National Roundup

Virginia
Three convicted in boat hijacking that left 4 dead
NORFOLK, Va. (AP) — A federal jury in Virginia has convicted three Somalis on murder, piracy and other charges stemming from a yacht hijacking that left four Americans dead.
Court records show that the jury found Ahmed Muse Salad, Abukar Osman Beyle and Shani Nurani Shiekh Abrar guilty on all 26 counts against them. Twenty-two counts are death-eligible offenses.
Jurors issued their verdict Monday in U.S. District Court in Norfolk.
The charges stemmed from the hijacking of the yacht Quest in February 2011. The yacht’s owners, Jean and Scott Adam of Marina del Rey, Calif., and their friends, Bob Riggle and Phyllis Macay of Seattle, were shot to death after they were taken hostage at sea.
Eleven other defendants have already pleaded guilty to piracy and have been sentenced to life in prison.

California
Fugitive caught after taunting cops with tweet
SAN DIEGO (AP) — “Catch me if you can.”
San Diego County District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis said Wanda Podgurski sent that taunting tweet after skipping trial in January while facing charges of insurance of fraud.
But then authorities did catch her.
Podgurski, 60, was captured on the Fourth of July in Rosarito Beach, Mexico, a popular retirement spot for American expatriates only 15 miles south of San Diego. She pleaded not guilty Monday to failure to appear while free on bail.
Podgurski was sentenced in absentia last month to more than 20 years in prison and ordered to pay more than $1 million in fines and restitution.
Three weeks after her initial tweet on June 5, Podgurski’s feed read, “’Help find me before I con anyone else.” Two other posts were links to stories about her vanishing act.
Podgurski’s Twitter profile reads, “On the run possibly in Iran.”
Her account follows 32 people and agencies, many of them FBI branches and other law enforcement authorities. Dumanis’ office said the district attorney was the only one Podgurski followed while on the run.
The district attorney’s office declined to say how authorities tracked down Podgurski, saying only that information from the Twitter account was turned over to its Computer and Technology Crime High-Tech Response Team, known by the acronym Catch.
Podgurski’s attorney, Philip Kent Cohen, declined to comment.
The district attorney’s office said Podgurski received $664,555 in disability payments when she was charged. While earning $44,000 a year as a clerk for Amtrak, she allegedly held six insurance policies with premiums that topped $60,000.
She made claims with all six insurance companies after reporting that she fell at her home in August 2006, prosecutors said. Private investigators working for the insurers reported seeing her walk stairs without assistance and drive to the store.

Alabama
Woman sues over damage to home during search
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — The owner of a Montgomery home that was badly damaged during the search for a shooting suspect is suing to make the city and the federal government pay for thousands of dollars in repairs.
WSFA-TV reports that Yakemi Ward filed a federal lawsuit over damage to the house where officers looked for Desmonte Leonard in June 2012.
The suit says officers virtually destroyed the home as they fired tear gas canisters and punched holes in ceilings searching for Leonard.
Leonard later surrendered and was charged in a shooting that left three people dead in Auburn, including two former Auburn University football players.
Neither the city of Montgomery nor federal officials have commented on the suit.
Officials previously refused to pay for damage estimated at $127,000.
Leonard is awaiting trial.

Oklahoma
Utility OG&E is accused of Clean Air Act violation
MUSKOGEE, Okla. (AP) — The federal government has filed a lawsuit against Oklahoma Gas & Electric, alleging that the utility violated the Clean Air Act at its power plants in Muskogee and Sooner.
The lawsuit filed Monday on behalf of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency contends that OG&E increased the output of its coal-fired units without installing effective pollution controls.
“There exists an immediate and substantial controversy between the United States and OG&E with regard to the interpretation and proper application of the Clean Air Act and associated implementing regulations,” the lawsuit said.
At issue are renovations done to the Muskogee and Sooner plants between 2003 and 2006. The Clean Air Act requires a company to assess what effect changes to a plant would have on future emissions. The lawsuit claims that OG&E’s analyses of future emissions were “legally insufficient.”
The company denies the government’s allegations. Spokesman Brian Alford told the Muskogee Phoenix that OG&E is in compliance with state and federal requirements.
“We followed procedures, and actual monitored data indicate that emissions did not increase as a result of the work performed,” he said.
Alford said OG&E provided the Oklahoma Department of Environmental Control with information about the eight projects at issue before construction began.
The lawsuit asks a federal judge to declare OG&E didn’t properly assess future emissions. The federal government also wants the utility to conduct another emissions assessment of the projects in question.

New York
Sex abuse suit is filed against Yeshiva school
NEW YORK (AP) — Nineteen former students at a high school run by Yeshiva University have filed a lawsuit against the Jewish school claiming officials covered up decades of sexual abuse.
The Daily News reports the $380 million lawsuit was filed Monday in U.S. District Court in White Plains.
The alleged abuse occurred during the late 1970s and early 1980s. It was disclosed in The Jewish Daily Forward beginning in December.
An attorney for the plaintiffs, Kevin Mulhearn, says the Manhattan school allowed “known sexual predators to roam the school at will seeking other victims.’
The lawsuit claims administrators ignored complaints of sexual abuse because they feared it would damage fundraising efforts and hurt the school’s reputation.