She posed as the heartbroken aunt of a murdered child.

Cops accuse a 37-year-old Bronx woman of fraudulently collecting money she said would help victims of the Sandy Hook massacre, but that instead went to her pockets.

Bronx district Attorney Robert Johnson announced today that he indicted Nouel Alba for fraud and identity theft.

Cops arrested Alba this morning after a five-month investigation, officials said.

Prosecutors say Alba used Facebook to collect cash, posting photographs of 6-year-old Noah Pozner, a victim of the attack.

Alba said she was his aunt and asked for donations to help pay for his funeral, prosecutors allege.

Ultimately, she received about $240 within the week after the attack, sent to a Paypal account designated by Facebook.

Alba could face up to four years in jail.

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Though Alex Rodriguez is not expected to return any time soon from his second major hip surgery, he was present at Yankee Stadium on Opening Day.

Rodriguez’s name has popped up more frequently due to allegations he purchased performance-enhancing drugs from the Biogenesis clinic in Miami, Fla. Four years ago, Rodriguez admitted to using them during his three seasons in Texas but Monday he said that in conjunction with the player’s association he would issue a statement denying any use.

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  PHOTOS: Memorable moments of the rivalry between the Red Sox and Yankees

As for his recovery, Rodriguez said although missing spring training was disappointing his rehab is going well and that he expects to perform at a high level whenever he returns.

“I think it can be very high,” Rodriguez said. “When I found out, after the season was over, about the big tear in my left hip, it was a bit of a relief to realize and understand how you ended last year. I was able to go in and fix it, rehab and I think once I’m mended and I’m back to being 100 percent, there’s no reason why I can’t play at a very high level.”

In terms of the lowered expectations for the Yankees, Rodriguez also found that hard to believe but felt the team could be motivated by forecasts of a third place, or worse, finish in the AL East.

“I think this year we have a very special opportunity,” Rodriguez said. “This is my 10th year here in New York and this is the first time we’ve been predicted to finish in last place. That’s pretty crazy.”

While Mark Teixeira received a nice hand during pregame introductions, Rodriguez was not introduced.

“I don’t need to be introduced to feel like I’m part of this team,” Rodriguez said. “When I get introduced I want to be on the field and not look back.”

Mo shags fly balls

The pregame preparation for Mariano Rivera was just like any other day for the closer and that meant spending time in the outfield shagging fly balls.

It was the first time Rivera shagged balls since injuring his knee doing the same thing in Kansas City on May 3.

“It felt good,” Rivera said. “I didn’t go full strength but I will at some point.”

Yankees, Red Sox honor Newtown

Before the first pitch, pregame ceremonies featured joint honor guards of Newtown, Conn. police and firefighters as well as a moment of silence for the victims of the Dec. 14 massacre. The victim’s names were listed on the center field video board.

Both teams also wore a special ribbon on their uniforms. The ribbon was painted on the field in front of both dugouts, as it will in all Opening Day games throughout the major leagues.

“We cannot do much,” Rivera said. “We cannot change what happened. I wish we could but at the same time we’re trying to bring them a good moment. We’re trying to take the tragedy away from their minds for a little bit.”

“I think it’s important to say thank you,” manager Joe Girardi said. “The town of Newtown has went through so much during the last four or five months, six months, and you think about being a responder. Sometimes we don’t think about what they go through, and how important they are during a situation like that. I think it’s nice that we’re getting an opportunity to say thank you for all that you do, because they’re obviously going to do more as the future goes on.”

New clubhouse alignment

The Yankees have six players who did not spend any time with the team last year and as a result there was some shifting around in the alignment of lockers.

Opening Day catcher Francisco Cervelli now occupies Nick Swisher’s old spot in the center of the room. Reliever David Robertson has the space occupied by Rafael Soriano adjacent to Rivera.

Robertson’s old locker near the clubhouse door is occupied by Joba Chamberlain while David Phelps moved to Chamberlain’s old space along the row usually occupied by starting pitchers.

Follow Yankees beat writer Larry Fleisher on Twitter @LarryFleisher.

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Adam Lanza, the man who attacked a Newtown, Conn., elementary school in December, had a large arsenal including additional guns, swords and hundreds of rounds of ammunition, according to court papers released Thursday.

