CMPD Officer Injured When Patrol Car Struck By SUV

From The Charlotte Observer

By Meghan Cooke

A Charlotte-Mecklenburg police officer was involved in a wreck Tuesday afternoon in east Charlotte.

Officer Chad Arnold, 33, was responding to a report of a larceny at the Home Depot on Albemarle Road when he was told that a suspect was leaving the parking lot, police said. Arnold got into his marked police car and drove in the suspect’s direction.

When he reached the intersection of Albemarle Road and Manchester Lane, Arnold turned on his flashing lights and sirens, police said. But as he crossed the outbound lanes of Albemarle Road, police said he was struck by an SUV driven by David Grigg, Jr., 44.

The SUV overturned and Arnold struck a stop sign, police said. Both drivers were transported to an area hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

The CMPD Major Crash Investigation Unit is investigating the collision.

Concord, NC Man Reaches Plea Deal With Feds in Alleged Bom Plot

From News Channel 36 / www.wcnc.com

 GREENSBORO, N.C. – The Concord man facing charges for an alleged abortion clinic bomb plot reached a plea agreement with prosecutors.

Justin Carl Moose, 26, pleaded guilty to charges of distributing information pertaining to the manufacturing and use of an explosive.

By NewsChannel 36 Staff

An FBI agent said in court documents that Moose was arrested after he collaborated with a confidential informant to help plan the bombing of a North Carolina abortion clinic.

The FBI affidavit says the 26-year-old posted instructions on his Facebook page about how to make an explosive.

Moose could serve a maximum of 20 years and the maximum fine for the charge is $250,000.

Surveillance Cameras Capture Monroe, NC Double Shooting

From www.wsoctv.com

MONROE, N.C. — Monroe police are still looking for the gunman who shot a married couple on Monday after robbing them outside of the license plate agency.

 Customers lined up waiting for 9 a.m. on Tuesday, but it came and went and the agency never opened because of the shooting.

 Crystal Jordan and her husband, Robbie, were ambushed as they left the store with cash and checks, police said.

 Mandy Strickland watched the attack unfold from her store next door. “He was trying to grab her purse from her and she was trying to hold it and when he started shooting her, she let go of it,” she said.

 “She was not moving at all. There was blood everywhere and by the time the ambulance got here, it looked like she was going into shock,” Strickland said.

 Surveillance cameras at Strickland’s store were rolling and in the video outside the far window, people could be seen moving about during the attack. The video is blurring and it is difficult to see the attack.

Strickland said the husband was shot next. “He was shot in the face and he also got shot in the back when he grabbed his face the first time, is when the guy shot him in the back,” she said.

 Monroe police are investigating a similar robbery from last month. “There was one in Charlotte just a few weeks ago, so we’re looking at that case also to see if there are any similarities,” said Chief Debra Duncan.

 According to police, the shooter fled the scene and has not been caught.

 Both victims were taken to Carolinas Medical Center Union and police said Crystal Jordan was airlifted to CMC Main, where she underwent surgery overnight.

 Police said Robbie Jordan was treated and released from the hospital.

 The shooting has left the community stunned.

 If you have any information that could help police in their investigation, please call Union County Crimestoppers at 704-283-5600.

Gastonia, NC Police Make Child Porn Arrest

From The Charlotte Observer

By Steve Lyttle
The Gastonia Police’s Juvenile Investigations Bureau has made its first arrest as a member of the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, charging a man with distributing child pornography.

Police say Ronald Gene Kiser Jr., 38, who lives in the Carriage House Apartments in Gastonia, was charged Monday with 15 counts of second-degree exploitation of a minor.

Gastonia police are now a member of the internet crimes’ task force, a multi-agency endeavor that also includes the FBI and SBI, along with local agencies.

“We were able to make these charges using new technologies learned through the task force,” Gastonia police Sgt. Gene Weaver said.

Ohio Teen That Discovered Dead Bodies of Family Members Thought It Was a Halloween Prank

Information from: The Blade, http://www.toledoblade.com/

By JEANNIE NUSS – Associated Press

COLUMBUS, Ohio – 

A 16-year-old boy thought he stumbled onto a Halloween prank when he found the bloodied bodies of his brother, mother, and stepfather in his family’s home in Martin in northwest Ohio, authorities said Monday.

His stepbrother, who authorities say has a history of mental health problems, was arrested in the slayings.

Devon Griffin had spent the night out and returned home Sunday to change his clothes before church, authorities said. After returning from church, he discovered the bodies of his brother, Derek Griffin, 23; their mother, Susan Liske; and her husband, William Liske.

The teenager told authorities it looked like a joke from a Halloween party, Ottawa County Sheriff Bob Bratton said. But he soon realized the bodies weren’t decorations. He ran outside and called an aunt, who called 911.

“My nephew came home and there’s blood everywhere,” Griffin’s aunt told a dispatcher on the 911 call.

Bratton said the Liskes and Derek Griffin suffered severe trauma to the head. It wasn’t immediately clear whether a gunshot or a blunt object killed them, Bratton said. Autopsies were being conducted.

William Liske’s 24-year-old son, also named William Liske, was arrested Sunday at the family’s cabin near Scio, some 170 miles away from Martin. He was jailed, and didn’t have a lawyer as of Monday afternoon. He is due in court this week.

The Blade newspaper in Toledo reported that in 2004, the younger Liske was charged with assault and robbery after he allegedly hit his stepmother with a coffee cup and took her car keys. A plea of not guilty by reason of insanity was filed for him. The state later dropped the charges.

The younger Liske lives in a halfway house in nearby Sandusky, Bratton said. He sometimes visited his father and stepfamily on the weekends at their home off a country road in sparsely populated farmland, Prosecutor Mark Mulligan said.

Ottawa County’s cottages and resorts on Lake Erie are popular among tourists. Authorities say only five homicides, including the three Sunday, have occurred since 2001.

Grocery Store Owner Reported Missing Found Dead in Ceiling of His Own Store

 From The Charlotte Observer

By Ely Portillo

A Charlotte, NC grocery store owner missing since last week was found dead Monday, hidden in the ceiling of his own store, police said.

Homicide detectives found Joseph Marett Jr., 35, concealed in ceiling insulation of his Sav/Way grocery store in the 4400 block of Central Avenue during a search Monday afternoon.

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police spokesman Officer Robert Fey said Marett died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound and had “gone to great lengths” to hide himself.

Marett, who was engaged to be married in April, was reported missing last Friday.

Police said surveillance footage showed Marett entering the store shortly after 6 a.m.

Another employee reported him missing several hours later after reporting for work and noticing that Marett’s keys, wallet and cell phone were still on his desk.

Marett’s family has been searching for the missing store owner, walking around the neighborhood and handing out fliers in English and Spanish all weekend.

A Facebook page started to help find Marett drew nearly 400 supporters who left messages of encouragement and helped spread the word he was missing.

On Monday morning, Marett’s family offered the public a $32,000 reward for information about his disappearance.

Marett grew up in Rock Hill, SC and attended Northwestern High School, also in Rock Hill, his father Joseph Marett Sr. told The Herald. His son started working at a Sav/Way store on Cherry Road when he was 16, he said.