of fires that plagued Wayne, West Brunswick and East Brunswick townships – former volunteers Matthew T. Dixon, Friedensburg, Jonathan D. Eichert, Orwigsburg, Charles J. Ferguson Jr., Schuylkill Haven, and Justin J. Geiger, Orwigsburg. Also pleading was non-firefighter Devon C. Smith, Auburn.
Eichert, Dixon and Ferguson were volunteers with Friedensburg Fire Company, while Geiger was a volunteer with Deer Lake/West Brunswick Township Fire Company.
The Republican-Herald has more details in their article HERE.
Read last month's Times News article about the previous sentencing of four others that were convicted HERE.
THEA TAFNER, THE FORMER ambulance committee chairwoman of American Hose and Chemical Fire Company in Mt. Carmel, Pennsylvania, was sentenced to 30 months in prison Monday for stealing nearly $2 million in ambulance fees and medicare payments.
Thea Tafner
This past January Firegeezer reported HERE on her arrest for “knowingly and willfully embezzled, stole and otherwise without authority converted to her use and intentionally misapplied moneys, funds, securities, premiums, credits, property and other assets of a health care benefit program." Tafner had been hired by the fire company to oversee the financial activity and keep the books for the company's ambulance operations. American Hose and Chemical had subcontracted with private ambulance services to run the calls, but they dropped out one by one because they weren't getting paid.
It turned out that Tafner had set up a rogue bank account and was funneling money into it over a nine-year period. During that time she misappropriated $3.7 million, but diverted only $1.8 million to her own use.
The crime left the fire company foundering so badly that the borough council temporarily suspended them from operation later that same month. (See Firegeezer report HERE.) She was also an elementary school principal, but she resigned her job on the day the arrest was announced.
Along with the prison term, she was ordered to pay back the $1.8 million that she had stolen.
Starting EMS Week by remembering responders who perished at the World Trade Center
The list of who died at the World Trade Center include on-duty, off-duty and volunteers.
The list includes ems credentialed individuals who work or were visiting the World Trade Center complex. When the planes hit they stepped up to help.
For example, northern Virginia resident Jeff Simpson was working for Oracle in New York City, commuting from home every week:
When Jeff Simpson stepped onto the streets of Manhattan, burning debris was falling from the sky and a second airplane was about to slam into the World Trade Center.
Instead of fleeing with his consultant co-workers, Simpson, 38, an emergency medical technician with the Dumfries-Triangle Rescue Squad, raced toward the wreckage, never to be seen again.
His friends and family think he spent his last moments trying to aid the victims of the Sept. 11 disaster.
"I know that he saw that people needed help and went in there without hesitating," said Simpson's widow, Diane, who is raising their 7-year-old triplets. "He knew nobody in the World Trade Center. It makes me very proud."
Jeff Simpson National EMS Memorial Service Honoree page HERE
The Gallatin County (Montana) Attorney’s office has charged Belgrade/Central Valley Fire Chief Brett Waters with a single misdemeanor following a six-month investigation into allegations of misconduct. The incident in question took place in May 2010 when Waters summoned one of the fire companies to his house to help repair his front porch and during the task they were delayed responding to a "serious" medical emergency.
The Belgrade News reports:
The firefighters took one of the department’s fire engines to Waters’ Bulltail Road home four or five miles west of Belgrade, according to (Deputy County Attorney) Whipple’s affidavit. They used a Jaws of Life tool and other extrication equipment to push the porch in place so it could be reattached to the house.
While the repairs were under way, an emergency medical call came in involving a man who was not breathing at a residence on Frontage Road, eight to ten miles away, according to Whipple. Rescue breathing was underway and an American Medical Response ambulance had been dispatched.
The crew packed up the Jaws of Life and responded from Waters’home, arriving eight to 13 minutes behind other, less-trained Central Valley personnel.
