National Roundup

Pennsylvania
Man pleads not guilty to having stolen gun in movie theater

PITTSBURGH (AP) - A Georgia man has pleaded not guilty to federal charges he carried a stolen gun and ammunition into a Pennsylvania movie theater.

Twenty-one-year-old William Gossett entered the plea at his arraignment Monday before a federal magistrate in Pittsburgh.

Police arrested the Covington, Georgia, man July 23 at the Cinemark Theater in Center Township after he was spotted wearing long-sleeved military fatigues and carrying a large bag into the theater on a 90-degree day. Police searched the bag and found a gun reported stolen in Ohio.

Gossett has an identity theft conviction in Georgia and can't have weapons.

He's charged with illegal possession of a gun and ammo by a felon. He also waived a detention hearing, meaning he'll remain jailed until trial.

Court records don't list a defense attorney.

New York
Father learns of son's death when police answer cell

HEMPSTEAD, N.Y. (AP) - A Long Island father learned his 15-year-old son had been killed after he called the teen's cellphone and a police detective answered, and the boy's mother learned of his death while she was hospitalized.

Raul Guzman, of Hempstead Village, tells Newsday he called their son, Joshua, on Monday to make sure the high school sophomore was in school.

Guzman learned that Joshua had been fatally shot overnight. He was found lying in a street gutter. Guzman says Joshua must have gone out while he was asleep. Guzman says he'd told his son not to leave the house and the teen said he wouldn't.

There have been no arrests.

The boy's mother was being treated for a broken back from a car crash about a week ago.

Illinois
Prosecutors: Collector used fake Heisman to secure loan

CHICAGO (AP) - Federal prosecutors in Chicago have filed fraud charges against an Arkansas sports memorabilia collector, accusing him of defrauding investors by offering a phony Heisman Trophy as collateral for a $100,000 loan.

John Rogers of North Little Rock was charged with one count of wire fraud. According to court papers filed Friday, Rogers took a ceremonial Heisman Trophy that was awarded in 1960 to the emcee of the awards banquet and affixed a new nameplate, making it appear as if it had been given to the top college football player of the year.

Rogers is set for arraignment next week in Chicago.

The Chicago Tribune reported that Rogers' trophy purported to be from Oklahoma running back Billy Sims, who won in 1978 and is one of the few Heisman winners to sell his trophy. According to prosecutors, Rogers also created a fake letter from the Heisman winner confirming the authenticity of the trophy. While in suburban Chicago, Rogers was accused of sending an email in 2011 verifying the trophy's provenance, which led to the federal wire fraud charge.

The Heisman, which is the highest honor in college football, is given ceremonially "on rare occasions" to people who don't play college football, as it was in 1960, court papers said.

Rogers is the former owner of Sports Card Plus and Rogers Photo Archive, which bought photo archives from newspapers and other collectors across the country. He apologized for his actions Monday in a Facebook post.

"The last thing I want is for anyone to speak or feel any ill will towards our federal government, FBI or law enforcement out of love for me," Rogers said. "The men and women who have handled my case have been nothing but professional and honorable and I am thankful for them because they saved my life from a downward spiral of cocaine addiction. Had they not stepped in, I would be dead now. I made hugely regretful, shameful mistakes, clouded in the daily haze of drug addiction, that I am ready to acknowledge and accept."

Rogers confirmed to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette newspaper that he wrote the Facebook post and he declined further comment.

Louisiana
Man sentenced to 5 years in fatal beating of dog

GONZALES, La. (AP) - A Louisiana judge has sentenced a man to five years in prison for beating his dog to death with a baseball bat.

The Advocate reports District Judge Jason Verdigets sentenced Jamari Jackson of Prairieville on Monday. Jackson had faced up to 10 years in prison.

Prosecutors say Ascension Parish sheriff's deputies found the dying dog whimpering and struggling to breathe June 2014 at Jackson's home after a witness had reported seeing Jackson beating the dog with a bat. A bat matching the witness's description was found in Jackson's house.

Jackson's defense attorney had asked Verdigets for a hearing before sentencing to present mitigating testimony, but Verdigets would not allow it, saying in this instance Jackson did not have an absolute right to such a hearing.

ConnecticutCity to pay $2.9M to settle fatal police crash suit

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) - The city of Hartford has reached a $2.9 million settlement agreement with the estate of a man who was fatally injured when a speeding police cruiser struck his car in July 2012.

The Hartford Courant reports the settlement between the city and the estate of 50-year-old Anthony Mansfield was reached in January but wasn't revealed until Monday.

Mansfield died at a hospital seven days after the July 13, 2012 accident involving a patrol car driven by Officer Taikwon Dudley.

Police say Dudley was driving 57 mph when he went through a red light at the intersection of Woodland Street and Albany Avenue and struck Mansfield's vehicle. The officer was pursuing an armed suspect at the time.

Dudley was acquitted of all charges stemming from the crash.

Louisiana
Man who killed 2 during Mardi Gras gets 45 years

NEW ORLEANS (AP) - The man who shot and killed two people during a Mardi Gras parade in New Orleans has pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 45 years in prison.

Media outlets report 20-year-old John Hicks avoided a life sentence by pleading guilty Monday to two counts of manslaughter, instead of the murder charges he was facing. He also pleaded guilty to one count of obstruction of justice, and carrying a firearm on a parade route.

Hicks shot and killed 21-year-old Peter Dabney and 22-year-old Ivan Williams during the St. Charles Avenue Mardi Gras Parade on Feb. 12, 2015. Police said in an arrest warrant that Hicks confessed to the shooting and that he had been in a "verbal altercation that turned physical."

On Monday, Hicks apologized to the families of the victims.

Published: Wed, Sep 14, 2016