Mamura Nasirova pleaded guilty to two counts of endangering the welfare of a child after the Staten Island nanny was caught on camera slapping and shaking a baby.
The nightmare nanny caught on camera slapping and shaking a 5-month-old Staten Island girl has admitted abusing the baby and now faces up to 10 months behind bars, prosecutors said Tuesday.
Mamura Nasirova, 52, pleaded guilty to two counts of endangering the welfare of a child Monday for the horrible Jan. 28 attack captured on a hidden camera installed by the tot’s parents, officials from Staten Island District Attorney Dan Donovan’s office said. (more…)
Suffolk County Council is currently trialing an initiative with a group of around 20 dementia patients which sees them wear a device fitted with a GPS system so that if they get lost they can be easily traced.
A number of councils across the country also provide this technology, which has received a mixed reaction.
Annie Topping, chief executive of Healthwatch Suffolk, an independent watchdog for health and social care, said: “With two thirds of dementia patients living in their own homes, any development that gives more support and enhances the independence of those with dementia must be good news for people in Suffolk. (more…)
That overstuffed wallet of yours can’t be comfortable to sit on. It’s probably even too clunky to lug around in a purse, too.
And with every new bank slip that bulges from the seams, your personal information is getting less and less safe. With just your name and Social Security number, identity thieves can open new credit accounts and make costly purchases in your name. If they can get their hands on (and doctor) a government-issued photo ID, they can do even more damage, such as opening new bank accounts. These days, con artists are even profiting from tax-return fraud and health-care fraud, all with stolen IDs.
We talked with consumer-protection advocates to identify the eight things you should purge from your wallet immediately to limit your risk in case your wallet is lost or stolen.
And when you’re finished removing your wallet’s biggest information leaks, take a moment to photocopy everything you’ve left inside, front and back. Stash the copies in a secure location at home or in a safe-deposit box. The last thing you want to be wondering as you’re reporting a stolen wallet is, “What exactly did I have in there?”
1. Your Social Security Card…
…and anything with the number on it.
Your nine-digit Social Security number is all a savvy ID thief needs to open new credit card accounts or loans in your name. ID-theft experts say your Social Security card is the absolute worst item to carry around.
Once you’ve removed your card, look for anything else that may contain your SSN. As of December 2005, states can no longer display your SSN on newly issued driver’s licenses, state ID cards and motor-vehicle registrations. If you still have an older photo ID, request a new card prior to the expiration date. There might be an additional fee, but it’s worth it to protect your identity.
Retirees, pull out your Medicare card, too, because it has your SSN on it. Instead: Photocopy your Medicare card (front and back), black out the last four digits of your SSN on the copy, and carry it with you instead of your real card.
2. Password Cheat Sheet
The average American uses at least seven different passwords (and probably should use even more to avoid repeating them on multiple sites/accounts). Ideally, each of those passwords should be a unique combination of letters, numbers, and symbols, and you should change them regularly. Is it any wonder we need help keeping track of them all?
However, carrying your ATM card’s PIN number and a collection of passwords (especially those for online access to banking and investment accounts) on a scrap of paper in your wallet is a prescription for financial disaster.
Instead: If you have to keep passwords jotted down somewhere, keep them in a locked box in your house. Or consider an encrypted mobile app, such as SplashID ($9.95; Android, Blackberry, iPad, iPhone), Password Safe Pro (free, Android only) or Pocket (free, Android only).
3. Spare Keys
A lost wallet containing your home address (likely found on your driver’s license or other items) and a spare key is an invitation for burglars to do far more harm than just opening a credit card in your name. Don’t put your property and family at risk. (And even if your home isn’t robbed after losing a spare key, you’ll likely spend $100+ in locksmith fees to change the locks for peace of mind.)
Instead: Keep your spare keys with a trusted relative or friend. If you’re ever locked out, it may take a little bit longer to retrieve your backup key, but that’s a relatively minor inconvenience. (more…)
How would you feel if you installed a security camera video system in your home for protection only to find out your private activities are being viewed live on the internet?
Video feeds from some home user’s Internet security cameras — including children’s rooms and bathroom scenes — are being seen by others around the world because of a coding error that is part of the camera’s software.
I would not want to be the programmer that has to explain this problem.
