COLUMBUS, Neb. (AP) — A 66-year-old Columbus man is facing a criminal charge after police say he molested his granddaughter over a four-year period.

The man has been scheduled for arraignment on Tuesday in Platte County District Court on a felony charge of third-degree sexual assault of a child.

The newspaper isn’t identifying the man in order to protect the privacy of the victim.

Columbus Police Sgt. Bret Strecker says the assaults began when the girl was 8 years old and continued for four years. He says the girl was living with the man and his wife and that the attacks would take place after the woman left for work.

The girl, who is now a teenager, tells police the attacks ended when she asked her grandfather if the behavior was wrong.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Police have identified a man arrested in connection with the rape and severe burning of a woman who was found in park near Wichita State University.

Police Lt. James Espinoza confirmed late Thursday that the suspect is 26-year-old Cornell McNeal of Wichita. It’s unclear whether he has an attorney, and no one answered the phone at his home.

McNeal has not yet been formally charged. He’s being held on suspicion of rape and attempted first-degree murder.

Police say he was linked to the attack by forensic evidence obtained after the woman was found and taken to a hospital Friday night. Police are still investigating whether McNeal knew the 36-year-old victim, who is in critical condition. Police have not been able to talk with her.

 

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The owner of an Omaha medical equipment company and a southeastern Nebraska mental health professional have been indicted on federal counts of Medicaid fraud.

Federal court records show Clement Akara of Omaha fraudulently billed Medicaid 76 times, illegally getting nearly $66,000. Court records say the 60-year-old Akara filed claims for nebulizers and other equipment and services never provided.

Akara did not immediately return a message Thursday seeking comment.

Federal prosecutors also announced Thursday the indictment of 47-year-old Melissa Prentice-Erickson, of Henderson. The indictment says Prentice-Erickson over five years submitted 2,614 claims for services not provided. The claims totaled nearly $270,000.

A business number for Prentice-Erickson was disconnected Thursday.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Authorities have arrested a 37-year-old man suspected of robbing two banks in Omaha.

Omaha police say Kevin Lee was arrested on Thursday being questioned by officers. He faces two robbery charges for separate incidents earlier this week.

The first robbery was reported shortly after 10:30 a.m. Monday at American National Bank. Authorities say a man demanded money and then left.

Another took place at a U.S. Bank around 11:30 a.m. on Tuesday. Authorities say a man approached a teller and demanded money, then fled on westbound on foot. He did not show a weapon.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Authorities say three men are in custody for questioning following a bank robbery in Omaha.

Police say the robbery happened before 11 a.m. Thursday at a Bank of the West branch. Witnesses say three men entered the bank, displayed a firearm and demanded money. They left with an undisclosed amount of money and fled in a vehicle.

Police are investigating whether a nearby shooting is related to the robbery. One man suffered a non-life-threatening injury in the shooting.

The three men in custody are being questioned. No charges have been filed.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Authorities say a high school student has plunged to his death from a Lincoln parking garage just a few days after a similar death.

Police say it’s unclear whether the student jumped or fell Thursday afternoon from the south side of a parking garage in the downtown area.

Authorities have not released the name of the Lincoln Public Schools student. His family has been notified of the death.

On Monday, 28-year-old Monica Martinez, of Lincoln, also fell from the top of a parking garage in the downtown area. Investigators think she jumped on purpose.

O’NEILL, Neb. (AP) — An O’Neill man who was given three minutes to grab as many free groceries as he could snagged more than $1,400 worth at a local store.

Tony Bosn won the chance in a drawing sponsored by the O’Neill Rotary Club.

With his wife coaching him, Bosn filled more than three shopping carts Wednesday at a Super Foods store in O’Neill. The total value of the items he grabbed came out at $1,410.56.

A second-place winner received a $300 gift certificate to the store.

CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — A federal judge has overturned the death penalty of Dale Wayne Eaton, Wyoming’s lone death row inmate.

U.S. District Judge Alan B. Johnson of Cheyenne said Thursday that Eaton had not been properly represented by his defense lawyers during his trial.

The judge says Wyoming can grant a new sentencing proceeding for Eaton within 120 days or keep him locked up for life without parole.

The 69-year-old Eaton was sentenced to death in 2004 in state court for the 1988 rape and murder of 18-year-old Lisa Marie Kimmell of Billings, Montana.

His lawyers appealed to a federal judge after the Wyoming Supreme Court upheld the death sentence.

The lawyers argued that Eaton’s state defense team had failed to present information about his intelligence and the abuse he suffered as a child to give jurors reason to consider sparing his life.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska’s insurance company is asking a judge to declare that it has no duty to pay any award made against the Nebraska State Colleges Board of Trustees in a lawsuit over the 2010 disappearance of a Peru State College student whose mother believes she was killed by a fellow student.

The request comes in the lawsuit filed by the mother of Tyler “Ty” Thomas, who was 19 when she disappeared after encountering Joshua Keadle, a fellow Peru State student now serving prison time for raping another teen.

Travelers Indemnity Co. notes the lawsuit’s claim that college officials violated Title IX, the 1972 law that prohibits sex discrimination in schools. The company says in its motion that its policy contains an exclusion keeping it from covering injury resulting from gender discrimination.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Sentencing has been delayed for a teenager who was convicted of stabbing a classmate in a Lincoln high school bathroom.

The sentencing was rescheduled for May 7. The 17-year-old girl pleaded no contest in August to a felony assault charge as part of a plea deal.

Police say the teen used a hunting knife and a claw hammer to attack another 17-year-old girl in a bathroom at Lincoln Pius X High School in October 2013. The girl was hospitalized and survived the attack.

The judge in the case says he postponed the hearing because he wanted more information about state programming that would be available to the teen. The Associated Press generally doesn’t identify juveniles accused of crimes.