Articles

Ex-Pacers player, Auburn assistant Chuck Person avoids prison

Former Indiana Pacers star and Auburn University assistant basketball coach Chuck Person’s lifelong generosity may have driven him to the poorhouse, but it saved him from the jailhouse Wednesday when a judge sentenced him in a bribery scandal that touched some of the biggest college basketball programs.

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Prosecutor to victim: ‘I did it’; court accepts Cooper’s domestic violence plea

Johnson County Prosecutor Bradley Cooper told his domestic violence victim and former fiancee in court Wednesday “I did it … I did it all” as a judge accepted his guilty plea to felony counts that terminated his ability to serve in his elected office. Also Wednesday, the Indiana Supreme Court Disciplinary Commission moved to suspend Cooper from the practice of law.

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Are additional Celadon execs in prosecutors’ sights?

Federal prosecutors in late April accused the Indianapolis-based trucking company Celadon Group Inc. of engineering a sweeping accounting fraud that hid losses in the tens of millions of dollars, and they announced a felony charge against one of the company’s former executives. But if the fraud was so sweeping, why did prosecutors charge just one person and spare other former top executives (at least so far)?

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Gary woman agrees to plead guilty in daughter’s shooting death

A northwestern Indiana woman has agreed to plead guilty to a reduced neglect charge stemming from her 2-year-old daughter’s shooting death. Dashana Fowler, 22, Gary, agreed Monday to plead guilty to neglect of a dependent resulting in bodily injury in the Sept. 4 death of Jayla Miller.

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Man withdraws effort challenging conviction in Gary officer’s death

A man who was sentenced to life in prison without parole for fatally shooting a northwestern Indiana police officer in 2014 has withdrawn his effort to challenge his conviction. Carl Le’Ellis Blount filed a petition last year alleging Lake County prosecutors threatened him to get him to plead guilty to murder in the shooting death of Gary Patrolman Jeffrey Westerfield, but he asked to withdraw his petition in April.

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Woman pleads guilty to neglect after removing feeding tube

A Terre Haute woman has agreed to plead guilty to neglect in the dehydration death of her infant son after she removed his feeding tube. Tabetha Smith, 39, would face a 16-year sentence if the plea entered Thursday is accepted. Vigo Superior Judge Sarah Mullican took the plea agreement under advisement.

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Woman pleads guilty to role in killings tied to Prada purse

A Fort Wayne woman has pleaded guilty to her role in a double-slaying that occurred during an attempt to retrieve a Prada purse worth nearly $10,000. Kyra Frost, 25, pleaded guilty Friday to assisting a criminal. She’ll face a maximum 8-year prison sentence when she’s sentenced July 16.

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