Nathanial Ortiz attempted murder charges

In a raid Wednesday, officers arrested 12 members of the alleged trafficking ring and charged 18 with crimes stemming from the operation, police said. The group's alleged ringleader, Nathanial Ortiz, was already in police custody on unrelated attempted murder charges when the arrests were made.The gang operated out of a building at 1269 Grand Concourse, where police say members intimidated residents into tolerating their drug-and-gun market. The group set up a lookout system to avoid detection by the police, rushing into apartments to hide if officers were spotted nearby.Police officials say the takedown came after a yearlong investigation, in which confidential sources purchased nearly 1,000 small bags of crack cocaine and dozens of illegal firearms as the police and FBI built a case against the alleged traffickers.

Anthony Summers is charged with battery and pointing a loaded firearm during an argument

Anthony Summers, 31, surrendered at the Lake County Jail in Crown Point early Wednesday and posted bond the same day, records show.He is charged with battery and pointing a loaded firearm during an argument with a father who confronted Summers' girlfriend, Tangela L. Willis, at the park in Glen Ryan subdivision in March.Willis, 28, was charged with assisting a criminal and carrying a handgun without a permit in the same park incident.
Wyatt Puryear, 37, was shot in the hip during the confrontation, the probable cause affidavit states. Puryear went to the park because his sons said a woman arrived with a handgun after an argument between them and other children, court records state.Gary police have arrested Summers previously.Eight years ago, officers found him with a loaded gun while responding to reports of a man pointing a weapon at a woman. The victim, Willis, told police Summers battered her and threatened to kill her, police reports state.Summers was also arrested when he was 18 years old after he allegedly threatened to shoot a security guard at Martin Luther King Academy. Records do not state whether police recovered a gun when he was apprehended.

Jared Matthew Smith is charged with four counts of second-degree assault, four counts of reckless endangerment and malicious destruction of property

Jared Matthew Smith of Laurel,Del. in connection with an incident that took place on August 9, 2007 near Eldorado. Police say he is accused of assaulting four people who were riding in a pick-up truck by firing a flare gun at them with the flare entering the truck.He is charged with four counts of second-degree assault, four counts of reckless endangerment and malicious destruction of property by throwing or firing a missile at a vehicle. He was locked up in jail on $10,000 bond.

Damond Harrington was charged with attempted aggravated murder, felonious assault and resisting arrest.

Damond Harrington, 31, was charged with attempted aggravated murder, felonious assault and resisting arrest. His mother, Minnie Harrington, 60, was charged with resisting arrest, assaulting a police officer and obstructing justice.Akron Police said they were called to the home Thursday afternoon for a domestic violence complaint. When officers arrived, Minnie Harrington said her son wasn't home but when officers discovered he was and attempted to arrest him, she jumped on top of police to stop them.Officers struggled with Damond who grabbed the officer's gun and aimed it while threatening to kill the officer.Other police arrived and tackled Damond Harrington.

Brian Kendrick arrested on preliminary charges of attempted murder, robbery

Brian Kendrick, 29, was arrested on preliminary charges of attempted murder, robbery and two counts of feticide for the deaths of the twins. Police also arrested Aaron Stewart, 28, on a charge of conspiracy to commit robbery for allegedly helping Kendrick.Katherin Shuffield, 30, was five months pregnant when she was shot in the abdomen April 22 after a gunman jumped over her station during a robbery at a branch of Huntington Bank. She lost the fetuses two days later.Police said they wasted valuable time in the days that followed chasing down leads given to them by Shed James Jr. Police later discovered James' account of the crime was inaccurate and released three men arrested in connection with the robbery. James was sent to jail for 180 days after pleading guilty to a misdemeanor count of false informing.Police Chief Michael Spears said an affidavit expected to be filed Monday, when formal charges were likely, will reveal more details."I think it will allow you to have that same sense of confidence that I have," Spears said of the document.Authorities said they did not know whether Kendrick or Stewart had attorneys. Both were in jail pending the formal charges.Detectives got new tips in the case last week. Detective Rob Challis said he did not know why the gunman shot Shuffield.
Police left messages to try contacting the Shuffield family at home in Franklin to let them know of the arrests but said they may be out of town. A message from The Associated Press on an answering machine at a number for Katherin and Jason Shuffield in Franklin, south of Indianapolis, was not immediately returned Friday.
Deputy Police Chief William Benjamin said more than 400 officers worked the case.
"We did not leave a tip unturned," he said.Indiana law allows prosecutors to charge people with murder in cases in which a fetus dies, but only if the mother is at least seven months pregnant.
Kendrick would face a possible prison sentence of 20 to 50 years if convicted of attempted murder. The charges of killing of a fetus each carry possible sentences of two years to eight years.
Authorities said they are not yet sure whether Kendrick or Stewart will face federal charges, which are possible in bank robberies.
No other people are being actively sought in the case, though a search continues for the gun used in the shooting, police said.

