News briefs for March 11, 2004

Thursday, March 11, 2004 | 11:10 a.m.

Tax consultant gets 10 years

A local tax consultant was sentenced to 10 years in prison Wednesday by District Judge Kathy Hardcastle.

Dennis Franklin Morgan had been charged with stealing more than $671,327 in federal income tax money from personal injury attorney Glen Lerner. Morgan pleaded guilty to two felony counts of theft in November.

Authorities said Morgan, who worked as an independent tax consultant, stole the money from the law firm's federal income tax payments between December 1999 and February 2002. As part of his sentence Morgan was ordered to repay the money.

Prosecutors said Morgan took dozens of checks Lerner gave him to pay the IRS and cashed the checks at a local bank instead. The firm was forced to pay taxes twice as a result of the theft, prosecutors said.

Lerner is known for his frequent television commercials in which he refers to himself as "the heavy hitter."

Teens wanted in Utah arrested in LV

Two 17-year-olds wanted on charges of beating a youth counselor to death with a baseball bat in Cedar City, Utah, were arrested Tuesday night in Las Vegas.

Metro Police took Jesse Simmons and Sean Graham into custody after police spotted the van they had been driving at an apartment complex at Eighth Street and Stewart Avenue.

Police allege the van was stolen from the Maximum Life Skills Academy, a home for troubled youth where the suspects had been staying.

Anson Arnett was bludgeoned and locked in a closet at the home, authorities said. He died several hours later at a Salt Lake City hospital.

Cedar City police detectives made the three hour trip to Las Vegas on Wednesday to interview Simmons and Graham, who were originally from Wilmington, Del. and Rockville, Md., respectively.

Iron County Attorney Scott Garrett filed charges against Simmons and Graham on Wednesday, which he called the first step in extraditing the pair to Utah.

Besides the aggravated murder charges, for which they could face the death penalty, they also were each charged with aggravated kidnapping and theft, Garrett said.