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The Associated Press
LYNCH — An eastern Kentucky police chief has been arrested and charged with assault, alcohol intoxication and disorderly conduct.
The Harlan Daily Enterprise reports that officers in Cumberland arrested Lynch Police Chief James Miller Monday morning.
Police say they found Miller intoxicated and his wife with bruises on her neck and a cut on her elbow. A police report says Miller would not calm down.
Miller was arrested and taken to the Harlan County Detention Center on a $200 cash bond. He was released the same day.
Miller has served as police chief since August 2008. He was promoted after former chief Taylor Hall was hired by the Cumberland Police Department.
Miller declined to comment to the paper.
An owner of the cemetery where the body of an unclothed infant was found Thursday afternoon said the child was discovered by a woman who walks her dog there every day.
“She was pretty shaken up,” said Carolyn Hale, co-owner of Hillcrest Memorial Park. “It was very unsettling.”
An autopsy is scheduled to be performed Friday at the state medical examiner’s office in Frankfort, according to a release from the Fayette County coroner’s office.
No other details about the child have been released.
Lexington police were called to the scene about 2:50 p.m.
The body was found at the back of the cemetery, which is bordered by several apartment complexes. And the child might have been dumped over a fence bordering cemetery property, Lexington police Lt. Edward Hart said Thursday.
Hale said the woman, who owns a lot at the cemetery, did not immediately realize what she had found.
“At first she thought it was a doll,” Hale said. “She looked closer and realized it looked like a baby.”
The woman immediately informed the caretaker.
Authorities have contacted all hospitals in Fayette County and major medical facilities in surrounding counties to be on the lookout for a woman with medical issues related to having given birth.
A man wanted in Missouri on several felony charges was arrested Thursday night as Danville police investigated possible narcotics activity in a Sonic restaurant parking lot.
Robert Caldwell, 20, of Danville, was inside a white Cadillac where police found marijuana, scales, alcohol and a pellet pistol, Danville police said. He was wanted in Missouri on charges including seven counts of first-degree robbery, a felony, and first-degree tampering with a motor vehicle.
Police were called to the Sonic on Huntsville Road about 11 p.m. Thursday after someone reported possible narcotics activity involving the Cadillac and a black Pontiac.
The driver of the Cadillac, a juvenile, fled on foot and has not been located, police said.
Caldwell is being held at the Boyle County jail.
Three teenagers have been charged in connection with a fire that gutted the house of Nicholas County High School teacher early Thursday.
“It was a childhood prank that went bad,” said Nicholas County Sheriff Dick Garrett.
Garrett Young, 18, of Mount Olivet, was charged with third-degree arson and criminal mischief, Kentucky State Police said. Both charges are felonies punishable by one to five years in prison.
Jordan Stewart, 18, of Carlisle, was charged with one count of criminal trespass, a violation punishable by a fine.
Garrett said a 17-year-old boy was charged with criminal trespass, a misdemeanor.
A juvenile female who was at the scene but who did not get out of a vehicle was not charged, Garrett said.
Garrett said the teens are students at the high school.
Hank Bond, spokesman for Nicholas County Schools, said the district has been made aware of the situation and will cooperate with law enforcement. Bond said he could not comment on any further action that might or might not be taken.
Young and Stewart, who was issued a citation, could not be reached for comment Thursday afternoon.
Nicholas County Fire Chief Mark Hughes said a kind of fireworks known as a “cake” was put on the porch of Dreama Griffith’s house on Walnut Grove Road, near the Nicholas-Bourbon county line.
Cake fireworks are more complex than smaller fireworks such as Roman candles and bottle rockets.
Garrett was called to the house shortly after 11 p.m. Wednesday. The fireworks had damaged the soffit on the porch, but it didn’t appear to be burning or smoking, Garrett said.
But then firefighters were called to the house shortly after 2:30 a.m. Thursday, Hughes said. By that time, the fire was “fully involved,” he said.
Apparently sparks from the earlier fireworks explosion had gone through the eaves of the roof and into the attic, where insulation smoldered and caused the fire to spread, Hughes said. “All that’s left are the brick walls,” Hughes said.
Griffith, who teaches English at the high school, got out of the house uninjured. Firefighters were able to rescue her two cats that were hiding beneath a bed, Hughes said.
Garrett said Griffith is staying with her parents.
Young was released from the Montgomery County jail on a $5,000 full cash bond. He is scheduled to appear in court April 8.
Bond and court information for Stewart was not immediately available Thursday.
Herald-Leader Staff Report
The state attorney general’s office announced Tuesday that there has been an increase in the number of complaints from victims of financial scams.
Attorney General Jack Conway said investigators within the Consumer Protection Division have been receiving several calls per day from consumers just wanting to report contacts from suspicious companies, according to a news release from Conway’s office.
