On the Beat in the Bluegrass

on January 22, 2009

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Herald-Leader Staff Report

A Lexington man accused of killing a 2-year-old girl has been indicted on murder charges.

Leamon Wesner

A grand jury Tuesday charged Leamon Wesner on accusations he killed his girlfriend’s daughter, Jessica Nolan, who died Nov. 25 at University of Kentucky Medical Center. Police were called to 515 Michigan Avenue about 10:45 a.m. that day about an unresponsive child and found her with a severe head injury. Police have said Wesner was the only person home with Jessica the day she was injured.

Wesner is scheduled to be arraigned at 11:30 a.m. Friday in Fayette Circuit Court.

Slaying suspect pleads not guilty

Published

on January 22, 2009

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By Steve Lannen - slannen@herald-leader.com

A man charged with second-degree manslaughter in a Jan. 1 shooting has pleaded not guilty.

Stephen J. Wigginton, 28, entered the plea during an arraignment Wednesday in Fayette District Court to a charge of second-degree manslaughter in the shooting death of Robert Jay McAlpin, 27.

Investigators say Wigginton was “mishandling a firearm” when the weapon fired and the bullet struck McAlpin in the head.

However, McAlpin’s father said Wednesday he thinks Wigginton should be charged with murder.

Tim McAlpin readily says that no one other than those present know the exact circumstances that led to his son’s death early on Jan. 1 at a house on Southpoint Drive.

He thinks Wigginton did not simply mishandle the gun as police have said.

Jay McAlpin kept the weapon — a .357 Magnum revolver — on his night stand, his father said.

Tim McAlpin questions the police account of the shooting. He also doesn’t think the two men were friends, as police have said.

He said his son had known Wigginton since their days at Tates Creek High School. But they had had words recently over McAlpin’s separation from his wife.

Wigginton and an attorney declined to comment after leaving court Wednesday. Wigginton is scheduled to return to court at 8:30 a.m. on Jan. 30.

Lexington Police Lt. James Curless said detectives charged Wigginton based on the evidence found in their investigation.

Second-degree manslaughter is filed when a person “wantonly causes the death of another person,” according to Kentucky Revised Statutes.

Curless declined to discuss specifics of the case because it will be presented before a Fayette grand jury, which will hear the evidence and has the power to alter the charge.

“We charged him with what we thought was appropriate,” he said.

Jay McAlpin was a manager of one of his family’s businesses, his father said. He had talked about returning to college and eventually pursuing a law degree.

A man of strong Christian faith, in April Jay McAlpin bought a few billboards around Lexington quoting 1 Corinthians 15:3-4. It was a passage his great-grandfather had taught his father. Now, he was teaching his young son, Cameron, McAlpin said.

New Year’s Eve, McAlpin saw his son sitting in his pickup studying his devotional before coming inside. A few hours later, he was dead.

“It’s an awful thing. It’s been the biggest blow certainly in my life … but I know Jay is in heaven,” he said.

Teacher to face trial on sex charge

Published

on January 22, 2009

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The Associated Press

COVINGTON — A felony sex charge against a Northern Kentucky teacher can go forward, a judge has ruled.

Prosecutors argued at a hearing in Covington on Tuesday that Dayton High School teacher Nicole Elizabeth Howell should be charged with first-degree sex abuse for allegedly having sex with a 16-year-old student.

Defense attorney Pat Moeves asked that the charge against his 25-year-old client be thrown out because the student wasn’t in any of her classes, The Kentucky Enquirer reported. “Our client didn’t exercise any undue influence or control over the alleged victim,” he said.

Kenton County prosecutor Brian Richmond countered that simply being a teacher put Howell in a position of authority.

The first-degree sex abuse charge was remanded to a grand jury. The felony charge carries a penalty of up to five years in prison.

The law that took effect in July raises the age at which a person can consent to have sex from 16 to 18 when the adult is in a position of authority. Before the change, Howell could have been charged only with a misdemeanor, which carries a penalty of up to one year in jail.

One of Howell’s lawyers, Brian Halloran, said he expects an indictment, and “we will be back before the court and be able to try these issues in earnest once we have discovery.”

Howell, who has been suspended without pay from her job, declined to speak with the newspaper after the hearing. She remains free on a $5,000 cash bond.

