Ex-Bearcat held on weapons charges

Grove

Former Cincinnati Bearcats basketball player B.J. Grove - whose real name is John L. Grove - was arrested early Saturday and charged with three weapons offenses after police said he fired a gun into the air.

Grove, 21, of South Fairmount, is accused of discharging a firearm, improper handling of a firearm in a motor vehicle and carrying a concealed weapon.

The University of Cincinnati student was released from the Hamilton County Justice Center Saturday evening after posting $510 bond.

Police say he fired a gun at 12:44 a.m. in the 2600 block of Van Street in Corryville. Officers heard the shots and pulled over Grove's gold, 1981 Cadillac Seville about two blocks away.

After officers saw a Smith & Wesson .357 revolver lying on the car's floor by the driver's seat, Grove admitted to firing the weapon, records show. Grove played for UC from 1999 to 2002.

U.S. Playing Card says Iraqi decks pirated

Norwood-based U.S. Playing Card Co. is trying to stop other companies from selling copies of the "most-wanted" Iraqi playing cards the military has distributed among troops.

Military officials last week showed off the cards identifying 55 Iraqi officials being sought. Since then, dozens of companies have produced knockoffs being sold for $1 to $300.

The Pentagon decks contain the Hoyle joker, copyrighted by U.S. Playing Card Co. U.S. Playing Card is making the cards for a company that sells them on the Internet.

Gunmen tie clerk, rob Carrousel Inn

SYCAMORE TOWNSHIP - Using guns as a threat, two men bound a hotel clerk Friday evening before robbing The Carrousel Inn & Suites of an undisclosed amount of money, according to the Hamilton County sheriff's department.

The men entered the hotel on Reading Road shortly after 7 p.m. and kicked in the door to an office. According to deputies, the pair bound the clerk's hands and feet and demanded money.

They removed money from a cash drawer and fled through a rear door, heading south through the parking lot in the 8000 block of Reading Road.

To leave an anonymous tip, please call (513) 825-1500 or (513) 352-3040.

2-year-old girl drowns in Switzerland Co. lake

MOOREFIELD, Ind. - The body of a 2-year-old girl was pulled from a lake here Friday night, hours after she disappeared from a Rosenberger Road home in this small western Switzerland County community.

Coroner Roger Nay ruled the death an accidental drowning.

The girl and her parents, whose names authorities declined to release Saturday, were visiting Moorefield residents for Easter.

Deputies with the Switzerland County Sheriff's Office said the girl was reported missing about 8 p.m. Family members, sheriff's deputies and other emergency workers searched the premises for more than two hours. At 10:18 p.m., the girl was found in the lake in front of the home.

Motorcycle crash critically injures rider

MIDDLETOWN - A man was critically injured Saturday after he crashed his motorcycle into a post and retaining cable at Baker Bowl Skate Park, police said.

No one else was injured in the 1:38 p.m. incident on North Verity Parkway, Middletown police said. The man, whose name and age were not released, was flown by helicopter to Miami Valley Hospital.

He was not wearing a helmet, said dispatcher Lynn Crank.