The (Stockton, CA) Record – 911 calls published March 31^st, 2014:

Carjacking/false imprisonment: A 32-year-old woman was driving her 1990s Dodge van westbound on Sonora Street at Wilson Way around 9 a.m. Sunday when a man approached, asked for change, then entered her car via the unlocked passenger door. He forced her to the passenger side and drove her near her neighborhood, where he dropped her off and fled in her van. He was described as in his 20s with short black hair and brown eyes, wearing a gray sweatshirt.

The (Jacksonville) Florida Times-Union – “Dispute over plants leads to arrest at Fleet Landing retirement community” – March 30^th, 2014:

A dispute over the placement of plants on the edge of a pond in the Fleet Landing retirement community landed a 79-year-old woman in the county jail on March 19.

The woman’s 82-year-old neighbor called police at about 10 a.m. to report that she had been threatened the day before. According to the victim, she and her neighbor were having a dispute over large potted bushes that had been removed from an area near a pond on the property. Suspecting the victim, the woman reportedly entered the house through an unlocked front door and threatened to kill the victim while holding a metal can opener.

The victim said she’d recently had shoulder surgery and couldn’t move the pots. Meanwhile, a Fleet Landing security manager arrived and told police that the bushes were removed by management.

Contact was made with the suspect, who gave police the can opener, but said she didn’t remembering issuing any threats. She was arrested for burglary and assault.

While in custody, the woman said she’d told her 60-year-old neighbor that she was so mad, she’d have fired a “few rounds” from her shotgun if she still had it.

The other neighbor said she didn’t want to become involved. However, she confirmed that the suspect made a similar comment to her.

The can opener was placed into evidence.

Station KTVK (Arizona) – “Police: Mother left 2 kids in hot car during job interview” – March 22^nd, 2014:

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. – A Phoenix mother was arrested Thursday after allegedly leaving her two young sons in a hot car while she interviewed for a job. Shanesha Shaine Taylor, 35, faces two counts of child abuse, a class four felony.

Scottsdale police received a call about 12:30PM from a woman who heard a child crying inside an SUV in an office complex parking lot near the Loop 101 and Shea Boulevard. Scottsdale police officers and firefighters found two boys, a 6-month-old and a 2-year-old, buckled in car seats inside a parked SUV. According to court documents, the temperature outside was about 82 degrees and the temperature inside the car exceeded 100 degrees.

It is estimated the children were in the vehicle for at least 30 minutes. Police said all four windows of the SUV had been rolled down about 1 inch.

Court documents say that offices entered the car through the unlocked driver’s door and found the keys in the ignition.

Taylor was arrested after returning to the car, which was about 45 minutes after police were called. She reportedly told officers she did not have a baby sitter for her children and was hoping they would sleep during her interview since it was their nap time.

Child Protective Services took custody of the children.

The Herald (Rock Hill, South Carolina) – “3 plead guilty in shooting of Clemson student from Fort Mill” – March 19^th, 2014:

PICKENS — Three men have pleaded guilty in the 2012 shooting death of a Clemson University student.

Jaron Bradley Dalton, 25, of Six Mile and two Central residents, Jordan Charles Dalton, 20, and Bernard Kadeen Ramsey, 20, pleaded guilty Tuesday to voluntary manslaughter, burglary and possession of a weapon during a violent crime.

Steven Gregory Grich, 23, of Fort Mill was shot to death at his home in Central. Authorities say the engineering student was shot by men who entered his home through an unlocked back door.

Investigators said the suspects planned rob the victim’s roommate of what they thought was a large amount of marijuana. Deputies said only a few grams of marijuana were taken.

The Voice of Russia – “Malaysia Airlines pilots just forgot to lock the door?” – March 16^th, 2014:

Malaysia Airlines pilots sometimes left their cockpit door ajar, an American businessman who has traveled Malaysia Airlines told The Washington Times offering potential insight into security on board the missing jetliner.

The business executive, a former pilot who rides first class as he conducts aviation sales in the region, said he noticed crews would enter what appeared to be an unlocked cockpit area during flight. He said business colleagues noticed the same thing, The Washington Times writes.

The executive, who asked to remain anonymous said that once he decided to test the cockpit door during a flight.

After using the front restroom, he took a few steps and tried to open the door. He found it unlocked, closed it and returned to his seat.


I try to keep the postings here domestic, but...Being that both Russia and flight MH370 are in the news, and this combined them...

Corvallis (Oregon) Gazette-Times Police Log - Tuesday, March 11th, 2014:

Friday, March 7th, 6:23am, 1400 block on Southwest A Avenue. A woman reported to police that an unknown person had entered her unlocked apartment and stole $1,380 in property, including a laptop and two watches.

Saturday, March 8th, 1:25am, 1300 block Southwest A Avenue. Two men reported an unknown person entered their unlocked apartment and stole $3,900 in electronics, cash and textbooks.

 

Naperville (Illinois) Sun – “Man who burglarized Naperville home as owners slept sentenced to prison” – March 6^th, 2014:

A man who broke into a house in Naperville last summer and made off with jewelry, cash and a $25,000 sedan while the homeowners were sleeping has been sentenced to seven years in prison in that crime.

