11-3-2006 New York:
"It's bizarre, unfortunate," Steve Coleman, an Atlanta police officer, was saying about New York attorney Andrew Gardner.
Gardner, 39, was a litigation partner at Fried Frank. He had been an undergrad at Harvard and had gone to NYU for law school. He lived in Armonk with his wife and three kids. And he was found dead, a presumed suicide, on Monday.
This summer, Gardner traveled to Atlanta for a conference, authorities said. He checked into the Westin Buckhead Atlanta. On August 17, a Thursday, he went to Dantanna's, an upscale chophouse there. At the bar, according to the Atlanta police, he met a 27-year-old woman, a teacher, and several of her friends. They ate dinner and socialized at the bar for a few hours. Then he invited her back to his hotel room, to hear some music, she told police. Inside the room, she claimed, Gardner "became aggressive, took off her shirt, grabbed her by the arms preventing her from leaving, threw her on the bed and raped her," according to authorities.
After the alleged incident, the woman fled Gardner's hotel room in bare feet and raced down to the hotel lobby to report the attack, authorities say. She then went to a local hospital where a rape exam was performed. Around 4:00 a.m., Atlanta police visited Gardner's hotel room. He told police the sex was consensual. Inside the room, they found the woman's shoes, cell phone, and purse. Gardner was arrested and charged with three felony counts: rape, aggravated sodomy, and false imprisonment.
Gardner denied the allegations. He pleaded not guilty. He was released on $225,000 bail.
Back in New York last month, with criminal charges looming, Gardner attempted to commit suicide by slashing his wrists. On Monday, his body was found at Butler Sanctuary in Bedford, New York, a nature preserve known for hawk watching. There were no marks on his body, no bruises. A medical examiner is conducting an autopsy.
A spokesman for the Gardner family, Bernard Nussbaum, the attorney and former White House counsel to Bill Clinton, issued a statement to Westchester's Journal News: "Mr. Gardner did not commit the crime of rape or any other crime. He was never indicted nor, we believe, would he have ever been indicted. His death is a great tragedy to his family and friends. He was a wonderful human being. He will be missed." ..more.. by Geoffrey Gray
CA- Fremont standoff ends in suicide
Article Tags
.California,
2006,
Age 37-48,
by Gunshot,
Suicide - of School Employee,
Suicide/s US - of SOs Accused
11-28-2006 California:
.An all-night standoff at the home of a Fremont man accused of child molestation ended early Sunday morning when the resident shot himself to death as police stormed his house. Officers arrived at the house on the 41000 block of Apricot Lane at about 10 p.m. Saturday to arrest Kenneth Sackett, 46, for abusing and molesting a girl who is now 16 years old, police said. A SWAT team was called when Sackett, who officers thought possessed a handgun, refused to allow police inside the house.
Negotiations with Sackett lasted throughout the night, police said. About 5:30 a.m., shortly after firing tear gas into the house, officers busted through the front door. As officers entered, they heard a muffled gunshot from a back bedroom, where Sackett was found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, police said. No one else was inside the house, police said. Sackett had said he worked for the Fremont Unified School District as a construction manager, according to the owners of the house, which Sackett had rented for about two years.
Neighbors said Sackett was divorced and lived in the house with two children. Officers at the house Sunday said they didn't know when the teenager first accused Sackett of molestation, how many times she said he molested her, or where the abuse took place. Sgt. Patrick Hunt said he didn't know the circumstances that led police to end negotiations and enter the house. "Obviously the goal is to have everybody safe," he said.
"We can't control when someone decides to take his own life." Hunt added that he wasn't certain if Sackett had any previous arrests or if he had a permit for the handgun. Sackett's neighbors said he barely spoke to them, and most didn't know him by name. "He was a big dude who didn't seem amiable to conversation," said one neighbor, who refused to give his name.
