WICHITA – A Georgia man was sentenced Wednesday to 27 months in federal prison for his part in an e-mail spoofing scheme that cost Sedgwick County more than $566,000, according to U.S. Attorney Tom Beall.
George S. James, 49, Brookhaven, Ga., pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud.
In his plea, James admitted that on Oct. 7, 2016, Sedgwick County sent approximately $566,088 to his bank account at a Wells Fargo bank in Georgia. James transferred part of the money he received from Sedgwick County to a bank account in Shanghai, China, and part of the money to an account at Deutsche Bank in Bremen, Germany. James also spent some of the money.
In his plea, James denied that the fraud scheme was his idea. He said that on Sept. 23, 2016, he was contacted by a person identified in court records as A.H., who asked to deposit some money into James’ account at Wells Fargo. James said he knew A.H. was engaged in fraud, but James denied knowing that Sedgwick County was the victim.
In his plea, James said it was A.H. – or someone working with A.H. – who sent an email to Sedgwick County on Sept. 23, 2016, purporting to be from Cornejo and Sons, LLC, and requesting the county send future payments to a new account number at Wells Fargo. On Oct. 7, 2016, the county sent $566,088 to James’ account at Wells Fargo. The county learned later that Cornejo did not request the change of account and did not receive the payment.
SHAWNEE, Kan. (AP) — A 55-year-old man has pleaded guilty to killing a Shawnee woman in her apartment last year.
The Kansas City Star reports Gregory Paul Wright II pleaded guilty Thursday to premeditated first-degree murder in the death of 44-year-old Monica Lee.
The victim was found dead in May 2016 inside her apartment.
Wright stole Lee’s car and fled. He was arrested in Virginia about a month after the murder.
Authorities on the scene of Wednesday fatal trash truck accident -photo courtesy KWCH
SEDGWICK COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities continue to investigate a fatal pedestrian accident.
Just before 1p.m. Wednesday officers responded to an injury accident at 28 Laurel Drive near the intersection of Central and Webb in Wichita, according to officer Charlie Davidson.
When officers arrived, they found 79-year-old Carol Denning who had been hit by a trash truck. An investigation determined she had been walking southbound when a Waste Management Truck was backing down the street and hit her. Denning was transported to a local hospital where she died.
The driver was not issued a citation at the scene, according to Davidson. However, Davidson said all fatality accidents are presented to the Sedgwick County District Attorney’s office. Once the investigation is completed, the district attorney will determine possible charges.
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WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Wichita police say a 79-year-old woman died when she was run over by a trash truck.
Sgt. Kevin Tronsgard said the woman was walking on a road in east Wichita Wednesday afternoon when she was hit by the truck.
Tronsgard said the truck was backing up because of congestion on the road and the driver didn’t see the woman, whose name was not released.
KWCH reports the woman was rushed to a hospital, where she died.
Tronsgard said the woman was facing away from the truck when it backed up.
Police and the Kansas Highway Patrol are investigating the death
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on House consideration of the tax overhaul (all times local):
1:50 p.m.
The House has passed a sweeping Republican tax bill cutting taxes for corporations and many people. It puts GOP leaders closer to delivering to President Donald Trump a crucial legislative achievement after nearly a year of failures.
The House including all 4 members from Kansas voted 227-205 to approve the bill, which would bring the biggest revamp of the U.S. tax system in three decades.
Most of the House bill’s reductions would go to business. Both the Senate and House would slash the 35 percent corporate tax rate to 20 percent and reduce levies on millions of partnerships and certain corporations, including many small businesses.
Personal income tax rates for many would be reduced through some deductions, and credits would be reduced or eliminated. But projected federal deficits would grow by $1.5 trillion over the coming decade.
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12:15 p.m.
Democrats are using new projections by Congress’ nonpartisan tax analysts to call the Senate Republican tax bill a boon to the wealthy that boosts middle-income families’ taxes.
The Joint Committee on Taxation estimated that starting in 2021, many families earning less than $30,000 would have tax increases under the bill. By 2027, families earning up to $75,000 would face higher levies, while those earning more would get tax cuts.
Republicans say the new calculations reflect two provisions in the bill.
The Senate measure ends personal income tax cuts beginning in 2026 because Republicans needed to reduce the bill’s costs to obey the chamber’s budget rules.
