WICHITA, KAN. – The owner of a now-closed used car lot in downtown Wichita was sentenced for using threats and fraud in connection to his business.

Abdallah “Adam” Alashqar, 27, of Wichita, pled guilty in May of this year to two counts of criminal threat and one count of felony theft related to the operation of Adams Auto Sales & Repairs, formerly at 220 E. Kellogg, according to the Sedgwick County District Attorney.

The district attorney dismissed additional counts of forgery and theft as part of the plea. District Judge Bruce Brown granted Alashqar probation in the case and ordered him to pay $44,500 in restitution to two victims. Judge Brown told Alashqar that he could serve 12 months in prison if he violated the probation conditions. An investigation showed Alashqar threatened customers who complained about the used cars that they purchased at his lot.

Evidence presented in court showed Alashqar also defrauded his bank by cashing a worthless check and then spending the proceeds. As part of the plea agreement, Alashqar handed over a $3,000 refund check Thursday to a woman who bought a car from him. Alashqar also transferred a parcel of real estate back to a former employee who had tried to buy an interest in the failing business. Alashqar ran the car lot with his brother, Obada Alashqar, 25.

The younger brother was previously convicted of one felony count of conspiracy to impair a security interest for defrauding the finance company that provided a line of credit for the business. Obada Alashqar was ordered to pay $15,739.92 to NextGear Capital. The Alashqar brothers were previously ordered to pay $526,802 in a civil judgment brought by the Consumer Division of the Office of the District Attorney against the brothers and their dealership.

The Office of the District Attorney launched an investigation of the brothers and their dealership following consumer complaints that began in January 2017. The district attorney’s civil lawsuit alleged 48 consumer violations, including failure to disclose safety recalls, failure to provide car titles, taking customer trade-in vehicles without paying for them, selling vehicles “as is” and not having an auto dealer license with the Kansas Department of Revenue. The criminal and civil cases were investigated by the Investigations Division of the Office of the District Attorney.

By STEPHEN KORANDA

Build higher, build stronger — it pays off big in Kansas.

Disaster mitigation investments in Kansas yielded more savings than efforts in any other state, a new study found. The Pew Charitable Trusts listed Missouri as a close second.

The report shows that every dollar spent in Kansas to protect against flood and tornado damage saved $6.81. In Missouri each dollar saved $6.72.

“The takeaway for policy makers really should be that investing in mitigation saves,” said Colin Foard, one of the authors of the study.

The savings come from avoiding property repairs, casualties, disruptions to businesses and administrative expenses related to insurance.

The findings come at a time when Kansas residents are dealing with floodingaffecting most of the state and cleaning up from recent tornadoes.

The study looked at the continental U.S. and considered mitigation programs aimed at averting costs from earthquakes, fires, floods and wind damage.

The mitigation efforts in Kansas and Missouri addressed only the threats of wind and flooding, but those projects had such a large payback that the two states topped the rankings.

The smallest payback was in earthquake- and fire-prone California, but the study still estimated that every dollar of mitigation in the Golden State saved $3.26.

Mitigation can include adding storm shelters and structural updates to buildings that reduce damage from tornadoes. When it comes to combating floods, officials can remove structures from flood-prone areas or require building structures higher to avoid flood damage.

Over the 23-year period that was examined, the report found the state and federal government spent around $220 million dollars on wind and flood mitigation in Kansas, which netted about $1.5 billion dollars in savings.

Federal programs play a major role in disaster mitigation in Kansas and elsewhere.

“The mitigation projects that the Kansas Division of Emergency Management are able to support or implement are largely reliant on the federal grants,” said Bryan Murdie, director of the Planning and Mitigation Branch at the Kansas Division of Emergency Management.

Looking ahead, state officials are turning their attention to the new National Mitigation Investment Strategy, developed in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. That storm hit the East Coast in 2012 causing $65 billion in damage. The program is still in the draft stage, but Murdie expects it will go live soon.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency describes the strategy as a broader shift to preventing damage and loss from disasters.

The strategy will include investments in larger infrastructure improvements such as levees. The range of projects will also include smaller local improvements such as installing warning sirens and demolishing buildings in flood-prone areas.

Murdie said state officials hope to have assistance in the future for Kansans to upgrade their homes.

