Boyfriend Charged in Pregnant Teen's Killing

The suburban Chicago boyfriend of a pregnant teenager fatally shot on Christmas Day and his brother were denied bail Sunday and will remain in jail after being charged with first-degree murder in the death.

Eva Casara, whose baby survived and remains hospitalized, wasn't an intended target when an apparent robbery spiraled out of control, the Chicago Sun-Times ( http://bit.ly/KeoXnB ) reported.

Charged are her boyfriend, Anthony Lee, 16, and his brother, Diante Lamont Coakley, 21, both from Dolton, a suburb south of Chicago. It wasn't immediately clear if either Lee or Coakley had lawyers.

The 17-year-old Casara was "just in the wrong place at the wrong time with the wrong company," Dolton Police Chief John Franklin told the Sun-Times on Saturday. Franklin said it appeared to be part of a drug deal or robbery gone wrong.

A message left with Franklin by The Associated Press was not immediately returned. It wasn't immediately clear whether Lee would be tried as an adult.

On Sunday, Assistant State's Attorney Christina Kye offered more detail, saying that Lee, Coakley and a third brother headed out to rob someone — and Casara went along. At some point, Casara ended up in the car of the robbery target — and shots were fired at the car as it sped off, Kye said.

Kye said the intended robbery victim only understood Casara was in the car when he heard gurgling sounds behind him, then pulled over and left her. A passerby later came across Casara's body, she said.

Casara, who was 5 1/2 months pregnant, was pronounced dead early on Thursday — several hours after the Wednesday shooting. But doctors were able to save the Calumet City teen's baby.

While Casara was not the intended target in the shooting, the police chief stopped short of calling her death an accident.

"It's hard to call it an accident when you're firing a gun in the direction of people," he said.

Casara's aunt, Melody Vargas, told the Sun-Times, "She was just a victim of their stupidity, and they need to pay for it."

Suspect in 3 Colorado Slayings Captured in Okla.

A month long hunt for a man accused of killing three people in Colorado and then setting a house on fire to cover it up has ended with his capture in Oklahoma.

Harry Carl Mapps, 59, was arrested at a motel in Roland, Okla., on Saturday night, authorities said Sunday.

Mapps faces charges of first-degree murder and arson in the shooting deaths of Kim and Reggie Tuttle and their adult daughter, Dawn Roderick. Their bodies were found in the Tuttles' home in the southern Colorado town of Rye after it was damaged by fire on Nov. 27.

A booking photo showed Mapps with a swollen lip and large red patch on his right cheek, but authorities said there had been no struggle during his capture. No other details of his arrest were released.

Pueblo County, Colo., Sheriff Kirk Taylor said Mapps was found using information developed by the U.S. Marshals Service in Colorado, Oklahoma and Texas. Mapps had lived in Texas.

The Marshals Service had issued a fugitive warrant for Mapps and said authorities were searching for him nationwide.

It wasn't immediately clear if Mapps had an attorney, and authorities did not yet know if he would fight extradition to Colorado.

The fire at the Tuttles' house was ruled arson, and Taylor said it was meant to cover up the shootings.

Three days after the fire, deputies said Mapps was their primary suspect. Authorities said he had been living with the Tuttles and was working for a trucking company owned by Reggie Tuttle, 51.

Taylor said money appeared to be the motive for the shootings. Authorities claimed Mapps stole checks made out to one of the victims and cashed them on the day of the fire. He also faces theft, identity theft and forgery charges.

Pueblo County sheriff's investigators arrived in Oklahoma Sunday and hoped to speak to Mapps, said Lisa Shorter, the sheriff's spokeswoman.

Mapps wasn't armed when he was arrested, but investigators did not yet know whether there were any weapons in the motel room or Mapps' vehicle, said Charles Ahmad of the Marshals Service in Denver.

Ahmad said the firearm used to shoot the Tuttles and Roderick had not been recovered, and investigators believed Mapps still had it. Ahmad declined to identify the weapon.

Shorter and Ahmad said they did not yet know where Mapps had been while he was a fugitive. He once worked as a long-distance trucker, and authorities had said he was familiar with little-used back roads.

Friends called the Tuttles generous and caring.

"Kim and Reggie would help anyone who needed it," Winnie Owens, a friend and neighbor, told the Pueblo Chieftain. "The hearts of everyone in this valley go out to that family."

Kim Tuttle, 55, worked on the culinary staff at Parkview Medical Center in Pueblo.

Roderick, 33, lived in nearby Pueblo and had a husband and three children. Authorities haven't said why she was at her parents' home.

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Time Running Short for Teen Declared Brain Dead

Without further court order, a California hospital could unhook a 13-year-old girl declared brain dead from a breathing machine.

Alameda County Superior Court Judge Evelio Grillo's current order allows Children's Hospital of Oakland to remove Jahi McMath from a ventilator at 5 p.m. Monday.

The family was pinning its hopes on a New York facility to care for the child after two California care homes withdrew offers to accept her.

Jahi underwent a tonsillectomy at the hospital on Dec. 9 to treat sleep apnea. After she awoke from the operation, her family said, she started bleeding heavily and went into cardiac arrest.

