New York
Ex-con accused of sneaking back into NYC jails
NEW YORK (AP) — Most people who’ve done time in jail can’t wait to get away. But this week, New York City authorities accused one former inmate of sneaking back in.
Yonkers resident Matthew Matagrano, 36, was arraigned in Manhattan on Saturday on charges that he impersonated a Department of Correction investigator.
Officials say that for at least a week, Matagrano used phony credentials to get into multiple city lockups, including Rikers Island and the Manhattan Detention Center, where he mingled with inmates for hours.
Investigators said the case was still unfolding, but some of the allegations were detailed in a criminal complaint describing Matagrano’s entry into the Manhattan jail on Thursday.
It said that when questioned, Matagrano had admitted to arriving at the jail at around 3:30 p.m. and gaining entry by showing a gold shield and saying he was an investigator from the department’s intelligence unit.
According to the complaint, he stayed until 11 p.m., giving cigarettes to inmates and smoking with them in a common area. He is also charged with stealing a radio from an office while inside.
Surveillance cameras recorded video of Matagrano during the visit, the complaint said.
It wasn’t clear if or when Matagrano would face similar charges for entry into other city jails. A spokesman for the Bronx district attorney, which often handles cases related to crimes committed on Rikers Island, said Saturday that he had no information on the case.
Matagrano has a rap sheet that includes a conviction for sodomy and sexual abuse. He’s on the state’s sex offender registry.
It’s not clear why he wanted to get into jails, but he had previously been caught posing as a Board of Education worker to enter two schools and rifle through student files. In 2004, he pleaded guilty to attempted burglary in connection with that case.
His court-appointed lawyer, Andrej Bajuk, couldn’t immediately be reached by phone for comment. No one responded to a message left at the public defender’s office that handled his arraignment.
Department of Correction spokespeople did not immediately return phone messages Saturday.
A judge set bail at $50,000 for Matagrano. He also faces charges of burglary, possession of forged instruments, larceny and promoting prison contraband.
Oregon
Adults sentenced in helium death of teenage girl
MEDFORD, Ore. (AP) — A man and woman who threw a party for teens featuring booze and marijuana will spend time behind bars for their roles in the death of an Oregon girl who died after inhaling helium.
The two adults dropped their not guilty pleas Tuesday in Jackson County Circuit Court in Medford on criminal charges stemming from the 2012 death of 14-year-old Ashley Long.
The Mail Tribune reports 28-year-old Katherine McAloon was sentenced to 28 months in prison and 33-year-old Richard Mowery was sentenced to 90 days in jail and $10,000 restitution.
Ashley’s mother, Lori Earp, showed the courtroom a lock of hair she said was all she had left of her daughter. Stepfather Justin Earp described Ashley as a bright and compassionate girl who wanted to be a marine biologist.
Mississippi
Natchez preps its environmental court facilities
NATCHEZ, Miss. (AP) — Natchez City Attorney Hyde Carby says the city is working to get its new environmental court up and running by next month.
The Natchez Democrat reports that the court’s staff will have their work cut out for them: there is a backlog of 700 cases for the court.
The court will hear violations for nuisance properties, abandoned vehicles, littering and similar offenses.
The board of aldermen approved salaries for environmental court judge Tony Heidelberg and prosecutor Shameca Collins at a Tuesday meeting.
Heidelberg will be paid $2,500 a month, and Collins will be paid $500 month.
Maine
Highest court upholds the sex offender registry
PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — Maine’s highest court has upheld the state’s sex offender registration law in a narrow 4-3 decision, saying it does not violate the rights of people convicted of sex crimes before 1999, when the law was retroactively applied to include them.
The majority opinion released Tuesday said Maine’s law requiring offenders to register and have their names posted online is “non-punitive” and serves the legitimate governmental goal of protecting public safety.
Lawyers for the 15 plaintiffs —referred to as John Doe in court documents— argued that registration is an unconstitutional punishment.
They petitioned to have their names removed, in part because they had already paid their debts to society.
Jim Mitchell, a plaintiffs’ attorney, tells The Portland Press Herald the decision disappointing but is unlikely to appeal in federal court.
California
District settles bus sex-abuse suit for $4.75M
LODI, Calif. (AP) — A California school district on Tuesday agreed to pay $4.75 million to settle a lawsuit filed by a special-needs girl who was molested by a school bus driver.
The settlement was announced Tuesday in San Joaquin County Superior Court, where a jury was determining how much the Lodi Unified School District must pay in damages to the victim, who was 8 years old when she was molested in 2010.
Last week, jurors unanimously decided the school district was negligent in hiring Richard Evans, 61, even though officials knew he had a misdemeanor conviction for having sex with a prostitute in 2000.
In 2011, Evans was sentenced to 25 years in prison after he pleaded guilty to multiple felonies, including child molestation, kidnapping and lewd acts on a minor.
“This settlement provides some small measure of justice for a little girl who suffered horrible abuse at the hand of a school bus driver who should never have been hired,” said the victim’s attorney, John Manly.
The settlement, one of the largest of its kind in California, “also sends a clear message to every school district in California — protect our children from dangerous predators or suffer the consequences,” Manly said.
LUSD Superintendent Cathy Washer said in a statement to the Lodi News-Sentinel that the district is pleased that the parties “reached a settlement that will provide resources for the family of the student that was harmed ... The district regards this situation very seriously.”
