Florida
Nurse pleads guilty to replacing fentanyl with saline
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) — A nurse working at a Florida hospital pleaded guilty Wednesday to stealing fentanyl and replacing the powerful pain medication with saline.
Monique Elizabeth Carter, 35, of Middleburg, pleaded guilty in Jacksonville federal court to tampering with a consumer product, according to court records. She faces up to 10 years in prison. A sentencing date wasn’t immediately set.
According to the plea agreement, Carter was working in the neural intensive care unit of Baptist Medical Center Jacksonville in September when a hospital pharmacist examining the ICU wing’s inventory of fentanyl found a syringe missing a tamper-proof cap but with some form of foreign adhesive remaining at the tip. A second fentanyl syringe had a cap that appeared to have been glued back onto the syringe.
A pharmacist supervisor reviewing hospital records found a pattern of Carter checking out doses of fentanyl for patients but then canceling the transactions and checking syringes back into the hospital’s inventory. Records showed that Carter did so 24 times over the preceding month.
When confronted with the findings, Carter eventually admitted that she had been stealing the fentanyl for personal use for several months, officials said. Carter denied injecting herself with the drug while on duty. Law enforcement officers reported finding needles, saline syringes and adhesive in her bag.
As a registered nurse, Carter knew that her actions likely resulted in critically ill patients receiving diluted fentanyl that was not safe and effective, prosecutors said.
Having been deprived of sterile, medically necessary medication, such patients were exposed to possible infection and endured unnecessary pain and suffering, officials said. Failure to anesthetize or control pain in intensive care unit patients can also increase the risk of illness or death from respiratory, cardiovascular and musculoskeletal complications.
California
Train engineer gets 3 years for intentional derailment
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A train engineer who intentionally derailed a locomotive near a U.S. Navy hospital ship that was deployed in Los Angeles harbor to help during the COVID-19 pandemic was sentenced Wednesday to three years in prison, prosecutors said.
Eduardo Moreno was also ordered to pay more than $755,000 in restitution, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said in a statement. Moreno, 46, pleaded guilty in December 2021 to one count of committing a terrorist attack.
Moreno, who worked at the Port of Los Angeles, acknowledged in his plea agreement that on March 31, 2020, he drove a locomotive at full speed off the end of the tracks near where the Mercy was docked because he believed it might be involved in a sinister conspiracy, prosecutors said
Nobody was hurt, but the derailment caused about $755,880 in damages. The train also spilled fuel that required a hazardous-materials cleanup.
Moreno told port police that he was suspicious of the Mercy “and believed it had an alternate purpose related to COVID-19 or a government takeover,” the U.S. attorney’s office said, citing court documents.
Moreno said he knew the derailment would bring media attention, and he wanted to “wake people up,” according to an affidavit filed with the criminal complaint.
The train smashed through concrete, steel and chain-link barriers and slid through a parking lot before coming to a stop about 250 yards (228 meters) from the Mercy, officials said.
Moreno said he acted alone and hadn’t planned the derailment in advance, prosecutors said.
The 1,000-bed Mercy, based at Naval Base San Diego, docked at the Port of Los Angeles in March 2020 to accept non-coronavirus patients to prevent local hospitals from being overwhelmed as cases surged.
However, the initial rise in hospitalizations wasn’t as severe as expected. The Mercy’s crew treated about 80 people before departing in mid-May.
Illinois
16-year-old indicted for murder in fatal school stabbing
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. —A grand jury indicted a 16-year-old girl for murder in the fatal stabbing of another teenager outside a Springfield high school, a prosecutor said Wednesday.
The girl, who was 15 at the time of the stabbing, was indicted in the Nov. 17 slaying of 18-year-old Pierre V. Scott Jr. outside Lanphier High School, Sangamon County State’s Attorney Dan Wright said.
The case was initially filed in juvenile court because the defendant was 15 at the time of the incident. A petition to transfer the case to adult criminal court was granted Tuesday.
Scott, who had just turned 18, was fatally stabbed outside the high school. Another student also was injured in the incident, The State Journal-Register reported.
Lanphier students held a vigil for Scott at the high school two days after his death, the same day students from three Springfield high schools walked out of morning classes, demanding the school district implement greater security.
The defendant also is charged with one count of attempted first-degree murder, aggravated battery and aggravated unlawful use of a weapon.
Kentucky
Man sentenced to a year in caviar sale
PADUCAH, Ky. (AP) — An Illinois man has been sentenced to a year in prison after admitting he illegally caught sturgeon and sold the fish roe to a caviar distributor in Tennessee.
