Closet Classic ~ Rock Archive

Steely Dan
Reeling In The Years

AP — An illegal immigrant accused of assuming a Texas teacher’s persona has been sentenced to 18 months in prison.

Benita Cardona-Gonzalez pleaded guilty in January to possessing fraudulent identification documents in a deal with prosecutors. The Mexican national has been living in Topeka.

Monday’s sentencing was the first time Candida Gutierrez, the Houston elementary school teacher who was the victim in the case, saw Cardona-Gonzalez. The case put a face on the growing crime of “total identity theft” in the U.S.

Gutierrez says she wanted her identity thief to see the person who paid the price for her living her dream. She says Cardona-Gonzalez’s dream was her nightmare.

For 12 years, Cardona-Gonzalez used Gutierrez’s identity to get a job, credit, a mortgage, food stamps and medical care.

Two Kansas men have been charged as a result of a federal investigation into organized dog fighting, U.S. Attorney Barry Grissom said today.

Charged in a criminal complaint unsealed Monday in U.S. District Court in Kansas City, Kan., were: Pete Davis, Jr., 38, Kansas City, Kan., and Melvin Robinson, 41, Kansas City, Kan. Both men were charged with one count of buying, selling, delivering or transporting animals for participation in an animal fighting venture.

The complaint alleges Davis and Robinson owned as many as 60 dogs — mostly pit bulls — that they trained and took to dog fights. They kept the dogs at a farm in Harrison County, Mo., and at their residences in Kansas City, Kan, and transported some of them to fights as far away as Dallas, Texas.

“Dog fighting is not a sport — it is a crime,” said U.S. Attorney Barry Grissom. “Federal law prohibits cruelty to animals on the level of the events that are alleged in these charges.”

Grissom thanked the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty To Animals for assisting investigators by agreeing to house and care for dogs that were seized by investigators.

According to court documents, an FBI investigation that began in November 2012 revealed that:

– To train dogs for fighting, Robinson had a treadmill at his residence in Kansas City, Kan. He routinely placed a harness on a dog and chained the harness to the treadmill for several hours at a time. The treadmill was equipped with a plywood box to keep the dog on the treadmill. Robinson also put weights on the dog to strengthen it and provided caged live chickens in front of the treadmill as bait.
– Robinson and Davis discussed betting $20,000 to $30,000 on a dog they were training for a fight scheduled to take place on March 23, 2013, in Dallas, Texas. They called such fights “dog shows.”
– On March 17, 2013, Davis and Robinson held three dog fights involving six dogs at the farm in Missouri in preparation for the dog fight in Dallas.
– At various times during the investigation, dogs died at the farm in Missouri and their bodies were discarded.
– On March 22, 2013, investigators followed Robinson and Davis as they traveled to a location near Tyler, Texas, for a dog fight.

If convicted, Davis and Robinson face a maximum penalty of five years in federal prison and a fine up to $250,000.

“In 2008, after the Michael Vick case, Congress increased the punishment for dog fighting,” Grissom said. “What was a misdemeanor is now a felony with punishment up to five years.”

Grissom thanked the following agencies for their work on the case: The FBI, the Kansas City (KS) Police Department, the Harrison County (MO) Sheriff’s Department, the Missouri State Highway Patrol, the Texas Department of Public Safety – Narcotics and Highway Patrol, East Texas HIDTA, the FBI Dallas Division – East Texas Resident Agencies, the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department – Game Wardens, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice – OIG, the Lindale Police Department, the Smith County Sheriff’s Office, the Dallas Police Department, the Dallas County Sheriff’s Office

AP — Wichita’s legal department is recommending that the city approve an $89,000 financial settlement with a woman who was sexually assaulted by a former police officer.

The city council will consider the settlement agreement Tuesday. The woman has accused former officer Joseph T. McGill of sexually assaulting her in 2011. McGill pleaded guilty in January 2012 to sexual battery and was sentenced to three years’ probation. McGill resigned after the charges were filed.

The civil lawsuit alleges the city and the police chief were negligent in hiring McGill, and in allowing him to remain on active duty while an earlier assault allegation was under investigation.

The settlement will be paid from the funds used to pay off cases the city doesn’t want to take to trial.

The City Council in Ellis will hold a special meeting to discuss water tonight at 7:30 p.m.

Last Wednesday the city announced a move to Stage 3 of the town’s Water Conservation Plan.

For the first time, all outdoor watering is banned.

“Right now our wells are low, but stabilizing,” explains  Ellis Mayor Dave McDaniel.  “But summer will soon be here and that’s when our water usage is highest.”

According to McDaniel, the Kansas Water Office had issued a “Red Alert” for Ellis.  It’s a warning that the town’s water supply,  from a “finger” off the Ogallala Aquifer, has a good potential to dry up.

“We’ll be doing a big water conservation effort,” he says.  “K-State Watershed Specialist Stacie Minson will be here and we’re looking into low-flow shower heads and toilets.  People need to understand why we’ve taken this drastic action.  We’re going to have to conserve water even more than we already are.”

Private well owners are not affected by the outdoor watering ban, yet.  “They still draw water from the same sources and that will cause  it to deplete even more,” McDaniel warns.

(AP) – Wichita State University men’s basketball team got an unexpected new fan when they arrived back home after their latest NCAA tournament victory.

New York Jets quarterback Tim Tebow’s jet was refueling in Wichita when the Shockers’ bus arrived Sunday after their upset win over top-seeded Gonzaga in the tournament.

Tebow’s representative asked coach Gregg Marshall if the Heisman Trophy winner could talk to the team.

Tebow got on the team bus and told the players their surprising run to the Sweet 16 is something they will remember for the rest of their lives, regardless of what they do in the future. He also congratulated them and said they were an inspiration to many people.

The Shockers play La Salle Thursday night in Los Angeles.