Pennsylvania: Ex-lawyer gets prison for $1M theft from family
PITTSBURGH (AP) — A disbarred Pittsburgh lawyer will spend 2 1/2 to 5 years in prison for stealing more than $1.1 million from his immediate family members to play the stock market as a day trader.
Fifty-eight-year-old Eric Solomon was sentenced Monday after pleading guilty to theft, identity theft, and forgery charges. Allegheny Count prosecutors say he obtained loans
in the names of relatives, claimed to invest their money but didn’t, and ran up credit cards in their names. His victims included his wife, mother-in-law and two sons.
One of his sons, Joel Solomon, told the court that his father “saw us as dollar signs. He saw us as suckers.”
Solomon will spend five years on probation after his prison term. His family members have asked to have no contact with him.
Georgia: Former youth minister sentenced to prison
LEXINGTON, Ga. (AP) — A former Oglethorpe County youth minister has been sentenced to prison after pleading guilty to molesting a teenage girl.
Chief Superior Court Judge John Bailey sentenced 44-year-old Norman Anthony Pugh on Monday to 13 years in prison with another seven years on probation for inappropriately touching a girl who was 13 years old at the time.
District Attorney Bob Lavender dropped eight additional counts of furnishing sexual material to a child.
Pugh, who previously served as a youth minister for Arnoldsville Baptist Church, was acquitted in November 2006 of charges he molested a teenage girl who was a member of the church.
Pugh was not working for the church when he was arrested last year and charged with molesting a different girl.
Maine: Feds say 25 took part in marriage scam
BANGOR, Maine (AP) — Federal prosecutors in Maine say at least 25 people have been involved in a scheme to arrange sham marriages with immigrants seeking to remain permanently in the United States.
Five Maine residents have pleaded guilty in federal court in Bangor to conspiracy to commit marriage fraud.
In July, two Massachusetts men, 38-year-old Rashid Kakande (kah-KAHN’-dee) of Woburn and 49-year-old James Mbugua of Springfield, were charged with paying Maine residents to marry or recruit others to marry immigrants.
Mbugua disappeared in October two weeks before his trial was scheduled to begin. He is now a fugitive.
The Bangor Daily News says that on Monday a federal magistrate denied Kakande permission to travel to his native Uganda to see family.
Massachusetts: 2 Springfield officers acquitted of brutality
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (AP) — Two Springfield police officers have been acquitted by a federal jury of brutality charges.
The jury on Monday cleared the officers of eight counts each, including using excessive force, false arrest, and depriving the person who brought the suit of his civil rights.
In a separate verdict, the jury found the city was not liable for the officers’ conduct.
The lawsuit was brought by Tomas Caraballo of Holyoke. He alleged in the suit that patrolmen Ahmad Shariff and Erwin Greene assaulted him at a New Year’s Eve party at a Springfield home in 2006 after he objected to their treatment of another guest.
A lawyer for the officers tells The Republican they were pleased with the verdict especially since many of the witnesses were friends of Caraballo.
Indiana: Court OKs police use of warrant with wrong address
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — The Indiana Court of Appeals has denied a defendant’s motion to suppress evidence police seized under a search warrant that contained the wrong address because the officer who served it went to the right location anyway.
The judges reasoned in a ruling Monday that there was no chance of the warrant being served at the wrong address because Knox City Police Officer Chad Keen knew where he was supposed to go.
The ruling says that had Officer Keen not been the executing officer, the court may have reached a different result.
Donnie Salyer filed the appeal after a Starke circuit judge denied his motion to suppress evidence at a court hearing in 2009. The ruling clears the way for his trial on marijuana charges.
West Virginia: Man charged after letting 10-year-old drive
MARTINSBURG, W.Va. (AP) — A Martinsburg man accused of letting his 10-year-old son drive 8 miles at night is now charged with felony child neglect creating the risk of injury.
Court records show 48-year-old Douglas Laing allegedly let the child drive from a Wal-Mart to their Spring Mills home on Interstate 81 and other roads.
Local media report the incident happened over the summer, but Laing was only arraigned Monday in Berkeley County Magistrate Court. He remains free on $10,000 bond.
Surveillance video from the store showed the boy getting out of the driver’s seat of the car and his father getting into the passenger’s seat as the two left the store.
Laing later denied he was at the store and told police his son wasn’t driving.
