WAKEFIELD, Neb. (AP) — An accountant charged with stealing nearly $110,000 from a northeast Nebraska church has pleaded not guilty.
Dixon County District Court records say 45-year-old Michael Pommer, of Wakefield, entered the written pleas Wednesday to 15 counts of theft. The records don’t show that a trial has been scheduled.
Pommer’s accused of taking the money from two bank accounts of Salem Lutheran Church without church officials’ authorization. The records say the bank account transfers occurred from June 24, 2016, to Sept. 5 this year.
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Testimony in a trial for a former Nebraska inmate’s lawsuit against the state over a 2015 prison riot was cut short Wednesday, when a judge declared a mistrial after recusing himself.
Lancaster County Judge John Colborn recused himself following two days of testimony, determining his potential conflict of interest in John Wizinsky’s case. Wizinsky had taken the stand Monday in his civil lawsuit over a riot three years ago at the Tecumseh State Correctional Institution that left two other inmates dead and more than $2 million in damage.
Wizinsky, who sued the state upon his release in 2016, testified that he feared for his life as inmates took over a housing unit from prison guards, started fires and attacked other inmates. He also alleges he suffered from nightmares, panic attacks and increased post-traumatic stress symptoms from witnessing an inmate nearly beaten to death during the May 10, 2015, riot.
Wizinsky’s lawsuit claims that the state was negligent in failing to provide reasonable protection for inmates.
Colborn said he didn’t realize his conflict of interest until he heard testimony regarding the Tecumseh prison’s overcrowding and staffing problems.
Wizinsky’s attorney, Joy Shiffermiller, claimed that overcrowding at the state prison and a staffing shortage were factors that led to prison guards abandoning areas of the prison during the riot, leaving inmates to fend for themselves.
State Corrections Director Scott Frakes also testified Tuesday about the prison’s staffing issues.
Colborn said he has knowledge and personal involvement in justice reform for prison overcrowding. Colborn served on the state’s Justice Reinvestment Committee and attended governor’s advisory meetings on the subject.
A new judge will be appointed to preside over the trial, but there’s no set timeline.
Wizinksy’s attorney Shiffermiller expressed disappointment that her client’s trial will have to start over.
Wizinsky’s trial was the first civil case to be heard in connection to the 2015 riot, which was followed by another riot at the Tecumseh facility in 2017 that also left two inmates dead.
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Omaha authorities are checking the possibility that a woman slain more than 40 years ago was among dozens of women killed by a Texas prison inmate.
Omaha police said Wednesday that investigators are talking to Texas authorities about 78-year-old Sam Little, who confessed to slayings from 1970 to 2005. The FBI said Tuesday that it has corroborated 34 of his accounts about the killings.
Omaha police Lt. Darci Tierney says Omaha officers are looking into Little’s possible connection to the 1973 slaying of Agatha White Buffalo. White Buffalo was strangled and found upside-down in a 55-gallon drum at the Sturges Hide Co. in November 1973.
The FBI says Little is serving time for a 1994 murder and likely will stay in prison until his death.
HELENA, Mont. (AP) — A Montana judge says a Canadian company may continue preliminary work on the proposed Keystone XL oil pipeline while his order blocking construction is in effect.
U.S. District Judge Brian Morris said Wednesday he will clarify his Nov. 8 injunction to allow TransCanada to conduct engineering and planning activities, confirm shipper contracts, meet with different groups and acquire equipment, permits and land rights.
On Nov. 8, Morris blocked TransCanada’s permit to build the pipeline from Alberta’s oil sands through a half-dozen U.S. states to the Gulf of Mexico.
The judge ordered a new environmental review after saying the Trump administration had not fully considered the effects of the pipeline.
TransCanada had argued it wants to keep that preliminary work on schedule that that it can be prepared to start pipeline construction as early as mid-February.
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Health officials have confirmed the state’s first case of a rare, polio-like illness in an eastern Nebraska child.
The Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services announced the diagnosis Wednesday. The department said the child, who lives in the jurisdiction of the Sarpy/Cass Health Department, was hospitalized and later released. No other information about the child has been released.
Another case reported in Douglas County as likely being acute flaccid myelitis, or AFM, was dismissed after a thorough review by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The condition can cause paralysis in the arms and legs and affects mainly children.
