On Q Professional Investigations

Schools in seven Tennessee counties were evacuated Friday morning due to bomb threats.

No explosives were found at any of the schools, said Lt. Bill Miller of the Tennessee Highway Patrol. Emergency crews were sent to schools in Murfreesboro, Millersville, Greenbrier and Columbia. Threats were also reported at schools in Wilson, Knox and Lewis counties.

Students, teachers and staff at Millersville Elementary were safely escorted to Millersville City Hall about 420 feet away on 31W Louisville Highway, Sumner County Sheriff Sonny Weatherford said. The sheriff’s office received a call at 9:48 a.m. on Friday, but nothing had been found nearly two hours later.

Millersville students were dismissed, but teachers were allowed back in the building to finish the day, Miller said.

Robertson County investigators spent most of the day at Greenbrier Middle School but found nothing, according to Greenbrier Deputy Chief Randy Pack. School officials there were notified that that a person was inside the building with a bomb, officials said.

Pack said the threat was called into the school at about 11:05 a.m. Students were transferred to nearby Greenbrier High.

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WASHINGTON – Fourteen years after its reported theft from a Paris museum, a Pablo Picasso painting will be returned to France. The repatriation of “La Coiffeusse” follows an investigation led by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) as a part of Operation Toile.

ICE Director Sarah R. Saldaña presided over the official transfer of the painting at a ceremony held at the French Embassy in Washington Aug 13.

“The recovery and return of stolen artwork and other cultural artifacts remains a significant priority for ICE,” said ICE Director Saldaña. “As our world continues to shrink, protecting cultural treasures has become even more important and we are committed to doing everything we can to return them to their rightful owners.”

Pursuant to an investigative lead, HSI and U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials conducted an inspection of a targeted shipment in December 2014 in Newark, New Jersey. Upon inspection, the painting was revealed and seized as the shipment contained, in addition to the stolen painting itself, fraudulent statements regarding the shipment’s value, country of origin and description. The shipping label described its contents as a low-value handicraft valued at 30 euros.

In reality, the cargo contained a $15 million painting by Picasso, which has been listed on the Interpol Stolen Works of Art database since it was reported stolen in 2001.

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Albanian Crime Group Used Violence, Intimidation in Business Dealings

Loan sharking. It’s a term that might conjure up historical images of shadowy organized crime figures handing out questionable loans at exorbitant interest rates to desperate customers, usually followed by threats of violence if the loans aren’t paid off.

Unfortunately, loan sharks are alive and well in 2015 and continue to benefit from the financial misfortunes of others. Last month, the two top leaders of an Albanian criminal organization operating in the Philadelphia area were sentenced to lengthy federal prison terms for running a violent loan sharking and illegal gambling ring. Ylli Gjeli, the boss, and Fatimir Mustafaraj, the muscle, were convicted late last year after a six-week trial. Two other defendants were convicted at the same trial.

From 2002 to 2013, Gjeli and Mustafaraj led the multi-million-dollar criminal enterprise with two primary sources of income: loan sharking and illegal gambling. The illegal gambling arm of the operation included an online sports betting website that contributed more than $2.9 million in gross profits to the group’s criminal coffers. There was often crossover between the two arms of the organization—when customers couldn’t cover their gambling losses, bookies would refer them to the loan sharking side of the house.

The illegal activity took place in various Philadelphia bars and coffee houses owned or controlled by the organization. In addition to the gambling operation, Gjeli, Mustafaraj, and company generated money by making loans to customers at interest rates that ranged from 104 percent to 395 percent and demanding weekly repayments.

These repayment demands were almost always accompanied by acts of intimidation. Customers were menaced with firearms, hatchets, and threats of physical harm to themselves or family members. In a number of instances, perhaps to create the false impression that the Albanians were part of a larger and more powerful organization, customers were told that “people from New York” were willing to cause bodily harm to anyone who didn’t pay up.

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This week, the FBI dedicated its new 360,000-square-foot Biometric Technology Center (BTC), located on the campus of our Criminal Justice Information Services (CJIS) Division in Clarksburg, West Virginia. The BTC, an enhancement of the ongoing collaboration between the FBI’s Biometric Center of Excellence and the Department of Defense’s Forensics and Biometrics Agency, will—once fully operational—encourage even more joint biometric investigations, along with additional research and development.

