Around the Nation

Rhinestone Cowboy has ’captive’ fans

PHOENIX — Glen Campbell called it “a captive audience” — and he wasn’t kidding. Mr. Campbell, nearing the end of his 10-day sentence for extreme drunken driving, gave a free 30-minute concert Friday night for about 1,000 inmates at Maricopa County’s outdoor jail.

“Tent City, you’re gentle on my mind,” Mr. Campbell sang during the million-selling “Gentle on My Mind.” The Phoenix-based singer-guitarist performed several of his top-10 hits on a makeshift stage atop a flatbed truck with some hay bales as a countrified backdrop.

Mr. Campbell, 68, was arrested in November near his posh Phoenix home after causing a minor traffic accident. He pleaded guilty in May to extreme DUI and leaving the scene of an accident, then began his jail term July 1 with his final eight days set up as work-release.

The country star also performed “By the Time I Get to Phoenix” in his eight-song set and led the rough-and-tumble audience in the chorus of “Rhinestone Cowboy.”

Children found safe after killing

KENNEWICK, Wash. — Four children who were reported missing after their grandparents were fatally shot were found safe yesterday, but their father remained at large, authorities said.

Neighbors reported seeing James T. Moran leave the mobile home where the shootings took place Friday evening, police Sgt. Randy Maynard said. Cpl. Tim Scott said the victims were the children’s maternal grandparents.

The children were found at the home of Mr. Moran’s parents in Lake Moses early yesterday. Their mother had been in Arkansas. Cpl. Scott said he did not know the status of the Morans’ marriage.

An Amber Alert had gone out for the four children.

Murder suspect denies charges

HONDO, N.M. — Prosecutors have 30 days to decide whether a 14-year-old boy accused of killing his family should be tried as an adult. At a hearing Friday in children’s court, Cody Posey denied fatally shooting his stepsister, his stepmother and his father, who managed a ranch for ABC newsman Sam Donaldson.

Cody told authorities his father regularly abused him. He faces three counts of murder and four counts of tampering with evidence in the Monday slayings.

District Attorney Scot Key, who will decide whether to keep the case in children’s court, said the teenager could get up to 30 years in prison if tried and convicted as an adult.

An aunt on his late mother’s side of the family was appointed as Cody’s guardian. Cody, however, will remain in custody at a juvenile detention center in Albuquerque. The teen’s mother was killed four years ago in a car accident.

According to court papers, Cody told sheriffs his father often abused him and slapped him across the face Monday for not cleaning horse stalls fast enough. Reportedly, he then shot and killed his father, Delbert Paul Posey, stepmother Tryone Posey and stepsister Mary Lee Schmid, 14.

Man pleads guilty to 9/11 security scam

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A man charged with defrauding investors by claiming to have developed a face-recognition system after the 2001 terrorist attacks pleaded guilty Friday to wire and securities fraud, authorities said.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office said Ross Allen Rojek, 37, admitted bilking investors out of more than $1 million.

Attorneys said Rojek used false names and claimed that his firm, Face Information Technology, consisted of three former Netscape Communications executives.

Rojek also admitted defrauding investors with a scheme to acquire commercial properties at below-market values and resell them at a profit.

He faces up to 25 years in prison and a $500,000 fine. Sentencing is scheduled for Sept. 21.