Ugur "Mike" Yildiz was arrested and is charged with violating the Arms Export Control Act.

Ugur "Mike" Yildiz was arrested by agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) and the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) near his home in Park Ridge, Ill., on Thursday and is charged with violating the Arms Export Control Act.On Friday the OPP, Toronto police and other agencies held a press conference in Toronto to announce 38 arrests and 443 charges in Project Blackhawk, a two-year operation that involved the tracing of guns found and seized in Canada back to Yildiz. On Friday, the OPP, Toronto police and other agencies held a press conference in Toronto to announce 38 arrests and 443 charges in Project Blackhawk, a two-year operation that involved the tracing of guns found and seized in Canada back to Ugur "Mike" Yildiz.Two of the charges are against Windsor resident Daniel Wasiluk, 31."This case certainly demonstrates that Windsor is definitely a conduit for illegal guns coming in from the United States," said Windsor police Insp. Dave Rossell.In the ensuing two years, 25 guns that Yildiz is alleged to have imported illegally into Canada were seized by Canadian police agencies, mostly in the Greater Toronto Area. Two guns were used in attempted murder cases.According to a criminal complaint released by the U.S. Attorney's office for Northern Illinois in Chicago, Yildiz owned and operated Chicagoland Bells, a gun shop in suburban Chicago, beginning in 2002.Officers with the ATF conducted an inspection of the store in 2003 and found 500 violations of the Gun Control Act, and his licence to operate was revoked, but Yildiz, a Turkish national, still had more than 200 guns.Yildiz transferred ownership of the guns from the defunct shop to his own name and at some point made contact with "Individual A", a Canadian resident who had offered to assist him in exporting guns to Turkey.After guns registered to Yildiz began showing up in Canada, American and Canadian authorities went to Yildiz's home to question him about the guns.He told ATF and Canadian police that after his shop was closed he arranged to store the guns at another gun shop but it was burglarized.
He also told police he was arranging a shipment of 30 refrigeration units from Canada to Turkey with the help of "Individual A.""Yildiz further admitted to the agents that he loaded approximately 220 guns into the back of his green Chrysler Caravan and drove straight from his shop into Windsor," writes ICE special agent Luke Lambert in the criminal complaint."Yildiz admitted at the border crossing that he did not declare the firearms he was carrying in his car, and that he had declared that the purpose of this crossing was 'to visit.' When asked why he lied to Canadian Customs about the purpose of his crossing, Yildiz told the law enforcement agents that he did not have to have to tell Canadian Customs anything."Yildiz told officers he met "Individual A" at the McDonalds on Huron Church Road and College Avenue and he then followed him to an unidentified storage facility where the roughly 220 guns were loaded into a unit.The unit was locked and Yildiz told police that both he and "Individual A" had keys.
He told officers that he was offered $20,000 for the guns by "Individual A" but Yildiz demanded $30,000, which was refused.
Yildiz said he was unable to contact "Individual A" after that point.
Subsequent investigation showed that Yildiz came into Canada by the Ambassador Bridge three times for short stays in April and June 2006.
Yildiz is in custody in Chicago pending a detention hearing on Monday.
If convicted, Yildiz faces up to 10 years in prison and a $1 million fine.

Marlin B. Colbert, Walter Pinckney,Victoria Williams arrestedon charges that included armed robbery and aggravated battery.

