Crime & Safety

Year in Review: Top 10 Police Stories of 2011

With reports of everything from car break-ins to dynamite in drug houses, Whitefish Bay police officers had a busy year in 2011.

In an attempt to discredit his landlord who testified against him in a check-kiting case, the former owner of Sport ‘N Cuts barbershop on Silver Spring Drive inadvertently led federal investigators to a series of child pornography tapes he produced, prosecutors allege.

David Foley, 49, of Shorewood, faces six federal charges: three counts of production of child pornography; and one count each of transportation of a minor across state lines to engage in a sex act, distribution of child pornography and possession of child pornography. He was also charged in Milwaukee County Circuit Court with five bail-jumping charges, as he is currently serving an 18-month sentence at Fox Lake Correctional Institution for an unrelated identity theft conviction.

A police raid on a Whitefish Bay man's home uncovered a marijuana-growing operation in the basement, along with something less common — dynamite.

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When police searched the home at 4788 N. Berkeley Blvd. on Aug. 22, they found a hydroponic growing operation and more than 2.6 pounds of marijuana. Police also found two homemade quarter sticks of dynamite, a box of 15 quarter sticks of dynamite, two one-eighth sticks of dynamite and an M-90 stick of dynamite. The explosives were turned over to the Milwaukee Police Department Bomb Squad.

A naked Whitefish Bay man allegedly broke into his ex-girlfriend’s Glendale home with a gun only to be scared off by her son's “ninja sword.”

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Lenwood D. Jones, 36, was charged in Milwaukee County Circuit Court Tuesday with one count of possession of a firearm by a felon. If convicted, he faces up to 10 years in prison and $25,000 in fines.

A Whitefish Bay man who asked an off-duty cop to fix his home computer is facing child pornography charges after the cop found photos of partially nude children on the machine.

David Pitel, 52, was charged with three felony counts of child pornography possession, a charge that carries a maximum sentence of 25 years in prison and a fine of $100,000 per count. The court can also impose a surcharge of $500 for each image or each copy of an image.

Five teenagers were cited for tearing down poles, cutting down a tree and doing other damage to playground on three separate occassions in June.

Three 18-year-old Whitefish Bay men, a 19-year-old Brookfield man and a 16-year-old Whitefish Bay boy were all cited with criminal damage to property and trespassing for tearing down signs and poles, placing a giraffe on top of the jungle gym and stacking tables on top of one another, in addition to other damage.

Shorewood track coach Dominic Newman was mistakenly arrested at gunpoint outside of Dominican High School on suspicion of grand theft auto after the state track meet on June 7.

An anonymous Shorewood resident called 911 that night to report hearing a car window break and a car alarm go off, then seeing Newman's silver Volkswagen Golf Hatchback speeding north on North Lake Drive with the alarm sounding. Reacting to a spree of recent car break-ins, police from Glendale, Whitefish Bay and Shorewood pulled Newman over at gunpoint and ordered him out of the car.

Newman said his car alarm sounded because it was broken. He demanded an apology from Shorewood and Whitefish Bay police chiefs because he suspected the arrest was race-related.

Whitefish Bay and Shorewood police departments beefed up their patrols in January after 12 burglaries were reported in each community in the previous two months. Seven of the burglaries occurred in the southwestern portion of the village in the last two months.

Police officials in Shorewood, Whitefish Bay and Glendale worked in cooperation to investigate the burglaries, which they believed to be related. Stolen property collected from is linked to at least three of the Whitefish Bay burglaries.

About 40 pumpkins were smashed outside of one Saturday night in October. The church was selling the pumpkins as a missions fundraiser through the end of the month. The smashed pumpkins blocked Silver Spring Drive in front of the church, and police responded at 5 a.m. Sunday to clear the roadway.

A college student who went “sleep driving” under the influence of Ambien in 2009 has been ordered to pay a fine of $500 after a judge ruled she was guilty of operating while intoxicated.

Kelly Davis, who was 21 at the time, told police she took two or three Ambien pills at around midnight and intended to go to sleep at her apartment. She said she later drove to the BP gas station at 3624 N. Oakland Ave., because she wanted something to drink. She said she “got lost” and could not remember anything after leaving the gas station, according to the report. While driving on Lake Drive, she swerved into the opposite lane, hit a curb, ran a stop sign at Henry Clay Street and continued to swerve in the roadway until she was pulled over.

After a night of drinking, a 20-year-old man came home at about 2 a.m. Thursday and rummaged through the kitchen cabinets looking for something to eat. The only problem is it wasn't his home.

The man who actually lives at the house on the 5000 block of North Palisades Road kicked the man out of his home at about and then flagged down a police officer to tell him about the episode.


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