Deputies on the scene of the Pyle Street arrest Friday photo Barton Co. Sheriff
BARTON COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating four suspects on drug charges in Great Bend.
Just before 7 a.m. Friday the Barton County Sheriff’s Office began executing a series of search warrants in the City of Great Bend, according to Sheriff Brian Bellendir. These warrants were the result of several weeks of investigation conducted by Sheriff’s Office detectives.
Warrants were executed in three locations, 2218 Jefferson, 2811 Meadowlark and 1100 Pyle. Four persons were arrested on various charges.
Sharr Hamby age 35 of Great Bend was arrested for possession of methamphetamine, violation of registered offender act (drugs), possession of drug paraphernalia and giving false information. Hamby’s bond is set at $40000.00. She was taken into custody at the Meadowlark address. Hamby was out on bond on a previous drug case. The bond in that case has been revoked and a no bond warrant has been issued.
Deputies arrested Joshua Frydendall, age 28 of Great Bend at 1100 Pyle Street on two District Court warrants for parole violation. He is being held with no bond.
Larissa Richards, 31 of Great Bend was also arrested at the Pyle St. address and requrested charges of possession of methamphetamine, distribution of methamphetamine, possession of marijuana, possession of drug paraphernalia, criminal use of a firearm and defacing identifying marks of a firearm. Richards is being held in lieu of $100,000 bond.
Richards photo Barton Co.Roads photo Barton Co.
Kashe Roda, age 30 of Great Bend was arrested for distribution of methamphetamine. Roda was in the Barton County Jail on an unrelated charge when he was arrested. He was booked in on July 11, for a parole violation. The current distribution charge stems from investigations prior to the 11. Roda is being held on the no bond parole violation as well as an additional $100,000 bond for the distribution case.
As the investigation continues and information is developed, we will pursue any investigation of co-conspirators or others involved. Further arrests may develop.
OLATHE, Kan. (AP) — A Missouri man has been sentenced to 55 years in prison for kidnapping and raping a Kansas sheriff’s deputy.
Luth and Newman-Caddell
Brady Newman-Caddell, of Independence, was sentenced Friday. He pleaded guilty last year to rape, kidnapping and sodomy.
William Luth, of Blue Springs, Missouri, was sentenced last year to more than 41 years in prison for his role in the crime.
Prosecutors said the two men kidnapped the Johnson County deputy in October 2016. They forced her into a car and took turns raping and sodomizing her before eventually releasing her.
They were also charged in the February 2016 rape of an Independence woman.
Luth pleaded guilty in that case and was sentenced in January to 30 years. The case against Newman-Caddell in the Missouri case is pending.
DOUGLAS COUNTY — Crews recovered the body of 13-year-old Jaylon Harris-Jordan from Clinton Lake on Friday morning, according to the Douglas County Sheriff’s Department.
First responders on the scene of the water rescue photo by Grant Stephens courtesy WIBW TV
He had been playing in the water east of the Clinton Outlet with others when he went under. Crews recovered the body not far from where he went under on Thursday evening.
——————–
DOUGLAS COUNTY — First responders will continue the search Friday morning for a 13-year-old boy from Lawrence who is missing in the water near the Clinton Lake Outlet, according to the Douglas County Sheriff’s Department.
Authorities responded to the lake Thursday evening for a water rescue. The search was underway in an area where the water is released from the lake and the water was moving very rapidly, according to Sgt. Kristen Channel with the Douglas County Sheriff’s Department. The search that was suspended just after 9:30p.m.
The sheriff’s department released no additional details late Thursday.
SALINE COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating a Kansas felon on new charges after an unusual traffic stop.
Hammersmith photo Saline County
Just after 11a.m. Thursday, a police officer was southbound on Roach Street when he noticed a significant back up of traffic at the intersection of Roach and Cloud, according to Captain Paul Forrester.
The officer went around the backed up traffic to find 23-year-old Cooper Hammersmith sleeping at the wheel of his Chrysler 300.
Forrester said Hammersmith was not cooperative and after being placed in handcuffs, a search of the car turned up 26 grams of cocaine, drug paraphernalia, and cough syrup.
