The Town Talk from Alexandria, Louisiana • Page 28

LOUISIANA D-4 Saturday, August 23, 1997 Alexandria Dailg Zton Sal Woman's disappearance continues haunting Wisner Ditched samples Go-between allegedly swapped urine tests LAFAYETTE (AP) A woman whose company acted as a go between for companies testing their employees for drugs and laboratories was arrested Friday on allegations that she ditched the samples and provided false tests. Jo Lynn Koonce, 52, of Sulphur, was released on unsecured bond on 11 county of mail fraud and ordered to appear for arraignment on Sept. 9. Prosecutors said Koonce ran a company known as Louisiana Drug Screening that contracted with businesses to send off urine samples and obtain test results for its clients. LDS was charged for the lab tests, which was passed on to the businesses, along with a processing fee, authorities said.

Starting in September 1995, LDS started ditching the samples and sent its clients false test results and bills, an indict ment alleges. From then until July 1996, Koonce fraudulently billed its clients over $51,000, the indictment said. Each mail fraud count carries up to 5 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. However, the non-parole federal sentences are set according to mandatory guidelines that judges must follow and typically run less than the possible maximums. There was no answer at the LDS office for comment Friday.

if Eight juvenile offenders transferred to adult prisons Herrington stopped by for a visit. She told Swartwout that she was going to come back to spend the night with her, but she never showed up. Swartwout said Tonya would regularly sleep on her couch because she didn't like being alone and she was afraid of her husband. "I've been the main suspect," Brad Herrington said. "It's been a bad deal, man," he said in his home in Wisner.

Police confirmed that Brad Herrington was working in South Louisiana at the time of his wife's disappearance, but a history of domestic violence keeps him in the spotlight. "It may have been a time or two I carried it to the extreme, but I never would have hurt her. I slapped her once, busted her mouth and blacked her eye," he said. "I think about her every day. She's my other half, and that other half has been missing over a year.

It's like I don't have a heart anymore." Police records show several cases of abuse reported by Tonya Herrington. In July 1993, Brad Herrington was charged with unauthorized entry of an inhabited dwelling, criminal damage to property and aggravated assault. In December 1993, he was charged with simple battery. "The case is not closed by any means. We'd just like to know what happened.

I think the family deserves that," Pylant said. 1 Tonya Allbritton Herrington: Wisner woman missing over a year. rated from her husband Brad, 33. He and Tonya had been involved for five years and married for the last two of those years. Police say Brad Herrington is a suspect in his wife's disappearance.

Herrington's friend, Nicole Swartwout, 23, said she was with her Thursday and Friday before she disappeared. Swartwout had taken her to the doctor both days because Herrington felt some pain related to her pregnancy. Swartwout last saw her around 7 p.m. that Friday, when WISNER (AP) A poster of Tonya Allbritton Herrington hangs in the front window of the only grocery store in town. It has been more than a year and two months since anyone saw Herrington.

The mystery surrounding her disappearance hovers over the small town of 1,400 residents. People speculate that she may have left town to escape a troubled life or someone she feared would harm her. For her family and friends, time stopped June 7, 1996, when she vanished. Holidays came and went. Her 21st birthday on Dec.

27 passed without word of her whereabouts. She would have had a son born last November, since she was five months pregnant at the time of her disappearance. Herrington's family thinks of her daily and wants the questions to be answered so the pain can be replaced with peace, no matter what the outcome. "It never goes away," said Sherrie Braswell, Herrington's mother, pushing her glasses up with her fingers to wipe away the tears. Jimmy Neathery, a Caldwell Parish private investigator, said he believes foul play is involved.

"We would love to find her working in another town with the baby, but we don't think at this point, it's the. case," Neathery said. Franklin Parish Sheriff Steve Pylant said his department has received several tips and has traveled as far as Birmingham, and Louisville, to no avail. A witness saw Herrington on June 7, 1996, in Wisner in the parking lot of a bar called Sweet's around 10:30 p.m. talking with some friends.

Her champagne-colored 1987 Oldsmobile was found three days later parked behind a garage next to the bar. Her keys and purse were missing, and the car was locked. Tensas Parish Sheriff Jeff Britt said Herrington was seen at a bar in the western part of his parish the night she disappeared. Herrington was expected to work at her mother's store June 8, but didn't show up. Braswell went to her daughter's mobile home and found the lights on.

A pile of movies Herrington had rented sat on the floor. No clothes were missing and the vitamins she was taking for her pregnancy were still there. She had no credit cards and no cash. Her mother had been paying most of her bills. Herrington had recently sepa- HOMER (AP) The minimum-security prisons at Homer and in Baton Rouge got the first 32 transfers from juvenile detention centers Friday under a new, controversial law aimed at freeing juvenile cells for younger inmates.

Eight youths aged 17 to 20 were moved Friday morning from Judson Correctional Center to Elayne Hunt Correctional Center in Baton Rouge. David Wade Correctional Center in Shreveport was getting the other 24 -19 from Swanson Correctional Center in Monroe, and five from Tallulah Correctional Center, said Warden Kelly Ward. The move to Hunt went very smoothly, said George White, deputy assistant secretary for the Department of Public Safety and Corrections' youth development office. The next scheduled moves are Sept. 2, but that could change, he said.

Ward said the 24 former juvenile inmates will be kept apart from the rest of the prison until they've been assessed. If they stay at Wade, he said, they will be mixed with other inmates and treated as adults. "Their expectations will be the American Cancer Society presents cMemmrs ANTIQUE SHOW vi same for adults follow the rules, work. If you don't do these things, there will be consequences. If you do, then you take advantage of other options." Ward said about 25 to 30 percent of the prison's 1,167 beds are filled by youths under the age of 21 who were tried as adults.

