Louisiana news briefs

2 teachers post bond, accused of sex with student
GRETNA (AP) — Two Destrehan High School teachers accused of having group sex with a student have posted $7,000 cash bonds and been released from custody.
Kenner police Sgt. Brian McGregor says 32-year-old Shelly Dufresne and 24-year-old Rachel Respess left the Jefferson Parish jail early Thursday.
They are accused of having sex with a 16-year-old boy at Respess’ Kenner apartment.
Respess surrendered to authorities Wednesday. Dufresne was in custody in St. Charles Parish for allegedly having sex with the boy at a home in Montz, where she lives. She posted a $10,000 bond on that complaint before surrendering to Kenner authorities.
Both women face charges of carnal knowledge of a juvenile, indecent behavior with a juvenile and contributing to the delinquency of a juvenile.

Bond set for caregivers of deceased elderly woman
BATON ROUGE (AP) — A state judge has set bail at $100,000 apiece for the daughter and granddaughter of an 82-year-old Baton Rouge woman found dead in her wheelchair amid what police called deplorable conditions.
Joleslie Looney, 53, and Lauren Looney, 17, were booked Monday with cruelty to the infirm in the death of Bessie Looney, who was found naked, sitting in feces and surrounded by trash and a horde of gnats and fruit flies.
District Judge Mike Erwin on Thursday said the circumstances of the case sickened him, and noted the parish coroner had ruled the death a homicide.
The Coroner’s Office says Looney died of a blood infection from untreated bed sores. The preliminary report also lists malnutrition, dementia and heart disease as contributing factors in her death.

Prayers to promote peace after shooting death
HOUMA (AP) — Religious leaders and public officials in Terrebonne Parish say they plan a public prayer meeting this weekend to promote peace in the wake of the shooting death of a 14-year-old boy.
Cameron Tillman was shot and killed by a Terrebonne Parish sheriff’s deputy last week. The shooting is under investigation by state police and there are conflicting accounts about what happened.
Members of the Tillman family, Parish President Michel Claudet, Sheriff Jerry Larpenter, Council members Arlanda Williams and John Navy and several local clergymen will attend Saturday morning’s event at Courthouse Square in Houma.
Navy said he and Williams organized the event to diffuse tensions in the community.
Williams said the event will be a community prayer — not a march or rally.

Insurance fight over cost
of 37-acre sinkhole
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — The operator of a collapsed brine mine that apparently created a 37-acre sinkhole in south Louisiana has asked the state insurance commissioner to make an insurance company pay on a $50 million policy.
New York-based Liberty Insurance Underwriters Inc. has asked the federal court in Houston to rule that it owes nothing because Texas Brine LLC ignored warnings of possible disaster if it kept mining.
Texas Brine on Thursday released the complaint it sent a day earlier to Insurance Commissioner Jim Donelon. The company says that its claims are reasonable — and that Liberty breached confidentiality by basing allegations on privileged material provided by Texas Brine to its insurers and by making that material public.
Liberty did not immediately respond to a request for comment about this week’s action.

State treasure to be displayed in Baton Rouge
BATON ROUGE (AP) — Napoleon Bonaparte’s death mask has arrived to Baton Rouge after not moving for more than 100 years in New Orleans.
State officials gathered at the Capital Park museum Thursday to welcome the French emperor to Baton Rouge. The cast of Napoleon’s face will soon be on display at the museum as part of the “Revolution! The Atlantic World Reborn exhibit.”
While the Cabildo in New Orleans is being renovated, officials said they needed somewhere to put the historic piece and decided to move it to Baton Rouge instead of putting it in storage.
The mask at the “Revolution” exhibit is on display from Oct. 24 through Feb. 28, 2015.

Property owners in dispute with port over access
BATON ROUGE (AP) — A three-year dispute continues between owners of about 950 acres in Devil’s Swamp and the Greater Baton Rouge Port Commission over access to that property.
The matter is in litigation before state District Judge R. Michael Caldwell, and port officials declined to discuss the matter when owners appeared at a commission meeting last week.
Caldwell already has granted the port a summary judgment Aug. 27 on the issue of whether Baton Rouge Barge Terminal Road is private. It is private, the judge ruled.

Tanker explodes at gas station, driver killed
NEW ORLEANS — New Orleans firefighters say tanker truck exploded at a convenience store, killing the driver.
They say the explosion and fire happened around 4 a.m. Friday at the Quickies service station in the St. Roch neighborhood. Authorities have not released the name of the driver and no other injuries were reported.
Police evacuated some home in the area, but the residents were allow to return home just before 6 a.m.

Shreveport man gets 15 months in prison for ATM theft
SHREVEPORT (AP) — Federal prosecutors say a Shreveport man has been sentenced to a year and three months in prison for stealing more than $30,000 from a bank’s ATM.
U.S. Attorney Stephanie A. Finley said Thursday that U.S. District Judge S. Maurice Hicks Jr. also ordered 47-year-old Frederick Davis to serve three years of supervised release and pay $61,640 in restitution.
According to evidence presented at the July 1 guilty plea to one count of bank theft, Davis broke into an automated teller machine on July 13, 2012, located at the end of a drive-through lane at a Richland State Bank in Minden, and stole $30,320.
Authorities say he used a power tool and a chain attached to the back of his truck to open the machine, causing more than $30,000 in damage.

Grand jury: No charges in fatal police shooting
BATON ROUGE (AP) — An East Baton Rouge Parish grand jury has decided not to charge a Baton Rouge police officer who shot and killed a 32-year-old man in July 2013.
The grand jury considered charges of second-degree murder, manslaughter and negligent homicide against Officer Joshua Gillich. But after hours of presentations and witness testimony, the grand jury Thursday elected not to indict the officer in the death of Tyris Wilkerson.
The shooting happened just after midnight on Gillich’s 28th birthday, July 28, 2013, near Baton Rouge Magnet High School. Police said officers tried to stop Wilkerson on a traffic violation, but Wilkerson did not heed their orders.