SHAWNEE COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating a suspect in connection with two burglaries.
Tomlinson -photo Shawnee County
Just after 1:30 a.m. Wednesday, officers responded to a residence in the 1600 block of SW Webster in Topeka on a report of a burglary in progress, according to Lt. Ron Ekis.
The resident had heard a commotion inside of the home and called 911.
Responding officers found signs that the home appeared to have been forcibly entered. While officers were on scene investigating, another resident about a block away in the 1500 block of SW Collins called dispatch reporting a man on his porch.
Officers responded to the 1500 block of SW Collins and located a man in the front yard who they suspected burglarized the previous address on Webster.
Police arrested Japheth Demetrius Tomlinson, 21, and booked him into the Shawnee County Department of Corrections for aggravated burglary and criminal damage to property, according to Ekis.
TOPEKA—Residents of Riley, Jewell, Kingman, Marshall, and Pratt counties affected by Monday’s flooding can get free replacement car titles and drivers licenses if those documents were lost or damaged in recent flooding, according to the Kansas Division of Vehicles director David Harper.
Monday flooding in Manhattan -Photo courtesy RCPD
Applications for replacement titles and replacement registration receipts can be made at the county treasurer’s offices in each of the five counties.
Free replacements will be available for 30 days.
“Official documents are vital for the process of rebuilding after a natural disaster,” Director Harper said. “The Division of Vehicles is happy to assist the flood victims in obtaining free replacements.”
Governor Jeff Colyer, M.D., issued a state of disaster emergency for those five counties affected by weekend flooding.
More information about titles, registrations, and credentials can be found here.
FINNEY COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating a suspect on felony allegations after a Labor Day arrest.
Diaz -photo Finney Co.
Just before 8a.m. Monday, police responded the 300 N 3rd Street in Garden City to check the welfare of a woman that was reportedly laying in the street, according to a media release.
Officers found Andrea Diaz, 37, Garden City, who was acting erratic and ignored verbal commands from the officer.
Diaz walked towards the officer’s patrol vehicle and attempted to take the marked police car by entering into the driver’s side area of the patrol vehicle while making comments that she was going to take the vehicle.
Officers successfully stopped Diaz from stealing the patrol vehicle. As officers attempted to arrest Diaz she resisted arrest causing minor injury to one of the officers. She was taken into custody after a brief struggle.
Diaz is being held in the Finney County Jail and could face the possible charges of: Felony Aggravated Assault of law enforcement officer, Felony Interference with Law enforcement officer, Felony Attempted Theft, Battery of a law enforcement officer and Criminal Trespass, according to the release.
SEDGWICK COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating a fatal crash and have identified the victims.
First responders on the scene of the fatal crash -photo courtesy KWCH
Just after 2:30p.m. Tuesday, police responded to the accident at 31st Street South and Turnpike Drive in Wichita, according to officer Charley Davidson.
Investigators determined a 2003 Chevy Trail Blazer driven by a 38-year-old man was eastbound on 31st Street South and struck a Ford Fiesta driven by Uriel Salabao, 21, Wichita, that was turning left onto Turnpike Drive.
Salabao and a passenger Miyah Latney, 20, Wichita, both sustained critical injuries. Salabao was transported to an area hospital where she died. Latney was pronounced dead at the scene.
The driver of the Trail Blazer was transported to a local hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, according to Davidson.
This is the 18th fatality accident in Wichita in 2018.
JEWELL COUNTY —A fund has been established to help cover expenses of deputies and dispatchers following the August 28, shooting at the Jewell County Sheriff’s Department.
On that Tuesday morning a man identified as Jason L. Whitson, 40, of Mankato, entered the Sheriff’s Office, walked up to the dispatch desk and requested to talk to a deputy. As a sheriff’s deputy approached to speak with him, Whitson fired multiple times through a door that led into the dispatch room. Two deputies were injured during the shooting and are now both recovering.
The fund at the State Exchange Bank, 107 South Commercial, Mankato.
Funds should be sent to
Jewell County Sheriff’s Office Relief Fund
C/O The State Exchange Bank
P.O. Box 284 Mankato, KS 66956
SHAWNEE COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating an aggravated robbery and searching for a suspect.