FBI Executive Assistant Director Amy Hess, Science and Technology Branch—with CJIS Assistant Director Stephen Morris—welcomed Bureau and Department of Defense (DOD) officials and employees, state and local dignitaries, business and community leaders, and others to the ceremony. “The BTC,” according to Hess, “will be a home for a joint biometric research and development efforts between the FBI, the Pentagon, and other agencies.”

Over the past few years, the FBI has been working with the DOD to use biometrics to identity terrorists and criminals who threaten our homeland and our citizens. The BTC facility will enable the Bureau’s CJIS Division, which has the largest centralized collection of biometric information in the world, and the DOD, with its military biometrics database systems, to make advances in a variety of identification technologies like DNA, iris recognition, voice patterns, facial patterns, and palm prints. It will also allow us to move these technologies and resulting biometric tools more quickly from the laboratory into the hands of those who work to combat terrorism and protect the public from dangerous criminal activity.

FBI and DOD biometrics experts working side-by-side in the facility will also focus on biometrics product certification, training, standards development, privacy rights, and research and development into emerging technologies.

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More than 400 weapons and tools that could be weapons have been seized by security at Plymouth’s crown and magistrates courts in the last two years – including one replica firearm.

Security guards seize a range of items every day including drugs and alcohol, and objects which could be used as a weapon.

The figures have been released today by the Ministry of Justice following a Freedom of Information request.

Some months see the city courts finding a weapon once every other day, with objects that could be used as a potential weapons routinely held.

In total 177 weapons were seized at the two courts in the last two years and 226 tools were held when security thought they could be used as a weapon.

In May 2014 a replica firearam was found on one person at Plymouth Magistrates Court.

Knives are the most common seized weapons, with 10 knives with a blade longer than three inches found in October 2013 alone at Plymouth Magistrates Court – the biggest monthly haul for large blades.

There were also 10 smaller knives found at Plymouth Crown Court in June 2013 and in November 2014.

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JONESBORO, Ga. — Students in Clayton County heading back to school Monday will notice resource officers policing the campuses with body cameras.

Channel 2’s Darryn Moore talked to Clayton County school resource officers about the new cameras and what it means for privacy for the students.

Clayton County SRO Devon Greene said the goal is to use the cameras as an investigative tool.

“You can definitely use as a deterrent. And even if it does not prevent the act from happening, you have the actual event recorded,” said Greene.

The cameras will also have audio along with the video capabilities.

“The need for the camera is definitely for investigative reasons. Any time we have any incident that may occur inside or out of the school, it gives us an extra eye,” said Greene.

Several police departments around the state equip their officers with body cameras. Officer Devon Greene said it’s a deterrent and will hold students accountable for their actions.

Privacy is a concern; Georgia is a one-party consent state and the law allows for recording in public and only one party in the recording needs to consent.

“The community may have cell phones within their constitutional rights to record what they may, this is our constitutional right as well,” said Greene.

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Sonoma CA-Two men found sleeping Wednesday morning in a car parked at the Graton Resort & Casino near Rohnert Park were arrested at gunpoint when the car turned out to be stolen, a Sonoma County sheriff’s official said.

Casino security workers called law enforcement at about 8:25 a.m., asking them to check on the men sleeping in a silver Toyota Camry. A check of the vehicle’s plate showed it had been stolen Tuesday from a Rohnert Park location, sheriff’s Lt. Steve Brown said.

Deputies and Rohnert Park police responded and took the men into custody.

Inside the car deputies found several vehicle keys, suspected of being used to steal cars, Brown said.

The two men, believed to be transients from Santa Rosa, were both wanted on different arrest warrants, according to court records.

As well as the warrants, Armando Lopez, 29, and Filemon Vazquez-Montoya, 21, were arrested on suspicion of possessing stolen property and burglary tools – misdemeanor charges.

Who stole the Camry remained under investigation.

Sonoma County has experienced a substantial jump in stolen cars so far in 2015 over 2014. In the last several weeks, several stolen cars have been found parked near the casino in the northwest corner of Rohnert Park, according to law enforcement officials.

