National Roundup

Massachusetts
School: Evidence found of sexual misconduct by ex-headmaster
EASTHAMPTON, Mass. (AP) — A private boarding school in Massachusetts says it has uncovered credible reports of sexual misconduct by a former headmaster that involved students.
Masslive.com reports that Williston Northampton School in Easthampton sent a letter to the school community this week that said it had four firsthand reports that former headmaster Robert Ward “violated the standards of professional boundaries” during his tenure from 1972 until 1979.
Williston Northampton began investigating after The Loomis Chaffee School in Windsor, Connecticut, said it had uncovered credible sexual assault reports involving Ward that dated to the 1960s.
Ward died in 1986.
The letter from current Williston Northampton headmaster Robert Hill III and trustees president John Hazen White Jr. said further details will not be released because of privacy concerns.

Ohio
Judge to hear ex-treasure hunter’s request to end jail time
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — An Ohio judge will hear a request by an ex-treasure hunter jailed on contempt-of-court charges to end his imprisonment.
Federal Judge Algenon Marbley has held defendant Tommy Thompson in contempt since December 2015 for violating terms of a plea deal by refusing to respond to questions about the location of 500 missing gold coins.
Thompson’s attorney argues federal law prohibits holding someone under such conditions for longer than 18 months. Investors in the treasure hunt trying to recoup their money disagree.
Marbley has scheduled arguments from both sides for Aug. 18.
The coins are valued at up to $4 million and were minted from gold taken from the S.S. Central America. It sank in an 1857 hurricane.
Thompson has hinted the coins were turned over to a trust in Belize.

Iowa
Man accused of stealing more than 21.5M gallons of water
DUBUQUE, Iowa (AP) — A mobile home park owner has been accused of stealing more than 21.5 million gallons of water from the city of Dubuque.
Court records say Michael Friederick is charged with theft and ongoing criminal conduct. Friederick didn’t immediately return a call Wednesday from The Associated Press. Court records don’t list the name of an attorney who could comment for him.
The records say city officials suspect Friederick of opening a valve that lets water bypass meters into lines for his Table Mound Mobile Home Park. A search warrant application says city officials estimate the city revenue loss at nearly $177,000 from April 2012 to July 2016.

Montana
Man fit to stand trial in woman’s  burning death
BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — A federal judge has ruled a Montana man is mentally competent to stand trial for the beating and burning death of a woman on the Crow Indian Reservation.
Dimarzio Swade Sanchez of Busby is one of three people charged in the April 2016 assault that led to the death of 28-year-old Roylynn Rides Horse.
The Billings Gazette reports a U.S. Bureau of Prisons psychologist testified Tuesday that while Sanchez had substance abuse issues along with anxiety and depression, he was able to understand the charges and assist in his defense on the first-degree murder charge.
U.S. District Judge Susan Watters has not set a trial date.

Ohio
Actor James Woods seeks dismissal of suit over retweet
CHILLICOTHE, Ohio (AP) — Actor James Woods is asking a court to dismiss an Ohio activist’s defamation lawsuit against him over a comment he retweeted during the presidential campaign season.
The Columbus Dispatch reports Portia Boulger, a Chillicothe resident and supporter of Bernie Sanders, filed the federal lawsuit in March. Boulger is seeking $3 million in damages.
The Twitter account @voxday mistakenly identified Boulger as a woman in a Donald Trump T-shirt appearing to give a Nazi salute during a March 2016 rally for Trump. Woods’ account then retweeted the photo and tweet, asking, “So-called #Trump ‘Nazi’ is a #BernieSanders agitator/operative?”
The same day, @voxday issued a correction to its original tweet, saying the woman in the T-shirt wasn’t Boulger. Woods tweeted a correction 10 days later.

New Hampshire
Man gets 111⁄2 years in prison for deadly fentanyl overdose
CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — A man has been sentenced in New Hampshire federal court to serve 11½ years in prison after pleading guilty to distributing fentanyl to a woman who died from using the drug.
Court documents say 32-year-old Benjamin Rogers, formerly of Newmarket, worked at a restaurant in Portsmouth with Cassie Clermont. In 2014, he gave her drugs. Clermont left the restaurant and went to her apartment in Portsmouth, where she was found dead the next day.
Fentanyl and drug paraphernalia were found near Clermont’s body. The New Hampshire Medical Examiner later found that the 30-year-old Clermont died of acute fentanyl intoxication.
Prosecutors said Rogers falsely claimed he had obtained heroin from Clermont and deleted text messages that were later recovered.

Pennsylvania
Cops jail drug suspect who taunted them
BENSALEM, Pa. (AP) — Police say they’ve jailed a Pennsylvania drug suspect who had taunted them on social media, saying they wouldn’t be able to find and jail him.
But Bensalem police on Tuesday posted notice on their website that 20-year-old Shaheen Malik had been arrested on charges he sold acid, marijuana and ecstasy. Police say the suspect called himself “Hash” and used a woman’s alias on Facebook, where the taunts were posted.
Police say the public helped them locate Malik after police posted an alert on their website about Malik’s social media taunts.
Online court records don’t list an attorney for Malik.
He faces a preliminary hearing Aug. 15.