(UNDATED) – In February 2018 a man pleaded guilty to kidnapping girl at knifepoint and raping her. Quentin Voigtschild was named Lawrence County Spelling Bee champion. Lawrence County filed a lawsuit against opioid manufacturers and distributors.
Also in February the Jackson County Juvenile Detention Center announced it was closing and a jury found William Abel guilty of murder.
Man Pleads Guilty To Kidnapping Girl At Knifepoint And Raping Her
A former Jackson County man accused of kidnapping a girl at knifepoint and raping her in 1999 plead guilty to the crimes.
Charley Hollin was arrested and charged in January 2017 in connection with the 1999 incident where a 10-year-old girl was abducted at knifepoint from outside Girls Inc. on West Second Street in Seymour. The girl was taken to a secluded area, molested and released naked on a country road near Cortland. Hollin threw her clothing out of the vehicle before she was found and rescued by a passing motorist.
Hollin pleaded guilty to three counts of child molesting and two counts of criminal confinement.
He was initially charged in 2000 by the Jackson County Prosecutor’s Office but disappeared before police could arrest him.
Federal authorities arrested Hollin after discovering he had assumed the identity of an Indiana boy – Andrew David Hall. Hall had been killed in a car accident in 1975 in Fayette County, Kentucky when he was eight years old.
FBI agents arrested Hollin at a Walmart Supercenter where he had worked for 16 years. He had obtained driver’s licenses in three states, a Social Security card and a U.S. passport in the dead boy’s name.
He was returned to Jackson County on March 15, 2017, and booked into the Jackson County Jail in Brownstown.
U.S. Attorney Josh Minkler says investigators tracked down Hollin after identifying him through facial recognition software of his passport photograph.
Hollin, formerly of Clearsprings, is also facing federal charges of identity theft and fleeing prosecution.
In the plea deal, the state dismissed the remaining count in the case and agreed not to file any other state or federal charges related to the incident and his arrest in Oregon.
Quentin Voigtschild Named Overall Lawrence County Spelling Bee Champion
Quentin Voigtschild, a then 6th-grade homeschool student, was named the 44th Annual Lawrence County Spelling Bee Champion after spelling the word ‘revision’ correctly in round 5.
Quentin said that he studied for about 6 hours for this competition.
Left to right: Quentin Voigtschild, Emma Salzmann and Andrew Wagnon
Quentin won a $100 cash prize provided by Bedford Federal Savings Bank and a pizza party provided by Marcos Pizza. H
Emma Salzmann, an 8th grader representing Oolitic Middle School, was named the 2nd place finisher. She misspelled the word ‘benign’ in round 5 allowing Voigtschild the chance to win.
8th grader Andrew Wagnon, representing Mitchell Jr. High, was named the third-place finisher. He made it to the 4th round when he misspelled the word ‘reca’.
Meryl Klein, a then 5th grader from Shawswick Elementary School, took first place in the 44th Annual Lawrence County Spelling Bee elementary competition. She went 14 rounds and correctly spelled the word ‘curio’ for the win.
Klein said that she studied hard the night before the 44th Annual Lawrence County Spelling Bee, but her participation in her school’s club, Spell Bowl, really helped her.
Klein was also a participant in Shawswick Elementary’s Math Bowl club.
Lawrence County Files Lawsuit Against Opioid Manufacturers And Distributors
The Lawrence County Commissioners retained the Indianapolis law firm Cohen & Malad, LLP to file a lawsuit against opioid manufacturers and distributors for their part in the opioid crisis that is ravaging Lawrence County.
The effects of opioids on the county are devastating and quantifiable.
The lawsuit will seek damages in the form of funds to address the significant financial burdens that the opioid crisis has placed on the county, and the costs are exponentially both emotional and financial.
County Attorney Dave Smith, says there will be no cost to the county unless the county wins the lawsuit.
Manufacturer defendants will include Purdue Pharma, Cephalon, Inc., Teva Pharmaceuticals, Johnson & Johnson, Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Noramco, Inc., Endo Pharmaceuticals, Mallinckrodt PLC, Allergan PLC, and Watson Pharmaceuticals. The lawsuit alleges that these manufacturers deceptively marketed their opioid products about their safety and the risks of use.
Distributor defendants will include AmerisourceBergen Drug Corporation, Cardinal Health, Inc., and McKesson Corporation. The lawsuit will allege that the distributors failed in their duty to report and stop suspicious orders of opioids flooding Lawrence County.
