Sheriff says he won't entertain suspect in 7 Indiana deaths

CROWN POINT, Ind. (AP) - A northwestern Indiana sheriff whose county jail is holding a man charged with strangling two women and suspected of killing five others says he won't provide that man with any forms of entertainment unless a court orders him to do so.

Lake County Sheriff John Buncich said Darren Vann's attorneys have asked the county's jail warden to return or provide Vann with a book he previously received about the Chicago White Sox and previous owner Bill Veeck.

Buncich said Friday that he'll feed, clothe and shelter the 43-year-old Gary man, but he won't provide entertainment to Vann without a court order.

"Does he think I run a newsstand? Does he want a romance novel?" Buncich told The (Munster) Times (http://bit.ly/1CzQEwH ).

Vann was arrested in October. He's charged with murder in the deaths of 19-year-old Afrikka Hardy and 35-year-old Anith Jones of Merrillville. Police said that after Hardy's body was found in a Hammond motel on Oct. 17, Vann led investigators to the bodies of Jones and five other women inside abandoned houses in Gary. Two of those women remain unidentified. A third body was recently identified by Lake County's coroner as 41-year-old Tracy L. Martin of Gary.

Vann's next court hearing is Feb. 13.

In a recent letter to county officials, Vann defense attorneys Matthew Fech and Teresa Hollandsworth said their client should receive the normal privileges provided to other inmates.

Their letter states that at a minimum Vann should receive "paper and writing utensils ... the ability to obtain other reading materials ... the ability to obtain any and all mail from the family, legal or otherwise." It also states that Vann should have access to a place to put copies of court papers and "any items he purchases from commissary."

Buncich said that while Vann is being held separate from the jail's general population, he has access to its commissary - which sells snacks and convenience items to jail inmates - as well as paper and writing utensils and its law library.

Fech and public defender David Schneider, whose office oversees Vann's defense team, have declined comment, citing a gag order imposed by a Lake County judge.

Buncich said absent a court order Vann can read the one book provided to all inmates, the Bible.

"He can start with Genesis," the sheriff said.

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Information from: The Times, http://www.thetimesonline.com