NEW YORK, Aug. 5 (UPI) -- New York prosecutors say a scam by a Queens man to embezzle $2.8 million in payments meant to go to a port-a-potty company smelled bad from the beginning.

John Hoeffner pleaded guilty to grand larceny in Manhattan Supreme Court Monday to charges that he diverted into his own pocket payments from his employer, Tishman Construction, to Mr. John, a supplier of portable toilets, the New York Post reported.

He accomplished the crime by changing the payable lines on the checks from "Mr. John" to "Mr. John Hoeffner," prosecutors said.

They first got a whiff of the malfeasance when Hoeffner, 47, spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on a girlfriend in Cali, Colombia. An investigation revealed Hoeffner created fake checks made out to Mr. John, got his bosses to sign them, added his last name and then cashed them himself, the Post said.

Woman sues hospital that declared her dead

VALPARAISO, Ind., Aug. 5 (UPI) -- An Indiana woman suing a hospital says she is owed damages for the trouble she was caused when doctors pronounced a woman with the same name dead last winter.

Diane Wright, 67, Jackson Township, contends Porter Hospital caused her to lose her Social Security and health insurance after they allegedly notified various agencies that she had died, the Post-Tribune of Northwest Indiana reported Tuesday.

In addition, the federal government sent a claim to Wright's husband demanding repayment of nearly $3,000 in Social Security benefits paid to his "late" wife.

The departed was actually another Diane Wright, who died in January at Porter.

The attorney representing the still-living Diane Wright told the Post-Tribune of Northwest Indiana that the hospital failed to correct the error for months.

"This is not one of those 'I spilled coffee in my lap at McDonald's (lawsuits),'" said lawyer Thomas Hillers, who added "They just want it to be made right."

Nude passenger leads to five-car crash

SEMINOLE, Fla., Aug. 5 (UPI) -- Authorities in Seminole, Fla., said a five-car wreck was caused by a motorist who was distracted by a naked woman changing clothes in her back seat.

Pinellas County sheriff's deputies said Teah Limitone, 22, was traveling north in the middle lane of Seminole Boulevard when she heard her changing passenger, Ayla Gabriel, make a distressed-sounding noise, the St. Petersburg (Fla.) Times reported.

The deputies said Limitone turned her head to see if Gabriel was alright and ran a red light while she was not looking at the road. Limitone's 2003 Acura struck a 2000 Saturn in the intersection before sliding between two cars in the southbound lanes and striking a fourth vehicle.

Deputies said Limitone was issued a citation for running a red light after the July 21 incident. No serious injuries were reported.

Obama celebrates birthday, raises funds

BOSTON, Aug. 5 (UPI) -- Sen. Barack Obama blew out 47 candles as $5 million was expected to blow into his and Democratic Party coffers from a birthday-fundraiser in Boston.

The private event was expected to be the biggest political fundraiser ever in Boston, the Boston Globe reported Tuesday. It also was designed to help unify supporters of Obama, the presumptive Democratic nominee, and backers of primary rival Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y.

The Bay State overwhelmingly supported Clinton during its primary, despite Sen. Edward M. Kennedy's endorsement of Obama.

"We all wanted to make a dramatic statement that we're with him every step of the way," said Steven Grossman, a Clinton fundraiser and former Democratic National Committee chairman.

About 850 participants, lead by jazzman Harry Connick Jr. and his daughter, sang "Happy Birthday" to Obama, Illinois' junior senator. He also received a Boston Red Sox-themed Hawaiian shirt.

"I gotta say that, as a White Sox fan, this hurts a little bit, particularly because we've been losing lately," Obama said. "But it is a very attractive shirt, I must say."