RENO COUNTY – Law enforcement authorities in Reno County are investigating a suspect on child sex charges.
On March 23, detectives with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Office contacted the Reno County Sheriff’s Department began a joint investigation. They discovered a 14-year-old from California had met an individual on a social media app named “kik,” according to a media release.
The investigation revealed unlawful images and videos had been exchanged during their conversations on “kik” and other social media apps.
On April 11, Detectives from both agencies interviewed and arrested 31-year-old Kenneth Coulter of Arlington, Ks for an arrest warrant from California.
Coulter faces charged that include Count 1-Contact with a minor for sexual offense, count 2- Distributing or showing child or youth pornography to a minor, count 3- Extortion, Count 4- Lewd act upon a child.
Also on Tuesday, detectives served a search warrant at an address in Arlington.
Parents, please remind your children of the dangers with online social media apps.
Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach testifies during a Kansas Senate committee hearing on voter registration requirements in February 2017. CREDIT ANDY MARSO / KANSAS NEWS SERVICE
BY DAN MARGOLIES
Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach says he has secured his first conviction of a non-citizen for voting illegally.
In a news release, Kobach says that Victor David Garcia Bebek, a native of Peru, pleaded guilty last week in Sedgwick County District Court to three misdemeanor charges of voting illegally.
Kobach says Bebek, before obtaining U.S. citizenship, cast votes in a 2012 special election, the 2012 general election and the 2014 general election. Desiree Taliaferro, a spokeswoman for Kobach, says Bebek was naturalized in February.
Kobach is the only secretary of state in the country authorized to prosecute voter fraud. He has claimed, with little evidence, that illegal voting by non-citizens is widespread and has pushed for laws requiring Kansans to provide documentary proof of their citizenship. Those laws are tied up in litigation.
Meantime, Kobach has pushed for a two-tiered voting system that would bar Kansans from voting in state and local races if they have not provided proof of citizenship such as a passport or birth certificate. In February, the Kansas Senate Ethics and Elections Committee held a hearing on a bill that would put that policy into statute.
At that legislative hearing, Kobach testified that his office had the names of 115 non-citizens who had illegally registered or sought to register to vote in Kansas. He said, however, that he would be unable to prosecute most of them because they attempted to register more than 10 years ago – outside the statute-of-limitations period.
Both Kobach and President Donald Trump have claimed that millions of non-citizens illegally voted in the 2016 presidential election, pointing to a statistical analysis by a political science professor at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia, which has been criticized as flawed.
Kobach, a former constitutional law professor at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, made voter fraud a centerpiece of his campaign for secretary of state when he first ran for the office and was elected in 2010.
In the news release on Bebek’s guilty plea, Kobach said, “The problem of non-citizens voting is a serious one, both in Kansas and nationally. Every time a non-citizen votes, it cancels out the vote of a United States citizen.”
The release said that under the plea agreement, Bebek will be placed on unsupervised probation for up to three years and pay a $5,000 fine.
Kobach has secured seven convictions of citizens who Kobach accused of voting in more than one state.
Dan Margolies is a reporter and editor for kcur.org, a partner in the Kansas News Service. You can reach him on Twitter @DanMargolies.
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas woman is accused of decapitating her ex-boyfriend’s mother when the victim went to collect her son’s belongings.
Thirty-five-year-old Rachael Hilyard of Wichita was charged Wednesday with one count of first-degree murder in the death Sunday of 63-year-old Micki Davis. During a brief court appearance, a Sedgwick County judge assigned Hilyard to be represented by a public defender. She’s jailed on $200,000 bond.
Police say Davis was killed after taking her 9-year-old grandson with her to Hilyard’s home. The boy ran away when the assault started and called police on his
Officers on the scene of Sunday’s fatal domestic disturbance -photo courtesy Wichita Police Chief Gordon Ramsay
grandmother’s phone. Police say the child wasn’t present when his grandmother died.
Police found Davis’ body in the garage and Hilyard hiding in the home.
