A state prison inmate has been convicted of threatening judges and other law enforcement officers.

U.S. Attorney Barry Grissom said in a news release Friday that 49-year-old Virgil E. Dillon was found guilty of seven counts of sending threatening letters. He was an inmate at the state prison in Lansing at the time he sent the letters.

Sedgwick County officials who received the letters included District judges Benjamin Burgess and David Kaufman and sheriff’s deputies Robert Clark and Tim Myers. Dillon also sent the letters to some federal agents.

Sentencing is set for April 18.

By Fred Gough ~ Hutch Post

Police in Pratt are investigating a case of child abuse.

According to a news release from the Police Department, they were contacted by Wichita Police Thursday morning about a 2-month-old child from Pratt that had been admitted to the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit at Via Christi St. Francis unit.

The child was diagnosed with head and soft tissue injuries and based on that information, the child was taken into protective custody. The case was referred to the Pratt Police Department who have now started an investigation according to Detective Jeff Ward.

Ward says they are now working with family members in order to determine the origin of the injuries and who may be responsible.

No arrests have been made.

A court hearing for the leader of a group of people that lived off life insurance payouts of its dead members was postponed until March.

Thursday’s preliminary hearing for Daniel U. Perez was rescheduled at the request of his defense attorney. The hearing will be held March 8.

Perez is accused of premeditated murder in the death of Patricia Hughes at the group’s Valley Center compound. Her 2003 drowning death was originally considered an accident but was recently reclassified as a homicide.

The 52-year-old Perez is also charged with rape, sodomy, aggravated assault, making false statements on life insurance policies, making false statements to obtain auto credit and sexual exploitation of a child.

He is being held on a $2.1 million bond.

Trial has been postponed for two North Platte residents accused of locking two young boys in a dog kennel.

The trials of 24-year-old Samantha Eyten and 20-year-old Lacy Beyer were supposed to begin Tuesday, but are now set for Feb. 13 in Lincoln County District Court.

The women are each charged with two counts of felony child abuse and two counts of first-degree false imprisonment. They and two other adults have been charged after police conducted a welfare check at the mobile home they shared in October and found two boys, ages 3 and 5, in a wire dog kennel.

The boys’ mother, Ashly Cark, told police she put the boys in the kennel to keep them from climbing out a window.

A group of artists who spend little time mingling with the public will be showing their works at an unusual exhibition and sale in northeastern Kansas.

This weekend is the 30th annual “Hidden Art Locked Away” show in Leavenworth, featuring works by inmates at the U.S. Penitentiary and the military’s U.S. Disciplinary Barracks at Fort Leavenworth.

The Leavenworth Times reports last year’s show featured more than 150 works, including paintings, drawings and other two-dimensional forms.

The show opens with a preview from 4 to 8 p.m. Friday and continues with a sale from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday at the Riverfront Community Center. The artists keep 80% of the sale price, with the rest going to the River City Community Players, a theater company that sponsors the art show.

By Matt Unruh ~ Great Bend Post

Two Ellsworth teens that went missing for over two weeks were found unharmed earlier this week.

The couple 16-year-old Connor Creech and 13-year-old Katelyn McKinney were missing since January 16th, and were located on Tuesday. The case has been submitted to the Ellsworth County Attorney for his review, and he will decide if charges will be made.

A bill that would expand the number of exemptions allowed for parents who don’t want their children to be immunized apparently will not go to a vote this year.

State Rep. Brenda Landwehr of Wichita said Wednesday that she doesn’t intend to have the House Health and Human Services Committee work on the bill. She told The Wichita Eagle that she sees little support on the committee for allowing more exemptions from mandatory immunizations.

The bill drew a large crowd for a public hearing two weeks ago. Dozens of parents said they wanted to be allowed to reject the immunizations for reasons of personal conscience.

But health officials told the committee that mandatory vaccine laws are critical to stopping the spread of disease.

By Matt Unruh ~ Great Bend Post

Joseph Rykeil, of Great Bend pleaded to Involuntary Manslaughter in the July 4th death of 15-year-old Jessica Shearer of Garden City. Doug Matthews is the Barton County Attorney.

Shearer had reportedly ran away from the Barton County Youth Home three days prior to her body being found in a home on July 4th where Rykeil was renting a room in Great Bend.

It was reported that prescription drugs from the homeowners were found in Rykiel’s room when Shearer’s body was found.

A grain elevator has exploded in south-central Kansas, injuring one worker.

The explosion was reported about 7:25 a.m. Thursday at the Cairo Coop in Arlington, which is about 15 miles southwest of Hutchinson.

Reno County Sheriff Randy Henderson said one employee was taken to a Wichita hospital with burns that appeared to be minor.

Bill Guy, Reno County emergency management director, said the injured employee was at the base of the elevator when the explosion occurred. He said another employee was at the grain elevator at the time, but was not hurt.

He said it was unclear if the elevator was full and the cause is under investigation.

Fire crews were also moving a crane to the scene to assess the explosion site.

A Kansas National Guard unit is preparing for its first deployment since Operation Desert Storm, heading to Southwest Asia for a base security mission.

A public departure ceremony will be held Feb. 12 at 10 a.m. in Salina for approximately 80 members of the 170th Maintenance Company. The soldiers will go first to Camp Shelby Joint Forces Training Center in Mississippi for more training specific to their assignment.

The exact location of the deployment has not been announced. The unit was originally scheduled to go to Kuwait for a security mission.

The 170th Maintenance Company is headquartered in Norton, with a subordinate unit based in Colby. The company is part of the Hays-based 287th Special Troop Battalion.

A challenge to a new Kansas law restricting insurance coverage of abortion has been assigned to a new judge following the death of the federal who had been overseeing the case.

U.S. District Judge Wesley Brown died last week at the age of 104. Nearly 100 civil cases that Brown was handling were reassigned Wednesday to other judges in the Kansas federal district

U.S. District Judge Carlos Murguia in Kansas City, Kan., will now preside over the abortion-related lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas and Western Missouri.

The ACLU questions the constitutionality of a Kansas law barring insurance companies from offering abortion coverage as part of general health plans.

The Kansas Highway Patrol an accident in Oakley after a car crashed into a house Wednesday night.

According to the Kansas Highway Patrol, around 6:50 p.m. Debra Campbell, 55, of Oakley, was traveling northbound in an alley when she attempted a left-hand turn onto 8th street in Oakley when she lost control of her vehicle. Campbell turned back southbound onto Hoeb, crossing the west side of the street and ran into a house in the 700 block of Hoeb street.

Campbell was transported to Logan County Hospital with possible injuries. No occupants of the home were injured.