Just after 9:30p.m. Tuesday, officers were dispatched to the 1800 block of SW Central Park Avenue in Topeka, according to Lt. Ron Ekis after an individual had been robbed.
The female victim reported being approached by a man dressed in a black hooded sweatshirt and blue jeans who asked her for money.
When she refused to give the man any money, he tried taking her purse and a struggle ensued. The suspect displayed a knife and the victim relinquished her purse.
The suspect fled on foot with the woman’s purse. She sustained minor injuries during the altercation and was taken by ambulance to a local hospital for treatment.
Police have made no arrests.
Anyone with information regarding this crime is encouraged to contact the Topeka Police.
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — The parents of a 2-month-old boy found dead at a Wichita motel are now charged with involuntary manslaughter and several counts of child endangerment.
Kempton-photo Sedgwick CountyRollings- photo Sedgwick County
The baby’s father, Kyle Kempton, and his mother, Christy Rollings, were both charged Tuesday in the death of Patrick Kempton at the Scotsman Inn.
The parents will have court-appointed attorneys and are due back in court on Sept. 20.
The boy was found dead beside his father in a motel bed last Thursday. His twin was not injured and was put into protective custody.
Officer Charlie Davidson says officers found the parents intoxicated two days before the child was found dead. The children were placed with a relative after that incident but the relative returned them to their parents.
OLATHE, Kan. (AP) — A man testified Tuesday that he spent about eight hours cutting up his wife’s body after she died at a Missouri hotel because he was afraid authorities would take away his children.
Rey -photo Johnson Co.
Justin Rey, 36, said protecting his family was the reason he didn’t call for medical help after his wife delivered a baby at the hotel in October and afterward when she killed herself, The Kansas City Star reported . Investigators later found Rey with his newborn and 2-year-old daughter, along with bags of body parts, at a storage shed in Lenexa, Kansas.
Rey is not charged in his wife’s death, but faces child endangerment charges in Kansas and Missouri and is charged with abandonment of a corpse in Missouri. He took the unusual step of testifying at his preliminary hearing in Kansas, with defense attorney Zane Todd saying Rey wanted to correct some witness testimony. After Tuesday’s hearing, a not guilty plea was entered for Rey to Johnson County, Kansas, charges of two counts of aggravated child endangerment and two counts of contributing to a child’s misconduct.
“It’s something I had to do,” Rey testified. “My family is very dear to me. It’s something I had to do to protect my family.”
One officer who met Rey at the storage unit said the 2-year-old appeared unhealthy and “almost looked like she had cancer.” The baby had a serious eye infection, according to several witnesses. The children were put in protective custody.
Rey has said in the past that his wife died in childbirth, but Lenexa police detective Shannon Murphy testified that Rey told her his wife had killed herself. After having his children pose for photographs with her body, Rey said he “skinned her like a fish,” Murphy testified. Murphy said Rey flushed body parts that would not fit in containers down the toilet.
Deputy Johnson County Coroner Charles Glenn testified that “a number” of stab were wounds found on some parts of Jessica Rey’s body but that it wasn’t possible to tell whether the injuries were inflicted before or after she died.
Rey told the court that he and the children had not been living at the storage locker, as witnesses said, but had been there for only about 11 hours while preparing to travel to Arizona, where he said he intended to give his wife a proper burial. He also said his children were well cared for.
“I didn’t endanger my children,” he testified. “My children were perfectly healthy.”
Rey also denied flushing anything but a placenta down the toilet.
His trial on the Kansas charges was scheduled for Nov. 5.
Rey also was charged in November in California in the death of Sean Ty Ferel, a Palm Springs resident who disappeared after vacationing with Rey in 2016. Ferel’s body hasn’t been found, but his blood was detected in the trunk of his vehicle after Rey was involved in an accident with it months after Ferel disappeared.
TOPEKA – A task force established in March by a Governor’s Executive Order, has finalized and submitted a list of recommendations to address substance use, including opioid addiction. The recommendations were submitted to Governor Jeff Colyer ahead of the Sept. 1 deadline.
