National Roundup

Louisiana
Guilty plea in $116,000 scam at Louisiana Supreme Court
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A Louisiana woman has pleaded guilty to enriching herself at the expense of the state’s highest court.

A news release from New Orleans District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro says 38-year-old Misty Corb of Mereaux pleaded guilty Monday to four counts of identity theft.

Corb is a former payroll supervisor for Louisiana’s Supreme Court in New Orleans. She was arrested after investigators accused her of creating phony requests for payments for temporary judicial assignments on behalf of four retired judges. She directed more than $116,000 into accounts she controlled.

Cannizzaro’s office says Corb arranged 28 fraudulent payments between April 29, 2016 and Feb. 24, 2017.

The release says a four-year prison sentence was suspended. She has repaid $70,000 and still must repay more than $46,000.

Illinois
Testimony stage of judge’s fraud trial begins
CHICAGO (AP) — The testimony stage in the fraud trial of a Cook County judge accused of lying to obtain mortgages for Chicago investment properties has begun.

Attorneys for Judge Jessica O’Brien and the U.S. attorney’s office delivered opening statements Tuesday in Chicago federal court.

Prosecutor Matthew Madden said the 50-year-old lied and concealed relevant facts from lenders to obtain more than $1.4 million in mortgages. The alleged schemes occurred before O’Brien became a judge. The mortgages were obtained for properties she purchased and sold. She allegedly pocketed $325,000 in the fraud.

Defense attorney Ricardo Meza said his client made mistakes that weren’t intentional. And he added that “mistakes are not fraud.”

O’Brien was reassigned to administrative duties after her 2017 indictment. If convicted, she’d be forced to step down from the bench.

Arizona
Legal claim alleges state failed to protect foster child
TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) — A $15 million legal claim alleges the state of Arizona failed to protect a foster child who spent 12 years in the home of a man later convicted of child sex crimes.

The Arizona Daily Star reports the claim was filed Wednesday against the Department of Child Safety and Department of Economic Security.

The claim — a precursor to a possible lawsuit — alleged the Department of Child Safety failed to investigate reports of abuse and neglect inside the home of David Frodsham.

In December 2016, Frodsham was sentenced to 17 years in prison after pleading guilty to charges of child sexual abuse and pornography.

The foster child who filed the claim was one of the victims in the case.

The boy, who recently turned 18, went to live with Frodsham and his wife during 2004 and remained in their care until 2016.

The Department of Child Safety was created after a scandal involving thousands of uninvestigated reports of abuse and neglect.

The state worked for several years to erase its backlog of cases and also faces a lawsuit over the funding of its foster care system, which child welfare advocates describe as woefully inadequate In an internal agency document obtained by the Daily Star, a case worker noted in March 2007 that the Frodshams acknowledged handcuffing the victim one night, after he had gotten out of his room.

The agency had access to more than 38 police reports from the Frodsham house between 2002 and 2016 — all before Frodsham was arrested for child abuse.

“The state should have reviewed these as part of their licensing of the foster/adoptive parent program,” the claim said, adding that the victim complained to the agency more than 16 times and nothing was done.

Darren DaRonco, a spokes­man for the Department of Child Safety, declined a request Monday by The Associated Press to comment on the claim.

The Department of Economic Security didn’t immediately respond to a phone call and email from the AP seeking comment.

The Department of Child Safety, when it was known as Child Protective Services, was under the control of the Department of Economic Security.

New York
AGs sue Trump administration over water rule
NEW YORK (AP) — Eleven Democratic state attorneys general on Tuesday sued President Donald Trump’s administration over its decision to delay implementation of an Obama-era rule that would have expanded the number of wetlands and small waterways protected by the Clean Water Act.

New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said last week’s decision by the Republican administration to postpone implementation of the 2015 Clean Water Rule for two years is an assault on public health.

“We will fight back against this reckless rollback and the Trump administration’s continued assault on our nation’s core public health and environmental protections,” Schneiderman said in a statement.

Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt has called the rule an overreach that could hurt farmers and ranchers. Mining and industry groups also opposed it.

The lawsuit was filed in New York by Schneiderman and his counterparts in California, Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington and the District of Columbia. It seeks to stop the government from blocking implementation of the rule while considering alternatives.

The regulation was put on hold for the past two years by various court challenges that kept it from taking effect.

Schneiderman said the delay jeopardizes protections for streams that help provide drinking water to more than half of New York state residents and more than 100 million other Americans.

The attorneys general accuse the EPA and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers of violating federal law. They claim the EPA does not have the authority to hold off on a regulation that “rests on a massive factual record,” according to the suit.

Public outreach in past years elicited more than 1 million comments, and was based on scientific studies demonstrating how waters are connected by tributaries, streams and wetlands, the attorneys general said.