During the standoff, police ordered neighbors directly across the street from Sackett's house to stay in the rear of their homes. His next-door neighbors said they were taken by police to wait inside the Chevron gas station, two blocks away at Driscoll Road and Paseo Padre Parkway. "I was there from about 1:15 to about 6:30 a.m.," said a neighbor, who also asked not to be identified. "There wasn't anyplace to sit." ..more.. : by Matthew Artz
.An all-night standoff at the home of a Fremont man accused of child molestation ended early Sunday morning when the resident shot himself to death as police stormed his house. Officers arrived at the house on the 41000 block of Apricot Lane at about 10 p.m. Saturday to arrest Kenneth Sackett, 46, for abusing and molesting a girl who is now 16 years old, police said. A SWAT team was called when Sackett, who officers thought possessed a handgun, refused to allow police inside the house.
Negotiations with Sackett lasted throughout the night, police said. About 5:30 a.m., shortly after firing tear gas into the house, officers busted through the front door. As officers entered, they heard a muffled gunshot from a back bedroom, where Sackett was found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, police said. No one else was inside the house, police said. Sackett had said he worked for the Fremont Unified School District as a construction manager, according to the owners of the house, which Sackett had rented for about two years.
Neighbors said Sackett was divorced and lived in the house with two children. Officers at the house Sunday said they didn't know when the teenager first accused Sackett of molestation, how many times she said he molested her, or where the abuse took place. Sgt. Patrick Hunt said he didn't know the circumstances that led police to end negotiations and enter the house. "Obviously the goal is to have everybody safe," he said.
"We can't control when someone decides to take his own life." Hunt added that he wasn't certain if Sackett had any previous arrests or if he had a permit for the handgun. Sackett's neighbors said he barely spoke to them, and most didn't know him by name. "He was a big dude who didn't seem amiable to conversation," said one neighbor, who refused to give his name.
During the standoff, police ordered neighbors directly across the street from Sackett's house to stay in the rear of their homes. His next-door neighbors said they were taken by police to wait inside the Chevron gas station, two blocks away at Driscoll Road and Paseo Padre Parkway. "I was there from about 1:15 to about 6:30 a.m.," said a neighbor, who also asked not to be identified. "There wasn't anyplace to sit." ..more.. : by Matthew Artz
TX- Teacher kills himself after sex allegations
Article Tags
.Texas,
2007,
Age 60-69,
by Gunshot,
Suicide - of School Employee,
Suicide/s US - of SOs Accused
1-2-2007 Texas:
An English teacher committed suicide days after he resigned from his job at Clark High School amid allegations of sexual impropriety with a student, a district official said.
The body of Tommy Ford, 60, was discovered Sunday in a duplex in the 7000 block of Glen Mist. He had died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head, according to the Bexar County medical examiner's office.
His body was decomposed, though investigators could not pinpoint how long he had been dead, the medical examiner's office said.
On Dec. 14, a 17-year-old male student and his family alleged Ford had engaged in "inappropriate conduct of a sexual nature" with the teen, said Pascual Gonzalez, spokesman for the Northside Independent School District. Ford was put on administrative leave with pay the same day, and an internal district investigation was launched.
On Dec. 21, Ford resigned. Gonzalez couldn't say if his suicide was linked to the incident, but he added the investigation was incomplete at the time of Ford's death.
Ford had been an English teacher at Clark since 1978 and had been with the school district since 1968, according to his Web site.
School counselors already were preparing to help students returning from their winter vacation grip with both their teacher's passing and the death of Clark senior Cassandra Hicks.
Hicks died in a traffic accident Dec. 26 on a two-lane highway near Sweetwater, southwest of Lubbock. ..more.. by Vianna Davila, Express-News
An English teacher committed suicide days after he resigned from his job at Clark High School amid allegations of sexual impropriety with a student, a district official said.
The body of Tommy Ford, 60, was discovered Sunday in a duplex in the 7000 block of Glen Mist. He had died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head, according to the Bexar County medical examiner's office.
His body was decomposed, though investigators could not pinpoint how long he had been dead, the medical examiner's office said.
On Dec. 14, a 17-year-old male student and his family alleged Ford had engaged in "inappropriate conduct of a sexual nature" with the teen, said Pascual Gonzalez, spokesman for the Northside Independent School District. Ford was put on administrative leave with pay the same day, and an internal district investigation was launched.
