Louisiana news briefs

Port Barre man dies
in all-terrain vehicle crash
PORT BARRE (AP) — State police say a 28-year-old Port Barre man die after he steered his all-terrain vehicle into a ditch and being thrown from the vehicle.
Master Trooper Brooks David says Lance Lomas was on U.S. 190 near Bayou Road in St. Landry Parish, driving on the westbound shoulder Saturday night.
David said Lomas veered right, crossed a driveway and drove into the ditch. The ATV started to flip, throwing Lomas.
David says Lomas was not wearing a helmet and suffered critical injuries. He died later at a hospital.

La. Political Hall of Fame
to honor Scott family
WINNFIELD (AP) — The Scott family of Alexandria is taking its place among legends of Louisiana politics as family members are posthumously being given special recognition by the Louisiana Political Museum in Winnfield.
The museum will honor the family, which included federal Judge Nauman S. Scott II and his son, state Rep. John W. “Jock” Scott,” with the Political Family of Officeholders’ Award on Feb. 7 during the Political Hall of Fame induction ceremony.
Those to be inducted into the Political Hall of Fame include state Attorney General James “Buddy” Caldwell; former state Rep. Charles Emile “Peppi” Bruneau; former state Rep. John “Juba” Diez; former state Sen. and Rep. Noble Ellington; political columnist John Maginnis, who died last year; and former Judge Charles “Corky” Marvin.

Horse-drawn carriage tours could be on tap for Covington
COVINGTON (AP) — A Folsom woman wants to bring carriage tours to Covington. The tours would run on Saturdays only, and the horses would not clop down the city’s main street, which is often clogged main, Kim Saragusa said.
Saragusa told the City Council last week she has two horses and plans to use a one-horse, four-seat carriage.
A coachman would drive the horse and a footman would give historical information and promote local businesses. The horse would get a 15-minute rest between tours, she said.
Councilman Lee Alexius says it could take three or four months for a committee to study the proposal.
“We don’t have anything in the code to deal with this,” he said.

Ex-cop pleads guilty to stealing $158,700 in Road Home money
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A former New Orleans police officer has pleaded guilty to stealing $158,700 from the Road Home rental program created to help low-income families return to Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina hit the state in 2005
Tracie Medus, 39, qualified for the small rental property program by saying she was repairing two apartments for people who needed low rents, but charged more than authorized, said U.S. Attorney Kenneth Polite.
Under the program, tenants had to be approved for income eligibility and be living in the apartments before landlords could get paid.
Medus pleaded guilty Thursday to theft of government funds and is scheduled for sentencing April 30 before Judge Mary Ann Vial Lemmon. She could get up to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $317400 — double the theft.
She was working as a police officer when she was charged. She was then suspended. Medus resigned before pleading guilty.
When Medus got preliminary approval for the Road Home money, she provided what she said were her tenants’ leases. Both showed the allowable rent and approved tenants. However, according to a news release from Polite, she was charging higher rent for both apartments and someone other than the approved tenant was living in the other.
She also swore that both purported leases were accurate when she got the money in 2010, officials said.
In October 2010, she submitted another supposed lease indicating that a new tenant would pay the authorized rent, but charged the new tenant a higher rent.

Demonstrations banned
near animal cruelty trial
SHREVEPORT (AP) — Caddo Parish Sheriff Steve Prator says demonstrations won’t be allowed near the courthouse during trial of a man accused of abandoning a pit bull puppy in a rental unit last year.
Thirty-two-year-old Gabriel Lee is scheduled for trial today on a charge of cruelty to the puppy, then 4 months old.
Sheriff’s spokeswoman Cindy Chadwick says prosecutors who have monitored social media told Prator that demonstrations were likely.
She says the district attorney has told Prator that higher courts have upheld a state law against protests in or near state court buildings.

Officer’s stolen rifle recovered
BOSSIER CITY (AP) — Bossier City police say they have made an arrest and recovered a rifle stolen from a Shreveport police officer.
In a news release Saturday, Bossier police say detectives arrested 23-year-old Jovan Hendricks of Bossier City in connection with the theft.
The police-issued M-16 rifle was taken from a Shreveport officer’s personal vehicle on Tuesday. Police said they have also linked Hendricks to other crimes. He was booked into the Bossier City jail on three counts of simple burglary.

Man hurt in gas plant fire
MINDEN (AP) — One man was reported injured after a fire broke out at a natural gas plant in Webster Parish.
Webster sheriff Gary Sexton said the fire started Saturday afternoon at a collection tank at the plant in Dubberly. The man hurt his back when he jumped from scaffolding. No other injuries were reported.
A portion of Webster’s Sand Plant Cutoff Road was closed but no evacuations have been ordered.

Business owner arrested for collecting, keeping sales taxes
BATON ROUGE (AP) — A Jackson Parish business owner faces felony charges for allegedly failing to remit sales taxes to the state.
The Louisiana Department of Revenue says Miriam Robertson, of Jonesboro, is accused of keeping more than $100,000 in state sales taxes she collected on purchases at Deals & Discounts, a furniture store she operated.
Investigators said this week that between 2009 and 2014, Robertson submitted sales tax returns to the revenue department that underreported the amount of sales tax she collected and pocketed the difference. Records show she failed to remit $105,155.20 owed to the state.
Robertson was arrested Thursday and booked into the East Baton Rouge Parish Prison on one count of criminal penalty for failing to account for state tax monies. It was unknown if she has an attorney.