Prosecutor

MARTINSVILLE, Ind. (AP) - A central Indiana prosecutor doesn't want to give a 10-year-old girl her piggy bank back. The Reporter-Times of Martinsville reports ( http://bit.ly/ziWvCx ) that Morgan County Prosecutor Steve Sonnega has filed a motion asking a Superior Court judge in the central Indiana county to reverse his order to give the piggy bank back to the daughter of Russell Hill. On Jan. 18, members of the Indiana State Police and Indiana Gaming Commission raided Hill's home in rural Morgan County.

It was his dive into the river, apparently to get away from police, that got his name in the news this week. But for 27-year-old Duane Longacre, who was fished from the St. Joseph River by police following a high-speed chase that ended with a crash, the river was just the end point to an apparently busy week. According to charges filed late Wednesday by the St. Joseph County prosecutor's office, Longacre, who lives in Plymouth, had good reason to flee: Jan. 26: Longacre is accused of stealing a car outside the Speedway gas station on Mishawaka Avenue.

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (AP) - A western Indiana prosecutor says two police officers won't face criminal charges in the fatal shooting of a motorist who tried to run down one of the officers. Vigo County Prosecutor Terry Modesitt said Wednesday the two West Terre Haute police officers acted in self-defense when they fatally shot 29-year-old James Michael Mundy on Dec. 13. The Tribune-Star reports (http://bit.ly/zPr2cN) Mundy died after being shot twice. Modesitt said his review showed Mundy drove recklessly when he fled from police in a stolen car and that he tried to use that car to run down one of the officers who ordered him at gunpoint to leave the car. He says that officer fired five shots as Mundy tried to run him over and a second officer fired four shots.

ROGERS CITY, Mich. (AP) - Attorney General Bill Schuette is accusing a northern Michigan prosecutor of fraudulently getting prescriptions for painkillers. Schuette says he's charging Presque Isle County Prosecutor Richard Steiger with seeing numerous doctors for the same prescription drugs. The 46-year-old Steiger says allegations of fraud are "completely not true. " He says he's the victim of a "political witch hunt" but declined to offer details. Steiger says he saw two pain management doctors for sinus problems, chronic headaches and arthritis.

MISHAWAKA - St. Joseph County Prosecutor's office says they have not completed their investigation on the Mishawaka High School sex assault allegations. A 15-year-old Mishawaka student filed a report last Thursday claiming he had been sexually assault in January 2010. Because juveniles are involved in this case, by law, police cannot comment until official charges have been filed. Four other students are named as suspects - two 15-year-olds and two 16-year-olds. The school has suspended its wrestling coach, Darrick Snyder. WSBT went to Snyder's home early this week, but was unable to reach him for comment.

MISHAWAKA - St. Joseph County Deputy Prosecutor Liz Hurley has been selected as magistrate judge in Mishawaka for St. Joseph Circuit Court, Circuit Court Judge Michael Gotsch announced Tuesday. Hurley will assume her new duties Jan. 2. She will replace David Ready, 74, who will retire after 12 years on the bench. Hurley has been a deputy prosecutor for nearly 10 years, handling murder, rape, sexual assault, child abuse and domestic violence cases, among others.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - A federal prosecutor is warning parents not to try a new scheme for dodging vaccines: sending items infected with chickenpox through the mail. Jerry Martin, the U.S. attorney in Nashville, pointed out it's illegal and unsafe to mail contagious items. Martin told The Associated Press he decided to speak out after WSMV-TV interviewed him about virus exchanges in Tennessee. Parents trying to expose children to chickenpox are using social media sites like Facebook to find sources of the virus.

INDIAN HEAD PARK, Ill. (AP) - Prosecutors say the man charged in the stabbing death of a 14-year-old suburban Chicago girl kept the teen's cell phone after the attack and used it to send "taunting and disturbing" messages to her family. Cook County State's Attorney Anita Alvarez says 38-year-old John Wilson Jr. has been charged with first-degree murder and residential burglary in the death of Kelli O'Laughlin last week. Alvarez says O'Laughlin came home from school to find Wilson burglarizing her family's home in Indian Head Park.

SOUTH BEND - Should the St. Joseph County prosecutor give up his investigation into possible voter registration fraud? The county's Republican Party says the answer to that question is “Yes,” but Mike Dvorak is not backing down. It all started when the South Bend Tribune and Howey Politics first broke the story of possible forged signatures on 2008 gubernatorial and presidential primary petitions. Even though both state and county Republican Party leaders have asked Dvorak to appoint a special prosecutor in the matter, he's pushing on with his investigation.

The first of several trials involving Niles teens who allegedly secretly taped a sexual encounter with an underage girl and used the video to extort additional sexual favors got underway Tuesday in Berrien County Trial Court, with assistant county Prosecutor Steve Pierangeli making reference to a second victim. Pierangeli said one of the accused teens managed to secure nude images of the second victim in February, prior to the teens' encounter with the other victim. As in the series of incidents that allegedly unfolded March 14 and 18 in Niles, the girl "felt she had no choice," Pierangelia said, but to perform sex acts with the teens who allegedly threatened to post the images on Facebook if she didn't comply.