Kentucky
Former swimmer, university settle over hazing case
BOWLING GREEN, Ky. (AP) - A former Western Kentucky University swimmer has reached a settlement in a lawsuit in which he claimed to have been hazed and assaulted by his teammates.
Collin Craig reached a confidential resolution with all parties named as defendants in the lawsuit, Attorney Vanessa Cantley was quoted by the Daily News of Bowling Green as saying. Craig had named the university, athletics officials and former swimmers as defendants.
Craig had alleged that he was abused physically and mentally and suffered discrimination on the basis of sex. He reported multiple cases of assaults and hazing.
Following a Title IX investigation last year that concluded policies were violated, the university suspended the swimming and diving programs for five years.
"The case in full has been resolved and everybody is moving on," Cantley said. "We're happy with the way the university handled the investigation and felt like they did what they needed to do on that end."
WKU attorney Tom Kerrick on Tuesday called the settlement an economic resolution and said that the university and its employees continue to assert that they didn't violate Craig's rights.
The case hasn't been formally dismissed by a federal judge yet.
Craig has since transferred to Pacific University in California.
Georgia
Missing weapons among police calls involving murder suspect
ROSWELL, Ga. (AP) - A man charged with killing two Georgia teenagers was identified as the suspect in the theft of a rifle from his grandfather's gun case last year, according to police reports documenting multiple police visits to his house in recent years.
Jeffrey Hazelwood was a suspect after the rifle went missing from the Roswell home of his grandparents, with whom Hazelwood lived while growing up in the suburban city north of Atlanta, according to a February 2015 report released by Roswell police.
In a report from 2013, police said Hazelwood's grandparents told them their grandson, then 16, stole a sword and knives from their gun safe. In that report, which doesn't identify the teen by name, officers say he told his grandmother that "he was going to blow and people were going to get hurt."
Hazelwood, now 20, is accused of killing 17-year-olds Natalie Henderson and Carter Davis on Aug. 1 in Roswell. Hazelwood then stole Henderson's wallet and Davis' car jumper cables, according to arrest warrants filed in Roswell Municipal Court.
Hazelwood followed the two teenagers into an alley behind a Publix grocery store before shooting each one of them in the head, the arrest warrants state.
Hazelwood is charged with murder and theft. Police have declined to discuss a possible motive for the slayings, whether Hazelwood knew the teens, or any details about the gun used.
Hazelwood's attorney, Lawrence Zimmerman, has said he will provide a vigorous defense. Hazelwood's next court hearing is scheduled for Aug. 19.
Henderson and Davis, who used to live in Rapid City, South Dakota, would have been seniors this year at their Georgia high schools.
Alabama
Ex-CEO gets prison after Vegas gambling binge
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) - The former president and chief executive officer of an Alabama steel company has been sentenced to six years in prison for gambling away money during his company's bankruptcy case, federal prosecutors announced.
Kennon Whaley, 51, had been convicted by a federal jury of two counts of concealment of bankruptcy assets, The U.S. Department of Justice said in a statement. The crimes happened when his company, Montgomery-based Southeastern Stud & Components, was in Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings, prosecutors said.
Evidence at Whaley's trial showed that during the bankruptcy process, he redirected a $260,000 insurance payment intended for the company in 2010 to pay off a personal gambling debt, authorities said.
In 2010, Whaley had traveled to the Wynn Las Vegas Casino, racking up a $100,000 gambling debt during a four-day trip, the prosecutors said.
Whaley improperly used the company's insurance money to pay back his casino debt, and directed an employee to falsify documents regarding the money, authorities said.
"The casino records also showed that once his debt was paid off in October of 2010, Whaley made a return trip to Wynn Las Vegas during which he spent over $20,000 at the casino and sent a limousine to pick up his wife at the airport," federal authorities said in a statement. "At that time, Southeastern Stud was still in bankruptcy and approximately 70 percent of its employees had lost their jobs."
Ohio
Gun instructor, daughter charged in fatal shooting
AMELIA, Ohio (AP) - A firearms instructor and his daughter have been charged in the accidental shooting of a southwest Ohio gun shop owner during a concealed carry class in June.
The Cincinnati Enquirer reports 47-year-old Mark Montgomery, of Amelia, was indicted Wednesday on a felony reckless homicide charge in Clermont County. Katie Dunham, of Mariemont, was indicted on a misdemeanor negligent homicide charge.
Montgomery was teaching a lesson on misfire malfunctions using plastic bullets. A student's handgun fired a live round that went through a wall and struck 64-year-old James Baker in the neck while he sat in an adjacent room. Authorities say Dunham was helping her father teach the class.
Montgomery declined to comment Wednesday. His attorney called the shooting a "horrific accident."
Court records don't list an attorney for Dunham.
Florida
Man released after road rage death fatally shot
PLANT CITY, Fla. (AP) - A man who had recently been released from prison after serving time for a road rage killing has been shot and killed during another road rage encounter in Florida.
Col. Donna Luscynski of the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office tells local media the incident occurred Wednesday morning in Plant City. She says 40-year-old Gary Lynn Durham stopped his pickup truck, got out and approached the motorist behind him. An argument escalated between the two.
Investigators say the car's driver, 42-year-old Robert Padgett, warned Durham before he pulled out a gun and shot him.
Paramedics arrived to find Padgett giving CPR to Durham, but Durham later died.
Durham had recently been released from prison for the 2001 killing of 48-year-old Timothy Gibbs in another road rage incident.
Luscynski says Padgett is cooperating with law enforcement and will not be arrested.
Published: Fri, Aug 12, 2016
