National Roundup

Indiana
Criminal probe opened into ­veterans’ agency mismanagement
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — A criminal investigation has been opened into mismanagement at the Indiana Department of Veterans’ Affairs.

The Indianapolis Star reports the office of Marion County Prosecutor Terry Curry confirmed the investigation Tuesday and the newspaper says three agency employees recently resigned following media reports about the department.

The resignations are part of a reorganization led by the agency’s new director, Dennis Wimer, who has pledged to restore confidence. The newspaper says the resigning employees either approved or received grants or welfare benefits administered by the agency.

Indiana’s inspector general earlier found mismanagement but insufficient evidence for criminal or ethics charges.

The agency’s leader resigned in December after The Indianapolis Star and WRTV-TV questioned its administration of the Military Family Relief Fund, which is supported by fees from specialty veteran license plates.

Maryland
School: Boys accused in ­locker-room rape were ­unsupervised
DAMASCUS, Md. (AP) — A Maryland school district says no adults were watching when several junior varsity football players at a Maryland high school allegedly raped or attempted to rape four teammates with a broomstick.

WTOP-FM reports Montgomery County Public Schools Superintendent Jack Smith says an internal investigation found the boys weren’t under direct supervision for 25 minutes on Oct. 31. Smith says in a letter that the alleged assaults happened in that timeframe.

Five teens are charged as juveniles in the attack, which suspects and victims have described as a locker-room hazing ritual.

Smith says the investigation determined the school wasn’t delayed in reporting the assault to police. The Washington Post has said the school waited hours to call authorities. Smith also says the school will be getting a new junior varsity football coach.


Texas
Judge weighs request to ­dismiss lawsuits over church attack
SAN ANTONIO (AP) — A federal judge says he’ll rule soon on whether to dismiss claims filed in several lawsuits against the U.S. Air Force in connection with a 2017 massacre at a Texas church that killed more than two dozen people.

Relatives of those killed or injured at the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs sued, arguing that the federal government was negligent by failing to report gunman Devin Kelley’s criminal information to a national database used to conduct background checks of gun buyers.

The Express-News reports lawyers for the Justice Department argued Tuesday in court that federal employees should be shielded from the lawsuits.

A government report released last year said the Air Force failed six times to report information that could have prevented Kelley, a former airman, from buying a gun.

Florida
Judge: Florida newlywed lost at sea declared dead
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — A judge has declared a missing Florida newlywed dead, almost two years to the day she disappeared while honeymooning in the Bahamas.

The May 9th order declares that Isabella Hellman, 41, is presumed dead at sea.

Her husband Lewis Bennet, 42, faces sentencing in his wife’s death this month after pleading guilty in November to involuntary manslaughter. The plea agreement caps his potential prison sentence at 8 years.

Bennet was found alone in a lifeboat packed with provisions and $100,000 worth of stolen coins. He has repeatedly claimed he was asleep below deck and discovered his wife missing when their catamaran took on water on May 14, 2017. Authorities searched for Hellman for four days, but never found her body. The FBI said an inspection found that holes in the hull were inflicted from the inside, and hatches were opened in a deliberate attempt to sink the boat.

Palm Beach County Circuit Court Judge Scott Suskauer ordered the FBI to give the keys to Hellman’s condominium in Delray Beach to an attorney representing her parents so it can be sold, the South Florida SunSentinel reported. The condo is valued at $130,000 and her bank accounts totaled $41,117. She had $8,524 in credit card bills.

The judge also ordered that $18,000 be placed in a trust fund for their daughter, Emelia. The child, who turns 3 in July, now lives with Bennett’s parents in Scotland. The remaining money will go toward debts and defense attorney fees.

Bennett’s sentencing is set for May 28 in Miami. He apologized to Hellman’s family in court in January, noting their “unimaginable pain.”

Illinois
Man sentenced to prison for ­threatening ­abortion clinics
CHICAGO (AP) — A northwestern Indiana man who pleaded guilty to federal charges alleging he sent threatening messages to two Chicago-area abortion clinics has been sentenced to 1½ years in prison.

Thirty-five-year-old Luke Wiersma of Dyer was given his punishment Tuesday for sending a threat to injure and intimidating employees of a reproductive health services provider.

U.S. District Court Judge Manish Shah described the use of threats as “terrorism.”

Wiersma apologized, saying he “had no right to push my beliefs” on those involved with the clinics and knows his actions “terrorized them.”

Federal prosecutors have said Wiersma posted online threats in 2017 through the websites of clinics in Hammond, Indiana, and Chicago. Court records say Wiersma wrote in one case, “I will blow you up if I have to, burn the clinic down.”

Pennsylvania
Suit: Practice, hospital covered for pedophile pediatrician
EBENSBURG, Pa. (AP) — A civil suit says a Pennsylvania pediatric practice knew that one of its physicians was a threat to molest young patients but covered it up.

The suit says Laurel Pediatric Associates in Johnstown knew at least two decades ago that Dr. Johnnie Barto’s patients were in “serious danger,” but allowed him to treat — and molest — children, explaining away parents’ complaints about his sexual misconduct.

Barto was sentenced in March to at least 79 years in prison for sexually assaulting 31 children, most of them patients.

Five former patients are seeking unspecified money damages from Barto, Laurel Pediatric and Conemaugh Memorial Medical Center, a hospital where he had privileges. Dozens more victims are expected to sue.

Laurel declined comment. A message was left at Conemaugh.