Missing woman's body found in pond

News Briefs From Across The State

By Monica Land

Cause of death pending

Meridian police said the body of a woman found in a pond has been identified as 34-year-old Jamie Wilkes, who was reported missing by family members on March 2.

Police Capt. Dean Harper said the property owner had been

draining the pond and a passerby noticed something suspicious about 8 a.m. Wednesday. Harper said.

Wilkes’ remains were found at the bottom of the pond. He said the woman was identified by a family member.

Harper said an autopsy was being conducted to determine the cause of death. The investigation is continuing.

5 arrested in Vicksburg slaying

Five people have been charged with murder in the shooting death of a 17-year-old Vicksburg High School student.

Warren County Sheriff Martin Pace told the Vicksburg Post that 19-year-old Devontae Montgomery was arrested March 26 in Killeen, Texas, at his mother’s home on an arrest warrant and is awaiting extradition.

Montgomery is charged with murder in the shooting death of 17-year-old KeMarvin Stamps, a freshman at Vicksburg High School. Pace says Stamps was shot March 15 during an argument with three people in a truck. Stamps died the next day at a Jackson hospital.

Pace said the shot was fired from the vehicle.

Four others are charged with murder including a 15-year-old.

Trial set in food stamps fraud case

A federal judge has scheduled an April 22 trial for a man facing six counts of food stamp fraud.

Stanley Jones is accused of lying on food stamp applications in 2008 by representing that nobody in his household had been convicted of a drug-related felony since 1996.

He pleaded not guilty in U.S. District Court in Jackson on March 20.

Court records said the case originated in Jackson.

Anyone convicted of a drug related felony after August 22, 1996, is prohibited from receiving benefits under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), commonly known as food stamps.

Ex-teller sentenced for stealing from bank vault

A federal judge has sentenced Ashley Ann Keel to 18 months in prison and ordered her to make restitution of the $80,980 she stole when she was vault teller for a Hancock Bank branch in Biloxi.

The Sun Herald reports U.S. District Judge Louis Guirola Jr. sentenced Keel on Wednesday. He also ordered drug treatment and three years of probation for her.

The single mother admitted an oxycodone addiction clouded her judgment.

The 29-year-old Pass Christian woman pleaded guilty in November to stealing the money over four months starting in April 2012.

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