Yushi Shimada answered his apartment door about 1:30 a.m. last Saturday to find a man asking to use his phone because his car had broken down.When the man stepped into his apartment, a masked gunman followed. As they rifled through Shimada's wallet, he grabbed their gun and a fight ensued, Hillsborough sheriff's officials said. Shimada fired the gun; it jammed. The men beat the 23-year-old Shimada with a frying pan and ran, leaving him bleeding and their gun on the floor.
The crime was among a string of violent home invasions this month that struck New Tampa, a suburb where people leave their car doors unlocked and then are shocked to find items missing the next day.In most of the cases, visitors came to doors saying they were fleeing an abusive boyfriend, or had a broken-down car and needed a phone. They would return moments later with armed men who pistol-whipped victims while they ransacked the home, Tampa police Capt. John Newman said at a news conference Friday.
One victim feigned unconsciousness in a pool of his own blood, Newman said."These bad guys preyed on the benevolence and good nature of their victims," Newman said.
Authorities have arrested Marlin B. Colbert, 19; Walter Pinckney, 18; and Victoria Williams, 24, all of Tampa, on charges that included armed robbery and aggravated battery.They are searching for a fourth suspect, a female nicknamed "Peaches" who is described as in her mid-20s, 5 feet, 4 inches tall and weighing 140 pounds.
According to police, the crimes began about 10:30 p.m. June 8 at the Grand Pavilion Apartments when a woman leaving the complex's mailboxes was struck in the back of the head. After she fell to the ground, the robber took her purse and ran.
Four days later, a man at the Oxford Apartments allowed two women to use his cell phone shortly after midnight. They returned with two others and pistol-whipped the tenant and stole items from his apartment.
"It's unusual to have violent crimes in New Tampa," said Tampa police Sgt. Mary O'Connor. "(The resident) was trying to be a kind, compassionate guy, then bam! Here they come. It was very random and very odd."Later that night, at an apartment on Enclave Village Drive, the suspects struck a tenant in the face with a revolver and stole electronics.On June 13, a resident living at apartments on Dulcinea Boulevard was victimized. The same day, Tampa police placed a reverse 911 call to more than 2,500 phone lines south of Interstate 75 off of Bruce B. Downs Boulevard stressing basic safety tips, Newman said.The assailants struck two more times before they were arrested — one was in the process of burglarizing a home, police said.
The break in the case came, police said, because Pinckney had met one of the robbery victims several months before at an Ybor City club. On the night he robbed her, he left a note on a car he thought was hers asking her to call "Walt," police said. The victim mentioned the note when police came to investigate the robbery, and they began surveillance on Pinckney.Police could not explain why Pinckney would leave a note for a woman he was about to rob.Detectives arrested Pinckney on Monday as he and two others were apparently in the process of burglarizing a home on Riverhills Drive. He was accompanied by Troy Eubanks, 20, and Michael Pierre, 21, both of Tampa. The men were charged with armed burglary and grand theft. Police said Pinckney led them to the other suspects. Adrian Jewell, a close family friend of Shimada's, said Shimada came from Japan about a year ago. A chef at a Japanese restaurant, he speaks limited English and was just trying to help when they came to his door. Jewell had to stay with Shimada until the arrests were made. Shimada, who needed stitches in his head, handed Jewell a golf club before bed and won't answer the door anymore."He's terrified of the door," Jewell said. "He wants to move."

Scarecrow Bandits most violent, organized and daring bands of bank robbers in recent North Texas history

