Two Students Charged in Rutgers Suicide Withdraw From School

Published October 29, 2010

| Associated Press

NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. –  Two Rutgers University freshmen, accused of secretly broadcasting a classmate's sexual encounter online, have withdrawn from the school. The classmate later committed suicide.

Attorney Steven Altman says that means Dharun Ravi and Molly Wei will not face university disciplinary hearings.

Altman, who represents Ravi, told The Home News Tribune of East Brunswick his client plans to attend school somewhere else.

Wei's attorney, Rubin Sinins, told The Star-Ledger of Newark his client feared for her safety.
Ravi and Wei have been charged with invasion of privacy.

Authorities say Ravi used a webcam to capture his roommate, Tyler Clementi, having a sexual encounter with another man.

Clementi jumped to his death from the George Washington Bridge days later.

Prosecutors are considering hate crime charges.

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Man Charged With Murder, Sexual Assault in Killing of Illinois College Student

DE KALB, Ill. -- An Illinois man has been charged with first-degree murder in the slaying of Northern Illinois University freshman Antinette "Toni" Keller, police said Friday night.

DeKalb Police Chief Bill Feithen said at a news conference that 34-year-old William Curl of DeKalb has also been charged with criminal sexual assault and arson. Feithen said Curl did not know Keller, and it appeared to have been a crime of opportunity.

Curl, who was arrested by U.S. Marshals at a motel in Covington, La., has been extradited to Illinois and is being held at the DeKalb County Jail on $5 million bond. He was scheduled for an initial hearing Saturday morning at the DeKalb County Courthouse in Sycamore.

Keller, of Plainfield, was last seen about noon Oct. 14 when friends said the art student was headed to a nearby park and nature preserve. Two days later, burned remains were found in the park, and a week later, forensic experts confirmed the remains were human.

Police in DeKalb, a city 65 miles west of Chicago where the 25,000-student campus is located, still haven't positively identified remains found in a park near the school as belonging to Keller, though they reclassified her case as a homicide investigation.

Keller's parents have little doubt they belong to their 18-year-old daughter, said the missing girl's cousin, Mary Tarling.

"There doesn't seem to be an alternative explanation," she said.

Among the indications the remains are Keller's is that her camera and sketch pad were found nearby, Tarling said, citing what police have told the family.

A talented watercolor painter and nature lover, Keller may have headed to the wooded park just south of the campus to take pictures or sketch drawings for an art project, Tarling said.

"She painted flowers and landscapes," Tarling said. "She loves camping and rock climbing."

Feithen said Curl was known to be among the people who frequented the 150-acre park and had been questioned, along with others, early in the investigation.

The chief said Curl became the prime suspect when he failed to show up for further questioning early this week. Feithen said a check of Curl's credit cards and cell phone records indicated that he had crossed the border into Mexico, and then proceeded through Texas to Louisiana.

After Keller's disappearance, security was increased at NIU's campus, and the school is making security escorts available 24 hours a day. NIU spokesman Brad Hoey said Friday that demand for late-night ride service has soared 30 percent since police revealed the discovery of the remains.

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Detroit-Area Father Charged With Killing His 2 Children

Published October 22, 2010

| Associated Press

ALLEN PARK, Mich. -- A suburban Detroit father who called 911 to report the drowning deaths of his two small children was charged with first-degree murder Friday, a prosecutor said.

Steven Nicholson has been in custody since Tuesday when police responding to the emergency call found the bodies at his apartment.

Nicholson, 27, was charged with first-degree murder, murder committed during another felony and child abuse, Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy said.

"The alleged facts in this case have affected even the most seasoned prosecutors in this office," Worthy said in a written statement. "We stand ready to bring this case to justice in a court of law."

The victims, 15-month-old Ella Stafford and 13-month old Jonathon Sanderlin, were scalded and had drowned, according to autopsies. They will be buried Saturday.

Nicholson was scheduled to be arraigned before noon EDT Friday. It was not immediately known if he had a lawyer.

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US soldier charged with killing troops in Iraq

BAGHDAD –  An American soldier was charged Wednesday with killing two fellow U.S. troops and wounding a third after an argument last month in a former Iraqi insurgent stronghold turned deadly.

