National Roundup

Louisiana
Family of slain Ohio man sues state agencies
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — The wife and daughters of an Ohio businessman kidnapped in Mississippi have sued Louisiana State Police and the state corrections department because the men charged with his murder were trusties who escaped last year from the state police compound.

The lawsuit alleges that Ricky Wedgeworth and Darian “Drake” Pierce should not have been allowed into the trusty program because they were sentenced for violent crimes — Pierce for attempted second-degree murder and Wedgeworth for armed robbery, The Advocate reported.

The program “that allows inmates convicted of violent offenses to access and move about in an unsupervised manner was the direct cause and moving force behind the escape which led to the subsequent murder of David Cupps,” the suit contends.

Wedgeworth, of Memphis, Tenn., and Pierce, of Bogalusa, are charged with kidnapping David Cupps, 53, from a hotel in Vicksburg, Miss., after escaping from the Louisiana State Police compound in Baton Rouge on March 4, 2011.

Investigators said Cupps, 53, of Sunbury, Ohio, was in Mississippi to inspect a nuclear power plant when he was attacked for his rental car and beaten and strangled. His body was dumped in Bessemer, Ala.

The inmates were caught March 14, 2011, after crashing a pickup truck in Memphis, Tenn. Police said that before their capture, the men tied up a county park worker and stole a government parks department truck from Madison County, Tenn.

Lt. Doug Cain, a state police spokesman, said he cannot comment on the lawsuit because State Police had not been served with a copy. The kidnapping and killing were tragic, he said.

Col. Mike Edmonson, superintendent of State Police and a named defendant in the suit, has said a series of missteps by Department of Public Safety and Corrections employees allowed Wedgeworth and Pierce to escape in a DPS van, with three hours passing before officials were notified the men were missing.

State Police instituted a number of changes immediately after the trusties escaped, including doubling the number of times trusties are checked during their workday and random, emergency checks.

On May 31, State Police recommended disciplining four DPS employees and strengthening security protocols.

The suit, which seeks wrongful death and survival damages, was filed Aug. 20 and has been assigned to state District Judge Todd Hernandez.

Wedgeworth and Pierce have pleaded not guilty in U.S. District Court in Jackson, Miss., to charges of kidnapping resulting in death, carjacking resulting in death, conspiracy and transporting a stolen vehicle. Prosecutors have decided not to seek the death penalty in the case.

They are scheduled to stand trial in November in Natchez, Miss.

Massachusetts
Owner of magic store made $560K disappear
BOSTON (AP) — The owner of a Massachusetts magic store has been sentenced to two years in prison for making more than $560,000 disappear from a longtime customer’s credit card account.

Harry Levy of Lexington was also sentenced in federal court in Boston on Thursday to two years of probation and was ordered to pay full restitution.

Prosecutors say the 61-year-old Levy tried to cover up the fraud by lying to federal investigators and submitting false records to the grand jury.

Levy, who owns Hank Lee’s Magic Factory, pleaded guilty in April to charges of credit card fraud and making false statements.

Authorities say Levy made 134 unauthorized charges on the wealthy customer’s card, forcing the victim to put his house on the market and complicating his efforts to finance a new business.

Rhode Island
Woman accused of training pet bird to swear
WARWICK, R.I. (AP) — A Rhode Island woman has been accused by her neighbor of violating an animal noise ordinance by training her cockatoo to cuss.
The Providence Journal reports that Lynne Taylor is accused in Warwick municipal court of training her cockatoo, Willy, to say expletives.

The bird then allegedly aimed them at her neighbors, who happen to be Taylor’s ex-husband and his girlfriend.

A municipal judge on Thursday denied Taylor’s request to dismiss the case.

Her neighbors, Kathleen Melker and Craig Fontaine, say they have been subjected to repeated curses from the bird, at one point for 15 minutes at a time.
The animal noise ordinance imposes a small fine on any pet owner whose animal creates habitual noise.

A judge has issued restraining orders telling both women to have no contact.

Connecticut
Judge fails to respond to legal motion for 2 yrs
NEW HAVEN, Conn. (AP) — A judicial panel has suspended a New Haven Superior Court judge for 20 days for failing to respond to a legal motion for two years.

The New Haven Register reports that the Judicial Review Council voted unanimously to suspend Judge William Holden. Council Chairman Wayne Keeney said Holden admitted to three violations of the judicial canon of ethics.

William Dow III, Holden’s lawyer, said his client did not deprive anyone of the right to appeal. He called it a question of inefficiency.

The lawyer for Christopher Shaw, who was convicted by Holden in 2008 of sexual assault, asked the judge in June 2009 to clarify the basis for the conviction. Holden did not respond until July 2011, delaying Shaw’s appeal.

Dow says Holden will not appeal the council’s decision.

Indiana
Prosecutor charges parents over truancy
MUNCIE, Ind. (AP) — A central Indiana prosecutor says he’s looking to crack down on parents whose children are frequently missing school.

That push has led to the filing of filing child neglect charges this week against four Muncie women.

Delaware County Prosecutor Jeffrey Arnold tells The Star Press that the charges involve children who’ve missed between 45 days and 72 days of school. Arnold says the schools tried through letters, phone calls and personal conferences to correct the attendance problems.

The four women charged are being told to appear in court for initial hearings later this month.

Arnold says he is reviewing other reports of children repeatedly missing school and that other parents could face charges.