Murder suspect indicted for alleged assault at jail

8/13/2010

A Toledo man in custody on a murder charge was indicted by a Lucas County grand jury yesterday for allegedly assaulting a corrections officer in the jail.

Kijuan L. Hunley, 29, was charged with felonious assault and assault. If convicted, he faces up to 10 years in prison.

Hunley has been in custody since Sept. 20. He is charged in five cases, including another alleged assault on a corrections officer earlier this year; a case in which a grand jury indicted him on three counts of aggravated robbery and three counts of robbery, and another case in which he has been charged with drug trafficking and drug abuse.

In January, he was indicted for murder with a gun specification for the Sept. 17 shooting death of Toledoan Victor Johnson, 34, whose body was found in a yard at 2413 Hollywood Ave. In April, while in custody, Hunley allegedly assaulted a corrections officer and was charged with felony assault.

Hunley's cases are pending before Judge Denise Ann Dartt. On Monday, Hunley was found competent to stand trial; a Nov. 16 trial date was scheduled.

MONROE - A woman arrested by federal authorities in a child-exploitation case was sentenced yesterday in Monroe County Circuit Court to nine months in jail.

Patricia Podgajski, 45, was also placed on probation for three years by Circuit Judge Joseph Costello, Jr. She pleaded guilty July 2 to second-degree child abuse.

She and James Frazee were arrested after FBI agents seized a computer containing sexually implicit images from the home they shared in Monroe. Frazee, 53, who was a registered sex offender, was convicted of sexual exploitation of children in U.S. District Court in Detroit and sentenced this week to life in prison.

Podgajski was charged in a federal indictment for sexual exploitation, but the charge was dismissed.

FREMONT - Sandusky County commissioners have approved a fact-finder's report that recommends a one-year wage freeze for sheriff's deputies with raises in the following two years.

The new three-year contract with the Ohio Patrolman's Benevolent Association gives deputies no raise for one year retroactive to July 1, a 2 percent raise next July, and a 2.5 percent raise in July, 2012.

Commissioners said they would have preferred to freeze wages for more than one year in light of the county's financial situation.

Nonunion employees in the county have not had a raise in three years, commissioners said.

MONROE - A LaSalle Township man who is accused of firing a rifle at a car carrying five teenagers was bound over yesterday to Monroe County Circuit Court to stand trial.

Arnold Scott Bredschneider, 39, is charged with five counts of assault with a dangerous weapon and one count of possession of a firearm.

The charges stem from an incident June 28 when he allegedly fired a rifle from the second floor of his Rauch Road home into a car that had driven up the driveway. A 15-year-old boy was grazed by a bullet that struck the car.

Arraignment in circuit court on the charges is scheduled for next Friday.