TOPEKA (AP) — A Florida nonprofit recently awarded a four-year grant for family preservation services in Kansas has been under intense scrutiny in its home state.

Eckerd Connects, which administers foster care in the Tampa Bay area, will serve much of Kansas starting next year. The announcement was made earlier this month by the Kansas Department for Children and Families.

But the Kansas City Star reports that Eckerd has been plagued by problems such as foster children roaming unsupervised while skipping school, young people staying in different homes night after night, even children dying of abuse or neglect.

Eckerd says it already provides some services in Kansas through a partnership with the Department of Corrections.

It says states across the country are facing similar challenges with placing foster care children.

DENVER (AP) — One person was killed and four others were wounded in a shooting on a downtown Denver street Monday, but it was unclear what caused the violence and no one had been arrested, authorities said.

The shooting occurred in a neighborhood of new apartment buildings, restaurants and bars near the Colorado Rockies’ stadium just as the evening rush hour was getting underway.

Police spokesman Doug Schepman said investigators did not know whether more than one shooter was involved and had no descriptions of any suspects.

A witness told The Denver Post he saw a man holding a handgun in both hands fire into a group of indigent people, and someone in the group fired back.

“Oh my God, oh my God,” Hisam Derani said. “I saw him approach the crowd.”

Derani said he was returning home from work when he heard about six gunshots. He said he saw one or two shots fired before he ducked.

He said a gunman got into a car, slammed the door and drove away.

Derani says police interviewed him and later asked him if a man they had detained as a potential suspect was the shooter, but Derani said he was not.

Schepman said investigators did not yet know what led to the shooting.

“It’s too early in the investigation right now to be able to say exactly what happened here and why,” he said. Investigators were interviewing witnesses and looking for video.

The wounded victims were taken to Denver Health medical center. Schepman said they were considered to be in critical condition because they had been shot but their injuries were not believed to be life-threatening.
Hospital spokesman Simon Crittle said he did not know their conditions.

Authorities released conflicting numbers of the wounded in the first few hours after the shooting, first saying it was four, then three, then four again. Schepman said uncertainty in the immediate aftermath of the shooting caused the varying reports.

Police said witnesses had told officers they saw a potential sixth victim, a woman who was wounded in the leg, but investigators had not been able to confirm that.

TOPEKA (AP) — Room is running out for names on the memorial honoring Kansas law enforcement officers killed in the line of duty, so it will soon be expanded.

The Lawrence Journal-World reports that Gov. Jeff Colyer and Attorney General Derek Schmidt were among those announcing expansion plans on Monday. The project is expected to cost $500,000, funded with private donations. Organizers have already raised about $425,000.

The memorial is outside the Kansas Statehouse. It includes the names of 281 officers, with room for 39 more. Plans call for adding a second concentric ring of memorial markers outside the existing monument so that additional names can be added in future years.

The memorial was dedicated in 1987 and includes the names of officers who have died in the line of duty since 1866.

WICHITA (AP) — A second man has been sentenced to stealing guns from an undercover Sedgwick County Sheriff’s vehicle.

The Wichita Eagle reports that 37-year-old Justin Winger was sentenced Monday to two years and nine months in prison after he pleaded guilty to failure to report a crime. Winger admitted in his plea that he was with 38-year-old Travis Keller, when Keller broke into an undercover cop car and stole guns.

The guns included a 9-mm handgun, a 12-gauge shotgun and a 5.56-caliber rifle. Keller previously was sentenced to four years and nine months in prison.

Kansas Department of Corrections records show Winger was on parole at the time.

Winger said that Keller sold the guns to Arthur Mannie for $400 and an ounce of marijuana. Mannie is scheduled for trial Jan. 8.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The family of a teen who was killed in a crash with an off-duty officer outside the stadium where the Kansas City Chiefs play has filed a wrongful death lawsuit.

