A roundup of crime stories from throughout the Region during the past 24 hours.
PORTAGE — A report of a man slumped over in his vehicle and foaming from the mouth resulted in his arrest Monday afternoon on multiple drug charges, according to Portage police.
Nicholas Williams, 26, of Portage, faces felony counts of possessing cocaine, heroin and the synthetic opiate Fentanyl, and possessing a hypodermic needle, and a misdemeanor count of possessing paraphernalia.
Police said they were called out about 4:30 p.m. to the area of Gelsosomo's Pizza near U.S. 6 and County Line Road for the man whose health was in question.
While en route, an officer said he saw the vehicle in question traveling eastbound on U.S. 6 and stopped it. The driver, identified as Williams, was sweating, had bloodshot eyes and was slurring his speech, police said.
Williams denied anything was medically wrong with him and said he nearly called police because he was scared people were knocking on the window of his vehicle, according to the incident report.
After noticing Williams looking very nervous and glancing back at his vehicle, the officer asked Williams if he had any illegal drugs and he said he did not, according to police. But when asked if the officer could look, he replied, "I'd rather you didn't."
Williams then claimed he had loaned the vehicle to someone else the night before. After a police dog alerted officers about the vehicle, police said they found a glass smoking pipe; two white rocks (later identified as cocaine) sitting on top of ice in a cup; a small paper wrapper containing a brown powder identified as Fentanyl and heroin; a plastic bag containing Fentanyl; an uncapped hypodermic syringe; and a wadded up dollar bill containing cocaine residue.
FAIR OAKS — The Newton County Sheriff's Office has identified three of the men accused of abusing young calves at Fair Oaks Farms, according to a news release issued Tuesday.
Santiago Ruvalcaba Contreros, 31, Edgar Gardozo Vazquez, 36, and Miguel Angel Navarro Serrano, 38, are being charged with the beating of a vertebrate animal, a class A misdemeanor, police said. All three were previously fired by the Newton County agritourist farm that was best known for its grilled cheese sandwiches and field trips of kids watching calves being born before the undercover video came out earlier this month.
None of the men has been arrested since the sheriff's office is still attempting to locate them, police said.
The Animal Recovery Mission, or ARM, released undercover videos earlier this month showing Fair Oaks employees kicking, body slamming and striking calves, hitting them with branding irons and steel rods, in what it billed as "the largest undercover dairy investigation of all time." Further video showed Fair Oaks Farms selling calves to the veal industry, which it had said it didn't do.
Fair Oaks founder Mike McCloskey described the videos as "disturbing, upsetting and unacceptable" in a statement. He said the farm would take steps to protect animal welfare, such as installing camera surveillance that will be publicly viewable at the Dairy Adventure Center, hiring an animal welfare specialist and having frequent unannounced audits.
The videos have resulted in protests and caused several retailers to stop carrying Fair Oaks Farms cheeses and Fairlife products such as Core Power protein drinks targeted at weight lifters. Fair Oaks Farms is a major supplier to Fairlife, a national brand of ultrafiltered milk that boasts more protein and calcium, less fat and a higher price tag than traditional milk.
Jewel-Osco, Strack & Van Til, Family Express, Fresh Thyme Farmers Markets, Tony's Fresh Market, Pete's Fresh Market in Chicago, and Casey's Foods in Naperville stopped carrying Fairlife and Fair Oaks Farms dairy products, and protesters lobbied other retailers to follow suit and join in the boycott.
Both Yelp and TripAdvisor have suspended reviews of Fair Oaks Farms because of an influx of criticism online, and the similarly named Fair Oaks Farms in Wisconsin and Fair Oak Farm in England have had to announce that they are not related the Northwest Indiana farm in any way. The BBC reported that Fair Oak Farm East Sussex has gotten "hundreds of threats and hate messages erroneously tagging the family business," including death threats.
Further details in the case are not being released by police while the investigation is active.
CHESTERTON — A man reported his 1998 Jeep Cherokee had been stolen Sunday from the Jewel-Osco parking lot on 700 block of Indian Boundary Road, where he works, police say.
