On Q Professional Investigations

BROWNSVILLE, Texas (AP) – Two UPS Inc. workers in South Texas plus a relative have pleaded guilty to using company vehicles to smuggle drugs by land and air.

Prosecutors say drug shipments went to Minnesota, Indiana, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Florida, Ohio, Michigan and New York.

Parcels were smuggled by ground and through Valley International Airport in Harlingen and McAllen-Miller International Airport since 2007.

Reymundo Abel Brown Jr., Mario Enrique Patlan and his daughter Cristina Patlan pleaded guilty Thursday in Brownsville.

Brown and Mario Patlan pleaded guilty to conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute marijuana and cocaine. Cristina Patlan, who recruited shipments, pleaded guilty to possession with intent to distribute marijuana.

The men could get 40-year prison terms. Cristina Patlan faces up to five years.

A UPS spokeswoman said Friday that the company is investigating.

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When a thief stole a smartphone recently in Western Branch, the tech-savvy victim knew what to do.

He had been shopping in December when he set down his phone, police said. Moments later, the Samsung Galaxy S3 was gone.

So the man activated an app installed on the phone called Track Viewer. The device covertly recorded images of a stranger using the phone.

Police distributed a photo of the stranger from the cellphone in early January and solicited tips from the public through Crime Line. Within two weeks, they made an arrest.

As smartphone technology advances, so does antitheft software, and a growing number of apps are giving users the ability to lock, erase and track phones with GPS. When a person reports a stolen phone to police, officers rely on victims for information about the digital trail of bread crumbs a thief may have left behind.

Often police are asking: Do you have an app for that?

“It does happen where the victims are helping us,” said Officer Kelly O’Sullivan, Chesapeake police spokeswoman.

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A Pennsylvania teenager has been accused of murdering a classmate and posing with the victim’s body for a “selfie,” according to news reports.

Authorities say 16-year-old Maxwell Marion Morton of Jeannette, Pa., fatally shot 16-year-old Ryan Mangan in the face before taking a photo with Mangan’s body and uploading it to Snapchat, a smartphone application that allows users to send images that are deleted a few seconds after they’re received, according to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.

Morton sent the image to a friend, who saved it on his phone before it was deleted, according to Fox News. The friend showed the photo to his mother, who turned the image over to police, according to Fox News.

“[Police] received a copy of the photo which depicted the victim sitting in the chair with a gunshot wound to the face,” a police affidavit states, according to the Tribune-Review. “It also depicts a black male taking the ‘selfie,’ with his face facing the camera and the victim behind the actor. The photo had the name ‘Maxwell’ across the top.”

Police also say the friend received more text messages from Morton, saying: “Told you I cleaned up the shells” and “Ryan was not the last one,” according to CBS Pittsburgh.

Mangan’s body was discovered by his mother, who contacted police, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Police found a photo of Mangan holding a semiautomatic handgun on his phone, the Post-Gazette reported.

Morton, a high school junior and a running back on the school’s football team, confessed to killing Mangan after police found a 9-millimeter handgun hidden in his home, according to the Tribune-Review. He has been charged as an adult with first-degree murder, homicide and illegal possession of a firearm, the Tribune-Review said.

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AUSTIN – A Texas lawmaker says it’s time to protect teachers who stand up to unruly students, but he’s filed a bill that would authorize deadly force.

“One of the concerns they have is the lack of discipline in their classroom,” said state Rep. Dan Flynn (R-Canton), who believes teachers already have enough to worry about.

He says unruly students don’t just endanger the learning environment, but teachers and other students as well, citing recent instances of teachers being physically assaulted in their own classroom.

“From time to time, they do attack our teachers, and if a teacher even raises up her hand to defend herself, or he raises his hand up and defends himself, he finds he could be either sued or lose their job,” Flynn said. “I want to be able to protect those teachers.”

