Roving bandit(s) strike edge of Lawrenceville
LAWRENCE CO.—An incident last night (05.23.12) on the south side of Lawrenceville has local residents wondering just how much the local yokel cops are willing to cover up.
They’re also wondering where the sheriff’s department is, as the incident was officially outside city limits, yet Lawrenceville city cops are the ones working the case.
According to reports in the neighborhood, the incident occurred just after dark on Kentucky Avenue, when a truck with a loud muffler came tooling down the road and parked in front of a residence. The truck sat there with the engine running for 15 to 20 minutes. Locals figured the occupants of the vehicle were there to buy dope….not an unusual occurrence in the neighborhood.
When one of the residents NOT into dope turned on his porch light, however, the truck jetted on down the road and out of the neighborhood.
Shortly, scanner listeners reported that there had been a man caught in someone’s pole barn down around the Gas Light Motel (on Highway 1 going south). The owner of the pole barn had shot at the intruder from his home on the property. The intruder had damaged the homeowner’s lawn mower and had hit something else before jumping the ditch on that road, then leaving the area.
He went back to the original neighborhood on Kentucky Avenue that he’d targeted, parked his truck, and went on an alleged stealing spree. It was reported that he’d been seen coming out of the Humane Society’s pole barn carrying two toolboxes. At this point, the person who observed him doing this gave chase, and he dropped one of the took boxes and headed toward his truck, through a back yard reported to be that of Sherman Goff’s.
The thief didn’t make it to the truck, veering off when he saw a tow truck from Garrard’s Wrecker Service tearing down Route 1 to pick up the parked vehicle.
The alleged thief, whose name is reportedly Smith and who is reportedly from Robinson (to the north), was later caught attempting to steal a car. Neighbors in the vicinity of where all this took place said they don’t know much more about the guy except what they’ve heard from Lawrenceville police chief Mike Mefford and one of his cops, Annette Edgin, who reportedly worked the case…which is what has the neighbors perplexed, as they are county jurisdiction, not city (although one reported that he believed all the city cops had been deputized again, so they could all go running to the aid of any of the other many cops in police state-Lawrence, several of whom aren’t worth pissing on if they’re on fire and include the unbelievably repulsive Billy “PeeWee” Darnell in St. Francisville).
Neighbors, at last report, indicated that there may have been as many as THREE bandits working the area last night; however, Mefford is insistent that it’s just ONE, and that it’s Smith.
We’ll see when charges are filed…keep checking back, and those in Lawrence, watch your stuff…Mefford has a tendency to allow crime to proliferate merely because he doesn’t do press releases, nor answer media questions (if or when the local media bothers to even ask them), so you never really know what’s going on in the area.
Short URL: http://www.disclosurenewsonline.com/?p=12984
Posted by Jack Howser
on May 24 2012. Filed under Lawrence.
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I have never understood why a law enforcement agency would not release information to the public on burglaries and thefts unless their were some extremely rare circumstances unless, as you say, it is to keep the public in the dark as to the actual amount of crime being committed so it will appear that the department is not inept.
The perpetrator, the crime victim, and the police are all aware what has happened and not letting the public be made aware is simply keeping the information from the next potential victim so they can take action to prevent becoming a victim or from a possible witness.
For example, if a red lawnmower was stolen from someone’s garage, there might be someone that saw a person pushing a red lawnmower from the scene or perhaps were offered a red lawnmower for sale from someone. You get the idea.
When I was sheriff, I would release any information to the media about crimes, unless it would hinder an ongoing investigation which was seldom. This quite often led to witness information coming in that would lead to an arrest. I recall one theft case where I added the description of the suspect vehicle and within hours a person called in that he knew someone that had a vahicle that matched that description (it had a door painted a different color that the rest of the vehicle) and when my chief deputy Ric Hawkins went out to investigate he found evidence in the back of the vehicle in plain view as he walked past it walking up to the suspects house.
Most professional departments have an officer assigned to make sure that information about criminal activities is distributed to all local media outlets as the public are very usefull tools in solving crimes. Having a whole community being watchfull is better than just having the officers know what has taken place. A thousand sets of eyes and ears are much better than just a few.
