Nebraska
May trial set in molestation case
SIDNEY, Neb. (AP) — A May trial has been scheduled for a Nebraska Panhandle woman accused of extorting money from a man who has acknowledged groping her 7-year-old daughter.
The 30-year-old woman has pleaded not guilty. The Associated Press isn’t identifying her in order to protect her daughter’s privacy. The woman’s trial was set Tuesday to begin May 27.
The man involved is 56-year-old Jason Frei, of Potter. Frei pleaded no contest to negligent child abuse and attempted witness tampering in December. Prosecutors lowered the original charge he faced, sexually assaulting a child, in exchange for Frei’s pleas. His sentencing has been rescheduled to April 2.
Authorities say Frei groped the girl while giving her mother a massage at his home in August. Court documents say the woman reported the Aug. 15 incident to the Cheyenne County Sheriff’s Office the next day.
The deputy who handled the case said the woman reported exchanging text messages with Frei about the incident.
In affidavits, investigators said they obtained complete text records from Frei’s and the woman’s cellphone companies. Those texts showed an exchange that included his admission that he touched the girl and the woman’s statement that she wanted money so she could get her daughter help.
In another message, according to the records, Frei promised the woman she’d get her money. Her response: “I only want cash and your messages and mine will be deleted.”
Frei later told the investigator that the woman was extorting $20,000 from him and that he’d already paid $10,000.
Ohio
Judge sentences three teens in ‘boredom’ beating
CINCINNATI (AP) — Three southwest Ohio teens who police said picked out a man on the street and severely beat him because they were bored have been sentenced to various periods of confinement in juvenile facilities.
The three that appeared in court Thursday were among six boys police said attacked Pat Mahaney in August 2012 in suburban North College Hill because they were looking for something to do. The boys were 13 and 14 at the time.
Mahaney died the next year; a coroner ruled his death wasn’t caused by the beating. His brother said Mahaney was traumatized by the beating and rarely left the house, staying in and drinking until he died at the age of 46, The Cincinnati Enquirer reported.
A judge in Hamilton County sentenced one of the boys to at least one year in a juvenile facility specializing in providing mental health treatment for offenders. Twin brothers will go to a nine-month secured educational and treatment facility. The three earlier pleaded guilty to felonious assault. The Associated Press isn’t naming them because of their ages.
One of the youths told Judge Sylvia Hendon that Mahaney got targeted because he was out and available, and he looked vulnerable.
“So, somebody was going to get hurt that day?” the judge asked. “Wow.”
The youth said he swung first, and Mahaney hit the ground. He was hospitalized with internal and external injuries from the beating that followed.
Two other teens were sentenced earlier to probation and community service. The sixth is due back in court next month, and his case could yet go to trial.
Kansas
Topeka court bullying claims not substantiated
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Topeka officials have found nothing to substantiate anonymous allegations of office bullying at city court.
The Topeka Capital-Journal reports that city manager Jim Colson said Thursday that the city’s human resources and legal department interviewed 11 municipal court employees while investigating the claims.
The complaint was made in a letter sent to the city and media outlets. It centers on the municipal court, which is overseen by administrative judge Vic Miller. The letter didn’t allege Miller directly bullied anyone, but claimed he didn’t stop two employees from engaging in what the letter writer called hostile behavior.
