OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — An Omaha man has been found guilty by a Douglas County jury of first-degree murder and a weapons count in the shooting death of another man last year in a drug transaction that turned into a robbery.

The Nebraska Attorney General’s Office said in a news release that jurors deliberated nearly seven hours Wednesday before finding 20-year-old Jaquez Clifton guilty of killing 59-year-old Frank “Red” Sanders in his home on July 20, 2014.

Clifton faces life in prison when he’s sentenced on Dec. 1.

 

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Police are searching for an Omaha woman missing following a home invasion early Tuesday.

Police were called to an apartment in southwestern Omaha just after 12 a.m. Tuesday for a possible shooting. Officers who arrived found three people in the apartment who reported a home-invasion robbery. Police also learned that 33-year-old Tiffanee Trecek had been taken.

Police have arrested a suspect, 26-year-old Terry Stafford, on suspicion of robbery. His case did not appear in online court records by Wednesday afternoon, and it was not clear whether he had an attorney.

A police spokesman, Officer Michael Pecha, said Wednesday that Stafford and Trecek lived together, but not at the apartment from which Trecek disappeared.

Police say they believe Trecek is in danger and are following leads trying to find her.

Omaha Police say Trecek may have died her hair purple shortly before the incident.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Two Omaha people are scheduled to be sentenced in November for kidnapping and savagely attacking a woman over her boyfriend’s debt.

Ronald Ford Jr. and Shavontae Green were convicted for the January attack on a 38-year-old woman. Their sentencing is set for Nov. 3.

Ford was upset because the woman’s boyfriend owed Ford money for a laptop computer. The 33-year-old Ford and 26-year-old Green went to the boyfriend’s house in January but found only the woman there. They beat her, kidnapped her and took her to their home.

Prosecutors say the woman was beaten again, sexually assaulted, burned with a cigarette, whipped with a chain, doused with boiling water on a shoulder and on her chest and also was splashed with bleach.

COLUMBUS, Neb. (AP) — A trial has been delayed for a 23-year-old Columbus man accused of seriously injuring the 4-month-old daughter of his live-in girlfriend.

Francisco Villatoro has pleaded not guilty to intentional child abuse resulting in injury. His trial was to begin Monday in Platte County District Court.

The trial has been rescheduled to begin Nov. 30. Villatoro’s attorney had sought more time to consult with medical experts about whether shaking had caused the infant’s injury.

Authorities say Villatoro called 911 on May 23 to report that the baby was choking. The infant was taken to Columbus Community Hospital and then transferred to an Omaha hospital. Doctors say the little girl suffered a head injury.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A woman has been convicted in the crash death of an 81-year-old man in south Lincoln.

Online court records say sentencing is scheduled Dec. 4 for 51-year-old Laurie Clemans, who pleaded no contest on Tuesday and was convicted of misdemeanor vehicular homicide.

The accident occurred around 3 p.m. on March 30 at the intersection of Old Cheney Road and Nebraska Highway 2. Police say a car driven by Monty McMahon, of Lincoln, was struck by Clemans’ vehicle as Clemans tried to turn left. McMahon was pronounced dead at a Lincoln hospital.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Authorities say a man imprisoned for an unrelated kidnapping conviction faces a murder charge in Omaha.

Omaha police say an arrest warrant for first-degree murder and a weapons count has been issued for 24-year-old Kevin Mariscal. He’s in Tecumseh prison, serving 15 years for a 2010 kidnapping in Sarpy County. Online court records don’t list the name of an attorney who could be contacted to comment on behalf of Mariscal.

Mariscal is suspected of killing 50-year-old Barbara Gonzales, of Omaha. Her body was spotted in a south Omaha residential alley by teenagers walking a dog on July 6, 2010. She’d been shot with a handgun.

 

CENTER, Neb. (AP) — A 44-year-old man is scheduled to be sentenced in November for stealing cattle from a feedlot in northeast Nebraska.

Timothy Ketelsen, of Bloomfield, pleaded guilty earlier this month to charges of tax evasion, theft and illegal sale of livestock. Prosecutors dropped five other charges in return for Ketelsen’s pleas. His sentencing is set for Nov. 24.

Court documents say Ketelsen’s former boss reported that 13 head of cattle had been stolen from the feedlot. Investigators traced the cattle to a livestock market in Yankton, South Dakota, which paid Ketelsen for them.

Investigators also say they found four other instances in which it appears Ketelsen stole cattle.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A Lincoln pharmacist accused of defrauding Nebraska’s Medicaid program out of $14 million has pleaded guilty to health care fraud.

44-year-old Scott Tran pleaded guilty Tuesday. Prosecutors say the owner of Tran Pharmacy submitted hundreds of false claims for a solution used in inhalers for cystic fibrosis patients in the names of his customers’ children.

According to court documents, Tran submitted 399 claims for reimbursement between May 2009 and February 2015, stating they had been ordered by six Lincoln-area doctors identified only by their initials.

Tran also agreed to pay just over $14 million in restitution as part of the plea agreement. His sentencing hearing is scheduled for January.

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LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A man accused of forcing a woman into a “slave contract” has pleaded no contest to second-degree assault after a judge found him competent to stand trial.

A judge stopped an August hearing at which 36-year-old Nicholas Talbot was to enter a plea and ordered that he undergo a competency evaluation.

Authorities say Talbot forced his 32-year-old girlfriend to sign the contract Jan. 15, and subjected her to sexual acts and abuse that included forcing her to drink his urine.

Police say the woman told her pastor and another woman that she had been hurt by Talbot four days after signing the contract.

Talbot is scheduled to be sentenced Nov. 3.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Five Nebraska schools have been recognized as National Blue Ribbons Schools for 2015.

The honors announced Tuesday are based on overall academic excellence or progress in closing achievement gaps among student subgroups.

The U.S. Education Department will honor 285 public and 50 private schools at recognition ceremonies on Nov. 9-10 in Washington.

The five schools are:

Arapahoe Elementary School in Arapahoe; Bancroft-Rosalie Elementary School in Bancroft; Douglas County West Elementary School in Valley; St. Robert Bellarmine School in Omaha; and Washington Elementary School in Norfolk.