During the hearing, Covington Police detective Bryan Frodge testified that Howell telephoned the 16-year-old after a high school football game and invited him to her house. Frodge said Howell acknowledged using bad judgment by talking with and text-messaging the boy, but said nothing illegal happened.

Frodge said the teen was able to describe the inside of Howell’s home and a tattoo on her back.

City sues insurer over Berry abuse case

Published

on January 22, 2009

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By Brandon Ortiz - bortiz@herald-leader.com

The Urban County Government is suing a foreign insurance company for failing to pay five settlements arising from litigation over convicted child molester Ron Berry.

Ron Berry

The county had an insurance policy with the Insurance Corp. of Ireland, now known as Icarom, from March 1, 1982, to July 1, 1985. The general liability policy insured, among many things, public officials from liability.

The county filed suit against Icarom last week in U.S. District Court in Lexington, saying the insurer has failed to pay claims the city filed over five settlements with plaintiffs. The suit says county officials forwarded depositions and other records to the company in 2005.

Despite several inquiries, the insurance company has yet to say whether it will pay or deny the claim, according to the lawsuit.

The city gave the insurance company an opportunity to participate in the defense of the Berry lawsuits, but it declined, the county’s suit states.

About 200 people since 1998 have sued the county claiming they were sexually abused by Berry when they were children. Berry was the head of the Micro-City Government program for disadvantaged youth from 1969 to 1997.

Berry was convicted of 12 counts of sodomy in 2000. He served a three-year prison term.

The city has settled two lawsuits, and one other is still pending. The first was with four plaintiffs for $450,000, or about $112,000 each. The second was with 17 plaintiffs for $2.4 million, or $143,000 each.

The county’s lawsuit seeks reimbursement for the settlements and litigation costs for five plaintiffs who say they were abused during the term of the insurance policy. The county also seeks unspecified punitive damages from the insurance company.

The five Berry plaintiffs participated in either the lawsuit that settled for $2.4 million or the pending suit in U.S. District Court in Lexington.

The Ron Berry lawsuits claim that county officials knew that Berry was sexually abusing children in the program and failed to stop him.

The county’s lawsuit against the insurance company does not specify how much in damages it is seeking.

Officials with the insurance company could not be reached for comment on Wednesday.

Fayette County sued three other insurers over the Ron Berry litigation in 2001. Court records indicate those suits settled, despite previous statements from the insurance companies that the policies did not cover the type of activity Berry and city officials were accused of.

The terms of the insurance company settlements were not immediately available late Wednesday afternoon.

Charges amended in Boyle beating

Published

on January 22, 2009

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By Greg Kocher - gkocher1@herald-leader.com

DANVILLE — A Harrodsburg couple now faces charges of felony wanton endangerment rather than attempted murder, after a judge agreed Wednesday to amend the charges against them.

Shawn L. Brodeur, 32, and his wife, Anne N. Brodeur, 31, were both initially charged with attempted murder after a .22-caliber handgun was fired Jan. 11 into a Danville home where the two had fought with Chaz Young, 31.

Boyle District Judge Jeff Dotson agreed to amend the charges to first-degree wanton endangerment upon a motion by Boyle County Attorney Richard Campbell, the prosecutor. Campbell said later that a review of the case showed that the lesser charge was more appropriate to the circumstances.

Dotson also amended other charges against the Brodeurs. First-degree assault charges against the two were amended to second-degree assault, and first-degree burglary charges were amended to second-degree assault. Young was hit with a baseball bat, but there is disagreement on whether the Brodeurs actually entered the residence, thus warranting a burglary charge, Campbell said.

Danville police did not object to the amended charges.

Shawn Brodeur is the brother of Young’s girlfriend, and Brodeur thought his sister was the victim of domestic violence at hands of Young, said public advocate Melissa Bellew, who represents Shawn Brodeur.

In a posting on MySpace.com, Young allegedly wrote: “I love to beat women. That’s my favorite thing to do. … Couple of days ago, my girlfriend’s brother and wife beat my ass with a baseball bat and now they in jail. … HAHA.”

The message continues: “I deserved it for beating his sister while she was pregnant with my baby. LOL Anyway nobody can take me down now. I was always the one in trouble … now I look like a victim. Oh well I hate that bitch carryin my baby … I wish she wasn’t pregnant. That’s one more I can’t take care of.”

Young was not charged in connection with the Jan. 11 encounter.

Bellew said Shawn Brodeur was attempting to defend his sister. “He was scared for his sister’s life, with Chaz Young’s child. He (Shawn) only went to the house to try and protect his sister.”