A flooded back yard Wed. night in south-central Hays.
Big Creek
Big Creek
Draw west of Caseys on 27th Street
Draw west of Caseys on 27th Street
Courtesy photo
Photo courtesy Devin Blackwood
Photo courtesy Devin Blackwood
Hays Post
A nasty front that rolled across northwest Kansas on Wednesday evening brought a mix of long-lived hail and heavy rain to Hays and Ellis County.
There was also one unconfirmed report on social media of a funnel cloud that did not reach the ground.
Motorists dealt with flooded streets, and there was at least one vehicle that stalled due to high waters. Most of the hail ranged from pea to marble sized.
Lincoln Draw, as well as the draw west of Casey’s on 27th Street saw significant flooding. The hail lasted nearly an hour in portions of Hays, while other parts of the city saw short-lived hail and heavier rain.
Official precipitation reports will be available Thursday morning. Reports from the south side of Hays were 2.2 inches of rain in the gauge.
Send your storm photos and videos to Hays Post at [email protected].
TOPEKA -A Kansas man pleaded guilty Tuesday in federal court to producing child pornography, according to U.S. Attorney Tom Beall.
Bradley Hilt, 26, Linden, pleaded guilty to one count of producing child pornography and one count of distributing child pornography. In his plea, he admitted that a forensic examination of his computer revealed child pornography including 18,342 still images and 135 videos.
Two of the videos, produced by Hilt, depicted a girl who was five to seven years old.
Hilt came to the attention of law enforcement when an FBI task force member discovered images that Hilt was sharing with other users on a peer-to-peer network through the internet.
Sentencing will be set for a later date. Both parties have agreed to recommend a sentence of 15 years in federal prison.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Two sisters injured in a Kansas waterslide accident that killed a state lawmaker’s 10-year-old son have reached a settlement with the water park’s owner.
Caleb Thomas Schwab-courtesy photo
Attorney Lynn Johnson on Wednesday confirmed the out-of-court deal with the Schlitterbahn park over the “Verruckt” slide accident last summer.
Johnson wouldn’t reveal details of the settlement. The sisters’ names haven’t been publicly released.
Authorities said Caleb Schwab was killed and the sisters injured last Aug. 7 while riding the Verruckt, which was billed as the world’s tallest waterslide. That ride has since been closed, and a Schlitterbahn spokeswoman says it will be demolished as soon as a court rules it’s no longer needed for evidentiary purposes.
Schwab’s family reached a settlement in January with Schlitterbahn and the raft’s manufacturer.
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Federal prosecutors are seeking to revoke the bond of a Kansas doctor accused of over-prescribing pain medication, insisting he illegally continued to write prescriptions with a suspended state medical license.
Steven Henson’s attorney counters that the Wichita doctor’s use of his Oklahoma medical license to write prescriptions to his wife and a longstanding patient for non-controlled substances was appropriate. Kurt Kerns adds that prosecutors filed for the bond revocation a day after a deadline for Henson to accept their plea offer.
A 31-count indictment against Henson in January 2016 accuses him of writing prescriptions for cash, when there wasn’t a medical need and for people other than the ones who came to see him. Prosecutors say the scheme resulted in a patient’s 2015 death.
KHP on the scene of the April high-speed chase and search-photo courtesy WIBW-TV
POTTAWATOMIE COUNTY – Law enforcement authorities in northeast Kansas continue to search for a suspect who jumped into the Kansas River on April 5th during a high-speed chase, according to a media release.
The Wabaunsee County Sheriff’s Office, Kansas Highway Patrol, Pottawatomie County Sheriff’s Office, and Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks continue efforts to locate a male who had been in a high-speed chase, crashed into a Pottawatomie County Sheriff Patrol vehicle, then jumped into the Kansas River off of the Belvue River bridge.
The suspect is likely in the Kansas River; however, his location is still considered unknown.
Search efforts have included flights by the Kansas Highway Patrol Aircraft and watercraft by Sheriff Office and Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks as well as initial ground searches with Law Enforcement and K-9.
