GEARY COUNTY— Law enforcement authorities are investigating two suspects after an arrest Tuesday on Interstate 70.

Just after 9:30a.m., police stopped a vehicle just west of the Milford Lake exit on Interstate 70.

Following a search, police arrested Tammi Renee Kay, 43, and John Mark Kay, 43, both of Georgia on suspicion of Distribute Marijuana, Possession of Paraphernalia With Intent to Manufacture / Plant / Cultivate Controlled Substance and Taxation; Drugs. John Kay was also charged with following another vehicle too closely.

Police released no additional details.

KANSAS CITY (AP) — The case against a Kansas man who is fighting deportation to his native Bangladesh will go on until at least 2022.

Syed Jamal had the first hearing on his recently reopened case on Tuesday in Immigration Court in Kansas City, Missouri.

Judge Glen Baker said he would review whether Jamal qualified for certain forms of deportation relief. Jamal’s wife is also seeking relief from deportation.

Baker set the next hearing in the case for April 27, 2022.

Jamal is a chemistry instructor who came to the United States in 1987 on a student visa. He is married, the father of three U.S.-born children and has been living for years under a deportation order but with a valid work permit.

Jamal and his supporters began fighting his deportation since immigration agents arrested him in January at his home in Lawrence.

He was on a plane back to Bangladesh when a court ordered that he be removed from the plane in Hawaii.

SEDGWICK COUNTY —Law enforcement authorities are investigating a suspect in connection with a shooting.

Just before 3pm Tuesday, deputies responded to report of a man firing a handgun behind the DCF building in the 3100 block of S. Oliver in Wichita, according to Sheriff Jeff Easter.

At 3:06 pm, law enforcement arrived and spotted the suspect North of the DCF building in a creek area waving a handgun.  Law Enforcement deployed behind cover in different locations and was able to observe the suspect fire at least 4 rounds in the direction of traffic that was traveling on George Washington Boulevard and towards the DCF building, which was open and occupied, along with the DCF parking lot that had an employee next to their car.

Law Enforcement gave verbal commands to drop the weapon and the suspect fired two rounds towards the DCF building and then started to swing the weapon towards law enforcement.  At 3:23 pm, a deputy, who was equipped with a Sheriff’s Office issued rifle fired 2 shots at the male striking him one time in the shoulder area.

A short time later an S.W.A.T. vehicle was used to approach the suspect and safely taking him into custody.

The suspect, Richard J. Gore, age 60, of Wichita, Ks. was transported by EMS to Wesley hospital and was treated for his injury.  The suspect appeared to be intoxicated at the time of the incident.  He may be released as soon as today.

Through our investigation we have recovered 18 shell casings in the area where the suspect was located and other evidence indicates he had the ability to fire more rounds.  The handgun was recovered as well.  The DCF building was struck along with at least one light pole.  It does not appear that DCF was the target of the shooting at this point in our investigation.

When Mr. Gore is released from the hospital he will be booked into the Sedgwick County Adult Detention Facility for 5 counts of Aggravated Assault LEO, 1 count of Aggravated Assault and 1 count of Criminal Discharge of a Weapon, according to Easter.

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WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Sedgwick County authorities say a deputy shot and wounded a man who was firing a handgun near the Wichita Department for Children and Families.

Sheriff’s spokesman Tim Myers said the man shot on Tuesday is hospitalized in serious condition.

Myers said the man apparently was homeless and may have been intoxicated. He says the man refused to follow orders and was shot when he pointed the handgun in the direction of a Wichita police lieutenant and two sheriff’s deputies. One of the deputies shot the man.

Officers responded after receiving several 911 calls reporting a shooting near the DCF building. Myers says investigators don’t know why the man was shooting or where he got the gun.

By MADELINE FOX

Turmoil marks the troubled norm for foster care in Kansas.

Now political, financial and legal forces look poised to slam the system into a new level of chaos that makes seasoned child welfare professionals worried about a barrage of change.

A new governor and new legislators will take office in January. A task force examining foster care is preparing to present recommendations for dramatic change to policymakers new and old.

And a lawsuit filed by three organizations against state agencies says Kansas so bungles the care of kids in crisis it renders them homeless, shifting them one night after the next to new, unfamiliar, sometimes unsafe locations.

