Court Digest

Tennessee
Chiropractors, doctor to pay $1.72M to settle fraud claims
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — A doctor and two chiropractors have agreed to pay $1.72 million for submitting false claims to Medicare and TennCare, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Tennessee.

The practitioners were accused of billing Medicare and TennCare for surgically implanted neurostimulator devices that were never used. Instead, the accused used an electrical stimulation device that is taped behind the patient’s ear that doesn’t qualify for reimbursement under Medicare or TennCare, according to the release.

Those accused were Dr. James P. Anderson, owner of Affiliated Neurologists; Charles F. Spencer, owner of Total Family Physicians Center; and Mitchell P. Shea, owner of Chiro2Med of Tennessee.

Under the terms of the settlement, Dr. Anderson agreed to pay $1 million to the United States and Tennessee over five years. Spencer and Total Family agreed to pay the United States $700,000 over five years. Shea and Chiro2Med agreed to pay the United States $20,000 over five years.

California
Ex-officer charged with falsifying report in arrest
LA MESA, Calif. (AP) — A fired Southern California police officer was charged with lying on a police report about the arrest of a Black man who says that his race played a role in the confrontation.

Former La Mesa officer Matt Dages was charged with a felony count of falsifying a police report on the May arrest of Amaurie Johnson, 23, near a trolley station in the San Diego-area city, the San Diego County district attorney’s office announced Monday.

Dages could face up to three years in prison if convicted.

“Dages is accused of falsifying the reason for Johnson’s detention as well as his actions,” the DA’s office statement said, although it didn’t provide details.

It wasn’t immediately clear whether Dages had an attorney to speak on his behalf.

In a social media statement, Johnson said he was thankful for the decision to charge Dages and added: “I’ll do my part to make sure there is justice. Tough times don’t last but tough people do.”

Dages, who is white, stopped Johnson, who said he was waiting for a friend. Video footage showed Dages shoving Johnson roughly onto a bench before handcuffing him.

Johnson was arrested on suspicion of assault on an officer and resisting, delaying or obstructing an officer but the case never went to trial. The arrest also sparked protests.

Johnson has filed a federal lawsuit against Dages, the city and others alleging he was arrested without probable cause. The suit also alleges negligence, liability, excessive force and violence because of race, according to KNSD-TV.

In a statement, La Mesa Acting Police Chief Ray Sweeney said his department has worked with the DA’s office on the matter and “holds each and every member of the department to the highest standards of integrity.”

Dages, a three-year veteran, was fired in August and a review panel upheld his firing last month.

Hawaii
Judge drops case against victim of former prosecutor
HONOLULU (AP) — A U.S. judge on Monday dismissed a case against a victim of a former Honolulu prosecutor recently sentenced for obstructing justice and bank fraud.

Chief U.S. District Court Judge J. Michael Seabright said it served the interests of justice to dismiss the case against Ransen Taito with prejudice, which means it can’t be brought back to court.

Ransen Taito was scheduled to be sentenced on Jan. 19 for conspiracy to obstruct justice. However, U.S. prosecutors said in a motion that former Honolulu prosecutor Katherine Kealoha directed Taito to lie to a grand jury. The motion said Kealoha told Taito his mother could go to jail if he told the truth about money in trust accounts Kealoha managed.

Kealoha was serving as a court-appointed guardian for assets Taito and his younger sister inherited when they were children. Kealoha opened trust accounts for $83,884 that was due each child but misappropriated the funds for her personal benefit.

In November, Seabright sentenced Kealoha to 13 years in prison after she was found to have stolen money from her own grandmother and then used her police chief husband’s law enforcement power to frame her uncle for a crime he didn’t commit.

A jury convicted Kealoha of conspiracy to obstruct justice. She also pleaded guilty to bank fraud and admitted stealing the Taitos’ trust funds. The court has ordered Kealoha to pay restitution to the Taitos.

Arizona
Judge keeps trucker jailed in bicyclists’ deaths
LAS VEGAS (AP) — A judge in Las Vegas deemed an Arizona truck driver accused of killing five bicyclists on a Nevada highway last month a danger to the community and a risk not to return to court, ordering him jailed without bail pending a preliminary hearing of evidence.

Jordan Alexander Barson’s court-appointed attorney, Shane Zeller, asked Justice of the Peace Suzan Baucum on Monday to set bail at $20,000,  the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported .

But the judge noted that Barson could face more than 100 years in prison if he’s convicted of all 14 charges against him — including driving under the influence causing death and reckless driving. His next court date is Jan. 21.

Barson, 45, of Kingman, Arizona, is accused of crashing the box truck he was driving into a group of recreational bicyclists from Las Vegas making an annual ride through the desert on U.S. 95 between Boulder City and Searchlight, Nevada.

He told investigators he fell asleep at the wheel Dec. 10, but a prosecutor said blood tests showed he had almost 950 nanograms per milliliter of methamphetamine in his system.

Five bicyclists were killed, all from Las Vegas. Four others were injured.

Federal safety monitors also deemed Barson a hazard to public safety and barred him last week from operating a commercial motor vehicle.

South Dakota
Indiana woman pleads guilty to climbing Mount Rushmore
KEYSTONE, S.D. (AP) — An Indiana woman has pleaded guilty to climbing Mount Rushmore, a federal violation.

