“Crime and Punishment Week” wraps up….hopefully. 

THREE FORMER NEW ORLEANS FIREFIGHTERS WERE SENTENCED THURSDAY along with a fourth man to varying lengths of prison terms for operating a drug ring.

After a long period of surveillance and evidence-gathering in 2007, the four were arrested and indicted last November.  Faced with overwhelming evidence, they all pled guilty on April 10 and 11 of this year.

The three firefighters, Eddie Sandifer, Milton Joseph and Aaron White acted along with Damon Burkhalter to sell heroin to purchasers at White’s house and also on the premises of several fire stations in the city.

WRNO radio reports:

2 of the firefighters, 22-year-old Eddie Sandifer III and 25-year-old Milton Joseph IV pleaded guilty to participating in a conspiracy to distribute drugs. 

The third firefighter, 24-year-old Aaron White pleaded guilty to maintaining a drug-involved premises in the 1400 block of N. Derbigny Street.

A co-defendant, 40-year-old Damon Burkhalter, who pleaded guilty to participating in a conspiracy to distribute heroin, drew the longest sentence of nearly 22 years in prison, because he was found to be a “career offender” based on seven prior convictions.

Joseph was sentenced to 10 years in prison, White was ordered to serve 3 years and Sandifer drew a sentence of 18 months.

 *  *  *  *  *

C & P Week is almost wrapped up, anyway:

Former Fire Chief Sentenced For Embezzling

From the Minneapolis Star-Tribune:

Bruce Sames, former fire chief of Prior Lake, was sentenced in Scott County on Friday for embezzling more than $13,000 from Fire Department bank accounts.

He was sentenced to up to five years’ probation, 15 days in jail and 30 days’ community service. He is also being ordered to have a gambling assessment done.

Sames, 49, of Jordan, had been part-time fire chief since 1997. He took money from the department over a period of one year. Fire Department treasurer Brian Davis first noticed the discrepancies when he gave a $50 check to Sames for a firefighter recognition dinner, but when the checking account’s monthly statement arrived, the check amount had changed to $5,500.

Sames told county sheriff’s detectives that he had intended to repay the money, but his construction business had been slow and he had financial problems because of gambling and a divorce.

TEDDY HAPE, 55, IS THE LOCAL FIRE CHIEF OF THE quaintly-named community of Ecum Secum, Nova Scotia.

Yesterday a judge in a provincial court ordered him to stay out of town.  Recently he was arrested on several charges that include assault and violating a court order.  He is scheduled to be arraigned on July 28, but the prosecuter wanted him jailed until then.

Hape’s lawyer convinced the judge that Hape could be safely released under certain stringent conditions.  Not only is he ordered out of town, but Hape cannot even get out of his truck when he passes through Sheet Harbour and must conduct all his business in Musquodoboit Harbour.

The Nova Scotia Chronicle Herald has the STORY.

“Crime and Punishment Week” continues at Firegeezer.

A SALISBURY, MARYLAND CAREER FIREFIGHTER was arrested yesterday (Wednesday) and charged with impersonating a police officer.  David Wayne Cox, 27, was stopped Sunday by a Wicomico County sheriff’s deputy for speeding.

The officer noticed that Cox’s car was former police car, a gray Ford Crown Victoria that was equipped with flashing emergency lights, a siren, some UHF-band antennae and a center console fitted out with police-style accessories.  As the deputy approached the car, Cox showed him a gold badge and claimed that he was a Dorchester County deputy.  After checking up on it, the officer found out that Cox isn’t a deputy anywhere.

David Wayne Cox

WBOC-TV reports:

According to police, it was later discovered that Cox had additional police equipment in his vehicle which included handcuffs, a mini Maryland State Police badge and a Maryland State Police ball cap. Police say a raid of Cox’s home recovered more items that included a gun that matches the type used by Delaware State Police, a Maryland State Police patch, Maryland State Police tie tack and Maryland State Police stickers. According to Sheriff Lewis, Cox admitted he bought his police items on eBay and paid about $1,200 for them.

 After his arrest, Cox admitted making traffic stops in both Maryland and Delaware with his car which was formerly a patrol car on the Fruitland Police Dept.  The car has been impounded.

WBOC photo

Cox has also been suspended without pay from the Salisbury Fire Department.

WBOC-TV has the full story and a video HERE.

THIS TIME IN FLORIDA WHERE A JACKSONVILLE FIRE CAPTAIN was arrested in Nassau County, after police say he attacked a 65-year-old man in a case of road rage.

Capt. Michael Braddock, who has been on the JFRD for 11 years, was driving on a highway Friday night when the geezer tried to pass him in a no-passing zone.  Farther down the road where a legal passing zone was located, Braddock pulled alongside the other car driven by Ralph Stangle, blew his horn and made several gestures at the man.