"Open the safe! Open the safe!" shouted a bandit, leaping over the counter.
"I don't know the combination!" the teller pleaded.
Then came the sound of clicking, and cries of pain. The bandit was shocking the man with a stun gun, burning holes through his white shirt and searing his skin.
"Yo, man! We gotta go, man!" another bandit shouted. The men grabbed stacks of bills from behind the counter, then climbed into an SUV and disappeared.
That December robbery is one of 21 attributed to the Scarecrow Bandits, among the most violent, organized and daring bands of bank robbers in recent North Texas history.
Named for their style of dress during early robberies – flannel shirts and floppy, wide-brimmed hats – they became greedier and more intimidating as their 11-month spree progressed. They staged "takeover" heists, vaulting over countertops with rifles, assaulting those who stood in their path. By spring, federal agents were closing in, and on June 2, as the bandits converged on a bank in Garland, investigators confronted them. After several high-speed pursuits, authorities arrested six men and one woman, proclaiming they had brought the heists to an end.
Since then, officials have been tight-lipped about the case. But records, court testimony and interviews with those who know the suspects have begun to shed light on how they came together, what finally brought them down and which alleged co-conspirator remains at large. It began with two men, authorities say. They walked into a Dallas bank last July 2 wearing what would become their signature floppy hats. A teller backed away as she noticed them. Push the button, she told a co-worker. We're being robbed. A bank manager met the men at the counter: "Can I help you?" "Put your money in this bag or I'll shoot you, [expletive]," one of them replied. He held a silver handgun, a red and blue bandanna covering his face.
The manager dropped cash into the bag. "Ten, nine, eight ...," one of the robbers began, apparently watching the clock. Their time was up, and they walked out with $3,080. They were good at what they did, authorities admit. As the pair's successes mounted, they brought in others. Those who would eventually be arrested were a group bonded by longtime friendships and family ties.
By late November, the Scarecrow Bandits had robbed banks in Dallas, Garland, Mesquite and Richardson, and officials were offering a $15,000 reward for information leading to their capture. That bounty would grow to $90,000, a record for the area. The bandits spent only a couple of minutes in each bank. They ditched whatever die packs and tracking devices tellers tried to include with the cash. A stolen getaway car would be found somewhere near the bank. And they would be gone.
"These two individuals have gotten progressively more violent. We want the Scarecrow Bandits in jail before the holidays," announced Robert E. Casey, the special agent in charge of the FBI's Dallas office. He would not get his wish. The Capital One robbery just before Christmas was one of four by the bandits in December. Each time, they got away clean. Yet during this time, as Dallas police pursued a seemingly unrelated trail of drugs and murder, they arrested one of the FBI's eventual bank robbery suspects. Dallas police say Travis Nicholas Stenline, 28, was running a drug house late last year. Early on Dec. 9, police had his two-story brick home in Seagoville under surveillance because they suspected that a woman who lived with him was involved in the drug-related killings of two men the night before in Lake Highlands. As officers watched, a man came to the home and picked up a cache of drugs, police say. After his arrest that morning on drug-trafficking charges, he told investigators he worked for Mr. Stenline, referring to him as the "boss."
Mr. Stenline was also arrested that day on drug-trafficking charges, a case that is pending. He was released from jail Jan. 14 on $215,000 bail. After the bandits' 18th robbery, on Feb. 1 in DeSoto, they dropped out of sight for nearly two months. But they returned with a vengeance on March 28, committing two robberies in a matter of hours. About 1 p.m., around the time of the first robbery, authorities say, 42-year-old Tony R. Hewitt was typing text messages into his cellphone to a woman he had dated, 41-year-old Yolanda McDow. "Hey I need some help on a job. U game? ASAP."
"What is it?" she replied. She got directions from him to a Century Bank in Dallas, according to court testimony. Ms. McDow acted as a lookout, authorities say. She was to call Mr. Hewitt if she saw police. During the robbery, the bandits used a stun gun again, demanding the manager give them access to the vault. Later that day, they robbed a State Bank of Texas in Garland. Soon after the March robberies, yet another of the FBI's eventual suspects became ensnared in a murder investigation.
Police say Charlie Runnels, a relative and childhood friend of Mr. Hewitt, was running a Red Bird drug house. On April 13, he was accused of fatally shooting a lifelong friend there during an ongoing dispute over money. Mr. Runnels, 42, posted $100,000 bail, a low amount for a convicted felon charged with murder, and was released April 19. Five days later, authorities say, the Scarecrow Bandits committed their 21st and final known robbery, at a Bank of America in Irving. Again, they used a stun gun to shock an employee and hauled away $85,000.
Early the following morning, April 25, Dallas police would have yet another encounter with an eventual Scarecrow Bandit suspect. At 2:35 a.m., two rookie officers stopped 29-year-old Jarvis Dupree Ross in Far East Dallas for driving with no front license plate. He had a stolen 9 mm pistol under the driver's seat and a bulletproof vest in the back, police say. He was arrested without incident on charges of unlawfully possessing them. He was released from jail within a day.
By this time, the FBI had been told by a woman that she felt body armor when a bandit grabbed her during a robbery, but one law enforcement official with knowledge of the investigation said it was not the bulletproof vest's discovery that provided them with a break. Instead, according to the official and others close to the case, it was a suspect's cellphone that created one of the first important leads. Noting which cell towers the phone used and when, the FBI realized it had been in the vicinity of many of the robberies. By mid-May, undercover agents were staking out a Lake Highlands apartment rented by Mr. Stenline, federal court records say. Corey Deyon Duffey, a relative of Mr. Stenline, seemed to be living there.
Mr. Ross later told the FBI it was Mr. Duffey who would call him shortly before a planned robbery. Another of the eventual arrestees, 30-year-old Darobie Kentay Stenline, would tell the FBI that Mr. Duffey, 27, hired him as a lookout in five robberies. On the morning of May 15, the FBI watched several of the suspects as they appeared to case a bank in Fort Worth. The next morning, they watched as Mr. Duffey met Mr. Hewitt, Darobie Stenline and others at an Oak Cliff apartment complex near 4100 Druid Hills Drive. The men were loading what looked like rifles wrapped in black towels into a vehicle, as if staging for a robbery. But the holdup in Fort Worth never happened, and neither did another that investigators believed was later planned in Richardson. On May 22, the FBI received authorization for an emergency wiretap of Mr. Hewitt's cellphone. Agents began listening to the calls, which included talk of the robberies. A week later, the FBI also tapped Mr. Duffey's cellphone. The agents kept watching and listening. The suspects talked about getting a stolen SUV's windows tinted. And they began discussing a bank in Garland near Shiloh Road and Bush Turnpike. The next morning, June 2, FBI agents got in place. And they let the Dallas police's SWAT team know it might be time to stop a robbery. The investigators watched Mr. Hewitt leave an apartment complex in his sporty gold 2001 Mercedes-Benz. About the same time, Ms. McDow left the same complex in her black Lexus. They and others converged on a Regions Bank in Garland.
Dallas police tactical officers swarmed the area, and the suspects scattered.
Ms. McDow and the other lookout suspect, Darobie Stenline, were arrested nearby in a Kroger parking lot. Ms. McDow had a loaded 9 mm handgun with her, authorities say.
Mr. Ross fled with Mr. Duffey in a white Cadillac, and Mr. Hewitt fled in his Mercedes. Mr. Runnels and another man, 31-year-old Antonyo Reece, fled in a different car. Authorities found themselves in three separate high-speed chases.
Authorities say Mr. Ross broke into a sleeping woman's apartment in Lake Highlands before being captured. Police say Mr. Runnels and Mr. Reece tried to escape by ramming a squad car in central Oak Cliff. Mr. Hewitt fled north at speeds exceeding 100 mph and tried to disappear inside a Plano discount store.
Remarkably, all seven suspects finally surrendered without any shots being fired.
The FBI spent the coming hours sifting through the contents of the suspects' cars, including rifles, ammunition, body armor, stockings, gloves, handcuffs and a stun gun. Each of those arrested was charged with one count of conspiracy to commit bank robbery and using a firearm during a crime of violence. The indictment lists only one bank: the Regions in Garland. The FBI held a news conference the afternoon of the arrests to announce that the Scarecrow Bandits had finally been stopped. Agent Casey was asked whether more arrests were on the way. "The investigation is ongoing," he responded, "and if we develop evidence that would support that, certainly we would do it." Travis Stenline was not among those arrested. But federal court records that have emerged since then call him a co-conspirator in several bank robberies. Mr. Stenline could not be reached, and federal officials declined to comment.

