National Roundup

Florida
Authorities: Man robs bank, then gets naked and throws money
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — Authorities in Florida say they arrested a man who robbed a bank, stripped naked and ran down the street throwing stolen money.

According to the FBI, 25-year-old Alexander Sperber said he woke up Tuesday morning and decided to rob a bank to start his career as a comedian.

According to a federal criminal complaint, authorities say he parked his car at the bank, made a gun motion with his hand and demanded money from the teller. She allegedly gave him about $4,700 in a bag.
Officials say a red dye pack exploded, leaving dye on his clothes and on a cast on his left wrist.

The Sun Sentinel reports Sperber was taken to the hospital and found to be coherent and uninjured. He was charged with bank robbery. It’s unclear if he has an attorney.

California
Woman sent to prison for $1M Jazzercise embezzlement
VISTA, Calif. (AP) — A Southern California woman who embezzled about $1 million from the Jazzercise company has been sentenced to more than seven-and-a-half years in prison.

The San Diego Union-Tribune says Sherri Potts was sentenced Tuesday.

Potts was finance director of the Carlsbad-based exercise business for about nine years.

Authorities say the Fallbrook woman embezzled to finance personal expenses and a gambling habit.

The thefts were discovered after Potts was let go from the company in 2014.

She was arrested last fall and pleaded guilty in March to grand theft, forgery and fraudulent appropriation.


Pennsylvania
Police say man delivered fatal  drugs to woman
NORRISTOWN, Pa. (AP) — Authorities say a Pennsylvania man has been charged with supplying drugs to a hospitalized woman who later overdosed in her hospital room.

Police say a nurse found 30-year-old Ciara Hadrick unresponsive around 2:30 a.m. May 6 in the bathroom of her room at Einstein Medical Center in East Norriton. She died shortly afterward.

Police say they found drug paraphernalia near her. An autopsy shows she died from an overdose of fentanyl.

Authorities say Hadrick arranged the drug delivery through text message. They say video surveillance shows the man leaving her hospital room hours before her death.

A 29-year-old man has been charged with drug delivery resulting in death.

The Montgomery County district attorney says the man was arraigned Wednesday on the charge that carries a similar penalty to third-degree murder.

Massachusetts
Man gets over 3-year prison term for death threat at Obama
BOSTON (AP) — A Massachusetts state inmate has been sentenced to more than three years in prison after pleading guilty to a federal charge of threatening to kill former President Barack Obama.

Alex Hernandez, of Worcester, pleaded guilty in May to a charge of threatening to kill and inflict bodily harm upon Obama when he was president. Hernandez was sentenced to 37 months Wednesday.

Federal agents launched an investigation in 2015 after they say Hernandez told another inmate he wanted to kill Obama in a “lone-wolf style attack.” He allegedly said he wanted to become a holy warrior and get false travel documents so he could flee the country after the attack.

The sentence Wednesday will run together with a state prison sentence the 32-year-old man is already serving for a 2011 drug-and-firearms conviction.

New York
Ex-cop gets prison for moonlighting in drug trade
NEW YORK (AP) — A former New York City police officer has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for moonlighting in the drug trade.

The New York Times says Merlin Alston started driving his friend to cocaine transactions in 2010 then branched out.

Investigators say he carried his police gun to drug deals, tipped off his friend to law enforcement raids and flashed his badge to keep other officers away. They say he also served as an armed bodyguard and lookout.

Acting U.S. Attorney Joon Kim said Alston “betrayed his city and his shield.”

The friend, who has not yet gone to trial, testified that Alston helped transport cocaine, ecstasy and other drugs about 30 times. He said the deals totaled about 90 pounds of cocaine.

Alston said the dealer lied.

Kentucky
Man takes plea deal in shooting death of boy, 8
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — A Kentucky man who allegedly said barbeque sauce caused the shooting death of an 8-year-old boy has taken a plea deal.

Local news outlets report 21-year-old Elgin Anders pleaded guilty on Monday to reckless homicide in the shooting of 8-year-old Andre Lamont O’Neal Jr. Anders faces one to five years in prison.

Anders was charged with fatally shooting Andre in a Louisville home on Jan. 9, 2016. Anders told WDRB-TV that he’d been grilling that day and had barbecue sauce on his fingers. He says that while trying to put the gun away it slipped out of his grasp and shot Andre.

Evidence filed in court records different accounts of the shooting. A child witness says Anders pointed the gun before it fired.

Anders will be sentenced on Sept. 12.

California
Authorities probe deaths of couple’s babies in 2015, 2016
BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (AP) — Authorities are investigating whether the death of a couple’s baby in California is related to the death of their older child in Kansas in 2015.

The Bakersfield Californian reports that Gage and Debra Roberts were charged with second degree murder Tuesday in the death of their infant in Bakersfield in 2016.

The Topeka Capital-Journal reports that the district attorney for Shawnee County announced Wednesday an investigation into the death of the couple’s six-month-old baby in Topeka, Kansas in 2015.

Court documents say that police were called to a hotel in 2016 and found a maid performing CPR on a baby. The child was pronounced dead on the scene.

The couple told police they had another child die in Kansas from sudden infant death syndrome.