Pennsylvania
Woman gets 6 to 20 years in presumed 2011 death of husband
YORK, Pa. (AP) — A Pennsylvania woman has been sentenced to six to 20 years in prison on charges in the disappearance and apparent death of her husband more than a decade ago — charges based in part on a partial scalp found in a bag along a road.
Hours before jury selection was to begin in her York County trial last week, 71-year-old Virginia Hayden pleaded no contest to third-degree murder and tampering with public records. A no-contest plea spares a defendant from having to acknowledge guilt but is treated as a guilty plea by the court.
Hayden was charged in 2019 with first-degree murder and 65 other criminal counts, including forgery, theft, and receiving stolen property in the disappearance and presumed death of Thomas Hayden Sr., who went missing in the fall of 2011.
Prosecutors say a large section of scalp with hair that appeared to be tied in a ponytail was found along with bloody pieces of cloth in a FoodSaver bag along a road in January 2012. DNA tests didn’t turn up a match then, but the remains were later identified as belonging to Thomas Hayden based on samples provided by his two brothers.
A forensic analysis could not conclude whether Thomas Hayden was dead or alive when his scalp was cut off, but said if he was alive, the act would have resulted in his death. A forensic pathologist testified in 2019 that he likely died of a gunshot wound, based on the state of microscopic bone particles found in the blood with the scalp.
Authorities said Virginia Hayden told police multiple times that Thomas decided to travel to Mexico and never came back, according to charging documents. His body has never been found.
Defense attorneys declined comment Tuesday. Hayden was given credit for 1,227 days she has already served in jail since her arrest in 2019. She still faces a federal trial slated for February on charges of wire fraud and conversion of government funds in connection with more than $100,000 gained from Social Security from 2011 to 2017.
Missouri
Former Chiefs assistant coach pleads guilty in crash
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Former Kansas City Chiefs assistant coach Britt Reid pleaded guilty Monday to felony driving while intoxicated resulting in serious physical injury stemming from a 2021 crash, which occurred when his pickup truck struck two stopped cars on an interstate entrance ramp and seriously injured a 5-year-old girl.
Reid, the 37-year-old son of Chiefs coach Andy Reid, had been scheduled to go to trial on Sept. 26. Britt Reid had faced up to seven years in prison, but the plea deal means he now faces a possible sentence of up to four years in prison. He entered his plea in Jackson County Circuit Court in Kansas City. Sentencing is set for Oct. 28.
While questioning Reid to confirm that he understood the plea deal, Circuit Judge Charles McKenzie said Reid also could serve a short period of time in prison and then be placed on probation if he qualifies for good behavior.
Investigators said Reid was intoxicated and driving about 84 mph (135 kph) when his Dodge truck hit the cars on an entrance ramp to Interstate 435 near Arrowhead Stadium on Feb. 4, 2021.
A girl inside one of the cars, Ariel Young, suffered a traumatic brain injury. Six people, including Reid, were injured in the crash.
In court Monday, Reid acknowledged he was drinking on the night of the crash.
“I really regret what I did,” Reid said. “I made a huge mistake. I apologize to the family. I didn’t mean to hurt anyone.”
Tom Porto, an attorney representing Ariel’s family, said they opposed the plea deal.
“The five victims of this crime are outraged the prosecuting attorney is not seeking maximum sentence allowable by law,” Porto said. “The defendant is a prior offender whose actions caused a 5-year-old girl to be in a coma and seriously injured three others.”
A Kansas City police officer who arrived at the scene of the crash reported he could smell alcohol and that Reid’s eyes were bloodshot, according to court documents. Reid had a blood-alcohol level of 0.113 two hours after the crash, police said. The legal limit is 0.08.
One of the vehicles he hit had stalled because of a dead battery and the second was owned by Ariel’s mother, who had arrived to help.
The Chiefs reached a confidential agreement with Ariel’s family in November to pay for her ongoing medical treatment and other expenses.
Reid underwent emergency surgery for a groin injury after the crash. The Chiefs placed Reid on administrative leave and his job with the team ended after his contract was allowed to expire.
This is not the first legal issue for Reid, who graduated from a drug treatment program in Pennsylvania in 2009 after a series of run-ins with law enforcement. His father was coach of the Philadelphia Eagles at the time.
Britt Reid’s older brother, Garrett, served a two-year sentence in a Pennsylvania state drug program after he was arrested on drug-related charges. Garrett Reid was found dead in August 2012 in his dorm room at Lehigh University, where he was assisting at the Eagles’ training camp. A coroner ruled that he died of an accidental heroin overdose.
Illinois
Man pleads guilty to felonies in 2021 Capitol riot
CHICAGO (AP) — A central Illinois man pleaded guilty Friday to felony charges for assaulting a law enforcement officer and a member of the news media during the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol, prosecutors said.
Shane Jason Woods, 44, of Auburn, Illinois, south of Springfield, pleaded guilty in the District of Columbia to assaulting, resisting, or impeding law enforcement officers and a related federal assault charge, prosecutors said.
