SALINE COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating a suspect for alleged child sex crimes.
Just before 9:30 Tuesday, police responded to a central-Salina home after taking report of sexual abuse, according to Captain Mike Sweeney.
Police arrested 34-year-old Richard Pulkkinen, of Salina. He is an acquaintance of the family of the preteen female victim, according to Sweeney. A family reported the alleged crime.
Pulkkinen is being held in the Saline County Jail on requested charges of rape, criminal sodomy and aggravated indecent liberties with a child.
SENECA, Kan. (AP) — SKF USA says it plans to close its plant in Seneca during the next 18 months, eliminating 170 jobs in the small town north of Topeka.
The plant is one of the main employers in Seneca, which has a population of about 2,000 people.
SKF USA is owned by Sweden-based SKF Group. The company said Tuesday it is consolidating its industrial seals manufacturing work. The work being done in Seneca will be transferred to a plant in Salt Lake City.
The Topeka Capital-Journal reports Mayor Joe Mitchell called the decision a “huge blow” to the city.
Mitchell said he’s hopeful the town will find another manufacturer to replace SKF.
Police are investigating a report from this Target location in Wichita-google image
SEDGWICK COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating an alleged suspicious suspect taking photos at a department store.
Just after 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, police responded to report of a disturbance at the Target store in the 2700 Block of North Maize Road in Wichita, according to officer Charley Davidson.
A 35-year-old woman told police she was shopping with her 10-year-old daughter when she saw an unknown man taking pictures of them through the clothing racks.
The woman yelled for help and the suspect, described as a white male, fled the store on foot and drove away in a blue, 1980s Cadillac El Dorado.
Police potentially have a suspect identified and are working to determine if a crime was committed, according to Davidson.
COWLEY COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating report of a registered Kansas sex offender who may have followed a child home from school.
Just before 5p.m., on October 4, a man followed a 10-year-old juvenile home from the bus stop at Fillmore Avenue and B Street to his house a couple of blocks away in Arkansas City, according to police.
The man asked the juvenile if he could come inside of his house. The juvenile said no and locked the door to keep the man outside. The juvenile then took a photograph of the man through the front window.
On Monday officers learned of a man who had family in that area and also matched the description of the suspect. The person who followed the juvenile on 10-04-2017 has since been identified as 34-year-old Dustin Shane Stalder, a Department of Corrections absconder and was last registered as a sex offender in Sedgwick County.
Stalder had an active warrant for his arrest through the Topeka Department of Corrections for a parole violation and officers took him into custody on Tuesday and he is being held in the Sumner County Jail.
He has previous convictions for burglary and forgery, according to the Kansas Department of Corrections.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas man has pleaded guilty in the July 4, 2016 death of a pedestrian.
Jason Patterson of Topeka entered the plea Tuesday to involuntary manslaughter and driving under the influence.
Patterson was charged in the death of 60-year-old Tara French. She was hit by a truck on the west side of Lake Shawnee.
Police determined Patterson had a blood alcohol level of 0.18 percent when he was stopped after the accident. The legal limit in Kansas is 0.08 percent.
LEAVENWORTH, Kan. (AP) — The parents of a Leavenworth County teenager who has been missing since 1988 are going to court in an effort get criminal investigative records on their son’s case.
Harold and Alberta Leach of Linwood are suing Leavenworth County after county officials rejected a Kansas Open Records Act request for the criminal documents.
The couple’s 17-year-old son, Randy Leach, disappeared in April 1988 after a high school graduation celebration in rural Leavenworth County. Investigators found no trace of him and no one was been charged in the case.
The couple’s attorney, Maxwell Kautsch, says the law enforcement records would show whether Leavenworth County properly investigated the disappearance.
Image courtesy KBI
The trial is scheduled to begin Nov. 21.
The Topeka Capital-Journal reports the county’s attorney, David Van Parys, declined to comment.
ELKHART, Kan. (AP) — Kansas game wardens are asking for the public’s help to find those who killed two antelope and left them to rot in southwest Kansas.
Kansas Wildlife, Parks & Tourism officials say game wardens found the dead animals Saturday in a field in Morton County.
The antelope were shot with a rifle out of season and left in the field. The agency says those responsible also drove through a freshly drilled winter wheat field to kill the antelope.
Anyone with information should contact Operation Game Thief at 877-426-3843.
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A Democratic candidate for Kansas governor whose 3-year-old grandson’s body was found encased in concrete has joined the push to reform the state’s child welfare agency.
Former Wichita Mayor Carl Brewer says his family filed multiple requests with the Kansas Department of Children and Families to check on his grandson, Evan Brewer, before the toddler’s remains were found last month. Brewer says he decided to remain in the race after hearing from other families and determining nothing would change “unless somebody steps in.”
Carl Brewer
Kansas House Minority Leader Jim Ward, of Wichita, called months ago for the resignation of the agency’s chief, Phyllis Gilmore, and former state Rep. Mark Hutton, a GOP candidate, did so recently. The agency didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
RILEY COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are working to dispel rumors of a serial rapist in Manhattan.
Several students, parents and citizens in Manhattan have recently contact local police about the recent rumors
These individuals have reported a serial rapist preying on members of the community, referenced text messages sent to the Riley County Police Department.
On social media, the department shared, “in the past several months, the Riley County Police Department has not worked any case where a person wearing a mask broke into a home with a gun and raped a person. This report has been circulating on social media and through text and is untrue to our knowledge. We’ve made multiple attempts to find the source of the information.
We want to stress that if this did happen, and there is a victim, we urge you to come forward, so that we can investigate and get you any help or resources you may wish to have.
The safety and security of our community is our top priority. Part of that includes keeping our citizens informed with the crimes that are and are not happening.