The Kansas City Star reports that the lawsuit was filed in Jackson County Circuit Court against Terrell Watkins. He was driving a police van to an off-duty security assignment at Arrowhead Stadium in heavy pregame traffic last month when he slammed into the back of a car. The crash killed the car’s driver, 17-year-old Chandan Rajanna of Overland Park and seriously hurt the teen’s father and older sister.

Watkins isn’t identified in the lawsuit as a police officer, but police officials previously said that an officer was involved in the fatal wreck. Watkins doesn’t have a listed phone number.

By AMANDA SEITZ and DON BABWIN
Associated Press

CHICAGO (AP) — An argument outside a Chicago hospital turned deadly when a man pulled out a gun and killed an emergency room doctor whom he knew, then ran into the hospital and fatally shot a pharmacy resident and a police officer, authorities said.

The attacker, Juan Lopez, also died Monday but it was not clear if he took his own life or was killed by police at Mercy Hospital on the city’s South Side, Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson said.

Chicago “lost a doctor, pharmaceutical assistant and a police officer, all going about their day, all doing what they loved,” Mayor Rahm Emanuel said, fighting back tears. “This just tears at the soul of our city. It is the face and a consequence of evil.”

Mercy Hospital said the staff who died were Tamara O’Neal, 38, an emergency room physician who never worked on Sunday because of her religious faith, and Dayna Less, 25, a first year pharmacy resident who had recently graduated from Purdue University.

The slain officer was identified as Samuel Jimenez, 28, who joined the department in February 2017 and had recently completed his probationary period, Johnson said. Police said he was married and the father of three children.

Police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi described the shooting as a “domestic-related active shooter incident,” but provided no details about the relationship between the two.

Lopez, 32, and O’Neal had been arguing in the hospital parking lot. When a friend of O’Neal tried to intervene, “the offender lifted up his shirt and displayed a handgun,” Johnson said.

The friend ran into the hospital to call for help, and the gunfire began seconds later. After O’Neal fell to the ground, Lopez “stood over her and shot her three more times,” a witness named James Gray told reporters.

When officers arrived, the suspect fired at their squad car then ran inside the hospital. The police gave chase.

Inside the medical center, Lopez exchanged fire with officers and “shot a poor woman who just came off the elevator” before he was killed, Johnson said, referring to pharmaceutical assistant Less.

“We just don’t know how much damage he was prepared to do,” Johnson said, adding that Less “had nothing to do with nothing.”

Jennifer Eldridge was working in a hospital pharmacy when she heard three or four shots that seemed to come from outside. Within seconds, she barricaded the door, as called for in the building’s active shooter drills. Then there were six or seven more shots that sounded much closer, just outside the door.

“I could tell he was now inside the lobby. There was screaming,” she recalled.

The door jiggled, which Eldridge believed was the shooter trying to get in. Some 15 minutes later, she estimated, a SWAT team officer knocked at the door, came inside and led her away. She looked down and saw blood on the floor but no bodies.

“It may have been 15 minutes, but it seemed like an eternity,” she said.

Maria Correa hid under a desk, clutching her 4-month-old son, Angel, while the violence unfolded. Correa was in the waiting area of the hospital for her mother-in-law’s doctor appointment when a hospital employee told them to lock themselves in offices.

She lost track of how many shots she heard while under the desk “trying to protect her son” for 10 to 15 minutes.

“They were the worst minutes of our lives,” Correa said.

The death of Jimenez comes nine months after another member of the Chicago Police Department, Cmdr. Paul Bauer, was fatally shot while pursuing a suspect in the Loop business district.

Mercy has a rich history as the city’s first chartered hospital. It began in 1852, when the Sisters of Mercy religious group converted a rooming house. During the Civil War, the hospital treated both Union soldiers and Confederate prisoners of war, according to its website.

By ROXANA HEGEMAN
Associated Press

WICHITA — A federal judge didn’t immediately rule Monday on whether to bar Somali immigrants from testifying at the sentencing of three men convicted of plotting to bomb the Kansas apartment complex where the immigrants lived, but he said he couldn’t recall ever denying someone that right.