In 2004 Chief Waters issued a written policy that stated, If you are caught borrowing any equipment, this infraction will be considered as a major offense and disciplinary action will be forthcoming. Coincidentally, this policy was formally adopted by the local board of trustees just three days before the incident that triggered the investigation.
Brett Waters
One thing that was consistent throughout the investigation were the statements by the firefighters who all said that they felt compelled to "volunteer" to help the chief because his request had the impact of an order and they feared personal repercussions if they refused.
Waters was placed on paid administrative leave in December and resigned from the department last month. The county attorney stated that there is the possibility of more charges being added.
ON FRIDAY A FEDERAL APPEALS COURT issued the final ruling in a long court battle dating back to a 1995 firefighter entrance examination given by the Chicago Fire Department. The Chicago Sun-Times summarizes the results:
Last year, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled, in a 9-to-0 decision, that, contrary to the city’s contention, African-American candidates hadn’t waited too long before filing a lawsuit that accused the city of discriminating against them for the way it handled a 1995 firefighter’s entrance exam.
On Friday, the Seventh U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed that ruling and sent the case back to the trial court to implement what it called the "hiring remedy" the city has been stalling.
Plaintiffs’ attorney Joshua Karsh said the decision means Chicago must hire 111 African-American firefighters and adjust their pensions as if they had been on the job since 1995. Six-thousand others will share "tens of millions of dollars" in damages, Karsh said.
"The city gave a test back in 1995 that did not measure the ability to be a firefighter. It made it more than six times more likely that white applicants would be hired rather than African Americans with no job-related justification. Nothing about getting a high score on that test predicted anything about whether you’d be a superior firefighter." Karsh said.
The actual cost to the city will be about $30 million. While many of the former applicants will opt for the settlement, there are many who will still vie to become one of the 111 who will be hired after being randomly picked. They will still have to pass the physical fitness exam before they can be hired on.
It was delivered nine years and 364 days after Police Officer Jason Schechterle was pulled from his crushed and burning cruiser.
An out-of-control cab slammed into Officer Schechterle's Ford Crown Victoria cruiser.
Right in front of Phoenix Engine 5.
It was 11:21 p.m.
Suddenly, there was a fireball.
Capt. Michael Ore’s crew jumped out of the engine and began unraveling the hose.
Then Ore saw the flashing lights. “We’re on the scene of a 962 …!” he shouted into the radio, giving the code for an accident with injuries. “Give me a first-alarm medical. Police car involved.”
And then: “Trapped victim!”
Flames licked at the broken frame of the patrol car, its back seat crushed by the impact.
“Hurry up!” he yelled to his crew. “There’s a man burning to death in there!”
Darren Boyce aimed the hose inside the car, while rookie Henry Narvaez fought to open the driver’s door. “I can’t get it open!”
Ore tossed an ax to Narvaez, who broke through the window. Boyce kept the flames at bay, but the front seat was smoldering beneath the smoke and steam. The stench of melted plastic filled Ore’s nostrils as he and Narvaez tugged at the officer, fighting to free him.
But he was still strapped into his seat belt, and they couldn’t get to the latch.
“Get a knife!” Ore screamed.
A policeman who’d just arrived sliced through the seat belt, while a second officer loosened the legs. Together the men pulled the officer through the window just as an ambulance drove up.
As they shoved him onto the gurney, a piece of skin peeled off the officer’s arm — revealing a small patch of white on an otherwise blackened man. Ore, a 26-year veteran, was stricken.
“I’m not sure we did this guy a favor,” he thought as the ambulance pulled away.
In addition to fuel tank rupture, a high speed rear end collision jams the front doors of the cruiser. The burning officer is trapped.
It took Engine 5 and fellow Phoenix police officers about eight minutes to get Schechterle out of his cruiser.
You are Fit For Duty (really?)
The unusual memento was a letter from the Industrial Commission of Arizona, signed by Antonio Escobar, Awards Specialist II.
Escobar informed Schechterle, who was burned beyond recognition in the crash and has undergone more than 50 surgeries in the past decade, that he is fit for duty as a cop.