In July, the law enforcement authorities did release new information about a serial rapist who is believed to have attacked 13 women from 2000 to 2008 in Manhattan and Lawrence. Those crimes are not part of the recent alleged crimes.
Saltwater injection wells, like this in southeast Kansas, are gaining more attention from Kansans concerned about their potential effects. COURTESY KANSAS GEOLOGICAL SURVEY
The governments of Douglas County and Lawrence are calling for changes to Kansas regulations amid an energy company’s proposal to pump wastewater into wells in rural Eudora.
Among their concerns, the local officials argue that the public deserves a 60-day protest period — twice as long as the current allowance — when companies seek to operate such wells in or near their communities.
Douglas County Commissioner Nancy Thellman said the goal is “good public process.”
In its current format, she said, “the process itself is really weighted against the ability of the citizens to be heard.”
The county and city say a longer public comment period would better suit the schedules of city and county commissioners, so that they can study any potential effects and discuss them during their public meetings.
Local governments don’t have authority to block applications by oil and gas companies to build and operate fluid injection wells within their boundaries — that power rests with the Kansas Corporation Commission. But, like members of the public, they can view application materials and file letters of protest.
Douglas County Administrator Craig Weinaug said the county wants more time and information to determine whether a proposal by Florida-based Midstates Energy Operating LLC to operate two wells poses any risks for water contamination or earthquakes.
“We think that as government officials we have an obligation to make sure when something like this is done, it’s done in a way that it protects the public,” Weinaug said. “So we are asking, ‘What has the Corporation Commission done to make those determinations?’ And once we get an answer on what they have done, we’d like a chance to question it, add additional information, so we can decide whether they’ve done a good job in protecting our interests.”
Public concern
In the latest example of growing public interest in saltwater injection, Lawrence and Douglas County officials sent a joint letter last week to the KCC.
Saltwater injection consists of pouring — with or without pressurization — brine down a well either to dispose of it or to assist in extracting oil and gas. The saltwater is wastewater that is itself churned up in the course of oil or gas production and can contain chemicals.
A spike in earthquakes in Oklahoma and south-central Kansas in recent years has fueled public concerns about saltwater injection because geophysicists have pinned a rise in seismic activity on saltwater disposal wells.
In some parts of that region, operators can inject upwards of 15,000 barrels of brine into each well per day. Since 2009, thousands of temblors with a magnitude of 2.7 or higher — meaning quakes strong enough to be felt by people — have struck the region.
The permits sought by Midstates Energy in Douglas County are for extraction rather than disposal wells, according to documents filed with the KCC. The company is seeking to inject 100 barrels of brine per day into the two wells to assist in oil or gas production.
Bruce Presgrave, a USGS supervisory geophysicist at the National Earthquake Information Center in Golden, Colorado, said it’s impossible to know whether a proposed saltwater injection site will cause earthquakes. In some places, higher-volume wells don’t cause quakes, while lower-volume wells in other locations do.
“There’s no magic formula that works everywhere,” Presgrave said. “That’s part of the problem.” However, higher volumes correlate with higher risk of seismicity. The USGS also says saltwater wells used for disposal purposes are more likely to cause earthquakes than their extraction-related counterparts.
Local geological characteristics, such as proximity to fault lines, also play a role. Overall, most saltwater injection wells are not linked to earthquakes.
Presgrave said there is “a growing body of evidence” that state regulators and oil companies can reduce impact by monitoring wells and adjusting or cutting off injection as needed — though the extent to which states and companies do this can vary.
“With some care, this can be worked with, and the hazard can be mitigated,” he said, “and still achieve the economic issue of being able to get the oil out and do something with the fluid.”
They failed to block a bid from Quail Oil & Gas for a permit, but their effort grew into a broader campaign to engage the public in monitoring and protesting any new applications that companies file for saltwater injection in their region.
The protestors also are lobbying legislators for changes to state law, arguing that the state’s current regulatory framework doesn’t require the KCC to factor in seismicity risks when reviewing well applications.
In its September decision allowing the Flint Hills well to proceed, the KCC concluded protestors hadn’t proven any “immediate danger” to public health, safety or welfare.
But the protestors argue Kansas should take a more proactive stance. They fear faulty wells or unscrupulous dumping could contaminate local freshwater and argue that Kansas failed to rein in saltwater disposal in south-central parts of the state until earthquakes had become a frequent occurrence. In recent years, the KCC has capped daily injection volumes in parts of that region.
Midstates Energy notice
On Oct. 9, Midstates Energy published notices in the Lawrence Journal-World to meet legal requirements for informing the public of its plans. Its applications are still pending with the KCC.
The notices said residents had 15 days to file any protests against the company’s two wells, setting an Oct. 24 deadline.
On Friday a KCC spokeswoman said the company’s notice was incorrect, because the legal public comment period should be 30 days. The agency is contacting Midstates to let the company know it will need to redo the public notification process.
State regulations require companies planning injection activities to publish a notice in the county’s designated newspaper, in addition to notifying the local landowner and any well operators or owners of mineral rights within half a mile.
Midstates didn’t return a call seeking comment. The Florida company registered in Kansas in September, according to filings with the Kansas Secretary of State’s Office.
In addition to Midstates’ pending applications for Douglas County wells, records on the Kansas Geological Survey website indicate the company received permits this month to drill three injection wells in Franklin County, south of Douglas County.
Thellman said Douglas County’s decision to contact the KCC about the two wells there came amid calls and emails from constituents worried about the environmental risks.
“Certainly the word has spread — word of mouth, social media, environmental organizations,” she said. “I continue to get lots of emails and phone calls. It’s gotten quite a bit of attention.”
