An Annapolis man admitted yesterday that he stole more than $340,000 of copper cable intended for use in the construction of unmanned drones destined for U.S. foreign military operations - possibly in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Levon Smith, 54, faces up to 10 years in prison when sentenced Dec. 17 in U.S. District Court in Baltimore.

"Theft of Defense Department property is an issue that reverberates throughout the contracting process," said Robert Craig, special agent in charge for the Mid-Atlantic field office of the U.S. Department of Defense's Defense Criminal Investigative Service. In a prepared statement, he claimed that such thefts raise safety concerns and cost taxpayers money.

"Our men and women serving in harm's way deserve better," he said.

Smith pleaded guilty yesterday to theft of government property.

According to a plea agreement, Smith was a senior material control analyst at AAI Corp., a defense contractor based in Hunt Valley that designs and builds aerospace equipment for the federal government and other entities.

The government purchased copper cables and other supplies for AAI to install in unmanned aerial vehicles that eventually would be deployed for the nation's foreign military operations.

On more than 40 occasions between June 2008 and October 2009, Smith stole rolls of the cable from AAI buildings and sold it to an area recycling center, prosecutors said.

Smith attempted to cover his tracks by using an expired Arizona driver's license when dealing with Maryland Recycling in Rosedale.

In all, Smith stole about $340,000 worth of government materials, prosecutors said. He received about $22,000 from the recycling company.

The former top attorney for the Cleveland area's sewage agency has been sentenced to five years, 10 months in prison for pursuing thousands of dollars in bribes.

Sixty-4-year-old William Schatz admitted shaking down a contractor for more than $682,000 and diverting about $167,000 in agency checks to his accounts.

The federal judge in Cleveland who sentenced Schatz on Tuesday also ordered him to pay back the money and gave him two years of supervised release.

Schatz resigned in 2007 from the Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District. He pleaded guilty in May to bribery, theft and tax fraud.

He could have received more than seven years in prison. His attorneys had asked for mercy, noting his age and statements he made expressing remorse.

The driver of a van and a tour operator have been sued over a crash in Utah that killed three Japanese tourists and injured 11 others.

The Salt Lake Tribune says the lawsuit filed Friday in federal court claims passenger Kei Maeda has suffered incomplete quadriplegia since the Aug. 9 crash. Maeda was among 14 tourists in the vehicle when it crashed near Cedar City during a trip from Las Vegas to Bryce Canyon National Park.

The lawsuit claims driver Yasushi Mikuni had THC in his system, indicating marijuana use, when he fell asleep at the wheel. Investigators, however, say he was not impaired.

Mikuni has been charged with negligent driving under the influence. The operator has not been charged.

The 10 suspects accused in anti-gay attacks on four men in the Bronx are due in court.

They have been charged with crimes including assault, sexual abuse and harassment, all as hate crimes. The men are scheduled to appear in Bronx state Supreme Court on Thursday.

Their families and attorneys say they are innocent. They have not entered pleas.

Authorities say the Oct. 3 attacks were touched off by the gang members' belief that one of their recruits was gay. Police say the 17-year-old recruit was beaten and sodomized. They say another 17-year-old also thought to be gay was attacked, and a 30-year-old and his brother were beaten.

City officials say it's the worst case of anti-gay violence in recent memory.

A man accused of killing nine people at a Buddhist temple near Phoenix as a juvenile will have the federal courts reconsider his overturned conviction.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered the lower courts to re-examine the thrown-out murder conviction of Johnathan Doody.

Doody was convicted for the slayings of six priests, a nun and two helpers during a robbery at the Wat Promkunaram temple west of Phoenix.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals threw out the conviction, saying his Miranda warnings were inadequate. But the Supreme Court justices noted their February decision saying police only have to ensure that the Miranda warnings they read reasonably communicate to a suspect his rights.

A man who took five French tourists on a police chase of an illegal airport shuttle van in New York has pleaded guilty to felony assault in exchange for a 90-day jail term.

Ian McFarlane entered the plea Thursday in Queens. McFarlane could've faced seven years in prison had he been convicted at trial. His sentencing is Jan. 12.

Neither he nor his attorney spoke publicly afterward.

Police say McFarlane and driver Khaalis Preacher directed the tourists to their van while they sought transportation to Manhattan.

As the chase began in June 2009 outside Kennedy Airport, an officer trying to stop the van from pulling off was hurt. Police arrested the men after the van crashed into a stop sign.