A mangled Simi Valley police officer's motorcycle rests along the street near an intersection where he collided with a truck on Wednesday, June 15, 2016. (KABC)
Updated 31 mins ago
SIMI VALLEY, Calif. (KABC) -- A Simi Valley motorcycle officer was hospitalized after being hit by a truck at an intersection Wednesday afternoon.
Authorities said around 4:50 p.m., the officer was traveling southbound on Tapo Canyon Road near Los Angeles Avenue. As the officer crossed the intersection, a small pickup truck heading northbound made a left or U-turn right into the path of the motorcycle, according to police.
The officer crashed into the truck and was thrown from his bike, police said. He sustained serious injuries and was transported to a hospital. The officer underwent several hours of surgery and remains hospitalized.
The department said the officer is a 14-year veteran and his name would not be released.
The driver of the truck, identified as Traci Hobbs, 53, of Simi Valley, was not hurt during the crash, and no arrest was made. Authorities said alcohol nor drugs played a factor in the crash.
Anyone with more information was asked to call the Moorpark California Highway Patrol Office at (805) 553-0800.
Coast Guard concludes administrative enforcement action against commercial passenger vessel operator
Jun 15th, 2016
LOS ANGELES — Coast Guard Sector Los Angeles-Long Beach investigators concluded administrative enforcement action in a case involving a local dive boat operator, resulting in the voluntary surrender of the operator’s merchant mariner credential to the Coast Guard.
The case stemmed from a casualty aboard the 43-foot commercial passenger vessel, Sundiver Express, operating out of Long Beach. Under the direction and control of Kyaa Heller, the Sundiver Express departed from a dive site off Catalina Island while a dive passenger was unaccounted for after entering the water for a recreational dive.
A search and rescue effort ensued when the passenger, Laurel Silver-Valker was later discovered missing from the vessel at the next dive site. Silver-Valker was never located and is presumed deceased.
Following an investigation, the Coast Guard filed an administrative complaint seeking revocation of Heller’s merchant mariner credential with six alleged offenses, including one count of negligence for failing to maintain proper passenger accountability, and five counts of misconduct related to the operation of a commercial vessel. In lieu of appearing at a suspension and revocation hearing before a federal administrative law judge, Heller elected to voluntarily surrender her merchant mariner credential to the Coast Guard on June 6, 2016. By surrendering her credential, Heller is no longer authorized to serve as Master of a commercial vessel.
“This is a tragic case, and our hope is that the small passenger vessel community, and in particular, dive boat operators, take some important lessons from this case to prevent such an incident from ever happening again. There is no excuse for departing a dive site without confirming all passengers are on board and accounted for,” said Lt. Cmdr. Nathan Menefee, senior investigating officer, Sector Los Angeles-Long Beach. “Passenger vessel operators must take the role and responsibility of Master seriously, as the safety of their passengers is in their hands. The responsibility of a Master cannot be delegated.”
Coast Guard suspension and revocation proceedings are administrative in nature, and are intended to maintain standards of competence and conduct necessary to minimize loss of life, personnel injury, property damage, and environmental harm on the high seas and upon U.S. waters. Following the casualty, Sector Los Angeles-Long Beach released a marine safety bulletin reminding all small passenger vessel operators of the importance of passenger accountability. The safety bulletin can be found here: http://go.usa.gov/chwjH
Coast Guard, state, local agencies respond to diesel spill in Gulfport
Jun 15th, 2016
Petty Officer 3rd Class Chris Roble and Petty Officer 2nd Class Ronnie Lucas assess the site of a diesel spill in Gulfport Harbor in Gulfport, Mississippi, June 15, 2016. U.S. Coast Guard photo by Lt.j.g. Elizabeth Tatum
NEW ORLEANS – The Coast Guard, Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality, NOAA and the Oil Response Company are responding to a diesel spill in Gulfport, Mississippi, Wednesday.
Watchstanders with Coast Guard Sector Mobile received a report at approximately 5 a.m., that a potential of 250 gallons of diesel was estimated to have entered Gulfport Harbor during a fuel transfer.
The Oil Response Company has deployed 1,000 feet of containment boom around the vessel to reduce impact to the harbor.
Coast Guard Sector Mobile’s Incident Management Division is on site.
The cause of the incident is under investigation.
Coast Guard, partner agencies search for missing man following boat collision on Lake Champlain
Jun 16th, 2016
BOSTON — Crews from Coast Guard Station Burlington and Coast Guard Air Station Cape Cod are searching Wednesday evening, along with state and local agencies, for a missing 60-year-old man in Malletts Bay on Lake Champlain.
