National Roundup

Florida
Burglary suspect drops in through restaurant ceiling

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) - Police say a burglary suspect's plans went awry when he dropped in on stunned dinner patrons through the ceiling of a Florida restaurant and was then held down by the customers until officers arrived.

The Daytona Beach News-Journal reports diners told the manager of the Hibachi Grill and Supreme Buffet they heard noises coming from the ceiling on Tuesday evening.

Police say 30-year-old Justin Grimes had gone through ceiling tiles in the bathroom and then fell through into the dining room as he attempted to make his way to the area over the office. Police say he was looking for money.

He is charged with burglary of an occupied structure and is being held in jail.

Records don't indicate whether he's retained an attorney.

Kansas
Unruly passenger faces federal charges, says USA

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) - The U.S. attorney's office says a disruptive passenger who forced the diversion of an American Airlines flight will face federal charges.

Spokesman Jim Cross says the passenger will be charged Wednesday, but he provided no details on the charge or the nature of the disruption.

American Airlines says Flight 622 from Phoenix to New York was sent to Wichita, Kansas, on Tuesday evening because of the unruly passenger. The airline said in an email Wednesday that law enforcement met the flight and took the passenger into custody. The airline did not identify the passenger.

An airport police spokeswoman at Eisenhower National Airport said the passenger was taken to the Sedgwick County jail.

The flight left Wichita a few hours later and landed in New York shortly before midnight Tuesday.

North Carolina
Judge charged with trying to bribe FBI agent

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) - A North Carolina state judge was arrested Wednesday on charges he allegedly tried to bribe an FBI officer to collect text messages between two phone numbers in what the judge said was a family matter.

Superior Court Judge Arnold Jones II, who hears cases in three rural eastern North Carolina counties, appeared in federal court for an initial hearing on Wednesday.

Jones approached the unnamed FBI officer a month ago, and the two met in Goldsboro on Tuesday to exchange $100 for a disk supposedly containing the data, prosecutors said in a statement.

It's illegal for law officers like an FBI agent to demand text or phone information from a phone company without an approved search warrant in an active case. Jones faces federal charges of paying a bribe to a public official, paying a gratuity to a public official, and corruptly attempting to influence an official proceeding.

A criminal indictment filed in federal court said Jones wanted copies of text messages between two phones made secretly.

"This involved family so I don't want anyone to know," the indictment quotes Jones as saying.

The FBI officer told Jones he asked a federal magistrate and was approved for a search warrant to get the text messages, the indictment said.

Jones' judicial district covers Wayne, Lenoir and Greene counties.

Virginia
Mom of boy who died in septic tank goes to trial

PULASKI, Va. (AP) - The mother of a Virginia boy who died in a septic tank is set to go on trial next year on abuse and neglect charges.

Online court records show 31-year-old Ashley White's jury trial is scheduled to begin Feb. 8 in Pulaski County Circuit Court. A judge set the trial date on Wednesday.

White and 32-year-old Paul Thomas are accused of leaving their 5-year-old son, Noah Thomas, and infant daughter, Abigail, home alone on March 22. The boy's body was found in a septic tank near the family's home in Dublin on March 26. The medical examiner determined that the boy drowned and that hypothermia contributed to his death.

Thomas also is charged with felony child abuse and neglect. His one-day bench trial is set for Jan. 25.

Georgia
Probe widens in fake nurse case

ATLANTA (AP) - The investigation of a woman accused of posing as a nurse and giving hospice care to Bobbi Kristina Brown widened Wednesday as police sought more information about other patients she may have treated.

The arrest of Taiwo Sobamowo, 32, was the latest offshoot following the death of the only daughter of singers Bobby Brown and the late Whitney Houston. The 22-year-old Brown died July 26, six months after she was found face-down and unresponsive in the bathtub of her townhome in January.

Duluth police Capt. Mark Hunter said investigators want to hear from patients or friends and relatives of people treated by Sobamowo, who authorities say impersonated a licensed nurse with a similar name.

Police aren't certain how many other patients she treated. Before working at the hospice, she was at an assisted-living facility in a nearby county.

There's no indication in a police report obtained by The Associated Press on Tuesday that Brown's care was affected by Sobamowo, the nurse in charge of caring for Brown at Peachtree Christian Hospice in Duluth.

Police in Roswell, where Brown was found unconscious, have been investigating the circumstances surrounding her death.

In September, the county medical examiner said the cause has been determined, but the autopsy results would not be publicly revealed because of a court order to seal the results. Over the last year, lawyers have traded accusations about what caused Brown's death and tabloids have covered every development.

In a statement, Homestead Hospice CEO Mallie Sharafat said the company performed a background check on Sobamowo and reviewed references from other health care agencies in the area.

"We had no reason to believe that she was anything other than a good nurse with proper credentials," Sharafat wrote.

The company said when it found the credentialing discrepancy it immediately took action and notified authorities.

An alert published by the Georgia Board of Nursing following Sobamowo's arrest said she was fired Aug. 5 when she couldn't provide proof of a license.

Sobamowo was arrested Sunday in Raleigh, North Carolina, and was being held in a jail there.

Authorities said Sobamowo's employment records indicated she attended a medical college in the nation's capital, but they couldn't find any evidence of that.

Published: Thu, Nov 05, 2015