Court Digest

Pennsylvania
Man indicted on murder charge in shooting of postal worker
COLLIER TOWNSHIP, Pa. (AP) — A former neighbor of a U.S. Postal Service worker has been indicted on a murder charge after he told authorities he thought the mail carrier had poisoned him and his family with cyanide, federal prosecutors said.

Eric Kortz, 53, is charged with murder of a U.S. employee and firing a gun during a crime of violence in the indictment handed up Wednesday by a federal grand jury in western Pennsylvania. He remains jailed and could face a life sentence if convicted.

The shooting occurred Oct. 7  as Louis Vignone was on his mail route in Collier Township. Authorities have said Kortz told investigators he drove up, stopped in front of the postal vehicle and opened fire. He then dropped the gun and went to a borough police department to report what he did, authorities said.

Kortz told investigators he and Vignone used to be neighbors, authorities said. Kortz said he believed Vignone and Vignone’s family poisoned him and his family when the families lived close to each other.

Kortz is being represented by the public defender’s office in Pittsburgh, which has a policy of not giving comments to news outlets.

Indiana
No charges for officer who shot man who killed boy
ELKHART, Ind. (AP) — A northern Indiana police officer won’t face criminal charges for fatally shooting a man moments after the man shot and killed a 1-year-old boy during a domestic dispute, a prosecutor says.

Elkhart County Prosecutor Vicki Becker said Wednesday she had found that Elkhart city police Sgt. Mike Davis was justified when he shot and killed Lonnel Cephas Jr., 19, on Aug. 27.

The officer was responding to the fatal shooting of Danton Munoz, who was days shy of his second birthday, when he encountered Cephas in an alley and ordered him to show him his hands.

Becker said Cephas raised a gun toward his own head, then lowered it toward Davis, who opened fire with a rifle, killing Cephas.

Becker said officers found a handgun under Cephas’ body and that a firearm examiner concluded that gun had fired the bullet which killed Munoz.

The toddler’s shooting came after a dispute involving Cephas, his estranged 15-year-old girlfriend and the girl’s mother, Becker said.

She said Cephas fired multiple shots at the girl and her mother. While none of those shots hit the girl or her mother, several bullets went through a wall and door, and one struck Munoz in the head.

Rhode Island
Affidavit: Priest possessed ‘hundreds’ of child porn images
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — A Roman Catholic priest facing child pornography charges in Rhode Island was released on unsecured bond and will be allowed to travel to Kansas to stay with a family member while he awaits trial.

The Rev. James W. Jackson, 66, made an initial appearance in federaz court in Providence on Wednesday.

Prosecutors sought to have Jackson detained, saying he was a flight risk and a danger to the community. But Jackson will be allowed to travel to Kansas with home detention and GPS monitoring.

Jackson was arrested on Saturday by state police after a court-authorized search warrant was executed at St. Mary’s church and rectory in Providence.

According to an affidavit, the investigation began on Sept. 4 after police identified an IP address sharing files of “child sexual abuse materials” through a peer-to-peer network.

The IP address was linked to St. Mary’s, according to authorities.

Investigators found hundreds of images and videos of child pornography on an external hard drive owned by Jackson, according to court documents.

An email seeking comment was left with Jackson’s attorney.

Diocese of Providence Bishop Thomas Tobin in an earlier statement said Jackson has been prohibited from performing the duties of a priest.

Jackson came to the diocese in August from the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter, which has cared for St. Mary’s since June 2018. He had previously passed a background check, the organization said.

Jackson also faces arraignment on related state charges on Nov. 15.

New Jersey
Ex-cop sentenced for taking bribes to protect brothel owner
NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — A former police officer who solicited and accepted thousands of dollars in bribes from a brothel owner in exchange for protecting them from law enforcement has been sentenced to nearly four years in prison, according to federal prosecutors.

Julio Rivera, 52, an Old Bridge resident who served on the Newark police force, must also pay $17,408 in restitution and will forfeit $79,941 as part of the 46-mont prison term imposed Wednesday. He’ll also have to serve three years of supervised release once he’s freed and perform 1,000 hours of community service.

Rivera had pleaded guilty in January 2020 to bribery and aiding and assisting in the preparation of a false personal tax return. He started taking the payments in 2011 and continued through November 2016, accepting between $40,000 and $95,000 overall from a person who ran brothels in Newark, prosecutors said.

In 2015, Rivera began sending his girlfriend to receive the payments at a clothing store. In text messages, he referred to the payments as “food,” prosecutors have said.

New Jersey
Ex-veterans hospital worker admits stealing $10M in HIV meds
NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — A former pharmacy technician has admitted her role in the theft of roughly $10 million worth of prescription HIV medication from a Veterans Affairs hospital in northern New Jersey, according to federal prosecutors.

Lisa Hoffman, 49, of Orange, pleaded guilty Wednesday to theft of government property. She faces up to 10 years in prison when she’s sentenced March 9.

Hoffman worked at the hospital in East Orange, where she was responsible for ordering drugs and supplies for the site’s outpatient pharmacy and maintaining its inventory.

From October 2015 through November 2019, prosecutors said Hoffman used her position to steal prescription HIV medication from the hospital. She placed large orders for the medication, purportedly on behalf of the hospital, then stole it after it was delivered, prosecutors said.

