Louisiana news briefs

Teacher arrested for sexual contact with student
LAFAYETTE (AP) — A 27-year-old Lafayette teacher has been arrested after police say he admitted to having sexual intercourse with a 14-year-old student.
Police said Joshua Krieg told them Wednesday he was in love with the girl, with whom he allegedly had sex three times at his Lafayette home.
Police say the girl revealed the relationship to her mother, who on Tuesday reported it to police.
Bruce Leininger, human resources director with the Lafayette Parish School System, said Krieg resigned from Comeaux High School effective Jan. 7, the day after students returned from winter break.
Krieg remains in the Lafayette Parish Correctional Center on a count of felony carnal knowledge of a juvenile with bail set at $40,000.

Bail set for 3 booked in shooting injury of deputy
DONALDSONVILLE (AP) — Bail of more than $1 million each has been set for the three people arrested in the shooting injury of a Louisiana deputy sheriff.
Authorities say Chadwick Schwender is accused of shooting Deputy James Atkins in the hand, and John McMullen and Jennifer McGhee, the two people with Schwender at the time of Tuesday’s shooting, all were booked into Ascension Parish Jail on multiple counts, including attempted first-degree murder.
Atkins had stopped the three Florida residents in a stolen car in response to a shoplifting complaint from the Donaldsonville Wal-Mart. Atkins had just gotten out of his unit and was standing behind the car door when he was shot.
McMullen is wanted in Lake Wales, Florida, on numerous counts, including attempted first-degree murder.

Lafayette may consider smoking ban in bars
LAFAYETTE (AP) — The Lafayette City-Parish Council may soon consider a ban on smoking in bars, similar to a measure approved in New Orleans.
New Orleans joined a short list of cities in Louisiana Thursday to ban smoking in bars, and City-Parish Council Chairman Kenneth Boudreaux said he wants to add Lafayette to the roster.
Boudreaux said Thursday he decided over the Christmas holidays to move forward with a proposed ban, citing comments he heard at the meetings two years ago and continuing feedback since then from bar owners, employees and patrons.

Couple arrested in Baton Rouge bank robbery
BATON ROUGE (AP) — East Baton Rouge Parish sheriff’s deputies have arrested a Baton Rouge couple accused of robbing a Chase Bank branch last week.
Casey Rayborn Hicks, a sheriff’s office spokeswoman, said 40-year-old Cedric T. Robillard Jr. is accused of committed the robbery while his girlfriend, 38-year-old LaShonda Hawkins-Wilson, drove the getaway car.
They were arrested Thursday.
Robillard and Hawkins-Wilson went on a shopping spree at an outlet mall after the robbery, Hicks said.
Robillard and Hawkins-Wilson face counts of first-degree robbery.

Shrimp seized because vessel lacked TED
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Federal authorities say they seized 2,700 pounds of shrimp after boarding a vessel near Cameron that didn’t have a required device designed to avoid the snaring of endangered sea turtles.
The Coast Guard said in a Thursday statement that a team was on a routine boarding assignment when they discovered the fishing vessel Kathleen Yvonne was not equipped with the legally required turtle excluder devices.
The boarding team escorted the vessel to Cameron Fish House, where they were met by the National Marine Fisheries Service personnel to seize the catch.
A turtle excluder device, or TED, is a specialized device that allows a captured sea turtle to escape when caught in a fisherman’s net.

Woman pleads guilty to stealing $200K in benefits
MONROE (AP) — A Monroe woman has pleaded guilty to stealing more than $200,000 in Social Security benefit payments.
U.S. Attorney Stephanie A. Finley says 53-year-old Cassandra D. Eillis entered the conditional plea Wednesday to one count of theft of government funds before U.S. Magistrate Judge Karen L. Hayes. Finley says the plea will become final when accepted by U.S. District Judge Robert G. James.
Evidence shows Ellis deposited and used her deceased grandmother’s Social Security benefit checks, from 1996 to April 2014. She also led agency officials to believe her grandmother was alive in order to continue received the checks.
The total amount taken was $206,325.
Ellis faces up to 10 years in prison, three years of supervised release, a $250,000 fine and restitution. Sentencing is set May 4.

Super PAC created
to boost Bobby Jindal
BATON ROUGE (AP) — Republican supporters of Gov. Bobby Jindal have created a super PAC to back a possible 2016 presidential campaign by the Louisiana governor.
Paperwork setting up the political action committee, called Believe Again PAC, was filed Thursday with the Federal Election Commission, according to Brad Todd. Todd is a consultant for the new committee and co-founder of Jindal’s political advisers OnMessage Inc.
The super PAC will be able to raise unlimited amounts of money to help Jindal, but won’t be able to coordinate with him directly.
Former Louisiana U.S. Rep. Bob Livingston is PAC chairman. Rolfe McCollister, a Baton Rouge publisher who spearheaded other pro-Jindal efforts, is serving as treasurer.
Jindal can’t run for re-election because of term limits.

Deaf education summit set
PORT ALLEN (AP) — Up to 100 parents, speech therapists and counselors are expected to gather Saturday in Port Allen for a first of its kind summit on deaf education.
The meeting will take place at the West Baton Rouge Convention Center from 8:30 a.m. until 4 p.m.
Rana Ottallah, a parent and one of the event organizers, says one of the aims is to strengthen a current “bill of rights” law for Louisiana’s roughly 2,000 deaf children who attend public schools.
Sessions also will include discussion on early intervention, how deaf kids thrive and parent advocacy.
The featured speaker is Beth Benedict, a professor with the Department of Communications Studies at Gallaudet University.
Melodie Sparks, director of a nonprofit group that works with the deaf community, said Louisiana was a trailblazer more than two decades ago in spelling out the rights of deaf children.
“It was unprecedented at the time,” Sparks said. “Few other states had it.”
But she said those protections approved in the early 1990s need to be strengthened and expanded to include the deaf and blind, not just the deaf and hard of hearing.
Louisiana has one of the largest such populations in the nation.
Ottallah said the current law needs to be upgraded from one that spells out student rights to one that ensures school districts will provide them.
The 2015 legislative session starts on April 13.
Ottallah said she has contacted one state lawmaker about sponsoring the changes. She said the legislator wants some consensus on the issue, and the support of the state Department of Education, before agreeing to sponsor a proposal.