National Roundup

Connecticut Judge dispensing cash to Haiti abuse victims NEW HAVEN, Conn. (AP) -- Nearly $49,000 seized from a former Connecticut and Colorado resident is being sent to 16 young men he sexually abused at a school for street children he founded in Haiti. The Connecticut Post reports that U.S. District Judge Janet Bond Arterton in New Haven has begun dispensing the money seized from the bank and retirement accounts of Douglas Perlitz, who was sentenced to nearly 20 years in prison in December for the assaults. Perlitz, a former resident of Eagle, Colo., and Fairfield County, Conn., admitted he engaged in illicit sexual conduct with boys who attended the Project Pierre Toussaint School in Cap-Haitien. Federal officials have opened bank accounts with $1,000 for the 16 victims and will be adding $2,000 more to those accounts over the next 14 months. Pennsylvania Judge in 'kids for cash' case faces sentencing ALLENTOWN, Pa. (AP) -- A former Pennsylvania judge convicted in one of the biggest courtroom scandals in U.S. history will be sentenced this week. Mark Ciavarella (shiv-uh-REL'-uh) Jr. could face more than a decade in prison when he's sentenced in Scranton on Thursday. The denouement of the "kids for cash" case comes more than two-and-a-half years after Ciavarella and a second Luzerne County judge were charged with orchestrating a scheme to enrich themselves by stocking for-profit detention centers with young offenders. A jury convicted Ciavarella in February of taking a $997,600 kickback from the builder of the detention centers. The other judge pleaded guilty and awaits sentencing. Ciavarella still denies incarcerating youths for money. But one of the kids who appeared in his courtroom says Ciavarella deserves a lengthy prison term. New York NYC housekeeper accuses employer of enslaving her NEW YORK (AP) -- A housekeeper has accused a Korean Buddhist monk and his family of forcing her to work as a "slave" in their New York City home. According to The New York Times, the lawsuit alleges the family kept the woman a prisoner in their Queens home for 12 years under threat of death. The suit was filed by Oak-Jin Oh last week in Manhattan federal court. It names Soo Bok Choi, a Buddhist monk, two of his brothers, his son and daughter, a niece and the representative of the estate of his mother, who died in 2009. The Times says it visited the homes of three of the defendants but efforts to reach them for comment were unsuccessful. A spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office in Brooklyn declined to comment. California No class-action for suits over fish kill SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) -- An appeals court has rejected class-action status for a lawsuit prompted by efforts to kill off an invasive fish in Northern California. The Sacramento Bee says the 3rd District Court of Appeal ruled last week that people suing the state had too little in common to comprise a single class and must sue individually. In 2007, the state Fish and Game Department dumped thousands of gallons of poison into Lake Davis in Plumas County to kill the voracious northern pike. The lake was closed for several months. The city of Portola and a number of businesses and property owners sued in 2009, arguing that the action caused a decline in tourism that hurt their income, property values and tax receipts. South Dakota Men fined in fed court for illegal mountain lion kill RAPID CITY, S.D. (AP) -- Two South Dakota men who were fined in state court and lost their hunting privileges for a year for illegally shooting a mountain lion near Mount Rushmore National Memorial have now also been fined in federal court. Court documents show that 22-year-old Tyler Krebs of Rapid City and 40-year-old Shannon Homan of Box Elder each were fined $250. They pleaded guilty to a federal Lacey Act violation for unlawfully taking wildlife in January 2010. Kansas Trial in 2009 family slaying begins LYNDON, Kan. (AP) -- Jury selection began Monday in Lyndon in what is expected to be a three-week capital murder trial of a former Missouri city official charged with the fatal shootings of his wife, two children and his wife's grandmother in 2009. The trial of James Kraig Kahler, of Meriden, started Monday in Osage County District Court. If convicted, Kahler could receive the death penalty. The 48-year-old is charged with four counts of capital murder for the shooting deaths on Nov. 28, 2009, in Burlingame. He was the director of the Columbia Mo., water and light before moving to Kansas in 2009. Utah Utah County man now facing 39 criminal sex charges PROVO, Utah (AP) -- A Springville man is now facing 39 counts of sex-related criminal charges for allegedly forcing teen girls into sexual relationships with adult men. The Daily Herald of Provo reports that Utah County prosecutors on Friday added 12 new combined counts of rape and aggravated sexual assault to the 27 charges Kenneth Bond already faced. Bond was charged in July with 20 counts of object rape, and counts of aggravated exploitation of a prostitute and unlawful sexual activity with a minor. Prosecutors say Bond bought the girls gifts and paid the men to have sex with them, then watched or made videos of the acts. The 65-year-old Bond has not yet entered a plea. A preliminary hearing is set for Tuesday in Provo's 4th District Court. Illinois Court hearing set for man charged in 1957 slaying SYCAMORE, Ill. (AP) -- The man charged in the 1957 kidnapping and slaying of a 7-year-old Illinois girl appeared in court Monday. The hearing was the second for 71-year-old Jack Daniel McCullough in the killing of Maria Ridulph (RIHD'-uhlf), a former neighbor from the small town of Sycamore. He made his initial Illinois court appearance two weeks ago in via closed-circuit television. McCullough has denied any involvement in Ridulph's death. Authorities exhumed her remains hoping to find evidence missed decades ago. Also on Monday, lawyers for the Tribune Co. and The Associated Press argued that reporters who interviewed McCullough while he was in a Seattle jail should not have to give their notes to prosecutors. DeKalb County State's Attorney Clay Campbell filed subpoenas asking for the notes. Published: Tue, Aug 9, 2011