Louisiana news briefs

Half-million passengers served by Lafayette airport
LAFAYETTE (AP) — Officials say the Lafayette Regional Airport served nearly 30,000 more passengers in 2014 than in 2013, the sixth straight year of record-breaking numbers.
The Lafayette Airport Commission announced Monday the airport served 501,101 passengers last year, up 29,769 over 2013.
The news comes after voters in December approved a 1-cent sales tax that will be collected for eight months this year — from April to November — to help pay for a new airport terminal.

Pineville man charged with cruelty to juveniles
PINEVILLE (AP) — Authorities say a 32-year-old Pineville man has been booked with cruelty to juveniles, joining his girlfriend as a suspect in the case.
Christopher David Moreau was arrested on Thursday.
Rapides Parish sheriff’s deputies say his live-in girlfriend, Kayla Clare Blanchard, previously had been charged with cruelty to juveniles and domestic abuse battery.
Authorities say the investigation of the incident began on Nov. 30, when deputies were called to a hospital in reference to a complaint of child abuse that occurred in the Pineville area.
Blanchard was arrested on Jan. 15. She was released on bond last week.
Moreau was booked into the Rapides Parish Detention Center and later released on a $25,000 bond.

Suspect arrested in drug deal killing
BATON ROUGE (AP) — Police say a 22-year-old Brusly man accused in a Dec. 23 parking-lot shooting death in Baton Rouge fueled by a drug deal has been booked into the East Baton Rouge Parish Prison.
Baton Rouge police spokesman Cpl. Don Coppola Jr. says the U.S. Marshals Fugitive Task Force located Aljerard Warner in Brusly Monday.
Coppola says Warner was booked on a count of first-degree murder in the death of 19-year-old Derrell Marquis Haynes.
Warner is accused of shooting Haynes in the chest during the drug deal. Police say a friend drove him to a hospital, where he died.

Water Institute:
Capital area needs to preserve resources
BATON ROUGE (AP) — A new report lists the goals to manage water resources in the Baton Rouge area, from recognizing the water resource riches the Capital Region enjoys to promoting a range of water-related businesses.
The objectives are outlined in a new vision document called “Into the Blue 2050” produced through the efforts of The Water Institute of the Gulf and the Environment & Health Council of Louisiana.
Chip Groat, the institute’s president and chief executive officer, says the report outlines the results of collaborations between businesses, environmental organizations, industry, government and nonprofits.
Groat says the objectives include making the Baton Rouge area a recognized water capital for research, technology and science and a hub of water-based businesses such as engineering firms.

Box cutter brawl breaks out in jail visitors area
BOGALUSA (AP) — Two women who were visiting a Washington Parish Jail inmate each face charges after getting into a fight during which one of the women slashed the other with a box cutter on Jan. 20.
Authorities say 34-year-old Jamie Myres, of Angie, was booked with aggravated battery and introduction of contraband. She is free on $75,000 bond.
Twenty-four-year-old Donna Scott, of Bogalusa, was hospitalized with cuts to her face. After treatment, she was booked with disturbing the peace and released on $750 bond.
Police say the women were visiting Brenton Morris, in custody for drug distribution and contempt of court.
At their assigned visitation time, Myres and Scott were in the same area and began arguing. Morris was behind a steel and glass partition and wasn’t involved.

Bossier City woman pleads guilty to filing false returns
SHREVEPORT (AP) — A Bossier City woman has pleaded guilty to filing false tax returns.
U.S. Attorney Stephanie A. Finley says 40-year-old Susan Santoro pleaded guilty Monday before U.S. District Judge Elizabeth E. Foote to one count of making or subscribing a false tax return.
According to evidence presented at the guilty plea, Santoro, who was the general manager of Top Dollar Pawn in Bossier City from 2009 to 2011, embezzled more than $300,000 from the company by falsifying records.
A review of her personal bank accounts revealed numerous large, unexplained cash deposits that far exceeded her income. Authorities say she did not report the money and owed an additional $88,000 in taxes.
Santoro faces up to three years in prison, a $250,000 fine, and restitution. Sentencing is set for May 11.

Natchitoches home burns, body found inside
NATCHITOCHES (AP) — The Louisiana State Fire Marshal’s Office says a fire severely damaged an abandoned mobile home in Natchitoches and the remains of a body were found inside.
Just before 5 a.m. Monday, the Natchitoches Fire Department was notified that a tree was on fire. When firefighters arrived, they found the home burning. Once inside, firefighters found the body of a person in a bedroom.
An autopsy will be conducted to establish the cause of death and possibly the deceased’s identification.
According to reports, the home had been unoccupied for a while and had no utility services at the time of the fire. It had, however, been the site of past drug-related activity and a place frequented by transients.
Investigators believe the fire started in the bedroom, where the body was found.

Hospital, clinics
to be tobacco-free
LAFAYETTE (AP) — University Hospital & Clinics says its facilities will move to a completely tobacco-free campus on Feb. 1.
All tobacco products, including cigarettes, e-cigarettes, pipes, chewing tobacco and cigars, will be prohibited on the hospital campus, which includes all buildings, sidewalks and parking lots.
UHC CEO Jared Stark says their job is to save lives and prevent disease. So, he says, becoming 100 percent tobacco free makes sense and is part of their obligation to the community.
UHC joins other Lafayette General Health campuses that are smoke-free, including Lafayette General Medical Center, the Medical Office Building housing Lafayette General Surgical Hospital and Oil Center Surgical Plaza, St. Martin Hospital and Acadia General Hospital.
Fire destroys historic Iberia Parish church
NEW IBERIA — Iberia Parish firefighters battled an early morning blaze that destroyed an historic church.
Fire District 1 Chief Guy Bonin said firefighters answered a 2:53 a.m. Monday call to a fire at Little Zorah Baptist Church, outside the New Iberia city limits in the northeastern part of the parish, near Bayou Teche.
Bonin says the small, wood-frame building, about 120 years old, was fully involved when firefighters arrived at 3:02 a.m. It took about 35 minutes to bring the fire under control, and more than 30 firefighters remained at the scene until about 6 a.m.
No injuries were reported.
Bonin says the State Fire Marshal’s Office will investigate to determine what sparked the blaze.

New Orleans man gets 30 years for carjacking
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A New Orleans man with “REDRUM” — murder spelled backward — tattooed across his forehead has been sentenced to 30 years in prison for carjacking a 68-year-old woman in a Metairie parking lot 15 months ago and being a habitual offender.
Daryle Guillot, 38, pleaded guilty to forcing the woman from her car after she left a hair appointment. The woman was knocked to the ground and suffered injuries to her head and arm from being struck with a bottle. Guillot then fled in her car.
Guillot last year pleaded guilty to attempted first-degree robbery and a convicted felon in possession of a firearm. He was sentenced to 10 years.
He was scheduled for trial this week for the carjacking but on Monday pleaded guilty instead.