Hammrsmith was taken into custody on requested charges of possession of cocaine and drug paraphernalia, no tax stamp, DUI, and illegal stopping on a roadway.
He has six previous convictions that include drugs and a DUI, according to the Kansas Department of Corrections.
NEW YORK (AP) — The NFL will not suspend Chiefs wide receiver Tyreek Hill under its personal conduct policy in a domestic violence case involving his 3-year-old son.
The league said Friday it has not been given access to information in the court proceedings, and a district attorney in June said an investigation was dropped because officials couldn’t prove who injured the boy.
The NFL added in its statement that “information developed in the court proceeding is confidential and has not been shared with us” and all law enforcement records are sealed.
“Local law enforcement authorities have publicly advised that the available evidence does not permit them to determine who caused the child’s injuries,” the NFL said.
Hill was suspended in April by the Chiefs. He is now is eligible to attend training camp and participate in all activities if the Chiefs lift their suspension.
The Chiefs suspended Hill on April 25 after a local television station aired a recording of a conversation between Hill and fiancee Crystal Espinal discussing the boy’s injuries. Hill has consistently maintained his innocence, saying his son’s health is his top priority.
At the time, owner Clark Hunt said he was “deeply disturbed” by the audio recording.
The investigation began after police were called to Hill’s home twice in March and determined the child had been injured. In the 11-minute recording reportedly made by Espinal in an airport in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, she tells Hill that when the boy was asked about his injured arm he replied: “Daddy did it.”
Hill denied any role in what happened to the child, saying: “He says Daddy does a lot of things.”
When Espinal tells Hill their son is “terrified of you,” he replies, “You need to be terrified of me, too …”
The Chiefs drafted Hill even though he pleaded guilty in 2015 to domestic assault and battery for attacking Espinal while a student at Oklahoma State. He was dismissed from the Oklahoma State football team and ended up playing at West Alabama, where he underwent counseling and court-mandated service work.
Westbound Interstate 70 from mile marker 298 to 299 near Junction City was closed earlier Friday morning due to semi crashes, according to the Kansas Department of Transportation.
It is not known at this time how long the closure will take place. Motorists will follow the signed detour by lighted message boards.
KANSAS CITY (AP) — The morning of July 19, 2018, had that feel Midwesterners are familiar with: That still, sticky air hinting a stormy day ahead.
The National Weather Service would confirm it when it issued a severe thunderstorm watch for southwest Missouri at 11:24 a.m., stretching until 9 that evening. About five minutes later, a weather monitoring service would share the information with Branson Ride the Ducks, the popular attraction that took tourists on land and water.
First responders on the scene of the July 2018 Duck Boat accident -photo courtesy KYTV
What happened over the next eight hours will be at the heart of determining who — if anyone — is responsible for the tragedy that claimed 17 lives that night. But this much is clear: Court documents, as well as other reports and interviews, when laid side by side, capture a terrifying night on Table Rock Lake.
This account is based on a timeline built in lawsuits, indictments, a report from the National Transportation Safety Boardand witness interviews at the time.
At 3 p.m., Charles Baltzell showed up for his shift as Ride the Ducks’ sole manager working that night. Baltzell, 77, was described as an operations supervisor and manager on duty. That involved making sure the duck boat tours ran on time, acting as a dispatcher to communicate over handheld radio with the drivers, who steered the vessel on land, and captains, who took the helm on water.
He was also to keep an eye on the weather.
A couple of hours into Baltzell’s shift, a nasty storm was popping up over Barton and Vernon counties, both along the Missouri-Kansas border and north of Joplin. The National Weather Service would issue a warning to that effect at 5:06 p.m.
The storm didn’t appear to go unnoticed by workers at Ride the Ducks. Shortly before 6 p.m., general manager Curtis Lanham checked on weather radar to try to figure out how far away the storm was and its timing. A duck boat tour was about to start at 6 p.m., and Lanham was going on board. Before heading out he told Baltzell to keep an eye on the radar, according to federal prosecutors.
Around the time the tour was taking off, the storm was moving over Christian and northern Stone counties, northwest of Branson. The National Weather Service said it carried winds in excess of 60 miles per hour and told people they should move to an interior room of a building.
