National Roundup

Florida Sheriff: Judge's stolen nameplate seen on Facebook FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) -- Authorities in South Florida say a man is facing charges after he was seen in a photo on Facebook holding a judge's stolen nameplate. Twenty-one-year-old Steven Mulhall was arrested Thursday on violation of probation charges. Broward County Sheriff Al Lamberti told the South Florida Sun-Sentinel Mulhall pried the $40 nameplate from the courtroom door of Broward Circuit Judge Michael Orlando. He says Mulhall has multiple petty theft convictions and now faces felony charges. Arrest reports show the nameplate was stolen last month. Authorities received a tip that Mulhall took the nameplate and that the picture could be found on his girlfriend's Facebook page. The nameplate will be returned to the judge. A phone number wasn't available for Mulhall. Washington Facebook 'friend' offer exposes man's other wife TACOMA, Wash. (AP) -- A county corrections officer in Washington state has been charged with bigamy after Facebook discovered two women were connected to him and suggested they might want to be "friends." Pierce County prosecutors say Alan L. O'Neill married a woman in 2001, moved out in 2009, changed his name and remarried without divorcing wife No. 1. Wife No. 1 recently found out about Wife No. 2 when Facebook detected their connection to O'Neill and suggested the friendship connection. Wife No. 1 then called the defendant's mother, Pierce County Prosecutor Mark Lindquist told The News Tribune. "An hour later the defendant arrived at (Wife No. 1's) apartment, and she asked him several times if they were divorced," court records show. "The defendant said, 'No, we are still married.'" Neither O'Neill nor his first wife had filed for divorce, according to charging documents. The name change came in December, and later that month he married his second wife. O'Neill allegedly told Wife No. 1 not to tell anybody about his dual marriages, that he would fix it, the documents state. Wife No. 1 alerted authorities. O'Neill, 41, was previously known at Alan Fulk. He has worked as a Pierce County corrections officer for five years, sheriff's spokesman Ed Troyer said. He was placed on administrative leave after prosecutors charged him Thursday. He could face up to a year in jail if convicted. Virginia Man sentenced for 25 DUIs in Va., Ala., Ga. VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (AP) -- A Virginia Beach man who racked up at least 25 arrests for drunken driving in several states has been sentenced to seven years in prison. WVEC-TV reports (http://bit.ly/wDOsR8 ) that a judge sentenced 39-year-old Tracy Michael Decker on Tuesday. Decker is also banned from driving for 20 years after DUI arrests in Virginia, Alabama and Georgia. Decker spent more than four years in a Virginia prison after a 2006 arrest on the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel. His blood alcohol-content was .28, he had an open container and two 4-year-old children who were not in car seats. Decker was released from prison in 2010, but arrested for DUI in Alabama four times within eight months. His new arrests violated the conditions of his release in Virginia. Nebraska State Supreme Court disbars unlicensed lawyer LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) -- A Nebraska lawyer has been disbarred for practicing law without a license for nearly a decade, court records show. The Nebraska Supreme Court disbarred David M. Walocha after considering that he entered appearances in at least 65 cases in Douglas County when he was not a licensed attorney. Court records show Walocha was admitted to the bar on Sept. 22, 1994. On June 21, 1996, he was suspended for failure to pay his bar dues. From 1998 and through 2011, Walocha engaged in the practice of law. Records show he provided legal advice, charged his clients fees and represented himself to be a licensed attorney when he was not. Georgia Immigrant prevails in dispute over lottery win WARNER ROBINS, Ga. (AP) -- A central Georgia jury has decided that a $750,000 lottery ticket will go to an immigrant in a dispute over the ticket which led to a trial in Warner Robins. The Telegraph of Macon reports that jurors deliberated for about 35 minutes before returning their verdict Thursday. Jose Antonio "Tony" Cua-Toc, a 27-year-old native of Guatemala, had filed a lawsuit against Erick Cervantes, a Fort Valley business owner who claimed the winning Jingle Jumbo Bucks lottery ticket from Georgia lottery officials in 2010. Cua-Toc's lawyers say his winnings after taxes total $517,500. The jury also awarded him $207,000 in attorney's fees, as well as $25,000 in punitive damages. New York Feds: NYC hacker also involved with drug dealing NEW YORK (AP) -- The American computer hacker who shook the Internet underground by becoming an FBI informant didn't just break the law on the Web. Documents indicate he also carried a gun and was involved in drug dealing. Court documents show that in exchange for his cooperation, federal prosecutors agreed not to prosecute admitted hacker Hector Xavier Monsegur for a variety of other crimes, including his attempted sale of a pound of marijuana in 2010 and another four pounds in 2003. They also agreed not to prosecute him for gun possession, purchasing stolen jewelry and running up $15,000 on a former employer's credit card. Monsegur pleaded guilty to computer crimes in August. His cooperation with federal agents led to five arrests and the breakup of a feared hacker group called Lulzsec. North Carolina Charlotte lawyer withdraws from Edwards defense RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) -- A well-known Charlotte defense lawyer has plans to withdraw from the team representing John Edwards in his upcoming criminal trial. Jim Cooney filed the request in U.S. District Court on Thursday. Cooney has advised Edwards on the case since before the former presidential was indicted in June. Cooney would not comment Friday. Notice of his departure comes three days after Edwards added two Greensboro lawyers to his defense team who had represented his mistress Rielle Hunter in a lawsuit over ownership of a sex tape. Edwards faces six criminal counts related to campaign finance violations over nearly $1 million from two wealthy donors used to hide the pregnant Hunter as he sought the White House in 2008. He has pleaded not guilty. Jury selection is to begin April 12. Published: Mon, Mar 12, 2012