It also abolishes the requirement under former President Barack Obama’s health care law that people buy insurance. That means fewer people getting federally subsidized coverage — which analysts consider a tax boost.
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11:35 a.m.
President Donald Trump has arrived at the Capitol to encourage House Republicans who are about to push a $1.5 trillion tax package through their chamber.
The closed-door meeting comes as GOP leaders hope that by Christmas, they will give Trump and themselves their first legislative triumph this year.
House approval was expected later Thursday of the plan to slash corporate tax rates and reduce personal income tax rates while eliminating some deductions and credits.
The Senate Finance Committee is aiming to pass its separate version by week’s end. But some GOP senators want changes.
Republicans say the final measure will bestow lower levies on millions of Americans and spur economic growth by reducing business taxes. Democrats say the measure is disproportionately tilted toward corporations and the wealthy.
Kansas Education Commissioner Randy Watson outlined a plan Tuesday that would allow more schools to hire educators who haven’t qualified for teaching licenses. The proposal aims to help districts that struggle to find enough teachers-photo Kansas News Service
The top education official in Kansas on Tuesday proposed allowing more schools to hire educators who don’t qualify for teaching licenses under the state’s current system — and signaled he would support changes to state regulations if needed.
The proposal could meet with resistance from the state’s main teachers union and educators who opposed similar changes to licensure requirements in recent years that they viewed as lowering professional standards. But it could also find support among school administrators seeking more flexibility to recruit for tough-to-fill teaching positions.
Education Commissioner Randy Watson outlined the proposal during a meeting of the Kansas State Board of Education in Topeka.
“I’m not trying to lower the standards,” Watson said. “I think what I’m saying is, there are certain pockets of people that don’t fit to get a license.”
The proposal is in its early stages, with no details yet on what type of applicants would be approved. But Watson said the goal is to offer an option that allows “freedom and adaptability,” letting schools and applicants make a case for would-be teachers who are shut out by Kansas’ existing credentialing system.
The state’s system includes traditional routes to earning a teaching license — involving college studies in education and other requirements — and a number of tailored alternatives, such as exceptions for science professionals with industry experience.
Framework for change
Watson suggested allowing a limited number of aspiring teachers who don’t qualify for licenses to make their cases to a board based at the Kansas State Department of Education, such as the Professional Standards Board.
“If there are regulations or laws that need to be changed, we can do it,” he told board members, when asked whether there are legal barriers to executing his idea.
Watson described his proposal as a framework, and suggested the state board could craft it further in collaboration with the Professional Standards Board — which includes teachers, administrators and representatives from Kansas universities — and a similar committee focused on Kansas’ teacher shortage.
Watson made his proposal during a presentation on the shortage. Kansas schools are facing a dearth of applicants that is predominantly affecting parts of southwest Kansas and the high-poverty, urban Kansas City Kansas and Wichita school districts.
His inspiration for the idea, he said, came from the Coalition of Innovative School Districts, a handful of school districts that already enjoy similar flexibility under a 2013 law. Two members of that group — the Kansas City Kansas and Marysville districts — have hired 37 teachers over the past few years under that law, which freed them to hire non-licensed job candidates with permission from the State Board of Education.
‘Devil’s in the details’
The coalition, which Watson helped spearhead, faced opposition from the Kansas National Education Association and teachers who argue against hiring non-licensed applicants.
Marcus Baltzell, spokesman for the KNEA, said Tuesday he applauds Watson and the state board for exploring options to deal with Kansas’ teacher shortage.
But he and Kansas State University dean of education Debbie Mercer, in separate interviews, both expressed some reservations about this latest proposal using the same phrase: “The devil’s in the details.”
“What happens when you have, say, a student that is mainstreamed with special needs in your classroom?” Baltzell asked. “We have standards for a reason. We have people go through teacher prep courses for a reason.”
Mercer, a member of the Professional Standards Board, said she understands that state education officials want to address the difficult situation principals are in when they don’t have enough applicants to fill their teaching jobs.
“Conceptually, it makes sense,” she said of his proposal. “How do we address the desperation?”
But she said the idea would appear to require subjective decisions about applicant suitability by the Professional Standards Board, and the challenge would be determining the principles for those decisions.
That flexibility, however, is exactly what appealed to at least one member of the state board Tuesday.
“I like the idea,” Hutchinson Republican Ken Willard said, expressing hope that the process would “be more subjective, where they actually hear the case for a person.”