U.S. District Judge Eric Melgren heard arguments from attorneys for three militia members who also were convicted of planning to bomb a mosque in Garden City, a meatpacking town in western Kansas that is among the most ethnically diverse in the state.

The men were scheduled to be sentenced this week, but the hearing was derailed by their request to block 20 short videos of testimony that the government wants to play.

Defense attorney Michael Shultz said the victim impact statements shouldn’t be allowed because none of the immigrants was hurt in the plot. Prosecutor Mary Hahn argued that harm to the community should be considered.

“They provide insight to the long-lasting impact of this crime,” Hahn said, adding that the men have tried to minimize the impact of their crimes as “mere words.”

The judge said he would issue decision later, but commented during the hearing: “I can’t recall that I have ever in a sentencing hearing denied a person who wanted to be heard the right to be heard.”

A federal jury in April convicted Patrick Stein, Gavin Wright and Curtis Allen of conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction and conspiracy against civil rights. Wright was also found guilty of lying to the FBI.

The attack, planned for the day after the 2016 general election, was thwarted by another member of the group who tipped off authorities about escalating threats of violence.

By NOMAAN MERCHANT
Associated Press

HOUSTON (AP) — A federal judge barred the Trump administration from refusing asylum to immigrants who cross the southern border illegally.

President Donald Trump issued a proclamation on Nov. 9 that said anyone who crossed the southern border between official ports of entry would be ineligible for asylum. As the first of several caravans of migrants have started arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border, Trump said an asylum ban was necessary to stop what he’s attacked as a national security threat.

But in his ruling Monday, U.S. District Judge Jon Tigar agreed with legal groups that immediately sued, arguing that U.S. immigration law clearly allows someone to seek asylum even if they enter the country between official ports of entry.

“Whatever the scope of the President’s authority, he may not rewrite the immigration laws to impose a condition that Congress has expressly forbidden,” said Tigar, a nominee of former President Barack Obama.
The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately comment on the ruling, which will remain in effect for one month barring an appeal. In issuing the ban, Trump used the same powers he used last year to impose a travel ban that was ultimately upheld by the Supreme Court.

If enforced, the ban would potentially make it harder for thousands of people to avoid deportation. DHS estimates around 70,000 people a year claim asylum between official ports of entry. But Tigar’s ruling notes that federal law says someone may seek asylum if they have arrived in the United States, “whether or not at a designated port of arrival.”

“Individuals are entitled to asylum if they cross between ports of entry,” said Baher Azmy, a lawyer for the Center for Constitutional Rights, which sued the government alongside the American Civil Liberties Union. “It couldn’t be clearer.”

Around 3,000 people from the first of the caravans have arrived in Tijuana, Mexico, across the border from San Diego, California. U.S. Customs and Border Protection said Monday that it closed off northbound traffic for several hours at the San Ysidro crossing. It has also installed movable, wire-topped barriers, apparently to stop a potential mass rush of people.

As of Monday, 107 people detained between official crossings have sought asylum since Trump’s order went into effect, according to DHS, which oversees Customs and Border Protection. Officials didn’t say whether those people’s cases were still progressing through other, more difficult avenues left to them after the proclamation.

DHS has said it wants asylum seekers at the southern border to appear at an official border crossing. But many border crossings such as San Ysidro already have long wait times. People are often forced to wait in shelters or outdoor camps on the Mexican side, sometimes for weeks.

ACLU lawyer Lee Gelernt said that some people seeking asylum cross between official ports because “they’re in real danger,” either in their countries of origin or in Mexico.

“We don’t condone people entering between ports of entry, but Congress has made the decision that if they do, they still need to be allowed to apply for asylum,” he said.

KBI

Last week, the Kansas Bureau of Investigation, came together with more than 100 federal, state, and local law enforcement officers, for a joint effort led by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General, Office of Investigations.

The effort was a part of the HHS OIG OI’s Operation HOPE. It aimed to locate and recover children missing from the Kansas Foster Care Program. The operation was successful in the recovery of 18 program runaways.