Flynn is the author of House Bill 868, which states “an educator is justified in using force or deadly force on school property, on a school bus, or at a school-sponsored event in defense of the educator’s person or in defense of students of the school that employs the educator,” as well as “in defense of property of the school that employs the educator.”

“When a teacher told me to sit down and behave, we did it,” said Flynn. “We are living in a different age right now, and the teachers are reluctant to be able to do that because there is such an effort on the part of many to blame them.”

Some 80 Texas school districts have policies allowing either teachers or staff to carry firearms, but Flynn is emphatic guns have nothing to do with his bill. While it doesn’t mention them, it doesn’t exclude them either.

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Texas, Florida, Arkansas, Wyoming, Indiana, Colorado, Montana and Nevada are considering passage of laws allowing college students or K-12 staff and teachers to carry concealed firearms on campus.

In Texas, Senate Bill 11 from Republican state Sen. Brian Birdwell and House Bill 937 from Republican state Rep. Allen Fletcher would allow students, faculty, visitors and staff to carry their guns anywhere on campus, including classrooms, libraries and student unions, reports the Dallas Morning News.

Florida politicians are once again is also considering allowing concealed guns at state colleges and universities despite a similar bill being defeated recently, reports Wink News. The new bill, HB 4005, was prompted by a shooting on the campus of Florida State University last fall.

In Arkansas, if House Bill 1077 passes, universities will no longer have the right to opt out of a law allowing faculty to carry concealed weapons, reports the Arkansas Traveler.

Wyoming Republican Rep. Allen Jaggi has sponsored House Bill 114 that would repeal the state’s gun-free zones act, reports the Washington Free Beacon. Last week, the bill was approved by the House Judiciary Committee, so it will now go to the House floor.

Indiana is considering passage of HB 1143, which would allow concealed weapons on college campuses, and Montana has introduced Senate Bill 143, which would prohibit colleges from regulating or restricting the possession of firearms on university property.

In Colorado, Republican Rep. Patrick Neveille, who is a former student of Columbine High School who survived the 1999 attack, has introduced a bill allowing anyone with a concealed carry permit to carry firearms in public schools, reports BearingArms.com. Neville’s bill is one of several introduced in the Colorado legislature. Most of the proposed legislation in Colorado is not expected to pass.

The Montana state Senate this week narrowly endorsed a bill that would allow people to carry concealed guns on college campuses, reports the Great Falls Tribune. Bill 143 would, with some exceptions, prohibit restrictions on firearms on state university property. School regents would still be able to regulate gun possession at campus events where alcohol is served or in dorms if a roommate objects to a gun being in his or her room.

The Nevada legislature is considering a bill that would allow firearms to be stored in a car on the grounds of any day care center or public, private or college campus as long as the vehicle is occupied, locked or if the gun is kept in a storage container, reports the Elko Daily Free Press. Similar legislation didn’t pass in 2013 but could face less opposition this time.

A study conducted by Campus Safety magazine last fall concluded that nearly three out of four campus protection professionals oppose college students being allowing to carry concealed guns on campus.

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A Florida mother was browsing her Facebook news feed when she came across a post by the local police department asking for help in identifying a robbery suspect who had been caught on surveillance camera during the alleged theft.

She immediately recognized who it was: her teenage son.

Casselberry Police say the woman marched into his room at 1 a.m. and called police, who found Joel Brown wearing the same Fila sweatshirt seen in the surveillance photos when they arrived at her Winter Park, Fla., home.

“She didn’t wait till morning,” Sgt. Chris Pamatian told WESH-TV. “She took care of it right then.”

The 18-year-old was arrested and charged with shoplifting $670 worth of PlayStation controllers from the Casselberry Target. According to police, Brown, a college student, confessed, saying he needed the money.

Authorities recovered five of the controllers, but according to WFTV, several others had already been sold to area GameStop stores.

Pamatian said that while the department receives crime tips from a variety of sources, it’s unusual to “receive a call from the suspect’s mother.”

