Share
RALEIGH Man convicted of scaring woman, 79, to death
A federal jury convicted a 20-year-old man of scaring a woman to death while running from police after attempting a bank robbery.
The jury found Larry Whitfield not guilty of killing 79-year-old Mary Parnell, but, in a quirky three-part verdict, voted to place the blame for her death on him. That distinction means he'll serve a mandatory life sentence.
Parnell was at home in September 2008 when Whitfield tried to use her house as a safe haven. Parnell suffered a heart attack and died.
Whitfield was convicted of attempting to rob the Fort Financial Credit Union in Gastonia with an accomplice, Quanterrious McCoy, who has already pleaded guilty to the robbery. Whitfield was also convicted on two firearms charges.
Investigators said the pair were separated while running from the police, and Whitfield was trying to change clothes to get away. They say they believe he entered two homes in the process. Parnell was dead when her husband found her hours later. WCNC-TV
Meck briefs
Huntersville
Officials with the Carolina Raptor Center are asking the public to be on the lookout for a rare bird that escaped from the center Thursday morning.
The Bateleur eagle is covered mostly in black feathers with blue-gray feathers on her wings. She has a wingspan between 4 and 5 feet and should have leather straps around her ankles. The Raptor Center says the eagle will most likely be roosting high in a tree.
Officials say they believe the eagle is in the Latta Plantation Nature Preserve.
If you see the eagle, call the Raptor Center's rescue line at 704-875-5421, ext.107. WCNC
Regional briefs
North Carolina Raleigh
The head of the Republican Party in a North Carolina county wants election officials to check on Clay Aiken's registration after a political outburst.
Wake County GOP Chairman Claude Pope filed a complaint Friday challenging whether the former "American Idol" runner-up can vote lawfully in the county.
Records show Aiken voted last month using the address of his mother's home in Raleigh, where he once lived. He now has a house in nearby Chatham County.
Aiken blogged last week that candidates who won Wake County school board elections are "selfish idiots" who may ruin the school system.
Pope said the challenge isn't about Aiken's words but making sure people are lawfully registered. Associated Press
North Carolina's state treasurer has unveiled rules banning employees from taking gifts from companies that do substantial business with the agency.
Treasurer Janet Cowell also announced Friday her top-level staff can't solicit charitable donations of more than $150 from contractors doing more than $10,000 worth of business a year with her office.
The rules come after former chief investment officer Patricia Gerrick said she was offered favors from investment firms but didn't accept them. Gerrick also said investment managers made donations to a charity on which she was a board member.
Cowell fired Gerrick in September after five years managing North Carolina's pension funds, which are valued at more than $60 billion. Cowell won't say why Gerrick was let go. Associated Press
South Carolina
Columbia
A federal jury on Friday found three S.C. men guilty of swindling more than $80 million from thousands of investors, many of whom prosecutors say fell victim to the Ponzi scheme because of their mounting debt.
The jury of five men and seven women deliberated for less than four hours before finding Timothy McQueen, Joseph Brunson and Tony Pough guilty of nearly 60 charges each, including conspiracy, mail fraud and money laundering.
The three showed no reaction during the 15 minutes it took to read the lengthy verdict. An hour later, the same jury ordered the men to forfeit $82 million, the maximum sought by authorities.
The trio called themselves the "3 Hebrew Boys" after the biblical tale of three men who were thrown into an inferno after refusing to bow to a statue, but emerged unscathed because of their faith. The three preyed on debt-plagued investors to ensnare them in a Ponzi scheme - "robbing Peter to pay Paul," Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark Moore has said. Associated Press
Police digest
Mecklenburg County
Charlotte
A 14-year-old boy has been arrested and charged with sexually assaulting a 13-year-old girl on a Charlotte-Mecklenburg school bus this week.
Police say the incident happened on a bus taking children home from James G. Martin Middle School on Thursday. Both the suspect and the victim are students at the school on IBM Drive in University City. A police report says six other students witnessed the attack.
Police say the boy told the girl if she didn't let him touch her, he would get a gun and come back for her and her younger brother. Investigators are checking to determine if the boy had access to a gun.
CMS has disciplined the student. Police haven't released the victim's or the suspect's name. Both are minors. Cleve R. Wootson Jr. and WCNC-TV
Police were still working Friday to learn the identity of a man who was struck and killed by a vehicle Thursday evening while walking on North Tryon Street near Interstate 485 in north Charlotte.
The victim, who died at the scene, was not carrying identification, police said.
He was struck by a Time Warner Cable van in the left outbound lane of North Tryon Street around 8:20 p.m., according to police reports.
The victim was wearing dark clothing, police said, and was thrown about 70 feet.
The van driver has not been charged. Steve Lyttle
Iredell County
The president of an Iredell County elementary school's PTO has been charged with embezzling money over a period of several months, the Iredell County Sheriff's Office says.
Anary Morrison Bellamy, 28, of Statesville, was charged with 16 counts of embezzlement and four felony counts of forgery, according to Sheriff Phillip Redmond.
She has been president of the PTO at the school, on Old Mountain Road southwest of Statesville, since last year.
Redmond said the school's principal, Steven Sheets, and several members of the PTO board discovered this month that the signature of the PTO's treasurer was forged on four checks written in October, made payable to Bellamy.
The sheriff said school officials began checking PTO records and found several other cases in which checks were written to Bellamy, without the PTO president supplying receipts or other reasons she was due the money.
More than $5,000 is believed to have been taken, the sheriff said. Steve Lyttle
Three Mooresville men and a Davidson man have been charged in what Iredell County sheriff's deputies say was a theft ring that might have covered three counties.
The four were arrested Wednesday, the Iredell County Sheriff's Office says, after deputies were called to the River Park Apartments on N.C. 150 near Mooresville, to answer a call about possible stolen property.
Sheriff Phillip Redmond said deputies discovered two motorcycles and a utility trailer, each of which had been reported stolen.
Redmond said deputies widened their search and later found a number of power tools and other items in apartment units at the complex.
The sheriff said the items are thought to have been taken from businesses and at least one residence in Mooresville, Cornelius, Statesville and possibly Lincoln County.
He said the four men also were involved in vehicle break-ins and added that at least one more arrest is expected in the case.
Deputies say the Mooresville men charged in the case were Gavin Franklin Boyd, 18; Kevin Michael Mehan, 19; and Shane Michael Smiley, 19. Also charged was Garrett Collins Parker, 19, of Davidson, deputies say. Steve Lyttle
