TUESDAY August 13, 2013
Community Foundations Page A2 Donors get creative with their contributions
Football Page B1 Colts owner unhappy with blowout loss
Weather A few clouds today. High 76. Low 53. Sunshine expected Wednesday. High 73. Low 51. Page A6
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Investment adviser admits thefts Four clients report losing $354,000 BY KATHRYN BASSETT kbassett@kpcmedia.com
Inside today This year’s Chautauqua Days festival in Rome City will celebrate the 150th birthday of famed author Gene Stratton-Porter. Read more about the local author’s life and the events scheduled in today’s insert.
AUBURN — With his eyes downcast and few words, a DeKalb County investment adviser quietly admitted the theft of $354,000 from four of his clients during a hearing Monday afternoon in DeKalb Superior Court II. Jeffrey Jarrett, 35, of the 2600 block of C.R. 56, Auburn, pleaded guilty to two counts of theft of
more than $100,000, a Class C felony, and two counts of theft, a Class D felony, as part of a plea agreement. In the separate charges, Jarrett admitted to thefts of $10,000, $65,000, $100,000 and $170,000. Details of the offenses were not discussed during Monday’s plea hearing, other than Jarrett admitting that in each of the cases, he exerted unauthorized control of property — money — belonging
to four victims with the intent of depriving them of the use of the property. Sentencing is open to the court, and the court will establish the terms of restitution, including restitution in three charges that will be dismissed as part of Jarrett the plea agreement. The charges to be dismissed are theft, a Class C felony; forgery, a Class C felony;
Garrett Blaze
Drunken motorist assaults neighbor, gets arrested
Children blamed for South Bend playground fire SOUTH BEND (AP) — Investigators believe a group of 5- and 6-year-olds started a fire that destroyed playground equipment at a South Bend elementary school, police said Monday. Officers located the 5- and 6-year-old brothers and a 5-year-old neighbor soon after Saturday’s fire at Harrison Primary Center and they admitted to starting the fire, city police Capt. Phil Trent told WSBT-TV. The boys started the fire with a lighter, Trent said.
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Index
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Classifieds.................................B6-B8 Life..................................................... A5 Obituaries......................................... A4 Opinion .............................................B4 Sports.........................................B1-B3 Weather............................................ A6 TV/Comics .......................................B5 Vol. 101 No. 222
SEE INVESTMENT, PAGE A6
Major shift
GOOD MORNING FISHERS (AP) — A central Indiana motorist who assaulted a 67-year-old neighbor who had told him to slow down has been charged with drunken driving and battery. The victim told Fishers police that he was watering his lawn Sunday when he yelled at the motorist to slow down. Officers say the driver stopped and backed his car into the victim’s driveway, got out and pushed the 67-year-old man to the ground twice. The victim’s wife heard the commotion and called 911. Police stopped 32-yearold Joel Zeller nearby. Officers say Zeller had a blood-alcohol content of 0.17 percent, or more than twice the legal limit. Zeller was being held Monday on $5,000 bond at the Hamilton County Jail. It wasn’t clear whether he has an attorney. The victim didn’t require medical attention.
and theft, a Class D felony. A Class C felony carries a possible sentence of two to eight years in prison, and a Class D felony carries a possible penalty of six months to three years in prison. Judge Monte Brown took the agreement under advisement and scheduled a sentencing hearing for Oct. 7. Jarrett is accused of taking money from clients to buy investments that never were purchased. Auburn Police Detective Stacy Sexton investigated the case with
Holder goes after mandatory federal drug sentences
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An early morning fire destroyed a garage and vehicle and damaged a home in the 700 block of
East King Street in Garrett. The cause of the fire is under investigation.
