A Laurel County man was arrested last night after the Sheriff’s Office says he stole tens-of-thousands of dollars from the business he worked at and then bought gifts for his friends.

Roy Branham, 24, is in the Laurel County Detention Center. Police say he used to work for an online retailer along US 25 South in Laurel County.

Sheriff’s deputies say that they received a complaint Tuesday from the company about the missing money. After being questioned, Branham admitted to stealing from his job.

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They say that Branham told investigators that over the past four months, he has been using the company credit card to buy gift cards, $43,000 worth.

Records show that most of the money was spent at the Walmart in Corbin.

“Up to $37,000 of that was being spent at a retail location in the southern end of the county; apparently this guy was buying iPhone 6s for his friends and other things for himself,” said Deputy Gilbert Acciardo at the Laurel County Sheriff’s Office.

The owners of the business didn’t comment on the investigation and Branham didn’t want to be interviewed.

A 15-year-old boy was charged with an open count of murder after his missing 10-year-old sister was found in a field near her family’s home, Bay County Sheriff Frank McKeithen said Sunday.

Isabella Heffernan who was last seen Saturday night when she went to bed at her home northeast of Panama City. Family members reported the girl missing shortly before 11:30 a.m. the following day, McKeithen stated in a Facebook post.

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Bay County air units, search and rescue crews and a K-9 unit were called in to look for the child.

Isabella’s body was discovered in a large field behind her residence, about 5 hours after she was reported missing.

The girl’s brother’s, Fredrick Matthew Lochridge, was identified as a suspect in the case, the sheriff said. The teen was later charged in her death.

During a news conference on Monday morning, McKeitehn described the boy as “hardcore,” and said he acted much older than his age when interacting with authorities, according to local television station NECN.

A cause of death for Isabella has not yet been released.

Louisville Gas and Electric and Kentucky Utilities want to warn customers that there is a phone scam that uses a recording of the utilities’ automated phone system.

LG&E and KU say that they will never call customers requesting phone payments.

They say that some callers threaten to disconnect a person’s electric or natural gas service if they do not pay a bill by credit or prepaid card immediately over the phone.

http://liarcatchers.com/fraud_investigation.html

LG&E and KU released this statement offering safe advice to their residential and business customers:

• Secure your personal information: LG&E and KU will never call and ask for credit or debit card numbers or other personal information. Nor do the utilities ask their customers to go to a specific retail outlet to purchase pre-paid cards to make a utility bill payment.

• Always remember you have bill payment options:  LG&E and KU offer customers a variety of official payment options. A complete list can be found here.

• First check with LG&E and KU: Customers who receive a suspicious phone call, voicemail, email or letter should contact LG&E and KU directly using the company’s official contact channels. The utilities will always verify official communications. LG&E customers should call 502-589-1444 (outside Louisville at 1-800-331-7370 FREE); KU customers should call 1-800-981-0600 FREE.

• Elect to receive billing notifications through MyAccount: Customers can choose how and when they would like to receive timely reminders about their monthly bills by signing up for billing notifications.

They also want to say that while there are many reasons they may visit a customer’s home or business, they will be there to read the meter, respond to a report of an outage or inspect equipment, they will never be there to collect payment for a monthly bill.

They encourage customers to always obtain positive identification in the event someone appears at their door stating they are there for LG&E or KU.

All of their employees and contractors will carry an ID badge.

An employee ID card always has the employee’s name and color photograph on the front as well.

If a customer is ever in doubt, they should call the official contact numbers for verification.

A Lexington man was arrested after a prank went horribly wrong.

The incident started Tuesday night when a woman came home to find her boyfriend stabbed and bloodied at their home on Augusta Drive…or so she thought. Police are now saying that man was playing a cruel joke on her.

“I came through, he had tables flipped over, my chair flipped over.  I walked through and there was blood on the walls,” the man’s girlfriend told LEX 18’s Kristen Pflum.

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The woman immediately dialed 911 when she found her boyfriend face down in their bed. He had an eight-inch knife sticking out between his neck and shoulder. He was not moving.

When help arrived, the man admitted he’d covered his neck in red ink to play a joke on her.

“The only time he was hollerin’, ‘it was a joke,’ was when the police came through the door and he had the knife in his hand,” said the girlfriend. “He dropped the knife and said, ‘it was a prank for my girlfriend because she was a few minutes late from work.'”

He will not be charged for that incident, but unfortunately for him, he already had a warrant out for his arrest on another case.

David Herrera-Giminez was taken into custody. He now faces deportation to Mexico.

The girlfriend told LEX 18 that she is not talking to her boyfriend…we can understand why.

The South Charleston Police Department began searching for 14-year-old Brooke Naomi Mallory on Monday February 22nd.

She was last seen at at the South Charleston Rec Center located on Jefferson Road at a basketball game.

She is described  as a white female with bleach blonde hair to her waist, blue eyes, standing at 5’6″, and weighing around 145 pounds. She was last seen wearing  a striped shirt with a pink sweater and dark blue jeans.

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The South Charleston Police Department is asking anyone with information on the whereabouts of Mallory to call them at 304-744-6903.

A Frankfort man has been indicted by a grand jury after jail staff says he concealed marijuana behind his testicles, the State Journal reports.

The initial incident took place in January. Louis Hall, III, 29, was brought into jail and searched. At that point, Commonwealth’s Attorney Larry Cleveland said, “he was found to be concealing a bag of marijuana under his testicles.”

The jail staff told Hall to place the bag of contraband on the table and step backward. Initially, Hall complied but then he grabbed the marijuana and placed it in his mouth, swallowing part of it.

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Hall was indicted for first-degree promoting contraband and tampering with physical evidence.

Hall had already been indicted following his arrest on Jan. 14 after he led Frankfort Police on a chase after he attempted to flee from Frankfort Police when a car that he was a passenger in was stopped for a traffic violation. At that time, officers say Hall tossed a bag containing a substance suspected to be suboxone.

Hall was charged with one count of first-degree fleeing or evading police, one count of tampering with physical evidence,  one count of resisting arrest, a Class A misdemeanor; one count of second-degree possession of a controlled substance, suboxone, a Class A misdemeanor; and one count of second-degree disorderly conduct, a Class B misdemeanor. Hall is also being charged with being a persistent felony offender.

Hall is currently being held at the Franklin County Regional Jail on a $25,000 full cash bond.

Lexington Police say they have obtained an arrest warrant for a man wanted in connection with a homicide at Camelot East.

23-year-old Laroz Lee Mitchell died at UK Hospital after he was shot multiple times at the Camelot East on February 19th around 2:41 a.m.

On Tuesday, detectives obtained an arrest warrant for Clarence W. Taylor for murder in the case.

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Officers are looking for Taylor, anyone with knowledge of his whereabouts is asked to call police.

Tips can be phoned into: the Lexington Police Department at 859-258-3600, the Robbery/Homicide Unit at 859-258-3700 or Bluegrass Crime Stoppers at 859-253-2020. Information can also be submitted online at www.bluegrasscrimestoppers.com.