I am all for free speech but you dropped the ball here. I am the resident that had my shed broken into you have the events incorrect. I am the one that seen him park truck for 5 min when I turned my porch light on. There is NO dope in this neighborhood. He parked while casing the area until I caught him. He then went to the home on hwy 1 got shot at then come here. I heard him break my shed door I yelled I was gonna shoot he came to my front door and offered me money NOT to call police. I told him police were on their way. He had 1 toolbox NOT 2. He then fled through my neighbors back yard who is Sherman Goff. He got caught trying to steal humane society van at 6:00 the next morning. The lead deputy on case was Dennis York from sheriff dept. Yes Ammeter was here but only to help because she was close to area where dispatch incorrectly told her he went. The theif dropped his keys in front of my shed his trk parked at another house a block away but when I confronted him he ran opposite direction of nhid trk. There was never any chase by anyone. This address is not Kentucky Ave. I think you need to get your facts correct before reporting. There’s never been any drugs at the house you say he parked at. I think an apology is needed in this case. The sheriff’s dept did handle this NOT city police. Thanks for your time. Jamie Johnson
No apology will be issued here. If you can READ (I question it only because you apparently can barely write) everything is “reported.” That means reports by neighbors, not by officials. The only person who should APOLOGIZE is the lead investigator, who, neighbors were told, was Mike Mefford. The neighbors told me THEIR version, which might be different than YOUR version because you see things from different perspectives. So nothing was presented as FACT, just what neighbors REPORTED. Please learn to assimilate that concept. If you had more open communication from your cops in that town to the media, we wouldn’t be having this problem, but you people keep electing the same idiots over and over, so you get what you ask for; don’t bitch to me when what others report doesn’t fit YOUR version of the story. As for the address, I looked it up on a map; there IS a Kentucky Ave. in the vicinity; I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt, maybe you don’t get out much and don’t know that, and won’t assume that you’re on the dope you say ISN’T in the area…it IS, believe me, I’m the one who goes to the courthouse every month and pulls the court files, I see it, even if you don’t. Maybe you should try it some time.
Seriously??? I am the victim I am the one that called police so yes I do have a different perspective it’s called the TRUTH. What did you not understand? What I was saying was that there was no chase, and the lead investigator was Deputy York. Mike mefford wasn’t even here. I thought before something was reported it would be checked out. Yes there is a Kentucky Ave 3 blocks from the incident. Since it was my property broken into I think I know my address. I’ve lived in this house for years! I guess you don’t care about the truth just what neighbors think happened. FYI no neighbors were around so don’t know where they get their false information from. Deputy masterson is the one who arrested the suspect after I identified him after he tried to bribe me not to call police for breaking in. You apparently don’t CARE about getting to the truth!! You only publish FALSE information! The police knew who the person was so why start telling people to watch out for him?? They had his truck, license, and house and car keys.
I think you are the one on dope!!! This neighborhood is full of people who are over 50. A highly respected police officer lives 4 houses down. The house you referred to as a dope house is a family with husband and wife over 60 and babysit their grandkids who are very young. Maybe you should have proof what neighbors REPORT before you slander people. I seriously doubt you have REPORTS from anyone in this neighborhood. The only REPORTS you have are things YOU have made up in your head. You must not be able to read because I told you the first time I am the victim in this neighborhood the other victim is about 2 miles south of me. Next time you should check with victims before you make things up.
>Mefford doesn’t have to be there to be the lead investigator…and like I said, this is what we were TOLD
>I explained to you: we can’t “check out” things like this in Lawrenceville with the cops; that’s why we rely on people to report to us. REPORTS. LOOK IT THE FUCK UP.
>The bottom line is: YOU don’t know “the truth” either…just what YOU think. Do you realize how stupid you sound? If we’d written this report from YOUR perspective, another neighbor could have said the same thing! “The truth” comes out in court proceedings…EVERYTHING up to that point is “reports,” numbnuts. That’s the way it works
>YOU don’t know there weren’t any neighbors around….Jesus, I’m just supposed to take your word for it? I talked to two separate people. Get a grip.
>Here’s the most flawed thinking you’ve displayed so far, and the reason why your county is such a shithole: “The police knew who the person was so why start telling people to watch out for him??” You ARE kidding, right? God I hope so.
>Second most-flawed: “Highly respected police officer” REALLY?….there are VERY few of those in Lawrence…. I’d await your response so I could laugh my ass off at who YOU think is “highly respected”, but your type of retardation is contagious and I can’t have it on my site, so you’re GONE for not abiding by the rules…I’d suggest look them up but you’re apparently too stupid for that too.
Oh & btw…I hope Mike Smith’s buddies come back to your house and finish the job.
Anyone else see the insanity in this person’s assertions? Just because “something” happened to him/her and I didn’t tell it EXACTLY as it happened to him/her, but instead from the perspective of two others there, that means I’M lying? And people wonder why SOME folks in Lawrence prefer to drink bottled water….
I might be mistaken but I think the “highly respected police officer” that Lively is talking about is Phil Sharum who retired from Lawrenceville Police Department probably 15 years ago or so.
Phil Sharum is a fine man and was an outstanding police officer, a real professional, and is highly respected. Phil still serves his community by doing volunteer work transporting disabled veterans to the VA and other medical facilities. I think he still works part-time at the sheriff’s department transporting prisoners and serving civil papers.
I cannot say enough about Phil, he is a good man that you will never hear a bad word about. He is a shining example of what a professional police officer should be.
I don’t even know who that is..
You probably never will hear of anything about him. He never is rude to people, he never mistreats people, and is always polite and courteous.
Too bad he could not have been cloned. He is a great fellow.