Daniel Allen, 44, of Brookport, Illinois, pleaded guilty to violating the Lacey Act, which makes it illegal to transport and sell fish that were taken in violation of state law or regulation.
The shovelnose sturgeon were caught out of season in 2018 and 2019 using illegally sized mesh nets along the Ohio River on the Kentucky-Illinois border, according to U.S. Attorney Michael A. Bennett’s office in the Western District of Kentucky. He also caught sturgeon near the Smithland Lock and Dam in an area closed to commercial fishing, the prosecutor’s office said.
Kentucky and Illinois both regulate fishing for sturgeon and its eggs, which are marketed as caviar, Bennett’s office said.
Allen was sentenced Tuesday to 12 months and one day in federal prison, followed by two years of supervision. Allen also agreed to pay $10,000 in restitution.
Tennessee
Man charged with killing parents of court witness
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — A Tennessee man has been charged in the killing of a couple who were taking their son to court to testify about a shooting that left their son disabled, prosecutors said.
Jaja Mani, 60, was indicted on first-degree murder charges in the November 2020 shootings of Emmanuel Macdonal Sr. and Nancy Macdonal in Memphis, the Shelby County district attorney’s office said Wednesday..
The couple were preparing to take their 20-year-old son to criminal court to testify against a man who shot him when they were killed in the driveway of their home, prosecutors said. The son was seriously wounded but survived.
Investigators said Mani and another man are believed to have gone to the Macdonal’s home 10 days before the shooting and offered the couple $10,000 if their son did not testify. Mani also visited the home on his own and left $1,000 by the front door, prosecutors said.
The Associated Press could not determine whether Mani had a lawyer Wednesday.
Missouri
Charges refiled in boat sinking that killed 17
Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt’s office has refiled involuntary manslaughter charges against three men in connection with the sinking of a tourist boat that killed 17 people in 2018.
The vehicle, known as a duck boat, sank during a storm shortly after it entered Table Rock Lake near Branson on July 19, 2018. Riders from Missouri, Indiana, Illinois and Arkansas were killed. Fourteen people survived.
On April 5, Stone County Judge Alan Blankenship dismissed first-degree involuntary manslaughter charges against Kenneth Scott McKee, 54, the captain of the boat; Curtis P. Lanham, 39, the general manager at Ride the Ducks in Branson; and Charles V. Baltzell, 79, the operations supervisor who was a manager on duty when the boat sank.
Two days later, Schmitt refiled 17 involuntary manslaughter charges against each of the men. McKee also faces 12 counts of endangering the welfare of a child.
“As I’ve said previously, my Office is committed to fighting for justice on behalf of the 17 people that were tragically killed in 2018 — that’s why we re-filed the charges in this case,” Schmitt said in a statement Wednesday.
Prosecutors said the tourist boat went into the lake despite warnings of storms in the area. The boat sank after it was swamped by waves caused by the winds.
Attorneys for the three defendants have argued that the men were not aware of the severity of the storm and did not intentionally put their passengers in danger. When he dismissed the charges, Blankenship said there was no evidence the men knew about the strong winds associated with the storm.
When the criminal charges were filed last year, an affidavit from an investigator said McKee ignored concerns about an approaching storm when he took the boat onto the lake. Lanham and Baltzell were accused of failing to communicate weather conditions and to stop operations after a severe thunderstorm warning was issued.
The duck boats, which operate on land and water, were a longtime popular attraction in the tourist town of Branson. The ride closed down after the tragedy and the boats have not returned to the lake.
Florida
Woman gets 12+ years in prison for ‘child modeling’
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — A Florida woman described as a bookkeeper for international “child modeling” websites that sexually exploited young Eastern European children has been sentenced to more than 12 years in prison.
Tatiana Power, 41, of Weston, Florida, handled many financial aspects of a business called Newstar Websites, the U.S. Justice Department said in a news release Wednesday.
The sentence was imposed by Tampa U.S. District Judge Mary S. Scriven after Power pleaded guilty earlier this year to a money laundering conspiracy charge.
Prosecutors say the company recruited people under age 18 from Ukraine, Moldova, and other Eastern European countries under the guise they would become “child models” on the websites. In fact, prosecutors say, they were used to make about 4.6 million exploitative videos and images that were sold on the websites to customers in 101 different countries.
The children, some as young as 6, were engaged in sexual conduct wearing outfits like police and cheerleader costumes, transparent underwear, pantyhose and miniskirts, officials said.
The business used fraudulent bank accounts to launder some of the $9.4 million it made. Officials have disabled Newstar’s servers and are seeking forfeiture of that money.
Power was one of six people charged in connection to the case. Two have died, two others were sentenced to prison and the last defendant is not in U.S. custody.
