Ex-county commissioner indicted on fraud charge

ASHEVILLE — A horse owner and former county official in North Carolina is accused by prosecutors of funneling public money meant to boost the local economy into remote businesses that staged or promoted equestrian shows.

The U.S. Department of Justice said in a news release on Tuesday that an indictment lists multiple fraud charges against 64-year-old Ellen Madans Frost, a former Buncombe County Commissioner.

According to the news release, the indictment says that between 2014 and 2017, Frost conspired with ex-Buncombe County Manager Wanda Greene to misapply $575,000 in economic development incentive funds to support equestrian enterprises in North Carolina. Florida and New York.

Prosecutors say Frost and Greene tried to hide the scheme by using the funds to promote the Asheville Regional Airport, which isn’t governed or funded by the county.

Cunningham, Tucker lend to campaigns challenging Tillis

RALEIGH — New political rivals of well-funded North Carolina Republican Sen. Thom Tillis are tapping into personal money to help get their campaigns off the ground.

The federal campaign finance report from Tillis’s 2020 re-election campaign shows it raised $1.9 million during the three months ending June 30 and had $4.4 million in its coffers to start the second half of 2019.

GOP primary challenger Garland Tucker reported he loaned his campaign committee $700,000 while raising another $339,000 from the time he entered the race in early May. The campaign had $108,000 in the bank entering July.

Democrat Cal Cunningham announced his candidacy in mid-June and already reported raising $522,000 in addition to lending his campaign $200,000. Cash on hand was $683,000.

Second-quarter finance reports were due Monday.

Sheriff: 4-month-old abducted from day care found safe

BLADENBORO — A North Carolina sheriff’s office says a 4-month-old girl taken from a day care has been found safe.

WRAL reports the Bladen County Sheriff’s Office says the child’s mother took the baby from the day care on Monday evening, but family members convinced her to surrender the child to sheriff’s deputies, which she did on Tuesday, when an Amber Alert was issued.

The sheriff’s office says the mother and an unidentified man were discovered at a bus station in Lumberton. As of Tuesday afternoon, there was no word on whether charges would be filed.

Authorities say the child had been placed in foster care under custody of the Columbus County social services department.

Information from: WRAL-TV, http://www.wral.com

Sea turtles set nesting record at Cape Hatteras seashore

HATTERAS — Sea turtles again have set a record for nesting at the Cape Hatteras National Seashore in North Carolina.

A news release from the National Park Service says that with more than a month to go before the nesting season typically winds down, rangers discovered the 326th nest on Monday. The previous record of 325 was set in 2016.

As of Tuesday, there are 317 loggerhead nests, 11 green sea turtle nests and one Kemp’s Ridley nest.

Tracy Ziegler, chief of resource management and science for National Parks of Eastern North Carolina, says it’s estimated that almost 11,000 sea turtle eggs have been deposited in beaches on Bodie, Hatteras, and Ocracoke islands.

Chief justice tours courthouse dealing with hurricane damage

BURGAW — North Carolina’s top judicial official says several courthouses are still recovering from damage suffered in Hurricane Florence last year.

North Carolina Chief Justice Cheri Beasley toured Pender County courthouse Monday. It has been unusable for 10 months because of Florence. She met with court personnel to talk about how they’ve been managing.

The clerk’s office has relocated, and makeshift courtrooms are in other buildings around the town of Burgaw.

Beasley said she’s grateful to court officials for working through a trying year.

Similarly, Jones County courts are operating from alternative locations because of storm damage being repaired.

And a news release from the North Carolina Judicial Branch said courthouses in Carteret, Craven, New Hanover and Onslow counties are operational but also continuing to deal with hurricane damage and repairs.

Authorities ID skydiver killed while landing in S. Carolina

CHESTER, S.C. — Authorities have released the identity of a skydiver who died during a hard landing near the South Carolina-North Carolina border.

Chester County Coroner Terry Tinker tells reporters that 33-year-old Amie Jessica Begg, of Charlotte, died of blunt force trauma injuries Sunday. The deputy director for county emergency management, Ed Darby, says the landing was harsh.

Begg was skydiving with Skydive Carolina. It said in a statement that Begg’s parachute deployed fine, but an advanced landing maneuver caused her to be injured. It said Begg had gone on more than 800 skydives.

Reports say this is the fourth Skydive Carolina diver death since 2014. A diver was killed last year when her parachute malfunctioned. In 2016, a diver fatally crashed into another diver. A parachute malfunction killed another diver in 2014.

North Carolina cousins plead guilty to killing store clerk

DURHAM — The cousin of a convicted murderer has also pleaded guilty in the killing of a store clerk in a botched beer robbery.

The News & Observer reports Charles Willis pleaded guilty to second-degree murder Monday in the death of 58-year-old Mohamed Shoufar.

Willis took a plea agreement for between 12 and more than 15 years in prison, for having given authorities information about his cousin, Robert Jackson, who was convicted of murdering Shoufar then killing a robbery accomplice to keep him quiet.

Prosecutors say Jackson shot Shoufar as he, Willis and Nicholas Bell set out to steal beer and rob the Durham gas station in 2015. Then, Jackson killed Bell because he’d reportedly been discussing the attack.

In June, Jackson was sentenced to up to 29 years in prison.