National Roundup

Indiana
Man charged with killing former football player in May

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — A man has been charged in the May 30 killing of former Indiana University football player and businessman Chris Beaty in downtown Indianapolis last May, prosecutors said Thursday.

Marcus Anderson has been charged with murder, felony murder, robbery and pointing a firearm for his suspected role in the murder of Beaty and three downtown robberies, the Marion County Prosecutor’s Office said.

Beaty, 38, was shot and killed as he walked through an alley near his apartment building during violence in downtown Indianapolis that followed protests over the death of George Floyd and police treatment of African Americans

“The tragic loss of Chris Beaty has had a tremendous impact on the Indianapolis community,” Prosecutor Ryan Mears said in a statement.

Beaty was a former Indiana University football player and played for three state championship-winning teams at Indianapolis Cathedral High School.

Online court records do not list an attorney for Anderson who might comment on his behalf.

New Jersey
Prosecutor: Dog left tied to fence for days when owners move

ROSELLE, N.J. (AP) — A New Jersey couple who left their dog tied to a backyard fence for days after they moved out of state have been charged with animal cruelty, authorities announced Thursday.

Curtis Swan, 27, and Aaleyah Clay, 29, moved from Roselle to Sandy Springs, Georgia, on Nov. 15 and told a neighbor they planned to eventually return to pick up the dog, a young male husky, according to the Union County Prosecutor’s Office.

The dog had a severe, infected open wound covering much of his neck when an animal control officer found it at the home on Nov. 20, prosecutors said. Officials brought the dog to the Newark branch of Associated Humane Societies of New Jersey for treatment and later moved it to an animal shelter in south Jersey, where it continues to recuperate.

Swan and Clay are each charged with causing serious bodily injury to a domesticated animal by neglecting it and abandonment of a domesticated animal. They could each face up to five years in prison if convicted.

Telephone numbers for the pair could not be found Thursday, and it wasn’t known if either has retained an attorney.

South Carolina
Former sheriff pleads guilty to domestic violence

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — A former South Carolina sheriff who previously pleaded guilty to stealing public money and was then arrested a month later on a criminal domestic violence charge pleaded guilty Wednesday to the abuse count.

A judge sentenced former Florence County Sheriff Kenney Boone to spend 30 days in jail or pay a $1,000 fine, suspended upon the successful completion of nearly seven months of domestic abuse counseling, South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson announced.

An additional charge of ill treatment of animals was dismissed because there was not sufficient evidence to prove accusations Boone had harmed his cat during the incident in February, Wilson’s statement said.

A police report from the night said Boone, then 53, came home intoxicated, argued with his wife about money, and then started throwing things. Boone then went to his vehicle, got a baseball bat and swung at a cat, furniture and a potted plant before threatening officers who were called to the home, the police report alleged.

A month earlier, Boone avoided prison time when he was sentenced for embezzlement and misconduct in office. But a judge held a five-year prison sentence over his head if he couldn’t complete five years of probation.

In that case, the former sheriff  admitted he used $17,000 in Florence County funds and drug seizure money to buy groceries, window tinting and other personal items. Boone was ordered to pay back the $17,000, and if he did, his probation could have been shortened to 18 months.

Before he was sentenced, Boone apologized for taking the money, saying politics were tough and pressure-filled and he had made some bad choices.

At a bond hearing in February on the domestic violence charge, Boone told a judge he was unemployed and that his 35 years in law enforcement should show he isn’t a threat to anyone.

Boone became the 10th South Carolina sheriff to be convicted of crimes in office in the past decade when he pleaded guilty to the misconduct charges.

Kentucky
Ex-NFL player Carlos Rogers pleads guilty in fraud scheme

LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) — A 12th former NFL player has admitted to participating in a multimillion-dollar scheme to defraud the league’s health care benefit program.

Former Washington Football Team and San Francisco 49ers cornerback Carlos Rogers pleaded guilty Monday in federal court in Lexington, Kentucky, to one charge of conspiring to defraud a program set up to reimburse former players for out-of-pocket medical expenses, the Lexington Herald-Leader  reported.

Prosecutors allege the players targeted the Gene Upshaw NFL Player Health Reimbursement Account Plan. It provides tax-free reimbursement of out-of-pocket medical care expenses that were not covered by insurance and that were incurred by former players, their spouses and dependents.

Indictments say a group of former players defrauded the plan by submitting false claims for expensive medical equipment, including devices used on horses. In reality, they had never purchased or received the medical equipment, prosecutors said.

The charges were consolidated in Kentucky because the fraudulent claims were processed through an insurance data center in Lexington. authorities said.

In his plea agreement, Rogers admitted to helping recruit other former players to join the scheme and provided identifying information about them to others to use in claims.

Rogers played 10 seasons in the NFL and was selected for the Pro Bowl in 2011 while he was with the 49ers. He also played for the then-Oakland Raiders. Rogers is set to be sentenced in March.

Ceandris Brown, the only former player who has been sentenced for the scheme so far, has been ordered to serve about a year in jail and must pay more than $84,000 in restitution to the health fund.

Three other former players, including ex-Washington running back Clinton Portis, are scheduled for trial in April after they pleaded not guilty.