law enforcement Archives - Home Safety Tech Pros

Woman married her dad to get his monthly VA benefits: Cops

homesafetytechpros — Thu, 27 Feb 2025 05:35:44 +0000

Kimberly Tempel (Vanderburgh County Jail)

An Indiana woman is facing charges of bigamy and falsifying a marriage license application after police say she tied the knot with her biological father — while already hitched to another man — in an attempt to get her dad’s $350 monthly payments from Veterans Affairs while he’s locked up in prison.

Kimberly Tempel, 44, of Tell City, allegedly lied on her application by saying she wasn’t already married and claiming that her “husband” was no closer than a second cousin, according to local ABC affiliate WPTA. In reality, Tempel filed for a marriage license to wed her biological dad, Bradly McCollom, 59, of Evansville, who is in prison on a probation violation. Police say she listed numerous inaccuracies on the application.

In addition to lying about who he was, Tempel claimed McCollom was not a convicted lifetime sex or violent offender — both untrue, according to police. He reportedly has a federal child porn charge on his record. Addresses that Tempel and McCollom listed were also false.

Charging documents and court records obtained by WPTA outline how Tempel was reportedly in the middle of a divorce when she and McCollom got married on July 26, 2024. McCollom’s sister allegedly told police that Tempel and McCollom had falsified a marriage license to get his $350 VA payments. McCollom has been locked up on a probation violation charge, but he’s due to get out this July.

McCollum’s sister allegedly provided documentation that provided information she obtained from a DNA service showing the probability of McCollum being Tempel’s biological father as “99.999999%,” WPTA reports.

Love true crime? Sign up for our newsletter, The Law&Crime Docket, to get the latest real-life crime stories delivered right to your inbox.

Tempel was taken into custody on charges of providing false information on marriage license application and bigamy but has since been released. Local ABC affiliate WEHT reported Wednesday that “someone with knowledge of the case” contacted the outlet and claimed the accusations of Tempel being McCollom’s daughter were false. Documentation was sent by the person who appears to show a test from DNA Diagnostics Center claiming McCollom is not Tempel’s father, but WEHT has been unable to verify the claims as further tests are pending.

Source link

The post Woman married her dad to get his monthly VA benefits: Cops appeared first on Home Safety Tech Pros.

Drones banned over ‘critical New Jersey infrastructure’

homesafetytechpros — Fri, 20 Dec 2024 13:30:03 +0000

More than 5,000 drone sightings have been reported in New Jersey recently (WCBS/YouTube).

The Federal Aviation Administration has issued a temporary ban on drone flights in more than 20 New Jersey communities — prohibiting them from entering their local airspace until Jan. 17 for “special security reasons” — as authorities investigate over 5,000 reported sightings that have come in the last few weeks, according to FAA officials, sparking widespread speculation.

“At the request of federal security partners, the FAA published 22 Temporary Flight Restrictions (TFRs) prohibiting drone flights over critical New Jersey infrastructure,” the FAA told Law&Crime in a statement Thursday. The agency’s official ban alert calls for temporary flight restrictions “from the surface up to and including 400 feet AGL (above ground level),” per the online description.

“No UAS (unmanned aircraft systems) operations are authorized,” the alert says.

Over the past several weeks, countless drone sightings have come from people living in the Garden State. Theories have run rampant about what could be happening, with some believing they’re aliens trying to make contact and others spouting possibilities of a nuclear bomb being lost, which the feds are trying to find using the drones, according to online conspiracy theorists — and even a few government officials.

This is the first video about these drones that has got me genuinely concerned. https://t.co/yzRoie2lUn

— Joe Rogan (@joerogan) December 15, 2024

“What might they be looking for? Maybe that’s radioactive material,” said Belleville Mayor Michael Melham during a Tuesday appearance on Fox’s “Good Day New York.”

The link that people keep trying to make between the drone sightings and radioactive material is related to a Dec. 5 alert from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which stated that a piece of medical equipment for cancer scans had been “lost in transit” three days earlier.

“It was a shipment,” Melham said. “It arrived at its destination. The container was damaged, and it was empty.”

Speaking in a press release Thursday, the FAA said an initial probe of the drone reports turned up no evidence of anything nefarious or extraterrestrial going on.