The casino parking lot case netted one more person wanted by the law – Rohnert Park resident Dayna Grimwood, 35.

Brown said a woman’s identification was found inside the stolen Camry and casino security went inside to see if she was in the casino. They found a woman they believed matched the identification but it turned out to be someone else – Grimwood – who was wanted on a no-bail arrest warrant. She also was taken to jail, Brown said.

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SAN ANTONIO – Two gas station clerks are in hot water, accused of stealing thousands of dollars in a fake lottery scam.

Police said two employees at a northeast-side 7-11 cashed out thousands of dollars in lottery tickets. The only problem? They were all fake.

Derreain Cosby, 31, and Sarah Ramirez, 28, were arrested Tuesday night on theft charges.

According to arrest warrants, the two clerks at the Interstate 35 and Eisenhauer 7-11 cashed out more than $82,000 in fake lottery tickets.

Investigators said each time they would pretend a customer came in with a winning lottery ticket and they would pocket the money.

Police said this happened daily over a period of five months before a manager caught on.

Investigators said they also have video surveillance of the two in action.

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On August 3, 2015, Putnam County (Florida) Sheriff’s deputies and agents from the FBI’s Daytona Beach Resident Agency, Jacksonville Field Office, rescued 3-year-old Lilly Abigail Baumann and took her mother, Megan Elizabeth Everett, into custody. Everett, wanted on a local arrest warrant issued for allegedly kidnapping her daughter from Sunrise, Florida in May 2014, was also wanted on a federal warrant for unlawful flight to avoid prosecution.

In May 2014, officers from the Sunrise Police Department responded to a report of a parental kidnapping. Everett failed to return her daughter to the girl’s father as directed in their custody agreement. After a thorough investigation and efforts to locate the child, Sunrise Police Department officials believed she had left their jurisdiction with her daughter and requested assistance from the FBI Miami Office’s Violent Crimes Task Force.

The FBI—with its partners at the Sunrise Police Department—continued to work the case to track down Everett and her daughter, following up on tips and sending out leads. On August 2, 2015, Everett’s case was featured on the CNN program The Hunt with John Walsh. During the program, Bureau representatives helped staff a call center accepting incoming tips from the public. During one such phone call, real-time FBI analysis was able to determine the validity of the information offered by the tipster, and the following morning, investigators were able to locate Everett and her daughter at a residence in Palatka, Florida. Everett was taken into custody without incident, and Lilly was placed into protective custody. The 3-year-old was reunited with her father a short time later.

Miami press release

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Law enforcement officials from the Washington area and across the country said Monday that there has been a recent increase in shootings in several major cities but that they haven’t pinpointed what’s causing the spike in violence.

Officials from several cities, including the District, St. Louis, Chicago and Baltimore, met at the Newseum in the District to discuss the trend and possible solutions to the violence. They were joined by criminology professors, attorneys and others.

“We had this meeting as an urgent summit because we felt a sense of urgency because people are dying,” D.C. Police Chief Cathy L. Lanier said at a news conference after the summit. “We have not seen what we’re seeing right now in decades.”

The event was hosted by the Major Cities Chiefs Association (MCCA), which said a survey of its members showed that police in many cities are seeing more guns on the streets and more killings. Four of the nation’s largest cities — New York, Chicago, Houston and Philadelphia — recorded a rise in homicides by mid-
July compared with the same period in 2014.

The District has experienced the same trend. The city’s homicide toll for 2015 is now 87; the total for all of 2014 was 105. Violent crime in general also is on the increase compared with last year, police said.

The summit was organized by Lanier, Chicago Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy and MCCA President J. Thomas Manger, the police chief in Montgomery County, Md., following a conference call in late July, Darrel Stephens, executive director of MCCA, said in an e-mail.

During the summit, the group identified several issues prevalent across many of the major cities, with the proliferation of guns high among them.

Manger said at the conference that 40 percent of the 35 cities surveyed reported shooting scenes with multiple firearms, with an increased number of shell casings found at the scenes.

Among the recommendations that came out of the summit, the chiefs called for more stringent gun laws, including harsher penalties for gun crimes and the use of high-capacity magazines.

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