JACKSON COUNTY— Authorities say one man was killed and another had to have his arm amputated after a mobile crane overturned at a roofing job site in northeast Kansas.
Jackson County Sheriff Tim Morse says the men were in a lift basket that was 30 feet in the air when the crane toppled over Wednesday afternoon in Holton. John Zibell, 66, Holton, was killed. The surviving victim identified as Zachary Estrada, 29, Holton was transferred to the University of Kansas Hospital in Kansas City.
Morse says the crane, which was being used to access the roof of a three-story house, was sitting on ground that was sloped and soft from recent rains. He says federal officials are investigating the cause.
Morse described what happened as “traumatic, grim and horrid.”
-The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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JACKSON COUNTY — Authorities are investigating the cause of a fatal construction accident. Just after 2p.m. Wednesday, first responders were called to a home in the 500 Block of Iowa in Holton, according to Sheriff Tim Morse.
Two workers were injured when they were thrown from the basket of a lift on a mobile crane while working on the three-story home.
The men were transported to the hospital in Holton where one died, according to Morse. The other man had an arm amputation and was transported to the University of Kansas hospital.
Authorities are expected to release additional details on Thursday.
KANSAS CITY (AP) – A Kansas City doctor has been sentenced to a year in federal prison for his role in prescription drug fraud.
John Verstraete and staff worked from this location in Kansas City
John Verstraete and employees had pleaded guilty to writing unnecessary prescriptions for human growth hormone and importing illegal steroids from overseas and then selling them on the black market.
Verstraete’s attorney, Christopher Angles, asked that Verstraete get only probation and home confinement, citing his history of compassionate patient care and charity work.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Sirena Wissler said that Verstraete wrote fraudulent human growth hormone prescriptions to people who used it “strictly for vanity purposes,” cheating Medicare and Medicaid out of about $1.5 million. He or others in his office then bought some of the drugs back to be sold to other patients.
WICHITA — A large crowd was on hand to welcome Vice President Mike Pence to Wichita Thursday evening. Pence arrived just after 7:30p.m. following stops earlier in the day in Colorado and Oklahoma.
The Vice President attended a dinner and reception fundraiser in support of Kansas Secretary of State and Gubernatorial candidate Kris Kobach, at the Air Capital Flight Line Building in Wichita. He spoke to the private gathering about immigration, cutting taxes and encouraged them to get out to vote.
Great to be in Wichita supporting an early supporter of @RealDonaldTrump’s @KrisKobach1787 to be be next Governor of the great state of Kansas! Kris is “Kansas grown,” and he’s carried his Kansas values with him at every stage of his life! pic.twitter.com/9aJgVa9gsE
On Friday the Vice President is scheduled to attend a similar reception in Topeka for Kansas 2nd district congressional candidate Steve Watkins. Former state House Minority Leader Paul Davis and Watkins are in a tight race to win the seat currently held by Lynn Jenkins.
SHAWNEE COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating a burglary and have a suspect in custody.
Dustin Cain -photo Shawnee County
Just after 5:00 a.m. Thursday, police investigators worked a burglary to the Dairy Queen 3320 SW 29th Street in Topeka, according to Lt. Aaron Jones. The stolen items included a cake and vacuum.
After developing information, officers conducted a knock and talk in the 3300 block of SW 29th Street at approximately 5:00 pm.
They arrested 33-year-old Dustin Cain on suspicion of charges related to the burglary of the Dairy Queen. The vacuum was recovered and returned to Dairy Queen.
Cain has previous convictions for burglary, theft, aggravated assault, criminal damage to property and arson, according to the Kansas Department of Corrections.
OLATHE, Kan. (AP) — Prosecutors are calling for a man who kidnapped and raped a suburban Kansas City sheriff’s deputy to serve more time in prison than what’s called for in Kansas sentencing guidelines, saying he also raped another woman while her toddler was present.
Luth and Newman-Caddell
Johnson County prosecutors made their case Wednesday, alleging Brady Newman-Caddell, 23, is a dangerous sexual predator who poses a risk of committing future crimes. Newman-Caddell pleaded guilty in May to charges of rape, aggravated sodomy and aggravated kidnapping.
