National Roundup

New Mexico Cops: Man pretended to be cop, made lewd calls ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) -- An Albuquerque man has been ordered held on $25,000 cash bail after police said he called women and minors pretending to be a detective and asked them to perform adult acts over the phone. KRQE reports that 26-year-old Peter Ortiz made his first court appearance Sunday. A criminal complaint says Ortiz made the perverted phone calls to at least 3 women. Online court records show that Ortiz also is facing trial for 2 counts of attempted child rape. Police say Ortiz thought he arranged to pay for sex with a 10-year-old girl back in 2009. He was arrested at the meeting spot; a local McDonald's. It was unclear if Ortiz had hired an attorney. Pennsylvania Newspaper appealing boy's closed murder case PITTSBURGH (AP) -- The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review is appealing a western Pennsylvania judge's decision to close to the media and the public a juvenile court trial of a boy charged with killing his father's pregnant fiancee when he was 11 years old. Lawrence County Judge John Hodge on Friday denied requests by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review and the New Castle News that Tuesday's trial be opened to the public. But the Tribune-Review has filed a notice of appeal with the state Superior Court and also asked that court to delay Tuesday's trial until the appeal can be heard. Prosecutors originally charged Jordan Brown, of Wampum, as an adult in the February 2009 slaying of 26-year-old Kenzie Houk, but another county judge move Brown's case to juvenile court last month after the Superior Court ordered him to reconsider his earlier refusal. Texas Lubbock police shoot man, 90, who shot at them LUBBOCK, Texas (AP) -- Lubbock police say they shot and wounded a 90-year-old man who opened fire on officers responding to a burglary call. The victim, whose name was not released, was hospitalized after the Sunday shooting although his wounds were not considered life threatening. Police were called to a west Lubbock apartment complex after getting a call that several people were trying to break into an apartment. Sgt. Jonathan Stewart told the Lubbock-Avalanche Journal that when officers showed up, the man in a neighboring apartment fired a shot at them. Neighbors said the man may have become confused, that he was known to be forgetful but not aggressive or violent. North Carolina Teen tells 911 he shot father, stepmother CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) -- Police say a 15-year-old is in custody in connection with the fatal shooting of his father and stepmother in Mecklenburg County. Charlotte-Mecklenburg police say they found the bodies of a man and woman in a house after receiving two 911 calls early Monday. Police say a caller first told 911 dispatchers that he needed to talk with police but didn't say why. The same person called 911 again and police say he told the dispatcher he had shot his father and stepmother. He said he would wait for police at a nearby street corner. Officers found the teen about three-quarters of a mile from the shooting scene. Neither the victims nor the teen have been identified. Texas 3rd trial for accused killer of flight attendant DALLAS (AP) -- A former car dealer whose capital murder conviction and death sentence for the rape-slaying of a flight attendant 33 years ago in Dallas has been overturned twice by the courts is back on trial a third time. Opening statements were set for Monday in the retrial of 59-year-old Jonathan Bruce Reed. Reed is accused of the November 1978 murder of 26-year-old Wanda Jean Wadle, a flight attendant for Braniff Airlines. She was found by her roommate unconscious and with a plastic bag around her head at their northeast Dallas apartment. She died nine days later. The roommate also was attacked. She survived by feigning unconsciousness and testified against Reed. She told The Dallas Morning News 2009 she would testify again against Reed. Prosecutors again are seeking the death penalty. New York Report: Ithaca police solve widow's '77 slaying ITHACA, N.Y. (AP) -- Police have scheduled a news conference to make an announcement regarding the unsolved murder of a 75-year-old woman found smothered in her Ithaca home in 1977. Ithaca Police Chief Edward Vallely (vuh-LEL'-ee) isn't releasing any information until the news conference at 10 a.m. Monday. The Post-Standard of Syracuse reports police will announce that they've solved the murder of Ruth Van Houten, a widow found smothered on Sept. 16, 1977. Her body was found in her bed in the apartment she had lived in for 15 years. Her grandson, Ray Langlois Jr. of Trumansburg, tells the newspaper that advances in DNA evidence provided police with a breakthrough in the case. Langlois said he doesn't know if police have made an arrest. At the time of her slaying, authorities suspected Van Houten was killed during a burglary. Louisiana Firework, dry trees: attempted arson charge HOSSTON, La. (AP) -- A 41-year-old Hosston man was booked with attempted arson after allegedly shooting a Roman candle into a young pine plantation, state Agriculture and Forestry Commissioner Mike Strain said. Kevin Lee Dumas is free on $50,275 bond, according to the Caddo Parish Sheriff's Office. "Northwestern Louisiana has been under exceptional drought conditions for some time and it doesn't take much to ignite a wildfire," Strain said Friday. Caddo Parish is among 34 parishes with outdoor burn bans. Dumas was arrested after people called the sheriff's office on Sept. 13, saying they were afraid he would set the pines on fire, Forestry Enforcement Officer Jason Watts said. The sheriff's office said he was arrested Sept. 14, released, booked Sept. 16 and released on $50,000 bond. Watts said Dumas was first picked up on an outstanding Bossier Parish warrant, and arrested again after investigators found the spent Roman candle cylinder and burn marks on the road beside the plantation. Dumas does not have a listed phone number. It was unclear if he has an attorney. He's the second Hosston resident booked in recent months on a fire-related charge. In July, forestry officials said James D. Cook was booked with negligence after a fire burned 250 acres of north Caddo Parish woods and destroyed a fishing camp, storage building, motorhome and bass boat. Published: Tue, Sep 27, 2011