Louisiana news briefs

Vitter on the campaign trail against Landrieu
BATON ROUGE (AP) — Republican U.S. Sen. David Vitter will be out knocking on doors this weekend with anti-abortion activists encouraging people to vote against his colleague, Democratic U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu.
National anti-abortion group the Susan B. Anthony List announced that Vitter will be door-knocking Saturday morning in Baton Rouge with its representatives.
Landrieu, a Catholic, has tried to downplay her support of abortion rights during her political career. She says that abortions should be as rare as possible but that she thinks women should have the right to make their own decisions about whether to have one.
Vitter supports Landrieu’s main GOP challenger in the Nov. 4 election, U.S. Rep. Bill Cassidy. Cassidy opposes abortion with only one exception, when the mother’s life is threatened.

3 airport baggage handlers arrested
KENNER (AP) — Three baggage handlers at Louis Armstrong International Airport have been arrested in connection with the theft of guns and electronics from checked luggage.
The Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office said in a news release that Neishel Santana, 22, was booked Thursday with theft and possession of stolen property; Derrin James, 19, was booked with two counts of theft of a firearm and Romalice Honeycutt, 23, was booked with being a principal to theft of a firearm.
The trio was caught after Dallas law enforcement, investigating the theft of a laptop from luggage on a flight out of New Orleans, found out through a pawn-shop database that the computer had been sold at a Jefferson Parish pawn shop and contacted local authorities.
Authorities traced the sale to Santana, who was arrested while on the job Thursday, and investigators found a pair of iPads, two laptops, a GoPro camera and other electronics in her car.
Under questioning, the sheriff’s office said Santana admitted knowing the laptop she sold to the pawn shop was stolen and told investigators that Honeycutt and James, fellow baggage handlers working for Envoy Air Inc., were also involved in thefts at the airport.

Search suspended for missing shrimpers
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — The Coast Guard has suspended its search for two missing shrimpers last seen south of Southwest Pass near the mouth of the Mississippi River.
The Coast Guard called off the search Thursday.
Authorities say the shrimping vessel Christopher’s Joy capsized around 4 p.m. Tuesday throwing the four crew members into the water. They say a boat in the area rescued two members of the shrimp boat crew but two others remain missing.
Response crews searched more than 5,745 square miles for more than 64 hours for the two missing crewmembers of the 75-foot shrimping vessel.
Capt. Phillip Schifflin, commander of Coast Guard Sector New Orleans, says their hearts go out to the families and friends of the two men who were lost at sea.

Houma notary accused of forging documents
HOUMA (AP) — Terrebonne Parish sheriff’s deputies say a Houma notary public is accused of forging official documents.
Sheriff Jerry Larpenter said 53-year-old Kim Marie Kimbrell was booked Wednesday with two counts each of malfeasance, forgery and filing false public records. She is being held in the parish jail on a $35,000 bond.
Larpenter says the investigation began in May when a Terrebonne Parish resident filed a complaint against Kimbrell.
The victim told police his signature had been forged on documents and his property sold without his knowledge or consent.
The sheriff says a second resident filed a complaint against Kimbrell, alleging she notarized documents concerning the sale of a vehicle without the legal owner being present.

Woman gets 30 years for drunken deadly wreck
LAPLACE (AP) — A LaPlace woman, drunk when she caused a car wreck that killed three people in Norco, has been sentenced to 30 years in prison. One of the victims was a pregnant woman.
State District Judge Emile St. Pierre handed down the sentence Thursday for 42-year-old Jennifer Englade, who pleaded guilty to three counts of vehicular manslaughter and one count of third-degree feticide. The first five years of the sentence are to be served without the benefit of probation, parole or suspension of sentence.
Englade, however, is being credited for her time in custody since her June 11, 2013 arrest so she will be eligible for clemency in 2018.
St. Pierre also ordered Englade to receive substance abuse treatment while in prison. She had previous DWI arrests.

Concordia Parish man, 63, found dead in house
MONTEREY — The Concordia Parish Sheriff’s Office says finding the killer of a 63-year-old Monterey man is its top priority.
Chief Deputy David Hedrick says John Perritt was found dead at his home about 11:30 a.m. Monday. Hedrick says Perritt had apparently been in the home for some time.
Hedrick said a man grading a road near the house called police after he smelled something foul and saw a blanket with a foot sticking out.

Man faces life sentence in rape convictions
GONZALES (AP) — A 51-year-old Raceland man faces two mandatory life sentences after an Ascension Parish jury convicted him in the sexual abuse of two girls.
Jurors found Edward Caldwell guilty of two counts of aggravated rape and one count of molestation of a juvenile after 40 minutes of deliberation on Wednesday.
Caldwell had previously been convicted of carnal knowledge of a juvenile with the girls’ mother in the late 1990s.

Palin to visit La.
for GOP Senate candidate Maness
BATON ROUGE (AP) — Republican U.S. Senate candidate Rob Maness is getting campaign help this weekend from former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin.
The Maness campaign says Palin will visit a Jefferson Parish restaurant on Saturday to eat alligator with Maness. The event is a nod to a Maness TV ad that compares his campaign against two members of Congress to facing down alligators in a Louisiana swamp.
Maness, a tea party favorite and retired Air Force colonel, is running against Democratic incumbent Mary Landrieu and her chief GOP challenger, U.S. Rep. Bill Cassidy.
A political newcomer, Maness is considered a long-shot contender on the Nov. 4 ballot.
Saturday’s campaign stop will be at Restaurant Des Familles in Crown Point. In addition to the in-person visit, Palin has recorded a radio ad for Maness.

Ex-St. Tammany Parish coroner, Galvan, pleads
COVINGTON (AP) — St. Tammany Parish’s former coroner, Peter Galvan, has pleaded guilty to three counts of felony theft.
The Louisiana Attorney General’s Public Corruption Unit said Galvan entered the plea Thursday and was sentenced to four years in prison.
Three years will be served at the same time as his current two-year federal term for conspiring to steal government funds. The final year will be served in state prison at the conclusion of the federal term.
Authorities say Galvan also was ordered to pay $350,000 in restitution, of which $50,000 was paid Thursday to the City of Slidell. The balance is due by Oct. 31.
Galvan was charged in May after a state audit found he used his public position to illegally siphon funds from the coroner’s office for his personal gain.