The pale yellow two-story suburban Colonial house where the gunman lived with his mother was stocked with weapons before he carried out the second-deadliest school shooting on record in the United States, police who searched it after the shooting said.

Documents released after the expiration of a 90-day sealing order showed that the 20-year-old Lanza, who killed himself at the end of his rampage, had a gun safe in his room and many weapons besides the AR-15-type assault rifle and two handguns used in the Dec. 14 attack.

Police inspecting the home found an Enfield Albian bolt-action rifle, a Savage Mark II rifle, a revolver, three samurai-style swords with blades measuring up to 28 inches and a 6 foot  10 inch wood-handled pole with a blade on one side and a spear on the opposite side, according to the documents.

Connecticut officials released dozens of pages of court documents on their investigation into Lanza’s assault, which began when he shot dead his mother, Nancy Lanza, in the Newtown house. He then drove to Sandy Hook Elementary School, which he had once attended, shooting to death 20 first-grade children and six staff members before killing himself.

Gun violence debate

The attack, which President Barack Obama called the worst day of his presidency, reignited a fierce debate on gun violence and regulation in the United States.

The National Rifle Association came out swinging after the incident, calling on armed guards to patrol every public school in the country, while gun-control advocates called for tighter restrictions on both the process to buy guns and the types of guns and ammunition clips that may be sold.

The Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution protects the right to gun ownership.

Police found NRA certificates in the names of both Adam Lanza and his mother, according to the documents. Police found Nancy Lanza’s body in her bed with a gunshot wound to her forehead and a file on the floor nearby.

The documents were released on the same day that a group of Newtown residents planned to protest at the National Shooting Sports Foundation, less than 3 miles from the school, over the NRA’s opposition to new gun control laws. Newtown residents were enraged after receiving a slew of robo-calls on behalf of the NRA that were critical of gun control laws.

The court papers made public several details about the police search of the Lanza home.

Police found a smashed computer hard drive and a gun safe in the room they believed to be Adam Lanza’s bedroom.

FBI agents interviewed one or more people who described Lanza as “a shut-in and avid (video) gamer who plays Call of Duty amongst other games.” It was noted that Sandy Hook Elementary School was his “life.”

The search also turned up a Saiga 12 shotgun and two magazines containing 70 rounds of ammunition in the car Lanza drove to the school.

The post UPDATED: Sandy Hook shooter Adam Lanza’s shocking weapons cache revealed appeared first on Metro.us.

President Barack Obama, marking a poignant moment in his push to curb gun violence, awarded presidential medals posthumously on Friday to six educators killed in the Newtown school massacre, saying they gave their lives to protect “the most innocent and helpless among us.”

Obama bestowed the honor, which recognizes citizens who have performed “exemplary deeds” of service, on four teachers and two administrators killed in the December 14 shooting rampage at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut, a tragedy that sparked nationwide calls for tighter gun control laws.

In a White House ceremony, Presidential Citizens Medals, the nation’s second-highest civilian honor, were presented one-by-one to the slain women’s families, many of them in tears as Obama embraced and consoled them. Twenty first-graders were also killed in the attack by a lone gunman.

Obama said the educators came to school that morning with “no idea that evil was about to strike.”

“And when it did they could have taken shelter by themselves, they could have focused on their own safety, on their own well-being, but they didn’t,” he said.

“They gave their lives to protect the precious children in their care and gave all they had for the most innocent and helpless among us. That’s what we honor today.”

Obama, who has called the day of the mass shooting the worst of his presidency, is moving swiftly to try to build momentum for gun control legislation, using his otherwise policy-heavy State of the Union address on Tuesday to make an impassioned appeal.

But he faces an uphill battle against a powerful pro-gun lobby and a strong U.S. tradition of hunting and gun ownership. The right to bear arms is enshrined in the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

Principal Dawn Hochsprung, school psychologist Mary Sherlach and teachers Rachel D’Avino, Lauren Rousseau, Anne Marie Murphy and Victoria Soto were killed in the attack carried out by the 20-year-old gunman, Adam Lanza.

Obama paid tribute to the slain educators in a ceremony that also honored a dozen other Americans in fields that included child development, gay rights, military veterans assistance, immigrant outreach and helping disabled women. They were selected from among nearly 6,000 nominations.

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