The Kansas Association of School Boards also signaled interest.
“That’s something I believe we would be open to,” KASB lobbyist Mark Tallman said.
Tallman said the topic is not without controversy within his organization, but “historically we have been supportive of more flexibility.”
Celia Llopis-Jepsen is a reporter for the Kansas News Service, a collaboration of KCUR, Kansas Public Radio, KMUW and High Plains Public Radio covering health, education and politics. You can reach her on Twitter @Celia_LJ.
Rasool Samir-photo courtesy GCCC/city of Basketball Love
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A Muslim student athlete who refused to observe the national anthem for religious reasons at a basketball game at a western Kansas college has been kicked off the team.
That has ignited concerns over whether Garden City Community College violated the civil rights of 19-year-old Rasool Samir, who continued shooting balls during the anthem Nov. 1, leading to a confrontation with a fan who accused him of disrespecting the flag.
The college says Samir was dismissed for a team rules violation, because he did not leave the court with his teammates when the anthem was played.
The American Civil Liberties Union has voiced concern that Samir may have been disciplined for exercising his First Amendment rights. It’s still gathering information and hasn’t decided whether to sue.
KANSAS CITY—(AP) — Court records say a man posed for photos with his dead wife, along with their newborn and toddler, before dismembering her body in a Kansas City hotel room.
The Kansas City Star reports that 35-year-old Justin Rey was charged Wednesday with abandonment of a corpse and child endangerment in Missouri’s Jackson County. Court records say his wife, Jessica Monteiro Rey, died after giving birth Oct. 20. Rey told police he dismembered her body in a bathtub two days later with the children present.
The remains were discovered Oct. 24 in a cooler at a storage unit in nearby Lenexa, Kansas. Rey had been sleeping there with the children.
He’s jailed on $1 million bond in Kansas on child endangerment charges. He doesn’t yet have an attorney in the Missouri case.
DETROIT (AP) — General Motors is recalling nearly 49,000 trucks worldwide to fix a fuel tank problem that increases the risk of a fire.
The recall covers Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra 3500 trucks from 2011 through 2015 with two fuel tanks.
Documents posted Thursday by the U.S. government say that the low-fuel-level sensor in the front tank can stick, causing the rear tank to over-fill the front tank. That can make the front tank expand and touch the drive shaft, possibly causing a hole and a fuel leak.
GM says it has no reports of fires or injuries from the problem.
Dealers will replace the rear tank fuel pump, update software and inspect the front tank. Owners will be notified starting Dec. 18 with parts available for repairs in February.
Law enforcement authorities on the scene of Wednesday’s bank robbery-photo courtesy WIBW TV
SHAWNEE COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating a bank robbery and have a suspect in custody.
Just after 4p.m. Wednesday, police responded to report of a bank robbery in the 3600 Block of SE 29th Street in Topeka, according to a media release.Patrons in in the bank reported a white male wearing sunglasses and a hoodie left in a silver Pontiac GrandAm after showing a note to the teller demanding money. No weapon was indicated or shown at the time. The indivdiual left with an undisclosed amount of money.
Just minutes later police spotted the suspect vehicle at 6th and Rice Road and attempted to stop the vehicle. The driver initiated a pursuit that drove through the eastern parts of the city, at one point ramming a police car and continued on through the Highland Park area finally stopping in the 21st and Maryland area after having at least one flat tire.
The driver was taken into custody. Police did not release the suspects’s name late Wednesday.
WICHITA– A Kansas woman was sentenced Wednesday to seven years in federal prison for robbing three local businesses, according to U.S. Attorney Tom Beall.
Christina A. Messerschmidt, 26, Wichita, Kan., pleaded guilty to committing the following robberies:
June 14, 2017: Kwik Shop at 2809 E. Douglas in Wichita. She threatened store employees with a knife and took money from the register.
June 13, 2017: Patricia’s, 6143 W. Kellogg in Wichita. She threatened to strangle an employee and took money from the register.
Dec. 16, 2016: Intrust Bank at 1544 S. Webb. She gave a teller a note saying, “Give me $1,000 or I will shoot you.” She was arrested after a standoff with police at an apartment near the bank.
WICHITA – A Georgia man was sentenced Wednesday to 27 months in federal prison for his part in an e-mail spoofing scheme that cost Sedgwick County more than $566,000, according to U.S. Attorney Tom Beall.