"Information in your file indicates that your injury is not affecting your earning ability at this time," the state employee wrote. "If you have any questions about your award, we will be glad to explain anything that seems unclear."
…
"No permanent work restrictions noted."
Then came the bureaucratic kicker: "There are no medical contraindications which would preclude [Schechterle] from returning to the same or similar work, thereby sustaining no loss of earning capacity."
Laura McGrory, director of the Industrial Commission, told New Times "Jason doesn't have to do anything. We will re-evaluate his case, period, and go from there. Let's just call this a teaching moment."
Since the crash, Schechterle has made many teaching moments to support others.
“The one true blessing we have, the one thing we have control of, is our attitude. It’s the only thing you have control of, every single day, every situation. You get to decide what your attitude is going to be” – Jason Schechterle
Motor officer critically injured, returns home after five months of recovery and rehabilitation: February 25, 2011
NBC News 11 Atlanta
From the Montgomery Advertiser:
“We are just excited and elated that he is coming back," Tommy Brown, police Cpl. David Brown's father, told the Advertiser. "By the grace of God, he's here with us."
Brown lost an arm, a leg, and suffered traumatic brain injury Sept. 11 when escorting a funeral procession on his police motorcycle.
He collided with a car that pulled into his pathway and the motorcycle caught fire. On the way to the hospital, his ambulance overturned on an interstate ramp.
MONTGOMERY, Alabama (October 28, 2010) — Mayor Todd Strange said the city can't grant workers' compensation benefits to the family of police officer who was critically injured while escorting a funeral procession last month because he was off-duty.
Strange said Cpl. David Brown was not working for the Montgomery Police Department that day and had a private contract with the funeral home.
The city received no compensation. Strange said he would like to provide Brown and his family with workers' compensation, but the city must follow the law.
The family sues the city for worker compensation, pointing out that he was using Montgomery Police equipment and was in uniform.
Michael A. DeMayo, in his Workers' Compensation Lawyer Blog, provided a slightly different picture of the mayor after a March 22, 2011 ruling in favor of the family.
The mayor is appealing that ruling. Click below for the details:
2) Career firefighters and paramedics could be placed in the same situation when donating time to their community emergency services.
What happens if you get critically hurt or killed as a responder or instructor while donating you time?
Your employer will seek ways to deny coverage. A large Texas city did it when two off-duty firefighters perished at a building collapse.
The city initially denied city-funded LODD benefits and the rural hometown VFD could not afford the half-a-million annuity needed to provide the same benefit payout.
As the two young mothers started their appeal to the state supreme court, the third effort in an on-going legal fight. The Texas city mayor agreed to provide the LODD benefit.
THE GRAND VIEW TOPLESS COFFEE SHOP in Vassalboro, Maine, will be closing for good this month. Long-time Firegeezer readers first became acquainted with the refreshment center two years ago when we REPORTED HERE on a fire that burned out the newly started business in the small, rural community that was not embracing Donald Crabtree's attempt to provide entertainment for the locals.
May, 2009 (AP / Joel Page photo)
The Grand View was set up in an old, vacant motel building with the topless "coffee shop" at one end and Crabtree's extended family living in the former hotel. The fire was found to be an arson and was set while everybody was sleeping in the building. Within a short time, investigators identified a suspect, Raymond Bellavance who fled to South Carolina where he was arrested nearly a year later (see Firegeezer report on the big bust HERE).
All this time, Crabtree has been struggling to keep the business supported while the local authorities continued to pressure him by strictly enforcing the zoning codes. He finally realized that his efforts would never bear the results he was seeking and announced Friday that he is giving up and will close shortly after he sells off as much of his stock that he can. The Portland Press Herald reported Saturday:
Crabtree, 43, said the final straw for him was the recent notice from the town of violations over large signs he set up. One advertised a benefit topless car wash, while a portable sign proclaimed: "Boobies Wanted."