The victim told police he exited the vehicle about 1 p.m. — the start of his 8-hour shift — locking the red Jeep before entering the store. He last spotted the car about 3 p.m.
By 9:15 p.m., the victim told police the Jeep was missing from the lot. Officers said the store's manager reported seeing the vehicle at 6 p.m. and notified security about the incident.
The victim told police the Jeep only had two keys, which he and his father were in possession of. The car is valued near $5,000, officers said.
Anyone with information can call Chesterton police at 219-926-1136.
VALPARAISO — Two area mothers have been slapped with felony neglect charges based on allegations that their children missed too many school days and showed up late to classes on several other days.
"Porter County is just taking a strong stand against parents not sending their children to school," said Porter County Deputy Prosecutor Harry Peterson.
The hope is to get the attention of these parents and others and convince them to realize the importance of sending their children to school and on time, he said.
Porter County Prosecutor Gary Germann said children who drop out of school are 3 1/2 times more likely to end up in prison by the age of 23 or 24.
Bethany Goin, 31, of Union Mills, was charged with four felony counts of neglect of a dependent involving children ages 13, 9, 8 and 7, according to charging documents.
The children attend the Duneland School Corporation.
Erica Blair, 37, of the Lake Eliza area, faces a single count of neglect of a dependent involving a 6-year-old child, who attends the Porter Township School Corporation.
The cases were referred to prosecutors by the county's juvenile probation department after years of failed efforts to solve the problem, said Amy Beier, executive director of juvenile court services.
The efforts were made through the county's Project ATTEND program, which works with parents of elementary-age students referred by schools, she said.
"It's a big problem, but it's usually an easy fix," Beier said.
The problem often boils down to parents who are overwhelmed or who lack resources, such as transportation, she said.
The Project ATTEND program has been around since 2000 and has an active load of about 225 cases, Beier said.
"We have far more successes than not," she said.
Goin is accused of allowing 21 unexcused absences, five excused absences and nine tardies during the 2017-18 school year involving the 13-year-old and 32 unexcused absences, 11 unexcused e-learning days, 36 excused absences (only 13 verified by a doctor) and five tardies this past school year, according to charging documents.
Her 9-year-old had 20 unexcused absences, seven excused absences and 15 tardies in 2017-18, and 40 unexcused absences, 13 1/2 excused absences and 16 tardies last year, according to court documents.
Her 8-year-old had eight unexcused and excused absences, and 22 tardies in 2017-18, and 15 unexcused absences, 3 1/2 excused absences and six tardies last year, according to charges.
Her 7-year-old had nine unexcused absences, seven excused absences and 17 tardies in 2017-18, and 38 unexcused absences, 13 excused absences and 18 tardies last year, according to prosecutors.
Blair is accused of allowing her 6-year-old to rack up 24 unexcused absences and 19 unexcused tardies during 2017-18, and 45 unexcused absences and 14 unexcused tardies last year, according to charging documents.
Peterson said there are currently no additional cases pending and the mothers in these cases will be summoned to court rather than arrested.
CROWN POINT — An East Chicago teenager charged in the fatal shooting of an 11-year-old boy last year has until July 30 to decide whether to accept a plea deal, attorneys said Tuesday.
Sherquell D. Magee, 18, of East Chicago, is facing a murder charge in the May 5, 2018, shooting death of 11-year-old David Anderson during a fight among kids at Nunez Park in the city's Harbor section. Magee also was charged with attempted murder, battery by means of a deadly weapon and using a firearm in commission of the alleged offense.
Prosecutors offered Magee a plea deal and a counteroffer was made, but the parties have not reached an agreement, defense attorney John Cantrell said.
"We have some negotiations to complete," he said.
Lake County Deputy Prosecutor Christopher Bruno asked for a trial date.
Lake Criminal Court Judge Samuel Cappas set a pretrial hearing for July 30 and scheduled Magee's trial to begin Sept. 30.
