National Roundup

Massachusetts
DNA leads to arrest in murder of jogger

PRINCETON, Mass. (AP) — DNA evidence and an attentive state trooper helped find the man authorities believe killed a New York City woman last summer who was out jogging near her mother’s Massachusetts home, authorities said Saturday.
“Good afternoon. We got him,” Worcester County District Attorney Joseph Early Jr. proclaimed at a news conference Saturday outside the police department in Princeton, a small community of about 3,500 residents in central Massachusetts. It’s about 40 miles (64 kilometers) west of Boston.

“We’re very comfortable that we’ve got Vanessa Marcotte’s killer,” Early said.

The body of 27-year-old Marcotte was found Aug. 7 in some woods about a half-mile from her mother’s house, where the young woman was visiting family. Marcotte, who worked as an account manager for Google in New York, had gone out to run several hours earlier.

Police said throughout the investigation they believed Marcotte fought her attacker and the suspect had scratches on his face, neck and arms. On Saturday, Early said DNA taken from Marcotte’s hands during an autopsy helped solve the case. The DNA was used to help create a profile of a suspect, which was released two months ago. It also matched the DNA of 31-year-old Angelo Colon-Ortiz, who lives in nearby Worcester and who police believe was working in the area at the time of Marcotte’s attack.

“It’s through her determined fight and her efforts that we obtained the DNA of her killer,” Early said.

Colon-Ortiz was charged Friday with aggravated assault, aggravated assault and battery and assault with intent to rape. Early said more charges are expected.

The district attorney credited “an alert state trooper assigned to the detective unit” with recently spotting a dark SUV, the type of vehicle witnesses reported seeing in the area.

He said that trooper also noticed the driver matched the profile released in February, which determined the suspect in Marcotte’s killing was a Hispanic or Latino man, about 30 years old, with light- to medium-toned skin, an athletic build and is either balding or has short hair.

Unable to find a piece of paper, Early said the trooper wrote down the vehicle’s license plate number on his hand. He then looked it up, visited the home of Colon-Ortiz and left a business card, asking him to call. When Colon-Ortiz didn’t respond, the trooper later returned to the home and obtained a voluntary DNA sample from Colon-Ortiz. That sample was determined to be a match on Friday and Colon-Ortiz was subsequently arrested.

He was being held Saturday at the state police barracks in Millbury on a $10 million bond and is scheduled to appear in Leominster District Court Tuesday. Early said Colon-Ortiz, who speaks limited English, has requested an attorney.


Montana
Professor sues Wal-Mart over ‘clean toilets’ description

BOZEMAN, Mont. (AP) — A Montana State University professor is suing Wal-Mart for libel after he says an employee at the Bozeman store listed his occupation on a fishing license as a “toilet cleaner.”

Gilbert Kalonde, assistant professor of technology education at MSU, filed the suit this past week in Gallatin County District Court.

Kalonde is seeking unspecified damages.

Wal-Mart spokesman Ragan Dickens told The Associated Press: “To our knowledge an administrative process to resolve this with Dr. Kalonde is ongoing. We’ve not been served with the lawsuit, but we take the claims seriously and will respond appropriately with the court.”

According to the complaint, Kalonde bought a state fishing license in April 2015, showing the Wal-Mart employee identification of his employment at MSU. But the Wal-Mart employee entered “clean toilets” into the state database as Kalonde’s occupation.

The suit contends Wal-Mart exposed Kalonde to “hatred, contempt, ridicule” through the incident.


Texas
Talk-radio host  Alex Jones argues persona in custody dispute

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — A lawyer defending right-wing radio host and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones in a child custody dispute says Jones is a “performance artist” whose on-air persona differs from the private man.

Attorney Randall Wilhite said at a recent pretrial hearing that evaluating Jones based on his on-air comments is like judging Jack Nicholson based on his role as the Joker in “Batman.”

The Austin American-Statesman reports that Kelly Jones described her ex-husband at a recent pretrial hearing in Austin as “not a stable person.” She’s seeking sole or joint custody of their children, ages 14, 12 and 9.

Jury selection in the case began Monday.

Alex Jones began on public access television and his Infowars programming on radio, YouTube and other platforms draws millions of listeners.

New Jersey
Lawsuit: Wells Fargo banker  fired for not scamming clients

NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. (AP) — A New Jersey woman has sued Wells Fargo Bank, saying she was fired for refusing to participate in a scheme to manipulate accounts and sell products that weren’t in customers’ best interest.

Melinda Bini filed a lawsuit in state court in New Jersey on April 5 against the bank and three supervisors from the branch she worked at in Highland Park, NJ.com reported.

In the lawsuit, Bini accused her superiors of running or knowing about the scheme and says she was retaliated against and later fired for refusing to participate. Bini, a former assistant vice president and regional private banker, is seeking her job back and damages.

Wells Fargo paid $185 million in fines to federal and local authorities after it acknowledged that its employees opened as many as 2 million checking and credit card accounts without customers’ authorization.

Kevin Friedlander, a spokesman for the bank, said the company doesn’t tolerate retaliation against employees who express their concerns.

“Our non-retaliation policy makes clear that no team member may be retaliated against for providing information about suspected unethical or illegal activities or possible violations of any Wells Fargo policies,” Friedlander said.
Friedlander said the supervisors are still employed, but he wasn’t able to comment further on the allegations because it was an ongoing legal matter.