Stangle noticed a fire department sticker on Braddock’s car and pulled into a fire station with intent on reporting the incident.  It was there that Braddock is accused of getting out of his vehicle, punching Stangle in the face, pulling him out of his truck, and cursing him out.

Michael Braddock

Braddock told police he was defending himself.  He’s bonded out of jail, and is charged with battery.  The JFRD has removed him from street duty and temporarily placed him on administrative duty.

WOKV radio has the STORY.

A SPRINGFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS FIREFIGHTER is on the lam this morning after failing to surrender to an arrest warrant on Monday.

This past Friday the Springfield police obtained an arrest warrant for firefighter Angel Rosario after he allegedly attacked another man with a knife.  It is believed that Rosario was angry that the other man, Joseph Alvaredo, had started seeing his former girlfriend, but there have been several police reports filed in the past three months related to an ongoing conflict between the two men.  Alvarado suffered a slashing wound to his throat, two deep stab wounds to the back, and several slash wounds on his arms, according to the police report.

Wanted
Springfield Police photo

Rosario had agreed to surrender at the police station yesterday, but he failed to appear and he also failed to show up for his scheduled work shift at the firehouse.  He is assigned to the Carew Street station and has been on the department for 13 years.

Also yesterday, the Springfield FD suspended two firefighters for getting into a fistfight while on duty on June 18.

The Springfield Republican has the full STORY.

A WAUKESHA, WISCONSIN, MAN HAS BEEN ARRESTED AFTER using the ambulance one time too many. 

Robert Farnam, 52, had what he thought was a good thing going, for a while.  Whenever he ran up a tab at a bar, restaurant or even a cab, he would fake having a heart attack.  The stunt usually ended up with an EMS unit taking him to the hospital where he would be checked out and then released.  A little time-consuming, maybe but a real money-saver.

But Farnam’s luck is running out.  On Monday of last week he took a cab to a local shopping mall and when he got there, doggone if he didn’t start having chest pains again.  The cab left him there without bothering collecting the fare.  So Farnam strolled inside the mall to an Applebee’s restaurant and ordered himself a nice steak dinner that cost over $22.  You can guess what happened next.

“Hungry Bob” Farnam

The Wauwatosa Fire Department picked him up in their ambulance and took him to the Wisconsin Heart Hospital.  As luck would have it, Farnam was seen by a doctor who had already been through the drill with him before.  In fact, they had “treated” Farnam several time in the last month alone.  The doctor, William Kumprey, got fed up with it and called the police.

It turns out that Farnam has been arrested five times this year for defrauding restaurants and several more times last year.  He was on probation from a prior conviction for a similar case and was prohibited from visiting several restaurants as part of the probation.  But Applebee’s wasn’t on the list…..so he made his move.  Instead he moved to the jailhouse where he was charged with fraud and being a habitual offender.  This time he faces 2+ years in the pokey.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinal carries the full STORY.

A FORMER PORTLAND, OREGON, FIREFIGHTER Brandon King was charged last November with making a false report to a poison hotline.  On Tuesday he accepted a plea-deal with prosecuters and pleaded no-contest in exchange for two years probation and some community service time.

Brandon King (Ch. 12 image)

He had phoned the local poison control center, identified himself as a Portland firefighter and requested help in treating a drug overdose victim.  Investigators later determined he made the whole thing up. In January, a grand jury indicted King on charges of official misconduct and initiating a false report.

In the interim he gained some local notoriety from appearing on the “Dr. Phil” TV show and publicly denying that he had given drugs to and had sex with the family’s 18-yr.-old nanny.

KPTV Ch. 12 has this video report:

A SNOHOMISH, WASHINGTON, MAN WHO THINKS THAT THE FIRE DEPARTMENT is harassing him, was arrested Monday after he fired a roman candle at a fire engine.

A Snohomish Fire District 7 ambulance was following the pumper on a response and the firefighters saw the man light the firework and aim it at the cab.  The ambulance then followed the 34-yr.-old man and identified him for the sheriff.

The roman candle did not cause any injuries, but it did damage a section of hose and a tarp.  The deputies arrested the man at his home where they found several more fireworks and a loaded gun in his car.

The man who lives near a busy intersection has been complaining about the siren noise at all hours of the night.

The Everett Herald reports further:  Deputies believe the man also shot fireworks at the Gold Creek fire station last week, sheriff’s spokeswoman Rebecca Hover said.In that incident, a door at the station was open and someone shot a firework inside. Firefighters at first believed kids were responsible but now believe the man who was arrested likely is to blame.

Read the full story in the Herald  HERE.