On Dec. 21, Ford resigned. Gonzalez couldn't say if his suicide was linked to the incident, but he added the investigation was incomplete at the time of Ford's death.
Ford had been an English teacher at Clark since 1978 and had been with the school district since 1968, according to his Web site.
School counselors already were preparing to help students returning from their winter vacation grip with both their teacher's passing and the death of Clark senior Cassandra Hicks.
Hicks died in a traffic accident Dec. 26 on a two-lane highway near Sweetwater, southwest of Lubbock. ..more.. by Vianna Davila, Express-News
WI- Sex offender found dead at home
Article Tags
.Wisconsin,
2007,
Age 60-69,
by Gunshot,
Suicide/s US - of RSOs Accused
1-25-2007 Wisconsin:
NEWARK TOWNSHIP-A convicted sex offender scheduled to be sentenced Friday apparently killed himself in his home Wednesday night.
Indications are that Donald L. Ostenson, 63, of 8102 W. Grove School Road, Beloit, died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, said Lt. Bill Harper of the Rock County Sheriff's Department.
An Orfordville ambulance was called to the scene at 7:53 p.m., Harper said. A representative of the coroner's office pronounced Ostenson dead at the scene.
Ostenson was charged in August 2005 with sexual assault of a child younger than 13.
A charge of first-degree sexual assault of a child later was dismissed, but Ostenson pleaded guilty Oct. 26 to a related felony, according to online court records.
Ostenson was scheduled to be sentenced Friday morning in Rock County Court. ..more.. by GazzetteXtra
NEWARK TOWNSHIP-A convicted sex offender scheduled to be sentenced Friday apparently killed himself in his home Wednesday night.
Indications are that Donald L. Ostenson, 63, of 8102 W. Grove School Road, Beloit, died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, said Lt. Bill Harper of the Rock County Sheriff's Department.
An Orfordville ambulance was called to the scene at 7:53 p.m., Harper said. A representative of the coroner's office pronounced Ostenson dead at the scene.
Ostenson was charged in August 2005 with sexual assault of a child younger than 13.
A charge of first-degree sexual assault of a child later was dismissed, but Ostenson pleaded guilty Oct. 26 to a related felony, according to online court records.
Ostenson was scheduled to be sentenced Friday morning in Rock County Court. ..more.. by GazzetteXtra
NM- Body found near airport
Article Tags
.New Mexico,
2007,
Age 37-48,
by Gunshot,
Suicide - of Public Servant,
Suicide/s US - of RSOs Accused
3-5-2007 New Mexico:
LAS CRUCES — Doña Ana sheriff's investigators are looking into the suspicious death of a man found inside a hangar near the Santa Teresa Airport in southern Doña Ana County. A source has confirmed that the body is that of Arturo Carreon, a former officer with the El Paso Police Department who was fired in 1998 after he was charged and convicted of having sex with a teenage girl.
Sheriff's investigator Sgt. Mark Perea said authorities were called to a hangar at 100 Lindbergh in Santa Teresa about 3:30 p.m. on Feb. 16 by a security guard patrolling the area. Perea said the victim was found with a gunshot wound to the head, but investigators did not find a gun at the scene. An El Paso police source, who asked not to be identified because the onging investigation, confirmed the body was that of Carreon, 37.
LAS CRUCES — Doña Ana sheriff's investigators are looking into the suspicious death of a man found inside a hangar near the Santa Teresa Airport in southern Doña Ana County. A source has confirmed that the body is that of Arturo Carreon, a former officer with the El Paso Police Department who was fired in 1998 after he was charged and convicted of having sex with a teenage girl.
Sheriff's investigator Sgt. Mark Perea said authorities were called to a hangar at 100 Lindbergh in Santa Teresa about 3:30 p.m. on Feb. 16 by a security guard patrolling the area. Perea said the victim was found with a gunshot wound to the head, but investigators did not find a gun at the scene. An El Paso police source, who asked not to be identified because the onging investigation, confirmed the body was that of Carreon, 37.
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