State Roundup

Lansing
Man in fireman’s death had mental health care
LANSING, Mich. (AP) — A man charged with intentionally striking and killing a Michigan firefighter with his pickup truck spent at least 18 days in mental health hospitals in the past three years.

The Lansing State Journal reports that Ingham County’s Probate Court released some details Monday about Grant Taylor. His mother had sought court orders to involuntarily put him in hospitals because of mental illness.

The 22-year-old Taylor is charged with murder and other crimes in the death of firefighter Dennis Rodeman on Sept. 9.

Rodeman was struck while in a street collecting donations for charity. Police say Taylor was upset about the impact on traffic.

A judge last week approved requests to have Taylor’s mental health evaluated.

Grand Rapids
Ex-official at cemetery must repay church
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (AP) — A former public official who sold cemetery services for the Catholic Church in Grand Rapids has been ordered to pay more than $140,000 as restitution in an alleged kickback scheme.

Michael Wawee has served a jail sentence for embezzling from a charitable organization. The Grand Rapids Press reports that a judge now has ordered him to pay the Diocese of Grand Rapids, after lawyers spent months negotiating an amount.

Wawee’s attorney, Michael Kelly, says it was “well worth the effort.”

Wawee was accused of taking payments from people who engraved headstones. He resigned as a Kent County commissioner when the news broke in 2014.

The Press says the restitution includes $29,000 for gas removed from cemetery tanks for Wawee’s vehicles. Cemetery customers who were overcharged will be repaid.

Ann Arbor
MSU, U-Mich. results part of national sexual assault survey
ANN ARBOR, Mich. (AP) — More than 10 percent of students responding to a survey at Michigan State University and the University of Michigan say they’ve experienced unwanted sexual contact through force or incapacitation.

The results were released Monday as part of a national survey of students at more than two dozen universities last spring.

At Michigan State, 13.2 percent of 8,350 students said they experienced sexual contact without consent that involved force or possibly alcohol or drugs. At U-M, it was 14.6 percent of 6,700 students who responded to the survey.

Among undergraduate women in the survey, 30.3 percent were in that category at U-M; 24.8 percent at Michigan State.

Officials at both schools say the survey results will help them confront a serious national issue.