NATIONAL NEWS

Former Wilson County jailer
sentenced for civil rights charge
Officials announced this month that former Wilson County, Tenn. corrections officer Tommy Shane Conatser was sentenced on charges relating to violations of the civil rights of inmates at the Wilson County Jail in Lebanon, Tenn. Conatser was sentenced to 70 months imprisonment, and two years supervised release.
Conatser was convicted at trial of conspiring with fellow former officer Patrick Marlowe and other defendants to violate the rights of inmates at the jail. Conatser was present while Marlowe and other officers assaulted inmates causing serious injuries, including the breaking of one inmate’s jaw and the breaking of another inmate’s cheek bones. Conatser then participated in covering up these assaults through filing false incident reports.
In addition to Conatser and Marlowe, six other former Wilson County corrections officers have pleaded guilty to felony charges relating to violations of the civil rights of inmates at the Wilson County Jail.

Georgia CEO charged with mail fraud
FBI officials announced last week the arrest of Kirk Sean Wright, wanted by the FBI in Atlanta on federal charges of mail fraud.
Wright, the founder and Chief Executive Officer of International Management Associates (IMA) located in Marietta, Georgia, was arrested at a Miami area hotel this evening by FBI Miami agents as well as officers of the Miami Beach Police Department after acting on numerous leads from across the country.
IMA is a high yield hedge fund which reported having in excess of $184 million in assets under management. Recently several current and former NFL players requested distributions from their IMA accounts. These individuals were not able to obtain their money and the players subsequently filed a lawsuit against Wright in February.
To date, over 500 investors have been identified and their actual losses are estimated at over $110 million.

Statistics for law enforcement officers killed ‘05
According to preliminary statistics released today by the FBI, 55 law enforcement officers were feloniously killed in the line of duty during 2005. Geographically, 28 of the victim officers were killed in the South, followed by 10 in the Midwest, 10 in the West, and five in the Northeast. The total number of officers killed is two fewer than in 2004.
A breakdown of weapons used in these slayings revealed that firearms were used in the majority of incidents. Of the 50 officers killed with firearms, 42 were killed with handguns, five with shotguns, and three were shot with a rifle. Five officers were killed with vehicles.
At the time they were killed, 34 law enforcement officers were wearing body armor. Fifteen of the slain law enforcement officers fired their own weapons, and six officers attempted to fire their weapons. Nine officers had their weapons stolen, and six officers were killed with their own weapons.