In the midst of all this, the state’s Department for Children and Families plans to blow up the system it’s used for more than two decades to delegate children’s care to private nonprofit companies.

Once courts pull children from troubled homes in Kansas, the practical work of finding them temporary or permanent homes largely gets handed off to private companies.

With new grants that go into effect July 1, DCF is splitting some jobs among more nonprofits. It’s turning children’s foster home choices over to a master software program. And the agency plans to switch foster care and family preservation to a grant system — meaning it’ll reach out to companies directly and skip the oversight of the state’s Department of Administration.

The grants have been awarded to three new players, in addition to the two current contractors.  Missouri-based Cornerstones of Care and Florida-based Eckerd Connects are moving in to handle family preservation, and former contractor TFI Family Services is returning to again pick up territory as a foster care provider.

But some, like family psychologist Wes Crenshaw, say adding agencies is just shuffling the puzzle pieces around rather than making a real fix. Crenshaw has worked with foster kids since before the state started delegating the care of foster children to private contractors in 1996.

“What magic,” Crenshaw said, “does a nonprofit out of Florida have to come to Kansas and sprinkle its pixie dust on our situation and make it better?”

Since 2013, just two providers have handled both foster care and family preservation in Kansas. KVC Kansas has the eastern half of the state. St. Francis Community Services handles the western half.

Both lost family preservation responsibilities in the new system. Cornerstones of Care will handle services to help keep families out of foster care in a handful of counties around Kansas City. Eckerd will pick up the rest of the state. 

DCF Secretary Gina Meier-Hummel said fresh blood will mean new tools to get at child welfare problems.

“The more people you bring in,” she said, “the more resources you bring to the table, the better the outcomes for kids and families.”

But neither of those two new providers has run family preservation in Kansas before. Child advocates have reason to be skeptical of Eckerd. Its foster care programs in Florida have had many of the same problems that plague Kansas — kids sleeping in offices, rotating between one-night placements, and suffering abuse while in care.

That worries foster care advocate Lori Ross, who questioned why that didn’t concern the agency enough exclude Eckerd from its new grantees.

Eckerd’s checkered record springs from how it managed kids in its care. But as a family preservation contractor, it won’t actually have custody of kids. It’ll provide counseling, parenting classes and other services to families who are still together in their homes.

DCF attorney Kasey Rogg says the new system is structured to give DCF better oversight over how the outfits it hires spend the money. Rather than simply handing over a flat per-month payment for each contractor and a per-child payment, he said the grants aim to give DCF more accountability and oversight over how the state’s money is spent.

But advocates skeptical of DCF say that while it may mean more oversight of the contractors, it means less oversight of the state agency. Under the old system, contracts were awarded through the Kansas Department of Administration. Under the new system, DCF gets to award and administer the grants directly.

Ross worries that letting DCF directly award the grants could cloud who’s ultimately responsible for a child’s well-being.

The state did award a statewide foster care contract — not a grant — for DCF’s new placement matching system. It will allow DCF to keep a master list of available beds across both its grantees and the smaller child placing agencies that recruit and work with foster families.

That way, DCF can plug in basic details — age, gender, school district, allergies and the like — and find a list of all the beds in the child’s zip code that could take them in, regardless of who manages the bed.

The placement matching system is a bright spot even for child welfare advocates who are skittish about the other incoming changes to foster care and family preservation.

The two current contractors have been accused of placing kids in the homes licensed by their own agency first, before turning them over to other child placing agencies. Both contractors deny they hoard placements that way.

But with a central system with all the available beds logged dictating where kids go, advocates say kids are more likely to end up in homes that are best for them.

Publicly, many people who work with foster kids, foster parents, social workers and providers talk in upbeat tones about how the new grants might help. Privately, that’s replaced by fretting about whether DCF blowing up its system could breed years of chaos, and even worse care for children.

Christie Appelhanz, executive director of the Children’s Alliance of Kansas, an organization representing the current contractors and new grantees, says many are worried.

“People who have been through one of the contractor transitions before, they are definitely terrified — I don’t think is a stretch — about what’s to come,” she said.

University of Kansas social work professor Becci Akin says it’ll likely take 18 to 24 months after the contracts switch in July to tell if the changes are actually improving the lives of kids in peril.

