Police officer fatally shoots man outside Baton Rouge convenience store
A police officer shot and killed a man following a confrontation outside a Baton Rouge convenience store. Officers responded to the store about 12:35 a.m. Tuesday after an anonymous caller indicated a man selling music CDs and wearing a red shirt threatened him with a gun, said Cpl. L’Jean McKneely. Two officers responded and had some type of altercation with the man and one officer fatally shot Alton Sterling of Baton Rouge, McKneely said. Both officers have been placed on administrative leave, which is standard department policy, he said.
The store’s owner, Abdul Muflahi, claims that the first officer used a Taser on Sterling and the second officer tackled the man. Muflahi said as Sterling fought to get the officer off of him, the first officer shot him “four to six times.” The owner said Sterling did not have a gun in his hand at the time but he saw officers remove a gun from Sterling’s pocket after the shooting. McKneely said late Tuesday that he could not confirm Muflahi’s description of the alleged event or any other details of the investigation.
A crowd of people protesting the shooting gathered late Tuesday afternoon at the store where it took place. The group grew to over 200 people, who chanted and waved signs late into the night… [The Times Picayune]
U.S. Postal employee charged with stealing thousands of credit cards
A former postal employee has been charged with stealing more than 6,000 credit cards from undelivered mail while working as a processing clerk at a United States Postal Service center in Santa Ana, federal prosecutors said Tuesday. The loss to victims was at least $3.1 million, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Chinh Vuong made at least $6,000 a month by selling the credit cards, prosecutors said. He was accused of then spending the money on luxury items including designer handbags, boots and cars. Vuong had worked as a mail clerk since 1989. It is not clear how long he was running the scam, authorities said, but over the course of a year he stole 6,240 credit cards by stuffing them into his waistband and then carrying them out to his car on his break. Vuong would steal cards issued to customers of Chase Bank and American Express and then sell 11 cards for $500, or 132 cards for $5,000, court documents say, with his customers then making unauthorized purchases.
Beginning in June 2015, he sold hundreds of cards to two people whom he thought were customers but were actually working as law-enforcement informants, court documents say. Authorities searched his home and seized 199 stolen credit cards and luxury items bought using money from the scam, including two BMWs and about two dozen handbags made by brands including Prada, Louis Vuitton and Gucci, prosecutors said… [Orange County Register]
Family Dollar employee fatally shot trying to stop a shoplifter
A 30-year-old Family Dollar employee was fatally shot Tuesday afternoon while trying to stop a shoplifter in Chicago’s Auburn Gresham neighborhood.
The male victim was working at the store when he tried to stop someone from shoplifting. The offender then shot the victim in the chest at close range and fled, police said.
“I heard three shots. They sounded like firecrackers. And then the manager ran right past me. He grabbed my arm. He fell down, and he said, ‘I’ve been shot,'” says a customer who was inside the store at the time. She asked not to be identified.She and another woman tried to save his life. “I raised his shirt up and I saw where the hole was in his chest. And I told her to put pressure right there. That’s where we both started putting pressure, and I took my hands off and told her to leave her pressure on,” she says. The man was taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center where he was pronounced dead a short time later. Investigators are combing the store for evidence and scouring possible surveillance footage.
In a statement, a Family Dollar spokesperson said: “We are currently working with authorities in Chicago to fully understand the situation, and we are assisting them in every way we can as they conduct their investigation. As this is an active investigation, I am unable to comment further…” [ABC News]
Store owner found with thousands in stolen goods
The owner of a mobile wireless store in northwest Miami-Dade County was arrested Tuesday after thousands of dollars’ worth of stolen property was found in his possession, police said. William Vega faces five counts of dealing in stolen property and several counts of pawn shop-related violations. Miami-Dade police said an investigation into the theft of a stolen laptop led them to the store. Police said a sign in the front advertised that the business bought and sold items. Investigators executed a search warrant and uncovered more than 200 items, including computers, cameras, power tools, cellphones, televisions and watches. Detectives said some of the laptops had markings indicating that they were the property of the Miami-Dade County school board… [ABC News]
Store owner accused of selling drugs
Naiel Asad is accused of selling illegal drugs from the Price Rite Food Mart. Asad is accused of “hand-to-hand delivery to confidential sources” of illegal drugs packaged under names like “Spice Diamond,” “Bomb Marley” and “Scooby Snax.” According to police reports, Asad admitted to investigators that he was selling the drugs to support his financially shaky business. The store’s gas pumps had been shut off, Asad told officers. A search of Asad’s home produced $20,000 in cash and two weapons. More than 200 grams (about 7 ounces) of material found to contain illegal compounds were found in searches of Asad’s home, business and car.