“I appreciate the time, effort and expertise the task force members brought to this important initiative,” Governor Colyer said. “The recommendations I have reviewed are clearly well thought out, thoroughly discussed and considered, and will be used going forward to shape discussions on substance use in Kansas.”
The Governor’s Task Force to Address Substance Use Disorders was led by Dr. Greg Lakin, State Medical Officer, Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE). Membership on the task force included medical professionals, Cabinet-level Secretaries and various stakeholders.
“We each have a desire and duty to promote the health and well-being of Kansans, particularly those affected by addiction. I am thankful to be part of such an important task force, involving this urgent cause,” Dr. Lakin said. “The members all worked well collectively, putting together high-impact recommendations. I also appreciate the great work of the Opiate Prescription Abuse committee that contributed to the discussion.”
To address substance use issues across the state, the group was tasked with, among other things, to utilize existing resources to identify best practices and offer recommendations for a statewide response to the opioid crisis. The group focused on five specific areas: provider education; prevention; treatment and recovery; law enforcement; and Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome.
The task force received testimony from 86 individuals and organizations as it conducted its work, which involved regular meetings between April and August, at the Kansas Health Institute, Topeka.
Among the recommendations within Treatment and Recovery is Needs Assessment. The task force suggests a statewide needs assessment be conducted to identify gaps in funding, access to substance use disorder (SUD) treatment providers and identify specific policies to effectively utilize and integrate existing SUD treatment resources.
Within Prevention, Community Collaboration is recommended by increasing collaboration with community partners to
enhance their capacity to develop and implement local-level prevention efforts for prescription drug, illicit opioid, methamphetamine and other drug misuse and overdose.
As has been previously reported, the vote to recommend Medicaid expansion was not unanimous. A breakdown of how each task member voted on this issue, can be found beginning on page 39.
EUDORA, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas home day care worker who was convicted in the death of a 9-month-old baby is seeking a new trial.
Buchhorn-photo Douglas County
44-year-old Carrody Buchhorn was scheduled to be sentenced Friday. She was convicted in July of unintentionally but recklessly causing the death of Oliver “Ollie” Ortiz, of Eudora, on Sept. 29, 2016, at the Sunshine Kids Group Daycare Home in Eudora.
Buchhorn has a new legal team that is trying to get her a new trial. Douglas County District Court Judge Sally Pokorny rescheduled Buchhorn’s sentencing for Oct. 18 to allow time for her new attorneys to file their motion for a new trial and the state to file its response.
Since her conviction, Buchhorn has been in jail without bond.
OVERLAND PARK, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas City area man has filed a lawsuit alleging that a trip to an urgent care clinic for a foot wound led to gangrene and a leg amputation.
Trenton Twidwell filed the lawsuit last month against Kristin Duncan, the doctor he saw at the CareNow urgent care clinic in Overland Park.
The lawsuit alleges that Duncan diagnosed Twidwell with a common infection called cellulitis in August 2017. The lawsuit alleges Duncan prescribed ineffective antibiotics, never cultured the wound and didn’t order any lab work.
The suit says Twidwell developed gangrene and sepsis just weeks later, leading to a below-knee amputation.
The newspaper was unable to reach Duncan for comment. A CareNow employee says she no longer works there.
SEDGWICK COUNTY —Law enforcement authorities are investigating a fatal, Labor Day hit and run crash and have a suspect in custody.
Carpenter -photo Sedgwick County
Investigators determined a 2005 Ford Freestar driven by 34-year-old Monte Carpenter of Wichita was southbound on McClain Street in Wichita just after 3p., according to officer Charley Davidson.
It is believed Carpenter ran the red light at 31st Street and stuck an eastbound 2003 Buick Century driven by Marsha Oglesby, 56, Wichita.
She was pinned in the vehicle and later transported to an area where she died, according to Davidson.
McClain fled the crash on foot. With the help of local citizens, police found and arrested him. He was booked for involuntary manslaughter, hit and run, driving under the influence and driving with a suspended license, according to Davidson,
Carpenter has previous convictions for DUI and theft, according to the Kansas Department of Corrections.
