LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — The Nebraska State Patrol seized more than $70,000 in a traffic stop along I-80 last week but let the driver go free.

Local media says troopers pulled the man over around 3 p.m. Friday near the Lincoln airport for following another vehicle too closely.

State Patrol spokeswoman says the 27-year-old California man driving agreed to let troopers search his 2001 Ford F350.

The cash was found in a sealed waterproof container in an external gas tank.

The driver swore that he didn’t know about the cash, so he was allowed to leave. Collins says that because the man said the cash wasn’t his, he won’t be able to challenge the seizure in court.

GERING, Neb. (AP) — A 24-year-old Minatare man has been sentenced to prison for possessing child pornography.

Richard Knott had pleaded no contest to 10 felony counts. Prosecutors say the pleas were not part of a deal with Knott, who earlier had pleaded not guilty.

Knott was sentenced on Monday to two to five years on each count, to be served at the same time.

Scotts Bluff County Attorney Doug Warner says more than 10 images of child pornography were found on Knott’s computer when investigators searched Knott’s home on Feb. 24.

Nebraska State Patrol officers began to investigate Knott after being contacted by a Dent County, Mo., investigator with a computer crimes task force. The investigator said he had identified an Internet address in Nebraska that had been sharing pornographic images.

 

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — University of Nebraska-Lincoln officials say Chinese authorities have detained an assistant business professor who is a Chinese citizen.

University spokeswoman Kelly Bartling said Monday that a family member told school officials late last week that Weixing (WAY’-shing) Li was in Chinese custody. She said the university is trying to verify Li’s whereabouts, but doing so can be difficult.

Bartling said university officials don’t know why he was detained. She declined to identify the family member who notified them, saying the person had asked not to be named and did not want to speak with reporters.

Li has taught at UNL since 2003. Bartling said he was leading 18 students on an annual study-abroad program, and some students became concerned after he stopped returning their emails.

POTTER, Neb. (AP) — Officials say firefighters have contained a blaze that blackened nearly 3,000 acres in the southern Nebraska Panhandle.

Hot spots are smoldering inside the area, which is about 15 miles north of Potter in Cheyenne County. The area is about 80 miles south of a wildfire that’s burned an estimated 3,000 acres in the northwest corner of the Panhandle.

Spokesman Bob Hilpert of the Potter Volunteer Fire Department says the fire was touched off Saturday night by lightning and was soon extinguished.

But Hilpert says wind fanned hot spots back into flames that raced over rangeland and into canyons on Sunday. He says containment was achieved early Monday morning.

There have been no reports of injuries or any damage to structures.

BEATRICE, Neb. (AP) — Two more former workers accused of abusing residents at a Nebraska center for developmentally disabled adults have entered pleas to abuse charges.

Local media in Beatrice  says Cody Creek and Carmen Yates pleaded no contest to attempted abuse of a vulnerable adult on Monday in Gage County District Court.

Prosecutors dropped a count of strangulation against Creek. They’d already dropped a theft charge against Yates.

They were among five workers charged after an investigation last year at the Beatrice State Development Center.

Matthew Johnson pleaded guilty to two counts of abuse of a vulnerable adult last Friday. Cameron Barnes, of Fairbury, pleaded no contest to two abuse charges on Thursday.

Matthew Pangborn faces a July 9 trial.

Update(7:00 AM 6/19):  Omaha fire officials say a man found dead inside a burning house apparently started the fire by setting a mattress on fire.

Officials found the body of 55-year-old Dennis Hansen inside the burning home in southeast Omaha Sunday morning. An autopsy showed he died of smoke inhalation.

Capt. Tim McCaw says Monday that investigators determined a mattress in a bedroom was intentionally ignited. He says there’s no evidence to suggest that anyone outside the home set the fire and all accidental causes have been ruled out.