Hospital surveillance footage captured Hoffman regularly taking dozens of bottles of HIV medications from the pharmacy shelves and eventually putting them in her bag, then leave the hospital with the stolen medication, prosecutors said.

Hoffman would routinely meet with another conspirator and sell him the stolen medications for cash. The conspirator would then sell the medications to other people.

New York
Man, 74, charged in death of WWI vet missing since 1976
NEW YORK (AP) — A 74-year-old man was arraigned Wednesday on a murder charge in connection with the death of a World War I veteran who disappeared almost 45 years ago and whose remains were found buried in a backyard in 2019, authorities said.

Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz said Martin Motta faces 25 years to life in prison if he is convicted in the death of George Seitz, who was 81 when he was last seen in December 1976.

Motta made an appearance in court after being indicted by a Queens grand jury and is due back in court Friday. His attorney, Russell Rothberg, declined to comment.

Prosecutors said dismembered human remains were found in the backyard of a Queens home in March 2019, buried under some concrete.

Initially, a DNA profile of the remains was unsuccessful in leading to any identification, authorities said, but advanced efforts by a private lab in February 2021 led to a genealogical profile that authorities were able to use to find the victim’s identity.

Authorities said Seitz disappeared Dec. 10, 1976, after leaving his residence, also in Queens.

The New York Police Department and the Queens district attorney’s office conducted an investigation that included witness interviews and record searches in five states, and which led them to Motta, authorities said.

Indiana
Six charged in death of girl, 3, who ingested fentanyl
EVANSVILLE, Ind. (AP) — A mother, two grandparents and three other people have been charged following the death of a 3-year-old southwestern Indiana girl who ingested fentanyl.

Arcinial Watt, Jazmynn Brown and Allison Smithler appeared Tuesday in court on murder, drug dealing and neglect of a child resulting in death charges, the Evansville Courier & Press reported.

The girl’s 20-year-old mother, Makaylee Opperman, and the girl’s grandparents, Brandon and Amber Opperman, also were charged with neglect of a dependent resulting in death.

The Associated Press was unable Wednesday to determine if any of those charged have attorneys.

Emergency responders found Kamari Opperman  dead Oct. 27 in an Evansville home where police discovered thousands of fentanyl pills. Two other children, ages 2 and 4, were hospitalized with apparent opioid overdoses, authorities said.

Kamari’s grandmother told police that the children “got hold” of a bag containing fentanyl pills the night before, the newspaper reported last week.

No one took Kamari to the hospital, and the other children who showed signs of overdosing didn’t get medical treatment until first responders rushed them to a hospital. They were in stable condition last week. Police believe another child, an infant, was also exposed to fentanyl.

Vanderburgh County Prosecutor Nick Hermann said detectives found more than 5,600 fentanyl pills inside the home in the city, located about 165 miles (266 kilometers) southwest of Indianapolis.

Illinois
Ex-priest who admitted abuse released from prison
CHICAGO (AP) — A defrocked Chicago priest who pleaded guilty to sexually abusing children was released from an Illinois prison last month and is now back living in the city, a state agency says.

The Illinois Department of Human Services confirmed that Daniel McCormack was released Oct. 7 from the state’s Treatment and Detention Facility for sex offenders.

McCormack, who pleaded guilty in 2007 to sexually abusing five children while he was a priest at St. Agatha’s parish, has since registered as a sex offender with the Illinois State Police and is listed as living in Chicago’s Near North neighborhood, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.

An internal report by the Archdiocese of Chicago found 30 “substantiated” claims of abuse at the hands of McCormack.

A Cook County judge ruled in 2017 that McCormack is a sexually violent person who should remain indefinitely at the state facility in the Schuyler County city of Rushville.

McCormack remained there after serving his five-year sentence in 2009. But this May, an Illinois First District Appellate Court panel overturned the judge’s decision. The appellate court found that prosecutors failed to explain why McCormack had a substantial likelihood of reoffending.

Shortly after the appellate court’s decision, the attorney general’s office said it planned to bring McCormack’s case before the Illinois Supreme Court. A spokeswoman for state Attorney General Kwame Raoul said Tuesday that the high court denied a petition seeking to reverse the appellate court’s decision.

Arkansas
Grand jury indicts man in $100 million fraud case
LAVACA, Ark. (AP) — A federal grand jury has indicted a western Arkansas man on health care fraud charges, alleging he made false billings of more than $100 million for drug and COVID-19 testing at laboratories he owns or manages.

Billy Joe Taylor, 42, of Lavaca, near Fort Smith and the Oklahoma border, was indicted Tuesday on the charges. According to federal prosecutors, Taylor submitted the false or fraudulent claims to Medicare between February 2017 and May 2021.

The indictment alleges that Taylor then used the money to buy luxury cars that included a Rolls Royce, jewelry, guitars and real estate.

He was charged with 16 counts of health care fraud and one count of engaging in a monetary transaction in criminally derived property. An arraignment is set for Nov. 23.

Each of the counts is punishable by up to 10 years in prison.

Taylor told Arkansas Business earlier this year that the allegations against him were “completely erroneous and false.”