Crabtree said he removed the signs Thursday night, after he was given seven days by the code officer to do so or else face legal action.
Dan Feeney, Vassalboro's code officer, said he went to inspect the signs April 26 after receiving complaints. Feeney said Crabtree's signs are bigger than what's allowed under his local permit and under the adult-only business ordinance. "It's not what's on the signs; it's the signs themselves," Feeney said Friday.
Crabtree doesn't understand why he's not allowed to hold a benefit to raise money, even though he concedes a topless car wash is "probably pushing it a little bit."
Crabtree claims people have spread rumors about drug use and prostitution ever since his business opened, all of which he adamantly denies.
Read the entire article from the Press HeraldHERE.
Coincidentally, earlier this week Bellavance appeared before the court asking to have his case dismissed. He has been incarcerated since his arrest 11 months ago and his lawyer is complaining that the witness statements that form the basis for his arrest were from witnesses who are currently in custody on a variety of other charges and it is claimed that they have been given favorable treatment in exchange for their testimony. The Morning Sentinel brings us up to date in this twist to the story HERE.
Amendment submitted by Florida Congressman Cliff Stearns (Republican) mandates all the World Trade Center responders be compared to the database of suspected terrorists before receiving benefits from the James L. Zadroga 9/11 Health & Compensation Act.
THE MAN WANTED FOR SUSPICION OF setting a fire and planting two homemade bombs in a Littleton, Colorado, shopping mall last week was captured today (Tuesday) in Boulder, Colorado. KMGH-TV described the arrest sequence:
Earl Albert Moore was arrested at 7:30 a.m., at the King Soopers (grocery store), thanks to an alert shopper, said Boulder police spokeswoman Kim Kobel.
The shopper thought she recognized the man sitting at the Starbucks area of the store and called over a store manager to confirm, Kobel said. Even though Moore was clean-shaven, with some slight stubble and no mustache, the manager, too, thought that he looked like the man the FBI was searching for, so they called 911, Kobel said.
One Boulder police officer just happened to be in the grocery store and was watching Moore, when Moore realized he had been discovered, Kobel said. Moore quickly walked out of a side exit and was arrested by a police officer who had just arrived at the scene. Moore was ordered to the ground and arrested without incident.
Moore was not armed and officers did not have to draw their weapons, Kobel said. Boulder police then swept the grocery store and other shops in the strip mall, to make sure that no suspicious devices were left behind.
The Daily Camera has posted this video report from the scene of the capture:
Earl Albert Moore, 65, was wanted for questioning after surveillance cameras in the Southwest Plaza shopping mall showed a man meeting his description slipping into the employees' entrance just before the fire (see the Firegeezer report HERE).
Moore had been released from a Federal prison in South Carolina just six days before the mall arson. CNN reports today:
Spokesmen with the Bureau of Prisons and the U.S. Marshals Service in Atlanta said Moore was at the medium-security Federal Correctional Institution in Estill, South Carolina, and was released April 14. A federal law enforcement source told CNN Sunday that Moore was serving time for bank robbery when he was released.
Federal court records show Moore was sentenced to 18 years in prison for a March 2005 robbery of Whitesville State Bank in Crab Orchard, West Virginia.
Prosecutors asked later for Moore's sentence to be reduced to reflect "defendant's subsequent substantial assistance in investigating or prosecuting another person." In 2008, Moore's term was cut to seven years in prison with five years of supervised probation.
A public records search through the Colorado Bureau of Investigation shows that since 1984, Moore has been arrested on charges of dangerous drug possession, larceny, theft, possession of burglary tools and failure to appear.
Moore is currently being held in the Jefferson County jail on a federal warrant.
THE FORMER TREASURER of the Hartford Township VFD, near Youngstown, Ohio, was arrested last August and charged with stealing $5,800 from the department. In February, Rebecca Fike-Kuhn pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of misdemeanor theft and agreed to paying full restitution to the FD.