For kids caught in parts of the state where those changes take place, that’s more uncertainty for their already uprooted lives. Pamela Robbins, head of the Kansas Foster and Adoptive Parent Association, remembers trying to adopt one of her daughters during a previous contract change.

In the 18 months it took to finalize her daughter’s adoption, Robbins said she had eight different social workers — including some they met only once.

“Little did we know,” Robbins said.

Social worker turnover has been high already. It’s a high-stress job. Workers deal with high caseloads full of traumatized children and, at times, angry or overwhelmed birth and foster parents.

The task force looking at Kansas’ child welfare system says they’re underpaid, though DCF says Kansas pays on par with the national average. 

Akin, the KU professor, says the switch in contractors will bring more uneasiness. Many front-line social workers weren’t around the last time contractors changed in 2013. If they work in areas where the providers are changing, they could get anxious about their job security and switch agencies even before the new provider formally takes over.

Crenshaw, the psychologist who’s worked with foster kids for years, said paying enough to keep seasoned, knowledgeable providers working in the foster care system is the best way to keep kids on track as they move through a chaotic system.

“You can make up any act or grant, or name it anything you can call it — the Fluffy Happy Family World,” he said. “As long as it doesn’t have enough money to pay the people that matter and teach them and supervise them, you’re as doomed this week as you were last week.”

Madeline Fox is a reporter for the Kansas News Service. You can reach her on Twitter @maddycfox.

SEDGWICK COUNTY—Law enforcement authorities are investigating an aggravated assault of an officer and have identified the suspect in custody.

Just before 4p.m. Tuesday, an officer on motorcycle patrol observed a 1996 Chevy Cavalier driven by 33-year-old Brandon Hanafin westbound in the eastbound lanes of Kellogg in Wichita, according to Captain Brent Allred.

The officer attempted to stop the vehicle. It traveled into a parking lot in the 1000 Block of Kellogg,  made an abrupt turn and drove head-on and attempted to strike the motorcycle patrol officer.  The officer was unable to move and fired two rounds from his duty weapon and striking only the vehicle.

The vehicle traveled southbound and Hanafin excited the vehicle and fled on foot.

Just before 6p.m., following a search of the area southeast of Kellogg and Webb, Hanafin was captured with the assistance of a police patrol dog.

Hanafin was injured by the dog, hospitalized briefly for injuries and booked on requested charges of aggravated assault of a law enforcement officer and outstanding warrants, according to Allred.  He has a previous convictions for aggravated assault, according to the Kansas Department of Corrections.

The officer is a 22-year veteran of Wichita Police and has been placed on administrative leave.

SEDGWICK COUNTY—Law enforcement authorities are investigating a suspect following an officer-involved shooting in Wichita.

Just before 4p.m. Tuesday, an officer on motorcycle patrol observed a vehicle traveling westbound in the eastbound lanes of Kellogg in Wichita, according to officer Charley Davidson.

The officer attempted to stop the vehicle. It traveled into a parking lot in the 1000 Block of Kellogg. The officer decided not to pursue the vehicle behind the business but observed the vehicle off the road to the west of the business. It made a u-turn and drove toward and attempted to strike the motorcycle patrol officer, according to Davidson.

At that time the officer fired his gun at the vehicle. The driver then excited the vehicle and fled on foot. Just before 6p.m., following a search that included the Wichita SWAT Team and the Kansas Highway Patrol, the suspect was located and arrested just before 6p.m.

Davidson did not release the suspect’s name or if he was wounded as a result of the shooting.

 

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas woman pleaded guilty Wednesday to murder and other charges in the abuse and death of her 3-year-old son, whose body was found encased in concrete in the laundry room of their Wichita home.

Miranda Miller, 37, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, aggravated kidnapping, child abuse and aggravated child endangerment under a deal in which she faces a prison sentence of about 29 years. With credit for good behavior, she could get out of prison in about 25 years, District Attorney Marc Bennett told announced after Miller’s hearing in Sedgwick County District Court. Sentencing was set for Jan. 14.

Prosecutors say Miller and her boyfriend, 41-year-old Stephen Bodine, tortured her son, Evan Brewer, for months before his death.