He and another man, William Luth, were convicted for ambushing and abducting the deputy in 2016 from outside the Johnson County Detention Center in Olathe, Kansas.
The deputy testified Wednesday that she was heading to work when Luth confronted her, punched her multiple times and abducted her in the car that Newman-Caddell was driving. The deputy said that both men raped her, eventually letting her out of the vehicle about 30 miles away in Lee’s Summit, Missouri.
The men were arrested days later.
Newman-Caddell’s DNA samples from the deputy’s case were a match with another rape months prior that occurred in Independence, Missouri.
The woman also testified Wednesday, saying she was asleep in bed with her 2-year-old daughter when she awoke to two men inside her bedroom. The woman said she was punched and sexually assaulted by the men in front of her child. The men eventually stopped and left the apartment.
The woman said she later learned that Newman-Caddell lived in the same apartment building at the time that she was attacked.
Newman-Caddell will be sentenced Jan. 23. Luth was sentenced earlier this year to 41 years in prison after pleading guilty to the same charges.
OLATHE, Kan. (AP) — Prosecutors say a man who kidnapped and raped a suburban Kansas City sheriff’s deputy is a dangerous sexual predator who raped another woman while her toddler was in bed with her.
Prosecutors made their case Wednesday for 23-year-old Brady Newman-Caddell to serve more time in prison than what’s called for in Kansas sentencing guidelines.
He and another man, William Luth, were convicted previously of abducting the deputy from outside the detention center in Olathe, Kansas, in October 2016 as she headed to work. She was released in the Missouri suburb of Lee’s Summit. DNA from that case led to the man being charged in the rape of the mother in Independence, Missouri.
Newman-Caddell will be sentenced Jan. 23. Luth is serving a 41-year sentence.
KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — More than 70 Kansas religious leaders and community activists are asking the state’s political candidates to stop vilifying immigrants.
The interfaith leaders signed an open letter to candidates saying that immigrants in the country legally and illegally are vital parts of communities and contribute to the economy.
Organizers said the letter will be sent this week to scores of Democrats and Republicans seeking state and federal offices. The group did not single out particular candidates. Lead organizer Rev. Bobby L. Love, Sr., deflected questions about whether it’s aimed at Kansas Secretary of State and gubernatorial candidate Kris Kobach.
Kobach has made illegal immigration a key issue in his campaign after more than a decade of advocating action by states and local communities.
KANSAS CITY (AP) – A new study says the approximately 250-mile trip from Kansas City to St. Louis could be slashed to a half-hour’s time, but an ultra-high-speed Hyperloop system across Missouri wouldn’t come cheap.
Kansas City-based Black and Veatch found in its analysis that the Hyperloop could run in the median or along the side of Interstate 70. The study was accepted Wednesday by Virgin Hyperloop One, a company working to develop the world’s first Hyperloop system.
With speeds two to three times faster than high speed rail, Missouri Hyperloop could give time back to its people – time worth up to $410 million per year. How would you spend your time saved? https://t.co/su3YQxwBYCpic.twitter.com/Ck9gUdk6bF
Hyperloop technology involves a tubular track through which a train-like pod carries passengers at speeds up to 640 mph. It’s not cheap. Some estimates have put the cost at $25 million to $27 million per mile, excluding land acquisition.
SHAWNEE COUNTY— Authorities are continuing the search for an inmate who escaped from a work crew in Topeka.
WORRELL -photo Shawnee County
The Shawnee County Department of Corrections says 27-year-old Brian Andrew Worrell ran away Wednesday on his first day with that crew. The Shawnee County Sheriff’s office confirmed late Thursday afternoon he was still missing.
Maj. Tim Phelps says that Worrell is not thought to be an active threat to any member of the public.
Worrell was part of a community work crew was helping with code compliance work. Worrell ran away when the crew supervisor began taking photos of the work. The remaining inmates were then secured.
He had been booked into the jail Sept. 20 on misdemeanor warrants charging him with theft and criminal damage to property and other charges.
KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — Two Kansas water park maintenance workers were acquitted Thursday of impeding an investigation into the death of a 10-year-old boy who was decapitated while riding a waterslide in August 2016.
David Hughes and John Zalsman were charged with obstruction of justice in connection to the death of Caleb Schwab, who was killed on the Verruckt slide at the Schlitterbahn water park in Kansas City. The raft Caleb was riding in went airborne, slamming him into a metal pole. Two women on the raft also were injured.
Hughes and Zalsman were they are the first employees to stand trial in the case.
Prosecutors alleged the two men failed to replace a brake mat that fell off the slide two weeks earlier but told investigators that the mat had only been on the slide during testing phases. Video evidence showed that the mat was used after the ride opened to customers in 2014, prosecutors said.
“This was not a mistake, this was intentional calculated conduct,” said Adam Zentner, assistant Kansas Attorney General.
The Verruckt rafts made a 17-story drop at speeds of up to 70 mph (110 kilometers per hour), followed by a surge over the hump and a 50-foot (15-meter) descent to a finishing pool. Jurors were told the brake mat was supposed to slow the rafts as they reached the top of the hump.
The defense said prosecutors didn’t understand how the slide functioned and questioned the testimony of Jason Diaz, the Kansas Bureau of Investigation agent who interviewed the defendants. The defense also noted that another Schlitterbahn employee who made false statements to investigators wasn’t charged.
“These are just two good old boys, they’re hard working guys and because they’re the only two adults in the room they get singled out and have to get charged ,” said Scott Toth, defense attorney for Hughes, as he addressed jurors.
Diaz said he didn’t believe the other employee had intentionally misled him.
Schlitterbahn has said officials have no reason to believe any employee obstructed justice.
The most serious charges in Caleb’s death have been filed against one of Schlitterbahn’s owners, Jeff Henry, Verruckt designer John Schooley and general contractor Henry & Sons Constructions. Each is charged with second-degree murder, aggravated battery and aggravated endangerment of a child. Another employee is charged with involuntary manslaughter. They have all pleaded not guilty.
The slide, which was billed as the world’s tallest, was shut down after Caleb’s was killed.
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KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — Jurors on Thursday began deliberating the case of two Kansas water park maintenance workers accused of impeding the investigation into the death of a 10-year-old boy who was decapitated on a waterslide in August 2016.
David Hughes and John Zalsman are charged with obstruction of justice.
Caleb Schwab was killed as he rode the Verruckt slide at the Schlitterbahn water park in Kansas City. The raft on which Caleb was riding went airborne as it went over a hump and slammed him into a metal pole that supported a net meant to keep riders from flying off the slide. Two women on the raft also were injured.
Prosecutors said Hughes and Zalsman failed to replace a brake mat that fell off the slide two weeks before Caleb was killed, then told investigators that the mat had only been on the slide during testing phases. Video evidence shows the mat was used after the ride opened to customers in 2014, prosecutors said.
“This was not a mistake, this was intentional calculated conduct,” said Adam Zentner, assistant Kansas Attorney General.
The Verruckt rafts made a 17-story drop at speeds of up to 70 mph (110 kilometers per hour), followed by a surge over the hump and a 50 foot (15 meter) descent to a finishing pool. Jurors were told the brake mat was supposed to slow the rafts as they reached the top of the hump.
The defense said prosecutors didn’t understand how the slide functioned and questioned the testimony of Jason Diaz, the Kansas Bureau of Investigation agent who interviewed the defendants. The defense also noted that another Schlitterbahn employee who made false statements to investigators wasn’t charged. Diaz said he didn’t believe the other employee had intentionally misled him.
“These are just two good old boys, they’re hard working guys and because they’re the only two adults in the room they get singled out and have to get charged,” said Scott Toth, defense attorney for Hughes, as he addressed jurors.
Schlitterbahn has said officials have no reason to believe any employee obstructed justice.