Army Spc. Neftaly Platero was charged with two counts of murder and one count of attempted murder in a Sept. 23 shooting in Fallujah, about 40 miles (65 kilometers) west of Baghdad.

A statement issued late Wednesday by the U.S. military in Baghdad described the killings as premeditated but offered no other details.

Earlier, a U.S. military spokesman said Platero was accused of shooting the three soldiers after a verbal altercation. The spokesman, Col. Barry Johnson, did not know what the argument was about.

Pfc. Gebrah Noonan, 26, of Watertown, Connecticut, and Spc. John Carrillo Jr., 20, of Stockton, California, died the day after the shooting. The name of the wounded soldier has not been released, and the statement Wednesday said the criminal investigation of the incident is ongoing.

Platero, 32, from Houston, Texas, is being held in pretrial confinement in Kuwait. He will be tried by a military court.

He was assigned to Camp Ramadi, in western Iraq, with the Army's 3rd Infantry Division based out of Fort Stewart, Georgia.

Meanwhile, four gunmen stormed the home of a policeman in northern Iraq, killing him and four members of his family. An Iraqi police official said three women were among the dead.

The late Wednesday raid occurred in the northern city of Mosul, located about 225 miles (360 kilometers) northwest of Baghdad.

Mosul is no longer considered an al-Qaida stronghold as violence around Iraq has ebbed. But police and other security officials remain prime targets for insurgents.

An official at Mosul Medical Hospital confirmed the death toll in the raid. Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not allowed to talk to the media.

Also, a local official in the oil-rich city of Kirkuk was killed, after being shot three times in the head as he was leaving his home on Wednesday night. City police Col. Ghazi Mohammed did not immediately know why Ahmed Faraj Samad, mayor of the city's al-Khadhra neighborhood, was targeted.

___

Associated Press Writer Lara Jakes in Baghdad contributed to this report.

(This version CORRECTS spelling of family name of 2nd killed soldier to Carrillo.)

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Israel soldier charged with taking classified info

Published October 10, 2010

| Associated Press

JERUSALEM –  The Israeli army says a military court has indicted a soldier for unauthorized possession of a USB drive containing classified information.

The soldier's lawyer, Shai Rodah, says his client took a drive containing information about Iran's nuclear program from the offices of the Israeli prime minister's National Security Council.

Rodah told Israel Radio Sunday the soldier wanted to show her superiors there was a security breach and did not know the drive contained intelligence material. He said she didn't intend to pass on any secrets.

Israeli army spokesman Barak Raz said the soldier was indicted on Aug. 30 for "overstepping her authority in a matter which endangered national security."

She could face up to 10 years in prison, if convicted.

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Puerto Rican Couple Charged With Raping Their Six Children

Published September 30, 2010

| Associated Press

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico -- Puerto Rico police have charged a couple with repeatedly raping their six children and forcing them to participate in drug-fueled orgies.

The man faces 90 charges including 30 counts of rape and another 30 for sodomy. His partner faces 26 charges including lascivious acts against a minor.

Police Officer Olga Gonzalez says the alleged abuse occurred daily from 2001 to 2004. The three girls were 3, 5 and 7 years old at the time. The boys were 9, 10 and 11.

Gonzalez says the children were also forced to be intimate with each other.

The accused woman is the children's mother, while man is their stepfather. It was unclear if the couple had an attorney.

They were charged Thursday.

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7 U.S. Postal Workers in Puerto Rico Charged With Drug Trafficking

Published September 29, 2010

| Associated Press

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico -- Seven U.S. Postal Service workers in Puerto Rico have been indicted on charges they shipped thousands of parcels of heroin, cocaine and marijuana through the mail.

The Drug Enforcement Administration says the mail carriers are among 20 people charged in the case.

Puerto Rico is a favored transit point for drugs from South America, because packages that arrive in the U.S. territory do not have to clear customs to reach the American mainland.

Federal agents began executing arrest warrants for the defendants in pre-dawn raids around the San Juan area.

The DEA alleges the trafficking ring smuggled at least 100,000 pounds of marijuana worth more than $150 million into Puerto Rico over the last three years.

The mail carriers also are accused of facilitating the shipment of guns from the U.S. mainland to Puerto Rico.

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