state briefs 4a 6/22

Talent: Carnahan's workers comp not issue

COLUMBIA, Mo. -- Sen. Jean Carnahan's likely opponent for re-election says workers compensation payments she is receiving for the death of her husband are not an issue.

Carnahan was appointed to the Senate after her husband, former Gov. Mel Carnahan, was elected posthumously in 2000. She must be elected in her own right to retain the seat and will likely face Republican Jim Talent.

Since January, Carnahan has received workers compensation payments of $599.96 per week for her husband's death. Mel Carnahan died Oct. 16, 2000, in the crash of a private plane that was headed to a campaign rally in southeast Missouri.

According to the attorney general's office, legal precedent is clear that "the governor is always the governor, regardless of where he goes."

A spokesman for Talent said his campaign team will not make an issue of the compensation.

Broker pleads guilty in $2.5 million scam

ST. LOUIS -- A suburban St. Louis investment broker pleaded guilty Friday to federal charges that he embezzled more than $2.5 million from an employee benefit plan and other investors.

Arthur G. Stevenson III, 42, of Eureka, faces sentencing Sept. 20 in U.S. District Court.

From January 1996 through March, Stevenson operated Stevenson Financial Group LLC. U.S. Attorney Ray Gruender said Stevenson told potential customers that he would invest their money in safe investments such as annuities and utility companies that would yield regular income.

In his guilty plea, Stevenson admitted that he regularly mailed false investment status statements to clients, and that he knew some clients had invested their life savings.

Among the victims was Tri-Rinse Inc., a St. Louis company that had established a 401-K employee profit sharing plan through Stevenson.

Stevenson admitted that the crime caused losses exceeding $2.5 million.

Lieutenant governor's chief of staff leaving

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- John Robinson, the lieutenant governor's chief of staff, has been named the new director of the Missouri Division of Tourism.

Robinson, 49, was selected on Friday to head the division by the Missouri Tourism Commission. Robinson's boss, Lt. Gov. Joe Maxwell, is vice chairman of the commission.

Robinson, who takes over at tourism July 15, replaces Christopher Jennings.

"Tourism is a revenue producer for Missouri. It more than primates the economic engine. Tourism is high energy fuel for the economy," Robinson said Friday.

"The future is bright for Missouri tourism."

Authorities investigate condition of dogs

ELDRIDGE, Mo. -- Laclede County authorities will decide next month what to do with more than a dozen dogs that were found in poor living conditions.

The Laclede County Sheriff's Department and the Humane Society of Missouri took the dogs into custody Friday after finding them at a facility west of Eldridge.

Some of the dogs were tied to trees and utility poles and to stakes in the ground without shelter. Several dogs also were running loose.

About 10 dead dogs also were found in the area.

Sheriff's deputy John Young said the owners, who were not at the site when a warrant was served Friday, had no state license to operate an animal-rescue shelter.

Man gets 10 years for Internet sex crime

ST. LOUIS -- A suburban St. Louis man was sentenced to 10 years in prison Friday for using the Internet to persuade a minor to have sex, U.S. Attorney Ray Gruender said.

Daniel K. Pizac, 38, of Hazelwood, pleaded guilty April 3.

Gruender said that on Dec. 30, Pizac met a 15-year-old male in the restroom of a store in Bridgeton, where they had a sexual encounter and exchanged e-mail addresses. The next day, Pizac outlined via e-mail plans for a sexual liaison.

-- From wire reports