Evidence against them included videos and photos showing Evan being abused, including footage of him chained and naked in a basement, being berated by Bodine and Miller, and forced to stand in a corner for hours. Much of the evidence came from a cache of 16,000 photos and videofiles collected by the couple’s home surveillance system.

Bodine was convicted last month of first-degree murder and faces a possible life sentence at a Dec. 17 hearing. Miller had testified against Bodine in exchange for the chance to plead guilty to a less serious charge in Evan’s death.

According to Miller’s testimony at Bodine’s trial, Bodine had been punishing Evan for not eating on May 19, 2017, when he took the screaming boy into the bathroom. She said he soon came out with her son’s wet and lifeless body in his arms. Miller said Bodine mixed up several bags of concrete and buried the boy’s body in it.

It would be four months before authorities found the body . By the time Evan’s body was chipped out of the concrete block, it was so badly decomposed that an autopsy could not determine how the boy died. He had Benadryl in his system, and Miller said she thinks Bodine sickened him in the days leading up to his death by force-feeding him large amounts of salt.

Evan’s father, Carlo Brewer, had been seeking custody of his son, and authorities had been alerted at least six times that Evan was being abused.

The boy was the grandson of former Wichita Mayor Carl Brewer.

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WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — The mother of a 3-year-old Kansas boy whose body was found encased in concrete says she wants new legal representation because her attorney “has it in his mind that I’m guilty” and “has not helped me fight my case.”

Miranda Miller’s hand-written motion is dated Nov. 13. A hearing in her case is scheduled for Wednesday.

Miller previously testified against her boyfriend, 41-year-old Stephen Bodine, in exchange for the chance to plead guilty to a less serious charge in the death of her son, Evan Brewer. Prosecutors say the couple tortured Evan for months before his death.

Bodine was convicted last month of first-degree murder and faces a possible life sentence. Miller’s deal, if finalized, likely would limit her sentence to about 27 years.

WICHITA– A Kansas man was sentenced Tuesday to eight years in federal prison for brandishing a gun during a robbery at a local credit union, according to U.S. Attorney Stephen McAllister.

Mack W. Colvin, Jr., 32, Park City, Kan., pleaded guilty to one count of brandishing a firearm during a crime of violence.

In his plea, he admitted that on Dec. 19, 2017, he robbed the Wheat State Credit Union at 1400 S. Oliver. He pointed a firearm at tellers and demanded money. Investigators identified him and issued a warrant for his arrest. Colvin turned himself in to the FBI several days after the warrant was issued.

DOUGLAS COUNTY — Two people were injured in an accident just before 2a.m. Wednesday in Douglas County.

The Kansas Turnpike Authoritiy reported a 2010 Honda Odyssey driven by James A. Beck, 79, Topeka was westbound on Interstate 70 just west of the Kansas 10 exit.

The Honda collided with a Riley County ambulance driven by Scott Ten Eyck, 33, Wamego, causing it to spin and hit the barrier wall and then strike the ambulance again.

The collision forced the ambulance across all lanes of traffic and into the ditch.

Beck and a passenger Carol Beck, 78, Topeka, were transported to Stormont Vail.  Eyck was not injured.

The ambulance was returning after transporting a patient to Kansas City, according to Joshua Gering with Riley County EMS.

Eyck and the occupants of the Honda were properly restrained at the time of the accident, according to the KHP.

SHAWNEE COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating an officer involved shooting and aggravated battery to a law enforcement officer and asking the public for help to locate a person of interest for questioning.

Chelsee Ann Retana, 26, was last seen running southbound from a silver SUV from NE Grant and NE Madison, in the company of another adult female, according to Lt. Andrew Beightel.

Just after 10:45a.m. Tuesday, a police officer witnessed a maroon passenger vehicle stalled out in the intersection of NE Grant and NE Monroe in Topeka, according to Beightel. The Officer went to make contact with the occupants of the vehicle.

At that time, a Kansas Highway Patrol Trooper responded to the area, because a Trooper attempted to stop that vehicle earlier in the morning, but the driver of the vehicle later identified as Jarmane Dyane Logan, 35, Topeka,  fled and evaded the Trooper.

As the Trooper and Officer were speaking to the occupants of the vehicle, a silver SUV approached them at a high rate of speed, almost striking them.