Fire destroys garage, vehicle BY SUE CARPENTER scarpenter@kpcmedia.com
GARRETT — No one was injured by a fire early Monday morning that destroyed a garage and vehicle and heavily damaged a home in the 700 block of East King Street. The Garrett Fire Department responded to a call from a neighbor at 1:01 a.m., said Assistant Fire Chief Chad Werkheiser. Firefighters arrived four
minutes later and found a car and detached garage fully involved in flames, which extended to the residence. They brought the fire under control in about 20 minutes. The home’s occupants, Ben Rollins and family, were awakened by a neighbor and exited the structure safely. The family pets also were uninjured. The garage and vehicle were total losses. Werkheiser estimated damage at $60,000 to structures, $10,000 to contents and $15,000
to the vehicle. A neighboring home sustained heat damage to its siding. The cause of the fire is under investigation, Werkheiser said. Firefighters remained at the scene until 4:30 a.m. The Garrett Fire Department was assisted at the scene by Garrett Police Department, DeKalb EMS and Auburn Fire Department. The Corunna Fire Department provided stand-by coverage.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Attorney General Eric Holder announced a major shift Monday in federal sentencing policies, targeting long mandatory terms that he said have flooded the nation’s prisons with low-level drug offenders and diverted crime-fighting dollars that could be far better spent. If Holder’s policies are implemented aggressively, they could mark one of the most significant changes in the way the federal criminal justice system handles drug cases since the government declared a war on drugs in the 1980s As a first step, Holder has instructed federal prosecutors to stop charging many nonviolent drug defendants with offenses that carry mandatory minimum sentences. His next step will be working with a bipartisan group in Congress to give judges greater discretion in sentencing. “We will start by fundamentally rethinking the notion of mandatory minimum sentences for drug-related crimes,” Holder told the American Bar Association in San Francisco. There are currently more than 219,000 federal inmates, and the prisons are operating at nearly 40 percent above capacity. Holder said the prison population “has grown at an astonishing rate — SEE SHIFT, PAGE A6
Concert kicks off DeKalb United Way campaign BY SUE CARPENTER scarpenter@kpcmedia.com
AUBURN — Hundreds of United Way supporters enjoyed a beautiful summer evening during Friday’s free concert at the DeKalb Outdoor Theater. United Way board president Neal Blythe welcomed concert-goers and introduced the David and Stacy Hefty family, this year’s campaign chairs. The Heftys thanked Gina DeWald of DeWald Northeast Dental Group for sponsoring the concert, which featured Choice, a local classic rock band. Stacy Hefty said the United Way focuses on meeting three basic needs — education, income and health — as building blocks for a healthy community. “United Way supports 21 agencies locally that work to address the circumstances that can destabilize a community,” she said. Representatives from DeKalb Health were on hand with information on prenatal and infant care; Garrett State Bank handed out plastic cups for children demonstrating the need to include savings, charity and spending based on the children’s book, “Three Cups;” and people attending brought new or gently used children’s books for local agencies, child care centers and preschools.
Day of Caring awards presented Steve Smith from Serenity House and Amy Wood from Steel Dynamics were introduced as the 2014 Day of Caring co-chairs, succeeding longtime chair Mike Ley. “They will have big shoes to fill,” David Hefty said. This year, more 500 volunteers completed
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The Home Depot Day of Caring Team included, from left, Lynne Lanning, Sara Gaff, Ellie Vorndran, Pat Wible and Brittley Hyde. Wible was presented the Hammerhead Award for individual volunteerism at Friday’s event.
65 projects during the 14th annual Day of Caring. Pat Wible from Home Depot, a member of the Day of Caring Committee, presented the Helping Hand Award to Rick Kipley, site manager of Momentive, a Garrett-based industry. The annual award represents the team that possesses qualities of outstanding team volunteerism through extreme dedication and
hard work before, during and after the event. This year, the Momentive team joined Home Depot on two projects on the same street. “They showed up when we were feeling a bit overwhelmed, jumped right in the thick of things and were such a pleasure to work with,” said Wible. When speaking of getting into the thick of things, Wible noted Kipley suffered from a SEE UNITED WAY, PAGE A6