AURORA, Neb. (AP) — The son of actors Sean Penn and Robin Wright has pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor in his Nebraska drug case.

Twenty-four-year-old Hopper Penn and his girlfriend, 26-year-old Uma Von Wittkamp, were arrested during a traffic stop on April 4 on Interstate 80 in southeastern Nebraska.

The Nebraska State Patrol says a search of their vehicle turned up 14 grams of marijuana, four amphetamine pills and 3 grams of psychedelic mushrooms.

Both were initially charged with felony drug possession. Court records show they later pleaded no contest to the misdemeanor charge of attempt of a felony. Each was ordered to pay $1,000.

A no-contest plea allows a defendant to not admit guilt but acknowledge that there’s enough evidence for a conviction.

COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (AP) — A man from Omaha, Nebraska, faces life in prison if he’s convicted of kidnapping and other charges after police say he held several people at gunpoint and beat some of them inside a Council Bluffs apartment.

36-year-old Derrick West-Jones has been charged with six counts of kidnapping, three counts of aggravated assault, domestic abuse and other drug and weapons counts.

Police say he pulled a gun early Monday after a disturbance in the apartment and would not let anyone leave. Police say he also pistol-whipped and beat some of them with a wrench. Police say the people were held captive about two hours.

Two people were taken to hospital for their injuries.

West-Jones is being held on $1 million bail in the Pottawattamie County Jail.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Omaha’s CenturyLink Center will be getting a new name in September: CHI Health Center Omaha.

CHI Health announced Wednesday that it had acquired the naming rights in a deal with the Metropolitan Entertainment and Convention Authority board, which operates the publicly owned arena and convention center. CHI Health operates hospitals in the Omaha area and is part of Catholic Health Initiatives, a national nonprofit health system based in Englewood, Colorado.

The 20-year deal will cost CHI Health almost $24 million.

The facility opened in 2003 as the Qwest Center and was renamed in 2011 after CenturyLink acquired Qwest.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A woman accused of embezzling thousands of dollars from a Lincoln church day care program has been sentenced.

Online court records say 36-year-old Amanda Haumont was given two years of probation at her sentencing hearing Monday. She’d pleaded no contest to theft after prosecutors lowered the charge.

Authorities say Haumont was paid overtime after she lied about the hours she worked as director of Little Lambs Child Development Center at Good Shepherd Presbyterian Church and also didn’t deposit some cash paid by a woman whose daughter attended the day care. The theft was estimated at more than $21,000.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — There haven’t been any volunteers to answer calls for help in a fire and rescue district near Lincoln three times this year, and it could happen again.

The Southwest Fire and Rescue needs at least 10 more volunteers to cover the district serving more than 75 square miles (194 square kilometers) west and southwest of Lincoln, the Lincoln Journal Star reported.

Assistant Chief Adam Powers said it’s the first time in his 18 years working for Southwest that the station has let calls go unanswered, requiring a neighboring squad to respond. The district has seen its number of volunteer and EMTs drop almost by half to 21 since Powers joined, he said.

Volunteers are retiring or aging out while fewer new members are replacing them, Powers said. The district’s land area has also seen its population increase from 4,200 in 2000 to more than 4,500 this year.

“The constituents in our district get a hell of a deal for free. We hang our hat on that,” Powers said. “But if we can’t get people to volunteer, we would have to request a raise in our tax levy to fund someone being around the station during the day to take those calls.”

Losing volunteers is a common issue for many of the nearly 375 volunteer departments in Nebraska, said Bill Lundy, secretary-treasurer of the Nebraska State Volunteer Firefighters Association.

“But a lot of people don’t realize that in the state of Nebraska, if you call 911 for medical or fire, 80 percent of those (calls) are being responded to by volunteer fire departments,” Lundy said.

Southwest Fire and Rescue posted an online survey last week seeking input from its patrons and sharing information about operating a volunteer squad over such a large area. The district plans to hold several town hall meetings to share survey results and solicit feedback in September.

 

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A west Omaha man imprisoned for sending prostitutes dozens of times to strip on a neighbor’s front porch been sentenced for possessing child pornography.

