OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The U.S. Attorney’s Office for Nebraska says a Ralston woman has pleaded guilty in an income tax scheme case.

U.S. Attorney Deborah Gilg says in a news release that 36-year-old Kathy Hansen pleaded guilty Monday to misprision of a felony.

Officials say that in 2014, Hansen opened bank accounts with nearly $12,000 in illegally-obtained tax refunds. Investigators say the tax refunds were obtained as part of a tax refund fraud scheme being operated by individuals believed to be outside the U.S. The deposited funds were then sent by Hansen to people in Nigeria. Officials say Hansen knew a crime was being committed and failed to notify law enforcement.

Hansen faces up to three years in federal prison and a $250,000 fine when she’s sentenced May 1.

DESHLER, Neb. (AP) — Authorities say a woman has died in the crash of the sport utility vehicle she was driving in southeast Nebraska.

The accident occurred around 2:30 p.m. Tuesday, on a county road about four miles south of Deshler. The Thayer County Sheriff’s Office says the SUV ran off the roadway and rolled over, ejecting the driver. She was alone in the vehicle.

The woman was pronounced dead at the scene. The Sheriff’s Office identified her as 37-year-old Maranda Brandt.

 

SCHUYLER, Neb. (AP) — City Council members in Schuyler are divided over whether a residency requirement should be removed for police department supervisors.

Police Chief K.C. Bang is looking to hire a police sergeant and wants the requirement waived. Some City Council members say police supervisors should live in the communities they serve.

Bang and one officer currently reside in Schuyler. The rest live about 15 to 20 minutes away in other communities. Bang says he’d like to waive the requirement in part because so many of his officers live outside the small city.

Mayor Dave Reinecke notes the community isn’t especially keen on public servants living elsewhere. He noted the backlash after former Police Chief Lenny Hiltner moved to Columbus instead of Schuyler after being appointed chief.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A 29-year-old Lincoln woman whose 2-year-old stepson drowned after she left him alone in the bathtub has been sentenced to three years in prison.

Jacqueline Cooley was sentenced in Lancaster County District Court on Tuesday. She pleaded no contest in December to a felony child abuse charge.

Prosecutors say Cooley told police she left Jase Queen in the bathtub on Jan. 7, 2016, and left to get a towel. Mathers says when she came back two to three minutes later, he was face down and turning blue in about 10 inches of water.

Mathers says the boy’s grandmother told police he had survived a similar incident in November 2015, and Cooley told family members she had learned her lesson.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Authorities have rescued a man who jumped into the Missouri River from a pedestrian bridge that connects Omaha with Council Bluffs, Iowa.

He leaped from the Bob Kerrey Pedestrian Bridge at 6:15 p.m. Monday and spent 15 minutes in the frigid water before his rescue on the Nebraska side.

Omaha Police Officer Phillip Anson says an officer entered the water to try to reach the man but couldn’t get a good hold. Anson says two other officers reached out with a stick, and the man grabbed it so he could be pulled to shore.

He was taken to Creighton University Medical Center. His name hasn’t been released.

FREMONT, Neb. (AP) — A Fremont man accused of beating up and choking his girlfriend is scheduled to be sentenced March 27.

27-year-old Jacob Booze pleaded no contest Monday to felony strangulation and false imprisonment. His plea deal calls for two sentences of three years, to be served consecutively. The judge is not bound by the agreement.

Authorities say he choked and suffocated her early in the morning of Nov. 1, after she returned home from a night out with a friend. Authorities say he stomped on her face, menaced her with a shower curtain bar and threatened to kill her.

She was treated later at a hospital for facial fractures.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Authorities say a man who was electrocuted and burned in a downtown Omaha building has died.

On Tuesday Nebraska Medical Center spokesman Taylor Wilson confirmed the death of 59-year-old Steven Nitz, but Wilson said privacy rules prevented him from saying when Nitz died.

Authorities say Nitz was working as a contract electrician for Sprint Communications when he was injured Dec. 13. Firefighters soon put out the small fire, and investigators say the blaze was an accident.

GRETNA, Neb. (AP) — Even though state laws protect existing burial sites, protection of tiny pioneer cemeteries in Nebraska is proving hard to enforce because of growing housing developments.

Many of the at least 40 pioneer cemeteries in Sarpy County are tucked away on private property, leaving it up to the property owners to ensure the subtlest of them will survive.

But leaders of the Nebraska State Historical Society have heard of cases of property owners throwing away gravestones for renovations on the land. Rob Bozell, the society’s archaeologist, says the county relies on citizen reporting to be able to enforce the preservation of those abandoned cemeteries.

State law defines pioneer cemeteries as burial sites established before 1900, and have the graves of some of Nebraska’s first white settlers and Native Americans.

AINSWORTH, Neb. (AP) — A March forfeiture hearing has been scheduled to determine whether authorities will keep nearly $41,000 seized during a traffic stop in Brown County.

A trooper stopped a speeding vehicle Jan. 6 on U.S. Highway 183. Brown County Attorney David Streich says the trooper got permission to search the vehicle and then found the cash in a bag.

Streich says both people in the vehicle denied any knowledge of the cash, so the trooper followed state law and seized the money. He says that if no one were to claim the money, half would go schools in Brown County and rest to the county’s fund for drug enforcement and education.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Firefighters and police officers are protesting a pension overhaul bill aimed at Nebraska’s two largest cities.

The bill set for a hearing Tuesday would offer a cash-balance retirement plan to newly hired officers and firefighters in Omaha and Lincoln, rather than a traditional pension. Cash-balance plans are similar to pension plans but also have characteristics of 401(k)-style plans.

Supporters say cash balance plans would help Omaha and Lincoln address their pension liabilities. The cities’ firefighter and police unions say they would endanger public safety by making it harder to recruit new firefighters and police officers. They also argue that employees would be more likely to leave for other cities that offer better benefits.