Friday, February 04, 2000
TRISTATE DIGEST
Ex-policeman pleads guilty in bank holdup
A former Cincinnati police officer pleaded guilty Thursday to a federal charge that he used a firearm during a bank holdup in October.
Derrick Holmes, 37, faces a mandatory seven-year prison sentence and could be fined up to $250,000, federal prosecutors said.
U.S. District Judge Susan Dlott ordered Mr. Holmes kept in jail while probation officers do a presentencing report. He is to be sentenced in two to three months.
Investigators said Mr. Holmes drove from his home in Marietta, Ga., to Cincinnati on Oct. 13 to rob a bank. He concealed his face with a mesh laundry bag, showed a .38-caliber revolver and took an undisclosed amount of money from two tellers at a Fifth Third Bank branch office before driving back to Georgia, prosecutors said.
He surrendered to the FBI the following day in Atlanta.
Mr. Holmes was a Cincinnati police officer from April 1995 until December 1998. He had been living in Georgia since he resigned, police said.
A camera in the bank videotaped Mr. Holmes during the holdup, police said.
Two men arrested in Arby's robbery
SYCAMORE TOWNSHIP — Two men were apprehended by Fairfax Police late Wednesday after a robbery at the Arby's Restaurant in the 8000 block of Montgomery Road.
Charged with aggravated robbery is Tinelle Bell, 21, of Wyatt Avenue, Kennedy Heights. Charged with complicity to aggravated robbery is Ray Loveless Jr., 20, of Zinsle Avenue, Kennedy Heights.
Steve Barnett, spokesman for the Hamilton County Sheriff's Office, said the restaurant was closed and the manager was in the office completing paperwork at about 11 p.m.
A man armed with a small handgun entered, demanded money, forced the manager into a walk-in cooler and fled with the day's receipts.
Based on a description of the getaway car, Fairfax officers stopped an older model gray Buick on Old Red Bank Road
Mr. Loveless, the driver, was apprehended after he stopped the car. Mr. Tinelle fled on foot and eluded a police search that included a helicopter and canine unit. Subsequent investigation led to Mr. Tinelle's arrest at his home. Police have not recovered the stolen money, Mr. Barnett said.
Man accused of taking jewels worth $300,000
A Miami, Fla., man was arrested Wednesday in the theft of more than $300,000 worth of jewelry outside the Arby's Restaurant on Montgomery Road in Sycamore Township on Nov. 23.
A judge set bond at $75,000 for Carlos Rodriguez-Daza, 27, Thursday in Hamilton County Municipal Court.
Alex Pang, a jewelry salesman with Pang Brothers Wholesale Jewelry Co. in El Hambra, Calif., told authorities his car was broken into at the Arby's restaurant about 11 a.m.
While he was in the restaurant, two men broke the driver's side window of Mr. Pang's vehicle and gained access to the trunk, police said. The thieves removed a black duffle bag that contained the jewelry, police said. Hamilton County Sheriff's Office is investigating.
Student charged selling drugs
MOUNT HEALTHY — A Mount Healthy High School student was arrested Thursday at school, charged with selling drugs to another student.
Police said Julian H. Terrell, 19, of Bevis, sold 100 grams or less of marijuana.
Mount Healthy Superintendent Dave Horine said Mr. Terrell has been suspended and recommended for expulsion. “We don't tolerate that,” the superintendent said.
Mr. Terrell is to appear in Hamilton County Municipal Court todayat 9 a.m. on a drug trafficking charge, a fourth-degree felony.
Intersection crash kills Middletown woman
MADISON TOWNSHIP — A Middletown woman was killed late Wednesday in a two-car accident at Ohio 122 and Mosiman Road.
Sherry Schooley, 46, was pronounced dead at the scene by a member of the Butler County Coroner's Office.
Ms. Schooley was traveling west on Ohio 122, and Michael Mackey, 24, of Carlisle, was driving north on Mosiman, said Brad Kraemer, spokesman for the Butler County Sheriff's Department.
The accident occurred at 10:30 p.m. Wednesday.
Deputies were still investigating, Mr. Kraemer said.
Mr. Mackey and Crystal Wallace, 15, of Middletown, a passenger in his car, were taken to Middletown Regional Hospital, where they were treated and released.
Indiana asked to allow multi-casino ownership HAMMOND, Ind. — Less than a year after a wave of takeovers swept the Lake Michigan casino market, casino boat executives are pushing a proposal to allow the ownership of more than one Indiana casino.
The legislation, backed by the likes of Trump Casino and Majestic Star, would open the Hoosier casino industry to further consolidation and ownership by national and international gaming companies, some of which already have a presence in Indiana.
“It makes sense,” said R. Bruce McKee, general manager of the Trump boat in Gary. “The business environment is one of acquisitions in this industry, and I would think that will continue.”
Industry insiders and observers think no takeover deals are imminent among Indiana boats, though some casinos are considered ripe for acquisition.
Accused stepfather appears in court
URBANA, Ohio — A man accused of killing his two young stepchildren told a judge Thursday that he fully understands what he did when he gave up his constitutional right to a speedy trial.
Kevin Neal appeared in Champaign County Common Pleas Court at the request of prosecutors, who wanted to make sure Mr. Neal understood that right and that defense attorneys would not use the issue as a point of appeal should Mr. Neal be convicted.
Judge Roger Wilson has set Mr. Neal's trial date for May 1 and allocated three weeks for it.
Mr. Neal, 33, is accused of killing India Smith, 11, and her half brother, Cody Smith, 4, who vanished July 9, 1997. A farmer found their remains two months later about 3 miles from their house in Urbana, about 35 miles northeast of Dayton.
Mr. Neal has pleaded innocent to charges of aggravated murder, kidnapping, offenses against a human corpse and tampering with evidence.
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