An Evansville man has been sentenced to 30 months in prison for the death of a neighbor who was killed when a bullet traveled through an apartment wall.
Ricardo Abreu accepted a deal Thursday and pleaded guilty to reckless homicide and criminal recklessness in the death of 41-year-old Toni Bittler. The Evansville Courier & Press says another charge was dropped.
Police say Abreu and a woman were arguing when he fired a gun last June. Bittler’s husband returned home from an errand and found her shot in the chest. She died at a hospital. Anthony Bittler says Abreu deserves life in prison. He says, “Nothing can replace my wife.” Abreu will get credit for 201 days spent in jail.
A northwestern Indiana man says he smashed the window of a car to stop shoplifters outside a busy store.
Eric Cordell says he needed six stitches for his injuries, but he was able to recover a bag of coats stolen from a TJ Maxx in Schererville on Dec. 4.
Cordell was leaving the store after buying gift cards when he heard a woman say that a man had taken a bag. He chased the thief, who got into a car, and then smashed the window with his elbow. Cordell tells the Post-Tribune , “I don’t know what I was thinking.”
The thief gave up the bag and drove off with an accomplice. Schererville police were able to track down the vehicle. Spokesman Brian Neyhart says charges are pending.
An 80 year old township trustee in Owen County has been accused of theft and official misconduct after a multi-year investigation.
The Spencer Evening World reports that Morgan Township Trustee Patricia Ann Flowers misappropriated funds from 2014 through this year. The State Board of Accounts notified officers that an audit of Township funds in late 2017 showed missing and misappropriated money. Flowers is accused of using township money to pay her own taxes in 2014 and, in 2015 she is accused of paying herself more money than her allotted annual compensation.