Doctors at Children's Hospital and an independent pediatric neurologist from Stanford University have concluded the girl is brain dead.

The hospital wants to remove her from life support, but the family said they believe she is still alive.

Chris Dolan, the family's attorney, said he was waiting to hear from the New York hospital after its facility director and medical director speak.

"The family is together, and today everybody is praying and being together," Dolan told the Associated Press Sunday. He said no decisions had been made about legal options for Monday, and would not comment on progress with the New York facility.

On Sunday, the hospital said it had not heard from the New York, or any other, facility about a transfer.

"We need to be able to talk to the other facility to understand what it is they are capable of doing," Cynthia Chiarappa, a hospital spokeswoman, said. "This is not transferring an individual in a vegetative state, but a dead body."

The hospital also said it would need to confirm there is "lawful transportation" included in any plan to transfer Jahi, and written permission from the coroner.

Dolan said previously that the family views the New York site as it's "last, last hope." He has also has said it was possible the family could ask Grillo for more time, or file a federal appeal.

Two Miami Women Sentenced to 10 Years in Prison for Conspiring to Pay Health Care Kickbacks

Wifredo A. Ferrer, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida; Michael B. Steinbach, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Miami Field Office; and Christopher B. Dennis, Special Agent in Charge, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General (HHS‑OIG), Miami Regional Office, announce that U.S. District Judge Federico A. Moreno sentenced Yiral Cardona, 39, of Miami, and Susan Chi, 42, of Miami, to 10 years in prison, stemming from their leadership roles in a conspiracy to pay health care kickbacks.
At trial, Cardona and Chi were convicted on October 22, 2013, of one count of conspiracy to pay health care kickbacks and to defraud the United States, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 371, and three counts of unlawful payment of health care kickbacks, in violation of Title 42, United States Code, Section 1320a-7b(b)(2)(A).
According to the evidence presented at trial and the sentencing hearing, Cardona and Chi owned Vista Home Health Services Inc. (Vista), a Miami-Dade based home health agency that purportedly provided skilled nursing and home health services to Medicare beneficiaries. The defendants illegally obtained Medicare patients by paying bribes and kickbacks of at least $141,000 to patient recruiters to induce the referral of Medicare patients to Vista for home health services. Cardona and Chi billed the Medicare program for home health services that were not medically necessary and/or not provided. Between approximately May 15, 2009 and April 26, 2012, Medicare paid Vista more than $4.1 million in claims. The court ordered the defendants to pay more than $733,000 in restitution.

Des Moines University Health Professions Advanced Summer Scholars Program

Des Moines University is now accepting applications for our 3-week summer Health Professions Advanced Summer Scholars program. Health P.A.S.S. is geared toward rising sophomores and juniors from populations underrepresented in medicine and health care, including under-represented minority, low-income and/or first-generation college students. The program provides participants with perspectives on what it is like to be a student in osteopathic medicine, podiatric medicine, physical therapy, and physician assistant studies. DMU covers all costs for participants, including housing, meals, and transportation. Enrollment is limited to 12 students, and applicationsare due March 1, 2014.

If after reviewing the materials, there are any additional questions, please call 515.271.7864 or email healthpass@dmu.edu.

Drexel University School of Public Health Class Visit Days

Drexel University School of Public Health will host 2 Class Visit Days in the early spring. These visit days are for students who are interested in graduate programs in public health.

Students will have the opportunity to sit in on the first year course, Principles of Epidemiology, tour Nesbitt Hall and the University City campus and have lunch with our current students.

 

The dates for these visits are as follows:

Thursday, January 16^th

9 am – 1 pm

RSVP - http://deptapp.drexel.edu/em/visits/detail.aspx?ID=3420

Thursday, February 20^th

9 am – 1 pm

RSVP - http://deptapp.drexel.edu/em/visits/detail.aspx?ID=3421

 

Multicultural Recruitment Day Conference

The Office of Diversity and Multicultural Affairs at Columbia University, College of Physicians & Surgeons is sponsoring the 36^th Annual Multicultural Recruitment Day Conference entitled “Medical School: Challenges and Opportunities.” The purpose of this annual conference is to provide underrepresented and disadvantaged premedical high school, undergraduate, and postgraduate students with pertinent information about medical school.  Each year, we have over 300 students in attendance. Admission to the conference is free and lunch will be provided.

Through a series of workshops and a keynote address, conference participants will become informed about:

• Medical School Admissions
• Financial Aid
• Research Opportunities
• Transition to Medical School
• Other Related Topics

The program will take place on Saturday, March 1, 2014 from 7:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. in the Alumni Auditorium on the 1^st floor of the Black Building. The Auditorium is located at 650 West 168^th Street at Ft. Washington Avenue in Manhattan. A campus map can be accessed at: http://www.cumc.columbia.edu/about/cumc_map.html

For more information and to register, please visit our website at www.oda-ps.cumc.columbia.edu/mrdc. Interested participants must register for the conference by February 7, 2014.

Please make this information available to your students. Should you or your students have questions, please e-mail oda-ps@columbia.edu or call our office at (212) 305-4157.