National Roundup

Pennsylvania
Dance mom to dance con: Abby Lee Miller gets year in prison
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Former “Dance Moms” reality TV star Abby Lee Miller was sentenced Tuesday to a year and a day in prison for bankruptcy fraud and for taking $120,000 worth of Australian currency into the country without reporting it.

A federal judge also ordered Miller to pay a $40,000 fine and spend two years on probation following her release. Miller pleaded guilty in both cases last year.

Prosecutors said she tried to cheat her creditors by hiding $775,000 worth of income and deserved prison. Miller’s attorneys argued for probation, saying her creditors were made whole after the fraud was discovered.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Gregory Melucci told the court that Miller went from being a “dance mom in the bankruptcy case to dance con.”

The “Dance Moms” star was known for her brash behavior and pursuit of perfectionism from her dance students. The show follows a class of Miller’s elite students and the perilous relationship she has with the girls’ mothers. Critics of “Dance Moms” accuse Miller of being emotionally abusive toward the girls, and many episodes show her students dissolving into tears after a harsh critique.

Miller announced in March that she was leaving the show.

She said her father had perfect credit, and when she took over his dance business and ran into debt, she intended to pay everybody back, but it became more complicated than she thought.

Prosecutors said Miller repeatedly hid her true income and contracts for future income from her TV shows until her channel-surfing bankruptcy judge saw her on TV and concluded she must be making far more than the $8,899 in monthly income she initially declared.

Miller eventually coughed up $288,000 in TV income she didn’t initially report, but then federal investigators found she’d hidden nearly $550,000 more from personal appearances, dance sessions and merchandise sales.

Miller filed for bankruptcy after defaulting on a $245,000 Florida condominium mortgage and a $96,000 mortgage on her dance studio in Penn Hills, a Pittsburgh suburb, her bankruptcy lawyer said.


California
Man guilty of killing missing  15-year-old girl
SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — A jury has found a man guilty of killing a 15-year-old Northern California girl whose body has not been discovered.

Following the verdict Tuesday, the jury in San Jose will now consider whether to recommend the death penalty for Antolin Garcia-Torres for killing and kidnapping of Sierra LaMar. Sierra disappeared March 16, 2012, on her way to a school bus stop near her home in Morgan Hill, which is about 25 miles (40 kilometers) south of San Jose.

Her school books, purse and clothing were found near a shed in a field about 2 miles (3.2 kilometers) from her home two days later.

Police arrested Garcia-Torres, 26, two months later after investigators found his DNA — taken during a previous assault arrest — in her handbag. They also found Sierra’s DNA in his red Volkswagen Jetta and one of her hairs on a rope found in the trunk of his car.

Prosecutors said they believe Garcia-Torres is a predator and that his kidnapping attempts of other women helped him prepare for Sierra’s abduction and murder. Garcia-Torres pleaded not guilty to charges of trying to kidnap and carjack three women in 2009 as they returned to their cars late at night in Morgan Hill parking lots.

Sheriff’s officials have said Sierra and Garcia-Torres did not know each other and that they believe her abduction was a random act of violence. Garcia-Torres lived about 7 miles (11.3 kilometers) from LaMar in a trailer he shared with his mother, girlfriend and young daughter.


Investigators said surveillance cameras and witnesses put Garcia-Torres’ car near the area where authorities believe Sierra disappeared.

Garcia-Torres’ attorney, Alfonso Lopez, argued in a closing statement last week that the prosecution’s case was built on “shame evidence,” and that without a body, prosecutors could not prove Sierra is even dead.
Lopez also tried to cast doubt on the physical evidence, arguing that the DNA and hair may have been corrupted by investigators and crime laboratory technicians.

Massachusetts
Man suspected of killing doctors once worked at their posh condo
BOSTON (AP) — The man suspected of killing two engaged doctors in their luxury penthouse condominium once held a security job there, police said.

A Boston Police Department report indicates that Bampumim Teixeira worked at the complex sometime before 2016, the Boston Globe reported. There was no evidence that he was employed there recently.

The 30-year-old Teixeira is charged with two counts of murder in the Friday deaths of Dr. Lina Bolanos and Dr. Richard Field.

His attorney entered not-guilty pleas on his behalf during his arraignment Monday at the hospital where he is recovering from gunshot wounds suffered during a standoff with police.

Responding officers found the victims bound and dead. A black bag of jewelry was also found inside their unit.

In a statement, Field’s family called the deaths of both doctors “a tragedy beyond measure.”

“However, we want to remember Richard and Lina for who they were, not how they died,” it said. “We will remember and celebrate their passion, gentility, and extraordinary kindness forever.”

Ohio
Wife, children plead guilty to charges in Ohio man’s death
CLEVELAND (AP) — The wife and three children of a bedridden man who authorities say died from gross neglect have pleaded guilty to charges in a Cleveland courtroom.

Sixty-year-old Debora Brichacek pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter on Monday in the December 2015 death of Richard Brichacek, who suffered from a neurological disorder.

Wendi Brichacek, Debbi Brichacek and Brian Brichacek pleaded guilty to attempted felonious assault on Monday. All four were originally charged with murder.

Prosecutors say 63-year-old Richard Brichacek had maggot-infested bedsores that exposed a bone in his leg. He weighed just 93 pounds when he died and was severely malnourished. The family’s home in the Cleveland suburb of Euclid was declared unfit for habitation.

Sentencing is set for June 7.

None of the Brichaceks’ attorneys were immediately available for comment Tuesday.