The arrest of St. Charles resident David J. Teafoe followed a weeks-long rash of burglaries in Naperville. An estimated 30 homes — occupied and unoccupied, locked and unlocked — were broken into between early August and September.

Naperville police arrested Teafoe on Oct. 9 in his apartment on the 100 block of North 15th Street in St. Charles. He was charged with a burglary police said occurred between 10:30 p.m. Sept. 6 and 6:30 a.m. Sept. 7 at a house on the 2000 block of Cobblebrook Lane, in the Cinnamon Creek neighborhood on Naperville’s southeast side.

A copy of a police report obtained by The Sun stated a married couple live in that house. The husband told police before he and his wife retired for the night, “all windows and doors, including the overhead garage door, were all closed and secured,” the report read.

The husband said he awoke the next morning, went downstairs and found a large, flat-screen television set and a laptop computer missing from the family room. He said he ran back upstairs and locked himself, his wife and their dog in a bedroom before calling 911.

Police found the overhead garage door open and the interior garage light on when they arrived at the scene, according to the report. Police theorized the burglar, later identified as Teafoe, got into the house using an electronic garage door opener left inside an unlocked vehicle parked outside of the home.

The Troy (New York) Record – “Woman arrested for sleeping in Justin Bieber's bed” – March 7^th, 2014:

ATLANTA — A woman found sleeping in a bedroom of an Atlanta-area home rented by pop star Justin Bieber told officers that she had come to the house for the singer’s birthday party and realized she was too late for it, according to a police report.

Qianying Zhao, 23, of nearby Doraville was found at the home shortly after 5 p.m. Wednesday and charged with criminal trespass, Sandy Springs police said. The house is owned by music producer Dallas Austin and is being rented by Bieber, police said. Ashley Austin, 20, lives there and came home to find Zhao in one of the bedrooms.

Police say Zhao told officers that she claimed to be a friend of Bieber’s, and had entered through an unlocked door of the home on Northside Drive, just north of Atlanta. No one was home.

The Reporter (Lansdale, Pennsylvania) – “State police investigating residential burglary in Skippack” – March 5^th, 2014:

Pennsylvania State Police are investigating a daytime residential burglary in Skippack Township in which thieves made off with nearly $30,000 in cash, jewelry and other items.

Authorities said that sometime between 9 a.m. and 5:20 p.m. on Sunday, March 2, the perpetrator or perpetrators gained entry to a couple’s two-story family home on the 4300 block of Gypsy Lane through an unlocked door and accessed two bedrooms on the second floor.

Taken from the residence were approximately $6,500 cash, the equivalent of $2,000 in Korean currency, approximately $20,000 worth of jewelry and a pink Prada handbag valued at around $1,000, according to police.

Business Management Daily – “OK to discipline disabled worker for rule-breaking” – March 5^th, 2014:

Don’t worry that you can’t discipline disabled workers—if you can show that you punish all em­­ployees equally for breaking the same rule. An employee’s disability is irrelevant as long as you don’t cut slack for other employees while punishing the disabled worker.

Recent case: William, who has bi­­polar disorder and suffers occasional depressive episodes, was hired as a corrections officer at the George W. Hill Correctional Facility in Dela­­ware County, a prison housing dangerous inmates.

When William ended a romantic relationship, he became depressed. He sat teary-eyed in his car, gained weight and generally seemed miserable. William then began taking vacation and other leave to cope, until he finally took big chunks of leave as a reasonable accommodation.

When William returned, he re­­quested and was placed in a light-duty position. Eventually, he returned to his former job. That’s when he left the door to a cellblock control room un­­locked and had to restrain an in­­mate who tried to gain access. William was fired for making a serious safety mistake.

He sued, alleging that he had been punished for being disabled and taking time off. He added that he had heard co-workers and even a supervisor call him “crazy” and “psycho.”

The prison countered that it had provided William with every accommodation he requested, including time off when he wasn’t eligible for FMLA leave. It also pointed out that William was fired for an extremely serious safety violation that could have resulted in a prisoner commandeering control of the cellblock locks. Plus, none of the individuals who supposedly called William names had been involved in his discipline.

The court dismissed William’s lawsuit. It reasoned that the prison had accommodated William every time he requested help. It had fired him for something entirely unrelated to his disability or leave requests. (Dove v. Community Education Centers, et al., No. 12-4384, ED PA, 2013)

San Antonio (Texas) Express-News – “Man held down, stabbed 11 times” – March 1^st, 2014:

A man was in critical condition Saturday night after being held down and stabbed 11 times.

Police responded to the stabbing around 8:30 p.m. in the 300 block of Eskimo Street, southwest of downtown.

The man, 28, had been at a party on Vincent Street earlier in the day. Two brothers, whom police said may have been in town to buy drugs, were also there. The man got into some sort of argument with the brothers, in their mid-30s, and left, police said.

The brothers, however, tracked the man to a home on Eskimo Street, entered through an unlocked door and pulled him outside, police said.

Once outside, according to officers, one of the brothers held the man down while the other stabbed him 11 times.