Florida
Police: 5 kids in 'unlivable' home; mom arrested
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) - Officials say a mother with five young children has been arrested after officers discovered the family in a filthy, "unlivable" home where roaches crawled on a sleeping child.
The Daytona Beach News-Journal reports that 33-year-old Brandy Azad was charged with five counts of child neglect after officers found her house infested with roaches and her children unattended Monday night.
Azad told police two of her children are autistic and one has Down syndrome.
When officers arrived at Azad's rental house, they found two children under 5 roaming the neighborhood. Azad told officers she was sick and the father of one child was supposed to be watching the kids.
It wasn't known whether Azad had a lawyer who could be contacted for comment. It also was unclear who was caring for the children.
Colorado
Town on edge after bicyclist's shooting death
WINDSOR, Colo. (AP) - Residents in a small northern Colorado town are on edge after a bicyclist was shot and killed on a rural road, about a month after a woman was shot in the neck as she drove through the area on a busy highway.
A passing driver found the body of John Jacoby, 48, on Monday alongside a road in Windsor, a town of about 19,000 southeast of Fort Collins. He was shot twice sometime that morning.
Authorities say there is nothing to link the two shootings, but the FBI is helping investigate.
The shootings also follow a series of reports of people having their windows mysteriously shattered while driving in northern Colorado. Investigators so far have found no evidence of gunshots in those cases.
"Half the town is very scared and the other half is sad," Tony Bates, a longtime friend of Jacoby's, told The Fort Collins Coloradoan newspaper. "I went from being sad to angry - really angry - and so are a lot of other people in this town. This just doesn't happen in this town."
Bates said he initially thought the shooting was random, "but then you hear that he was shot twice, and that is not random."
Jacoby's death came less than a month after Cori Romero was shot in the neck on Interstate 25 near Windsor. Romero was driving April 22 when her windshield suddenly shattered, and she realized she was wounded, authorities said. She managed to pull over and call for help.
Neither the police nor FBI disclosed details about why the FBI is helping investigate Jacoby's death, Windsor's first homicide in eight years.
FBI spokeswoman Amy Sanders said she could not comment on the details of the agency's involvement because of the ongoing investigation.
Around the time that Romero was shot, a series of motorists reported having their vehicle windows shattered while driving in Larimer and Weld counties.
In one case, a sheriff's van transporting prisoners was hit by a projectile on I-25, shattering a passenger window, authorities said. In another, a motorist said his front driver's side window was broken and might have been shot out near Interstate 76 in Weld County. Another man said his rear window was shattered in Loveland.
No injuries were reported, and authorities have not found proof that bullets broke the windows.
Jacoby worked as a part-time park caretaker for the town and as a grocery store bagger, according to the Coloradoan. He was well-known in Windsor and rarely missed a Windsor High School football, basketball or baseball game.
"He would always come in early to the parks shop and chat, especially about sports," Parks & Open Space Manager Wade Willis said. "He seemed to have a special bond with everyone he encountered."
Jacoby did not have a driver's license and rode his bike every day. His funeral will be held Friday.
New Jersey
7 former nurses indicted in handamputation
VINELAND, N.J. (AP) - Seven former southern New Jersey nurses have been charged in the case of a woman who needed her hand amputated after a broken finger wasn't treated properly.
Authorities announced the indictments on Tuesday against members of the Vineland Developmental Center staff.
Prosecutors allege the nurses wrapped a bandage around the woman's hand so tightly that it developed gangrene and had to be amputated in 2012. Officials say the victim was severely physically and mentally disabled.
Officials say two of the defendants were registered nurses and the others are licensed practical nurses.
They face charges of endangering the welfare of a disabled person. Four of the nurses are also charged with official misconduct and falsifying or tampering with records.
Georgia
Teacher accused of letting kids have sex in room
STONE MOUNTAIN, Ga. (AP) - An Atlanta-area teacher has been arrested after a parent complained he allowed middle school students to have sex in a storage unit in his classroom.
Multiple news outlets report 25-year-old Quentin Wright, a math teacher at The Champion School in Stone Mountain, was taken into custody Tuesday. He has been charged with four misdemeanor counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor.
An arrest warrant says Wright arranged times with students when the classroom would be empty and gave them condoms.
The investigation began after a mother said she found text messages between Wright and her son.
A DeKalb County Schools spokesman says they are cooperating with the District Attorney's Office and Wright has been removed from the classroom.
It is unclear if he has a lawyer.
Texas
Man who caught listeria-related meningitis sues
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) - A man is suing Blue Bell, saying he contracted listeria-related meningitis after eating ice cream produced by the company in 2013.
David Philip Shockley is seeking unspecified damages in the negligence lawsuit filed Tuesday in Austin.
Texas-based Blue Bell recalled all its ice cream and halted production in April after a series of listeria infections linked to its products.
The lawsuit says Shockley was hospitalized with respiratory failure and septic shock in October 2013 after eating Blue Bell products while working at a retirement complex in Houston. The lawsuit says doctors diagnosed him with listeria meningitis with encephalitis.
Shockley, who suffered brain damage, now lives with relatives in Snow Hill, Maryland.
Published: Thu, May 21, 2015
