National Roundup

Ohio
Teen admits to  threatening video postings, tweets
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — A former central Ohio high school student faces juvenile court sanctions after admitting that he posted online videos that classmates and parents found threatening.
The 17-year-old boy admitted to a misdemeanor delinquency charge of inducing panic in a Columbus courtroom on Monday. The former Gahanna-Lincoln High School student could be sent to a juvenile center for 90 days, but he is eligible for probation. He’ll be sentenced May 10.
The Columbus Dispatch reports that the teen was arrested on Sept. 3 after police tracked several tweets and two YouTube videos to a computer in his home. They generated 200 calls to police from concerned parents and students.
Prosecutors said one of the videos included an ominous threat to classmates.

Minnesota
IRS investigates prison tax refund fraud conspiracy
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The Internal Revenue Service says it’s investigating a large-scale tax refund scheme run from a Minnesota prison.
A search warrant application says the case likely involves hundreds of fraudulent tax returns from 2006 to 2012. IRS investigator Kenneth Fry says the tax returns contain fraudulent and fictitious information, including wage and withholding details.
According to court documents, the IRS is focusing on an inmate in the Stillwater state prison who is due to be released in May. Fry tells the Star Tribune that refunds from the bogus returns were split among co-conspirators.
Authorities are also investigating some alleged accomplices outside of prison. The IRS hasn’t said how much money was involved in the alleged scheme.

Ohio
Report: Murder victim feared  accused attacker
TOLEDO, Ohio (AP) — An Ohio man who police say killed his ex-girlfriend in a weekend murder-suicide had been released from jail even though the victim had told police and her family that she was frightened of him.
The (Toledo) Blade reports that 29-year-old Jashua Perz was in jail last year for beating Kaitlin Gerber, and was ordered not to contact her.
On Feb. 27, he pleaded guilty to violating the protection order, but was released on the same day on a promise to return to court for his sentencing.
Police say that on Sunday, Perz chased down the 20-year-old Gerber and shot her four times in the back inside her car in south Toledo.
Perz then barricaded himself in his home and was later found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Nebraska
Omaha man is convicted in teen prostitution case
KEARNEY, Neb. (AP) — A 29-year-old Omaha man has made a plea deal with prosecutors and faces sentencing in May for having sex with a 14-year-old girl in a child prostitution case.
The Kearney Hub says Alex Rahe pleaded no contest last week after prosecutors lowered the charge. Court records say he was convicted of sexual assault of a minor on April 22.
His sentencing has been scheduled for May 2.
The girl’s mother has been convicted of prostituting her 7- and 14-year-old daughters by using online ads across south-central Nebraska. Her maximum prison sentences total 170 years.
The Associated Press is not using her name in order to protect her daughters’ privacy.

Massachusetts
Family sues med facility over son’s choking death
TAUNTON, Mass. (AP) — The family of a man who died after swallowing a rubber glove at a school for the severely disabled in Freetown has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the facility
The suit, filed Monday in Bristol Superior Court, alleges that staff at Crystal Springs failed to keep 21-year-old Grant Pearson safe and did not provide adequate medical care to save his life. Pearson choked to death on the glove in October 2011. He had a disorder in which a person tries to eat inedible items.
An attorney for Pearson’s parents said staff at the school knew he needed constant supervision, yet left him alone.
The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages.
Crystal Springs’ president and chief executive, who is named as a defendant, says he hasn’t seen the suit and couldn’t comment.

Alaska
Artist enters plea deal in animal body parts case
FAIRBANKS, Alaska (AP) — A 62-year-old Nenana artist charged with illegally selling and exporting Alaska animal parts has reached a plea deal with federal prosecutors.
The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner reports Miles Martin on Friday in federal court agreed to plead guilty to four felony counts and to refrain from business related to wildlife.
The deal calls for a jail sentence of six to 10 months in jail and a $6,750 fine.
Martin’s plea covered counts of selling trumpeter swan and bald eagle feathers, a walrus head with two tusks and other animal parts. Prosecutors say he offered for sale seal claws, polar bear teeth and fur, and a seal tooth.
Sentencing is set for June 7.

New York
Mom of son killed by NYPD cruiser on bike files suit
NEW YORK (AP) — The mother of a Bronx man killed when a police cruiser struck his dirt bike has filed a $50 million lawsuit against the NYPD.
Eusebia Ramirez’s lawsuit charges Police Officer Edward McClain of “carelessness and recklessness” in her son’s death on Aug. 11, 2012.
Her lawyer told the Daily News that Ramirez’s 28-year-old son was supporting her financially and emotionally. Edward Steinberg said McClain violated NYPD protocol by chasing the unregistered dirt bike. He remains on active duty.
The lawsuit was filed in the Bronx on Monday.
The city Law Department said it had not yet seen the lawsuit.

Illinois
Ex-Obama aide sues Chicago police over arrest
CHICAGO (AP) — A former official with Barack Obama’s U.S. Senate campaign has filed a federal lawsuit accusing Chicago police of improperly arresting him while investigating a sexual assault.
Craig Huffman was an assistant treasurer for Obama’s 2004 campaign.
He was arrested in 2011 at his real-estate investment firm after a hostess from the Tavern on Rush restaurant chose his image from a photo lineup. Huffman was later acquitted. The suit accuses police of including his photo in the lineup even though he did not match a description of the suspect.