The most serious charges in Caleb’s death have been filed against one of Schlitterbahn’s owners, Jeff Henry, Verruckt designer John Schooley and general contractor Henry & Sons Constructions. Each is charged with second-degree murder, aggravated battery and aggravated endangerment of a child. Another employee is charged with involuntary manslaughter. They have all pleaded not guilty.
The slide, which was billed as the world’s tallest, was shut down after Caleb’s was killed.
KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — Testimony has concluded in the trial of two maintenance workers at a Kansas water park who are accused of deliberately misleading investigators after a 10-year-old boy was decapitated on a waterslide.
Deliberations will begin Thursday after closing arguments are made in the case against David Hughes and John Zalsman. They’re charged with obstructing the investigation into the August 2016 death of Caleb Schwab at Schlitterbahn in Kansas City.
Prosecutors say they failed to replace a brake mat that fell off a raft two weeks before it went airborne, killing Caleb. The prosecution says the men then lied.
The defense says prosecutors don’t understand how the 17-story Verruckt waterslide functioned. The park’s co-owner and the ride’s designer have also been indicted in Caleb’s death.
SALINE COUNTY — One person died in a house fire Wednesday in Saline County.
The scene of the fatal fire early Wednesday in Salina
Just after 1:30 a.m. Wednesday, an officer on patrol found heavy smoke in the 800 block of North 7th Street in Salina, according Police Captain Paul Forrester. At the same time, 9-1-1 calls started coming in to dispatch about a house fire at 832 N. 7th.
Firefighters found 78-year-old Ronald Holub inside the home unresponsive. He was transported to Salina Regional Health Center where he died. Exact cause of the fire has not been released. It is believed to have been accidental, according to Forrester.
Holub was the only resident of the home which is considered a total loss.
GEARY COUNTY – Special agents of the Kansas Bureau of Investigation (KBI) have arrested Geary County Sheriff Tony Wolf.
Tony Wolf ( Photo courtesy of Geary County Sheriff’s Department ).
Just after 9a.m., the KBI arrested 44-year-old Wolf at the Geary County Sheriff’s Office in Junction City for felony theft, for allegedly giving a county-owned firearm as a gift to a third party and for misuse of public funds, according to a media release from the KBI.
The misuse of public funds allegation asserts Wolf used public dollars in a manner not authorized by law.
The KBI initiated this investigation in August. The findings were presented to Dickinson County Attorney Andrea Purvis, who was appointed as special prosecutor for the case, and a warrant was obtained for Wolf’s arrest.
Following the arrest, Wolf was booked into the Geary County Jail, and then released on bond. He is on administrative leave.
FINNEY COUNTY —Law enforcement authorities are investigating and asking the public for help to locate four suspects.
According to Garden City Police, two men and two women are wanted for questioning in connection with their fraud Investigation. The vehicles used in this incident are identified as newer model, silver, Toyota Tundra and light blue van.
Anyone who witnessed this incident, or has information related to this incident is asked to call the Garden City Police Department (620) 276-1300.
Photos courtesy Garden City Police
If you wish to remain anonymous you can call Crime Stoppers (620) 275-7807, or text your tip to Garden City PD, text GCTIP and your tip to Tip411 (847411).
OGDEN, KAN. – Law enforcement have been investigating human remains found in Riley County and have confirmed the identity of the body.
Ashley Elizabeth Meiss courtesy photo
Just after 3p.m. Saturday, the Riley County Police Department received a call from a citizen reporting the discovery of possible human remains in the 300 block of North Park Road in Ogden, according to a media release.
The initial investigation confirmed the remains to be human, and they have now been positively identified as those belonging to Ashley Elizabeth Meiss, who was reported as missing to the Riley County Police Department from her Ogden home on May 17 of this year.
Autopsy results showed no indication of foul play, and next of kin have been notified. A copy of the investigation will be forwarded to the County Attorney for review, which is standard procedure in such cases.
Meiss, 31, served in Iraq and came back to Ogden, Kansas, in 2010 after she was honorably discharged, according to her family.
No further information regarding this case is expected to be released to the public.
Two workers were injured when they were thrown from the basket of a lift on a mobile crane while working on the three-story home.