TrendNet security camera’s flaw was discovered after word of some shared footage spread on various message boards and blogs in the past month.
The BBC reported that messages about the flaw included the following:
“Someone caught a guy in Denmark (traced to ip) getting naked in the bathroom.” Another said: “I think this guy is doing sit-ups.”
One user wrote, “baby spotted,” causing another to comment, “I feel like a pedophile watching this.”
California-based TrendNet told the BBC that it’s in the process of releasing software updates to fix the problem, which it learned about on Jan. 12.
The company is also emailing those owners who registered their cameras. It’s not clear how many are affected. A company spokesman said it could be fewer than 1,000 consumers in the United Kingdom and globally “most likely less than 50,000.”
That’s a lot depending on how many people decide to file lawsuits. With The U.S. being such a litigious society, you can just see the lawsuits mounting now – depending on how many U.S. customers were affected.
Tech website The Verge wrote an extensive report about the exploit last Friday.
The vulnerability was first noted on a Jan. 10th blog said the BBC:
The author discovered that after setting up one of the cameras with a password, its video stream became accessible to anyone who typed in the correct net address.
In each case, this consisted of the user’s IP address followed by an identical sequence of 15 characters.
The writer then showed how the Shodan search engine (which specializes in finding online devices) could be used to discover cameras vulnerable to the flaw.
TrendNet plans to have revised firmware available this week. The company posted the following warning on its website on Monday informing users of the specific camera models and versions that have the flaw:
It is TrendNet’s understanding that video from select TrendNet IP cameras may be accessed online in real time. Upon awareness of the issue, TrendNet initiated immediate actions to correct and publish updated firmware which resolves the vulnerability.
“We are scrambling to discover how the code was introduced and at this point it seems like a coding oversight,” a company spokesman told the BBC.
This case is part of a series of recent theft allegations against TSA employees.
TSA Agent Clayton Keith Dovel was arrested last week on suspicion of stealing numerous iPads from passenger’s luggage at DFW’s airport.
Apparently, Dovel was lifting the iPads from his position where he screened passenger’s checked luggage by hand.
Dovel was caught because one of the theft victims had downloaded the “Find My iPhone” app onto her iPad. She was able to track her stolen iPad directly to Dovel’s house. Police found at least seven iPads at Dovel’s residence.
TSA placed Dovel on leave until officials can sort out the situation.
I would think installing video surveillance in the area where luggage is checked would be enough to discourage pilfering by TSA employees, who I am sure are usually honest hard working individuals.
Video surveillance is used in the screening area at John F. Kennedy International Airport and the video recently helped catch a TSA agent who stole $5,000 from a passenger’s jacket. Surveillance video showed TSA agent Alexandra Schmid taking the money from a jacket pocket, wrapping the cash in a plastic glove and taking it to a bathroom.
The money hasn’t been recovered. Police are investigating whether Schmid gave it to another person in the bathroom.
The 31-year-old Schmid was arrested on a charge of grand larceny and suspended pending an investigation. Her attorney’s name wasn’t immediately known.
It is best to never check items of value in your luggage and to check for your valuables after they have gone through the passenger screening area. If you must check your computers, there are software programs for Macs and PCs that will track your computer should it be lost or stolen.
This is the type of story you see in a bad Lifetime movie – a suspense/drama thriller that goes beyond the norm of what “normal” people will do. I can’t imagine how this poor woman has lived out such a real nightmare for so many years.
After nearly two decades, Tracy Lundeen can stop hiding. The man who has stalked her since 1994, since the two were middle schoolers in Renton, Seattle, has been sentenced to more than 26-years in prison. Prosecutors are calling this the longest sentence for stalking in memory.
Shawn Moul, 31, received the exceptionally long felony stalking sentence last week after a jury found he “demonstrated an egregious lack of remorse” for his actions. At one point, Moul had reportedly threatened to cut out the heart of a deputy prosecutor unless he turned over Lundeen’s address and phone number.
Moul began stalking classmate Tracy Lundeen in 1994. Lundeen saw him at the school library struggling with his homework and offered to help him. Afterwards, Lundeen said Moul began following her and wrote her more than 100 letters. The letters alternated between threatening her and vowing to kill himself. He also contacted Lundeen’s family members and demanded that she contact him. (more…)
Sometimes a robber chooses the wrong victim and everything backfires. This was the case with a robbery in downtown Chicago last Friday.
