Five candidates to replace Lake civil judge in Hammond
Five candidates were selected Friday to replace a Lake County civil judge in Hammond.
They are: Dan Burke, Natasha Ivancevich, Angela Jones, Magistrates Katherine Garza and Shaun Olsen.
Gov. Mike Braun will pick a successor for Lake Superior Judge Stephen Scheele within 60 days, Indiana Supreme Court spokeswoman Kathryn Dolan said in a release.
The Lake County Judicial Nominating Commission, which interviewed and screened candidates, included state Supreme Justice Mark Massa.
Former Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb picked Scheele for the Indiana Court of Appeals in December.
Griffith woman indicted for Social Security fraud
A Griffith woman was indicted Thursday for embezzling nearly $129,000 in social security payments for herself and three children.
Surina Curry, 43, is facing one count of social security fraud and one count of theft of government property, according to federal court filings.
Between March 2019 and May 2024, Curry lied to the agency to allow her to collect maximum benefits for them that she didn’t qualify for.
Court records show she said in 2021 that one child didn’t live there, or her husband didn’t live there and she didn’t know how to find him.
Curry provided a fake lease in 2022 when she and her husband owned the home.
The case is before Judge Gretchen Lund in the U.S. District Court in Hammond.
Woman granted bond for fatally stabbing boyfriend
A Hammond woman was granted bond last week for stabbing her boyfriend to death.
Judge Samuel Cappas set 48-year-old Stacy M. Smith’s bond at $10,000 cash surety on Feb. 14. Court filings do not reflect that she has posted it.
Her next hearing is March 25.
She is charged with murder in 53-year-old Tommy Washington III’s March 24, 2024, death.
Hammond Police responded on March 24 to the 2300 block of 169th Street for a homicide. Officers saw Washington, stabbed in the chest, through a locked screen door lying on the floor.
She said she was washing a knife. When he said, “babe,” she turned around. He slapped her, she stabbed him but wasn’t sure where. Smith “panicked,” then called 911 around 3:21 a.m. Cops found her interviews partially credible.
They were together for a decade and she was waiting for his divorce to get married, the affidavit states. He never hit her before, she said. After investigators told her he died she said she was “sorry” and the stabbing wasn’t intentional.
Post-Tribune archives contributed.
