WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — The father of a Wichita baby not seen since last summer has pleaded guilty to cutting off a GPS tracking device.

The Wichita Eagle reports that 24-year-old Gary Moore Jr. entered the plea Monday. Prosecutors will recommend a 34-month prison sentence. Moore had been ordered to wear the tracking device as a condition of his probation in a 2014 battery case.

No one has been arrested or charged in the disappearance of Moore’s 5-month-old son, Vincent Moore. The child was last seen leaving a house with his father July 11. When officers stopped Moore on July 29, his 2-year-old child was with him but the baby wasn’t.

Moore has been in jail since July because of the charge and a yearlong sentence ordered served because of probation violations.

KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — Police say an 18-year-old man was the victim of a fatal Kansas City, Kansas, shooting.

The Kansas City Star  reports that police identified the man Monday as Stephon Egans of Kansas City, Kansas. Police say he was shot Saturday night and died later at a hospital.

The man’s death is the city’s 13th homicide for 2016.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The Kansas Court of Appeals has overturned an Emporia man’s drug convictions and faulted a prosecutor for “flagrant” errors.

The Topeka Capital-Journal reports that three judges agreed Friday with defense arguments that there was a lack of evidence to convict Matthew Judd of three drug charges. He was acquitted of two charges, including the most serious. He’ll also receive a new trial in Lyon County on the third charge.

The charges stem from a 2013 search of his mobile home. The judges found that the presence of drugs in a common area isn’t sufficient evidence to convict all occupants in a home of possession.

The judges also said that an assistant county attorney wrongly suggested to jurors that the owner of a house is responsible for the drugs inside.

HUTCHINSON -A Kansas man made a first appearance before a judge on charges involving the same victim.

Eric Peirce, 30, Hutchinson, is charged with two counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, aggravated battery with a deadly weapon and criminal threat.

That state alleges that he threatened a woman on May 12 and May 14. The first incident allegedly involved a shotgun and the second, a handgun.

During the first incident, he allegedly used the barrel of the shotgun to batter the victim causing bruising and four broken ribs, according to statements made in court.

The criminal threat charge is also alleged to have occurred on May 12.

The alleged crimes occurred in Pretty Prairie according to Reno County Sheriff Captain Steve Lutz.

The judge denied a bond request calling what the defendant is accused of doing as quite appalling and noted that she’s in fear for the alleged victim’s life. The state opposed any reduction noting that this is believed to have been an ongoing behavior.

Bond was set at $100,000, charges have been filed and the case against Peirce will now move to a waiver-status docket on July 13.

FRANKLIN COUNTY – A Kansas woman and child were injured in an accident just before 1p.m. on Monday in Franklin County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 1998 Mitsubishi Eclipse driven by Elizabeth Kaylynn Wright, 26, Osawatomie, was northbound on U.S. 169 just north of Virginia Road.

It was raining hard and the driver did not see a dog standing in the road.

The vehicle hit the dog, crossed the center and traveled into the southbound ditch, hit a culvert and flipped.

Wright and a 7-year-old passenger were transported to Miami County Hospital.

Both were properly restrained at the time of the accident, according to the KHP.

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) Monday commended the Senate passage of the Adam Walsh Reauthorization Act of 2016 (S. 2613). The legislation would improve tracking of sex offenders through federal support of state registries and dedicated resources to target offenders who fail to comply with registration requirements.

“I am proud to join my colleagues in unanimously supporting this bill,” Sen. Moran said. “We owe it to those affected by these grievous crimes to make certain state and local law enforcement officials continue to have the support they need to track known offenders and prevent recurrences.”

The bill passed reauthorizes The Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006, which established nationwide notification and registration standards for convicted sex offenders to bolster information sharing between law enforcement agencies and increase public safety through greater awareness. It is named for a six-year-old Florida boy who was kidnapped and murdered in 1981. Adam’s father, John Walsh, worked closely with Congress to develop the 2006 law and the reauthorization that passed today.

KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — A Missouri man has been ordered to spend 17 years in federal prison for his role in a Kansas bank robbery that injured employees and a customer.

Fifty-four-year-old Clifton Cloyd of Kansas City, Missouri, was sentenced Monday. He pleaded guilty to one count each of bank robbery and brandishing a firearm during a robbery.

Authorities say Cloyd and another man robbed a Bank of America branch in Overland Park in October 2014.

