National Roundup

Texas
Dallas lieutenant on leave from PD after violent rap
DALLAS (AP) — A Dallas police lieutenant whose officer husband was killed while on duty three years ago has been put on administrative leave as officials investigate her side job as local rapper Lucille Baller, who in one song threatens to shoot anyone who messes with her.
Lt. Regina Smith, who oversees burglary and theft detectives for two patrol investigative units, also runs Big Rush In LLC. She started the music production company and independent record label after the 2009 death of her husband, Dallas Sr. Cpl. Norman Smith, who was nicknamed the “Big Russian.”
“Don’t push Ms. Lucy, because you won’t like the consequences. Mess with me or I will shoot a (expletive), cuz Lucille Baller, she been to hell and back,” Lt. Smith raps in a song that has since been removed from Big Rush In’s website, according to The Dallas Morning News.
The newspaper and WFAA-TV both reported that Smith has been placed on administrative leave.
Smith did not immediately return calls or an email to The Associated Press seeking comment Wednesday. A Dallas police spokesman also did not return calls to the AP.
In another video on the website, Smith is seen talking with a group of friends around a table, telling them that people in the music industry have already taken advantage of her.
“You know what I would do to somebody who try to take advantage of me? You see this bullet right here,” Smith says, holding a bullet in her hand. “I’ll stick it from their rooter to the tooter and bring it out.”
Smith then brings out a human silhouette target riddled with bullet holes and says, “I’m not here to play with these jokers. If they think they going to take advantage of me, they got another thing coming.”
In another scene from the video, Smith brings out a revolver that is not loaded and practices firing it in front of a friend. She points the weapon, which she calls “Miss Lucy” at the silhouette target.
Smith writes on the Big Rush In website that the record label was created “out of tragedy and loss, yet progresses forward fulfilling God-Given dreams.”
Charles Payne, the man convicted of killing Norman Smith, was sentenced to life in prison.

New Jersey
School custodian accused of hiding tiny spy cameras
A southern New Jersey high school custodian was arrested Wednesday and accused of using eight small cameras he had hidden around the school to secretly film students and teachers, including in places where students change clothes.
Authorities said John Martin, of Wenonah, had hours of video footage from the cameras and kept a large cache of video screenshots on his cellphone. They said some of the images showed nudity.
Martin, 41, resigned last week as chief custodian at Gloucester Catholic High School in Gloucester City, near Philadelphia, after he was first interviewed by authorities.
The Camden County prosecutor’s office said he’d worked there for 18 years and was in charge of the school’s video surveillance system.
Martin was charged with invasion of privacy. He turned himself in on Wednesday and was released on his own recognizance on the condition that he not go near the school or any of its students or staff members.
A woman who answered the phone at his home on Wednesday hung up on a reporter.
Police said investigators and school staff are reviewing who’s in the videos and are contacting everyone who appeared in them. Most of the images were of girls or women.
The eight pinhole-size cameras were placed in classrooms, in a choir room, backstage in the school auditorium, in maintenance facilities and in an area used by the football team. Some were hidden in ventilation ducts and smoke detectors, and they linked to the school’s video security system.
The prosecutor’s office has not said who hid them, but it said it was at Martin’s direction.
Authorities said they are still probing who else saw the footage. They say Martin showed images to at least two other people but there’s no evidence he posted them online or sold them.
Principal John Colman, in a letter to parents that was posted on the school’s website, said the school was cooperating with authorities.
“It is our conviction and our commitment that the security and well-being of our students — your sons and daughters — is our first and most important obligation,” he wrote.
He said he would keep parents apprised of developments in the case, but he asked that they be patient because some details could be withheld to avoid compromising the investigation.

New York
Businessman pleads not guilty to fraud charge
NEW YORK (AP) — A New York man arrested on criminal fraud charges after he claimed Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg had years ago promised him half ownership in the company has pleaded not guilty.
Paul Ceglia entered the plea Wednesday in federal court in Manhattan. Ceglia remains free on bail two days after an indictment was returned.
His lawyer, David Patton, said the Wellsville, N.Y., businessman will ask that a trial on fraud charges be moved outside of New York. Ceglia was arrested in late October on mail and fraud charges.
The government says Ceglia doctored a software development contract he signed with Zuckerberg in 2003 to make it appear Ceglia would receive half ownership in Facebook in exchange for $1,000 in startup money for the budding company.

Louisiana
Motorsports dealer sentenced in federal case
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — A federal judge has sentenced the manager of a Denham Springs motorcycle dealership to 30 months in prison and fined the business $500,000.
The Advocate reports Kevin Paul Calmes, manager of Calmes Motorsports LLC in Denham Springs, was convicted Aug. 1 by a jury in Baton Rouge federal court on a charge that he laundered money for drug dealers.
Both Calmes and his family’s motorcycle and all-terrain vehicle dealership were convicted on three counts related to their handling of cash transactions greater than $10,000. The transactions were structured in a ways that avoided the filing of cash reports that would have drawn the attention of the Internal Revenue Service and other federal agencies.
Calmes must report to federal prison on Jan. 7.