New York
Woman faces sentencing for buying killer guns
ROCHESTER, N.Y. (AP) - Federal prosecutors are seeking an extra-long sentence for a woman who bought the guns used by her former neighbor to kill two upstate New York firefighters on Christmas Eve.
The U.S. Attorney's Office is asking for a 10-year sentence Wednesday for Dawn Nguyen (WEHN), who's already in state prison for up to four years on related charges.
The 10 years is longer than the eight- to 14-month sentence her lawyer says sentencing guidelines suggest, but prosecutors say it's justified.
Nguyen has admitted to buying a semi-automatic rifle and shotgun in 2010 for William Spengler Jr., a felon prohibited from owning weapons.
More than two years later, Spengler fatally shot his sister, set fire to his West Webster home and ambushed responding firefighters. He shot four, killing two, before committing suicide.
Ohio
Prosecutors mull charges in ice bucket prank
CLEVELAND (AP) - Ohio prosecutors have started reviewing evidence to determine if charges should be filed against teens accused of duping a special-needs boy who thought he was participating in the ALS "Ice Bucket Challenge."
Cuyahoga (ky-uh-HOH'-guh) County prosecutors met for several hours on Tuesday with police from the Cleveland suburb of Bay Village, where the teens had dumped a mixture of urine and tobacco on the 15-year-old with autism who thought he was participating in the popular charity challenge.
The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer reports that an attorney for one of the juveniles involved said the group of teens were all friends and had been playing pranks on each other over the summer. He said the boys were not aware the 15-year-old was diagnosed as autistic.
The videotaped incident gained national attention.
Ohio
Former deputy arrested in death of colleague
MARIETTA, Ohio (AP) - A former sheriff's deputy fatally shot an ex-colleague more than three decades ago because the victim had fired him for inappropriate conduct, authorities said.
Mitchell Ruble, 63, was indicted by a grand jury and arrested Tuesday in the February 1981 shotgun slaying of Deputy Lt. Ray "Joe" Clark, the Washington County Sheriff's Office said.
Clark was watching a basketball game on TV when he went into the kitchen for a snack and was shot in the head through a window.
Sheriff Larry Mincks said Clark had fired Ruble in December 1979 for inappropriate conduct while on duty.
Ruble made no comment Tuesday when asked about the charges as he was led to jail, The Marietta Times reported. Jail records did not indicate if he had an attorney Wednesday.
Mincks said leads on the case have been followed over the last three decades, but efforts to find the killer were ramped up in January 2011 with the creation of a cold case squad in the sheriff's office. He said an anonymous tip apparently provided the necessary connection to charge Ruble with the crime.
"This case was a prime reason we put the cold case squad together," he said. "We had answered every complaint and followed every tip, and finally in 2011 we were able to begin nailing a few things down."
Mincks wouldn't say what led to Ruble being fired from the sheriff's office, but afterward he worked he worked for 25 years with the Noble Correctional Institute near Caldwell.
Special prosecutors from the Ohio Attorney General's Office are handling the case at the request of the county prosecutor's office.
Washington
Corinthian sued for predatory lending by CFPB
WASHINGTON (AP) - Corinthian Colleges is being sued by the federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau for what it calls a "predatory lending scheme."
The CFPB is seeking more than $500 million for borrowers who used the for-profit education company's private student loans. Corinthian misled students about their job prospects, in some cases paying employers to offer temporary jobs to graduates, the agency said Tuesday.
Corinthian charged as much as $75,000 for a bachelor's degree and pushed students into private loans with interest rates of roughly 15 percent, more than double the rate for a federal loan, the CFPB said. More than 60 percent of Corinthian students with those loans defaulted within three years.
"We believe Corinthian lured in consumers with lies about their job prospects upon graduation, sold high-cost loans to pay for that false hope, and then harassed students for overdue debts while they were still in school," said CFPB director Richard Cordray.
Kent Jenkins, a Corinthian spokesman, disputed the claims made by the CFPB.
Jenkins said the suit is based on "isolated incidents" at Corinthian's campuses regarding job placement. He said that the interest rate on its private loans averages 9 percent, instead of the 15 percent cited by the government. Corinthian requires that students repay the loans while attending class, having them pay an average of $35 a month.
"We ask students to make payments while in school to help them develop the discipline and practice of repaying their federal and other loan obligations," Jenkins said.
Shares of Corinthian Colleges Inc. dropped 4 cents, or 30 percent, to 10 cents in late trading following the lawsuit announcement.
The entire for-profit education sector has come under intense government scrutiny. The Department of Education put into place new regulations that cut off federal aid if too many students default on loans or fail to earn enough money after graduation to repay them.
Earlier this year, the Obama administration proposed even tighter regulations.
The CFPB action is the latest blow to Corinthian. The company already plans to close a dozen of its U.S. campuses under an agreement with the Education Department, which also placed Corinthian under an independent monitor, former federal prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald.
The Santa Ana, California-based company also plans to sell up to 85 of its branch campuses. The company owns Everest College, Heald College and WyoTech schools.
As of March, 74,000 students were enrolled at the company's campuses.
