Tagged: crime

GRAND CAILLOU, La. — The Grand Caillou fire chief is on paid leave following his indictment on a sex charge.

The Courier (http://bit.ly/IbS5Fw ) reports that 61-year-old Michael Deroche Sr was charged with sexual battery following allegations of performing inappropriate acts on a community service worker at one of the fire stations last year. If convicted, he faces up to 10 years in prison.

Deroche was never arrested, but an investigation was done by the Terrebonne Sheriff's Office.

Deroche has denied the allegations.

A New Orleans man has been arrested on fraud and identity theft charges for allegedly engaging in a scheme to defraud the PayPal online payments service.

Federal prosecutors said Friday's arrest of 28-year-old Giray Biyikioglu, a Turkish national who lives in New Orleans, follows a Secret Service probe.

Prosecutors said Biyikioglu illegally used somebody else's identity and conducted transactions of up to $190,000 as part of his alleged scheme to defraud.

No additional details about the case were immediately disclosed.

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — By arresting a former BP engineer, federal prosecutors are showing their hand in the Gulf oil spill case. They have been probing whether BP PLC and its employees broke the law by intentionally lowballing how much oil was spewing from its out-of-control well. The arrest came two years and four days after the drilling-rig explosion. 

A former BP engineer is the first person facing criminal charges stemming from the oil spill two years ago in the Gulf of Mexico. Allegations center on deleted text messages.

Former BP engineer Kurt Mix of Katy, Texas, is facing two counts of obstruction of justice. He’s accused of deleting 200 text messages exchanged with a company supervisor. Prosecutors say Mix was discussing internal information about failing efforts to cap the gushing underwater well.

"The first criminal charges in connection with the BP oil spill have been filed against a former BP engineer named Kurt Mix," NPR's Carrie Johnson reports exclusively.

Carrie just told our Newscast unit that Mix has been charged with obstruction of justice for allegedly deleting text messages after the spill. The texts were related to the amount of oil gushing into the Gulf. Mix will make his first appearence in court today.