The eight transferred to Hunt will be treated just like the other 300 or so inmates under the age of 21 admitted each year, said Warden Marty Lensing. He said the inmate gets about 6,000 inmates a year. Older female inmates may also be moved from juvenile detention to Louisiana's prison for women if space is needed, but that is not a problem. "We have practically no waiting list for females," White said. Under the new law, prisoners who were convicted of felonies as juveniles and have reached age 17 the age at which everyone is tried as an adult in Louisiana -may be transferred to those three adult prisons or to two diagnostic centers.

Wade usually stays at capacity, but some beds became available recently when some minimum security inmates were moved to a former jail which state inmates are renovating as a geriatric prison. jury in New Orleans. Disclosing too much information publicly, people could "mess with the witnesses" and "destroy or hide evidence," added Steve Irwin, another federal attorney. Benson said if the proceedings can be stayed, the government will be going to the grand jury for indictments in 90 days and that a trial could be underway within six months. "That (trial date) is not a safe assumption," said Parker.

The prosecutors had trouble with Parker, who reminded them that the hearing was on a civil matter and that they had to show cause why they should keep the money. "I don't think Governor Edwards and his son are ready to file for welfare a lot of money to be taken from these folks," said Parker, who added later that "the defendants are entitled to know why you have their money." Attorneys: Indictments in EWE investigation to come in 90 days AUGUST FRIDAY SATURDAY SUNDAY GENERAL, 22, 23, 24 10 a.m.-5 p.m. 10 a.ra.-5 p.m. $5 ADMISSION Good for all three rf ays. Louisiana Convention Centre 211 N.

MacArthur Drive Alexandria, LA Juvenile judges, lawmakers, sociologists and others question whether it will deal effectively with juvenile crime and stand up in court. "I think you can confidently say someone will try to challenge the law," said Joe Cook, executive director of the Louisiana American Civil Liberties Union. He was not sure if the ACLU would be involved, but said he sees problems: Youths who never had jury trials will do time next to inmates convicted in adult courts. Other concerns: It may not ease overcrowding significantly at local juvenile detention centers. Youth wardens, not judges, will decide who gets moved.

Juvenile judges have great power over inmates in the juvenile centers. Youths could be abused or influenced by hardened criminals. Richard Thompson, assistant secretary of the office of youth development, said Thursday that he once had some of the same concerns but feels the new law will be effective. The main aim is to relieve overcrowding in the four correction centers, which have a total of 1,786 beds. Irwin said the money all in cash must be tested scientifically bill by bill to prove that it is evidence.

Forty five days are needed to complete the tests, he said. "They have already had four months to test those bills," contended Mike Fawer, attorney for Edwin Edwards. Fawer also said that he had told prosecutors his client was willing to allow the government to keep the cash for any test purposes. "We would accept a check," he said. Parker asked Irwin and Benson if they were willing to write a check but they rejected the idea.

Caren Hebert, Agent KKPSr 2006 Gus Kaplan Drive mmSL Suite 448-1 177 American National Insurance Co. American National Property and Casualty Co. For Your Insurance Need LIFE HEALTH AUTO HOME RETIREMENT mo MB 95 KITYLIHE TVs' 6195,6192 jtl SISTERS OF CHARITY HOSPITAL Thl Cabrini Center for Cancer Care AMERICAN For more information, call (318) 445-4190 jfflJIS lW.lt I Alexandria he Pentecostals of 7 cordially invite you to the annual si IF YOU DON'T OWN AN RCA 18" SATELLITE YET, HAVE SOMEONE CHECK YOUR PULSE BECAUSE YOU'RE NOT LIVING! eaves (0 BATON ROUGE (AP) The invpstiPfltinn nf fnrmpr flnv Edwin Edwards, his son, Stephen, and a number of others, lii icau lu iiiuUsUiiciua in uncc months, federal attorneys told a The attorneys made that claim ac Tnov rripn tn rrr uin ro District Judge John Parker to hold off on the case in which the Edwardses are trying to get back a total of almost $500,000 seized in federal raids last April. Neither the former governor nor his son were at the hearing. A number of individuals have been under investigation in the case and prosecutors mentioned no names of those who would be indicted.

Parker put a halt to the hearing, deciding to delay one week in order to consolidate hearings on two motions the one by the government to stay any decision on return of the money and a motion by the Edwardses to dismiss the federal lawsuit prosecutors filed to keep the money, which is alleged to have been obtained illegally. To keep holding the money, prosecutors must provide some evidence to the Edwardses to show why they believe the money was obtained illegally. The information that the Edwardses demand would damage the criminal case, assistant U.S. Attorney Larry Benson told Parker, saying that 100 witnesses are yet to be heard by a grand TV-1 2t Local Headlines 1000 Local Sports 1001 World Update 6700 Headline News 6702 National Update 6705 Criminal Comics 4391 Science Update 4111 Health 4410 Presidential Ponderings 4107 Current Events 5463 Sports Headlines 6765 Call 487-6434 then the 4digit code hITYl HIE nrist Sunday A Visit Us On 487-6434 Receiver: 6162 i CD 6151,6154 'ugust 24, 1997 Players Cassette Decks 6 55,6 57, 6 56 VCRs. Eatial.rpr 6186,6185, 61 6159 6187,6198,6199 Speakers: 6167,6165, 6168, 6247, 6200 Admission is Free Nursery Care Provided (Infant through three years) 2817 Rapides Avenue Alexandria, Louisiana 318-487-8976 Bishop G.A.

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