National Roundup

North Carolina
Man charged with hiding weed near courthouse
SANFORD, N.C. (AP) — A North Carolina man has been arrested and charged with trying to hide marijuana in the bushes at a courthouse before a hearing on a possible probation violation.

Local media outlets reported that Lee County Sheriff Tracy Carter said 21-year-old Teon Shamal La'Shane Douglas of Sanford was arrested Monday after deputies saw him putting marijuana and a cellphone and some other items in the bushes at the courthouse.

The sheriff said narcotics officers saw Douglas put about 15 grams of marijuana in the bushes at the courthouse in Sanford.

Carter said Douglas was arrested after the probation hearing and charged with felony possession with intent to sell and deliver marijuana and misdemeanor possession of drug paraphernalia.

It was not known if Douglas has an attorney on the latest charges.

New York
Chinese man admits sneaking snakes over border in socks
BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — A man who was caught trying to sneak snakes into Canada in his socks has pleaded guilty.

Federal prosecutors in Buffalo say 28-year-old Chaoyi Le faces up to five years in prison after pleading guilty Tuesday to violating wildlife regulations.

He was arrested in 2014 at the Lewiston-Queenston Bridge in western New York after Canadian border agents discovered three live albino western hognose snakes hidden in his socks. At first, Le said he'd found them in a New York park, but eventually admitted buying them.

Authorities say Le, a Chinese citizen who lives in Mississauga, Ontario, was trying to avoid a U.S. Fish and Wildlife inspection.

Court documents say that on the same day, Le also mailed several snakes from New York to China.

Sentencing is set for Oct. 30.

Florida
Police say nude, drunk man fired several weapons
KEY LARGO, Fla. (AP) — Authorities say a naked drunk Florida man wanted to know if his .45-caliber gun and shotgun worked, so he fired them into the air.

Neighbors heard the gunfire Tuesday and called the Monroe County Sheriff's Office.

Spokeswoman Becky Herrin said in a news release that arriving deputies found 66-year-old Roger Scheid inside the home.

Herrin said Scheid was "naked and appeared to be intoxicated."

Investigators found the weapons and two spent casings.

Scheid first told deputies he was cleaning the guns. Then, he said he was checking to see if they worked. He is charged with unlawful discharge of a weapon and firing a weapon while under the influence. An attorney is not listed on jail records.
Judge tosses lawsuit by Jared Fogle's ex-wife against Subway

LEBANON, Ind. (AP) — An Indiana judge has dismissed a lawsuit filed by former Subway pitchman Jared Fogle's ex-wife against the fast-food chain.

The Boone County judge dismissed Kathleen McLaughlin's suit Tuesday, citing a "lack of personal jurisdiction." His order says the Subway entities McLaughlin sued have principal business operations outside Indiana and were formed in Connecticut and Florida.

The judge heard arguments last month in Subway's bid to have the suit dismissed.

McLaughlin alleged Subway officials knew of Fogle's sexual interest in children but continued promoting him as its spokesman. The couple divorced in 2015 after Fogle pleaded guilty to trading in child pornography and paying for sex with underage girls. He's serving a 15-year sentence.

The Indiana man became Subway's spokesman after losing 200 pounds (90 kilograms), partly by eating Subway sandwiches.

Maine
Witness recants murder story, says she was harassed
PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — The sole witness to a brutal 1989 killing on a Portland waterfront changed her testimony about witnessing the crime because she was being hounded relentlessly by a private investigator and defense lawyer over a period of years, prosecutors said.

Court documents reveal Hope Cady told police she felt threatened and harassed by Tony Sanborn's defense team, and that a private investigator was even following her children at school, WGME-TV reported.

Sanborn's defense lawyer denies the claim.

"Nobody has threatened or coerced any witnesses in this case on this side of the fence. All we are looking for are the facts to be presented and for the truth to prevail," Amy Fairfield said.

Cady stunned a courtroom in April when she recanted her 1992 trial testimony about seeing Sanborn fatally stab Jessica Briggs. The stunning revelation led to Sanborn being freed on bail after being locked away for 27 years.

The case is getting a new look because of Cady's testimony and questions about the conduct of police and prosecutors in the case.

Justice Joyce Wheeler is convening a hearing next week.

Court records and police reports show Cady claimed Sanborn's defense attorney and a private investigator were following her, texting her and going to her house repeatedly. "I feel like I'm backed in a corner," Sanborn told police.

Prosecutors say she's been subjected to harassment for years, and that she finally changed her testimony just to get her harassers to stop.

Cady's "recent change in testimony ... is the product of pressure and harassment over the course of several years, and in multiple states and locations," prosecutors said in a document filed in Superior Court in Portland.

Fairfield wrote that evidence that she harassed witnesses is "irrelevant and a waste of time." She said, "Nobody threatened her; nobody harassed her; nobody did anything of the sort."

Massachusetts
Woman seeks revival of defamation suit against Cosby
BOSTON (AP) — An attorney for a woman who says Bill Cosby raped her more than four decades ago has urged a federal appeals court to revive her defamation lawsuit against the comedian.

F. William Salo told a three-judge panel of the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday that Cosby destroyed Katherine McKee's reputation when his lawyer wrote a letter demanding a retraction of a 2014 New York Daily News story about her rape allegations.

Cosby's attorney told the judges that a federal court in Massachusetts was right to dismiss her lawsuit. Alan Greenberg said McKee would have to prove Cosby acted with actual malice because she became a kind of public figure when she gave the interview.

The judges are expected to rule in the coming weeks.