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We’re all familiar with the radar guns that police use to catch and ticket speeding drivers. But the next stage of that technology is now poised to nab drivers who are engaged in a behavior that’s possibly even more dangerous: texting behind the wheel.

A Virginia-based company called ComSonics is developing a new type of radar gun that can actually detect whether text message radio frequencies are being emitted from passing cars. According to The Virginian-Pilot, ComSonics says the device is “close to production.”

Virginia is one of 44 U.S. states that has a ban on texting while driving.

As the topic of distracted driving continues to gain nationwide attention, ComSonics isn’t the only company attempting to create at technology designed to temper it.

Third-party apps for Android and iOS, like DriveScribe and DriveOFF, detect when your car is moving and will block all incoming notifications on your phone. And an activity-reporting app called Canary can be installed on young drivers’ phones to let parents know when their kids are calling or texting while driving.

Apple itself has been sitting on a filed patent for a “driver handheld computing device lock-out” to keep iPhone owners from texting while on the road. As for when or how exactly this feature would be rolled out to iOS or the company’s new CarPlay system, that’s anyone’s guess.

It’s yet to be determined whether law enforcement in Virginia or anywhere else will adopt ComSonics’ texting-detection gadget. Whether it pans out or doesn’t, the best advice we can give would be to keep your eyes open and on the road. Slow down and put the phone down.

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The number of approved medical marijuana patients in Illinois has reached about 1,000, officials announced Wednesday.

While the number remains far below initial projections, it’s a noticeable increase from 650 one month ago.

“Some people may be waiting until the product is actually available,” Department of Public Health spokeswoman Melaney Arnold said.

That earlier number was “terrifying” for medical marijuana business owners, said Mark Passerini, president of the Illinois Cannabis Industry Association, who had said it’s not a sustainable business unless more patients sign up.

About 14,000 people have registered to begin the patient application process for medical cannabis since the state began accepting applications last fall. Of those, about 2,100 have submitted at least part of the application.

To qualify, patients must have one of about three dozen specified medical conditions, and they must fill out a written application with a doctor’s recommendation and fingerprints to pass a criminal background check.

The most commonly cited conditions initially included cancer, severe fibromyalgia, multiple sclerosis and spinal cord injuries, officials said.

Most of the licenses to grow and sell medical marijuana in Illinois were just issued Monday after an extensive application and vetting process. Business owners said it will take time to prepare their sites and about four months to grow the first crop.

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State officials have awarded a business license to a medical marijuana dispensary planned for the corner of North and Harlem avenues in Oak Park.

Future Transactions Holdings, LLC won the sole license to operate a marijuana dispensary in Oak Park, River Forest, Berwyn, Cicero and Riverside. It will be one of the state’s 60 dispensaries under the four-year pilot program.

The dispensary’s tentative name is “District 36,” named after the Illinois State Police district it’s located within.

Its owner is Chicagoan Brad Zerman. He’s also the CEO of Sky Processing, an ATM processing service company located at 3360 N. Elston Ave. in Chicago, which already processes cash for marijuana dispensaries in Colorado.

After talking to some of his clients at a trade show in Colorado and some of his Chicago-area friends, Zerman decided to apply for three licenses within Illinois. One application was in Highland Park, one was in Evanston and one was in Oak Park. In total, after hiring consultants, the three applications cost him about $200,000.

“There are just so many components to this, there was no room for error,” said Zerman. “The state could just go to the next applicant because it was so competitive.”

When applying for the licenses, Zerman said he chose municipalities that were “forward-thinking” and would not impose additional zoning regulations that would force his business into a manufacturing zone, like Morton Grove or Niles.

“According to Oak Park’s zoning department all we have to do is apply for a village business license,” said Zerman. “And the state is imposing such a high bar for security that it made sense to open the business in a commercial area with high traffic that’s well lit and regularly patrolled by police.”

Paul Stephanides, Oak Park’s village attorney, said the dispensary would most likely be regulated within the village the same way pharmacies currently are.

