HUTCHINSON — A Kansas man charged with sexual exploitation of a child saw that charge go away on Thursday while he entered a “guilty” plea to the second count of aggravated violation of the offender registration act.

Douglas A. Kennel, 45, Hutchinson, was arrested on January 27 following an investigation that began when he took an old phone to have data transferred to a new phone.

The phone store employee transferring the data saw images that he thought to be child porn.

District Attorney Keith Schroeder said after the hearing Thursday that he found a lot of mitigating factors with this case including the fact that the defendant had deleted the pictures several years ago, even reformatted his phone so he wouldn’t have access to them, but they were still apparently on the SD card.

As part of the plea agreement, both sides will recommend nearly 20-years in prison, but will also recommend five years of intense community corrections.

They also convinced Magistrate Judge Cheryl Allen to reduce the bond down from $250,000 to the original amount of $10,000.

Although the state dropped the charge of sexual exploitation of a child, Schroeder told the court he would dismiss the charge without prejudice, meaning he can re-file the charge at anytime within the next five years.
Kennel will also be under some strict rules before and after sentencing. He must remain in contact with his attorney and his bonding agent and have a sex offender evaluation completed.

Prior to sentencing, he’ll be under court supervision and can’t leave the county without their permission, other than for the evaluation, which will be done at Prairie View in Newton.

He also can’t have any contact with a child under the age of 18, without supervision of his wife or pastor. However, he can have contact with his three stepchildren.

He also can’t have any access to a computer, cell phone or other electronic device that can be connected to the Internet.

Any computer in his home will be password protected in a manner that would prevent him from gaining access to the Internet, but wouldn’t hinder other members of the household.

He’s also forbidden from consuming alcohol or illegal drugs and must obey all laws of Kansas and the United States.

He also agreed to waive any right to appeal any legal sentence handed down by the Judge.

Sentencing in the case is scheduled for May 20.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Antonin Scalia, the influential conservative and most provocative member of the Supreme Court, has died. He was 79.

The U.S. Marshals Service in Washington confirmed Scalia’s death at a private residence in the Big Bend area of South Texas.

The service’s spokeswoman, Donna Sellers, says Scalia had retired for the evening and was found dead Saturday morning when he did not appear for breakfast.

JOHN HANNA, AP Political Writer

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas legislators are preparing to close a deficit largely with budget juggling, and a growing number are seeing broad problems with how the state is managing its finances.

Conservative Republican Gov. Sam Brownback’s critics blame his aggressive tax-cutting policies for crises across state government. The problems include inadequate pay at state prisons and short staffing in state mental hospitals.

Lawmakers in both parties also argued in recent debates that the fixes proposed by Brownback paper over the state’s budget gap rather than close it.

Brownback’s spokeswoman dismissed what she called “the sky is falling” criticism.

But even some allies acknowledged they’ll be largely doing a quick patch with budget-balancing legislation. The projected deficit is nearly $200 million in the state’s $16.1 billion budget for the fiscal year beginning July 1.

WICHITA, KAN. – The owner of a Wichita massage parlor was charged Friday in federal court with harboring a Chinese woman who worked as a prostitute, according to U.S. Attorney Barry Grissom.

Samir F. Elias, 60, Wichita, Kan., is charged with one count of transporting an alien who is in the United States unlawfully, one count of harboring an alien who is in the United States unlawfully, one count of harboring an alien for the purpose for prostitution and two counts of money laundering.

The charges allege Elias was the owner of GiGi’s Elite Massage, which operated at 357 N. Hillside in Wichita after moving from a previous location at 6611 E. Central. Elias employed a Chinese woman who used the name Angel. An undercover vice detective with the Wichita Police Department arrested the woman after she offered to perform sexual services during a massage.

Investigators learned that:

The woman lived at the massage parlor or at times at Elias’ home.

She usually worked seven days a week.

She had no formal training in how to give a massage.

Patrons paid $40 for 30 minutes and $60 for an hour of massage. She paid Elias $10 of the fee for the $40 massage and $20 of the fee for the $60 massage. She was allowed to keep her tips.

The woman was convicted in Wichita municipal court on a charge of sale of sexual relations. She is appealing the conviction.If convicted, she faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in federal prison and a fine up to $250,000 on counts 1, 2 and 3, and a maximum penalty of 20 years and a fine up $500,000 on counts 4 and 5.

The Wichita Police Department and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) investigated. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jason Hart is prosecuting.

FAIRVIEW, Okla. (AP) — The U.S. Geological Survey reports a 5.1 magnitude earthquake in northwest Oklahoma that was reportedly felt across Kansas, Missouri, New Mexico, Nebraska, Texas, Arkansas and Iowa.

Fairview police and the Major County Sheriff’s Office say there are no reports of injury or damage as a result of the quake that struck Saturday at 11:07 a.m. about 17 miles north of Fairview. A second earthquake measured at magnitude 3.9 struck in the same area at 11:17 a.m. The area is about 100 miles northwest of Oklahoma City.

The strongest earthquake on record in Oklahoma is a magnitude 5.6 centered in Prague in November 2011 that damaged 200 buildings.

The temblors are the latest in a series of earthquakes linked to the injection of wastewater underground from oil and gas production.