WICHITA – A registered sex offender living in Kearny County Kansas was sentenced Monday to 20 years in federal prison for distributing child pornography, according to U.S. Attorney Barry Grissom.

Mark A. Wireman, 44, Lakin, Kan., pleaded guilty in July 2015 to five federal counts of distributing child pornography.

Wireman was indicted in Kansas in February 2015.

Prosecutors alleged he used his Gmail account to send a photograph of a toddler being sexually assaulted by an adult to another man in Michigan.

Google identified the photo as child pornography and filed a CyberTipline report. Investigators followed an electronic trail to Wireman, who made unauthorized use of his neighbor’s wireless Internet service to send the photograph. On Wireman’s phone, investigators found more child pornography he had distributed. Investigators learned Wiremen and the man to whom Wireman sent child pornography became friends in prison while Wireman was serving time for a sex offense.

Wireman has prior convictions in 2007 and 1994 in Michigan for sex offenses.

Grissom commended the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, the Wichita Police Department, the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, Homeland Security Investigations and Assistant U.S. Attorney Jason Hart for their work on the case.

SALINA- Law enforcement authorities in Saline County are investigating four suspects being held on alleged drug charges.

The suspects were arrested Tuesday following the execution of search warrants at three locations in the 400 block of Baker Street in Salina, according to Interstate135/Interstate 70 Drug Task Force commander Lt. Bill Cox.

At 425 Baker, the DTF and Salina Police SWAT team found 115 tablets of ecstasy, personal use methamphetamines, marijuana, and recovered two handguns.

They arrested 26-year-old Roland T. Chatmon and Nytaia N. Rich.

At 423 Baker officers found marijuana, drug paraphernalia and recoverd two handguns, one which had the serial number defaced. They arreted 40-year-old Boyakeo Nonalasy and 20-year-old Elizabeth Denholm.

At 421 Baker, no one was at home, but DTF members found several types of ammunition.

Authorities say more arrests are possible in the case.

GARDEN CITY – Law enforcement authorities in Finney County are investigating an alleged aggravated assault.

Officers were dispatched just after 5:45 p.m. on Tuesday to the 1900 Block of East Mary Street in Garden City in reference to a domestic disturbance, according to a police department media release.

It was reported that a vehicle was chasing another vehicle, driving recklessly and attempting to ram a victim.

The suspect’s vehicle was located at Taylor and Mary Street and stopped by police.

The driver, Manuel Melendez-Davila, 22, Garden City, was stopped and arrested without incident.

The investigation revealed that the suspect was driving recklessly, almost striking other vehicles and the victim’s vehicle.

A 2 year-old child was inside the victim’s vehicle at the time of the incident.

Melendez-Davila is being held at the Finney County Jail and could face the possible charges of: Aggravated Assault, Aggravated Endangering a Child Driving while License Suspended (2nd)and Reckless Driving

The case has been turned over to the Finney County Attorney’s Office.

In honor of Veterans Day, the Kansas Sampler Foundation has shared images of patriotic or memorial displays in each of the state’s 105 counties.

Click HERE to view the images.

HARTFORD, Kan. (AP) — Authorities have identified a person killed in a weekend house fire in eastern Kansas.

The Emporia Gazette reports that the fire was reported Sunday at a home in Hartford. The Lyon County Sheriff’s Department says in a release that the coroner’s office identified the person found dead at the scene as 53-year-old Mearl Edvin Whillock II.

The cause of the fire and the cause of death are under investigation.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A Wichita couple has been sentenced to more than five years in prison after beating and abusing their adopted daughter.

Authorities say the girl had been starved and chained up in a windowless basement.

The Wichita Eagle reports that the judge ordered the 68-month sentence after the girl testified in court Tuesday morning.

The girl was 14 years old when authorities placed her and three other children in police protective custody in March 2014.

The mother and father pleaded guilty in July to criminal charges, including three counts of child abuse, two counts of aggravated battery, one count of aggravated endangerment of a child and one count of criminal restraint. The father was also convicted of other charges.

The parents have not been named to protect the girl’s identity.

The Kansas Bureau reported just after 7:30 a.m. that Mr. Bailey was located near Freedom, Oklahoma, approximately 20 minutes west of Alva.

No additional details were released.

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MCPHERSON – The Kansas Bureau of Investigation issued an attempt to locate on Wednesday for a missing Kansas man.

At approximately 11:00 pm on Tuesday, family members received a phone call from Roger Benton Bailey, 74, stating his vehicle was out of gas. He said he was sitting on the side of a gravel road with his hazard lights on, according to a media release from the KBI.

Bailey said he was east of 1st Street and Centennial Dr. in McPherson however responders have been unable to locate him or his vehicle.

Family members are concerned because his recent behavior has led them to believe he is not thinking properly and they believe he is off his medication.

Bailey is possibly in a 1996 Jeep Grand Cherokee, Gold in color, bearing KS tag 260AUG.

If located please notify the McPherson Police Department at (620) 245-1200.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt is asking all Kansas Supreme Court justices to recuse themselves from a lawsuit involving the court system’s budget.

Schmidt announced Tuesday that the state filed a motion seeking the recusal because the justices have publicly opposed the law in question.

Legislators approved a budget measure this year protecting a law that allows local judges to appoint chief judges in the state’s 31 judicial districts, rather than the state Supreme Court. The budget measure says if that law is struck down, the judiciary’s entire budget is “null and void.”

Supreme Court spokeswoman Lisa Taylor says the justices will consider the recusal motion after District Court Judge Larry Solomon, who filed the lawsuit, responds.

Schmidt also argues Kansas Court of Appeals judges should hear the case.

JOHN HANNA, AP Political Writer

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A spokesman for the Kansas Department of Commerce says it is working on initiatives for keeping the state from losing all of its federal arts funds.

Agency spokesman Dan Lara said Tuesday that the agency is looking at partnering with other state agencies on arts-related projections.

He said doing so would allow the department and its Creative Arts Industries Commission to count the spending on those projects — or even a contribution of employee time on them — as part of the state arts funding needed to qualify Kansas for federal funds.

A National Endowment for the Arts official told state officials in a September letter that Kansas must boost its state arts funding by nearly $225,000 by Jan. 15 or forfeit its $591,000 in federal arts dollars.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Two downtown Wichita developers deny allegations that their investors were defrauded.

The Wichita Eagle reports that David Lundberg and Michael Elzufon, proprietors of Real Development Corp., are in Sedgwick County court for a preliminary hearing this week on dozens of counts of fraud alleged by the Kansas securities commissioner.

Judge Ben Burgess says six days have been reserved for the proceedings before Burgess decides if the case will move to trial.

The charges were brought by the state Securities Commission, which says investors in the development company claim they’ve been defrauded. A commission official testified that the developers “misused” investors’ money.

But lawyers for Elzufon and Lundberg told the judge that investors were not defrauded, and that real estate investments are inherently risky.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The Kansas State Board of Education says it will oppose a bill that would allow high schools to recruit athletes from home schools and private schools.

The Lawrence Journal-World reports Senate Bill 60 was introduced in the state Legislature last year. The bill states any student who is a resident of a school district must be allowed to participate in any activities the district offers, regardless of whether the student attends a school in that district full time.

Gary Musselman, executive director of the Kansas State High School Activities Association, argues that the bill is similar to requiring universities to allow any college-age student play on their sports teams, even if they are not enrolled at the school.

The bill was passed in the Senate and has been sent to the House for consideration.