Former Grandview cop gets life in prison for murder

By DONALD BRADLEY The Kansas City Star

Updated: 2013-10-28T18:47:50Z

Jeffrey Moreland, a former Grandview police officer, was sentenced Monday to life in prison without parole for the murder of Cara Jo Roberts five years ago.

Moreland had been convicted of first-degree murder in September for breaking into Roberts’ home in Harrisonville, sexually assaulting her, forcing her into a full bathtub and shooting her in the back of the head.

She was married with a toddler son.

Prior to sentencing, Roberts’ mother, Theresa Matthews, referred to Moreland as an “animal” and asked Cass County Circuit Judge Michael Wagner to also impose an additional jury-recommended 50 years for armed criminal action.

Several times during her statement, Matthews made eye contact with Moreland.

“He did not shy away,” Matthews would say later. “He knew what he had done.”

Before the sentencing, the judge asked Moreland, 54, if he had anything to say on his behalf.

Moreland answered: “No, sir.”

Moreland’s elderly parents were in the courtroom, as they were during the entire trial.

Wagner then imposed the only sentence available for the murder charge— the remainder of his life spent in prison with no prospect of release. He also sentenced Moreland to the 50 years on the second count.

For nearly three years, Moreland was the “unknown man” in Roberts’ murder. Investigators had DNA and the fingerprint but no one to match them to. That changed in 2011 when Moreland became a suspect in the murder of 75-year-old Nina Whitney, who was strangled and stabbed in her home.

Moreland is charged in Jackson County and awaiting trial in that case. Before that, however, he still must face a rape charge in Cass County.

In September, a jury of seven men and five women needed only an hour and 20 minutes to find Moreland guilty of killing Roberts.

Pa. cop takes 2nd cop hostage, kills self

Authorities say an off-duty eastern Pennsylvania deputy sheriff took another off-duty officer hostage at gunpoint, then fatally shot himself.
Police tell WFMZ-TV (http://bit.ly/17P0R87) the 33-year-old Lansford police officer and deputy Carbon County sheriff went to the Lansford police station Friday night. Authorities say he stole ammunition and an unmarked police car and drove to the home of another off-duty officer and took him hostage.
The station reports that the suspect then drove east toward Jim Thorpe and the two men began struggling.
Police tell WFMZ the fight spilled out onto the street, and the suspect then shot himself in the head. He died at a hospital.
Police haven't released any information about the second officer's condition.
State police said Saturday that an investigation is underway. They haven't offered a motive.

Baltimore cop kills ex-girlfriend, new boyfriend

, Oct. 28 (UPI) -- A Maryland police officer shot and killed his ex-girlfriend and her new boyfriend, a city firefighter, before turning the gun on himself, police said.

Christopher Robinson, 37, of Abington, Md., who was a police officer assigned to the Baltimore Police Department's Eastern District, had broken up with Marie Hartman, 27, in August, his family said, and had struggled with moving past the relationship. In September, Hartman had begun dating Andrew Hoffman, 26, though Robinson continued to pursue Hartman, sending her text messages and flowers in an attempt to woo her back, The Baltimore Sun reported.

Police said Robinson followed the couple home from a Halloween party early Sunday and confronted them inside Hoffman's Anne Arundel County home where the two along with Hartman's 18-year-old sister were planning a bonfire.

Officers said Hoffman confronted Robinson and the police officer opened fire, killing Hoffman and Hartman. Hoffman's sister hid in a closet and later fled out a window after Robinson killed himself.

Robinson's family said they were aware he was having a hard time with the breakup but expressed shock that it ended with such violent tragedy. Robinson's brother, Wayne, is also a city firefighter and was friends with Hoffman.

"I don't know what happened last night, but the person that pulled that trigger wasn't the Chris that I know," Wayne Robinson said. "They told me this morning and I didn't believe it. I just couldn't wrap my head around the fact that it happened. I lost a brother and I lost a friend. It's just crazy."

When last he'd spoken to his brother, Wayne Robinson said Chris has asked his advice on the situation and Wayne suggested Chris leave the new couple alone and move on.

"He was having problems with this girl," Wayne Robinson said. "He asked me two weeks ago for advice. I told him to leave her be, because she didn't want anything to do with him anymore."

Anne Arundel police spokesman Lt. T.J. Smith said investigators were "able to quickly determine this was a domestic-related murder-suicide."

"This is an absolute tragedy," he said.

Hostage tried saving policeman who committed suicide

The Lansford police officer who was taken hostage at gunpoint Friday night by another borough officer tried but failed to keep his abductor from committing suicide, the Carbon County sheriff said Saturday.
Sheriff Dwight Nothstein identified Officer Chris Ondrus as the hostage and said he was not injured but "very shook up." He said he spoke with Ondrus after the other officer, identified by authorities as David Midas, shot himself shortly before 8 p.m. on a busy Jim Thorpe street.
Authorities said Midas drove the hostage to Broadway in the borough's downtown, where there was a struggle between the men before Midas shot himself on the street.
Nothstein said the struggle was over the gun. He said Ondrus "tried to get the gun away from him but he got away and he stepped out of the car and he shot himself."
Jim Dugan of Dugan's Store, which is on Broadway, said he was in the shop, getting ready to watch the Jim Thorpe Area High School football game on television when he heard the shot, which he thought was a firecracker.
He went outside and saw a man wearing civilian clothes lying in the street near the sidewalk.
He said another man was near the prone man, crying, "Dave, why? Dave, why?"
Dugan said he knew Midas because Midas also worked as a part-time police officer in Jim Thorpe and sometimes came into the store, which Dugan helps run and is owned by his brother. He said he did not recognize Midas as the shooting victim.
Dugan said he did not see a weapon. He said there was a car across the street with its driver's side door open but that it was not a marked police vehicle.
"I have no idea what was going on," he said.