“Having closely examined the technical data and tips from concerned citizens, we assess that the sightings to date include a combination of lawful commercial drones, hobbyist drones, and law enforcement drones, as well as manned fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters, and stars mistakenly reported as drones,” the agency said. “We have not identified anything anomalous and do not assess the activity to date to present a national security or public safety risk over the civilian airspace in New Jersey or other states in the northeast.

A community ban list provided to Law&Crime by the FAA shows three of New Jersey’s largest cities on its list for restricted airspace for the next month — Camden, Elizabeth and Jersey City — in addition to other popular communities like Clifton, Bayonne, Edison South Brunswick, North Brunswick, Gloucester City, Winslow Township, Evesham, Cedar Grove, Metuchen, Westampton, Branchburg, Sewaren, Harrison and Kearny.

Drones operating for national defense will be permitted to fly in the area, but that’s it for now.

“There are more than one million drones lawfully registered with the FAA in the United States and there are thousands of commercial, hobbyist and law enforcement drones lawfully in the sky on any given day,” the FAA said Thursday. “With the technology landscape evolving, we expect that number to increase over time. FBI has received tips of more than 5,000 reported drone sightings in the last few weeks with approximately 100 leads generated, and the federal government is supporting state and local officials in investigating these reports.”

As a way to sniff out drones in violation, the FAA said it sent “advanced detection technology to the region” and “trained visual observers” to help assist local law enforcement and federal authorities.

Source link

The post Drones banned over ‘critical New Jersey infrastructure’ appeared first on Home Safety Tech Pros.

Bodycam shows officer plowing into 8-year-old on dirt bike

homesafetytechpros — Fri, 01 Nov 2024 20:10:33 +0000

Inset: Body camera footage from the Sarasota Police officer who struck Gerard Butler with his patrol car; Background: Gerard Butler laying in the street after being hit by a Sarasota Police officer in his patrol car. (Sarasota (Fla.) Police Department)

Police in Florida have released body camera footage showing a Sarasota officer plowing into 8-year-old Gerard Butler on a dirt bike with his patrol car as the boy’s family watches on in horror.

“You just hit my f—ing nephew!” a man can be heard yelling on video, which was posted online by the Sarasota Police Department on Wednesday.

The man repeated the phrase before numerous others ran up and began shouting at the involved officer, who has not been publicly named.

“You’re dead a– wrong,” another person shouts. “You’re dead a– wrong!”

Warning: Graphic content

Speaking in a video statement that precedes the body camera footage, Sarasota Police Chief Rex Troche outlined what allegedly happened that Monday evening in the west Floridian city, saying the crash was under investigation.

“The collision occurred around 6:30 in the evening,” Troche explained. “The officer was leaving the scene of a separate call for service when the child entered the intersection in front of the officer’s vehicle.”

Police transported the boy to a hospital that night and treated him for severe injuries that required two brain surgeries, knee surgery, and jaw surgery that he’s scheduled to undergo, according to Tampa CBS affiliate WTSP. He had recently received the bike over the weekend as an early birthday present, the station reported.

“We cannot imagine how difficult this is for his family,” Troche said. “Our thoughts and prayers are with you.”

Inset: 8-year-old Gerard Butler (Sarasota (Fla.) Police Department). Background: Family of Gerard Butler react to him being struck by a Sarasota Police officer with a patrol car (Sarasota (Fla.) Police Department).

Sarasota police investigators have partnered with the Florida Highway Patrol to conduct a probe of the incident, the department reports.

The boy’s mother, Regina Sanders, spoke with WTSP and blasted Sarasota officers, claiming they abuse their power on the road and are constantly speeding.

“The cops, you just see them flying at least hitting 60 miles and they don’t care about the stop signs just flying through the roads,” Sanders said. “The cops teach us not to speed in residential areas. They have speed limits on the side of the roads for a reason. Whether he had a call or not, you had no business going that fast.”

SPD officials say the officer involved has been placed on restrictive administrative duty and will remain so until their investigation is complete. It’s unclear whether the officer was speeding at the time of the crash.

Have a tip we should know? [email protected]

Source link

The post Bodycam shows officer plowing into 8-year-old on dirt bike appeared first on Home Safety Tech Pros.