A 50-year-old woman chased her robber for almost a mile, cornered him in an alley and then gave him a lecture. She must be in awesome shape.
The woman was riding a Chicago Transit Authority bus in the Loop just after midnight when police said Jenar Sanders, 18, swiped her wallet from her purse. He then jumped off the bus at Huron and State streets and took off, but he wouldn’t get very far.
Trailing Sanders, the woman alerted others as she ran down the street, according to the Chicago Tribune. The CTA bus driver and a hotel staff member at the Omni Hotel called the police.
The race came to a quick halt when police said Sanders ended up cornered in an alley off Superior Street between Wabash Avenue and Rush Street, surrounded by the victim and others who had joined the chase.
“She kept telling him God didn’t want him to steal her wallet,” a police source told the Tribune. (more…)
A Wisconsin man charged with domestic abuse told cops that a “ghost” was responsible for injuries suffered by his wife, according to police.
Michael West’s ridiculous story did not prevent police from arresting him for strangulation, battery, disorderly conduct, and resisting arrest.
Police responded to a report of a domestic dispute on Jan. 15, at the West residence in Fond du Lac, Wis. Police found West’s wife crying and bleeding from the nose. Drops of blood stained areas of the kitchen and her Packers’ jersey.
According to a criminal complaint, West and his spouse got into an argument on January 15th that turned violent. The victim told cops that West twice strangled her, and that he punched her in the face when she tried to dial 911. The woman told police her husband repeatedly punched her in the face and attempted to strangle her “to the point that [her] vision went black and [she] felt like she was going to pass out.”
Police said West appeared intoxicated and was yelling and swearing at the two officers who were questioning him. The man claimed his wife had fallen several times, injuring her face and neck.
When asked specifically about the marks on the woman’s neck, West said, in slurred speech, “A ghost did it.”
West resisted arrest, but was eventually handcuffed and taken into custody. His wife told police the fight began over the impending foreclosure on their home.
Most of the stories we read regarding the use of GPS technology involve catching the bad guys. This is a case where this technology exonerated a man accused of a crime he did not commit.
A 60-year-old driver for a handicapped transportation service in Turtle Lake, WI, was accused of sexually assaulting a child in his care. However, this past week he had the criminal charges against him dropped after the 11-year-old girl admitted she made up a story that he sexually molested her.
Paul Burritt was charged in Polk County in mid-December with 1st degree child sexual assault (sexual contact with a person under the age of 13) and child enticement after an 11-year-old girl alleged he brought her to his Turtle Lake home and molested her while she waited to be brought home. Burritt was transporting the girl from Impact Counseling in Hayward to her home in Birchwood.
Burritt maintained his innocence when being interviewed by Turtle Lake police investigators after the child initially reported her allegations to counselors and police last December.
GPS Data Confirms Driver’s Innocence
Security video and GPS tracking devices confirmed that Burritt was telling the truth. The GPS tracking data showed that Burritt took the child from Hayward directly to Birchwood and only made one wrong turn during the journey as he was unfamiliar with the route and was not her regular driver. (more…)
“You could now listen in 100% completely undetected” — that’s the promise one company makes on its website to anyone who wants to eavesdrop on someone else’s cellphone.
Spy technology is now available to the average person who wants to gather cellphone information, read private emails, and track someone’s location using global positioning systems. Experts say that the technologies are being used by spouses and partners to track, harass and stalk. “Technology has just exploded. It’s so sophisticated now and it’s very easy to utilize these different technologies to keep tabs on a person and find out where they’re going,” said Gina Pfund, chief assistant prosecutor of the Domestic Violence Unit in Passaic County.
I have personal knowledge of a woman who was being stalked and believed her ex-boyfriend was entering her home when she was out. She couldn’t understand how he knew each and every time that she wasn’t home. She eventually figured it out – he was tracking her via her cellphone. This is very scary stuff when this type of technology gets into the wrong hands.
The person watching or listening is often a family member and frequently a suspicious or controlling partner. They have scanned Facebook pages, viewed online web-browsing histories, and examined cellphone records for proof. However, some take it a step further, planting spyware on smart phones and computers. (more…)