Court documents say Woods was among people on the Capitol grounds illegally, joining a mob in the Lower West Terrace area. Someone in the crowd sprayed a Capitol Police officer with a chemical irritant and fled, and when the officer pursued that person, Woods lowered his shoulder and rammed into her, knocking her off her feet and sending her crashing into a downed bicycle barricade, prosecutors said.
Later that day, Woods gathered with other rioters in the media staging area at the Capitol and joined others in damaging media equipment, according to prosecutors. When a member of the media tried to walk away to protect himself and his camera, Woods ran at him and tackled him, knocking him to the ground and causing him to drop the camera, prosecutors said.
Woods was arrested June 24, 2021, in Springfield.
He is scheduled to be sentenced on Jan. 13, 2023. The charge of assaulting, resisting, or impeding a law enforcement officer carries a statutory maximum of eight years in prison. The federal assault charge carries a statutory maximum of one year. Both charges also carry potential financial penalties. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
Woods is among more than 30 Illinois residents charged in the Capitol riot.
Minnesota
Man gets life for selling fentanyl in 11 fatal ODs
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A Minnesota man was sentenced to life in prison Monday for selling fentanyl online that led to 11 fatal overdoses.
A federal jury in March convicted Aaron Broussard, 32, of Hopkins, of 17 counts including distribution of fentanyl resulting in death. Federal prosecutors said at trial that Broussard’s customers thought they were buying a stimulant similar to Adderall.
Senior U.S. District Judge Susan Richard Nelson praised the bravery of victims and family members who gave impact statements in court, and told Broussard: “Your disregard for human life is terrifying,” the Star Tribune reported.
Defense attorney Aaron Morrison argued in a court filing before sentencing that a 20-year prison term would be sufficient, saying his client didn’t know he was mailing fentanyl to his victims. Prosecutors responded that Broussard kept selling fentanyl even after learning some people had become seriously ill.
West Virginia
5 doctors plead guilty in pain pill scheme
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — Five doctors pleaded guilty in a pain pill prescription scheme involving clinics in West Virginia and Virginia, federal prosecutors said Monday.
The scheme was tied to the Hope Clinic and involved prescribing oxycodone and other controlled substances that weren’t for legitimate medical purposes from 2010 to 2015. Some prescriptions provided up to seven pills per day, and several Hope locations averaged 65 or more daily customers during a 10-hour workday with only one practitioner working, prosecutors said in a news release.
Hope Clinic had offices in Beckley, Beaver, and Charleston, West Virginia, and in Wytheville, Virginia.
Four of the physicians each pleaded guilty in federal court in Charleston to a felony count of aiding and abetting obtaining a controlled substance by fraud, the statement said.
Those physicians are William Earley, 66, of North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina; Brian Gullett, 45, of Clarksville, Pennsylvania; Roswell Tempest Lowry, 88, of Efland, North Carolina; and Vernon Stanley, 79, of Fayetteville, West Virginia.
Mark Clarkson, 64, of Princeton, West Virginia, pleaded guilty to five misdemeanor counts of aiding and abetting the misbranding of a drug involved in interstate commerce, the statement said.
“These pleas show our office’s continuing effort to protect lives and prevent future overdoses through all means possible,” U.S. Attorney Will Thompson said. “A lot of effort has gone into this case.”
Gullett, Earley and Stanley signed numerous oxycodone prescriptions for a customer at a Charleston Hope Clinic in 2013. They admitted that the customer’s medical chart did not support the prescriptions, which were not for a legitimate medical purpose, prosecutors said.
In August 2014, Lowry signed prescriptions for a Hope customer in Charleston for 180 oxycodone pills. He admitted intentionally not reading the customer’s chart to determine if those prescriptions were necessary. Instead, Lowry issued the same prescriptions for the customer that were provided by previous physicians, the statement said.
Gullett, Earley, Lowry and Stanley admitted the customers reported being addicted to pain medication, had failed or had abnormal drug screenings several times, bought pills on the street and sold pills from their Hope prescriptions to others. The physicians did not discuss the possibility of addiction or the need for addiction treatment with these customers, the statement said.
Clarkson admitted to helping Hope Clinic issue prescriptions after major retailers had stopped filling them and smaller pharmacies could not meet the demand of Hope customers. In 2014, Clarkson wrote illegitimate prescriptions for a total of 635 oxycodone pills for five different Hope customers in Virginia that were filled at Adkins Pharmacy in Gilbert, West Virginia, prosecutors said. Adkins Pharmacy agreed in 2020 to pay a $88,000 fine.
Sentencing for the physicians is scheduled for Dec. 22. Gullett, Earley, Lowry and Stanley face up to four years in prison and a $250,000 fine apiece. Clarkson faces up to five years in prison and a $500,000 fine.
The physicians were indicted in 2018 along with the owners, managers and other physicians associated with Hope Clinic and a group that managed Hope’s daily operations. The remaining defendants are awaiting trial.
