National Roundup

Iowa
Mastermind of lottery fraud admits he rigged jackpots
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A former lottery computer programmer has pleaded guilty in Iowa to running a criminal scheme that allowed him to collect millions of dollars in lottery winnings in four other states.

Former Multi-State Lottery Association security director Eddie Tipton on Thursday admitted that he manipulated the computer software he designed, allowing him to provide winning numbers to his brother and others.

Tipton, his brother Tommy Tipton and Texas businessman Robert Rhodes will repay $2.2 million in prizes they improperly claimed in Colorado, Oklahoma, Wisconsin and Kansas.

Iowa prosecutors will ask for a 25-year prison sentence for Eddie Tipton.

Tommy Tipton also pleaded guilty Thursday in Iowa and was sentenced to 75 days in jail.

Minnesota
Sheriff says woman blamed boyfriend's death on YouTube stunt
HALSTAD, Minn. (AP) — A Minnesota woman charged with fatally shooting her boyfriend in a failed YouTube video stunt foreshadowed the event when she tweeted that it would be "one of the most dangerous videos ever."

Monalisa Perez, of Halstad, was charged Wednesday with second-degree manslaughter in the death of Pedro Ruiz III. Perez, who is pregnant, was released on $7,000 bail. The charge carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.

According to the criminal complaint filed by the Norman County Sheriff Jeremy Thornton, the 19-year-old Perez told investigators that Ruiz wanted to make a video of her shooting a bullet into a book he was holding against his chest. She says she fired from about a foot (0.3 meters) away.

Hours before the Tuesday night shooting, Perez tweeted: "Me and Pedro are probably going to shoot one of the most dangerous videos ever. HIS idea not MINE."

The complaint says Ruiz set up one camera on the back of a vehicle and another camera on a ladder nearby.

Many of the videos on Perez's YouTube channel are of her and Ruiz playing pranks and performing stunts. The most recent was posted the morning before the shooting. It's titled "Doing Scary
Stunts at the Fair, Part I" and shows the couple attending a fair last week.

"Imagine when we have 300,000 subscribers," Perez says during the video.

Primeau said Ruiz liked guns and had "plenty" of them. Authorities say Perez used a .50-caliber Desert Eagle pistol in the stunt, which is described by retailer Cabela's in an online ad as "one of the world's most powerful semiautomatic handguns."

Perez died from a single gunshot wound to the chest.

Pennsylvania
Top Philadelphia prosecutor pleads guilty, quits, is jailed
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — In a surprise development, the city's top prosecutor pleaded guilty Thursday to a corruption charge, resigned from office and was sent immediately to jail by a judge who said he couldn't be trusted.

Two weeks into his federal trial, District Attorney Seth Williams pleaded guilty to a single count of accepting a bribe from a businessman.

"I'm very sorry," Williams told the court, choking up as he acknowledged he would resign.

U.S. District Judge Paul Diamond said he was not inclined to trust Williams' assurances about appearing for sentencing set for Oct. 24, so ordered him immediately jailed. He was led out of the courtroom in handcuffs.

Diamond said he was appalled by the evidence he heard during the jury trial, and had concluded Williams "sold" his office.

Williams faces up to five years in prison.

The move came after weeks of damaging testimony against Williams, a two-term Democrat who didn't run for re-election this year.

The 50-year-old Williams was accused of illegally accepting gifts from two businessmen in exchange for legal favors. He was also charged with fraudulently using thousands of dollars from his campaign fund for personal expenses, misusing city vehicles and misappropriating money intended to fund his mother's nursing home care.

He had been charged with 29 counts of bribery, extortion and fraud.

Although 28 counts were dismissed, a prosecutor said in court that Williams admits he committed all the conduct, Philly.com reported.

Williams, a graduate of Georgetown Law School, was the city's first black district attorney.

Although he had remained in office after being indicted, his law license was suspended and a deputy was put in charge.

Last year, before he was indicted, he belatedly filed financial disclosure reports showing he had accepted about $175,000 in cash, gift and trips from friends as he struggled to maintain his family's lifestyle after a divorce. He was fined $62,000 by the city ethics board, its largest fine ever.


South Carolina
Judge rejects ACLU access to South Carolina jail inmates
SPARTANBURG, S.C. (AP) — A federal judge has refused to allow American Civil Liberties Union attorneys to have unlimited access to inmates at a South Carolina jail while the group pursues a lawsuit on the issue.

The Herald-Journal of Spartanburg reported U.S. Magistrate Judge Kevin McDonald earlier this week denied a request for a preliminary injunction by the civil rights group during its lawsuit against the Spartanburg County jail.

The ACLU wanted face-to-face visits with inmates while the court decides the constitutionality of the Spartanburg jail's visitation policy.

The civil rights group sued the jail in May after ACLU lawyers were denied permission to interview 27 inmates in person. The ACLU has been investigating civil rights violations involving the mishandling of indigent defendants in courts.

The jail says its policy requires that a prior relationship exist with an inmate before granting a request for a professional visit. The ACLU says that violates the inmates' First Amendment rights.
An attorney for the jail, Todd Darwin, has said the county is not trying to keep the ACLU from seeing inmates, but rather is concerned with the safety and security of the jail when visitors arrive.
Darwin has suggested that attorneys for the civil rights group mail letters to inmates to arrange meetings.

ACLU attorney Troy Tessier said some inmates are unable to read and that going through the mail takes too much time, especially since the inmates they want to talk with in jail are often held there only briefly for low-level offenses.

In rejecting the request for a preliminary injunction, the judge said he considers the jails policy is reasonable.