Police began their investigation into the alleged drug sales about three months ago after several confidential sources told Bloomington police about purchases of synthetic marijuana they had made from Asad and others at the business. One confidential source claimed to know customers who had overdosed on drugs purchased at the store. The informants made three trips to the store under police surveillance with cash provided by Bloomington police to buy the drugs that were kept out of plain sight and were paid for with cash that was not put in the register. On June 15, “Asad did not report to work until after 4:30 p.m. and a line had formed already of drug users to buy spice from the suspect,” said a report. Asad told police he usually bought 500 to 1,000 packets of the drug at a time for between $5 and $8 each and sold them for at least double that price… [Pantagraph]
LP Worldwide: Thieves kill store owner’s son, flee with jewellery worth Rs 50 lak
A 19-year-old youth, son of a jewellery shop owner, was murdered allegedly by three persons, who fled after looting jewellery worth Rs 50 lakh (approx. $74,157 US) from the shop in Kalka (India) late evening on Monday. Shubhanshu Verma was the youngest son of Jagdish Verma whose jewellery shop is located in the main market of Kalka. The family has run the shop for the past few generations, after they took it on rent from a Shimla-based businessman.
The alleged thieves took all the jewellery items, which included nearly 1.25 kg gold and 9 kg silver, totally worth around Rs 50 lakh. The incident took place around 1:40 am, when Shubhanshu was sleeping inside the shop on a mattress with the AC on and the shutters of the shop were down. There were six CCTV cameras installed inside the shop, of which only three recorded the incident. The others were either damaged or their direction were changed by the suspects, the police said… [The Indian Express]
Man guilty for passing phony $20s
A Reading man has been found guilty of a scheme to generate cash by returning high-end merchandise to area Boscov’s Department stores that had been purchased with counterfeit $20 bills. Dwane Mayo was convicted on counts of forgery, theft by deception, receiving stolen property and conspiracy — as well as attempted forgery, attempted theft and attempted receiving stolen property. Mayo, who has a history of retail theft convictions, was arrested by police after a high-speed chase. Police had identified him and a woman he was with as those subjects who had been purchasing items from Boscov’s with counterfeit money, then returning them later for cash.
The purchase that led to their arrest was of a Dyson vacuum cleaner valued at $635. Daylia Johnson bought the vacuum using $340 in counterfeit $20 bills. The following day Johnson was stopped by loss prevention attempting to buy a pots and pans set valued at $158. She used four $20 bills and five real $20 to make the purchase. Mayo had been spotted by police outside the mall, having been identified from previous encounters that involved counterfeit money. When officers tried to take him into custody he fled, cutting through traffic outside the mall, running red lights, and finally abandoning his car outside hotel. He was found hiding in bushes nearby and taken into custody… [Daily Local News]
Police recover $50,000 in stolen, counterfeit goods from alleged crime ring
Three people accused of organized theft out of a South Side home were arrested Tuesday after police said they discovered about $50,000 in stolen and counterfeit goods. They each face a charge of organized retail crime for “fencing,” or buying and selling stolen goods. Police said they had been monitoring the trio for several weeks before obtaining a search warrant at their home. “We recovered about $50,000 in brand-new items, mostly shoes stolen from area sporting good stores,” police said. “This is one tier level higher than going in and stealing things.” Investigators believe the trio was coordinating with other people, called “boosters,” who would steal the goods from local department stores. At least two suspected boosters had already been arrested before the Tuesday arrests. Other items could be seen in a trailer that police loaded the stolen goods on, including electronics and wrapped batches of sports drinks… [My San Antonio]
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