National Roundup

Virginia
Man gets 33 years in attempted killing of police officers

PORTSMOUTH, Va. (AP) — A Virginia man has been sentenced to 33 years in prison for trying to kill two police officers after a high-speed chase.

Jermel McSwain, 36, was sentenced Tuesday on charges including two counts of attempted capital murder of a law enforcement officer, The Virginian-Pilot reports. He pleaded guilty in June after prosecutors dropped four additional ammunition and drug charges.

Two Chesapeake officers ran the license plate of McSwain’s car during an attempted traffic stop in April 2018 and learned that he was wanted on several charges, according to prosecutors and court documents.

Prosecutor Brandon Wrobleski said McSwain fled at speeds reaching more than 100 mph, then got out and shot at officers, one of whom returned fire. McSwain got away, but his DNA was found on a hat and cigarette at the scene of the Portsmouth shootout, and drugs were found in a backpack in the car. McSwain was later arrested in Norfolk.

McSwain’s sentence totals 83 years, with 40 years suspended and 10 of the remaining 43 to be served concurrently. Defense attorney Jon Babineau said McSwain blames marijuana for his actions and plans to use his time in prison to advocate against drugs. He said McSwain regrets what he did.

Ohio
$3 million found in barrels of pork

SHELBY, N.C. (AP) — Barrels of raw pork shoulder were riding fat in a tractor trailer pulled over by North Carolina deputies.

Approximately $3 million in cash was recovered from the barrels Saturday, the Cleveland County Sheriff’s Office said in a Facebook post  Tuesday. The driver of the tractor trailer was accused of failing to maintain his lane and impeding the flow of traffic on Interstate 85.

Deputies became suspicious of the truck when a K-9 alerted to the trailer, the post says. Deputies searched the tractor trailer and discovered the cash wrapped in plastic in the barrels.

The money is believed to have been obtained from drug sales throughout the region and was headed to Mexico, Sheriff Alan Norman said.

The Department of Justice has been called to assist in the investigation, according to the sheriff’s office.

Missouri
State Supreme Court denies death row inmate’s appeal

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Missouri Supreme Court judges have denied a death row inmate’s appeal.

David Hosier was sentenced to death for killing Angela Gilpin in 2009. The 64-year-old had a relationship with Gilpin while she was separated from her husband, who also was shot to death in her Jefferson City apartment.

Hosier claims that his trial attorney did a poor job. He also says that the trial judge had a conflict of interest.

Supreme Court judges disagreed. They wrote in a Tuesday ruling that Hosier’s trial attorney made reasonable decisions.

Judges also disputed that Cole County Circuit Judge Patricia Joyce was biased. Hosier claimed she should have recused herself because she prosecuted a case to get back child support that an ex-husband owed Gilpin decades earlier.

Supreme Court judges wrote that no reasonable person would see even an appearance of impropriety in the trial judge later presiding over Hosier’s case.

Maryland
Ex-executive gets prison for $855K fraud plot

GREENBELT, Md. (AP) — A Maryland woman was sentenced Tuesday to more than three years in prison for stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from an airline and a hospitality company that both employed her as a marketing executive, prosecutors said.

U.S. District Judge Peter Messitte also sentenced Rebecca Jelfo, 47, of Silver Spring, to three years of supervised release after her 41-month prison term, U.S. Attorney Robert Hur’s office said in a news release. She could have faced up to 20 years in federal prison.

Jelfo used false and inflated invoices from vendors for marketing services or products to defraud her former employers out of more than $855,000, using the money to cover personal credit card debts and expenses, according to a court filing.

Jelfo pleaded guilty in September to one count of wire fraud. The judge ordered her to pay full restitution.

Court records describe Jelfo’s former employers as a global airline and a global hospitality company but don’t name them. Jelfo served as head of marketing and communications for the airline from 2008 through 2015 and was a senior director of luxury brand marketing for the hospitality company between January 2016 and January 2018. Her duties at both companies included contracting with marketing vendors and approving invoices.

Jelfo caused the airline to remit more than $263,000 in overpayments and caused the hospitality company to remit more than $591,000 in overpayments, according to a court filing she signed.

One vendor made payments totaling $41,000 to Jelfo’s credit card accounts with upscale department stores Neiman Marcus and Saks Fifth Avenue, the filing says. The same vendor purchased American Express gift cards that Jelfo used for personal expenses, including more than $7,000 for purchases at a high-end furniture store in Washington, D.C.

Georgia
City nixes parade amid Confederate flag lawsuit

ALPHARETTA, Ga, (AP) — A city in Georgia has voted to stop using taxpayer dollars to fund a veterans parade following a lawsuit by a group of Confederate descendants who were barred from flying the Confederate flag during the event.

The Alpharetta City Council unanimously voted to stop sponsoring the Old Soldiers Day parade, which it has co-hosted to honor war veterans for almost 70 years. In its early years, the parade was a tribute to local Civil War veterans.

The Atlanta suburb spent $20,000 on the August 2019 parade, city spokesman James Drinkard said. A local veterans group also has raised money to put on the event, but said they can’t manage it without city support.

Sons of Confederate Veterans spokesman Martin O’Toole told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that the city cancelled the parade over political correctness and was “dishonoring all American veterans” by doing so.

The group had flown the Confederate flag in the parade until the city objected beginning around 2017, the Roswell Mills Camp 1547 Sons of Confederate Veterans said. They were told they could remain in the parade as long as they didn’t fly the flag. They refused, saying no one would recognize them without it, the newspaper reported.

The group sued days before the 2019 parade, arguing for a First Amendment right to show the flags. A judge ruled Monday the case will continue and a trial could begin next summer.