National Roundup

Missouri
St. Louis officer to be tried in 2020 in death of colleague
ST. LOUIS (AP) — A St. Louis police officer will go on trial next year in the fatal shooting of a female colleague while playing a variation of Russian roulette.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that a judge on Monday scheduled Nathaniel Hendren’s trial on charges of first-degree involuntary manslaughter and armed criminal action to begin March 23.

Prosecutors say Hendren, who is 30, shot fellow officer Katlyn Alix at his St. Louis home in January while he was supposed to be on duty elsewhere. Alix, who was 24, was off duty.

Hendren’s lawyer, Talmage Newton IV, has called Alix’s death a “tragic accident.” But a lawsuit filed by Alix’s family claims Hendren forced other girlfriends to play similar games.

His state peace officer license has been suspended, meaning he cannot work as a police officer.

Louisiana
Man says fatal shooting began as play fight
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A man accused of fatally shooting a 19-year-old on a Louisiana college campus said he and the victim had been “play fighting.”

Court records obtained by news outlets say 20-year-old Andrew Gant confessed to killing Jace Scott on Sunday at a business incubator at Southern University New Orleans.

Documents say Gant told police he and Scott had pointed guns at each other when Gant got scared and shot him. He’s charged with negligent homicide and obstruction of justice.

Witnesses told police the men had similar confrontations before, but all said they thought the shooting was accidental.

A Southern University spokeswoman said the men weren’t students there.

Alabama
Former sheriff sentenced to jail for food fraud
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. (AP) — A judge on Monday sentenced a former Alabama sheriff to 18 months in federal prison after he pleaded guilty to scamming a food bank and his own small-town church to obtain inexpensive jail food and boost his personal income.

U.S. District Judge Liles Burke sentenced former Pickens County Sherriff David Abston to serve 18 months for wire fraud and filing a false tax return, federal prosecutors said in a news release.
Abston was ordered to pay $51,000 in restitution.

Abston was sheriff for over 30 years until the accusations derailed his lengthy law enforcement career. He resigned and pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud and one count of filing a false tax return.

Prosecutors said Abston in 2014 got the West Alabama Food Bank to agree to provide low-cost food to his own church, Highland Baptist of Gordo. The food bank agreed to provide food to help feed the poor, including poor children. Instead, much of the food went to the Pickens County Jail which Abston ran.

The arrangement helped Abston boost his personal income, prosecutors said, because a state law at the time allowed sheriffs to pocket excess jail food funds. Legislators have since changed the law.

“Abston tarnished his office and his badge,” U.S. Attorney Jay Town said in a statement. “He found out today he isn’t above the law. Those who believe they are will find themselves in federal prison.”

Abston’s attorneys had asked for a sentence of home confinement and community service, citing his remorse and long history of public service.

“While Sheriff Abston is deeply disappointed in today’s sentence, he has accepted responsibility for the wrong he committed and respects the court’s decision imposing consequences for his actions. He will serve his sentence, do what good he can during his period of incarceration, and then return to the community he loves to continue his life of community involvement,” Abston’s defense attorneys said in an emailed statement.

Oregon
Man charged after spending night in the woods with child
EUGENE, Ore. (AP) — An Oakridge man accused of hiding from law enforcement overnight in the woods with his 3-year-old child has been formally charged in Lane County Circuit Court.

The Register-Guard reports 41-year-old Travis Gerlits faces felony charges of assault, coercion, fleeing a police officer and criminal mistreatment in addition to misdemeanors of menacing and recklessly endangering another person.

The Lane County Sheriff’s Office says Gerlits was a suspect in a Thursday domestic violence assault in Oakridge.

As authorities attempted to contact Gerlits, he allegedly fled, leading them into a forested area before fleeing on foot into the trees with his 3-year-old son in tow.

The two weren’t located until Friday afternoon and a helicopter was requested to take them out of a remote area. The child was taken to a hospital to be evaluated, and Gerlits was taken to jail.

West Virginia
Man gets 5 life sentences for enticing teens
CLARKSBURG, W.Va. (AP) — A West Virginia man has been sentenced to five consecutive life sentences for posing as a girl and persuading underage boys to send him sexually explicit pictures and videos.

U.S. Attorney Bill Powell announced the sentencing of Quionte Jordan Crawford on Monday.

He says the 27-year-old man pretended to be a teenage girl named Kayla Stevens between November 2017 and December 2018, and coerced five boys to send the images via smartphone. Powell says Crawford sometimes threatened the boys to get them to send the images.

Crawford pleaded guilty to five counts of enticement of a minor in June.

Iowa
Man gets 15 years for setting fire that killed grandmother
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A Des Moines man has been imprisoned for setting a fire at the house he shared with his grandmother, killing her.

The Des Moines Register reports that 32-year-old Ferid Hodzic was sentenced last month to 15 years. He’d pleaded guilty to arson and involuntary manslaughter.

Court records say he poured gasoline onto combustible items on Jan. 9 and used a lit cigarette to ignite them. His grandmother, Naima Hodzic, was unable to escape the smoke and flames, and firefighters found her near the front door. The 83-year-old was taken to a Des Moines hospital and then flown to an Iowa City hospital, where she died Jan. 25.

Authorities say Ferid Hodzic changed his account of the fire several times, with his final explanation being that he ordered a sweatshirt online and became upset after it arrived because it was the wrong size.