A Lexington home has significant damage after an overnight fire.

It started around 11:45 Thursday night at a home in the 600 block of South Limestone. Firefighters were called when people saw smoke in the area.They had a hard time finding the fire as it had started in the basement.

The fire burned through the first floor and firefighters had to break through several walls to break down the fire.

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The home was vacant and no one has been living there.

All lanes of South Limestone between Washington Avenue and Virginia Avenue were blocked while crews responded to a fire.

This fire is being investigated as an arson.

If you know anything about this investigation, please call the Lexington Fire Department.

UK has issued a crime bulletin in relation to the fire since the house was on campus.

Former Elliott County Clerk Shelia Blevins and her sister, former Elliott County Deputy Clerk Jeannie Moore, were formally sentenced Friday in Franklin Circuit Court to complicity to commit abuse of public trust under $10,000.

Franklin Circuit Judge Phillip Shepherd gave the pair five years of probation each and entered them into a felony diversion program.

The cases were investigated by the Department of Criminal Investigations within the Office of the Attorney General in connection with misuse of public funds in 2014. Beshear’s Office of Special Prosecutions prosecuted the case.

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The Attorney General’s office began investigating the clerk’s office during the 2014 annual audit of the clerk’s fee account by the state auditor. Once the audit was complete, it was referred to the AG’s office for a finding involving four missing daily deposits totaling $15,680 from the fee account.

Beshear’s office took the case to a Franklin County grand jury based on its investigation that uncovered that $8,990 of the $15,680 daily deposits was missing funds. The remaining amount reported missing in the four daily deposits was the result of a deposit error, not missing fund. A Franklin County Grand Jury indicted Blevins and Moore June 9 with complicity to commit abuse of public trust under $10,000 in connection.

Blevins and Moore have repaid the $8,990 to Elliott County.

As part of their sentencing, Blevins and Moore were ordered to resign from office and issue apologies and admissions of guilt. They issued written apologies Aug. 10 to the Elliott County Fiscal Court.

A search warrant has been served on a former Bardstown Police Officer in connection with a missing mother of five.

Nick Houck is being investigated in connection to the disappearance of Crystal Rogers. Rogers was last seen by her boyfriend, Brooks Houck – Nick’s brother – back in July of last year.

http://liarcatchers.com/missing_persons_investigations.html

Her boyfriend told investigators that the couple was spending time with their two-year-old son at his family’s farm on the night she was last seen. Houck was suspended from the police department after it came to light that he allegedly called his brother Brooks to let him know that investigators were coming to Brooks’ home.

Brooks Houck has not been charged but was named a suspect in the case back in October.

Law enforcement officers are trying to locate a missing Tuscaloosa County man, 44-year-old Kelcey Hale, who has been missing since Sunday.

Fayette County High school principal Jeremy Madden is worried. For six years, Kelcey Hale has worked at the high school as a teacher’s aide, and 12 years overall working other assignments in the school system. Hale previously worked as a computer teacher at the elementary school.

The school year got underway on Tuesday, and Hale did not showed up for work.

http://liarcatchers.com/missing_persons_investigations.html

“We are very concerned, we were concerned enough to call the authorities Tuesday when he didn’t come to work on the first day of school,” Madden said.

Hale’s family members traveled from Fayette on Wednesday to file a missing person’s report with the Tuscaloosa County Sheriff’s Office. Hale was last seen on Sunday at his home in Tuscaloosa on Gooden Drive.

Principal Jeremy Madden is hoping his employee and friend will found safe. Madden says Hale’s students miss him in the classroom.

“I haven’t slept much in the past two nights because we were up late the other night taking calls about tips and different things. We want him found, and we want him back at work because the kids miss him, and are walking around here talking about him, and they want him back,” Madden said.

Hale is also a local pastor. He has churches in Lamar County and one in Fayette County. Madden is asking if anyone has seen Hale to call the school or the Tuscaloosa County Sheriff’s Office. Hale was last seen driving a silver 2005 Chevrolet Malibu Classic four door, with an Alabama God Bless America tag #4946AC0.

A man accused in the murder of a retired Scott County bus driver wants the murder charge against him thrown out.

Nick Willinger, who is accused of beating retired bus driver Sue Jones to death in her bed back in 2010, wants the murder charge against him tossed out due to “sloppy police work.”

His attorneys filed the motion to dismiss stating that “Mr. Willinger’s ability to present a defense is violated due to the loss of evidence.”

http://liarcatchers.com/wrongful_death.html

His lawyers claim that a now retired KSP Detective lost some of his recordings in the case; therefore, they believe Willinger won’t get a fair trial or fair shot at cross-examining key witnesses in the case.

State Police say that the detective’s original records are available, only side notes or a supplement to his main report are missing.

“’The original document was on an old word base document, we now use a new system,” said Trooper Bernie Napier with KSP.

A decision could be made about the motion on August 22 when Willinger has a hearing on the issue.

Police are investigating a string of horse thefts in central Kentucky.

At least three horses have been stolen from pastures in Sadieville.

“It looked like somebody either backed the trailer in to the gate and the lock was still hanging on the gate, part of the gate was hanging on the post. The rest of the gate was laying on the ground,” said Dewy Jones, one of the horse theft victims.

Jones had a horse stolen in May. He says that right around that same time, a neighbor’s black and white Paint named Summer was also stolen.

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Jones says that another one of his horses was stolen in late July.

“I know he was there on Wednesday. Me and my wife went down there on a Thursday,” said Jones. “He was gone.”

Jones says he thought of his horse Silver as one of his kids.

He had the horse for more than 16 years.

“Oh, he’s part of the family,” said Jones. “Broke my heart when someone stole him.”

Jones and others say that they believe someone familiar with the area has been scouting out properties and looking for easy targets.

Investigators with the Scott County Sheriff’s Office say they have an open investigation into the thefts and have been in contact with other agencies about similar instances.

“I hope he’s found. I don’t care if somebody gets to feeling guilty,” said Jones. “They can take and just put him back. I won’t say a word. I just want the horse back.”

If you have any information or think you might recognize Silver, please call the Scott County Sheriff’s Office.

A 39-year-old New Jersey man was indicted by a federal grand jury in Harrisburg on drug charges stemming from his arrest on an interstate highway in Lebanon County, U.S. Attorney Peter J. Smith said Thursday.

The grand jury on Wednesday returned an indictment against Manel Smith, charging him with possession with intent to distribute heroin. He was driving through Lebanon County when his vehicle was stopped, according to Smith’s office. The U.S. Attorney’s office did not indicate when and where the arrest took place. They also did not indicate where Smith lives in New Jersey.

The case was investigated by the Pennsylvania State Police and the Drug Enforcement Agency.

The maximum penalty under federal law is 40 years in prison, a term of supervised release following imprisonment, and a fine.

In late June, state police at Lickdale reported that Smith of Newark, N.J., was pulled over on Interstate 78 in Bethel Township shortly after noon on June 20 by a trooper, who clocked Smith going 92 mph in a 65-mph zone.

http://liarcatchers.com/drugdogsweeps.html

The trooper said in the affidavit of criminal complaint that his suspicions were raised by an overwhelming odor of air freshener inside Smith’s 2008 Malibu Chevrolet and multiple Tree air fresheners hanging by the center console. While speaking with Smith, the trooper said, he also observed multiple indicators of criminal activity, although he did not specify what they were in the complaint.

After Smith denied the trooper’s request to search the vehicle, the trooper called for assistance from another trooper and a drug-sniffing dog. When the dog alerted on the vehicle, a probable cause search was conducted and a gym bag containing approximately 15,350 bags of heroin was found in the vehicle’s trunk.