National Roundup

Florida
Report: Woman stole city money to get butt lift
GAINESVILLE, Fla. (AP) — A Florida city says a former employee stole money to get a butt lift.

A Gainesville city report released Wednesday said Natwaina Clark stole $93,000 from the city, using $8,500 on the cosmetic surgery. The Gainesville Sun says the report shows the 33-year-old Clark also used city money for her cable television bill, food, highway tolls, a television and other expenses.

Clark was fired shortly before she was arrested last March 28 and charged with larceny and scheme to defraud. She has pleaded not guilty.

Arkansas
Problem: People urinating in the elevator at court
JONESBORO, Ark. (AP) — Officials in an Arkansas county have a plea for courthouse visitors: Please stop urinating in our elevator.

Craighead County officials hope new security cameras will deter the steady stream of culprits who have been relieving themselves in the courthouse elevator in Jonesboro, a college town about 115 miles (185 kilometers) northeast of Little Rock.

Maintenance workers say the problem has persisted for years — even though the restrooms are only about 25 feet (8 meters) from the elevator.

Officials tell The Jonesboro Sun that the cameras, installed last fall, have caught three men in the act, one of whom has been cited for disorderly conduct and fined $105.

Pennsylvania
Man jailed in death of wife he says fell off boat
ERIE, Pa. (AP) — A Pennsylvania man is jailed in the death of his wife, who he claims fell off a boat Sunday despite investigators saying surveillance video from a dock disproves that.

Christopher Leclair told authorities his 51-year-old wife, Karen, fell into Lake Erie on Sunday. That prompted a fruitless two-day search by the Coast Guard.

State police charged the 48-year-old Albion man on Tuesday after reviewing surveillance video from the Erie-Western Pennsylvania Port Authority that showed Christopher Leclair got on the boat alone Sunday. But video from the dock Saturday showed the couple leaving together on the boat and Christopher Leclair returning alone about four hours later.

Investigators say he won’t help them determine what happened to her.

He’s charged with criminal homicide. Online court records don’t list an attorney for him.

Georgia
Woman sues over husband’s death in deep fryer
DACULA, Ga. (AP) — A Georgia woman whose husband died after falling into a deep fryer has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the grocery chain.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports 37-year-old Mansur Blount was cleaning vent hoods at a Publix in Dacula on June 25, 2015. The lawsuit says he was a vent hood technician and Publix was a client.

The vents were above a fryer filled with hot cooking oil. The lawsuit says Blount was unaware of the hazard and stood on a “thin metal cover” over the fryer to clean the vent before it gave way and his left leg fell inside.

Blount suffered severe burns and died July 4, 2015.

Blount’s widow, Chrissie McGee Blount, is suing for “the full value of the life of Mansur Blount.”

Florida
Commander to be fired after officer shot therapist
NORTH MIAMI, Fla. (AP) — A Florida police department is firing the commander in charge when an officer shot a therapist who was protecting an autistic man.

The Miami Herald reports that North Miami Police notified Cmdr. Emile Hollant on Wednesday that he will be fired. Hollant was in charge when SWAT team member Jonathan Aledda shot Charles Kinsey in the leg last July 18. Kinsey was protecting 27-year-old Arnaldo Rios, a severely autistic man who was sitting in the street with a toy truck.

Aledda says he mistook the truck for a weapon. He is charged with attempted manslaughter.

An internal affairs investigation concluded that Hollant falsely told Police Chief Gary Eugene he had gone to get binoculars when Aledda fired.

Hollant’s attorney, Michael Joseph, said his client will be exonerated.

Kentucky
Ex-judge pleads not guilty to more charges of human trafficking
BURLINGTON, Ky. (AP) — A former Kentucky judge has pleaded not guilty to six more charges of human trafficking.

The Kentucky Enquirer reports that in court Monday, Judge Elizabeth Chandler declined to reduce 70-year-old Tim Nolan’s $750,000 cash bond, calling him “potentially a danger to the community.” Nolan has pleaded not guilty to a total of 12 counts of human trafficking, including two with minors.

Nolan was a district judge in Campbell County from 1978 to 1985. Along with the human trafficking charges, he’s been charged with rape, unlawful transaction with a minor and prostitution.

Authorities have released few details about Nolan’s alleged crimes. Attorney General Andy Beshear says the crimes occurred between 2010 and May 2017. Court hearings revealed that some of Nolan’s alleged victims live on his property as tenants.

Hawaii
Passport refusal kept slain son from vacationing with mother
HONOLULU (AP) — A 7-year-old boy who Hawaii authorities believe was killed by his father in a murder-suicide was supposed to be on a foreign vacation with his mother when the incident happened, but he was unable to secure a passport.

Gerald Aikau, the father, would not sign off on Reef Aikau’s passport, so he was not able to go on the summer vacation with his mother, Katherine Aikau, KHON-TV reported. Both guardians must sign a child’s passport.

Authorities found the bodies of 42-year-old Gerald Aikau and Reef on Tuesday.

Reef was discovered in his bedroom, while Gerald Aikau was found dead outside the family’s home.

Court documents show while applying for the passport Katherine Aikau wrote she had “immediate safety concerns” for Reef.

The two-parent consent law decreases the likelihood of a U.S. passport being used to kidnap a child, technically called international parental child abduction.