Hartford Twp. firehouse (WKBN)
When she appeared before the court for sentencing yesterday (Monday) she was facing up to 6 months in jail, but the judge put her on 2 years probation, 30 days house arrest, 100 hours of community service, pay full restitution, and ordered her to never be associated with a fire department again.
A FORMER EMPLOYEE of the Garner, North Carolina, Volunteer Fire and Rescue Department pleaded guilty Monday to charges that she stole nearly $400,000 over a seven-year span by writing more than 300 checks to herself.
Amy McKinley Moore's arrest was reported HERE on Firegeezer back on October 28 when we noted:
Amy McKinley Moore, 43, was charged with obtaining property by false pretense and larceny by employee in excess of $100,000. She was released after posting a $50,000 bond. Moore was a 10-year employee of the department and handled the FD’s books. Her husband David Moore is a detective in the Raleigh Police Department.
At yesterday's court hearing she paid $39,733 in restitution to the fire department. The current fire chief says that the FD will be collecting an additional $100,000 from insurance and suing her for the balance. Following her guiltiy plea, the judge sentenced her to serve 44 to 62 months in prison.
THE MAN WHO WAS THE TREASURER AND PRESIDENT of a New Jersey VFD was sentenced earlier this week to prison for stealing over $500,000 from his department. Firegeezer reported HERE in January on how his crime was uncovered following a devastating fire the burned out the fire station and destroyed the FD's only two trucks.
Firefighters drag what equipment they could salvage out of the
New Sharon firehouse on the night of the costly fire in 2008.
(Philadelphia Inquirer photo)
Two years later the members are still struggling to rebuild. We quoted the Philadelphia Inquirer in January:
An FBI investigation revealed that the company’s treasurer, Charles Mancini, 45, of Wenonah, had robbed the company for years. First he took out an unauthorized $90,000 bank loan in the company’s name. Then, after the fire, he stole $448,990 in insurance money.
To conceal his thievery, Mancini, who also was the company’s president, gave members bogus bank statements, authorities said.
Following his arrest, he pleaded guilty in court back in September 2010. The U. S. District Court issued the following press release on Monday, March 21, 2011:
CAMDEN, N.J. – The former president and treasurer of the New Sharon Fire Company in Deptford Township, N.J., was sentenced today to 52 months in prison for stealing more than $500,000 from the New Sharon Fire Company and Deptford Fire Department, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced.
Charles V. Mancini III, 46, of Wenonah, N.J., previously pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Joseph H. Rodriguez to embezzling, stealing, and obtaining by fraud money belonging to the New Sharon Fire Company and Deptford Fire Department, departments of Deptford Township which receive federal funds. Judge Rodriguez also imposed the sentence today in Camden federal court.
According to the Information to which Mancini pleaded guilty and statements made in court:
From January 2005 to February 2, 2010, Mancini was the president of the New Sharon Fire Company. From February 2007 to February 2, 2010, he was also the treasurer. The New Sharon Fire Company is a part of the Deptford Fire Department, which serves Deptford Township in Gloucester County, N.J.
In March 2006, Mancini applied for and obtained a $90,000 line of credit in the name of the New Sharon Fire Company without authorization, and from September 20, 2006, to November 21, 2008, he diverted the majority of the funds from the line of credit to his personal use.
When the New Sharon Fire Company received approximately $448,990 in insurance proceeds to repair damage from a December 8, 2008 fire, Mancini diverted the majority of the insurance proceeds to himself. He wrote checks to himself, other entities over which he had control or partial control, and other entities. To conceal the theft and embezzlement of the insurance proceeds, he provided the fire company members with a false bank statement which made it appear as though the insurance proceeds were on deposit with Penn Mutual Bank.
In addition to the prison term, Judge Rodriguez sentenced Mancini to three years of supervised release and ordered him to pay $505,099.79 in restitution.