“Our office has begun the initial steps towards a residential safe room program that will help protect the citizens of Kansas,” Murdie said in an email.

The federal programs typically include a match that must be paid by the state or the local government receiving the grant. Those local matches are often 25 percent, but can be smaller in certain cases where the community is impoverished or the program is targeting an area that’s been repeatedly flooded.

Foard said it’s worth it for governments to find ways to fit mitigation costs into their budgets.

“This analysis shows that it can be a great return on investment for the money spent.”

Stephen Koranda is Statehouse reporter for the Kansas News Service.. Follow him on Twitter @kprkoranda or email skoranda (at) ku (dot) edu.

BROWN COUNTY —One person died in an accident just before 5:30p.m. Friday in Brown County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 1975 Beechcraft airplane piloted by Bruce L. Lutz, 67, Andover, was flying south near the Hiawatha Airport when it crashed. Lutz was pronounced dead at the scene and transported to Frontier Forensics.

The accident remains under investigation by the FAA.

GEARY COUNTY—  Law enforcement authorities are investigating four suspects on numerous charges after a month-long investigation into methamphetamine distribution, according to the the Junction City-Geary Co. Drug Operations Group.

Investigators reportedly found meth, marijuana, drug paraphernalia, and a gun when they served a search warrant at a Junction City home, 106 S. Webster St., on Thursday, authorities say.

Police arrested Gregory Lawrence Westfall, 51, of Concordia, on requested charges Possession with intent to distribute Methamphetamine within 1000′ of a school; Possession with intent to distribute Marijuana within 1000′ of a school; Felony possession of drug paraphernalia;
Theft of services.

They arrested Preston Lee Cressler, 32, of Junction City on requested charges of Possession with intent to distribute Methamphetamine within 1000′ feet of a school;Felony possession of drug paraphernalia;
theft of services.

Brandi Lee Leonard, 27, of Junction City, was arrested on requested charges of Possession with intent to distribute Methamphetamine within 1000′ of a school, Felony possession of drug paraphernalia and Samantha Larae Goodno, 33, of Junction City on requested charges of Possession with intent to distribute Methamphetamine within 1000′ of a school and Felony possession of drug paraphernalia

SHAWNEE COUNTY —One person died in an accident just before 9a.m. Friday in Shawnee County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a semi tanker truck driven by  Johnnie Robert Odell, 50, Buckner, Mo., was eastbound on Interstate 470 in Topeka.

The semi traveled onto the outside shoulder, collided with the barrier wall. It traveled into the ditch, struck a tree and caught fire.

Odell was pronounced dead at the scene. He was properly restrained at the time of the accident, according to the KHP.

OLATHE (AP) — A man who was found at a Kansas storage unit with his dismembered wife’s remains and two of their children has been sentenced to nearly nine years in prison.

Thirty-six-year-old Justin Rey was sentenced Friday for child endangerment, contributing to a child’s misconduct and sexual exploitation of a child. The exploitation charges stem from sexually explicit photos of teenagers found on his phone.

Rey hasn’t been charged in the death of his wife, Jessica Monteiro Rey, who died after giving birth in October 2017 at a Kansas City, Missouri, hotel. Rey told authorities both that she killed herself and that she died of childbirth complications. The coroner couldn’t determine her cause of death.

Rey also is charged with abandonment of a corpse in Missouri and with a California homicide.

DENVER (AP) — Authorities in southwestern Colorado are searching for a man who went missing after his raft overturned in the Rio Grande River.

Mineral County sheriff’s spokeswoman Stasha Rice tells The Denver Post that 33-year-old Zach Jones of Creede went missing at 12:40 p.m. Thursday. She says he was on a raft with two other people who are safe.

Thursday was the first day the river was open to boaters after having been closed due to dangerous conditions. Still, Rice says officials suggested only experienced boaters take to the water and that they use extra caution.

The river was closed to boating on Friday as the search continued.

Searchers in rafts and on the banks of the river were aided by drones.

By JOHN HANNA

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas’ highest court ruled Friday that cities can raise the age for buying tobacco products even though state law sets it at 18, bolstering a public health movement driven in part by concerns about teenagers’ use of e-cigarettes.