“While more Kentuckians are unfortunately facing layoffs during the economic downturn, scam artists are working overtime to prey on people’s fears and trick debt-ridden consumers into paying money for bogus debt-relief services or non-existent government grants,” Conway said in the release.
The attorney general’s office said some bogus debt relief companies have left individuals messages, saying “it appears that you qualify for a $1,000 advance. If you call today, you will get first priority status.”
A staff member at the attorney general’s office called the 866 number and was greeted with profanity. The call was then escalated to a supervisor to process the request.
Conway’s office said the number appears to ring into an offshore boiler room. The supervisor indicated someone would call back to explain the program.
General Conway said in the release that “bogus calls are being reported to my office regularly.”
“Consumers report that they obtained information from the Internet on free government grants or stimulus payments, or received unsolicited telephone calls,” he said. “Consumers should not respond to the offers, nor should they complete online forms in order to qualify for the so-called ‘free grants.’”
Conway said “these could be efforts by con artists to steal credit card information, to make unauthorized charges, or to steal personal information to further victimize the consumer with identity theft.”
The attorney general implored consumers not to respond to these calls or other calls offering foreclosure relief.
The Associated Press
LOUISVILLE — Jefferson County school officials say two high school students have been arrested after allegedly bringing guns to school.
A statement from spokeswoman Lauren Roberts says the separate incidents happened Tuesday morning at Valley High School in Louisville.
The statement says police arrested a senior, who allegedly had an unloaded gun, and a sophomore, who allegedly had a loaded gun.
The school was on heightened security, but has returned to normal operations.
School officials say a tip and quick response by the school staff stopped the incidents from escalating.
Police arrested five people and found two meth labs after searches Monday near Parksville and in Junction City in Boyle County.
Acting on a tip, deputies with the Boyle County Sheriff’s Office and Kentucky State Police executed search warrants at two homes on Baker Lane between Parksville and Mitchellsburg, about five miles west of Junction City. A working meth lab was found at each location.
The result of those searches led to a third search on Kentucky Avenue in Junction City, where police found processed methamphetamine.
Those arrested on various drug-related charges were James Hrapek, 39; Bronson Hartman, 32; Ronnie Hartman, 52; Jessie Divine, 20; and Tonya Divine, 30.
Two young men were hospitalized after exchanging gunfire Monday night in Pendleton County, Kentucky State Police said.
Shortly after 8:30 p.m., state troopers and the Pendleton County Sheriff’s Department responded to a shooting on Maple Street in Falmouth.
The shooting was between an 18-year-old man from Union and a 19-year-old man from Falmouth, state police said. Police have not released the names of the two men.
The 19-year-old suffered a gunshot wound to the chest and was taken by helicopter to University of Kentucky Hospital in Lexington.
The 18-year-old was flown by helicopter to University Hospital in Cincinnati.
The shooting remains under investigation by state police.
Christopher Tolliver was on his knees suffering from a bullet wound to his abdomen when his ex-boyfriend fired a fatal gunshot to the back of his head, a detective testified Monday.
Witnesses at the Lexington Green parking lot on March 5 told police that the shooter laughed as he stood over Tolliver, Detective Todd Iddings said.
Iddings testified Monday during a preliminary hearing for Toby Lasure in Fayette District Court. Lasure, 31, is charged with murder, wanton endangerment, fleeing police and leaving the scene of an accident.
District Judge Joseph Bouvier found probable cause to send Lasure’s case to a grand jury for possible indictment.
Lasure spoke with police after the shooting and confessed several times. Lasure said Tollier told him “hurtful things” at Lexington Green, according to Iddings.
Friends and relatives of Tolliver have said he had broken up with Lasure, whom he met last year around Thanksgiving.
Iddings said Lasure called Tolliver earlier that day, asking him to work out with him at Fitness 19 on Boston Road. Lasure found Tolliver at the nearby Kroger, and Tolliver told him he wanted to talk at Lexington Green, Iddings said.
Police have said several people witnessed the shooting.
Iddings said two witnesses identified Lasure — through a photo lineup — as the shooter at Lexington Green.
Another police officer described the chase that led to a three-hour standoff at the Ridge Behavioral Health System. The Ridge is a psychiatric and chemical dependency treatment center at 3050 Rio Dosa Drive, near Man o’ War Boulevard.
Sgt. Pat McBride said Lasure whizzed in and out of “extremely heavy traffic.” He got up to 90 miles an hour on New Circle Road.
At the Ridge parking lot, Lasure held a gun to his head inside his car. Negotiators eventually persuaded him to surrender.
“Our only hope was to calm him down,” McBride said.
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