National Roundup

California Man charged with hitting older man over waffle BURBANK, Calif. (AP) - A 24-year-old man has been charged with elder abuse after authorities say he punched a 78-year-old man over free Nutella waffle samples at a Los Angeles-area Costco store. Prosecutors say Derrick Gharabighi, of Burbank, was charged Tuesday. He pleaded not guilty in an afternoon court appearance. He is being held on $50,000 bail, and he faces a maximum sentence of 11 years in prison if convicted. The Los Angeles County district attorney's office says he was hoarding samples of the waffles at the Burbank Costco on Sunday morning when the 78-year-old told him to take just one. Prosecutors say Gharabighi then punched the older man in the face. Police say the senior citizen was hospitalized with a 1-inch cut and swelling above his eye. Vermont Factory worker makes bomb threat to be fired ST. ALBANS, Vt. (AP) - Police say a Vermont chocolate factory worker hated his job and wanted to get fired, so he did the first thing that came to mind: He called in a bomb threat. Police say 22-year-old Kristofer Pregent stole a co-worker's cellphone and made the false threat under a different worker's name Monday night at the Barry Callebaut chocolate factory in St. Albans. Police say Pregent then threw the cellphone in a toilet tank. He first told police he received a bomb threat, then later said that didn't happen. He told officers he was unhappy with his job and wanted out. Pregent was charged with false public alarm, petit larceny and unlawful mischief. A phone number for him couldn't be found Tuesday. New Jersey Env. groups seek to appeal ExxonMobil settlement TRENTON, N.J. (AP) - Environmental advocacy groups have requested permission from a New Jersey Superior Court judge to appeal his approval of a $225 million pollution case settlement between the state and ExxonMobil Corp. The Philadelphia Inquirer reports the groups argue that the state disregarded its responsibility by settling for far less than the $8.9 billion sought at trial last year. An attorney representing the Sierra Club and Clean Water Action told Judge Michael Hogan on Tuesday that the groups want to ensure New Jersey and its citizens are adequately compensated for ExxonMobil's contamination of sites across the state. Hogan previously denied the special interest groups' request to intervene during settlement proceedings. The groups, along with state Sen. Raymond Lesniak, seek to appeal now that Hogan has signed off on the settlement. Kentucky Prisoner uses bed sheets in escape, falls LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) - Two inmates at a Louisville, Kentucky, jail could have used a course in knot-tying when authorities say they plotted an escape using bed sheets. Officials say the men escaped to the roof of a minimum-security building Monday night and used a rope made of bed sheets to climb down about four floors. Metro Corrections Director Mark Bolton says 29-year-old Matthew Johnson was climbing down when a knot on the sheets came loose, dropping him about 20 feet. He then fled. Police learned of the escape around 9 p.m., when a hospital worker saw Johnson climbing down. The second inmate, 37-year-old Christopher Cornelius, didn't risk the climb and was found on the roof. Bolton says Johnson was found hiding in a car during a traffic stop early Tuesday morning. He injured his ankle and back and remained hospitalized Tuesday. Both men were in jail on drug charges. Illinois Exhumations help identify homicide victim CHICAGO (AP) - An effort to identify the remains of young men murdered by serial killer John Wayne Gacy in the 1970s has led to a break in an unrelated case of a previously unidentified teenager found shot to death in San Francisco 36 years ago. The Cook County Sheriff's office will announce Wednesday that tests have revealed a "genetic association" between the teenager and the DNA of a woman whose half brother, Andre Drath, went missing decades ago. The sheriff asked relatives of missing teens to submit DNA to determine if it matched unidentified Gacy victims, and the woman submitted hers in 2011. The sheriff's office submitted the DNA to a federal database. The match was discovered after San Francisco authorities submitted DNA of the teen to the database last year. Pennsylvania Trooper's mom sues ex-firearms instructor PHILADELPHIA (AP) - The mother of a slain state trooper has sued the former Pennsylvania State Police firearms instructor who accidentally shot her son last year. The (Allentown) Morning Call reported Tuesday that Joan Kedra filed the federal lawsuit in Philadelphia on Friday against Richard Schroeter. Schroeter was sentenced last month to two weeks in jail, followed by three to 18 months of house arrest and other penalties after pleading guilty to reckless endangerment in the death of 26-year-old Trooper David Kedra. Prosecutors say Schroeter failed to ensure his weapon was unloaded and didn't keep it pointed away from Kedra who was with four other troopers in Schroeter's firearms class on Sept. 30. Connecticut Victim of botched police raid gets $1.5 million NEW HAVEN, Conn. (AP) - Five Connecticut police departments have agreed to pay $1.25 million to a homeowner who authorities say was the victim of a "botched SWAT-style raid" that resulted in the death of his house guest. The Stamford Advocate reports that faced with an almost certain loss in court, lawyers for police in Easton, Trumbull, Monroe, Darien and Wilton agreed Tuesday to accept a recommendation offered by U.S. District Judge Joan Margolis to settle the case. Police, acting on a tip, raided the Easton home of Ronald Terebesi in May 2008, looking for drugs and weapons. Terebesi's guest, Gonzalo Guizan, was shot and killed. Police found a small amount of drugs and no weapons. Terebesi sued the police for using excessive force. The towns previously paid $3.5 million to Guizan's family Published: Thu, Sep 24, 2015