The state Supreme Court’s unanimous decision allows the city of Topeka to enforce an ordinance setting the age to buy tobacco products, e-cigarettes or liquid nicotine at 21. A company operating two local businesses, Vapebar Topeka and Puffs ‘n’ Stuff, sued just before the ordinance took effect in January 2018, and a lower-court judge blocked it.

The ruling had broader implications because 19 other Kansas cities have raised the age for buying tobacco to 21, and five counties have done so in areas outside cities.

More than 470 cities and counties in 29 states have raised the age to 21, as have 17 states, according to Tobacco 21, a national group promoting the higher age as a way to reduce smoking and e-cigarette use among young people. Also, the U.S. Senate is considering bipartisan legislation to raise the age nationally to 21.

“What people understand is that their kids are getting addicted and they have to do something,” said Dr. Rob Crane, president of Tobacco 21.

In Kansas, the state constitution gives cities “home rule” power, allowing them to set policies locally on a wide variety of issues, even if the state has laws on them. The exceptions are when a state law bars cities from acting or when a local ordinance conflicts with a state law.

The local businesses argued that by setting the age for buying tobacco products at 18, the state law implied that cities cannot go higher. They also argued that the Topeka ordinance conflicted with the state law.

But, writing for the court, Justice Caleb Stegall said raising the age for buying tobacco products “merely enlarges” on the state law, without creating a conflict. Also, he wrote, nothing in the law expressly forbids cities from acting.

Tuck Duncan, the attorney for the local businesses, said the ruling still allows another challenge on other grounds, such as a claim that the city did not adequately document the public health problems used to justify its ordinance. But he said businesses ultimately could face “a patchwork quilt” of rules — and not just on selling tobacco products.

“This is a huge barn door being opened for municipal governments to modify a whole raft of laws,” Duncan said. “What’s to say that the city of Topeka can’t have its own ordinances now, licensing physicians?”

Duncan also questioned the effectiveness of the ordinance in preventing sales of tobacco products to 18-, 19- and 20-year-olds.

“They’ll just go someplace else to buy it,” he said.

Still, Craig Barnes, a Shawnee County Health Department official who serves on the Tobacco Free Kansas Coalition’s board, said he was “ecstatic” about the ruling. Barnes said almost all high school seniors turn 18 before graduating, and allowing them to buy tobacco products legally makes it more likely younger students will gain access to them.

“Our hope is to dramatically decrease the number of youth who ultimately get started using tobacco products at a younger age,” Barnes said. “That leads to that lifelong addiction.”

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Flood-damaged levees and other infrastructure along the Platte and Missouri Rivers will cost far in excess of $1 billion to repair, according to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

The first 61 of 108 projects deemed eligible for federal funding will cost $1 billion, Corps spokesman Matt Rabe told the Omaha World-Herald. The Corps has received more than 150 project applications, and more are expected to roll in.

Nearly 850 river miles were damaged when two rounds of massive floods devastated huge swaths of the Midwest this spring. Resulting problems include complete breaches in levees, deep scour holes, erosion to the armoring of the river banks and toppling of in-stream dikes that direct the water’s flow. The Corps counted more than 100 levee breaches between Omaha and St. Louis, with only a handful repaired so far.

Officials expect the repairs to take several years.

The Corps and special disaster aid will fund the repairs, Rabe said. He noted it’s unclear if there will be enough money to cover all repair costs. Taxpayers can expect to bear some of the hefty price tag.

The Corps lowered releases from Gavins Point Dam on the Missouri River by 5,000 cubic feet per second to 70,000 cubic feet per second on Thursday. Now, there will be less water flowing downstream of the dam on the Nebraska-South Dakota border.

Contingent on the weather, the lower releases should allow the river to drop about 6 inches at most sites south of Omaha, the National Weather Service predicted. The Platte River empties into the Missouri south of Omaha.

SHAWNEE COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are asking the public for help to find a missing Kansas woman.

Connie M. Horne, 77, was last seen on May 27 at the Dollar Tree on North Topeka Boulevard, according to Shawnee County Deputy Shayna Anderson.

Horne is described as 5-foot -3 and weighs approximately 130 pounds. She has short gray hair and blue eyes. . Anyone with information is asked to call Detective Emily Adams at 785-251-2316.