Investigator's body fund near Charlotte

Authorities say 44-year-old Sallie Rohrbach (RAW'-bak) was killed by the owner of an insurance agency she was sent to audit.

Department spokeswoman Chrissy Pearson confirmed her identity Tuesday. The body was found earlier in the day near Fort Mill, S.C.

Prosecutors have charged insurance agency owner Michael Howell of Indian Trail with first-degree murder in Rohrbach's death. He made an initial court appearance Tuesday.

NY gov has emergency eye procedure

NEW YORK -- Gov. David Paterson on Tuesday underwent an emergency procedure for glaucoma, a condition that did not threaten his already extremely limited sight but caused agonizing "migraine-like symptoms."

The governor, who is blind in his left eye and has only limited vision in his right, learned he had acute angle-closure glaucoma in his left eye after admitting himself to a hospital in the morning with a severe headache. He underwent an iridotomy, an outpatient laser procedure to relieve pressure on that eye, his office said in a statement.

Paterson left the Mount Sinai Medical Center in the afternoon but will have another procedure in a few days to prevent glaucoma from appearing in his right eye, said Dr. John Danias, an ophthalmologist who treated the governor.

"He should be able to resume his normal activities tomorrow," Danias said. "He was in very good condition after the laser, but you understand he had a hard night."

Worker charged with vandalizing chopper

PHILADELPHIA -- An assembly line worker upset about a pending job transfer has been charged with vandalizing a military helicopter at a Boeing factory, prosecutors said Tuesday.

They said they were still trying to determine who damaged a second helicopter at the plant.

Matthew Kevin Montgomery, 33, of Trevose, cut a bundle of about 70 wires on an H-47 Chinook helicopter, U.S. Attorney Patrick Meehan said at a news conference.

Montgomery admitted to cutting the wires on the morning of May 10, his last day working on the Chinook line, according to an arrest affidavit. He had been a Boeing employee for 18 months.

"Regardless of what his motivation was, the impact was the same," Meehan said. The helicopter would not have been able to fly with the cut wires, investigators said.

Jury convicts Atlanta cop of lying after raid

ATLANTA -- A jury convicted an Atlanta police officer Tuesday of lying to investigators after a botched drug raid in which a 92-year-old woman was killed, but cleared him of two more serious charges.

After deliberating for parts of four days, the jury convicted Arthur Tesler of making false statements. He was acquitted of charges that he violated his oath of a public officer and false imprisonment under color of legal process.

Tesler, who is on leave from the police force, faces up to five years in prison.

Plainclothes narcotics officers used a special "no-knock" warrant to raid Kathryn Johnston's home on Nov. 21, 2006. Police fired 39 bullets, hitting Johnston five or six times, prosecutors said.

An informant had described buying drugs from a dealer there, police said. Since the raid, authorities have said the warrant was based on false information. When the officers burst in without warning, Johnston fired at them, and they fired back, killing her.

Two other officers involved in the raid, Jason R. Smith and Gregg Junnier, have pleaded guilty to state manslaughter and federal civil rights charges.

The shooting has brought scrutiny to the police use of no-knock warrants, which are typically used to search for drugs and weapons. An Associated Press review of all no-knock warrants filed in Atlanta's Fulton County in 2006 found that authorities often give scant detail when applying for the warrants.

The raid led to a sweeping investigation of the Atlanta Police Department. In the wake of the shooting, the department was also forced to tighten its warrant requirements.

Relatives seek custody in Texas FLDS case

SAN ANGELO, Texas -- Two men excommunicated by a polygamist sect went to a west Texas courtroom Tuesday to offer themselves as guardians for their children, who were seized from a church-run ranch, if the state deems their custodial parents unfit.

"If we can establish I'm not guilty of those things, why can't I have my children?" asked Arthur Barlow, 59, who drove from southern Utah to seek custody of five of his children, who lived at the Yearning For Zion ranch in nearby Eldorado.

Barlow and Frank Johnson, another father seeking custody of his children, were both excommunicated from the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

It was not clear how many other relatives of the more than 460 children have asked to be considered alternatives to foster care. Child Protective Services typically looks for relatives in custody cases.

Hearings for the children entered their second day in the five courtrooms of the Tom Green County courthouse. The hearings, designed to set up procedures for the parents to regain custody of their children, are expected to last three weeks.