Throughout the week of Nov. 12, law enforcement operated from command posts in Sedgwick and Johnson counties for the purpose of ensuring the safety and well-being of foster children, and identifying and eliminating, waste, fraud and abuse occurring within the state administered foster care program. The geographical areas of focus for the operation were Sedgwick County, Johnson County, and Wyandotte County, though the effort ultimately spanned many Kansas counties and saw leads generated and forwarded to other states.

Steve Hanson, Special Agent in Charge, HHS/OIG/OI, Kansas City Region, stated, “One of our office’s highest priorities is to ensure the safety and security of our most vulnerable youth population. As the lead agency with oversight responsibilities of the $5.7 billion dollar foster care program, we have a responsibility to ensure these children are receiving quality care and services.”

Participants:
Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General, Office of Investigations
Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Security Investigations
Federal Bureau of Investigation
United States Marshals Service
Kansas Bureau of Investigation
Kansas Highway Patrol
Johnson County Sheriff’s Office, Olathe, KS
Wyandotte County Sheriff’s Office, Kansas City, KS
Overland Park Police Department, Overland Park, KS
Wichita Police Department, Wichita, KS
Sedgwick County Sheriff’s Office
Sedgwick County Child Advocacy Center
National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC)
National Smuggling and Trafficking Center (NSTC)
Department of Health and Human Services-Administration for Children and Families
Office of Tracking in Persons
Children’s Bureau
Mid-States Organized Crime Information Center (MOCIC), Springfield, MO
Kansas Department for Children and Families, Topeka, KS

WICHITA, KAN. – A Kansas man was sentenced Monday to 33 months in federal prison for concealing the theft of guns from a Sedgwick County Sheriff’s Office vehicle, according to U.S. Attorney Stephen McAllister.

Justin Winger, 37, Wichita, pleaded guilty to one count of misprision (failure to report a crime). In his plea, Winger admitted he was present when co-defendant Travis Keller broke into an undercover car and stole a 9 mm handgun, a 12-gauge shotgun and a 5.56 caliber rifle. Winger knew the co-defendant was a convicted felon who was prohibited by federal law from possessing firearms.

Co-defendant Travis Keller was sentenced to 57 months.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The state of Kansas will pay $75,000 to settle a lawsuit alleging that the Department of Children and Families failed to intervene to protect an 18-month-old girl who eventually died.

Jayla Haag died in 2012 from blunt-force injuries to the head. The girl lived with her mother, Alyssa Haag, in El Dorado.

The suit filed by the father, Steven Watters, accused the agency of ignoring warning signs that included calls to a child-abuse hotline. He also alleged that a DCF social worker was aware of the mother’s persistent use of illegal drugs.

In addition to her injuries, Jayla tested positive for methamphetamine at birth and prior to her death.

Gov.-elect Laura Kelly, a Democrat, has promised to reform DCF once she takes office in January.

SALINE COUNTY —Law enforcement authorities are investigating five teen in connection with multiple incidents of damage to property in Saline County.

The incidents included 17 confirmed damage to vehicles and one burglary in which a door was broken and liquor allegedly stolen from a home in the 500 block of Beachwood in Salina, according to Police Captain Paul Forrester.

On Friday, police arrested Wilbert Haines, 19, Dominique Patrick, 15, Kaiden Goldsmith, 15, Silas Walker, 16 and Sam Cheney, 16, all of Salina.

Haines was booked on requested charges of felony damage to property, conspiracy to commit felony damage to property, aggravated burglary, conspiracy to commit aggravated burglary, theft, misdemeanor damage to property, felony contribution to child’s misconduct, possession of marijuana, and possession of drug paraphernalia, according to Forrester.

Patrick, Goldsmith, Walker, and Cheney were booked on requested charges of felony damage to property, conspiracy to commit felony damage to property, aggravated burglary, conspiracy to commit aggravated burglary, theft, and misdemeanor damage to property, according to Forrester.

 

NOTE: Kansas state law allows law enforcement to release the names of juveniles age 14 and older involved in criminal cases