National Roundup

Minnesota
Man who aided kidnapped girl gives her reward
ALEXANDRIA, Minn. (AP) — Police in Minnesota held a ceremony to reward a man who helped rescue a teenage girl who had been kidnapped and held captive for nearly a month. But Earl Melchert had other ideas.

When Alexandria Police Chief Richard Wyffels handed Melchert a $7,000 check on Friday, the farmer turned and gave it to the girl, along with a big hug.

Wyffels says Melchert believes the girl is the real hero.

Prosecutors say the 15-year-old was held captive for 29 days last month. She was repeatedly raped and kept locked in a closet before she escaped and swam across a lake to safety. Melchert saw her running across a field, recognized her, and sheltered her in his truck until police arrived.

Three men have been charged with kidnapping and other counts.

New York
Parents could face fine, jail under city’s anti-bullying law
NORTH TONAWANDA, N.Y. (AP) — Parents of children found bullying other minors could face jail time under a new law approved in a western New York community.

The law went into effect Oct. 1 in North Tonawanda, a city just north of Buffalo.

Members of the North Tonawanda Common Council hope the new law will put a stop to bullying by holding parents accountable for their children’s actions. Parents could be fined $250 and sentenced to 15 days in jail if twice in a 90-day period their child violates the city’s curfew or any other city law, including bullying.

North Tonawanda officials say the law is geared toward minors who repeatedly bully other children in public places.

This law comes after four teens were reportedly kicked out of North Tonawanda Middle School for alleged bullying.

Massachusetts
Suspect in Army Reserve weapons theft reaches plea deal
WORCESTER, Mass. (AP) — A man charged with stealing 16 guns from an Army Reserve facility in Massachusetts, escaping from a Rhode Island prison and trying to rob two banks has reached a plea deal with prosecutors that could put him behind bars for 15 years.

The Telegram & Gazette reports James Morales’ deal with federal prosecutors was made public Friday. A change-of-plea hearing is scheduled for Nov. 13.

The deal calls for a 15-year sentence, but the judge isn’t bound by prosectors’ recommendations.

Authorities say Morales stole the guns from an Army Reserve center in Worcester in 2015. He was captured in New York days later. He escaped from a Central Falls, Rhode Island, prison on Dec. 31 and was recaptured five days later after allegedly trying to rob two Boston-area banks.

North Dakota
Jury convicts activist who targeted pipeline
CAVALIER, N.D. (AP) — A North Dakota jury has convicted an environmental activist who targeted an oil pipeline a year ago.

The Pembina County jury found Michael Foster of Seattle guilty Friday of conspiracy to commit criminal mischief, criminal mischief and trespass. Foster was acquitted of reckless endangerment.

Foster’s actions were part of a broader four-state effort last October to draw attention to climate change. Foster did not deny using a bolt cutter to get through a chain link fence so he could turn the pipeline’s shut-off valve. He contended his law-breaking was in the public’s interest.

Samuel Jessup of Winooski, Vermont, who filmed Foster’s protest, also stood trial and was convicted of conspiracy.

Sentencing for both men is scheduled for Jan. 18. Their attorneys did not respond to requests for comment Sunday.

California
Marshals: 1972 prison escapee may have fled to Canada, died
SCRANTON, Pa. (AP) — Federal marshals think they may finally know what happened to a state prison inmate who escaped from a work detail after a devastating flood almost a half-century ago.

The U.S. Marshals Service says William Van Scoten was working on a State Correctional Institution-Dallas prison detail aiding relief efforts in the Wyoming Valley after Hurricane Agnes caused widespread damage in 1972. Van Scoten, who was 43 years old, was two years into a 10- to 20-year sentence on a burglary conviction.

Officials said Friday that a family member told them that Van Scoten assumed the name of David Paul Hudson and was living in Ontario, Canada, and died in August 2003 in Waterford, Ontario, of emphysema and heart disease. Marshals said they hoped to get confirmation through fingerprints from authorities in Canada.

The Trentonian newspaper, of Trenton, New Jersey, reported that Van Scoten’s son Dave Hudson said Van Scoten told him about his past in the summer of 2002 after he returned home to Canada following service with the U.S. Marines. Hudson told the paper that David Paul Hudson would watch “America’s Most Wanted” with rapt attention when it aired.

“He would just sit there and have this look on his face, hoping he didn’t come on there,” he said. “I never knew for years, and then when I finally found out, everything started to make sense.”

Van Scoten escaped from Trenton State Prison in 1961 by fashioning a dummy and climbing over the walls, spending five years on the run until his arrest in upstate New York.

In July 1972 he was serving a term at SCI-Dallas and was assigned to a kitchen detail at Independent Hose Co. in Kingston when he fled, according to the original wanted poster, The Citizens’ Voice, of Wilkes-Barre, reported. Shortly afterward, he entered Lake Erie and “didn’t stop swimming until he was in Canada” at Port Dover, Dave Hudson said.

Van Scoten then worked on tobacco farms, where he met his wife, and later had a dairy farm, had a heavy-equipment business and did demolition work, Dave Hudson said. He also kept his two sons out of trouble.

“There was no screwing around,” Dave Hudson said, adding that when he was growing up “almost all of our family friends were police officers.”

The U.S. Marshals Service said Canadian authorities generally fingerprint those who die and it’s awaiting confirmation of Van Scoten’s identity as David Paul Hudson.

“It is important that the public know and fugitives know, we will never stop searching for those who try and escape justice,” U.S. Marshal Martin J. Pane said in a statement.