Molly Venderley, 20, entered the plea at a hearing in federal court in Rapid City, South Dakota Monday. Two other misdemeanor charges were dropped as part of a plea deal.

Venderley, from Bloomington, Indiana, was fined $1,250 after entering her plea, the Rapid City Journal reported.

A report from a park ranger said Venderley told him she climbed in the dark Sunday because she knew it was against the law to scale the monument and knew the park was closed.

The ranger saw the woman’s flashlight on a security camera and found she had made it to the base of George Washington’s lapel.

Venderley was later taken to the Pennington County Jail while her car was towed.

Multiple signs at Mount Rushmore warn visitors that it’s illegal to climb the talus slope — the pile of broken rocks at the base of the monument — and the sculpture itself.

The monument, depicting the giant faces of four U.S. presidents, including Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln, was completed in 1941.

Nebraska
Man charged in shooting death of Omaha real estate agent
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — An Omaha man has been charged with first-degree murder in the shooting death of a real estate agent at a home where the two men met to complete a rental agreement, according to court documents.

Ross S. Lorello III, 43, was charged Monday with first-degree murder and use of a firearm to commit a felony in the death of Mickey Sodoro, 70, on Dec. 28.

Court documents said Sodoro was shot at close range in the back of the head and his body was left in a garage crawl space at the rental home, The Omaha World-Herald reported.

The home belonged to Sodoro’s son and Sodoro was helping him rent it, according to an affidavit.

Police found Sodoro’s body covered in carpet pieces in the crawl space after his son reported he had not returned from showing the house and his truck was missing. The truck was later found abandoned.

Lorello told investigators he met with Sodoro at the home, gave him $9,700 in cash and signed the leasing paperwork. He said Sodoro then left in another vehicle to meet someone else, according to the affidavit.

Lorello is being held without bond.


Maine
Man who fatally punched coworker charged with manslaughter
PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — A short argument between members of a construction crew ended when one man fatally punched the other in Portland, Maine in November, authorities say.

Robert Clarke, 35, of Braintree, Massachusetts, is now facing a charge of manslaughter in the death of Elliott Fama, 44, of Wilmington, Massachusetts, the Portland Press Herald reported on Monday.

Clarke and Fama traveled to Portland together with two other co-workers as part of a Massachusetts-based construction crew, according to police records. They had eaten dinner and were hanging out behind the Howard Johnson hotel in South Portland, where they were staying. Clarke and Fama exchanged pushes and punches allegedly after one refused to share a cigarette with the other.

Clarke eventually reached around the crew’s foreman who was standing between the men and punched Fama in the head. Video footage of the fight shows Fama appeared to immediately lose consciousness and fall, the newspaper reported. After undergoing surgery and several days of treatment at a hospital, Fama died.

Clarke was initially charged with assault, but a grand jury delivered a manslaughter charge on Dec. 11, the newspaper reported. An attorney for Clarke, Daniel Wentworth, said he did not intend to hurt or kill Fama.

“These were two friends, they’d known each other about a decade,” Wentworth told the newspaper. “This was all a very tragic event, and Robert absolutely did not intend this result in any way.”

An obituary for Fama says he is survived by his wife and three step-children among many family members and friends.

Maine
Lawsuit says smoked salmon not sustainable as advertised
A lawsuit alleges that a large smoked salmon processor in Maine does not use sustainable practices, contrary to labeling on its products.

The suit filed in U.S. District Court in Maine is brought against Ducktrap River of Maine by a consumer and New York resident, Abigail Starr, the Portland Press Herald reported on Monday.

Ducktrap River is located in Belfast and is operated by a subsidiary of Mowi ASA, a Norwegian company. Some of the salmon and other seafood products listed on its website are printed with certifications from fish farming industry groups.

The lawsuit seeks class action status and unspecified damages, which could increase if a court found that the company misled consumers and acted willfully. The lawsuit argues that industrial fish farming endangers public health, causes animal suffering and environmental damages. It also alleges that the company violated consumer protections, the newspaper reported.

The company’s general manager Don Cynewski told the newspaper he was aware of the lawsuit and had no comment.

Arizona
Suspect accused of fatal stabbing in small town
GUADALUPE, Ariz. (AP) — A suspect has been arrested in the fatal stabbing of a man in the small town of Guadalupe, authorities said Monday.

Maricopa County Sheriff’s officials said 22-year-old Isaiah Lapre is jailed on suspicion of first-degree murder and tampering with evidence.

It was unclear Monday if Lapre has a lawyer yet who can speak on his behalf.

The sheriff’s office provides law enforcement for Guadalupe and deputies were called to the scene last Saturday afternoon on reports of a stabbing.

They found the victim lying on the sidewalk with a neck wound and he was pronounced dead at the scene by responding paramedics.

Authorities located Lapre and say he had blood on his right hand and was taken into custody for questioning.

Court documents show surveillance video from a nearby business captured the stabbing and the suspect seemed to match Lapre’s physical appearance.

Detectives said Lapre told them he didn’t know the victim, who started the confrontation.
Lapre did not tell detectives the location of the knife used in the alleged attack and the victim’s name wasn’t immediately released.