The 6 p.m. tour wouldn’t be the last one that day. Just days before, Branson Ride the Ducks had added a 6:30 p.m. tour.
As folks readied for the last tour of the day, Baltzell checked the weather service, according to an indictment. There was lightning in Springfield.
At 6:27 p.m., Kenneth McKee, the duck boat captain for the final tour, stepped on Stretch Duck 07 with a road driver, Robert Williams. The road driver sat behind the wheel while McKee took his place on a side-facing seat to the right.
Alicia Dennison, 12, waited to get on Stretch Duck 07 with her grandmother, Leslie Dennison of Sherrard, Illinois. They had just gotten into town in enough time to drop their luggage off at the hotel and make it to Ride the Ducks for a boat tour.
They would be among 29 passengers to get on the boat for the 6:30 p.m. tour. Also on board: a couple from St. Louis, another couple from Higginsville, an Arkansas man with his son and daughter. Tia Coleman of Indianapolis was with 10 of her relatives, including her three children and two nephews.
The Coleman family, who made annual summer trips together, liked the idea of going on the duck boats; Tia’s 9-year-old son, Reece, who was on the autism spectrum, loved the water.
Duck boat involved in the fatal accident- Photo courtesy NTSB
Alicia Dennison recalled hearing another passenger mention a Weather Channel report, wondering what it would mean for their upcoming tour.
As McKee readied the boat, Baltzell came by and told McKee and the driver that they should change up the tour, prosecutors say in a criminal indictment against McKee, Lanham and Baltzell. (Each has pleaded not guilty; Tom Bath, an attorney for Lanham, said the government’s account is incomplete and not accurate.)
Do the water part first, Baltzell told McKee. There was a storm on the way.
Just before the driver began counting passengers, the National Weather Service issued a warning for a large area that included Table Rock Lake from 6:32 to 7:30 p.m.
At 6:33 p.m., McKee began narrating the tour, according to a National Transportation Safety Board account of the day.
Five minutes after the tour began, according to prosecutors, Baltzell was getting started on closing out the business for the day — counting cash in a first floor room in the Ride the Ducks facility, away from a room where weather screens displayed information.
At 6:46 p.m., Baltzell and Lanham spoke. They talked about how the last tour of the day was switched up so that it would go on the water first.
“Good,” Lanham said, according to an indictment. “It’s dark right now.”
By 6:50 p.m., the duck boat was near the water ramp and McKee was going over safety precautions.
“Above you are your life jackets,” Tia Coleman recalled McKee saying. He pointed out there were three sizes.
“I’m going to show you where they are,” McKee said, according to Coleman. “But you won’t need them.”
If they needed them, he added, he would let them know.
About this same time, Lanham got off the boat from the 6 p.m. tour, where the captain had mentioned seeing lightning. He spotted a dark thundercloud to the northwest.
At 6:55 p.m., McKee announced that Stretch Duck 07 was about to hit the water, which was calm at that point.
Calm enough that for the next four minutes, McKee invited a few children to sit in the captain’s seat.
Also on the lake, Jennie and Jeff Carr were on the Showboat Branson Belle to celebrate 15 years of marriage.
But the weather was nagging at them. They are close watchers of weather reports, having lived through the deadly Joplin tornado in 2011.
At 7 p.m., five minutes after the duck boat had pulled away from the entry ramp and entered calm waters, the leading edge of the storm started whipping up whitecaps on the lake. McKee ushered the kids away from his captain’s seat and started looking for ways to shorten the tour. He was heard telling passengers that “they had attempted to beat the storm.”
Carr, from the safety of the showboat, took the video of the duck boat struggling against churning waters that would go viral the next day. The lake was starting to behave the way she imagined the ocean would look.
She said a prayer as she watched the duck boat get helplessly battered in the storm with winds exceeding 70 miles per hour.
“Oh Lord, please help those people,” Carr said. “Be with them. Please let them be OK.”
Others on the Branson Belle were noticing and gathered near the Carrs.
On Stretch Duck 07, it would only take four minutes after the storm arrived for a bilge alarm to sound, signaling that the boat was taking on water.
Alicia Dennison reached for a life jacket, but it was stuck. She couldn’t get it free.
