• Tupelo man pleads guilty to sending ricin letters to President Obama
James Everett Dutschke was found guilty on Jan. 17 for sending letters containing ricin to President Barack Obama, U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker and a Mississippi judge. Dutschke is a former martial arts instructor in Tupelo.
Dutschke has been in jail since late April 2013 due to federal charges for sending the letters. When the letters were initially sent, authorities believed the suspect was Paul Kevin Curtis, a well-known Elvis impersonator. According to prosecutors, Dutschke tried to frame Curtis, as the two have “feuded for years.”
On Jan. 21, 2014, Dutschke pleaded guilty in a different case, regarding three separate fondling charges. According to Dutschke’s lawyer Lori Basham, Dutschke has been indicted for inappropriately touching students at his Tupelo studio.
The plea agreement in the ricin case calls for a 25-year sentence, while the prosecutors in the fondling case recommended a 20-year sentence. The prosecutors involved in both of the cases are asking that Dutschke serve his sentences at the same time.
• UM student charged in fatal accident
University of Mississippi junior Arthur Lueking was charged with two counts of aggravated DUI in connection with the single-car accident that killed two Ole Miss students and left a third injured.
According to the Oxford Police Department, Lueking voluntarily reported to Judge Mickey Avent’s office at 11 a.m. on Jan. 17 after a warrant was issued for his arrest following the results of his toxicology report from the morning of the accident. At this time, authorities are not releasing the results of the test.
Lueking, 21, was the driver of a single-car accident that killed two Ole Miss students on Nov. 9, 2013. According to OPD, the car overturned on Highway 7 near University Avenue. Christopher Grimaud, 20, and Kevin Eagan, 18, were pronounced deceased at the scene. Lueking and the fourth passenger, James Connors, were treated for minor injuries after being ejected from the vehicle.
• Arrests made in student death
Three arrests were made by the Lafayette County Sheriff’s Department in connection with the Dec. 18 shooting of University of Mississippi graduate student Zacharias Herculese McClendon, 25, of Gulfport. McClendon was a first-year MBA student at Ole Miss.
Steven Matthew Wilbanks, 22, of N.C., Derick Boone, 23, of Laurel and Joseph Lyons, 20, of Houston, Texas, were charged with capital murder.
The suspects were on-and-off-again students at The University of Mississippi, according to Lafayette County Sheriff Department’s Investigator Alan Wilburn. Wilburn also said their motive was robbery.
The Lafayette County Sheriff’s Department found the body of McClendon Dec. 18 just after 3 a.m. after responding to a welfare concern at 20B CR 140 in Lafayette County. Authorities found McClendon’s body with a single gunshot wound.
The three men charged lived next door to McClendon, according to Wilburn.
— DM Staff Report
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