National Roundup

Georgia
Mother pleads guilty to allowing men to rape kids for cash
ATLANTA (AP) — A woman in Georgia has pleaded guilty for selling her children to men for sex.

The Fulton County District Attorney’s Office told news outlets Tuesday that the 25-year-old mother said she allowed men to rape her 5 and 6-year-old daughters for cash. She will be sentenced June 4.

Prosecutors say the mother took her children to Richard Office and Alfredo Trejo, who raped the girls on separate occasions. The men paid the girls and their mother in exchange for sex.

Prosecutors say the children’s grandmother failed to protect the children after they told her they were being abused. She was given a five-year prison term.

Office was sentenced to life in prison with an additional 146 years. Trejo was given 25 years in prison followed by life on probation.

Ohio
Judge to briefly open court ­during opioid lawsuits talks
CLEVELAND (AP) — A federal judge hoping to settle hundreds of lawsuits filed by government entities over the opioid crisis is planning a brief open-court session as settlement talks continue.

U.S. District Judge Dan Polster in Cleveland is presiding over lawsuits filed by more than 600 local and county governments and Indian tribes regarding the crisis that killed 42,000 Americans in 2016.

Polster plans to open court for an hour on Thursday before closing it again during negotiations.

His goal remains reaching a deal quickly, but he also has said parties should exchange evidence and hold bellwether trials on important issues.

Earlier this week, Polster ordered the government to share data on opioid distribution and suspicious orders from every state, not just a selected list of states hit hard by the crisis.

Florida
Police: Woman jailed after ­slipper-slapping
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) — A 95-year-old Florida woman landed in jail after calling police for help during an argument with her defiant granddaughter.

Daytona Beach Police Chief Craig Capri tells the Daytona Beach News-Journal that Hattie Reynolds probably wasn’t a threat, but her admission of slapping her granddaughter in the face with a slipper qualified as domestic violence.

An arrest report says Reynolds told police Saturday that she wanted 46-year-old Janeen Williams out of her house because she was in bed soaking up the air conditioning Reynolds pays for. When Williams began screaming and swearing at her, Reynolds said she slapped her with the slipper.

Police handcuffed Reynolds and took her to jail for the night. Records show a judge released her on her own recognizance.

A lawyer wasn’t on records.

Texas
Appeal by woman who sent ricin to Obama rejected
TEXARKANA, Texas (AP) — A federal judge in East Texas has declined to reduce the 18-year prison sentence imposed on a woman for sending ricin-laced letters to former President Barack Obama and others.

The Texarkana Gazette reports that 40-year-old Shannon Richardson appealed her sentence on the grounds of ineffective counsel.

But Judge Caroline Craven issued a ruling Wednesday saying Richardson’s claims were without merit.

Richardson, a former actress whose credits include the television series “The Walking Dead,” pleaded guilty in 2013 to a federal charge of possessing and producing a biological toxin.

Richardson was arrested earlier that year. Authorities said she tried to implicate her estranged husband after he filed for divorce.

Prosecutors said she mailed three letters outside Texarkana then went to police and claimed that her husband had done it.

Illinois
Man sues, says he’s 1 of several framed by same detective
CHICAGO (AP) — A former prison inmate whose murder conviction was tossed out of court has joined the ranks of men to file lawsuits that alleges the same now-retired Chicago police detective framed him for crimes they didn’t commit.

Ariel Gomez is at least the 12th former inmate to file a wrongful conviction lawsuit against former detective Reynaldo Guevara and the city of Chicago and one of nearly 20 men who say they were framed by Guevara to have their convictions overturned.

Gomez alleges that in 1997 when he was 17, Guevara beat him and pressured witnesses into falsely identifying him as the gunman in a fatal shooting.  The 38-year-old Gomez spent two decades in prison before he was released on parole.  A judge dismissed the charges against him in February.

Connecticut
Man charged with killing teen niece blames PTSD
BRIDGEPORT, Conn. (AP) — A Connecticut man charged with nearly cutting off his teenage niece’s head says he suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder because of the tribal violence he witnessed while living in his native Congo.

The Connecticut Post reports that 31-year-old Richard Sega­biro, speaking through an interpreter, waived a probable cause hearing Wednesday, pleaded not guilty to a murder charge, and told a judge wants a jury trial.

Authorities say Segabiro, a refugee from the Congo who came to the U.S. in 2016, used a knife to kill 15-year-old Francine Nyanzanika in their Bridgeport apartment on Feb. 19 while his wife and three children were asleep.

Segabiro told investigators he suffers from PTSD and thought the girl was trying to poison him.

He is being held on $1.5 million bond.

Maine
Police: Man who used girl as human shield is in custody
HOLLIS, Maine (AP) — Police say a man who once used a child as a human shield is in custody after being on the lam.

Officials said Vincent Cole turned himself in to the Buxton Police Department Wednesday morning. A judge issued a warrant after police and the state Department of Health and Human Services couldn't locate Cole or Natasha West at their Hollis home Sunday during a family safety assessment.

Police said he was wanted for two other warrants for violating conditions of his prior release.

Police say Cole has a violent history including stabbing a man and beating others with a baseball bat last July. Deputies said that a month later he grabbed a small child and used her as a shield when police tried to arrest him.