Young could not be reached for comment. Court records in Boyle and Mercer counties show Young has been convicted on the following charges: a misdemeanor assault in 2008, terroristic threatening in 2005, and first-degree trafficking in cocaine in 1999.

A preliminary hearing that had been scheduled for Anne Brodeur’s case was rescheduled for March 11 in Boyle District Court.

Shawn Brodeur’s case was waived to a Boyle County grand jury, which will consider the case in March.

Shawn Brodeur is also charged with carrying a concealed deadly weapon.

The Brodeurs were released from the Boyle County jail Wednesday afternoon after posting $1,000 bonds. Dotson had agreed to lower their bonds from $10,000 cash. Among the conditions set by Dotson is that they are to have no contact with Young or Shawn Brodeur’s sister.

Fatal fall from Tyrone Bridge under investigation

Published

on January 22, 2009

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Herald-Leader Staff Report

LAWRENCEBURG — Kentucky State Police are investigating the death of a Lawrenceburg man who fell Wednesday from Tyrone Bridge, the U.S. 62 span over the Kentucky River between Anderson and Woodford counties.

The body of Jeffrey L. Wainscott, 43, was recovered from the river by personnel from Anderson County Fire District, said Deputy Coroner David Walden. The death, which has not been officially determined as a suicide, was reported shortly before 4 p.m. Wednesday.

Walden, whose office is also investigating the death, said a motorist saw a man standing on the bridge, but did not see him fall or jump. Wainscott’s vehicle was parked near an entrance to the bridge, Walden said.

An autopsy performed Thursday by the state medical examiner’s office determined that Wainscott died of blunt force trauma from the impact with the water, Walden said.

The bridge, also known as the Blackburn Memorial Bridge, opened in 1932. The bridge is dedicated to Joseph Clay Stiles Blackburn, who was a U.S. congressman and senator, and a governor of the Panama Canal Zone.

Man indicted for shooting neighbor

Published

on January 20, 2009

For more, go the the Corbin Times Tribune

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Johnny Vaughn, the Laurel County man arrested late last year for allegedly shooting his neighbor following an argument, was indicted on attempted murder and assault charges by a grand jury Friday in Laurel County Circuit Court.

Vaughn, 35, of Sally’s Branch Road in London, is charged with the Dec. 20, 2008 shooting of neighbor Georgiana Cowden.

Jessamine man held in fatal beating, Carlisle woman was killed at farm

Published

on January 20, 2009

in Lexington police

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By Brandon Ortiz
bortiz@herald-leader.com

A Jessamine County man was charged Monday with murder and burglary in connection with the beating death of a Carlisle woman who was staying at a relative’s farm off Paris Pike in Lexington.

Gary T. Stone, 31, was charged Monday with murder, first-degree assault and first-degree burglary. He was being held in the Jessamine County jail.

Stone was arrested Saturday morning in Jessamine County on an unrelated arrest warrant. Lexington police obtained a murder warrant on Monday.

Stone is accused of fatally beating Pauline Mastin, 43, who was staying at a relatives home at 567 Muir Station Road, the location of Fair Trial Farm.

Lt. James Curless said a security guard at a neighboring farm saw a vehicle leaving Fair Trial Farm some time after 4:30 a.m. Since it’s odd for a vehicle to be out at that hour, the guard wrote down a description of the vehicle and its license plate number.

“It gave us a significant investigative lead,” Curless said.

Curless said the suspect broke into the home and assaulted Mastin and her brother, farm manager Bart Mastin.

Bart Mastin was taken to the University of Kentucky hospital with serious but not life- threatening injuries.

Curless called Pauline Mastin “a truly innocent victim.”

Reach Brandon Ortiz at (859) 231-1443 or 1-800-950-6397, Ext. 1443.

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Shelbyville man indicted for serial arson

Published

on January 16, 2009

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James Aaron Clark, 27, of Shelbyville, who confessed to setting nine house fires, was indicted Wednesday for first and second-degree arson and criminal mischief.

Clark, arrested in October after his confession, was indicted on one count of first-degree arson, a felony that carries a penalty of 20 years to life, three counts of second-degree arson, also a felony, one count of first-degree criminal mischief and three counts of third-degree criminal, charges which were also related to the fires.

Old habits die hard for Frankfort man

Published

on January 16, 2009