The occupants of the maroon passenger car attempted to flee and get into the SUV.

As the Trooper and Officer tried to intervene, the Trooper and Officer were dragged by the SUV. The trooper shot and injured the Logan.  He was transported to a local hospital by ambulance and died, according to Beightel.

Retana is described as a white female 5-foot-8, 175 lbs., last seen wearing a brown heavy coat.

Retina has previous convictions for fleeing or attempt to elude a law enforcement officer, according to the Kansas Department of Corrections.

Anyone with information on Retana or regarding this crime is encouraged to contact police.

KANSAS CITY —Law enforcement authorities are investigating a suspect who led them on a chase of about 100 miles with a stolen tractor-truck  before the truck caught fire.

At 8:48 p.m, Troop A Communications overheard Kansas City Police Department radio traffic regarding the pursuit of a tractor-truck westbound on 31st Street from Arlington Avenue reference an aggravated assault involving a revolver, according to a media release from the Missouri State Highway Patrol

At 8:55 p.m., the suspect vehicle began traveling eastbound on Interstate 70 from Manchester Trafficway. Jackson County Sheriff’s Office became involved then requested the Highway Patrol take the lead after the vehicle entered Lafayette County.

At 9:20 p.m., two troopers entered the pursuit. The suspect vehicle continued eastbound on I-70 at speeds up to 73 mph and struck spikes in multiple locations deployed by multiple agencies. Troop F Communications began coordinating radio traffic after the vehicle entered Cooper County.

A patrol helicopter joined the pursuit and began following the suspect vehicle, allowing ground vehicles to back off. The suspect vehicle eventually became disabled and stopped just east of the 106.6-mile marker near Boonville, MO, where it caught fire and the driver fled on foot.

Patrol aircraft then directed officers to the driver after he ran into a barbed wire fence and laid down north of I-70. At 10:36 p.m., troopers advised Troop F Communications the subject was in custody. The driver was relayed back to Jackson County and released into the custody of the Kansas City Police Department in connection to the aggravated assault investigation.

Additionally, a baggie of methamphetamine was seized. The tractor-truck is believed to have been reported stolen through Oak Grove Police Department.

Authorities have not released the suspect’s name.

SHAWNEE COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating a fatal officer-involved shooting and have identified the suspect.

LINCOLN COUNTY, NE — The Nebraska State Patrol says troopers have seized nearly 80 pounds of marijuana in two traffic stops on Interstate 80 near North Platte.

According to a media release, the first traffic stop occurred when NSP received a report of a Chevrolet Impala speeding and failing to maintain a lane while traveling eastbound on I-80. A trooper located the vehicle and made contact with the driver at exit 179. During the encounter, an NSP K9 detected the presence of a controlled substance inside the vehicle.

Troopers searched the vehicle and found 48 pounds of high grade marijuana concealed in luggage. The driver, Doreen Cahill, 27, of Jacksonville, North Carolina, was arrested for possession of marijuana – more than one pound, possession with intent to deliver, and no drug tax stamp. Cahill was lodged in Lincoln County Jail.

Information on the November 18 traffic stop could not be released previously because of an ongoing investigation.

The second traffic stop occurred at approximately 1:10 p.m. Monday, November 26, when a trooper observed an eastbound Chevrolet Equinox fail to signal near mile marker 189 on I-80. During the traffic stop, the trooper became suspicious of criminal activity. A search was conducted and revealed 30 pounds of high grade marijuana. The driver and passenger were both arrested and interviewed.

Following interviews, the driver was released. The passenger, a 17-year-old juvenile from California, was lodged in Lincoln County Jail for possession of marijuana – more than one pound, possession with intent to deliver, and no drug tax stamp.

WICHITA – A Kansas woman was sentenced Tuesday to seven years in federal prison on drug and firearm charges, according to U.S. Attorney Stephen McAllister. 

Kimberly R. Phillips, 35, Hutchinson, pleaded guilty to one count of possession with intent to distribute oxycodone and one count of carrying a firearm in furtherance of drug trafficking.

In her plea, Phillips admitted investigators found 64 tablets of oxycodone when they searched her residence. She also admitted that when investigators stopped her car they found her Derringer handgun and methamphetamine. She told investigators she was selling drugs to pay back her bondsman.