LINCOLN COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating a suspect for alleged stalking.

On February 6, detectives with the Lincoln County Missouri Sheriff’s Office began investigating a criminal complaint of stalking, according to a media release.

Employees with the Driver’s License and Vehicle Registration Office, in Troy, reported 34-year-old Timothy Howe, of Troy, frequents the office often asking for duplicate titles, abandoned vehicle forms and other vehicle registration related items.

Over a period of a few months, the victims said Howe would buy them pizzas anonymously and contacting them through social media under a false name. The victims said Howe’s vehicle is spotted driving through parking lot at all times of the day. One victim asked Howe not to buy her pizzas anymore so he bought them for everyone in the office, except for her.

In November 2018, Howe left a large amount of cash on the countertop saying, “Go get yourself a manicure or pedicure” and walkout at the behest of the victim.  The office manager reported the incident to the Compliance Investigation Bureau (CIB). The CIB informed Howe he could no longer use the Troy License Office.

Shortly after, Howe was able to obtain one of the victim’s cell number and he sent her a Merry Christmas text and other odd text messages. One victim stated Howe drove past her twice while she gassed her vehicle and felt unsafe around him.

Detectives observed Howe driving his vehicle near the Troy License Office and took him into custody.  Howe is currently charged with First Degree Stalking and three counts of First Degree Harassment.  Howe is currently housed in the Lincoln County Jail under a $20,000 cash only bond with no contact with the victims, GPS monitoring if released and no entry or staying on premises of 850 East Cherry St., Troy, MO.  Other conditions of bond may apply.

COWLEY COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating two suspects on drug and weapons charges.

Just before 8:30 p.m. February 9, police executed a search warrant at a residence at 117 N. Fourth Street in Arkansas City, according to a media release.

They made contact with two men, one a convicted felon, who live at the home which is less than a block south of Frances Willard Elementary School.

A search of the residence turned up 40 grams of a substance thought to be marijuana, pills with Bitcoin emblems suspected to be Ecstasy and some other pills, thought to be oxycodone.

Police also found $1,200 in cash, digital scales, an AR-15 semiautomatic rifle and more than 80 live rounds of ammunition.

Police arrested Ziad Muhammad Altiti, 20, on suspicion of one felony count each of criminal possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, no drug tax stamp for a controlled substance, possession with intent to distribute marijuana within 1,000 feet of a school, possession with intent to distribute narcotics within 1,000 feet of a school and unlawful selling of a prescription drug, as well as a misdemeanor count of possession of drug paraphernalia. He was transported to and booked into the Cowley County Jail in Winfield in lieu of $29,000 bond through Cowley County District Court in Arkansas City.

They also arrested Kenneth Jerrod Nesbitt Jr., 21,  on suspicion of one felony count each of no drug tax stamp for a controlled substance and possession with intent to distribute marijuana within 1,000 feet of a school, as well as a misdemeanor count of possession of drug paraphernalia. He was transported to and booked into the county jail in lieu of $10,000 bond through Arkansas City district court.

NORFOLK, Va. (AP) — A recently unsealed court document says a former contestant on both “American Idol” and “Fear Factor” worked as a courier for a drug ring and was trying to deliver nearly 2 pounds of fentanyl when she was arrested last year.

32-year-old Antonella Barba was back in custody Monday, following a federal indictment charging her with conspiracy to distribute cocaine, heroin and fentanyl. Barba was originally arrested last October in Norfolk Virginia.

She was previously charged with shoplifting in New York and has a felony marijuana case pending in Kansas.

Barba, of New Jersey, reached the top 16 on “American Idol” in 2007, the year Jordin Sparks won. She competed on “Fear Factor” in 2012.

Her public defender didn’t immediately respond to the newspaper’s request for comment.

SEWARD COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating a suspect after a drug bust in southwest Kansas.

Just after 4:30p.m.Tuesday, police checked a residence in the 200 block of S. Clay Street in Liberal after receiving reports that the narcotics were being sold there, according to Captain Robert Rogers.  The  25-year-old resident also had warrants for his arrest. Police found him at the home.

The police department’s K9 was deployed and indicated the presence of narcotics in the suspect’s vehicle.

Officers searched the vehicle and his residence and located over 300 grams of suspected marijuana, marijuana wax, and marijuana oil were found.  Several other items indicating the sale of illegal narcotics were also found.

