Delaware
School board wants member accused of child sex abuse to quit
NEW CASTLE, Del. (AP) - A Delaware school board is asking for the resignation of a member jailed on more than a dozen felony child sex assault charges, including second-degree rape.
The News Journal of Wilmington reports the Colonial School District Board of Education passed a motion Tuesday requesting 41-year-old Ronnie Williams resign, saying the allegations against him are a "distraction."
Williams was arrested late last month on allegations that he abused the children of a woman he knew. Court records say he would befriend women to get close to their children, who he would shower with expensive gifts and trips.
State law says only the governor can remove a board member from their position. Williams previously was cleared of charges filed in 2004 that he sexually assaulted three other children.
Washington
Man in fatal senior housing shooting pleads not guilty
VANCOUVER, Wash. (AP) - An 80-year-old Washington state man arrested in a shooting that left one man dead and two women wounded at a senior living apartment building has pleaded not guilty to murder and attempted murder.
The Columbian reports Robert E. Breck as in Clark County Superior Court Tuesday to address his bail. However, Breck waived the bail hearing and will remain in Clark County Jail.
Breck's attorney, Renee Alsept, said her client doesn't want to post bail and is "happy where he's at now."
Police say Breck killed 75-year-old Dean Tunstall and wounded two women Thursday in the lobby of the Vancouver apartment building, then barricaded himself in his apartment before surrendering.
Court documents say one of the women shot used to be Breck's caregiver. Court documents say Breck had offered her money to become his mistress, she refused and he fired her.
Authorities say Tunstall had told Breck Wednesday to stop spreading rumors.
Washington
EX-WSU student sentenced for extorting women
PULLMAN, Wash. (AP) - A former student of Washington State University and the University of Idaho has been convicted of extorting women over nude photos.
KHQ-TV reports 24-year-old Kyle Gaumnitz of Richland, Washington, was found guilty in Whitman County Superior Court Friday of one count of second-degree extortion with sexual motivation and four counts of second-degree extortion.
He was sentenced to over two years in prison and three years of supervision after release. Gaumnitz will be required to register as a sex offender.
University police began investigating Gaumnitz in 2017 when they received complaints from two students. Court documents show 27 victims describing their experiences with him.
Documents say Gaumnitz would often obtain, or pretend to have obtained, nude photos of women and would try to get them to send nude photos or perform sex acts online in order to prevent him from releasing the supposed nude photos on social media.
Missouri
Police officer charged with arranging to have sex with teen
WENTZVILLE, Mo. (AP) - A central Missouri police officer has been charged with arranging to meet a woman and have sex with her 14-year-old daughter after it turned out that the woman was actually an undercover FBI employee.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that the sex charge was filed Tuesday in federal court against 41-year-old Clint Baer, one day after an FBI sting in Wentzville.
An affidavit says he was arrested while walking to a hotel, where the teen was supposed to be waiting, with a woman whom he believed was her mother. An FBI agent say Baer admitted giving the woman money for the hotel room, but said he wasn't sure that he was going to go through with having sex with the teen.
The Centralia police department says Baer is no longer an employee.
Florida
Man convicted of posting threats in school shooting
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) - A California man has been convicted of posting online threats and sending malicious messages to relatives of victims of the 2018 Florida school shooting.
Court records show 22-year-old Brandon Fleury of Santa Ana, California, was found guilty on Tuesday by a federal jury of cyberstalking and threatening a kidnapping. He faces up to 20 years in prison at sentencing Dec. 2.
Trial evidence shows Fleury used 13 different Instagram accounts to target people close to the 17 high school students and staff killed in the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. One message read "I killed your loved ones ha ha ha."
Many of Fleury's messages used the photo of 21-year-old Nikolas Cruz, who faces the death penalty if convicted of the shootings.
Missouri
86-year-old former minister deemed sexually violent
ST. LOUIS (AP) - Jurors have ruled that an 86-year-old former southwest Missouri minister is a sexually violent predator who should remain confined even though he has completed a 15-year prison sentence for sodomizing teenage boys.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that jurors reached the verdict last month in the case against Donald Peckham, but the case records weren't publicized until Tuesday. Prosecutors say Peckham, who is from Sarcoxie, sexually abused at least 14 boys between 12 and 16 years old over the course of 30 years and continued to victimize young boys until he was 67 years old.
Defense attorney Amy Clay says the decision to indefinitely commit Peckham to a treatment program run by the Missouri Department of Mental Health amounts to a "life sentence" because few people get through it.
South Carolina
Sheriff's candidate opens race by admitting to blackface
WALTERBORO, S.C. (AP) - A Republican sheriff's candidate in South Carolina opened his campaign by owning up to what he calls his mistakes: his first marriage, a traffic ticket, causing some fender-benders, losing his temper at work, and wearing blackface.
Craig Stivender says in the video posted Tuesday that transparency is essential, so he's showing everyone a picture of himself at a law enforcement party about 10 years ago. It shows him dressed as the founder of a crime ring, wearing makeup and a giant gold necklace. Stivender says he wanted to disparage a criminal, but now understands how his portrayal was troubling.
"I'm not perfect. I've made mistakes," he says, before promising to support gun rights and "counteract the threat of illegal immigrants" and littering.
Published: Thu, Oct 10, 2019