In a statement Monday, Gov. Bruce Rauner’s General Counsel Jason Barclay said his office conducted a comprehensive review of the process ex-Gov. Pat Quinn’s administration used to recommend applicants for the Medical Cannabis Pilot Program.

Barclay said Quinn’s administration imposed arbitrary scoring cutoffs that were not authorized in the state law and that agencies conducted character and fitness reviews, which they suggested came at the wrong stage of the process. He also said some applicants were disqualified without clear procedures.

“These actions may result in some additional minimal delay in a limited number of districts and for that, we apologize to the patient community,” Barclay said.

The state estimates that it will take at least six months for most of Illinois’ marijuana growing centers to get their operations up and running now that they’ve been approved.

For now, medical marijuana in Illinois is a pilot program with a four-year life span. If the state doesn’t renew the medical marijuana law, Zerman and other marijuana businesses in Illinois may lose their investment. But he’s not worried, for now.

“I’m an entrepreneur,” said Zerman. “Yes, it is a risk, but given where the state is going, and provided it does a good job overseeing these businesses, I don’t see why they wouldn’t renew the law.”

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Recent revelations about a proposed federal law enforcement program might have some friends and families drawing lots to decide who drives to the next gun show.

Criminals rarely obtain guns from gun shows. A Department of Justice survey of state and federal inmates, found that only 0.7 percent of those polled had acquired a firearm that they possessed at the time of their offense from a gun show. Unfortunately, this didn’t stop at least one federal official from suggesting that the sophisticated tools of the modern surveillance state be turned on unsuspecting gun show attendees.

Documents obtained in a Freedom of Information Act request filed by the American Civil Liberties Union reveal that, in 2009, the Drug Enforcement Administration contemplated using License Plate Readers (LPRs) to track vehicle traffic from gun shows. A highly redacted email from an unknown DEA official suggests the program was past infancy, and stated, “DEA Phoenix Division Office is working closely with ATF on attacking the guns going to [redacted] and the guns shows to include programs/operation with LPRs at the gun shows.”

ACLU correctly points out the danger of such technology in an article on their website, explaining, “An automatic license plate reader cannot distinguish between people transporting illegal guns and those transporting legal guns, or no guns at all; it only documents the presence of any car driving to the event. Mere attendance at a gun show, it appeared, would have been enough to have one’s presence noted in a DEA database.”

The proposed program is even more disturbing when placed into the larger context of the Justice Department’s ongoing general license plate tracking program. A January 26 article from the Wall Street Journal explains the broad contours of DOJ LPR surveillance. The piece states, “The Justice Department has been building a national database to track in real time the movement of vehicles around the U.S., a secret domestic intelligence-gathering program that scans and stores hundreds of millions of records about motorists.” The authors go on to explain the wide availability of the collected data, writing, “Many state and local law-enforcement agencies are accessing the database for a variety of investigations… putting a wealth of information in the hands of local officials who can track vehicles in real time on major roadways.” They further note that this national database “allows any police agency that participates to quickly search records of many states for information about a vehicle.”

According to a January 27 Wall Street Journal article focusing specifically on the gun show surveillance proposal, DEA Administrator Michele Leonhart told the paper, “The proposal in the email was only a suggestion. It was never authorized by DEA, and the idea under discussion in the email was never launched.” Further, the article stated that DOJ officials were quick to deny any BATFE involvement in the LPR scheme. However, as has been made clear by the events of the last two years, public statements by federal officials regarding the scope of federal surveillance activities should be viewed with a healthy dose of skepticism.

DEA’s proposed indiscriminate gun show surveillance places an unacceptable burden on the privacy of law-abiding citizens exercising their Second Amendment rights and even smacks of firearm registration. Further, such tactics infringe upon rights protected by the First Amendment. Gun shows are far more than just shopping opportunities for gun buyers. They are also community gatherings that often serve as venues for political expression and organizing. As such, they are subject to the First Amendment’s rights of freedom of association and to peaceably assemble and should be free from government activity that could chill free and open participation.

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