A name for the missing person has been provided to the Detectives working this case.
The identity of the suspect will not be released until positive identification has been made.
Anyone with information on this case is asked to contact the Wabaunsee County Sheriff’s Office 785-765-3323, or the Pottawatomie County Sheriff’s Office at 785-457-3353 or the Kansas Highway Patrol at 785-296-3102.
HAYS, Kan. – Due to potential inclement weather over the weekend in St. Joseph, Mo., the Fort Hays State baseball team has adjusted its schedule with Missouri Western. The teams will now play a doubleheader on Thursday before wrapping things up with game three on Friday. First pitch is set for 1 p.m. both days.
The Tigers open the series 9-26 overall and 2-20 in the MIAA while the Griffons come in 18-17 this season and 15-10 in league play.
Missouri Western leads the all-time series with the Tigers, 24-18, including a 13-6 record in games played in St. Joseph, Mo. The Tigers are 8-15 against the Griffons under head coach Steve Johnson. MWSU has won the last four games in the series.
Jake Lanferman has been swinging the bat well of late, hitting .455 with seven RBI over the last nine games. Ty Redington has hit in 15-straight games, the longest streak for a Tiger this season, batting .386 over that span (22-for-57). Nick Hammeke and Lanferman are the best hitters for FHSU away from home, both tallying a .317 batting average on the road. Hammeke has recorded nine doubles and two home runs in away games this season.
Missouri Western is batting .295 as a team, with Bailey Zimmer leading the way with a .398 batting average, fourth-best in the MIAA. Logan Marston has clubbed seven home runs this season, good for 10th in the league. The Griffon pitching staff ranks fourth in the league with a 4.48 ERA, led by Nate Hunter’s 2.50 mark through 50.1 innings this season.
MANHATTAN – Law enforcement authorities in Riley County are investigating an alleged sexual assault of a 13-year-old.
On Tuesday, police filed a report against a 24-year-old man for rape, electronic solicitation, and contributing to a child’s misconduct, according to the Riley County Police incident report.
A mother reported finding text messages and pictures that suggested her daughter was in a sexual relationship with a 24-year-old man, and that the man provided her 13-year-old daughter with marijuana.
Due to the nature of the crimes alleged, police released no additional information.
Those with information about this crime were encouraged to contact the Manhattan/Riley County Crime Stoppers.
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) – Kansas guard Svi Mykhailiuk is entering the NBA draft, but is not hiring an agent and could decide by May 24 to withdraw his name and return for his senior season.
The 6-foot-8 Mykhailiuk started 25 games last season, averaging 9.8 points and shooting 38.9 percent from beyond the arc. The native of Ukraine made at least three 3-pointers in 11 games.
Kansas coach Bill Self said Wednesday that he supports the decision “100 percent,” and that Mykhailiuk will “get accurate feedback and make an informed decision” whether to remain in the draft.
Jayhawks guard Devonte Graham has already announced that he will return for his senior season, while star freshman Josh Jackson is expected to declare for the draft.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) – The Kansas City Royals have made a pair of moves to fortify their struggling bullpen, recalling left-hander Scott Alexander and right-hander Jake Junis from Triple-A Omaha.
Both pitchers were available for the Royals’ game Wednesday night against the Oakland Athletics.
Kansas City’s relief corps has struggled mightily during a 2-5 start, nobody more than left-hander Matt Strahm. He was optioned to Omaha in an attempt to get the young reliever on track.
The Royals also optioned extra outfielder Terrance Gore to Double-A Northwest Arkansas.
Alexander made 17 appearances with the Royals last season and had thrown two scoreless innings at Omaha this season. Junis allowed two runs in 6 1/3 innings in a start for Omaha last week.
Estes is the state treasurer. He held off a stronger than expected challenge from Wichita civil rights attorney James Thompson to claim the south-central Kansas seat formerly held by CIA Director Mike Pompeo.
It was the first special congressional election since Donald Trump’s election as president.