The suspect was arrested for possession of marijuana with the intent to sell, possession of marijuana wax with the intent to sell, possession of drug paraphernalia, no drug tax stamp, and criminal use of weapons.  He remains in jail.

An affidavit was forwarded to the Seward County Attorney’s Office seeking formal charges. Rogers did not release the suspect’s name.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A much-criticized national database that checks if voters are registered in multiple states wasn’t used last year in Kansas, the state that administers it, the official overseeing the state’s elections told lawmakers.

Kansas Elections Director Bryan Caskey said his office under former Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach also chose not to make $20,000 in security upgrades to the Interstate Voter Registration Crosscheck Program. It didn’t use the program during last year’s election cycle and likely won’t again this year after a Homeland Security audit discovered vulnerabilities.

Twenty-eight states exchanged 98 million registration records when Crosscheck was last used in 2017.

Kobach, a longtime champion of strict voter registration laws, was vice chairman of President Donald Trump’s now-disbanded commission on election fraud. Kansas voters elected Scott Schwab, also a Republican, to replace him after Kobach ran for governor and lost to Democrat Laura Kelly.

Caskey told the House Elections Committee that Schwab has ordered a review of Crosscheck to determine whether to entirely abandon the program.

Crosscheck compares voter registration lists among participating states to look for duplicates. The program is aimed at cleaning voter records and preventing voter fraud, but it has drawn criticism for a high error rate and lax security.

Crosscheck compares registration lists and analyzes voters’ first and last names and date of birth to determine whether a person is registered in multiple states, but critics say most of the hits are false matches.

The program identified 141,250 possible duplicate voter registrations in Kansas in 2017, but it is unclear how many were purged because the system doesn’t track that data, Caskey said.

“I acknowledge that, yes, there are some false positives,” he said.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas alleged in a lawsuit filed last year that “reckless maintenance” of the program has exposed sensitive voter information. Kobach has called that lawsuit “baseless,” citing the U.S. Supreme Court last year in an Ohio case dealing with maintenance of voter rolls.

A federal judge earlier this month rejected the state’s argument that the lawsuit should be dismissed because voters have no right to privacy for the information in their registration record.

U.S. District Judge Daniel Crabtree ruled he was rejecting that argument “because its basic premise is wrong.”

Caskey told lawmakers that Kansas could use some of the $2 million in federal funds untouched by Kobach to instead access the Electronic Registration Information Center, or ERIC as it is better known. The initial cost to use ERIC would be $25,000. It uses encrypted voter information along with Social Security Administration death records, driver license information and U.S. Postal Service change-of-address data.

Twenty-six states now use the ERIC system, according to its website. ERIC, based in Washington, D.C., is a non-profit corporation governed by a board of directors made up of member states.

Voting rights activist Davis Hammet said it should be a no-brainer to switch from Crosscheck to ERIC, which was developed by the Pew Charitable Trust with data scientists.

“If we are going to try to do this to clean our rolls, everyone seems to be in agreement that this is the way to do it,” Hammet said.

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BROWN COUNTY — Authorities have identified the officer found unresponsive in his patrol vehicle Wednesday morning as 43-year-old Kirby Robidoux of Falls City, Nebraska, according to Brown Sheriff John Merchant.

“The cause of death is unknown and an autopsy will be performed. There was no foul play suspected. Kirby was a very dedicated officer for the Sac and Fox Police department who always had a kind word for everyone he met.”

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BROWN COUNTY– The Kansas Bureau of Investigation (KBI) is investigating the death of a law enforcement officer who was discovered in northern Brown County, early Wednesday morning.

According to a KBI media release, just before 6 a.m., a member of the Iowa Tribal Police Department discovered a patrol officer from the Sac and Fox Police Department deceased in his patrol vehicle. At this time, foul play is not suspected, but a full investigation is being conducted.

The officer will be identified once all next of kin are notified. The investigation is ongoing. No further information will be released at this time.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Three militia members facing decades in prison for their roles in a foiled plot to massacre Somali Muslims in southwest Kansas have all now appealed their convictions and sentences.

Attorneys representing Gavin Wright and Curtis Allen on Wednesday filed separate notices of appeal to the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals. Patrick Stein filed his appeal on Monday.

Jurors convicted them of conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction and conspiracy against civil rights for a 2016 scheme to blow up a mosque and apartments housing Somalis in Garden City.

A judge last month sentenced Stein, the alleged ringleader, to 30 years in prison. Allen, who drafted a manifesto for the group, got 25 years. Wright, who helped make and test explosives at his mobile home business, received 26 years.