Tagged: crime

The FBI says a former minister wanted in Kansas City, Mo., on molestation charges has been arrested in New Orleans.

Spokeswoman Mary Beth Romig said Monday that 48-year-old George Spencer is accused of child molestation and forcible sodomy against a girl at the Greater Works CME Church, where he was an associate pastor.

She says he was arrested Friday by the FBI New Orleans' Violent Crime Task Force, which got information about his likely whereabouts from the bureau's Missouri office.

State health officials say more than $800,000 in public money allegedly has been misappropriated by a Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals employee.

The Times-Picayune reports DHH said the theft was uncovered during an internal investigation. DHH's Bureau of Health Care Integrity began the probe after officials noticed unusual accounting practices involving the employee, whose name has not been released.

New Orleans police have arrested a 15-year-old boy accused of accidentally shooting his 11-year-old brother in the leg.

Officer Frank Robertson says the 15-year-old faces a charge of negligent injury.

Robertson said the two brothers were playing with a loaded pistol around 7 p.m. Thursday.

He says the pistol was accidentally fired.

The 11-year-old was taken to the hospital, where he is listed in stable condition.

Fifteen people have been charged with fraud for allegedly filing bogus claims for help after the 2010 BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

The U.S. Attorney's Office said Thursday the phony claims were worth more than $300,000 combined.

Fourteen defendants were charged in bills of information, generally an indication that they have signed plea deals. A grand jury indicted one of them.

A New Orleans police officer was shot and seriously wounded this morning as he responded to a robbery at the Dollar General store in the 1100-block of Poland Avenue, near the intersection of St. Claude.

The neighborhood is currently locked down, and police have shut the St. Claude bridge in both directions. A Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office helicopter is circling overhead and SWAT teams are searching the area house-by-house, according to news reports and residents who live in the area.

Residents have been advised by police to stay inside and keep their doors locked.