Grand jury declines to indict officers
LIMA — A grand jury has declined to indict two SWAT team members who fatally shot a man authorities say confronted the officers with a firearm at a home in northwest Ohio.
The Lima News reports a special prosecutor said Wednesday that an Allen County grand jury heard evidence in the shooting death of 57-year-old Keith Burkholder and found “no probable cause” to charge the officers.
Allen County’s sheriff said after the shooting that undercover agents had purchased illegal drugs from individuals in the Lima home and obtained a search warrant.
Sheriff Matt Treglia said Burkholder confronted the SWAT team with a firearm when officers entered the home Aug. 3. Treglia said gunfire was exchanged and Burkholder was killed.
Police: Teacher let son sell LSD
SPRINGBORO — An Ohio elementary school teacher faces charges she let her 15-year-old son sell LSD and allowed teenagers to use it in her home.
Forty-year-old Amy Panzeca, of Springboro, pleaded not guilty Tuesday in Warren County to charges including permitting drug abuse and endangering children. She was freed on bond.
Prosecutors say Panzeca’s son sold LSD to at least 20 high school students. He faces felony drug charges and is being held in a juvenile detention center.
A drug task force found LSD and marijuana during a search of the family’s home in May.
Panzeca teaches fifth grade. The Springboro school district has placed her on paid leave.
Panzeca’s attorney couldn’t immediately be reached for comment.
Teen electrocuted while climbing tower
AKRON — Investigators say an Ohio teenager was electrocuted and fell about 30 feet to the ground after climbing a transmission tower supporting high-voltage power lines.
The Akron Beacon Journal reports that the power lines carry about 23,000 volts of electricity.
A coroner identified the boy Tuesday as 17-year-old Antonio Jarrod Victor Simon, of Streetsboro. Police say he died Monday at a park in Akron.
A spokesman for FirstEnergy Corp. says the teen’s death was tragic and reminds people to stay away from dangerous equipment.
Man electrocuted trying to steal copper wire
MORAINE — Police say a man has been electrocuted while trying to steal copper wire at an Ohio business.
WDTN-TV reports the man was dropped off at a hospital outside Dayton on Wednesday morning and pronounced dead minutes later.
Police say their investigation revealed that the man was electrocuted at a business in Moraine. Police then went to a used car lot in that Dayton suburb and found evidence of a break-in.
The man hasn’t been identified. Police haven’t said whether the person who dropped the man off at the hospital might face charges.
Trial set in death of baby
LEBANON — An 18-year-old Ohio woman charged in the death of her newborn infant found buried outside her home is scheduled for trial starting Nov. 6.
A Warren County judge set the date Tuesday for Brooke Skylar Richardson and continued barring attorneys and others involved from commenting publicly outside of court. The judge has said the gag order is intended to help ensure a fair trial.
Richardson has pleaded not guilty to aggravated murder and other charges in the May death of the infant. The remains were found July 14 in Carlisle, about 40 miles north of Cincinnati.
A prosecutor alleges that Richardson “purposely caused” the death, then burned and buried the baby.
Richardson’s attorney previously said she “didn’t kill her baby.”
Money for crash victims’ families stolen
AKRON — An Ohio woman who raised money to support the families of two teenagers who were killed and another who was hurt in a car crash has been charged with stealing donated funds.
Police say 40-year-old Melissa Szentes, of Akron, was arrested Monday and charged with theft.
Investigators say she set up a benefit after two 14-year-old girls were killed and a 15-year-old boy was injured May 28 while walking along a road in Coventry Township.
Police say 24-year-old Natasha Boggs drifted across a white line known as the “fog line” and struck the teens. She pleaded not guilty to involuntary manslaughter and texting while driving.
Taylor Galloway, of Akron, and Amber Thoma, of Coventry Township, were killed.
WEWS-TV reports that Szentes declined to comment on the charges.
Car-bus crash kills one person
TOLEDO — Authorities say a bus and a car crashed head-on, killing the car’s driver and injuring the driver of the transit authority bus in northwest Ohio.
Toledo police say the car went across the center line and into the path of a Toledo Area Regional Transit Authority bus around 2:30 p.m. Tuesday.
Lucas County coroner’s investigator Steve Kahle says the car’s driver, 55-year-old Beverly Barrett, was taken to a hospital where she was pronounced dead. Authorities say the bus driver received minor injuries.
Police said there were only two passengers on the bus at the time, and they did not appear injured.
Authorities say the crash remains under investigation.
