Georgia
Woman admits guilt in reading program scheme
OXFORD, Miss. (AP) — A Georgia businesswoman has pleaded guilty to federal charges of bribing a former superintendent of schools in Greenville, Miss., in exchange for a contract for her company’s reading program
Edna Goble entered the plea Monday to one count in federal court in Oxford shortly before her trial was to begin. No sentencing date has been set. She faces a maximum of five years in prison and three years’ supervised release.
Goble, of Conyers, Ga., faced 10 counts of providing things of value to former superintendent Harvey Franklin Sr. in exchange for a consulting contract with the Greenville Public School District.
Goble is founder and president of Teach Them to Read Inc., a reading-intervention company that was paid $1.4 million by the Greenville district, according to court documents.
Franklin pleaded guilty in August of 2012 to accepting $47,000 in bribes from Goble. He has not been sentenced. He resigned in May of 2012.
Franklin was appointed superintendent in Greenville in July 2009. The district’s contract with Teach Them to Read Inc. started in January 2010, and prosecutors said the $1.4 million paid to the Goble’s company all came from federal grants.
The indictment alleged Goble bought cashier’s checks through her business and used them to pay for improvements to Franklin’s home and tuition for Franklin’s children to Drexel University and Tulane University. The indictment said Goble also paid off a truck loan and Franklin’s credit card debt. The indictment says payments were made between May 2010 and May 2011.
Goble’s reading program, called EDNA, for Early Detection Necessary Action, provided training and supplies for kindergarten through third grade. Officials have said Greenville was the only school district in Mississippi using EDNA.
Vermont
Murder suspect set to invoke insanity defense
CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — A Vermont man charged with killing a private school trustee at a New Hampshire hotel has signaled his intent to invoke a defense of not guilty by reason of insanity.
Lawyers for 37-year-old Rodney Hill of Danville, Vt. have a requested a hearing on their notice of his intent to enter the insanity plea, court documents show.
Hill was indicted in June for second-degree manslaughter in the stabbing death of 70-year-old Catherine Houghton of California in the lobby of the Hampton Inn in Littleton.
Houghton was in New Hampshire for a board of trustees meeting at the White Mountain School, from which she graduated in 1960.
The Caledonian Record reports that a competency hearing for Hill is scheduled for Nov. 14.
Ohio
Parents of child who was fenced-in get jail sentence
LANCASTER, Ohio (AP) — A central Ohio couple who confined a 4-year-old girl at night in a bed wrapped with steel fencing have pleaded guilty to child endangering in a plea deal and been sentenced to 180 days in jail, minus time already served.
The couple told a Fairfield County judge they were trying to keep the girl safe because she wandered at night. The prosecution contended it was improper parenting and had argued the Pleasantville couple should spent at least some time in prison.
A judge on Monday sentenced 36-year-old Russell Terry and 33-year-old Jamie Curnell. They won’t have to serve their suspended 78-month prison sentences if they complete five years of probation.
Kidnapping and abduction charges against them were dismissed.
County Prosecutor Gregg Marx says a relative now cares for the girl.
Idaho
Man gets term of 30 years for child porn trafficking
BOISE, Idaho (AP) — A 33-year-old Idaho former resident will spend 30 years in prison for sexually exploiting children.
Michael Brian Clair, from Hazelton, was sentenced Monday in U.S. District Court in Boise.
Clair had pleaded guilty to filming two prepubescent minors he used to engage in sexually explicit conduct. He transported the images from Arizona to Idaho in late 2012.
Clair was also involved in trafficking sexually explicit images of 45 other children.
His crimes came to light while conversing via email with the undercover agent, when prosecutors say Clair made statements about having inappropriate sexual contact with a four-year-old female and discussed trading explicit images.
Law enforcement officers say the tough sentence underscores that child pornographers like Clair destroy innocent lives.
After he’s released, Clair will spend 20 years under supervision.
Pennsylvania
Child abuse trial is delayed for prosecutor, wife
PITTSBURGH (AP) — A judge has delayed the trial of a state deputy attorney general and his wife charged with physically abusing two adopted children from Ethiopia so their attorney can have more time to find a medical expert.
Thirty-four-year-old Douglas and 31-year-old Kristen Barbour were to stand trial Monday, but an Allegheny County judge delayed that until Jan. 13.
The Franklin Park couple has pleaded not guilty to charges they didn’t properly feed their adopted 7-year-old son, and physically abused their now 2-year-old adopted daughter, who was found with multiple skull fractures last September.
Douglas Barbour has been suspended from his job as a deputy attorney general since the charges were filed.
The couple has argued the adopted children weren’t maltreated, and that their daughter banged her own head. They have biological children ages 6 and 3.
Montana
Man sentenced in woman’s overdose with methadone
BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — A Miles City man who pleaded guilty to giving methadone to a woman who later died of an overdose has been sentenced to three years in federal prison.
The Billings Gazette reports 27-year-old Joseph Daniel Capehart was sentenced Monday by U.S. District Judge Sam Haddon in Helena.
Capehart pleaded guilty in July to distribution of methadone and aiding and abetting distribution. He admitted giving methadone to 29-year-old Crystal Harrell. An autopsy determined she died in October 2011 from a self-administered intravenous injection of the drug that is used to treat pain or ease withdrawal symptoms.
Capehart was initially charged with distribution of methadone resulting in death, but prosecutors say it was possible Harrell obtained methadone from someone besides Capehart in the days before her death.