Records say 46-year-old Douglas Goldsberry was given six years in prison on Monday in U.S. District Court in Omaha. He must serve 10 years of supervised release after leaving prison. He’ll serve his federal time at the same time he serves his state sentence.

Goldsberry had pleaded no contest in September to pandering. Authorities say Goldsberry hired prostitutes to bare their breasts and strip on his neighbor’s porch while

Goldsberry watched from his house. The family with two small children reported that women had shown up as many as 75 times since 2013.

Investigators of that case found the porn on two of Goldsberry’s digital devices.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — It has been about a year since a Nebraska court began giving veterans facing felony charges a better chance to straighten out their lives than prison might offer, and some participants say the program has been helpful.

The Lancaster County Veterans Treatment Court has accepted six veterans into the program so far, the Lincoln Journal Star reported. The court serves combat veterans with little or no criminal record before their service ended, who were honorably discharged and have been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder or a traumatic brain injury.

Corry Starks has both and was facing two felony drug charges.

Starks joined the military in 2000 and served 12 years of active duty, including four deployments to Iraq. He retired early due to medical reasons and moved to Nebraska, where he joined a motorcycle club and started using drugs. Starks began getting into trouble with the law when he was using meth, which he was influenced to do by other club members. It also became a form of self-medication.

Starks is the first veterans court participant. He said the program can be overwhelming, but it’s helping him transition back into society.

“It’s a huge life change,” Starks said. “A swing in the right direction.”

The program treats any issues that veterans might be dealing with, from substance abuse to depression or PTSD.

“In this kind of court, you know there are going to be struggles,” said Tony Conell, a coordinator. “Because relapse is going to happen. Issues are going to come up, because you’re dealing with people’s lives every day.”

All treatment is service-funded through the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs instead of private providers, which keeps costs low.

“The public defender, the prosecutor, the judge, everybody is all basically donating their time as part of their normal duties, which is a great benefit, because it is reducing the amount of taxpayer dollars that are being spent,” Conell said.

He said the program is beginning to welcome more applicants. The court is looking to extend treatment to combat veterans with mental health disorders beyond PTSD and brain trauma.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) – A Nebraska dentist has been sentenced to 10 months for submitting fraudulent bills to Nebraska and Iowa Medicaid programs.

Authorities say 59-year-old Gregory Garro, of Omaha, was sentenced Monday in U.S. District Court in Omaha. He was ordered to pay restitution of more than $82,500 to the Nebraska Health and Human Services Department and more than $4,700 to Iowa’s Inspections and Appeals Department.

Garro pleaded guilty to one count of health care fraud. He originally was indicted on 24 counts.

Authorities say Garro provided dental services at several nursing homes in Omaha and in Iowa and submitted false claims between Feb. 12, 2013, and Jan. 22, 2016.

BEATRICE, Neb. (AP) — Authorities are still searching for a southeast Nebraska man who has been missing for more than two weeks.

Authorities say 37-year-old Edward Parker, of Beatrice, was last seen around June 1. Friends and family are asking anyone with information to contact Beatrice police.
Beatrice Police Sgt. Jay Murphy says there have been some leads in the case, but all so far have been dead ends.

Murphy says the department has seen missing person cases in the past where a person left town and didn’t tell anyone. But he says Parker lived with his brother and was very close to him, and it seems unlikely he would have left without telling his family.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Authorities say a Lincoln man has drowned in an eastern Nebraska lake and his son was hospitalized.

The Nebraska Game and Parks Commission says 28-year-old Christian Montoya died Sunday at Pawnee Lake in Lancaster County, west of Lincoln. His son, 2-year-old Christian Montoya Jr., was taken to a hospital in good condition.

Eyewitnesses told authorities the father and son were on a flotation device that was blown out of a designated swimming area, and they both eventually ended up in the water.

A citizen on a personal watercraft picked up the boy and returned him to shore, but authorities say the elder Montoya had disappeared when the citizen returned to pick him up. His body was recovered at 6:30 p.m. The father and son were not wearing life jackets.