GEARY COUNTY— Law enforcement authorities are investigating two suspects on drug charges after a traffic stop.

Deputies stopped a vehicle driven by Zeb Tefft-Young, 23,  Elkins, West Virginia on Interstate 70 at Flint Hills Boulevard.

They arrested Tefft-Young  on suspicion of Driving Without A License, Possession of Marijuana, Possession of Controlled Substance, Possession of Drug Paraphernalia, No Drug Tax Stamp, Transporting an Open Container, No Proof of Insurance, Improper Driving On laned Roadway and Defective Tail Lamp.

They also arrested the passenger 30-year-old Nickoli Sowa on suspicion of Possession of Marijuana, Possession of Controlled Substance, No Drug Tax Stamp, Possession of Drug Paraphernalia and Transporting an Open Container.

Both were still in custody late Monday, according to online jail records.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Authorities say a 47-year-old has been arrested at a Colorado hotel where he was found with a former 14-year-old castmate from a Kansas community theater production of “Elf: The Musical.”

A sergeant at the Montezuma County Detention Center in Colorado says Kansas authorities are seeking a charge of contributing to the delinquency of a minor against Michael Fitzgerald.

Fitzgerald was arrested Thursday night at the hotel in Cortez, Colorado, two days after the teen went missing from her Topeka home.

Fitzgerald initially played the role of Walter, the father of main character Buddy the Elf, in last month’s Topeka Civic Theatre production.

UPDATE: Chloe Hunnicutt has been located in Cortez, Colorado. She is safe and is now in police protective custody until she can be safely reunited with her family here in Topeka. We would like to thank everyone that helped in locating Chloe. https://t.co/uJ5JLBeuAB

— Topeka Police (@Topeka_Police) January 25, 2019

The teen was part of the ensemble. The theater group’s president and CEO, Vickie Brokke, told The Topeka Capital-Journal that Fitzgerald was replaced after cast members expressed concerns.

WICHITA – A retired Kansas Highway Patrol trooper was sentenced Monday to a year on federal probation for lying to the FBI during an investigation into illegal gambling in Wichita, according to U.S. Attorney Stephan McAllister.

Michael Frederiksen, 53, Derby, Kan., was convicted in a jury trial in May on one count of making false statements to FBI investigators. During trial, prosecutors presented evidence that in 2014, while Frederiksen was still a Kansas Highway Patrol Trooper, he was filmed taking part in an illegal cash poker game. On Feb. 23, 2017, he was interviewed by FBI agents investigating illegal gambling businesses in Wichita.

The FBI had a video of Frederiksen playing in an illegal cash poker game held Feb. 12, 2014, at 922 1/2 E. Douglas in the Old Town district of Wichita. The site was equipped with poker tables, a cabinet for valuables and poker chips, video surveillance equipment, liquor and snacks. Staff included dealers, someone serving food and a waitress serving drinks and giving massages to the players.

An undercover investigator was at the game posing as a gambler. At one point, the undercover officer tried to use his phone to take photos. The men running the game took him aside and told him he was making other players nervous. They allowed the undercover officer to continue playing, but moved the game to other locations after that night.

During an FBI interview, Frederiksen made false statements, downplaying his involvement in illegal poker and his relationship with the operator of the poker game.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A federal judge cleared the way Monday for a lawsuit to proceed against a Kansas City-area school district accused of violating students’ free speech and free press rights last year during a nationwide walkout protesting gun violence.

U.S. District Judge Julie Robinson ruled the students have presented a plausible claim that the Shawnee Mission School District violated their First Amendment rights by stopping speakers from talking about gun control or gun violence. The 17-minute walkout on April 20 was sparked by last year’s school shooting in Parkland, Florida, that left 17 people dead.

Robinson also found that the students have a plausible claim under the Kansas Student Publications Act after a school official confiscated a camera from a student journalist to prevent her from photographing the event for the student newspaper. The state law, passed in 1992, aims to protect student journalists from censorship of political or controversial material.

The judge said that the school district’s act of confiscating the camera — alleged to have been loaned to the student by the school to be used in her capacity as a student journalist — suppressed material that would have been used in a student publication.

Robinson also found that former interim Superintendent Kenneth Southwick is not personally liable for the alleged constitutional violations. The judge dismissed those claims against Southwick while allowing other parts of the litigation against the district to continue.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas sued on behalf of students, accusing the district of suppressing student’s political speech on campus “merely to avoid controversy.” The school district countered in court documents its actions were justified because of concern that others might have wrongly assumed the students’ voices reflected the district’s position.

Student organizers at various schools informed administrators in advance that they intended to participate as part of the national walkout, and the school informed parents that the students would be allowed to participate without risking discipline, according to the filing.

But the district then directed administrators to prohibit students from discussing guns, gun control and school shootings — the central topics of the planned protest — during the walkout, the judge noted.

Among the plaintiffs is an eighth-grade student enrolled in Hocker Grove school, identified in court documents only as M.C., who organized her school’s walkout. She spoke two lines of her prepared speech, stating “the school administration wants us to keep this about school violence and not about the real issue here. The real issue is gun violence” before an administrated interrupted her and ordered to step down from the speaking platform. She complied without protest, and the administrator abruptly ended the event. About 50 students remained outside.

Several students were suspended or given detention, including M.C. who was sent home for “being the most disruptive child in the school,” according to the court documents.

At Shawnee Mission North High School, more than 100 students remained outside the school after the approved walkout ended to discuss the topics the administrators had prohibited. The school let them remain outside for that “unsanctioned” event, except for student journalists, the court documents said.

A high school junior identified only as S.W. in the lawsuit was ordered to hand over the camera she was using that had been checked out to her for the year to use in her role as student journalist. The administrator also confiscated at least one other camera during the protest, according to the filing.

SEDGWICK COUNTY — One person died in an accident just before 2p.m. Monday in Wichita.

A Ford Escort driven by a 28-year-old woman was northbound on Webb Road.  The driver was attempting to make a left turn into a private parking lot and collided head-on with a southbound Chevy Cavalier driven by a 34-year-old man, according to officer Paul Cruz.

An 82-year-old female passenger in the Chevy was pronounced dead at the scene. The drivers were transported to a local hospital for treatment.

Webb Road at 35^thStreet was closed in both directions while police investigate the crash, according to Cruz.

Police have not released names of the victims.