National Roundup

North Carolina
Man faces 37th child sex charge; bail at $4.6M
BURGAW, N.C. (AP) — A North Carolina man originally charged more than a year ago with sex crimes against a 4-year-old now faces 37 charges related to crimes against children.

Pender County authorities have told local news outlets that 70-year-old Haywood Elwood Garner Jr. of Hampstead was charged again Friday with a sex crime against a child.

He was first arrested in October 2016 on charges involving the 4-year-old. Pender County sheriff’s Lt. James Rowell says four more people came forward while Garner was still in custody.

Sgt. John Leatherwood says one woman is now in her 50s and told investigators that she was abused from the ages of 8 to 15.

Garner is being held behind bars with bail set at $4.6 million. It wasn’t clear Sunday if he has an attorney.

Illinois
Family of opioid-addicted baby sues ­pharmaceutical companies
BELLEVILLE, Ill. (AP) — An Illinois family of a baby born addicted to opioids is suing 20 pharmaceutical companies alleging they’re responsible for the mother’s addiction to opioids and heroin.

The Belleville News-Democrat reports that a baby, identified by his initials T.W.B., was born in March 2017 and diagnosed with Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome, which can cause breathing and feeding problems. The lawsuit says baby T.W.B. spent his first days in “excruciating pain” as he weaned an opioid addiction inherited from his mother.

The baby’s grandparents, Deric and Ceonda Rees, filed the lawsuit in the U.S. District Court of Southern Illinois Wednesday. The lawsuit alleges that the pharmaceutical companies are responsible for “false, negligent and unfair marketing/unlawful diversion of prescription opioids.”

Four companies released statements in response to the lawsuit, while three didn’t respond and two declined.

Massachusetts
Fugitive convicted of child rape faces sentencing
BOSTON (AP) — A man who spent more than 20 years on the run after he was indicted on child rape charges in Massachusetts will find out how much time he’ll spend in prison.

John Hartin is scheduled to be sentenced Tuesday in Suffolk Superior Court, following his conviction last week on five counts of child rape.

The 48-year-old Hartin, formerly on Boston, was indicted in 1993, but fled before he was brought to trial.

He was arrested in Walkertown, North Carolina, in June 2016, where he had been living under the name Jay Matthew Carter.

Prosecutors say he sexually assaulted boys ages 6 and 9 in the early 1990s.

Hartin was in a romantic relationship with a relative of one victim and the second victim was that boy’s friend.

South Carolina
Sheriff: Couple kills then ­dismembers roommate
LANCASTER, S.C. (AP) — A South Carolina sheriff said he was stunned after his investigators found parts of a dismembered teen’s body near a home where he lived with a married couple.

Austin Steele’s torso was buried on the land in Lancaster, while his skull was found nearby and bones from his limbs were found burned inside a barrel and in  box under a mobile home, Lancaster County Sheriff Barry Faile said.
Christopher Holford is charged with murder and his wife, 19-year-old Brandy Duncan is charged as accessory after the fact for helping dismember the body, Faile said.

Holford told investigators he shot Steele in the neck one night about four weeks ago and the 18-year-old survived until the morning, the sheriff said.

Deputies found an axe, a broken sword, and knives in the mobile home the three shared, Faile said.

“This is stuff you see on TV. I would never imagine that we would have somebody in Lancaster County capable of doing this crime,” Faile said Friday at a news conference.

Faile said his investigators have not determined why Holford killed Steele.

Deputies went to the home Thursday after someone called police to say they heard about a killing at Holford’s home and specialized teams helped his deputies find all of the remains, the sheriff said.

Holford and Duncan remain in jail. It wasn’t known if they had attorneys.

Texas
Ex-priest is ­sentenced to 60 years for 2011 rape
BEEVILLE, Texas (AP) — A former Roman Catholic priest has been sentenced to 60 years in prison after being convicted in Texas of raping a teenager in 2011.

Jurors on Thursday convicted 61-year-old Stephen Tarleton Dougherty of aggravated sexual assault. He was then sentenced. Another jury in 2017 deadlocked on the charge.

Prosecutors say the victim was 13 when Dougherty raped her at a ranch near Beeville where she lived with relatives. Investigators say the attack happened in December 2011.

Dougherty was indicted in 2016, after the victim reported the attack while undergoing counseling.

Dougherty was ordained in 2003. The Diocese of Corpus Christi says he has been on leave and out of the ministry since late 2011, after officials received a different complaint alleging sexual misconduct in the 1980s.

Oklahoma
Judge in church camp case has accepted other pleas
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — A newspaper has found that an Oklahoma judge who approved probation for a man who admitted to raping a 13-year-old Texas girl at a church camp has approved similar plea agreements for other accused sex offenders who also received probation.

Marshall County District Judge Wallace Coppedge accepted a deal in which a cook was sentenced in January to 15 years of probation after pleading guilty to raping and sodomizing the girl at the Falls Creek church camp.

The Oklahoman reports that records show Coppedge presided over seven other cases in which a sex offender received probation. Records indicate most outcomes were the result of plea agreements between prosecutors and defense attorneys because of problems that arose after the cases were filed.

Coppedge didn’t return telephone calls to the Marshall County courthouse seeking comment.