OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Three people were found dead in a vehicle that ended up in an Omaha creek.
The Douglas County Sheriff’s Office says the three bodies were discovered Tuesday afternoon after an Omaha Police Department helicopter spotted a pickup in West Papillion Creek.
The names of the victims have not been released and authorities have not revealed further details.
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A judge has banned a Chicago attorney from representing at trial a former doctor charged with killing four people with ties to an Omaha medical school, but has allowed her legal partners to continue.
Douglas County District Judge Gary Randall ruled Tuesday that Alison Motta may not be allowed to speak at trial or sit at the defense table, although she can still assist in the defense of 42-year-old Anthony Garcia. The judge says Motta made public comments days before Garcia’s trial was to begin that violated ethical rules and interfered with the administration of justice.
Motta’s law partners, husband Robert Motta Jr. and father-in-law Robert Motta St., will continue to represent Garcia at trial, which will be set at a later date, according to the judge’s order.
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Animal control officials say a dog that bit a Lincoln elementary school student and her mother will be euthanized.
A woman and her daughter were on the Sheridan Elementary School playground Monday afternoon when a pit bull mix bit the kindergartener’s hand. Lincoln Animal Control Manager Steve Beal says the dog was on a leash.
He says the dog also bit the girl’s mother when she tried to intervene.
The owners turned the dog over to Animal Control. Beal says officials decided to euthanize the dog because allowing it to return to the community would pose a public health threat.
Beal did not know if the mother and daughter were treated for their wounds.
COLUMBUS, Neb. (AP) — Police have confirmed the identities of a Columbus couple whose bodies were discovered by a relative.
Capt. Todd Thalken (TAHL’-kehn) said Tuesday that the pair have been identified as 61-year-old Clyde Langan and his wife, 60-year-old Denise Langan.
A family member who went to check on them around 4 p.m. Saturday found the bodies in the couple’s northwest Columbus home.
Thalken says investigators are trying to determine whether the shootings were a murder-suicide or the result of a suicide pact. So far it appears that Clyde Langan used a handgun to shoot his wife and then himself.
PAPILLION, Neb. (AP) — A registered sex offender from California has been sent to a Nebraska prison for trying to entice a suburban Omaha boy into meeting for sex.
Sarpy County court records say 49-year-old Robert Heist II, who’d been living in Lincoln, was sentenced Monday to 11 to 25 years. He’d pleaded no contest to felony child enticement with an electronic communication device after prosecutors dropped a related felony charge.
Police arrested Heist following a report about a potential child enticement crime in March 2015 involving an Internet dating site.
Nebraska Sex Offender Registry records show Heist is required to register because of Northern California sex crime convictions in 2005 and 2006.
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A man has been rescued after getting stuck in a storm sewer while trying to retrieve a cat in Omaha.
Omaha Fire Department Battalion Chief Jerry Andersen said that the 55-year-old man was trying to search for the cat Monday night when he became stuck. Andersen said that rescuers pulled the man out of the sewer four blocks away from where he entered. The man only had a few cuts and scrapes.
Andersen says the man was “very lucky” because there is the potential for poisonous gases in sewers.
The cat has not been found.
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A 26-year-old California man accused of being caught in Nebraska with about 24 pounds of heroin has been sentenced to nearly six years in federal prison.
Rodrigo Gastelum-Flores of San Ysidro, California, was sentenced to five years and 10 months in prison, as well as five years of supervised release on Monday. He had pleaded guilty to possession with intent to distribute heroin.
Authorities say Gastelum-Flores was going east on Interstate 80 on June 7, when a Nebraska State Patrol trooper pulled him over for not having a front license plate.
Court records say Gastelum-Flores allowed the trooper to search the vehicle, where the trooper found 23.6 pounds of heroin in nine packages hidden in two false compartments.
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A woman who was bitten by a tiger after she sneaked into a zoo in Nebraska has pleaded guilty to trespassing.
Jacqueline Eide (eyed) pleaded guilty Monday in Omaha and was fined $250 plus court costs. Prosecutors dropped two other misdemeanor charges in return for her plea.
The 33-year-old Eide was accused of sneaking into Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo following a social function there on Halloween last year. Authorities say Eide was bitten by a Malayan tiger named Mai (meye) when she reached into the tiger’s exhibit. Police say Eide acted aggressively and appeared to be intoxicated.
She was treated for the hand wound at an Omaha hospital.
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A judge is considering whether to let three Chicago lawyers continue to represent a former doctor charged with killing four people with ties to an Omaha medical school.
On Monday, Judge Gary Randall heard Douglas County Attorney Don Kleine’s arguments that Alison Motta, her husband Robert Motta Jr. and father-in-law, Robert Motta Sr. should be removed from Anthony Garcia’s case. Kleine has said Alison Motta violated Nebraska attorney ethics rules.
The Mottas have also asked to have Kleine’s office removed and a special prosecutor appointed.
Randall said he’d rule later.
Garcia’s trial had been set to begin Monday but was postponed indefinitely Thursday when two Omaha attorneys who had been working with the Mottas withdrew from the case. Three other Nebraska attorneys have since volunteered to help the Mottas.
COLUMBUS, Neb. (AP) — Police are investigating the shooting deaths of a Columbus couple whose bodies were discovered by a relative.
Capt. Todd Thalken (TAHL’-kehn) said Monday that relatives hadn’t heard from the couple, so a family member went to check on them around 4 p.m. Saturday and found the bodies in the couple’s northwest Columbus home.
Thalken says investigators are trying to determine whether the shootings were a murder-suicide or the result of a suicide pact. So far it appears that the 61-year-old man used a handgun to shoot his 60-year-old wife and then himself. Their names have not being released.