Jackson County Juvenile Detention Center Closing
The Jackson County commissioners voted to close the nearly 20-year-old juvenile detention center in Brownstown.
The facility was closed to juveniles from other counties March 1 and then closed to Jackson County juveniles March 31.
The closure was designed to ease overcrowding at the jail by providing bed space for as many as 60 adult inmates.
The detention center closing had an impact on Lawrence County. Juveniles now are transported to a detention center in Knox, Vigo or Bartholomew County.
Jury Finds William Abel Guilty Of Murder
A Greene County Circuit Court jury deliberated for about three hours returning a guilty verdict in the murder trial of William Levi Abel.
Abel, then 25, was found guilty of murdering 21-year-old Chase Aliano of Bedford on January 31, 2017. The jury also found him guilty of obstruction of justice and theft of a firearm.
Abel shot and killed Aliano, covering up the crime by hiding Aliano’s vehicle, burning his own and Aliano’s clothes and burying Aliano’s body.
The investigation started on February 3, 2017, when Steve Aliano, Chase’s father, reported his son missing to the Lawrence County Sheriff’s Department. Chase was last seen on January 31, 2016, at Abel’s farm in Bloomfield. His family says Chase went there to sell Abel a firearm.
Woman Pleads Guilty To Her Part In Murder
Billie Jean Edison pleads guilty in a negotiated plea deal to her part in the murder of 26-year-old Brittany Sater.
From left to right: Dennis Webb, Johnny Moore, and Billie Jean Edison
Edison, then 43, pleaded guilty to robbery resulting in serious injury for her part in the 2016 murder of Brittany Sater. Charges of murder and burglary resulting in serious bodily injury were dismissed.
Edison was offered the plea deal in exchange for providing information and testifying against the other two men involved in the murder.
Monroe Circuit Judge Teresa Harper sentenced Edison, of Greenwood, to 16 years in prison, with four years suspended. She received credit for 535 days served at the Monroe County Jail and will spend 1,440 days on probation after her release.
Two men were involved in the August 2016 shooting death – 32-year-old Johnny Moore and 22-year-old Dennis Dior, both of Indianapolis.
Moore was found guilty by a jury of murder, burglary, and robbery resulting in serious bodily injury in April. Moore admitted to being the driver in the shooting death. He was sentenced to 65 years for murder and 12 years for burglary. The sentences will be served consecutively.
Dennis Dior pleaded guilty to the crime. He told Monroe County Circuit Court Judge that he used an assault rifle to shoot Sater in the stomach during a robbery at her South Rogers Street duplex last year. He apologized for his actions.
Judge Teresa Harper sentenced Dior to 60 years in prison for murder, plus another three years for robbery. The sentences will be served consecutively. With good-time credit and time already served, he will be close to 70 years old before a potential release from prison.
The crime:
Bloomington Police was called to a home in the 2300 block of South Rogers Street at 12:50 a.m. Sunday, August 28, 2016, after a report a woman had been shot.
When police arrived, they found Sater had suffered a gunshot to the chest. She was transported to IU Health Bloomington Hospital in critical condition.
Sater died at 9:56 a.m. in a hospital room, nine hours after a high-velocity bullet from an SKS rifle destroyed her liver, causing her to bleed to death.
Sater was able to tell emergency crews while being transported to the hospital that two people, a male and female who she knew, had entered her home and shot her with a shotgun.
Bloomington Police claim Moore came to Bloomington to sell heroin, then ordered two others to commit a robbery that resulted in the shooting death of Sater.
Moore told police after his arrest that he only went to Sater’s house to sell her 40 grams of heroin and did not plan or participate in the murder. Police say Moore ordered the robbery and waited in the car.
Police arrested Edison and Webb. Bloomington Police believe Webb was the one that pulled the trigger.
Edison testified against Moore during his jury trial.
Police say Edison, who knew Sater, knocked on the door and her and Webb entered. Webb told police he worked for Moore collecting drug money the day of the shooting.
Webb says Edison owed Moore money but didn’t have it. She told Moore they could get the money by robbing Sater.
Webb admitted to shooting Sater, says during the robbery Sater had grabbed for his rifle. When she didn’t get the rifle away from him, she ran to get her shotgun she kept in her bedroom closet.
After the shooting, the Edison and Webb stole Sater’s cell phone, so she could not call for help.
Police say Sater was able to drag herself to a neighbor’s home to get help.