An increase in cases nationwide started in 2014. The department says from August 2014 through October 2018, there have been 440 confirmed cases of AFM in the U.S.
TECUMSEH, Neb. (AP) – The family of a man strangled by his cellmate at a Nebraska prison has sued the state, the prisons director and prison staff.
Twenty-two-year-old Terry Berry was killed in April 2017 by cellmate Patrick Schroeder, who told investigators he killed Berry for being too talkative. In June Schroeder was sentenced to death.
A federal lawsuit filed Monday in Omaha says the prisons department and prison officials violated Berry’s civil rights. The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages for Berry’s pain and suffering as well as punitive damages.
A companion state lawsuit was filed Monday in Johnson County District Court in Tecumseh, where the prison is situated. It alleges the prison had pervasive overcrowding and understaffing issues that increased the risk of assaults.
State and departmental representatives don’t comment on pending litigation. The state hasn’t yet filed responses to the lawsuits.
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Five longtime friends from Lincoln have claimed their $1 million Powerball prize.
The Nebraska Lottery says Douglas Murray, Felipe Osorio, Eric Cobb, Chris Hinkley and Yevgeniy Koval bought a Powerball ticket at a U-Stop convenience store in northwest Lincoln last week before the Nov. 21 drawing. Their winning ticket matched five numbers drawn but not the Powerball number. The jackpot for that drawing was worth $139 million.
The friends began pooling their money to buy lottery tickets during the October jackpot run that pushed the Mega Millions prize to more than $1.5 billion and the Powerball to $688 million.
GERING, Neb. (AP) — A grand jury will examine the death of a jail inmate at a western Nebraska hospital.
Scotts Bluff County Attorney Dave Eubanks says 23-year-old Corey Green died Friday at Regional West Medical Center. He’d been arrested earlier in the day on a warrant and booked into jail. Eubanks says Green later complained about a medical problem, so he was taken to the hospital, where he died. An autopsy was ordered.
Nebraska law requires that a grand jury examine the death of anyone in custody or while being apprehended.
YORK, Neb. (AP) – A January sentencing has been scheduled for a Lincoln woman accused of embezzlement while working for the York city landfill.
According to court records, 59-year-old Lynn Rasmussen pleaded no contest Tuesday to misdemeanor theft. Prosecutors lowered the charge from a felony in exchange for her plea. Rasmussen also agreed to pay restitution of nearly $12,600. Her sentencing is set for Jan. 28.
Court documents say Rasmussen ran the scale house and accepted payments for material dumped at the landfill. Investigators say Rasmussen voided the cash transactions and threw away the physical tickets so there were no records of the transactions. Then she’d keep the cash for herself.
Troopers with the Nebraska State Patrol (NSP) seized 78 pounds of marijuana and arrested two people in two recent traffic stops on Interstate 80 near North Platte.
The first traffic stop occurred on Sunday, November 18, when NSP received a report of a Chevrolet Impala speeding and failing to maintain a lane while traveling eastbound on I-80. A trooper located the vehicle and made contact with the driver at exit 179. During the encounter, an NSP K9 detected the presence of a controlled substance inside the vehicle.
Troopers searched the vehicle and found 48 pounds of high grade marijuana concealed in luggage. The driver, Doreen Cahill, 27, of Jacksonville, North Carolina, was arrested for possession of marijuana – more than one pound, possession with intent to deliver, and no drug tax stamp. Cahill was lodged in Lincoln County Jail.
Information on the November 18 traffic stop could not be released previously because of an ongoing investigation.
The second traffic stop occurred at approximately 1:10 p.m. Monday, November 26, when a trooper observed an eastbound Chevrolet Equinox fail to signal near mile marker 189 on I-80. During the traffic stop, the trooper became suspicious of criminal activity. A search was conducted and revealed 30 pounds of high grade marijuana. The driver and passenger were both arrested and interviewed.
Following interviews, the driver was released. The passenger, a 17-year-old juvenile from California, was lodged in Lincoln County Jail for possession of marijuana – more than one pound, possession with intent to deliver, and no drug tax stamp.
WAKEFIELD, Neb. (AP) — An accountant charged with stealing nearly $110,000 from a northeast Nebraska church has pleaded not guilty.
