Montana: Man with warrants gives fake name, arrested anyway
GREAT FALLS, Mont. (AP) — Great Falls police say a man who had three outstanding warrants for his arrest gave officers a false name during a traffic stop, but ended up in custody anyway because that man also had a warrant.
Court records say during a traffic stop Monday, Jonothan Ray Gonsalez of Box Elder told police that his name was Timothy Michael Koop Jr. The officer learned a man by that name was wanted in Hill County and arrested him.
Police say a search of Gonsalez after his arrest turned up half a gram of methamphetamine in his jacket pocket and he was charged with criminal possession of dangerous drugs.
The Great Falls Tribune reports Gonsalez told a jail staffer his real name on Tuesday. A charge of issuing a false report to law enforcement was added.
Virginia: Brown U. sues Newport News, collector over sword
NEWPORT, Va. (AP) — Brown University says in a federal lawsuit that a Civil War-era sword recently displayed at a Newport News-owned museum was stolen from a university collection in the 1970s.
Brown’s lawsuit asks a federal judge to declare the university as the rightful owner of the sword and an ornamental scabbard. The defendants are the city of Newport News and a Williamsburg collector who lent the sword and scabbard to Lee Hall Mansion from December 2009 and December 2010.
Brown attorney Christopher A. Duggan told The Daily Press that the city notified the university recently that the museum no longer has the items.
Arkansas: Searcy man pleads guilty in ‘10 double killing
SEARCY, Ark. (AP) — A Searcy man has pleaded guilty to two counts of second-degree murder and was sentenced to 20 years in prison for the shooting deaths of two people at his home.
Mark Sullivan entered the plea Thursday in White County Circuit Court. He was charged in the Jan. 8, 2010, killings of 40-year-old Audra Evans and 41-year-old Robin Edward Berry.
According to the Searcy Daily Citizen, prosecutors say there was a history of disputes and violence between Sullivan, Evans and Berry and that the pair violated a restraining order when they came to Sullivan’s home on Jan. 8. Sullivan claims he shot Evans and Berry in self-defense, but prosecutors say all three were at fault in the incident.
South Dakota: Two used-car dealers sent to prison for fraud
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — A bankrupt used-car dealer from South Dakota and his partner have been sentenced in Iowa to federal prison for lying to banks that were funding their dealerships.
Sioux Falls businessman Dan Nelson was sentenced in federal court in Des Moines, Iowa, to 2 ? years in prison, and partner Chris Tapken to 1 1/2 years. Together, they must pay $7 million in restitution to nine banks. MetaBank in Sioux Falls is owed the most, at $3.3 million.
Nelson and Tapken operated dealerships in both South Dakota and Iowa. Authorities say they lied on financial reports to give banks undue confidence in the health of their business, which collapsed in 2005.
North Carolina: Fort Bragg sniper begins appeal of life sentence
FORT BRAGG, N.C. (AP) — A former Army marksman who shot 18 soldiers and killed an officer at Fort Bragg is appealing the life prison sentence for the 1995 crimes.
The Fayetteville Observer reported Friday that attorneys for William Kreutzer Jr. this week took the first step in the appeals process. Their reasons for an appeal don’t have to be filed with the military appeals court until later this month.
Kreutzer avoided a possible death sentence by pleading guilty in 2009 to one charge of premeditated murder and 18 other charges. A court had overturned the former Clinton, Md., man’s 1996 death sentence after deciding his defense lawyers were ineffective.
His pre-dawn sniper attack targeted soldiers gathered in a Fort Bragg stadium for an exercise run.
Mississippi: State high court upholds conviction in murder case
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — The Mississippi Supreme Court has upheld the capital murder conviction of Emerson Osborne in the 2006 slaying of an elderly Bolivar County woman.
Osborne was sentenced to life without parole in 2008.
Prosecutors say the body of 86-year-old Lucy Jackson was found in her Shelby home. She died from a blow to the head. Prosecutors say Osborne was one of two men who forced their way into her home, ransacked it and killed her.
The Supreme Court in 6-3 ruling Thursday rejected Osborne’s claim that prosecutors’ only witnesses against him were an informant and an accomplice, neither of whose testimony could be seen as reliable.
The court said it was up the jury to decide who to believe and Osborne’s conviction would not be overturned.
Pennsylvania: Police: Child porn suspect sets fire, kills self
MOUNT HOLLY SPRINGS, Pa. (AP) — Authorities say a central Pennsylvania man set his home on fire and committed suicide rather than turn himself in to face child pornography charges.
Police say 37-year-old John Leonard fatally shot himself Thursday morning at his home in Mount Holly Springs, Cumberland County. Coroner Todd Eckenrode says Leonard was found dead on the second floor of his home.
A state police fire marshal says Leonard used an accelerant to start the blaze. Authorities suspect Leonard also tried to clog the hydrant in front of his home to slow firefighters’ efforts.
According to court documents, Leonard was planning to turn himself in Thursday and be arraigned on charges related to pornographic movies and images found on his computer. He faced 150 counts of possession of child pornography.
Maryland: Man to be arraigned in military car bomb plot
BALTIMORE (AP) — A man accused of plotting to detonate a car bomb at a military recruiting office in Maryland is scheduled for a court appearance.
Antonio Martinez is expected to plead not guilty when he appears in U.S. District Court for an arraignment Friday.
The 21-year-old Martinez was caught in an FBI sting operation. Court documents show he expressed a desire to attack a military recruiting center in Catonsville and was given a phony bomb by an undercover agent. He was arrested after he tried to detonate the device.
Martinez is a recent convert to Islam and prefers to be addressed as Muhammad Hussain. His attorney has argued that Martinez was entrapped by the FBI and that agents gave him the idea for the bomb plot.
He faces up to life in prison if convicted.
