FINNEY COUNTY– A Kansas man was sentenced Friday to six months in jail after pleading no contest to a fraudulent ID charge, according to Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt.

Adrian Gonzalez-Terrazas, 49, pleaded no contest to one misdemeanor count of displaying, causing, or permitting to be displayed or have in possession, any fictitious, fraudulently altered or fraudulently obtained identification card.

District Court Judge Wendel W. Wurst then sentenced the defendant to the maximum sentence of six months in jail. The case stemmed from an investigation by the Office of Special Investigations of the Kansas Department of Revenue, which revealed that Gonzalez-Terrazas used a previously fraudulently obtained identification card to attempt to procure a Kansas driver’s license.

This is the sixth conviction resulting from a new agreement announced in March 2018 between the attorney general’s office and the Department of Revenue. Under the agreement, the attorney general’s office, in cooperation with local prosecutors, assumed responsibility for the prosecution of cases of tax fraud and related crimes investigated by the Department of Revenue in an effort to strengthen the state’s enforcement for these types of crimes.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas State Treasurer Jake LaTurner is running for the U.S. Senate in 2020.

LaTurner declared his candidacy Tuesday for the Republican nomination, less than a week after four-term GOP Sen. Pat Roberts announced that he will not run for re-election.

The 31-year-old LaTurner said Kansas needs both a conservative and generational change in the Senate. He issued a “Contract with Kansas” that includes support for congressional term limits and work requirements for welfare recipients.

He is the first candidate to announce, but several other prominent Republicans have said they are considering the race. They include departing Gov. Jeff Colyer, Attorney General Derek Schmidt, Rep. Roger Marshall and American Conservative Union Chairman Matt Schlapp.

LaTurner has been state treasurer since April 2017 after serving four years in the state Senate.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A convicted felon has pleaded guilty in a Topeka beating death.

32-year-old Howard Dale Burchfiel pleaded guilty Monday to reduced felony charges of involuntary manslaughter and aggravated burglary. He had faced charges that included first-degree murder.

Prosecutors say he beat 66-year-old Allen Wichman in June 2017 during a home invasion. Wichman died the following month from complication from his injuries.

Burchfiel has past convictions for crimes that include the 2009 shooting of a Topeka bartender, who survived. Burchfiel had been released on supervised probation just three months before attacking Wichman.

Burchfiel’s sentencing is scheduled for March 8.

JEFFERSON COUNTY— Law enforcement authorities are investigating a Kansas man on child sex crimes in Jefferson County.

Just before 8a.m. Sunday, deputies were called to a residence in Oskaloosa after report of an adult having sexual contact with a minor, according to Captian Kirk Vernon.

Deputies contacted Jerry Johnson, 29, Oskaloosa, who voluntarily went to the Jefferson Co. Sheriff’s Office for questioning and was arrested.

Johnson is being held on a $10,000 Bond on requested charges including Indecent Liberties with a Child, Aggravated Indecent Solicitation of a Child under 14 years of age and Lewd and Lascivious Behavior for exposing himself to someone 16 years old or older, according to the sheriff’s department.

Jackson has a previous drug conviction, according to the Kansas Department of Corrections and spend almost five years in prison. He was discharged in June of 2016.

By ANDREA TUDHOPE
Kansas News Service

On what threatens to become the longest government shutdown in history, Kansas Republican representatives tend to agree — Democrats are to blame.

It’s the third week of the shutdown, which came after Democrats and Republicans in the Senate failed to reach an agreement on a spending bill that would allocate $5 billion for a border wall. That means it’s the third consecutive week thousands of federal workers across the country have gone without pay.

Kansas Republican, U.S. Rep. Ron Estes said he thinks Democrats need to come to the negotiating table. In a statement, he said the shutdown continues because Democrats “refuse” to help secure the border, which he calls a crisis.

With more emphasis on the importance of Congress and the Trump Administration coming together to resolve the shutdown, U.S. Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kan., called for a “sense of urgency.”

Moran also acknowledged the negative impacts of the shutdown on federal employees and subcontractors in his state and throughout the country, who have now gone three weeks without pay. In a statement, he placed particular emphasis on farmers in Kansas who “wait in uncertainty as crucial federal aid sits on the desks of furloughed employees.”

U.S. Rep. Roger Marshall, R-Kan., told KCUR border security is just that important.

“Certainly they have my heartfelt sympathy and concern,” Marshall said. “This is a hill we have to take, and I’m sorry, but I feel like the Democrats are using them as pawns in this.”

Meanwhile, in an interview with NPR, Rep. Sharice Davids, a Kansas Democrat, voiced concerns about Native American communities that rely heavily on government payouts.

In a statement, Democratic Rep. Emanuel Cleaver II of Missouri called the continuation of the shutdown “incomprehensible,” and pointedly called attention President Trump’s comment in December that he would be “proud” to shut down the government if he didn’t get the funding he wanted for a border wall.

“It is troubling and incomprehensible that at this point, the President has dragged the nation into the second week of an unnecessary and damaging shutdown,” Cleaver said.

Last week, the House of Representatives, now controlled by Democrats, passed legislation to reopen the government without the $5 billion Trump demands, but with the promise of a month for Congress and the President to negotiate on border security with an operating government.

Cleaver said he was hopeful Senate would support the legislation.

But, to date, little progress has been made to end the shutdown, as Trump has refused to sign any legislation that does not include funding for the border wall, and speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, has said the president would not get a wall.

Trump announced Monday he would address the nation from the Oval Office Tuesday night, to discuss the shutdown and “Humanitarian and National Security crisis on our Southern Border.”

Andrea Tudhope is a reporter in conjunction with the Kansas News Service.  Follow her on Twitter @andreatudhope.