U.S. Attorney Fishman credited special agents of the FBI’s Resident Agency in Cherry Hill, N.J., under the direction of Special Agent in Charge George C. Venizelos in Philadelphia, with developing the investigation.
The Philadelphia Inquirer has more on this latest development HERE.
Family Members Claim That She Has Turned Herself In
JESSICA TATA, THE OPERATOR OF THE HOUSTON, Texas, day care center who fled the country after a fire in her home killed four of the seven children in her care, might have surrendered. Two days after the tragic fire (reported in Firegeezer HERE, HERE, HERE, and HERE) she is believed to have traveled to Dallas where she took a flight to Amsterdam and then to Nigeria.
The U. S. Marshal Service then issued a world-wide lookout and notice of warrant along with a reward of up to $25,000 for her arrest.
Saturday Tata’s brother and mother, who live in Houston, told the press that she has surrendered herself at a U. S. Consulate office in Nigeria and could be back in the States as soon as Monday. KHOU-TV is reporting tonight:
Jessica’s brother, Ron Tata said that relatives in Nigeria informed him early Saturday that his sister went to the U.S. consulate. “She just felt really, really, really bad about the whole situation, especially for the families. It would be the right thing to do,” he said during a phone interview from his home in Houston.
U.S. Marshals Service spokesman Jeff Carter said the 22-year-old woman wasn’t in the agency’s custody, and Harris County district attorney spokeswoman Donna Hawkins said she had received no information that Jessica Tata was being held.
Peter Claussen, spokesman for the U.S. embassy in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital, said late Saturday that he had no information about Tata’s possible surrender.
KTRK-TV has posted this video update Saturday night:
THE PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA, BUREAU OF FIRE has seen enough of a handful of firefighters who are continually embarrassing the department by getting arrested repeatedly for a variety of offenses. Now the city is taking actions to remove the problems starting yesterday when the Public Safety Trial Board recommended dismissing Fire Lieutenant Steven Jasper who has been cited three times in the last year for DUI.
WTAE-TV covered yesterday’s hearing and outcome, then filed this video report:
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A WICHITA, KANSAS FIREFIGHTER, JARROD WOMACK was terminated yesterday for setting a fire inside his firehouse as a practical joke. Five other firefighters were also disciplined for the event. Their punishments ranged from written reprimands to short suspensions. KSN-TV Ch. 3 reports:
Back on January 12th, firefighter Jarrod Womack says he used lighter fluid to set a paper towel on fire in an upstairs shower. There was no damage, but a training exercise was going on at Station 1 at the time. Womack says it was all a practical joke – something he says is commonplace in the department.
Womack tells KSN, “I was wrongfully terminated. Some guys in upper management have done the same kind of thing more than once.”
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LAST MONTH FIREGEEZER REPORTED HERE on the arrest of a Newton, Massachusetts, firefighter who was charged with threatening to blow up the house where a teenager lives because he owed him money. Richard Desimone is on extended disability leave and is also accused of dealing drugs while he is off duty. Desimone, who is related to both the fire chief and the police chief of Newton, has a lengthy arrest record dating back to 1989 but has been immune to punishment.
Desimone
His skating away came to an end on Tuesday when the city fired him. WFXT-TV Ch. 25 reports in this video which includes a summary of his dozens of legal conflicts:
Claimed a “Drunken Fog” Erased His Memory of the Event
David Del Toro
A FORMER LOS ANGELES CITY FIRE CAPTAIN, David Del Toro, now 54, was found guilty of second-degree murder Thursday afternoon following a lengthy trial. He had been arrested and charged with killing a 42-yr.-old woman in his home on the night of August 15, 2006. AOL News relates:
Prosecutors said Del Toro broke the victim’s nose, jaw and ribs before killing her and dumping her body a mile from his Los Angeles-area home.
“LAPD officers found tire marks that led from the victim’s body to Del Toro’s driveway,” said district attorney spokeswoman Jane Robison. “Blood was found in Del Toro’s Toyota Tundra truck parked at his house.”
