LAUGHERY TO PLEAD GUILTY:
Heidi C. Laughery, the former president and CEO of Sequelle Communications Alliance, is expected to plead guilty Friday to federal charges at 10:30 a.m. today in U.S. District Court in Huntington, W.Va.
Laughery, 46, formerly of Marietta and now of Meadville, Pa., faced up to 100 years in prison and $3.25 million in fines after she was named in a 12-count federal indictment last fall. The charges stem from the alleged misappropriation of millions of dollars from the federally funded broadband Internet company.
U.S. Attorney Anna Forbes said she could not comment on the plea agreement.
Laughery was set to stand trial next week on the charges.
Sequelle, launched in Marietta in August 2000 by Laughery, was designed to bring high-speed wireless Internet to southeast Ohio and portions of West Virginia. The project was largely funded by public money and as much as $4 million may have been obtained illegally or misappropriated, according to federal prosecutors.
Laughery was charged with five counts of mail fraud, two counts of theft from an organization receiving federal funds, one count of money laundering conspiracy and four of engaging in an illegal monetary transaction.
MURDER WEAPON FOUND:
BELLE VALLEY, Ohio (AP) - The Noble County sheriff says investigators have found an electrical cord they believe an Ohio man used to strangle family members before telling a dispatcher he had money troubles.
Sheriff Landon Smith says authorities also have recovered the 16-gauge shotgun that 39-year-old Theodore Bayly apparently used to take his own life after cutting short his call notifying the sheriff's office of the killings early Wednesday.
Deputies found the bodies of Bayly, his 40-year-old wife, Janice Bayly, and their 11-year-old son, Colton, at the family's trailer home near Belle Valley, about 75 miles east of Columbus.
Smith said Thursday that Theodore Bayly was despondent over some form of disability that left him unable to work as a self-employed roofer.
ELECTION DEADLINE:
The deadline to file for the May primary election has passed.
All seats on the Marietta and Belpre city councils, as well as some other city offices, are on the ballot. Warren Local Schools will have a renewal emergency level on the ballot, and the City of Marietta will ask voters to repeal a 2006 ballot issue prohibiting city funds from being used to build, lease, furnish or maintain a new building or office space for the municipal court.
Look for a complete rundown of the primary ballot in Friday's edition of The Marietta Times.