At approximately 6:30 p.m. Coast Guard watchstanders received notification that two boats collided with a total of six people aboard. Five people were rescued by local responders and brought to shore.
A 29-foot rescue boat crew from Station Burlington immediately launched and arrived on scene at approximately 7 p.m. In addition, an MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter from Air Station Cape Cod launched to search the area for the missing man.
Responding partner agencies include:
– Vermont State Police
– Colchester Police Department
– Colchester Rescue
– Colchester Technical Rescue
– Mallets Bay Fire Department
– U.S. Customs and Border Protection
A rescue boat crew from Station Burlington is expected to search through the night.
Coast Guard Station Burlington is the only Coast Guard station along Lake Champlain and the state of Vermont.
By Ann E. Marimow June 15 at 1:50 PM
Prosecutors said the $1.3 million federal government contracting scheme was a family affair.
Over five years, investigators claim a high-level General Services Administration official helped her husband submit more than 100 fake employment applications to federal agencies and doctored his résumé to try to get him hired by the government.
At one point, investigators contend, Helen “Renee” Ballard attempted to hire her husband for a GSA position that she oversaw as a contracting office director and tried to conceal their marriage by changing her home address in the agency’s online personnel system.
At another point in the years-long scheme, the husband, Robert “Steve” Ballard, was hired for $140,000 a year by a GSA contractor and became the person with the highest salary on the contract, according to a federal indictment.
Prosecutors said Renee Ballard, a former GSA contracting office director, and her husband, a former employee of the Arlington-based federal contractor, CACI, also used their positions to place Ballard’s brother, sister-in-law and father on a contract that Ballard supervised.
The office of Dana J. Boente, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, announced the indictment Tuesday of a Maryland couple in a government contracting scheme. (Courtesy of Department of Justice/Courtesy of Department of Justice)
A federal grand jury indicted the Brandywine, Md., couple Tuesday on charges of conspiracy, wire fraud, aggravated identity theft and false statements. Attorneys for the Ballards were not immediately available Wednesday for comment.
A CACI spokesman did not reply to messages seeking comment Wednesday. Neither CACI nor any of its employees are charged in the case.
During her tenure as director of the agency’s Central Office Contracting Division from 2006 through 2011, Ballard, 51, and her husband, 55, “fraudulently induced” CACI to hire the relatives and the daughter of one of Ballard’s subordinates, prosecutors said.
Steve Ballard, who also worked for CACI, and the family members were assigned to an acquisition-support contract awarded by GSA that was supervised by Renee Ballard, prosecutors said. The GSA provides centralized procurement for the federal government, and is supposed to deliver the best value in real estate, acquisition and technology services.
In 2008, prosecutors said Renee Ballard emailed a CACI supervisor about hiring her brother, who was unemployed. “I really need him to start on this date,” she wrote, according to the indictment.
Ballard’s brother submitted “false and misleading” information about his prior salary and education, and lied about whether any of his relatives had worked for CACI, according to the court filing. From December 2008 through 2011, prosecutors said Ballard’s brother was paid about $247,000 from the GSA contract.
At least one of Renee Ballard’s relatives apparently expressed concern, according to the court filing. “This is nepotism” and a “no, no” that would violate government policy, her father reportedly told his daughter in a phone call, according to the indictment.
Even so, Renee Ballard’s father was hired in 2010 as a “finance consultant” and earned about $79,000 from the contract, despite having no experience as an acquisition analyst, negotiating or maintaining contracts, the court filing states.
When it came to CACI’s hiring Ballard’s husband, prosecutors said Renee Ballard concealed her role by falsely claiming to have recused herself from the contract.
Steve Ballard’s application misrepresented his education, experience and government contracting qualifications, according to the indictment. Prosecutors said the couple also forged professional certifications.
He was hired to join the CACI contract at an initial salary of $140,000, according to the indictment. Later that year, CACI paid Steve Ballard’s brother-in-law a $2,000 referral bonus related to his hiring.
In 2011, according to the court filing, Renee Ballard lied on her financial disclosure report, failing to report her husband’s employment with CACI.
GSA’s inspector general opened an investigation in 2011 in response to allegations of nepotism.
Prosecutors said Renee Ballard removed résumés related to the hiring of her relatives from the official GSA contract file. She is also accused of encouraging others to lie to investigators.
“All you have to do is say, ‘Renee didn’t have nothing to do with it; I didn’t have nothing to do,’ ” she told a subordinate, according to the court filing.
The family members, who are not named in the indictment, are considered un-indicted co-conspirators, according to a spokesman for the office of the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, Dana J. Boente.
Both Ballards face a mandatory sentence of two years in prison if convicted of aggravated identity theft and a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison if convicted of wire fraud.