The night before Flores died, Del Toro went to bed drunk and exhausted and left Flores watching television on the couch, he testified. He awoke during the night to find a “mess” that he cleaned up before returning to bed. Prosecutors said the mess was a pool of blood in his living room.
Del Toro was a 23-year member of the fire department. He will be sentenced on April 15 and is facing 15 years-to-life in prison.
The Eagle Rock Patch reports that some jury misconduct may be basis for a mistrial. Click HEREand scroll down.
A MONTREAL MAN WAS SENTENCED YESTERDAY (Tuesday) to 3-½ years in prison for an attempted firebombing of an Italian eatery in the city. The Montreal Gazettereports this morning:
André Beaulieu, 48, of Laval, appeared before Quebec Court Judge Pierre Labelle on Tuesday morning and received a 42-month sentence for his role in an attempt to set a fire to Beniamino, a sandwich bar and caterer on Langelier Blvd.
Montreal police, acting on a tip, arrested Beaulieu and two other people as they prepared to use Molotov cocktails to set the fire. This was during a period where several other blazes had been set in northeastern Montreal in Italian cafés, restaurants and other places of business.
With time served factored into his sentence Beaulieu, a chronic drug addict, has 38 months left on his sentence.
One of his accomplices Tony Abou Arrage, 53, pleaded guilty back in November and received an 18-month sentence plus probation and the third perp Nawal Al Haddad, 47, a woman who was the getaway driver, is still awaiting her preliminary hearing.
#17 is the incident referenced in this article.
Read the Montreal Gazette article on the original arrest at the bungled arson attempt on Beniamino HERE.
Firegeezer notes: These and other recent arrests have two things in common. First, the crimes are now being largely commited by non-Italians, and secondly the amateurish attempts in the past year have largely failed in their missions. It appears that following the arrests in late 2009 of a couple of real pro’s, the feuding families have been hiring simpletons and drug addicts to do their deeds despite their obvious lack of skills in the firebombing trade.
Beaulieu is a career criminal and drug addict who has spent most of his adult life in jail. He was once described as “very institutionalized” and “incapable of functioning in a community.”
Review our previous Montreal Mafia Madness reports HERE.
Erie’s Fired Fire-Setting Firefighter Keeps Fighting
the Fire Department.
JUST LIKE THE PROVERBIAL BAD PENNY, former Erie, Pennsylvania, firefighter Mary Wolski keeps coming back and has popped up in court again trying to sue the city and the fire department.
1997 photo of Mary Wolski
(Erie Times-News)
Wolski, now age 48, first made news back in 1997 when she became Erie’s first female firefighter. Ten years later, though, she was terminated after she admitted to setting a fire in her father’s house. On March 25, 2008, Firegeezer reported (HERE):
On April 11 of last year Fire Chief Tony Pol wrote her a letter of termination and detailed what Pol said was her attempt to set her father’s house on fire.
Pol wrote that Wolski disconnected the smoke detectors in the house, located in the 1800 block of East 34th Street. He said she took an overdose of medication before starting a fire.
He wrote that firefighters were dispatched to the home but that Wolski’s family members managed to extinguish the fire before they arrived. He said Wolski had to be transported to a Pittsburgh hospital by helicopter for emergency medical treatment.
“This incident renders you presumptively unsuited to be a firefighter, as you pose an ongoing threat to the safety of the public, other firefighters and yourself,” Pol wrote.
She appealed the termination to the Civil Service Commission, but they upheld the dismissal and added: “(S)etting a fire … is the single most significant act a fire fighter may not commit. The act of establishing a fire in a residence is wholly incompatible with the role of the fire fighter….”
Still not taking “no” for an answer, Wolski appealed the decision before the Erie County Court claiming that, the case “lacks substantial evidence” to support its decision. The following month she unexpectedly dropped the lawsuit without any explanation. (See Firegeezer report HERE.)