Pam Smith of Arkansas later told CBS News that she was shopping in Branson while her husband, Steve, was on the boat tour with their children, Lance, 15, and Loren, 14. The last time she spoke to her husband was before the boat sank.
“It’s not good, Pam,” she remembered him saying.
She asked him to take care of the kids.
On the Branson Belle, Carr eventually stopped recording. There wasn’t much she could see; thunderclouds darkened the lake and intensifying rain obscured the view. But she didn’t need to see to know what would happen next.
As the storm was churning, McKee wasn’t talking to the passengers.
The passengers were panicking.
The first call to emergency dispatchers arrived at 7:09 p.m. The boat had started sinking.
“You need to respond to the Branson Belle,” a dispatcher for Stone County said, “for a duck that has sunk.”
The urgency and fear can be heard as dispatchers and deputies describe the storm, debris swirling in the summer air, their voices captured on Broadcastify.com. They often sound tense and frantic as they radio for help.
It’s not clear what Lanham and Baltzell, back on land, were up to between the time Stretch Duck 07 hit the water and when it began to sink to the bottom of the lake. Court records say there was no communication between them and McKee during that time.
Passengers were trapped. An overhead canopy was pulling them down. Plastic window curtains were keeping them from escaping out the side.
“When the water filled up the boat, I could no longer see,” Tia Coleman said at a news conference two days after the disaster. “I couldn’t feel anybody, I couldn’t see. I just remember, ‘I gotta get out, I gotta get out.’”
McKee at one point managed to release the overhead canopy. For all the mistakes that led passengers into the middle of the tempest, that decision may have saved some lives.
“They were all stuck in there until that top came off,” recalled 15-year-old Gillian Keller from Texas, who was with her father and seven other members of his family. They all survived.
Alicia Dennison survived, she said, because her grandmother pushed her to the surface. Her grandma did not make it.
Coleman wasn’t sure how she got out.
“And when I got out into the water, it was ice cold,” Coleman said. “And I remember as we were going into the water, they said that the lake stays pretty warm, like in the 80s. So I know for it being so cold that I’m close to the bottom, not close to the top.
“And I just remember kicking and swimming, swimming up to the top. And as I was swimming up, I was praying. I said, ‘Lord, please let me get to my babies.’”
As Coleman and others came up for air, pontoon boats were making their way out onto the water to reach the victims.
“There’s a mass casualty going on by the Branson Belle, multiple people in the water,” a Missouri Highway Patrol dispatcher said.
At 7:39 p.m., half an hour after Stretch Duck 07 started sinking, divers began the last-ditch effort to find survivors.
Five minutes later, the grim news started to emerge.
“We’re going to need the Stone County coroner,” said a dispatcher.
KANSAS CITY (AP) — A man has been fined $500 for pointing a laser at New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady during the AFC championship with the Kansas City Chiefs in January.
Laser pointer used by a fan during the AFC championship game -image courtesy WIBW TV
Dwyan Morgan pleaded guilty Wednesday to a misdemeanor, disturbing the peace. He will pay the fine with no jail time.
Footage of the game showed a green light flashing on Brady late in the Patriots’ 37-31 overtime win on Jan. 20 at Arrowhead Stadium. Prosecutors say Brady was unaware of the laser.
Laser pointers are banned from sports events and other activities because even a short burst of the light can damage the retina.
TOPEKA – The Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) announces that Dr. John Esslinger has been named as the State Medicaid Medical Director. This position had previously been vacant.
“We are thrilled that Dr. Esslinger has decided to join our team,” said Adam Proffit, KDHE Medicaid Director. “His vast experience, both as a clinician, as well as several years of direct involvement with KanCare, will have a tremendous impact on the members we serve.”
Dr. Esslinger is a graduate of the University of Minnesota for both his undergraduate and medical degrees. His specialty training was at Children’s Mercy through UMKC in Kansas City. He is board certified in Pediatrics and Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine. He practiced for 12 years at Omaha Children’s Hospital and subsequently was the Vice President for Medical Affairs for that facility.
Dr. Esslinger has been in managed care since 1999 and has experience in commercial and government programs. He has focused primarily on government programs, mostly Medicaid, since 2008, but he has also had experience in the insurance brokerage industry at Lockton in Kansas City. He has been employed by managed care plans in Kansas since 2014.