Phillip McCall was arrested on a federal charge of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon Clayson Pearce arrested possession of a machine gun

Phillip McCall, 35, was arrested on a federal charge of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, and Clayson Pearce, 27, was arrested on a federal charge of possession of a machine gun, said Lt. Skip Arms, Colorado Springs police spokesman.
Jennifer McNeil, 32, and Ralph McNeil, 39, were arrested for allegedly selling hashish. Benjamin Vanornum, 24, was arrested on drug charges, Arms said. Ryan Middleton, 27, was arrested on a warrant for failing to appear in court, he said.
More than 100 Colorado Springs officers, sheriff's deputies from Tel ler and El Paso counties and agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and Explosives confiscated drugs, money and equipment to make machine guns during raids across Colorado Springs. Last November, ATF agents, local detectives and El Paso County sheriff's investigators began investigating whether employees at Shrap Metal Tattoo, 2928 Parker St., were selling drugs and firearms out of the shop, Arms said.
Undercover detectives bought firearms, including AK-47-type machine guns, and high-grade marijuana from several suspects. On Thursday, undercover agents arrested Pearce after he allegedly sold three machine guns and two military-style ballistic vests in the Citadel Mall parking lot, Arms said. ATF's Special Response Team served a search warrant at two homes in Florissant where they confiscated two firearms and a parts kit to manufacture an AK-47-type machine gun. Agents arrested McCall and confiscated drug paraphernalia, a firearm and money at the tattoo parlor.
They arrested the McNeils at 825 Valkenburg Drive, where they found 42 grams of marijuana, 62 grams of hashish and 17 grams of mushrooms, Arms said.

Wallace Harris shot himself in the abdomen Wednesday night while playing with a gun.

Tallahassee man shot himself in the abdomen Wednesday night while playing with a gun. As soon as Wallace Harris recovers, Tallahassee police say they will seek a warrant for his arrest on a charge of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.
"He was playing with a .22-caliber revolver, spinning it like the cowboys do, when it went off," said Officer David McCranie, spokesman for the Tallahassee Police Department.Harris, 53, was rushed to the hospital for his injury, McCranie said. The gunshot wound required surgery but wasn't life-threatening.It happened about 6:45 p.m. in the 200 block of Tropicare Street.Police later discovered that Harris is a convicted felon and that he has an extensive criminal history in Leon County dating back to 1989. Several charges were for weapons offenses.

"Thank goodness no one else is injured," McCranie said. "It could have been a very serious situation."