Now she’s back in court again, this time the U. S. District Court in Erie. The Times-News is reporting this morning:
A former Erie firefighter dismissed for setting a fire in a bathtub can pursue a discrimination case against the city in federal court in Erie.
U.S. District Judge Sean J. McLaughlin rejected the city’s request that he dismiss the 2008 suit of the former firefighter, Mary Wolski. She set the fire, in which she ignited clothes in the tub, during a suicide attempt.
Wolski is claiming the city violated the Americans with Disabilities Act by firing her because she suffered from severe depression — not because of the fire. The city said Wolski was let go because of the fire, which she set in 2006.
The city is prepared to go to trial, a date for which has not been set, Deputy City Solicitor Gerald Villella said. He said the city will continue to argue it was justified in firing Wolski because she set the fire.
Read the full story of this latest chapter that was told yesterday HERE.
Erie Fire Department WEBSITE.
March already! Yep, Spring is right around the corner. But I had a spring of my own yesterday. When I got home after a shopping jaunt in the afternoon, I came in through the basement patio door and immediately smelled something very moist. It was because of the water all over the floor. It only took me a handful of seconds to track it down to my water heater where I immediately shut off the water line running to it and the inline valve for the gas pipe.
That is something that you never do really need to have happen to you. Unfortunately, water heaters seldom give you any warning signs of their imminent demise. This one might have set a record, though. It was a 15-yr. tank but it lasted 23 years. Anyway, I did a bit of mopping up and then went back out to Lowe’s to get a replacement installed and they didn’t have one. The salesman called the other Lowe’s in town and they didn’t have one either. Can you believe that? It’s a standard-size, 40-gallon gas heater. Next stop was Home Depot and they not only had plenty, but I have a plumber due at 9 am this morning to install it and take my old hulk away. At least that’s what is supposed to happen. We’ll see.
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Long-time readers may remember the story that we covered extensively over several days about a food processing factory arson that killed four firefighters in Warwickshire, England, in 2007. It was a drawn-out affair because they couldn’t retrieve three of the bodies until a couple of days later and the fourth one wasn’t found until four days after the fire. One of the fatalities was a son of one of the incident commanders. It was 12 months ago that the Warwickshire police announced that they had detained and questioned three of the fire officers who commanded the scene. We published the outrageous activity HERE. If you don’t recall the incident, take the time to read it.
Press Association
Yesterday the Crown Prosecutor (same as our district attorney) disclosed that they have arrested and charged the three officers with manslaughter by gross negligence. Sky News reports it:
In total, 12 people were questioned by detectives about their conduct during the operation to bring the fire under control.
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has said the remaining nine people have been told there is insufficient evidence to take action against them. The CPS’ Michael Gregory said: “I have reviewed the evidence of the case very carefully and I have decided that there is sufficient evidence and it is in the public interest to charge Paul Simmons, Adrian Ashley, and Timothy Woodward with gross negligence manslaughter.
“Mr Simmons and Mr Ashley were watch managers and Mr Woodward was a station manager at the time of the fire, but they all acted as incident commanders before, during and after their colleagues were sent into the burning building.
“In that role, they were responsible for making operational decisions while their colleagues tried to put out the fire.”
When they made the annoucement last year that they had made these arrests and interrogations, I used the Lineup to rant about this insidious practice of charging fire officers for not being perfect at an ongoing, major fire. I finished up by saying:
If this is successfully prosecuted, just look at what the consequences of the action will be. First of all, there will be a large drop in the number of people willing to take supervisory positions. Perhaps not even enough to fill the slots. UK relies heavily on part-time and volunteer firefighters. Do you think for a second that you will be able to recruit any volunteers if they know that they could be sent to jail, thus losing their livlihoods and families, if they so much as make a bad decision? This is nonsense.
Read the entire Lineup commentary about this newfound pursuit by the police HERE.
Before you get too steamed up over this, we had better get this equipment checked out. I’m going to get more coffee started. We’ll finish this discussion back in the day room.
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