LITTLE ROCK — QUOTE OF THE DAY
“It was really scary. Everyone’s kind of traumatized and doesn’t know how to act or respond.”
Jake Green,
14, a student at an Oklahoma junior high school where a 13-year-old shot and killed himself in a hallway before classes began Wednesday Article, 3A
Pleas innocent for 5 church workers
TULSA - A judge entered innocent pleas on Wednesday for five employees of a Tulsa megachurch accused of waiting more than two weeks to report the alleged rape of a 13-year-old girl.
Prosecutors filed misdemeanor charges last week against Victory Christian Center employees John Daugherty, Charica Daugherty, Paul Willemstein, Anna George and Harold “Frank” Sullivan, saying they didn’t report the allegations in a timely manner.
The church has suspended the workers pending an investigation.
Prosecutors said the girl told employees Aug. 15 she had been raped but police weren’t told until Aug. 30.
Chris Denman, a former church employee, was arrested Sept. 5 on a complaint accusing him of raping the 13-year-old girl in a stairwell in August and molesting a 15-year-old girl. He also faces new charges of making a lewd proposal to a child and using a computer to commit a sex crime involving a 12-year-old girl.
Another ex-church employee, 23-year-old Israel Castillo, was arrested last week and is charged with making a lewd proposal to a 15-year-old girl and using a computer to commit a sex crime.
Brigadier general faces sex charges
FORT BRAGG, N.C. - An Army brigadier general who served five combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan has been charged with forcible sodomy, multiple counts of adultery and having inappropriate relationships with several female subordinates, two U.S. defense officials said Wednesday.
The defense officials spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to provide details on the case.
Brig. Gen. Jeffrey Sinclair faces possible courts-martial on charges that include forced sex, wrongful sexual conduct, violating an order, possessing pornography and alcohol while deployed, and misusing a government travel charge card and filing fraudulent claims.
Sinclair, who served as deputy commander in charge of logistics and support for the 82nd Airborne Division in Afghanistan, was sent home in May because of the allegations, the officials said.
The charges were announced at a brief news conference Wednesday at Fort Bragg, the sprawling U.S. Army base in North Carolina that is home to the 82nd Airborne.
Sinclair was informed of the charges on Monday but has not been placed under arrest.
$1 million proposed in pepper-spraying
SAN FRANCISCO - The University of California has agreed to pay $1 million to settle a lawsuit filed by demonstrators who were pepper-sprayed during an Occupy protest at University of California Davis last fall, according to a preliminary settlement filed Wednesday.
Images of a police officer casually spraying orange pepper-spray in the faces of nonviolent protesters on Nov. 18, 2011, became a rallying symbol for the Occupy Wall Street movement. The demonstrators had been protesting steep tuition hikes and police brutality.
Under the proposed settlement, the University of California would pay $30,000 to each of 21 plaintiffs named in the complaint and an additional $250,000 for their attorneys to split.
The agreement, which was approved by the the University of California Board of Regents in mid-September, is subject to the approval of a federal judge.
2 children missing, did not die in fire
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Two children initially believed to have perished in a Tennessee farmhouse fire along with their step-grandparents are now considered missing and perhaps in danger, investigators said on Wednesday.
The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation said the remains of 9-year-old Chloie Leverette and 7-year-old Gage Daniel were not found, and the agency issued an endangered child alert for them on Wednesday afternoon. Investigators said neighbors last saw the children Sunday evening, hours before a fire destroyed the home in Bedford County about 40 miles southeast of Nashville.
The Bedford County sheriff said investigators did find the remains of 72-year-old Leon “Bubba” McClaran and his 70-year-old wife, Molli McClaran.
Front Section, Pages 4 on 09/27/2012