“I am delighted to be part of KDHE. I am confident that I can contribute to the department’s mission of providing quality, cost-effective care to Kansas citizens,” Dr. Esslinger said.
MARYSVILLE – The Kansas Attorney General’s office has charged the former Marshall County Clerk with felony misuse of public funds, according to Attorney General Derek Schmidt.
Sonya Stohs photo Marshall Co.
The charges were filed against Sonya L. Stohs, 44, of Marysville, late Tuesday in Marshall County District Court, Attorney General Derek Schmidt said. The complaint alleges from May 2013 to April 2019, Stohs used funds belonging to Marshall County to pay for various personal items, in excess of $100,000. Stohs surrendered to law enforcement this morning at the Marshall County Jail and entered her first appearance this afternoon in Marshall County District Court.
The investigation in this case was conducted by the Kansas Bureau of Investigation and the U.S. Secret Service. Schmidt’s office is prosecuting the case at the request of the Marshall County Attorney.
All criminal charges are merely accusations. Individuals are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
SHAWNEE COUNTY—Law enforcement authorities are investigating a burglary and have suspects in custody.
Kuhn photo Shawnee Co.
Just before 4a.m. Thursday, the Shawnee County Emergency Communications Center received an alarm at the Shawnee North Family Aquatics Center at 300 NE 43rd Street in Topeka, according to Sgt. Todd Stallbaumer.
Deputies arrived in the area and observed a vehicle leaving the Aquatics Center, conducted a traffic stop and four occupants were detained.
During the stop, deputys located stolen items in the vehicle from the Aquatics Center concessions stand and observed criminal damage to an Aquatics Center window.
Deputies arrested An Kastale L. Khun, 19, of Topeka, was arrested and taken to the Shawnee County Dept. of Corrections. She was booked on charges of Burglary, Theft, and Criminal Damage to property, according to Stallbaumer. Three juvenile males were also taken to Juvenile Intake.
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The lower Missouri River is likely to remain high throughout the summer because of the large amount of water being released from dams upstream.
Gavin Point dam photo courtesy city of Crofton Nebraksa
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers says it needs to keep the releases high to clear out space in all the dams along the river. So it will continue releasing more than double the average amount of water from Gavins Point Dam on the Nebraska-South Dakota border at least into August.
National Weather Service meteorologist Scott Dergan says the Missouri River isn’t likely to go down much until the releases from the dams are reduced.
The significant releases may worsen flooding downstream — in Iowa, Nebraska, Missouri and Kansas — where many levees were damaged during severe March flooding.
ARKANSAS CITY- Law enforcement authorities are investigating a July 13, shooting and asking the public for help to locate a suspect.
Stony Graham photo Arkansas City Police
Just after 10p.m. Saturday, police were dispatched to the 500 Block of North B Street in Arkansas City for a report of shots fired. When police arrived, they did not find anyone at the location, but numerous witnesses confirmed that a man had fired at least one shot toward a local residence.
The witnesses reported a man driving a blue Dodge pickup truck with two motorcycles in the back had driven into the front yard of the residence at 525 North B Street. He exited the truck and begun arguing with unknown persons at that location. After the gunshot, witnesses observed the truck leaving the area northbound on B Street.
Officers worked through the night to process the scene and attempt to locate the persons present at the time of the incident. One victim was found that night and two others the next day. Based on statements gathered from the three victims and video surveillance from a local business, officers applied for and received an arrest warrant for 43-year-old Stony Lee Graham through Cowley County District Court.
Graham of Arkansas City, is wanted on suspicion of three counts of felony aggravated assault in connection with the Saturday night incident the 500 block of North B Street. according to the Arkansas City Police Department. He is described as a 220-pound white male who is 6 feet, 1 inch tall.
On Tuesday afternoon, an officer spotted the Graham’s vehicle at the Agri-Business Building, 712 W. Washington Avenue in Arkansas City, according to police. Graham was not with the truck, which was seized as evidence. Investigators later obtained a search warrant for the vehicle in connection with the shooting.
Anyone with information that could help police to locate Graham is urged to contact the Arkansas City Police Department at (620) 441-4444.