Cloyd admits he helped hold five bank employees and a customer at gunpoint, dragging one of the female workers by her hair and scarf before hitting her in the face with a gun. He also acknowledged he hit a customer, knocking off her glasses, and a male bank worker, causing his head to bleed.

A co-defendant awaits sentencing.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — The latest government report shows winter wheat in Kansas is turning color as harvest draws closer.

The National Agricultural Statistics Service reported Monday that 96 percent of the wheat has headed, with 16 percent now coloring

Wheat condition is rated as 8 percent poor to very poor while 33 percent is in fair shape. The agency says 51 percent is in good condition and 8 percent is in excellent condition.

Meanwhile, spring planting made some progress last week despite some rainy days that kept farmers out of fields.

About 90 percent of the corn has now been seeded in Kansas, along with 21 percent of the soybeans and 6 percent of the sorghum.

The agency says 72 percent of Kansas pastures and ranges are in good to excellent condition

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A chimpanzee housed for more than 17 years at the Wichita, Kansas, zoo has died at the age of 44.

Sedgwick County Zoo officials say the chimp named Tammy died Sunday after several days of failing health. A post-mortem examination is planned.

The animal was diagnosed in February of last year with heart disease and had her right arm amputated because it had become dislocated and unfixable.

Tammy had been at the zoo since early 1999.

The zoo still has seven chimpanzees.

LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — A man who spent nearly 16 years in prison for a rape and killing his brother confessed to committing wants Kansas to pull the plug on the death penalty.

The Lawrence Journal-World reports that 39-year-old Floyd Bledsoe shared his story over the weekend in the basement of a Lawrence church.

Bledsoe never faced the death penalty himself. But he was sentenced to life in prison after he was convicted of raping and killing 14-year-old Camille Arfmann. He was released in December after a DNA test and suicide notes indicated his brother, Tom Bledsoe, killed Arfmann.

Bledsoe says the court system is flamed and questioned what would have happened if he had been sentenced to death.

Kansas hasn’t executed anyone since it reinstated capital punishment in 1994.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Volunteers have achieved another major milestone in their efforts to restore a World War II bomber.

The Wichita Eagle reports that the nonprofit group Doc’s Friends announced that the Federal Aviation Administration has given the B-29 Superfortress, known as “Doc,” an airworthiness certificate. The announcement came exactly 16 years after the bomber’s parts were transported to Wichita.

#B29Doc first flight imminent! Still pinching ourselves. Click here to see next steps https://t.co/1UCGw2mBKL pic.twitter.com/DimVimTiKf

— Doc’s Friends (@DocsFriends) May 20, 2016

 

Several dozen Doc’s Friends members and other supporters attended a ceremony Friday at the World War II aircraft’s hangar at Air Capital Flight Line.

The certificate was one of the last obstacles to getting the plane off the ground. The nonprofit will now seek permission to operate the plane at McConnell Air Force Base.

Jeff Turner, board chairman of Doc’s Friends, says the plane could fly in the next few weeks.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Republican lawmakers say they anticipate taking up the issue of transgender school bathrooms upon reconvening next week.

The issue gained attention after the Obama administration’s recent guidance that transgender students at public schools be allowed to use bathrooms and locker rooms consistent with their gender identity.

The Wichita Eagle reports that Rep. John Whitmer says he and other conservative lawmakers will try to run a resolution that would express the Legislature’s displeasure. The Wichita Republican says the plan is to send the resolution to federal officials.

A bill introduced in the Kansas Legislature this year would have ordered schools to require transgender students to use the facilities corresponding to the sex determined by their chromosome makeup as recorded on their birth certificate. But that bill stalled in committee.

TOPEKA, KAN. – An Ottawa County woman pleaded guilty Tuesday to embezzling from a real estate company in Salina where she worked, according to Acting U.S. Attorney Tom Beall.

Janetta Marie Buttery, 42, Bennington, pleaded guilty to one count of interstate transportation of stolen funds. A criminal information filed in March alleged Buttery embezzled more than $109,000 from her employer.

In her plea, Buttery admitted the crime occurred while she worked as a secretary, bookkeeper and executive assistant at Realty Associates of Salina.

Buttery used her access to the company’s credit cards, bank accounts, books and records to divert the company’s funds to herself, her mother and her husband.

Sentencing is set for Aug. 22. She faces a penalty of up to 10 years in federal prison, a fine up to $250,000 and restitution. Beall commended the FBI and Assistant U.S. Attorney Rich Hathaway for their work on the case.