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Sun. Headlines: Dealer Faces Jail For Fraud

The former president of a Charlotte-based classic car dealership will be sentenced next month after reaching a plea deal on federal mail fraud and identity-theft charges.  The Charlotte Observer reports 50-year-old Joseph Carroll is scheduled to be sentenced June 12 in Cincinnati, more than a year after signing a plea agreement.  

Carroll moved to Charlotte from Ohio around 2010 when his company, Best of Show Automotive, merged with RK Motors.  Prosecutors say he used another person's Social Security number to take out more than 20 loans and lines of credit over a 22-year span, allowing him to live lavishly, despite suffering losses of about $1.1 million in his business.  

The government is recommending a 41-month prison sentence, while Carroll's attorney has asked for five years of supervised release.
 
SMALL PLANE CRASHES NEAR COLUMBIA

The 85-year-old pilot of a small, private plane has died in a crash into a pond in West Columbia. The Lexington County coroner identified the pilot as Bob Russell Jr. of Columbia.  Russell was the only person on board when his single-engine plane crashed into a pond shortly after taking off from Columbia Metropolitan Airport around 9:15 Saturday morning headed to Asheville. An autopsy is scheduled today.

MARKER NOTES 1979 MASSACRE

A highway marker commemorating the deaths of five Communist Workers Party members in Greensboro more than 35 years ago is being dedicated today. The marker titled "Greensboro Massacre" is near where the five people were killed on Nov. 3, 1979, during a confrontation with Ku Klux Klansmen and the American Nazi Party.   Supporters say it’s significant because it refers to the killings as a massacre.

MAN DIES OF INJURIES IN HIT AND RUN

A 26-year-old man seriously injured early Friday in a hit-and-run accident near uptown Charlotte has died. Roque Cortes Salinas died Saturday morning of injuries suffered when he apparently was hit by a car on the inbound off-ramp from Independence Boulevard to Charlottetowne Avenue.  A passing driver called 911 around 3:15am Friday after seeing a body in the road. Charlotte Mecklenburg Police found the man with a severe head injury. An investigation is continuing, and based on security videos police are looking for two vehicles seen in the area at the time - a white two-door sedan with a sunroof and a burgundy Dodge Ram pickup with a bed cover. Anyone with information is asked to call Crimestoppers at 704-334-1600.

SPECIAL ATHLETE MARTY SHEETS DIES AT 62

Marty Sheets, a pioneer in Special Olympics and member of the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame, has died. He was 62.  Sheets died Thursday at the Greensboro home he shared with his parents.  He was born with Down syndrome and won seven medals at six Special Olympics World Games, starting with the inaugural games in Chicago in 1968. Over 42 years, he won more than 250 medals in local, state, national and world competitions.  Sheets is featured in a portrait of Special Olympics founder Eunice Kennedy Shriver that hangs in the National Gallery of Art in Washington.

HURRICANE PREPAREDNESS WEEK

The governor has declared today through Saturday as Hurricane Preparedness Week in North Carolina. Hurricane season officially begins June 1st, and Governor Pat McCrory is encouraging residents to update emergency plans and supply kits. Hurricane season runs through November.  North Carolina already has seen tropical weather this spring - when Tropical Storm Ana brought heavy rain to the coast earlier this month.

DILLON WINS 300; COCA-COLA 600 TODAY

Austin Dillon passed Denny Hamlin with 15 laps left and won the Xfinity Series race Saturday at Charlotte Motor Speedway. It was Dillon's fourth career series victory. And Race Week continues today, with the weekend’s big Sprint Cup race.  The Coca Cola 600 begins at 6 pm.  Matt Kenseth has the pole … And the cars in today’s race will have a salute to Memorial Day  - instead of driver’s names on the top of the windshields, they’ll have the names of American soldiers killed n the line of duty.