– LOS ANGELES

Girl finds mother killed one year after father, sister slain

More than a year after finding her father and sister shot to death in their apartment, a 14-year-old girl discovered her mother fatally shot behind the wheel of her car in an attack that appeared to be connected to the earlier killings, police said Monday.

Karine Hakobyan, 38, a nursing assistant at Childrens Hospital, was found Friday behind the wheel of her Honda CRV with a gunshot wound to the back of her head.

Detectives investigating the killing of her husband, Khachik Safaryan, 43, and their 9-year-old daughter Lucine said there appeared to be a link between the crimes.

“We’re working on a theory that was developed in the previous homicides,” police Detective Dan Myers said. But he cautioned that investigators had yet to uncover definitive evidence connecting the deaths.

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He did not provide further details but said none of the victims had any criminal associations.

Police have developed few leads in any of the shootings, despite a $75,000 reward offered for information about the killing of Safaryan and his daughter in their family home on Dec. 11, 2008.

NEW YORK

Ex-IBM exec pleads guilty to fraud, conspiracy charges

A former IBM senior executive pleaded guilty Monday to federal charges arising from what prosecutors call the largest insider trading case in hedge fund history.

Robert Moffat of Ridgefield, Conn., pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit securities fraud and securities fraud, charges which carry a potential penalty of 25 years in prison.

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A plea deal, though, contained language indicating he may end up serving six months in prison or less.

Moffat, 53, once considered a candidate for chief executive officer at IBM, was considered the highest level executive arrested in a case that resulted in 21 arrests. He is the 11th person to plead guilty. He remained free on $2 million bail. Sentencing was set for July 26. His lawyers said he was not cooperating with the government’s probe.

During a hearing in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, Moffat told the magistrate that he provided inside information between August and October 2008 to Danielle Chiesi, a friend and a co-defendant in the case.

At the time, Moffat was senior vice president and group executive at International Business Machines Corp.’s Systems and Technology Group.

“I disclosed this information in this case intentionally, and I knew that what I was doing was wrong,” he said.

PITTSBURGH

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Boy charged in killing dad’s fiancee to be tried as adult

A Pennsylvania boy who was 11 when he was accused of killing his father’s pregnant fiancee with a shotgun blast to the back of her head as she lay in bed will be tried as an adult in the death of both the woman and the fetus, a judge ruled Monday.

Jordan Brown, now 12, is charged with criminal homicide in the death of 26-year-old Kenzie Marie Houk in their farmhouse in New Galilee, in western Pennsylvania, on Feb. 20, 2009. Houk was 8 1/2 months pregnant; the male fetus died from a resulting lack of oxygen.

“This offense was an execution-style killing of a defenseless pregnant young mother. A more horrific crime is difficult to imagine,” Lawrence County Judge Dominick Motto wrote in his opinion refusing to move the case to juvenile court.

The boy could be convicted of anything from involuntary manslaughter to first-degree murder under Pennsylvania’s homicide law. Prosecutors have said they will seek a conviction on first-degree murder charges, for which he could face up to life in prison if convicted.

Brown’s attorneys did not immediately return calls seeking comment on the ruling but are expected to appeal.

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ALBANY, N.Y.

Gay teen settles lawsuit over bullying by classmates

A gay teenager in upstate New York who had claimed he was relentlessly bullied by classmates while school administrators stood by settled his lawsuit Monday against the school district.

Jacob — who is identified as “J.L.” in the lawsuit and doesn’t want his last name revealed — sued the Mohawk Central School District in federal court last summer with help from the New York Civil Liberties Union. Now 15, he said school officials did virtually nothing to stop bullies who picked on him because he acted differently from other boys.

The U.S. Department of Justice had sought to intervene, citing the “important issues” it raised in enforcing federal civil rights laws.

Under the settlement filed in federal court, the district agreed to implement changes to protect students from harassment, including additional staff training. The district will report on its progress to the Civil Liberties Union and federal justice officials.

The district also agreed to pay $50,000 to Jacob’s family and to reimburse them for counseling services. The district didn’t admit to any wrongdoing under the settlement.

Jacob has since moved to a neighboring district, where he said he is much happier. Jacob’s father, Robert Sullivan, who has a different last name, said the money “is for Jacob’s future” and hopes that the settlement inspires other districts to change.

— From news service reports


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