Bruno said Magee has until July 30 to accept a plea agreement.
According to court records, Magee tried to shooting a 14-year-old boy during a fight at the park, but the boy ducked and the bullet struck Anderson.
The child involved in the fight said it was between kids from the city's Harbor and Calumet sections, records say.
Anderson died the next day from a gunshot wound to the head.
CROWN POINT — A Gary man wants a judge to dismiss one of two attempted murder counts against him because ballistics analysis showed the bullet that wounded a child outside the Hobart Walmart last year was not fired from his gun.
Alex Hughes, 27, of Gary, previously was granted a bond reduction because of the ballistics evidence in the case. Hughes posted a $10,000 cash bond March 12.
Hughes was charged in October with two counts of attempted murder, aggravated battery and two counts of criminal gang activity in connection with a shooting Sept. 30 outside the Hobart Walmart that wounded a 26-year-old Gary man and his then-9-year-old son. Hughes and the man belong to rival gangs, police said.
Hughes' attorney, Russell Brown Jr., also asked Lake Criminal Court Judge Salvador Vasquez on Tuesday to remove Hughes from GPS monitoring as a condition of his pretrial release.
Brown said Hughes has had difficulty finding a job since his release from jail. Hughes had been employed before his arrest in October, Brown said.
"With the media coverage, when he applies for jobs he is not getting a call back," Brown said.
Lake County Deputy Prosecutor Michael Toth objected to removing Hughes' ankle monitor. Toth said he wasn't confident Hughes had no recent monitoring violations, considering recent media coverage of the Lake County sheriff's concerns about reporting violations by ICU Monitoring.
Vasquez said ICU Monitoring was on notice that any violation must be reported. The judge said he had received no notifications of any violations by Hughes, so he had to assume there weren't any.
However, Vasquez denied the request to remove Hughes' ankle monitor.
"You've given me nothing in terms of what he's done, where he's applied — anything to show he has in fact made an effort to become employed," Vasquez told Brown.Â
Vasquez said he would be willing to reconsider the request at a later date.
In the motion to dismiss, Brown wrote the state's only basis for charging Hughes in connection with a 9-year-old's shooting was that Hughes shot at and intended to kill the boy's father but instead shot the boy.
A spent bullet recovered from the boy's body showed it was fired from a gun Hughes didn't possess, the motion says.Â
Toth has said at previous hearings that he's not certain the gun Brown turned over to him was the gun used in the shooting, partly because Brown won't tell him who brought the gun to Brown's office.
Police also seized a gun from a friend of the boy's father, after that man retreated inside the Walmart during the gunfire, court records say. That man admitted he shot at Hughes in self-defense, records show.
Vasquez gave Toth until June 25 to respond to the motion to dismiss. He set a hearing on the motion for June 28.
Vasquez also told Brown his request to delay Hughes' July 22 trial was premature.
CROWN POINT — A former Gary schools superintendent accused of stealing from the district will have to return to court Monday.
Cheryl Pruitt, 56, was among several defendants whose hearings were continued Tuesday after the morning court call got off to a late start.
Pruitt's attorney, Scott King, had a scheduling conflict and reached an agreement with Lake County Deputy Prosecutor Judith Massa to continue Pruitt's hearing.
A temporary judge presided over Judge Diane Boswell's courtroom Tuesday.
Pruitt was charged Oct. 5 in Lake Criminal Court with felony counts of theft and official misconduct, which allege she deposited a $1,256 reimbursement from the district into her personal bank account after the district already had paid $1,617 from its extracurricular account to a district credit card to pay for her business trip in May 2016.
The state took over the Gary Community School Corp. in 2017, delegating all authority of the School Board and superintendent to an emergency manager who could cut costs and pay off more than $100 million in debt.
Pruitt had been serving as CEO of Chicago Virtual Charter School but was placed on paid administrative leave in late May, pending the outcome of an internal investigation, the CVCS board of directors said.Â
The board did not release details about the investigation surrounding Pruitt.