Pa. Deputy Sheriff Commits Suicide After Taking Cop Hostage

An off-duty Pennsylvania deputy sheriff fatally shot himself after he took another police officer hostage, authorities said.

Carbon County Deputy Sheriff David Midas, 33, of Weatherly, Pa., died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound at Lehigh Valley Hospital in Cedar Crest, Pa. around 2:50 a.m. Saturday, according to a Lehigh County Coroner's Office news release.

His death was ruled a suicide.

Midas, who also worked as a Lansford police officer, went to the Lansford police station and took ammunition and an unmarked police car Friday night, law enforcement officials told ABC News station WPVI-TV in Philadelphia.

He then reportedly drove to the home of an on-duty officer, held him hostage at gunpoint before driving to Jim Thorpe, Pa.

A struggle broke out between the two men and Midas shot himself in the head, WPVI-TV reported. The hostage victim was not hurt.

Pennsylvania state police and the Lehigh County Coroner's Office are investigating the incident, the news release said

. 

Lexington Police Officer is charged with Harassment

A Lexington Police Officer is charged with Harassment.  A Scott County family filed a criminal complaint against Officer Keith Spears, because of what they say happened after a kids soccer game.

The family of a 13-year-old says Spears verbally confronted their boy, shoved him, and grabbed the teen's arm.

The boy's father says this happened after the 13-year-old refereed a kids' soccer game. 

The head of the Kentucky Referee Committee says the boy told Spears to be quiet during the game, and threatened to kick Spears out if he continued to heckle him.

After the game, Oliver Barber says Spears grabbed the boy, spun him around, and said "Punk, now send me off!"

See story here
http://www.clipsyndicate.com/video/play/4521392?wpid=11176

St. Cloud cop accused of harassing ex-girlfriend, fellow cop to be investigated

ST. CLOUD, Fla. —

The St. Cloud police chief said an officer will be criminally investigated after he harassed his ex-girlfriend and fellow officer, threatening to commit suicide.

St. Cloud police said they originally didn't plan on a formal internal investigation after one of its officers said a sergeant she dated was repeatedly harassing her.

Police Chief Pete Guantlett confirms they have since changed their minds.

"I'm in my room. I am armed right now. I don't know what he's going to do," St. Cloud police Officer Jennifer Hoyos said in a 911 call.

Hoyos made that call from her home after investigators said Sgt. John Nettles of the St. Cloud police wouldn't stop banging on her door and harassing her.

"My ex-boyfriend is here. I've been text-messaged that he's trying to commit suicide. He came here, he keeps knocking at my door, he won't go away," Hoyos said on the call.

Reports said Nettles repeatedly harassed Hoyos despite being told by his captain to leave her alone.

Cop waved off bystanders before shooting

WHEELING, W.Va. (AP) - A prosecutor says a former police officer waved people out of harm's way before peppering a federal courthouse in West Virginia with gunfire.

U.S. Attorney Bill Ihlenfeld  says Thomas J. Piccard fired from a parking lot across from the Wheeling Federal Building Wednesday.

Authorities have said the 55-year-old resident of Bridgeport, Ohio, got off up to two dozen shots in the small West Virginia panhandle city before law enforcement officers shot him to death.

Residents in the neighborhood around Piccard's trailer home in Bridgeport, a few miles west of Wheeling, say Piccard disclosed in the past few days that he had stomach cancer. Mahlon Shields says a neighbor told him Piccard wanted to go to Florida to die.

Kevin Devine, cop fired in Denver Diner case: Read his angry, error-filled resignation letter

Denver police officers Ricky Nixon and Kevin Devine, fired for their actions in the 2009 Denver Diner case, aren't going quietly. Nixon filed a lawsuit against the city prior to his dismissal, claiming that forcing him to give up his gun and work the radar unit violated his civil rights. And Devine wrote a resignation letter that was apparently sent just prior to his sacking, blistering the DPD as "vinidictive and self-center" -- two of many spelling and grammatical errors evident in the text. Read the entire document and get details below.

In July 2009, Kelly Boren, Sharelle Thomas, Ana Ortega and Kristal Carrillo were at the restaurant when they say Denver police officers Nixon and Devine menaced them with nightsticks, pulled or shoved a number of them to the ground and sprayed them with mace despite no compelling evidence of actual wrongdoing caught on video by a nearby HALO camera.

Although DPD investigations cleared Nixon and Devine of wrongdoing, they were subsequently fired, only to be reinstated by the Civil Service Commission. Finally, however, a court ruling upheld their dismissals, after which their positions were terminated within days of Boren, Thomas, Ortega and Carrillo receiving a $360,000 settlement in the matter.

By that point, Devine was fed up with the DPD, as evidenced by the aforementioned letter, sent to Police Chief Robert White and first obtained by CBS4's Brian Maass. The document doesn't show many signs of proofreading, as it misspells the name of Deputy Chief David Quinones, among other things. It begins like so:

"I cannot in good conscious [sic] continue to work for a Department that allows its senior chain of command to be so vinidictive [sic] and self -center [sic] as to use its officers as political stepping- stone for advancement. I find Deputy Chief Quinnoes's [sic] actions on this matter most disgraceful. How was he able to determine facts that others did not still amazes me."

Here's the complete letter.

Newtown Police: Norwalk Cop Threatens Suicide at Home

Newtown, CT public schools were put into lockdown mode as police responded to a Norwalk police officer's threat to kill himself, Newtown police said, although no threat had been made to students or the schools.